I really enjoyed the Michael Lerner lecture. A few things really stood out to me as I listened to him share. For starters, his lecture was not at all what I was expecting. I cannot tell you what I was expecting because I do not really know, but when I went the last thing I was expecting to hear was a lecture on hope. It really reminded me of what we have been talking about in class with law of attraction and making things happen and believing that anything is possible. Michael talked about the difference between hope and optimism. It was a comparison that he had heard before that really stood out to him that he had never forgotten. “Optimism is the belief that everything is going to go away; whereas, hope it a choice to fight regardless of the consequences.” Michael made the comment that without hope it is difficult to live.
Michael asked a really thought provoking question during his lecture: “how do we live with the brokenness of the world?” I thought it was a really good question because I feel as though that is what everyone is trying to figure out. The world we live in is undoubtedly a broken world: it is a world that is hurting and searching for the hope that we talked about earlier. As I think about my response to this question, I think that everyone has to find their hope. Everyone is searching to fill the same void but everyone fills it in a different way. The goal is ultimately to not have to live in a broken world, but until then we must learn to cope. I do believe that seeking to change it is part of the “living with it” process. Settling is the worst thing that someone can do and simply accepting the brokenness is settling for it. Everyone has a small role that they can play and when you start making a difference it brings that hope that people are searching for in their own lives. As everyone starts making a change then before you know it that brokenness won’t be as strong as it use to be. Michael’s response was “the best way is to truly feel it and to feel it deeply. We have to see the brokenness as a source of awakening. We need enough of us to feel that brokenness to make a difference.”
The most impressive thing that I learned about Michael was that he is a Christian. The whole lecture was for the Smith Farm Center, a center that brings hope to people who are battling cancer. He was very honest as he talked about the despair that he got into as he dealt with his cancer. He said that he came to the point where he realized his need for absolute surrender to the living God. There is no better hope than Jesus Christ and knowing that He loves you and that you can have a real relationship with Him. He is the rock that gets you throw the storms of life like cancer, death of family members, and the numerous other things that make this life hard and this world broken. Michael made the comment “many people deny the spiritual world exists” and I believe this with my whole heart. Very few people do I think have an absolute denial that there is anything higher than this world. I would say that most people have a knowledge that they accept about a higher power or spiritual being even if they don’t really embrace it. It is sad because I truly believe that the belief is God brings a hope that nothing in this world can ever bring. It also brings a healing on a deeper level that is indescribable and easily attainable.
As Michael talked, he said that “true healing takes place in the unique particulars”. They talked about how they go on natural walks at the Smith Farm Center and how it helps people heal and I thought that it was a really good concept. You can’t help but look around and see the hand of a higher power in this beautiful world that we live in and I think that seeing how intrinsically the trees, flowers, birds, and everything in nature is made it brings a healing and hope to us as humans that if someone out there could make all of these things flow so perfectly, He must care about us.
Michael made the comment that “being broken evokes kindness and makes us receptive to kindness”. He said that kindness is a word that people understand and that it’s a good way for us to help each other heal. Kindness is easy to understand but it is seen less and less in this world today. It was a good admonition for me to just not take lightly the impact that kindness can have on people. Simple gestures like saying hello and smiling to people can make someone’s day. “We must hope that we find the golden thread together as human beings…the golden thread relates to the planet as a whole and it goes back to deep spirituality.” We are all here on this planet together and it’s about time that we start acting like it and help each other.
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