And some don’t. They live instead in a cheapened, diminished world defined only by power, greed, and wealth, by who you hate and how to hurt them. It is a very strange way to live on a planet where every stone can be a teacher and every breeze a language, every lake a mirror and every tree a ladder to the stars. Where we have the timeless words of spiritual ancestors from around the globe, guiding us gently down a path of beauty.

Yet we must try to live with them—the ignorant and the foolish, the cruel and the misguided, awash in their hate-filled slogans, their stupid memes and LMAO responses to everything they don’t or won’t understand. And sometimes they hold the levers of power, and insist that we see the world as they do, and bow to the gold encrusted crown of mindless power.

And then, as has been true throughout history, we must simply say no. Must find the courage to once more rise up and defend beauty. And mystery. Human dignity. And the better angels of our nature. The battle goes on endlessly, as it always has. And perhaps in that knowledge itself we find comfort and strength, and greet the sunrise with gratitude, and a prayer.

(This is my latest Substack post. You can follow/subscribe to me there at Notes From The Campfire@douglaswoodauthor)