Today and every day I celebrate and give thanks for all the brave courageous women who operated the Underground Railroad leading countless slaves to freedom. I'm celebrating International Women's Day every day, not just in March. I'm adding their monument as another one of my "must see" places: National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH. I'm sure it will parallel the chills I felt when I walked through a similar Women's exhibit years ago in Kansas City, MO. I want to know about all the people who contributed so very much to our freedom and the countless blessings we experience each day expressly due to their largely unsung efforts. These women are known as those who held up half the sky. I remember and give thanks for these heretic heroes who mean so very much to me: specifically Harriet Tubman and the countless women I don't know!

I also give thanks for all I'm willing to learn and the profound changes coming out of it for me as I share new understandings of what I previously accepted as real even though what I currently understand is so radically different than anything I was taught as a child. I continue to be enlightened and enlivened by Margaret Starbird's amazing work. Her landmark book, "The Goddess In The Gospels", about who Mary Magdalene really was, is loaded to the gills with information that is so different than anything I ever heard no matter how progressive and open the circles I run in are. What I currently understand and honor is my own understanding of an avatar's life. I do not believe that Jesus was crucified. I understand there's no need for someone who lives from Presence to be crucified. The common biblical story is simply a first century understanding of a people who didn't understand that Power is within them. They looked to an outer hero instead of within which is the only place that things can change. I've known this Truth for decades and It continues to change everything I previously believed as true. I'm grateful.

I also give profound thanks to the many people and organizations working so consciously to build the Beloved Community. It is yet another effort to blend the strengths of individuality with the strengths of community. Dr. King said, "Injustice toward one is injustice toward all." Building the Beloved Community is yet another example of how our hearts and minds must work together from Love rather than fear. It takes conscious compassionate diligence to accomplish this Purpose. We must be heart connected with ourselves and others to accomplish this Purpose. These ideas are particularly relevant to me as I reread an article about the Justice GA of 2012 celebrated by the Unitarian Universalist Association last year working toward resolving immigration issues and the horrendous violence of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Tent City he has set up in Arizona for the last 20 years. To build a Consciousness of a Beloved Community it is imperative that we look and act beyond our own individual lives and fully realize how inextricably interwoven our lives really are. We must "Stand On The Side Of Love" as the 2012 UUA motto says. I certainly do stand on the side of love!!!!!

I love this quote by Albert Schweitzer, "The most difficult thing I ever had to do is follow the guidance I prayed for." I smiled in recognition of his comment. My first thought was it's because our Guidance always takes us beyond known boundaries. That's exactly what It's designed to do!!! I'm here to live the highest holiest Life I know. I can't do that when I'm hiding in a corner. Bring on the Guidance. I will follow It!!!!!

Another social justice issue that is so current and so important is the changing definition of marriage. This is just one of many issues that calls us out to love from the model of all the avatars of all the spiritual traditions of our humanity. No matter what the issue is it doesn't serve a useful purpose to hide behind the mantra of "That's the way it's always been" or the Good Book of whatever tradition says such and such. Here's where my reading shines a thunderbolt of recognition on how this all evolved. Thousands of years ago as we moved from the Goddess traditions of equality to the patriarchal tradition of ownership it is so important to recognize how in this transition all women's rights were taken away and the woman was viewed as property owned by such and such man. Huge vestiges of this ownership mentality are still so very alive today. I'm not here for that!!!

The model I live from is Power within, not power over!!! Power within is the basis of Self Love and Self Respect which translates to respect and love for all others. The very same values resonate in the Beloved Community model. The Partnership model that Riane Eisler speaks to in all her work is relevant here. It reminds me of Dr. Marshall Rosenberg's work in Nonviolent Communication. We're moving in this direction as a global community. There's a great deal of work yet to be done and at the same time I know we're moving in this direction and I'm passionately devoted to keep moving in this direction. It's how world peace is demonstrated and modeled.

In our emotional and spiritual development we're still moving through the differences between independence and isolation and the differences between enmeshment and interdependence. The differences are huge. The consequences for not recognizing the differences are huge. This isn't the first time I've said that!!! Emotional health and connection absolutely depend on our recognition of where my boundaries begin and end and where your boundaries begin and end. Abuse is the result of not recognizing these boundaries. Fear and self-hatred are always the underpinning of not recognizing these boundaries. Abusers always take out their self-hatred on others!!!

Perfect timing for a quote I just saw and a new name: Ludwig Boerne says: "Those who can work in the realm of the real and live in that of the ideal have attained the highest." I love the idea that those of us who know better are sent here as examples for those who do not yet understand how to live from the highest ideal of Love and Compassion. That's how I understand that statement. There are always disappointments in the physical realm and yet there are always blessings present in the same moment as we look for them and cherish them. I truly know that disappointments always bring higher understandings if I will allow room for the transformation. I am reminded again of the statement: "We can only bring someone to a Consciousness of Love by loving them, not by criticizing or denigrating them." It's a move beyond a knee jerk pain-based, fear-based reaction rather than a Conscious Love-based response!!! It means I am centered and clear. I am totally grounded in the Truth of my Spirit Identified Nature. It also means recognizing that the physical is Spirit Identified too. That's the Unitive Principle of Empowerment!!! Peace!!! This is our spiritual Journey as enlightened humans. We are the Light of the World!!!!!!!!