You say you want a revolution?

We'd all love to change your head

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

The definition of insanity, it has been said, is to keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I think we're in a moment of history where we have the chance to make some different choices to stop our current insanity.

A pandemic, wars and rumors of wars, government institutions being overrun by radicals and conspiracy theorists, mass shootings becoming a daily non-event that causes no more than a shrug from society, a Supreme Court bent on taking back hard-won rights, a minority party stacking the legal system and gaming the voting mechanisms of this country to the point where the majority may never be able to be elected or enjoy their civil rights in our lifetimes. Some days the insanity of this world is overwhelming.

However, our old ways of seeking to overcome and deal with this insanity have become equally insane. All we seem to know what to do in the face of this craziness is to do what we've always done – protest, hold marches, put our bodies on the line to make our wishes known, write letters to those we've put in charge of this mess and vote.

These tactics have been successful before. Laws have been changed. Women got the right to vote, to hold office, to have their own bank accounts and buy property. Women, for a time, gained control of their own reproductive rights. Gays and lesbians won the right to love one another in private, then in public, as marriage rights were granted. Black people were set free from slavery, allowed to marry across racial lines and granted equal rights in voting, employment, and all other areas of life. Schools were integrated and we even became enlightened enough to elect a black man as president. Women were selected for the highest courts in the land and people of color ascended into positions of power and prestige.

We've come a long way in this country in the fight for equality, equity and civil rights. Recently, however, the clock has turned back and we find ourselves again in the midst of a familiar fight for our rights. Many of us are tired. We thought we had won the victory already and now, here we are, at square one in many areas and facing more setbacks in the future.

There is, however, a new, sane way to create a more permanent state of love, peace, and joy in the world, what A Course in Miracles calls "the happy dream." On my podium at Jubilee! Circle, there are two stickers that provide the paradigm for this new revolution. One reads: "Begin within." The other reads: "The revolution will not be violent."

These are the two ingredients I think are missing from the old ways that we have sought to bring more permanent change to the world. I believe that everything we do is infused with the spirit in which we do it. Protesting is great, but if we're protesting from a sense of anger and a feeling of being treated unjustly or unfairly, all we do is bring more anger, indignity and injustice into the world.

But, if we begin within – cultivating the peace, freedom, equity and equality we seek outside within ourselves first – then when we join the protest march, we're creating more peace, freedom, equity and equality.

The protests I've attended over the years have always been nonviolent on their face, but I know, within my own heart, that I have carried within myself a sense of anger and hatred for my perceived opponent. This new revolution I'm talking about though, will take nonviolence to a new level – not just in action, but in belief and thought. We cannot advance the cause of Love in the world as long as any unloving thought or belief finds quarter within our heart and mind.

It seems simple, right? Get our hearts and minds right – heal our own inner battles, shame and despair – and watch how the world transforms around us. Of course, I can hear eyes rolling already. "Yeah, preacher, just try that inner peace and light stuff all you want. It ain't gonna work."

It reminds me of what writer GK Chesterton once said about Christianity: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

I will revise it to say this: "The inner way to a permanent outward nonviolent revolution of love has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

Why do we find it difficult? Because the inner revolution of Love requires us to see clearly that this world is but a dream that we have concocted with our collective egos, and it requires us to remember who we truly are – innocent, originally blessed, beloved Children of God who have the power to bring the Light of Love into this world and totally transform it from despair to joy.

The most difficult thing about this inner path to revolution though, is that we must give up our grievances against one another. We must remember that even those we hate with the purest forms of hatred are also innocent, originally blessed, beloved Children of God who have the power to bring the Light of Love into this world and totally transform it from despair to joy.

Everyone whom you feel separate from is just like you – an extension of God in this world that is often so thoroughly hoodwinked by the ego that they forget their Divine innocence of original blessing. If you're willing to believe the ego's insane lie of separation, then yes, the inner revolution of Love will fail miserably.

How do we begin within and create that nonviolent revolution of Love we crave? First, I think we have to be willing to allow the world we see now to collapse. We are so afraid that if this world, and especially our form of government, collapses, then all we'll be left with is authoritarianism or fascism. We bemoan the state of humanity in this moment and see no positive alternative.

What if, though, instead of falling into despair, we doubled down on the original goodness of us all and fully believed that in the face of collapse, we could find a way back to one another – to create a world of equanimity and justice grounded in the principles of real Love? What if we so thoroughly believed in a world built on Love that we were willing to do whatever it takes to bring into fruition?

