Ukraine and the Meaning of Unity
Issue 81
We talk often, in these times, about how important it is for conscious humans in a largely unconscious world to hold the Light, not get sucked in to rabbit holes of fear, anger, hopelessness and the like, keep one’s eye on the ball of what’s wanted, cultivate that, believe it’s possible, and think, talk, and act in those terms. Simple! How each of us on this path actually interprets and lives the new consciousness here, now, today in ways that are right for and make sense to us will, verily vary.
As I take in what the Russian president is doing with his political force — which we know is different from political power — to the people and place of Ukraine as well as democracy-loving people all over the world, I’m seeing and hearing a lot about unity. The Ukrainian people are unified behind their president. NATO and the European Union and almost all the countries of the world are united in the United Nations against Putin’s invasion. Arguably a significant number of Russian citizens — to say nothing of conscripted Russian soldiers and, apparently, even one or more members of its parliament — are against their autocratic president’s actions. Even a Russian oligarch or two have registered discord; even the autocratic president of Hungary; even Switzerland, for crying out loud, has come out against Putin’s actions. With a few extraordinarily notable exceptions, the American people and even the American Congress are united in punishing Putin and his ilk. Scores of private and public companies and industries are uniting against the slaughtering of innocent Ukrainian people, Ukrainian institutions, Ukrainian land, Ukrainian infrastructure, Ukrainian way of life.
All this talk of unity could light up a new-consciousness guy like me for, as we know, unity consciousness is another name for the new consciousness of which we speak in these pages. But to be unified against something is to woefully misunderstand what unity consciousness is all about. Unity consciousness is the Alpha and the Omega; Light and Dark; War and Peace; David and Goliath; Democracy and Autocracy. Non-duality. No separation. Unity consciousness sees it all as part of the same whole and goes from there.
The last vestiges of the old consciousness — a single human being imposing his will and ill-gotten force, believing it acceptable to deny tens of millions of people the opportunity to be free as individuals and to govern themselves as a society — are on full display today. What matters is what any of it inspires in those of us whose physical lives are not in jeopardy right now, not being taken or upended, those of us who are not under seige or running or grieving or scrambling to survive.
Look for the peacenik in Putin.
If it’s inspiring in us a need to pick a side, to “unify against,” that dog won’t hunt in the new consciousness. If it’s inspiring us to see aggression in others but deny it in ourselves, that story must end. So what might this actually mean for conscious humans today? Some cursory thoughts:
As individuals, it means it is futile to fight against what we abhor in others because whatever it is exists within us. I’ve seen enough scenes of fits of rage portrayed humorously, poignantly, and shockingly in enough movies and shows to know I’m not the only nice-guy-who-wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly to fly off the handle in a fit of rage. If anger management is a thing — one that some can even be mandated to attend — then anger dissolution is a thing. It delivers permanent peace and authentic personal power. So before picking sides, go a year without throwing your phone or yelling at your Self or at someone else in traffic. Look for the peacenik in Putin. Then see if you still want to pick a side. (You won’t.) This moves the needle from endless war to forever peace. This paves the way for the growing minions lining up behind you because we are all connected. This is unity consciousness.
As Americans, it means Democrats and Republicans, Racists and Anti-Racists, Wealthy and Poor, Non-Whites and Whites, Natives and Immigrants, Housed and Unhoused, Freedom and Slavery, Religious and Non-Religious, Loved and Unloved. It means owning up to the hypocrisy of how America has done and is doing what Putin is doing militarily: in Iraq in 2003; in Syria now in violation of international law. It means that if we have contempt for how the wealth and power of a single White American male — who happens to have been president of the United States — somehow facilitates his skirting the law, then we know how billions of others across the globe might have contempt for we Americans because of how our wealth and (super) power allows us to skirt the law. It means that if we hold fast to our belief that showing violence as so much entertainment in our games, television dramas, and movies — to say nothing of the never-ending drumbeat of violence in our for-profit “news” — is not of a piece with unleashing untold horrors on innocent civilians, we will continue to be stuck in the old consciousness, which loves duality and separation. It’s our choice.
As global citizens, it means accepting that in every community, organization, company, industry, government or entity of any kind, is the capacity for Light and Dark. It means knowing that we won’t ever transcend the global habitual default of war by engaging in anything rooted in us-vs-them. Ever. We will only transcend the global habitual default of war by seeing ourselves in Enemy. Nothing else will. It never has.
Those with the mettle to cultivate unity consciousness will see it requires endless reserves of acceptance and compassion, also known as non-judgment, also known as conscious practice. They will understand that fighting, hating, othering, blaming, damning, and punishing only feeds this monster colloquially known as indiscriminate war. They will know they cannot kill it but can drain it of its life force — by changing in themselves that which they see in the other. This is unity consciousness.
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NOTE: There is, to my mind, a spectacular docuseries called We Have to Talk About Cosby. If nothing else, it is a stunning portrayal of precisely what we are talking about today: the capability of a single one of us to embody, in this case, the ability to entertain, educate and inspire as well as to lie, cheat, and do violence. If you are questioning whether or not we are all capable of all of it, this program will shine some light.
NOTE: Don’t take my word for anything! While writing this piece, my incredible Spirit guides offered me some “No, it’s not just you” support via this 9-minute clip of Gregg Braden, one of my favorite teachers, speaking about unity consciousness. Imagine that! “There’s one of us here; we are unity by Nature,” he says. And a whole lot more.
NOTE: Those guides also inspired me to spontaneously do something that virtually never occurs to me to do. I saw that this was “Issue 81” of this newsletter and I know that in numerology that would mean a 9, as in 8+1. So then I searched “what is 9 in numerology” and here is a broad-stroke smattering:
completion but not finality; the ending of one cycle and the potential it creates for another cycle to begin
great mental and spiritual realizations
the end of a phase of spiritual development and the beginning of another higher stage
the sign of ideals, Universal interest and the spirit of combat for humanitarian purposes
the ascension to a higher degree of consciousness and the ability to display love for others
it has the highest vibrational frequency of any number not including the master numbers (11, 22, 33)
9 is the least judgmental of all numbers, the most tolerant and the most conscious; overwhelmingly loving and empathetic
where the spiritual meets the material. The energy of the number 9 often feels selfless and full of compassion.
FUN FACT! After the usual dozens of edits, this week’s piece clocked in at 999 words: 9+9+9=27=2+7=9. Just sayin.’
Ouch. As soon as I started this article, I thought, $hit, this is on me. Sure enough, it always is. Ha! Thank you. xo
Tough learning