I received a message from the Peace Alliance that contained the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is no question we are in this together. whether “we” refers to two people in relationship, to a family, groups of people, a nation, or our species. In this time of self-reflection, I choose not to look to others to become who they ought to be before I focus on being who I ought to be, despite the fact that I will not fully succeed until we all succeed. This is my gift to myself and to others, even to those who do not yet know the beauty of focusing on being who they ought to be.

In the turbulent years of the 1960s, I lived a secluded life, generally unaware of what was happening in the world that did not directly impact my life. I recall the day that Dr. King was assassinated. At that time, I was unaware of the depth of Dr. KIng’s contribution to the nation, to the world. On that April day in 1968, another in a series of days that shocked the world back then, I do recall the speculations about King being involved with a woman other than his wife, perhaps near the time of his death, and I focused on my assessment of him being who he ought not to be instead of noticing all he did to be who he ought to be, including his invitation for us to be who we ought to be, as well.

It took a long time for me to understand that many of those who made great contributions to expanding consciousness of our humanity had a shadow side. And, it would be easy to dismiss the good by focusing on the not so good. But despite the shadow, these contributions have supported us all in becoming more of who we ought to be. Though we have not, yet, arrived at perfection, most of us at least can vision something of what perfection might look like because of these people who embodied both light and dark.

Even in the expression of their shadow, the not-yet perfect contributors give us permission to notice the shadow side that is all to often unacknowledged and hidden deeply within us. Once we become aware of the vision of perfection and the shadows that we carry we can bring healing to the darkness within us and become more of who we ought to be: our gift to ourselves and a gift to others.

King was so correct when he said, “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny.” It cannot be any other way. Let us take this day to see the beauty of the garment of destiny that lives within the hearts of every one of us.

The weekend of September 24th, I had the privilege of attending a powerful workshop in the mountains above Denver, Colorado presented by Howard Bad Hand, a Lakota Indian Chief. One of the topics for discussion had to do with what is happening in our world now and in the next 14 months related to the Mayan calendar that has been interpreted by some as marking the ending of human civilization on December 21, 2012. I have read extensively on this subject and have discovered differing perspectives of the meanings attached to our present time and the Mayan calendar.

Some believe the world will literally end following an increasing number of natural disasters that become more intense as that date approaches, destroying more and more of what we know of the world, until some final event obliterates whatever is left. Others believe that the numbers of humankind will be greatly reduced over the course of the time between now and that date, and that some people will remain to rebuild a human civilization based on a balancing of nurturing,  cooperation, and caring, which are healthy feminine principles, with an honoring of the unique qualities of the individual and the protective strength of the healthy masculine energy.

Others believe that we are approaching the End Times as predicted by interpreters of  the Bible who believe this Earth will be destroyed and those who believe in the Gospel will be transported to a New Earth, while the rest will be condemned to eternal hell. Still others believe that we are facing extinction, not unlike the dinosaurs of long ago, and a new species will eventually evolve to take our place bringing on the next cycle of life without humans. Still others believe that both nature and human folly will create unfathomable catastrophes and beings from other planets or galaxies will intercede, whether for good or for bad, to keep the toxic energies of our world from spilling over into the universe. But likely for the vast majority of people, this date of December 21, 2012 means just another day on the calendar, and maybe 4 shopping days until Christmas. And the seasons…they still go round and round on the Carousel of time.

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