As a preface to my rambling reflection, I’ll simply disclose that I didn’t vote for our current president.

Now with that out of the way, I’ll also disclose that I am not particularly dreading the next four years. Actually, I feel some excitement thinking about half of the country rising up to the challenge at hand while the other half delights in celebrating their hero. I know, crazy.

I believe a lot could go wrong, but I also believe that a lot could go right. But if I saw right as wrong, then… well, everything would go wrong, right? 

I might be a hopeless optimist, but I believe that darkness and contrast are necessary for balance. And that said, do I think the world should become a more and more tolerant place all the time? Absolutely!

With the understanding that political affiliation sometimes equates to a form of religion, at least in France, where I grew up, you could almost say that, while I wasn’t raised religious, I was raised socialist.

How the word came to have such a negative connotation in the U.S. is very confusing to me. And remember: I grew up with a set of beliefs that indoctrinated me into thinking that socialism is a good thing. Just like we believe in this country (I think most of us, anyway) that democracy is a good thing.

When I took my cinema studies course, I learned that American cinema was “Manichean.” There is a lot of good vs. bad themes. Not a ton of room for grey areas. While I feel like this isn’t true of all American films, I have to look at what’s produced en masse and agree.

And keep in mind, I’m exploring beliefs and points of view here, with at least some awareness that I have societal filters on, so pretty much everything I’m writing could be argued.

But back to Manichean views: The fight against evil. Good guys/bad guys (and girls, and people of all genders). Democracy vs. Totalitarianism. Republicans vs. Democrats.

What’s the problem there?

Hint: It’s not one or the other.

The problem (in my opinion) lies in that division in between. Granted, opposites and contrasts are part of the whole, but holding on to our precious beliefs for dear life might, maybe, possibly, be disconnecting us from each other and our complex, multi-dimensional, grey-area’d humanity.

Do you consider yourself bad? Of course not, at least on the whole (if you do, please consider seeking support). Have you ever done something bad? Probably many times.

Have you ever done something good? Same answer as above, right?

So are you good or bad?

How could you ever tell without simplifying so much that you lose a part of your humanity?

But we do it all the time. We’re so overwhelmed with the crazy pace of life—(good or bad, see what I’m doing here?)—that we have to simplify to be able to function day to day.

So let’s pause here for a second.

Are you breathing?

Yes?

Good. (Ha!) Can you breathe a little deeper yet?

Great.

Pausing and taking a breath is an invitation to connect with ourselves in the moment.

And to me, that’s the first step to go toward connecting with others around us and, since I’m feeling grandiose right now, to go toward a reunification of the human race.

In these moments when we use a “versus” mentality to view the world around us, we simply have forgotten our own connection to ourselves, to the divine, to the mystery of this miracle called life, and to all of humanity—past, present, and future.

But we can go back to remembering more often. When we’re affected by a simple smile, the cute sight of a parent loving their child, or noticing a person that could desperately use these couple dollars you can spare.

Hate and division are not the norm. That’s what I choose to believe, and you’re welcome to join me in the peaceful journey toward human unification and peace.

It starts with each and every one of us being willing to lower these guards a little bit and look at each other with genuine curiosity.

And, oh: Love. There. I said it.

I love you, whoever you voted for.

I feel a restlessness as I perceive stagnation.

But this is just a slowing down, of course.

Things are always changing, moving, evolving. Connections are deepening. Patterns are reemerging in the light, to be thanked and released. Visions are dancing in the dark, waiting for their entrance into the light.

The richness of the cave is infinite. “Inside of us, there is everything,” Monica Bellucci said. And "everything" can be unsettling at times. Stewing under the surface like lava under solidified rock. Still moving, but out of sight. Very alive, but not active.

Will the volcano explode or overflow? When the time is ripe, how will it express itself?

No one even really knows. The future is but a concept in our mind. The present is the only time that can ever be found. The past sometimes informs, but mostly keeps us down.

What will we do in the moment when the vision comes to light?

What will we do in the moment when the lava flows out?

What will we be in the future, that we aren’t already now?

Source, essence, an expression of how from the universe.

Flow, my soul, through the layers of life.

Never a dull moment until the Afterlife.