Alienation

One often thinks that the end of the earth is somewhere new and desolate; unfamiliar to ones own senses. Perhaps it is simply a reflection of an inner sense of alienation, from ourselves, reflected outward onto a particular place and its people. Perhaps people living there also feel a sense of being different from their neighbors and even family.

I've been to places where my anxiety tends to increase and I feel out of place. Out of my comfort zone and uncertain of where to go if I were to meet danger. It's a primitive feeling that is connected to our so call 'Lizard Brain'. Anxiety is as old as attachment and just as gruesome. Sure it saves us from a hungry lion, but it also shoots someone who is innocent, or at least not deserving of death.

Our capacity to panic is too strong for the reality of our world. We need to dial back our fear and turn up our sense of common humanity.

I remember going to someones house, in East Texas, and learning that the whole family were Texas Ranchers. It did not take long for me to wonder how I would relate, being a Yankee, from Massachusetts. Gifts of Sweet Tea, pickled okra and melons, I tried to fake it through my being impressed. Then one day, recently, I opened my pickled jar of jalepeno's and tried one. It was damn good! My time with the family, though we were different, was impressionable and I feel so grateful to have prayed and spent time with them. I think when I get to Maine, I'll send them a few lobsters, just to say 'Thank you.'

One of the prerequisites to seeking out our shared common humanity is loosing our need to judge the other person. We each have to work on our capacity to listen to  each others deeper truth of feelings, hopes, and what makes us happy. And for everyone this is different. It's that ole saying, 'whatever floats your boat.' And then perhaps, one day, we will be a little more gentle with our own inner alien.