Parasites. This week a person in the public eye labelled some people as parasites, and laughed at the idea that these parasites were being starved of life. It makes sense that they would express this thought because they were raised in the country which most prominently and most recently used the system of humiliation to govern for generations. Apartheid. I believe that we can build beyond humiliation with integrity, inclusion, and innovation.

Kofi Annan, once said “all the cruel and brutal things, even genocide, start with the humiliation of one individual.” I believe that this humiliation is caused by personal shame and blame in the heart of the individual who humiliates the other. I believe that this shame and blame is caused by that person’s own relational experiences. I believe that this shame and blame is the only original sin; it is what separates humans from each other and from true love. And I believe that in order for humanity to progress as fully as we are capable of progressing we need to recognize that this shame and blame did not begin with us, and it can end with us if we choose to consciously move towards being healed by the love of the original source of love.

Kofi Annan’s full quote is: Paying attention to the woman or man next to you, to the individual, is very important, because all the cruel and brutal things, even genocide, start with the humiliation of one individual.

For so long we have been immersed in this system which has humiliated and labelled a sector of humans as parasites, takers, while indoctrinating another set to see themselves as the givers as the humans in the equation.

The system of indoctrination went so far as to officially define the parasite class as 3/5th’s of a human.

Interestingly the wealth and stability of those who called themselves fully humans were built using forced unpaid labour of the marginalized, oppressed, brutalized humans who were humiliated and debased as 3/5th’s of a person.

For more than four hundred years of modern history France, Britain, the United States of America, and Canada built their nations on this concept of humiliation and exploitation of humans. Their governing systems used elements of Prince Henry of Portugal’s racist theory of humanity which was developed in the 1400’s when he sought to justify building his empire through brutal colonization.

Hitler’s Nazi party studied the American model of humiliation – slavery and then racial segregation, in order to implement the Nazi German system of White Supremacy which created the holocaust and the systemic extermination of millions of Jews, homosexuals, and people with different kinds of ability whom we call disabled.

Dutch Caucasians built the South African system of apartheid, and studied all of the preceding systems of humiliation to build theirs.

And here we are again in musky times where ego seeks to trump the good of humanity.

If we are to be messengers of hope and architects of equity, then we, the people, likely need to focus on building connections in our communities as whom we really are, instead of whom we have been indoctrinated to be.

To build as we are, and not as we have been indoctrinated to be, we have to focus on getting to know ourselves again, and then be careful to shed the elements of the system of dominance and inferiority which will creep in as pre-existing parasites in our gut.

The group which has been enjoying the benefit of dominance is not the dominant group.

The group which has been labelled and treated as subordinate is not subordinate.

These things are true whether we are in the parental system, the traditional educational system, the religious system, the political system, the employment system, friendship systems, the professional caring systems, etc etc.

There are no dominants and no subordinates. There are only equals. And leaders in each of these systems are responsible for creating equity among equals so that we can live with the full benefit of inclusion, integrity, and innovation.

Because we have all internalized these labels, it is extremely important that we intentionally pursue a mind shift as we do our work of building more functionally healthy communities.

It is most essential that we shed the shame which is unconsciously attached to living this lie in which we have been marinated.

It didn’t start with us, and it can change and shift with us.

May we embrace Portia Nelson’s compassion-based vision of learning, as first shared with me by David Loyst:

Learning is a process.

https://youtu.be/5E5_Sbml0XY?si=XtYB4aPjMD7F5MGT

Unconscious incompetence: we don’t know what we don’t know.

Conscious incompetence: now we know what we don’t know.

Conscious competence: we begin to intentionally practice to do what we have learned to do. And sometimes we’ll fumble.

Unconscious competence: we have evolved into just naturally doing what we now know without even thinking about it.

And along the way may we remember the innocence of our little souls whose initial deepest desire was to experience the fullness of the light as a part of the human community, as illustrated in Neale Donald Walsch’s The Little Soul and The Sun.

This parable was first read to me by Dr. Vanessa Lapointe, in a private session with Jodi Higgs in 2017 or 2018. It was a glorious moment of awakening for all of us I believe. And I believe that we have several, if not many, such moments throughout our lives.

Both of these women had touched my heart in different ways many years before we came together for that session. None of us had ever envisioned us being in a room together.

My first encounter with Vanessa was at a Discipline Without Damage workshop hosted by Wind and Tide Preschool in 2014. I had no clue whom she was, but I did know that the email which announced the workshop seemed like an invitation which I could not resist on my quest to experience the fullness of the peaceful, powerful, nurturing, woman that I knew myself to be. I moved heaven and earth to attend.

Jodi and I were in a Facebook community moms’ group together. Her contributions to the group discussion connected so deeply with the way my heart had begun to seek to walk on my aforementioned quest. And then one day in discussion as a mom was seeking input from that online community, Jodi mentioned that she was a foster parent support worker, and my heart immediately locked in as that was exactly what I needed and had been asking for as a foster parent.

Again, I had to move heaven and earth to finally meet her in person as a part of my team. It took years, and many tears, and it was absolutely 100% worth it.

On the day that we three sat together in Vanessa’s office, as Vanessa read this parable out loud for us, a glorious energy filled the room that seemed to be the merging of the spiritual, logical, and mystical powers of the universe. I had never experienced anything like it, and never did again until I had another session on May 24th 2021, with a person whom I experienced as my twin flame friend, even though we have since divorced as friends.

I have since had two other more intimate and personal experiences of awakening, alone, with that complex powerful source, named I AM, whom I lovingly call My Love Most High.

And all of that has brought me to this place of crystal clear knowing that we are meant to progress together as the beautiful beings whom we really are; and to get there each of must choose to engage in our personal healing learning experiences, saturated with grace, compassion, and faith, so that we can finally move humanity forward together.