“There’s always a bit of heaven in a disaster area!” exclaimed Wavy Gravy, as the rains fell and the traffic snarled at the Woodstock Music Festival, fifty years ago this August. When I listened to Marianne Williamson at the 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate, I shared Wavy Gravy’s reaction, toward the chaos of now, “there’s always a bit of heaven in a disaster area!”

Love has arrived at the top echelon of political discourse. Love rises when it faces a truly worthy opponent. To continue on a path of knowledge in the world of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico, one must encounter a truly worthy opponent. In a recent Netflix episode, David Letterman and Howard Stern respectfully acknowledged the power of love’s most worthy opponent as they discussed the many personal interviews they had each conducted with Donald Trump over the past 30 years.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal called this past June the warmest gain in the Dow since 1938. This past week, France suffered the warmest temperatures in its history. Where’s the connection?

Last week,  Duke Energy representative Randy Wheeless, in North Carolina, explained his company’s reluctance to pursue renewable energy. “I think a lot of environmentalists talk about the end of the world, but there are a lot of people still worried about the end of the month, and how to pay bills,” he said. What bills will be left to pay “when the Garden is gone,” as Neil Young sings?

The truth is evident. The issue of now is not what is true but what is right. Immigrant children are taken from their parents; this is government policy, which will cause deep, perhaps irreparable psychological damage to those children. This is scientifically known truth.

In this case, the coveted ‘end’ of illegal immigration is said to justify this inhumane ‘means.’ America First has supplanted what once made America the world’s great beacon of hope. America has lost its connection to the heart in the service of personal gain at all costs.

This national foray into heartless narcissism has been an incredibly humbling outing of America’s shadow. We all must face the preponderance of self-importance and the facade of altruism behind  our noble American Dream. America stalked the heart center at its founding but has always masked its self-serving intent.

Thankfully, but dangerously, that facade has crumbled. As individuals we are challenged to face the preponderance of our narrow personal survival fears. Is the stock market’s contribution to our retirement more important than the survival of the world? Is trade really the highest god?

The worthy opponent of now is fixation at the third chakra, the home of narcissistic personal power. That fixation is obsessed only with the accrual of its own power. From its perspective, personal needs trump the survival of the world. We must all reckon with our attachment to this fixation. Masked altruism is what landed us here.

Real love awaits at the heart chakra. Real love embraces the truths and needs of the one world we are all part of. The heart chakra faces the truth of survival needs and will require, of all, great sacrifice to survive as a world.

We find our way to the heart by facing our own deepest truth with compassion. We then turn that compassion, however ruthlessly, to all the worthy opponents who boldly honor narcissism. No parts can be left out of the whole. From there, the heart will guide.

I hear Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young singing to me, from within, “Carry on, love is coming, love is coming to us all…..”  Happy 4th. Celebrate true Independence.

Carry on,

Chuck