Brief Meditation on the Fall of the Berlin Wall

On this day in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell…

A glorious day.

No doubt.

Full stop.

And then we go on…

And, sadly, I fear the wrong lessons have been held up.

Rather than a celebration of human nobility, of our amazing possibilities,

a narrow view of what we should be about crows its victory.

In modern times it appears two extreme philosophies have pitted themselves against each other. The one based in fear and the other in greed.

The one based in fear had collapsed…

The one based in greed thought it had won…

And, so, here we are today.

Sad, sad…

We were born for so much more…

It really seems until we understand ourselves, our shadows, our wounds, and our highest aspirations, we will be doomed to careen from one extreme to another.

We need to understand the individual needs room to move, the possibility for creative action.

And we need to know we belong to each other, that we have profound mutual responsibilities for each other and this world.

We need another way…