Blogblast for Peace 2020: Cosmic Latte

 

Cosmic Latte.  It is the color of the universe. Someone studies all of the colors of stars and supernovas and bits of in between and discovered that the color of the universe is Cosmic Latte.

It's a light color, something you might call ecru or cream.  Some people see a bluish tinge. Some see yellow or brown or green.  I see the color I grew up with. The color my mother painted almost every room in our house.  Cosmic Latte.

And so the oneness was reflected back at us as children.  Without knowing why or what, our parents reflected oneness, unity, compassion for self and others back to us and to everyone who knew them.

They reflected it in the wide variety of oddballs, creatives, scoundrels, and angels who sat in our house talking about the universe.  The universe in the local county council election.  The universe in a budget for a regional university campus. The universe in the stories that may or may not have happened, but were always true. The laughter and the yelling and the tears.

We struggled against it.  I painted my room a darker latte -- more coffee, less latte, and although Mom was appalled, she let me.  We might have wished for parents who cared only about us and not about the world.  Parents who didn't see the other side of our battles. That was really annoying. But we got parents who saw the oneness.

We saw the universe too, eventually.  When I was in college the first time, I realized that major or hometown or political view were not what made a person "one of mine." It was a spark I saw, across a debate stage, in a dark bar, in a crowded classroom. We gathered our own motley crew of people like us. We still had others, though. We didn't always see the spark.

In these times of division, it feels as if  chaos demon has spread a reddish haze of anger and fear.  In that haze, it is harder to see the spark unless it is very close.  Together in a meeting. In the classroom.  In the same office.  It's hard to see the spark in across the debate stage or lines of demarcation in social media. Duality is the king for the day.  

Yet duality is not the stuff of our universe. It is not the stuff of our faiths.  This is what we learn: Love others as God loves you. Love your neighbor as yourself. Allah has made you to know each other and not to despise each other. Everything that exists, seen and unseen, is connected. I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together ... I am the walrus.

It is our responsibility to clear our haze and find the sparks in other people.  To find compassion. If we have social media instead of face to face conversations, let's find a way to see the spark.  It's hard. This is our path to peace. 

If you tell me it can't be done, I'll block you. Kidding, maybe. I'm too good at troll hunting.  I'm too good at sarcasm. It's my thing.  My Individuation. What makes me special. So, yeah, I have to give that up gently. I want to return to the reflection of the oneness.  It's my road. It's your road. All roads lead to ...

The cosmic latte.