All posts by Lemfel
“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” – John Kennedy
Racism is one of many challenges facing all of us now, and not far behind it is homelessness and the mental illness that often is part of this condition. How do Lemurians think about homeless people and relate to them? Two Lemurian Order members tackle this subject.
Encounter at Dunkin Doughnuts
As I sat on a bench outside Dunkin Donuts having my coffee, a very tired looking man plunked down next to me. He carried the characteristic plastic trash bag holding cans and bottles, which told me he was a “canner.” And from the look of him and the heft of his bag I could tell he wasn’t having a very profitable day.
I decided to strike up a conversation with him but he wasn’t in a very talkative mood, except for with himself. I asked him about the impact of the COVID-19 virus shutting down the redemption centers, and hadn’t they just re-opened recently? But very shortly he drifted back to the very active conversation he was having inside his own head. So I sat quietly eating my doughnut, trying not to eavesdrop as he carried on.
I felt an urge to do something for this man, perhaps offer him a doughnut or give him some money, but something told me to think carefully before acting. He was not asking anything of me, and though giving him money or buying him a meal might make me feel very good, I realized it could be perceived by him as offensive. My well-intended desire, driven solely by feeling, could easily do more harm than good.
I had done all I could think of for him, and that was to treat him like a regular guy and not wall him off as the vagrant one feels uncomfortable around and so often tries to avoid. I resisted the urge to do what would make me feel good about myself, and just wished him a good day.
“Willie”
Each weekday morning I arrived at Penn Station in New York City with hundreds of other commuters. The homeless seemed ubiquitous, and every day for weeks one of them stood in the middle of the Penn Station concourse during the morning rush hour. Unshaven and slightly stooped as he leaned on his walker, the man I’ll call Willie wore shoulder length white hair, his stained clothes old and baggy. He stood fast in the face of the oncoming horde of commuters, yelling unintelligibly, causing them to divide on either side of him.
Each morning I hurried past Willie with indifference. I walled him off emotionally, assuming he had psychological challenges and was no more than a noisy object. Still, his presence troubled me. When I finally set aside my well-reasoned rationalization and was willing to be honest with myself, I realized the reason for my negative reaction was my fear of Willie.
As a Lemurian student, I was learning why I should try to treat all people with kindness, patience and tolerance. This is easy with family, friends, and others I get along with. The challenge for me is to extend this loving respect to people I don’t like, who rub me the wrong way or who I want to avoid. But the idea slowly crept into my mind that Willie, just like me, was a human being with problems. Gradually I began to study him. No longer was he just an object on the concourse. I could see him as a person with a hard life. Though I knew I should be careful approaching a stranger, I felt Willie was not a danger and one day, finally, I decided to greet him.
Next morning Willie was at his usual spot, yelling loudly. Gathering my courage I cut across the path of the commuters, came face to face with him and introduced myself. He stopped yelling. As people streamed around us, he told me of his life on the streets, how hard it was but how it was safer than living in the city’s shelters. He talked about being robbed and that he worried it would happen again. We spoke of his injured leg and the medical care he was receiving. When I asked why he yelled at us each morning, Willie said he was just trying to catch our attention. Since he wasn’t panhandling, maybe he just wanted to be noticed.
We talked until it was time for me to go. When I walked away, Willie was no longer the wildly yelling homeless man. He was a human being with feelings, fears, and problems. Just like me.
I still think of Willie and wonder if he remembers me.
None knows the weight of another’s burden. George Herbert
Overhearing the expression, “I can’t breathe” by a television commentator last week as I walked into the room brought to my mind an incident that had taken place in another city involving a black man killed at the hands of a white police officer several years ago, and I silently wondered about these words. I quickly learned that this expression referred to a similar incident the night before in a city fewer than ten miles from where I live, involving a white police officer killing a black man by putting pressure on his neck with his knee for more than eight minutes, even though the man had been handcuffed from behind.
My first reaction was, “This can’t be happening again!” The thought of this recent incident, coupled with restrictions dealing with the Covid pandemic, was momentarily incomprehensible, but as we now know, much more was to come. There have been ongoing protests and demonstrations here, in many other cities, and abroad, against this present brutal murder, as well as racial discrimination in general everywhere, through expressions of frustration, anger, confusion, defiance, and outright violence against persons and property.
Why do such incidents continue to happen, almost with a degree of regularity? This is not an isolated case; such happenings have been going on for years, even centuries. Of course, I do not presume to know the answers, but since I have been studying the Lemurian Philosophy, I understand more than I did before, such as the Law of Action and Reaction, and the Law of Correspondence. I learned that there are no accidents in life.
As an African-American raised in the Deep South at a time when racial discrimination was a social norm, I am familiar with acts of harassment and racial discrimination, as well as other forms of discrimination and hatreds not of a racial nature, but based on other apparent or perceived differences.
I know what being on the receiving end of racial discrimination feels like. It makes one feel small, insecure, incapable, lonely, unhappy. I have also been on the receiving end of love, acceptance, and appreciation, such as expressed to me by the Lemurian Fellowship. It makes one feel alive, joyous, hopeful, capable in ways that convince me that this is the way life should be lived, in understanding and in harmony.
Through my understanding of the Lemurian Philosophy, I am learning that there is a purpose for being in embodiment, which involves practical and balanced ways to help myself make essential spiritual progress and to control my environment. The other part of this purpose is to learn ways of living in harmony with others, in spite of apparent and supposed differences. This is in alignment with Christ’s admonishment to love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.
I learned that we cannot mistreat other fellow humans with impunity. We cannot assume a superiority over another for superficial reasons because in another lifetime, we could be the oppressed ones seeking to learn from the errors of our mistakes in dealing with those we oppressed. Nor can we expect or make demands of another to do for us what we can do for ourselves because it is our responsibility to use our minds to accomplish whatever we desire in life and not depend on another for this. It is a universal truth that for every action, there is a reaction, so it will be to our advantage to act kindly to all because we do not know when we will sorely need this kindness in return.
Looking back at the critical situation about the brutal murder mentioned earlier, I think how different everything would have been if everyone had followed the Golden Rule, to treat everyone the way one would want to be treated. For example, there would not have been a summons for the police, no brutal treatment, no demonstrations or violent protests, no remorse of any kind.
Since there are no accidents in life, I pray that some good will come from this very unfortunate circumstance. My hope is that this will spur a transition to more purposeful goals, resulting in better understanding and greater harmony among all of us. Then, the loss, pain, misunderstanding and suffering of this situation will be of greater value. We must develop more constructive ways of relating to others. There is a saying that history has a way of repeating itself. However, I hope, at least this time, this will be a beginning for something better, and not having to say, “This can’t be happening again!”
