Contrast

The antics, or as Kamala Harris says "sham" and "disgraceful", unfolding in our nation's capital are troublesome to say the least. I believe it marks a crossroads in our county. As David Brooks, during the last "Politics Friday" on the PBS Newshour, relates, thousands of years of male dominated behavior over women and children has now culminated at this point and time. It is an opportunity for this country to "wake up" and deal with the atrocities foisted upon other humans (blacks and others of color, women and children) by the dominating white "privileged" males.

With my personal history of living with a father who was a product of this rank and file, I have experienced the abuse, both scary and life threatening, a man can inflict upon his children and wife in the privacy of our home. What a stark contrast to the public demeanor he was lauded for! Parents and children of the community were so impressed with the time, energy, effort and stellar molding that he did of impressionable youngsters as a coach.

As many learned and wise individuals well aware of the dichotomy between one's personal and professional lives have pointed out about our country's important figures, these men of privilege may have stellar professional lives and hide the private, outrageous personal behavior. We as citizens seem to be okay with this dichotomy, voting into power these men while denying that they may be capable of heinous acts.

And listening to Bret Kavanaugh defend himself last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I was reminded of a man who attended the same nursing school as I did in Omaha, Nebraska, in the mid60's. The rumor was that this male student drank a lot away from the dormitory and that he did not remember anything between consuming his first drink and his awakening the following morning. I decided I would tag along one night of drinking and see for myself: he did not remember anything he said or did once he began drinking. I was astounded. So when this present nominee for the Supreme Count adamantly declares his innocence, I question whether he too does not remember his words, actions, behaviors once he began drinking in high school and college.

On the front page of the Santa Fe New Mexican on Friday appeared a picture of Christine Blasey Ford and one of Bret Kavanaugh. 

What a stark contrast in the still shot of each: she in pain of remembering and him arrogantly outraged that any woman could hold him accountable for his teenage antics since he had performed his job "top notch" . . . well enough to reap a Supreme Court nomination.

For me the contrast was between one who is "awake" and dealing with all of life by accessing trauma from her subconscious, bringing it forward to present time and  discharging what has been trapped and one who tapped into his survival mechanism, lashing out with anger. In the Oriental Medicine way of looking at the human, the liver system houses anger. This system protects by attacking with massive amounts of explosiveness, thus denying the possibility that reality is anything but the public "face". This way of going about in the world is, to me, sleep walking. It is not surprising, from my perspective, that some spiritual ways of viewing sentient life elucidate incarnation: one has repetitive or serial lifetimes on earth, until awakening, dealing with the trauma and discharging the embodied emotions from the trauma, has occurred.

My friend Courtney questioned, as she began her process of awakening, why all humans did not choose this path. And as I initiated my healing by awakening and dealing with the early trauma in my life, people often commented, "you are so courageous." It seems to me very few humans are willing to take the simple but not easy path of awakening because it is so much easier to slide by day after day in a habitual way of hiding from oneself.

So Brett Kavanaugh has chose the easy way. He has become respected for his professional life and is now on the cusp of whether he will be handed the ultimate prize.

On the other hand, Christine Blasey Ford has taken the path of awakening and healing herself from her teenage traumatic experience that has colored every day in her life since.

This dichotomy epitomizes for me the stark party line divide that has fractured our county. Will we choose the path of awakening or remain asleep? This individual and collective choice will make a difference in our country from this day forward. Which of these persons will we, each of us Americans, "believe"? 

To discharge our individual and collective emotions, may we each