Gentleness

Photo: L. Weikel

It’s been two hours since the debacle ended. My pulse is only now returning to some semblance of a slow and steady beat. And the only thing I can think to write about is gentleness.

What we witnessed tonight is part of the shit-show I suspected would unfold this week. Oh goody – I can’t wait for the moon to become full on Thursday. What lunacy could possibly unfold? I’m sure we’ll find out.

Trauma

Why do I feel gentleness – the main attribute of Deer, which came calling on me every afternoon the past few days – is the watchword for this evening’s post? Because I defy anyone who watched what was billed as a presidential debate (but was never in actuality anything even remotely resembling a debate) to tell me they did not feel battered and traumatized by the disgustingly rude and disrespectful behavior of DT this evening.

As a nation, as humans watching all over the world, quite frankly, we were brutalized. What we witnessed was the unfiltered and unflinching behavior of someone who has never been held to account for himself in his entire life. We witnessed the quintessential bully. While his words and actions may have titillated a small segment of the world – those who are as damaged as he is – I have enough belief in humanity to know that the vast majority of us reject this. He does not speak for us.

And we must mobilize to ensure his deranged tactics are no longer a threat to either our fellow United States citizens or the billions of people with whom we share this planet. We must shift and transmute the energy – the rage, the trauma, the terror – that his behavior is deliberately calculated to trigger within us all into a resolute determination to leave these old ways of trauma-informed tactics behind.

First Take Care of Ourselves

In order to make strides in shifting and transmuting these energies we much first take care of ourselves. And this is where the lesson of Deer comes in. It is essential that we disengage and remember who we are. Walk away from the clips that perpetuate DT’s brutish derision of our system and his opponent, as well as his outrageous lies.

Take a bath, walk in the woods, take ten minutes and just stand outside and look up into the sky. Get ready to greet a new month arriving with the full moon on Thursday.

Deer in the Medicine Cards* (by Jamie Sams and David Carson) entreats us to treat the insane bully with gentleness and loving kindness. In a sense, it will short-circuit him. Don’t argue. Pity him. Make a point of disengaging when the pressure becomes too intense.

Eat some hostas.