If you're interested in trying this difficult thing of beginning within to create a nonviolent revolution of Love, A Course tells us we can develop this Holy perception that sees only Love and brings us into Heaven in this moment. First, when we begin within, we understand that we are all in this together – because we are all one spirit, unified within our Creator. When we can know our unity, then we know we lose nothing by becoming God's Love and Light in the world. Secondly, our loving perception of the world leads us to stop attacking each other. In fact, if we are so dedicated to our revolution of Love, we will become incapable of attack. All we will know how to do is Love one another.

Finally, A Course says, when we can see only unity and Love, our minds of separation are healed, and our ego disappears. "The ego will not be destroyed," A Course reminds us in chapter 5, "because it is part of your thought, but because it is uncreative and therefore unsharing, it will be reinterpreted to release you from fear. The part of your mind that you have given to the ego will merely return to the Kingdom, where your whole mind belongs."

This is the revolution we are called to lead in this world – a nonviolent revolution from within that heals us so completely that our ego disappears, because it will be fully integrated with our Higher, Divine Self. Imagine living in an egoless world – a world where Love is the rule and we all gain what we need and everyone becomes incapable of attacking anyone else.  You may say I'm a dreamer …  but I know I'm not the only one.

This old world is trying to leave and a new one is trying to emerge. Are we willing to birth it – to be the midwives to the arrival of a revolution of Love? If you are, there are some practices you can do now to begin this nonviolent revolution:  

Take time in nature to reconnect with this wonderous creation and see our interdependence with it all, meditate, forgive those you blame as the source of the world's problems (which will include some self-forgiveness) and, most of all, be in service to the world and those around you.

It doesn't have to be huge – just practice kindness and give joy wherever you go. Smile at a stranger, talk to the cashier at the grocery store, hold a door open for someone. Whatever you do, make an effort in every moment to remind yourself of our unity – to see God's Light of Love within everyone you meet, maybe especially if they're sporting a hat, or their car has a bumper sticker that offends you.

As you deepen your practice of an inner revolution of Love, one day you'll find you are incapable of attacking anyone because no one is your enemy and finally, you'll reach that place where your ego disappears, because it is fully healed and simply slips into the light of Love along with everything else in this world.

At that point, "sufficient quantitative change occurs to produce a real qualitative shift," as A Course says. In other words, these two principles: Begin within and the revolution will not be violent, will have so revolutionized your inner world to the point that only Love remains that your outer world has followed suit.

You say you want a revolution? Well, y'know, we all want to change the world. If you're talking about destruction, you can count me out, but if you're talking about an inner revolution of Love that completely changes us from ego-driven to higher, Divine Self-driven in the world, then count me in.

Because, as A Course says, once we realize that each of us is the light of the world, and we join our minds in this light, then we will proclaim the realm of God in this place together and as one.  Now, that's a revolution I can wholeheartedly join.  

Are you ready to join this revolution? How are you going within and rooting out all the violence in your own heart and mind? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

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Take 20 with Candace

This week’s Take 20 is from Jubilee! Circle's July 24, 2022, celebration: “The Song of Humanity.”

If you wish to support my work, please consider making a donation to Jubilee! Circle.

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Want to learn more about A Course in Miracles?

Jubilee! Circle hosts an informal discussion group about A Course in Miracles every Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time. If you’re in the Columbia, SC area, you can join us in-person at 6729 Two Notch Road, Ste. 70 in Columbia. If you’re anywhere else in the world, join us by Zoom using the link below. Whether you’re new to ACIM, or have been studying it for years, this is a low-pressure, friendly environment to learn more and grow together! Join us:

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86088245457?pwd=bWd6QzhscGlUYnFnYUU1dy9uTUVMZz09

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About the Motley Mystic:

The Motley Mystic is an online community for people who have realized that the truth speaks with many voices. There is no one religion, philosophy, institution or dogma that captures the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. No one needs to swear allegiance to one line of thought or belief to discern Truth, because Love is the only thing that’s real. That’s what we explore at the Motley Mystic - all the tools and strategies we need to remove our barriers to Love and live fully as our true, Divine Self.

Candace Chellew is the founder of Motley Mystic as well Jubilee! Circle, an interfaith spiritual community in Columbia, S.C. She is also the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians published in 2008 by Jossey-Bass and the founder and senior editor emeritus of Whosoever: An Online Magazine for LGBTQ People of Faith. She is also a musician and avid animal lover.

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