“TRUMP: Where’s the Miracle?” or “Honoring Your Incarnation”

(The irony of a person with bipolar disorder keeping a blog is that while my moods and productivity levels fluctuate, so does my writing output. I’ve been waiting to write until I was really compelled to, and I think after the week we’ve had, that time is now.)

I sat awake all night Tuesday in horror. One of the worst panic attacks of my life — and as a person with BPD and Bipolar, believe me — I’ve had a few panic attacks before. I cried very openly when the election was called. A second wave hit when Hillary conceded. I know many others felt the same way. “Wow, that sure sounds melodramatic,” you may think. Well, when you have a diagnosed panic disorder, a last minute change of plans can throw that person’s whole day into total disarray and chaos. This is the reality for millions of people with mental health conditions.

But the dust is settling, and it is now time to figure out where we go from here.

So. Donald Trump won the presidency. First of all, to he and those who supported him, my genuine congratulations.

The rest of this entry is directed mainly at those who are disappointed, angry, scared, disheartened, etc. with the outcome. I would fall firmly into this group.

We have a democracy. And I tend to believe that, seeing as how this country is mostly 50/50, both sides deserve a fair chance to run things. I understand this race is (to many) a different story, but part of what is important to us as a country is that we have elections. The electoral college may be a system many disagree with, but it is the law, and until they decide to change it, there’s nothing to be done about it.

Marianne Williamson spoke live on Tuesday night and pointed out that for many of us who opposed a Trump presidency, we did so because we felt his views and statements threatened our democracy. We don’t now get to attack the same democracy and democratic process we were defending four days ago.

I’m a firm believer in the importance of, as ACIM calls it, “honoring your incarnation.” I don’t subscribe to RE-incarnation, as in trying to guess what you were in a past life, (an exercise that is amusing, if not utterly useless, at best) but incarnation meaning that place in society and the world into which you were born and into which you have been brought at this moment. You were born, and I was born, and everyone else — including Trump, and including Clinton — was born with a certain background, a certain set of parents, a certain geographical place, a certain time, a certain gender, a certain sex (because we understand those are different things right?), a certain race, a certain sexuality, and with certain skills, talents, and abilities that we were born with. A higher order that made it so? Not really the point. Why tends to be a silly question. “How?” and “Ok, now what?” are more productive questions.

The things that have come before us — the consciousness raising of the spiritual movement, our histories as individuals and as members of various groups — have brought us to this moment, and yes, have brought the country to a Trump victory. Regardless of who you voted for, everything up to this moment has been training us to be the highest versions of ourselves so that we can proactively continue to stand for love in all situations. Some people are missing the message — people on both sides, by the way.

You cannot bring darkness to light. You have to bring the light to the darkness. A doctor can’t set a broken bone without identifying it first, and they can’t remove a tumor without locating its source. But to dwell on the darkness is to abdicate our responsibility to enlighten it. The Course says, “It is not required that you complete the assignment,” (achieving total enlightenment in this lifetime), “but neither can you desist from the effort.” To throw our hands up and say “well, guess we’re f*cked for four years,” is a pretty self destructive thing to do. I get it. He has the White House, and the GOP has the Senate and the House. That does not make us powerless.

This is not a time to blame people. Not people who voted third party, not people who abstained from voting, not the DNC for manipulating Sanders out of the primary. It happened, and Tuesday happened. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion, I know. There is no enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree without the acceptance that “life is suffering” and seeking to find the solution. There is no entering the Promised Land without 40 years of wandering the desert. These are not new themes. As my dear friend told me,

“You have to believe it. First you be it, then you leave it.”

But dwelling on the cross, dwelling on “life is suffering”, or sitting down in the desert saying “To hell with it” is to completely hand control over to fear. “All thought creates form on some level” (ACIM). You want to enact change? Start with thought. Transform it into action.

So what’s the concern?

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to the LGBTQ+ community? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to the Muslim community? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to the Latino/a community? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to women? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to people with disabilities? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to small businesses? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat to Syrian refugees? Go stand with them.

Were you averse to a Trump presidency because of the threat the environment? Go stand with those who seek to protect it.

And don’t just stand there, do something! I supported Hillary in this election, and if you paid attention to the speeches she and President Obama gave throughout and after this race, then you know that she and President Obama have called for us to support each other and work together. (So did Trump, in his victory speech, by the way).

Find organizations in your community that service these groups you feel Trump has threatened. Peacefully protest, maintain political activism. Staying silent for four years then blowing up social media with political posts for a few months only to go silent again discredits our conviction. We have a voice. People supported LGBT rights long before the country passed legislation granting marriage equality. And if that and other progress gets turned back, we must not let each other go through any of this alone.

How? Volunteer. Donate time and resources that you can to groups that will support women, refugees, immigrants, the environment. Double down on your efforts to de-stigmatize and to enact positive change. National, state, local, family, individual level.

“Each of us has a unique part to play in the healing of the world” (Marianne Williamson). Honor that part — honor your incarnation.

Now. We have a voice. We are guaranteed that. We are not guaranteed to always get our way. And let me be clear — there is nothing enlightened about rioting, destroying property, harassing people, threatening each other, or threatening politicians because of how the race played out. That goes for both sides, by the way. Peaceful assembly an demonstration is one thing.

As Hillary and President Obama both said on Wednesday, Trump is our President-Elect. We owe him an open mind, and a chance to lead. This is not about sticking our heads in the sand. This is not about turning our backs on our neighbors when things go wrong. This is a call to each of us — especially the 60,000,000 of us who supported Hillary — to continue to hold ourselves to the values for which we fought. Both Clinton and Trump seek to unify the country (so they say). Everything that’s happened to each of us has brought us to this moment, and this is the time to protect the individuals that those whose thinking is governed by fear and intolerance may seek to suppress.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. And along the tunnel too. 60,000,000 lights. But all 300,000,000 of us are wired for electricity too.

This is a turning point for sure. It’s up to each of us whether we fall into the easy trap of despondent thinking or continue to hold ourselves to the standards and values for which we voted.

We are in this together. The president does not have absolute power, and we do not have to be all that he is. We do owe the democratic process respect, we owe him a chance, and we are called to extend love and support to each other (yes, even to Republicans!).

“God’s will be done on earth as in heaven” means, “Oh it will be.” God’s will. Well, we know in esoteric Christian terms of ACIM that God is love and will means thought (which as I say at least twice per essay, creates form). Loving thought will be done. On earth as it is in heaven — in our oneness with God, with each other.

I’d like to close with the invocation with which Marianne opens many of her services/lectures/publications. It first appeared in Illuminata in the late ’90s, and is something I find myself reading or reciting to myself several times a day. When we begin to feel despondent about this or any other problem, perhaps visit this meditation as an attempt to realign with love.

“We see in the middle of our minds a little ball of golden light.

We watch this light as it begins to grow, larger and larger,

Until now it covers the entire inner vision of our minds.

We see in this light a beautiful temple.

We see a garden that surrounds the temple and a body of water that flows through the garden.

We see that the inside of this temple is lit as well,

By this same beautiful golden light.

And here we are,

For we have been drawn here together

By the power, and in the presence, of God.

We dedicate our days, all our relationships, and experiences to him.

We ask that his holiest spirit be upon us,

So that we might be lifted above

The sorrows, limitations, and the fears of this world

To the endless love and peace which lay beyond.

And so it is;

Amen.”

Love is the Power,

Now and forever.