I want to share a podcast that I absolutely loved with you all. It comes from one of my favorites, Rob Bell, who is a preacher, thinker, spiritual teacher and seemingly great guy all rolled into one. He’s been doing a series of podcasts on the Wisdom tradition from Proverbs about what wisdom really is and how we need it now more than ever.
In the midst of this series, the election happened and he invited an Irish friend and philosopher to join him to riff a bit on some of the deeper themes from the election. It sounds wonky, I know. And if you are like me, you can barely stand to hear one more thing. But this podcast is profoundly different.
It is gentle and invites listeners to broaden our view of the people we share this great nation with. His first recommendation is to accept that many of us are in a major re-orientation phase. Things feel off. We aren’t sure what’s going on. We are fearful and uncertain about what lies ahead. He says we just need to name it and sit with it for a while. Next, he advises that we listen to voices that we haven’t really heard and that, frankly, wouldn’t have been heard if Clinton had been elected. Ponder this: How much fear and economic strife would you have to have been in to disregard Trump’s more obvious and offensive statements and vote for him anyway? Short answer: A lot. We can disregard the small fraction of obvious bigots and racists. Once we do, we have to realize that within that 60 million votes Trump got, something profound and serious is going on in middle America that can’t be dismissed as trivial and mean-hearted.
The final piece of healing advice they offer is that from every disruption a new set of solutions and energy emerges that simply would not have been possible without an apocalypse of some kind. Think about how many student demonstrations and protests have erupted since the election. That hasn’t happened since, like, the 70s. And I’m planning to make my way to Washington, D.C. for the Women’s March right after the inauguration. The last time I marched for women’s rights in DC was the 90s. Sound familiar?
Here’s the link to the podcast. I know you’ll find it as calming and comforting as I did and I hope it gives some peace to the many of you who are still struggling to re-orient yourselves to this next chapter. We will find our way.
Peace.
Boonedoggler 