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Our world is on a journey. It's shifting. You can feel it if you are tuned in or paying attention. The transition we are feeling (I think) is the movement from one generation to the next. The old ways no longer serve the new generation; they are discarding, realigning, and choosing a new path. Everything seems unsettled and ready to be reordered. This shift must be the feeling that runs through a herd of cattle before they bolt in a new direction. Movement and growth are fraught with uncertainty, discomfort, and sometimes faltering steps. Moving the entirety of the human race through this transition will be incredibly difficult, and not all will be willing to make the crossing.
It will require that we continue to help each other and see each other as unique and valuable spiritual beings, all traveling together while knowing that each is having their journey simultaneously. We won't look the same, call God by the same name, share the same ideas, have the same cultures, or express ourselves the same way. Some may challenge the world in expressing their religious beliefs, gender, who they choose to love, or how they embody and present their internal truths. We celebrate them all if we come from a place of love. I know one truth above all others – everyone deserves love and respect. I had a student many years ago who said something beautiful and profound, "God loves everyone, and everyone is broken." How divine is it for us to embody that level of agape?
Our world is at a flexion point – we will either progress to the next level by accepting and embracing our differences OR choose to fall backward and regress into old patterns of fear and division. To step forward into uncertainty requires bravery. It requires supreme trust in the Universe and each other. To choose to grow is to occupy a space where things may not look like they used to or exist in the ways you may have previously and comfortably understood. That is part of the reason why there has been such a backlash against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
DEI represents an uncomfortable change for some and a welcomed acknowledgment for others. Our older generations and those whom they have indoctrinated with their fears about change and difference are finding this movement away from everything they've understood difficult and letting go to move into a more inclusive world nearly impossible to comprehend. They are being shocked by the transitions and are rebelling against it. All systems prefer stasis. It's predictable – safe…but offers no unexpected outcomes or allows new beautiful creations to blossom. We tend to like predictable things, but predictable needs to get shaken up occasionally to enable new ideas to emerge. The packed ground has to be broken open and tilled to plant new seeds.
Inclusion requires at least some level of acceptance of people & ideas we may not feel an affinity for. Inclusion may be perceived – I don't understand you, AND I accept you in your differences. People would all too often use the word BUT in place of AND. It is an essential understanding of language – – BUT negates the previous statement or puts restrictions while AND allows room for both ideas to exist simultaneously. We need a lot more AND.
Inclusion can extend even further to affirmation – I love and celebrate you for who and what you are without the need to question or judge. It's easy to stand on our soap box while shouting at others how right we are – maybe we are right…what if we love each other enough to stop and hear someone else's thoughts and ideas? What if we find out that we were wrong? With the election coming up soon (take a breath…or two), we will be tested to see if we can practice inclusion. It doesn't mean we must abandon our beliefs to keep the peace, but perhaps we should remember to keep everything in perspective.
My late friend, David Black, was a Tennessee Valley Art Association board member. We may have been about as polar opposites as they come, except for our love for the arts. He was a lifelong conservative Republican AND a beautifully kind and loving soul dedicated to fostering our community's continued growth of the arts. I have been a lifelong fiscally conservative and socially liberal Democrat. Within a few legal boundaries, we should live as we feel is suitable for ourselves without much hindrance.
David and I used to sit in the museum's kitchen and have wonderful, wide-ranging conversations about politics and the arts. We would sit and debate but listen to each other. We often disagreed completely but usually managed to find some common ground on which we could stand and respect each other. We appreciated each other's differences without causing some knee-jerk dismissal of the other one. I wish everyone had some of those conversations that allow both people to exist in the same space. In that acceptance, we have the great gift of including many people in our lives that we otherwise would dismiss, ignore, or fail to appreciate. I hope everyone gets to have a David in their lives at some point.
Breathe deeper, think higher, and walk taller.
David Black at Darshan Indian Festival at Tennessee Valley Museum of Art
Jonathan Cain is a native of Florence, Alabama, and has been the current Curator for the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art located in Tuscumbia, AL, since January 2020. He functioned in that role previously for several years before leaving to pursue a career in education. He holds an undergraduate degree in graphic design from the University of North Alabama and graduate degrees from both the University of Mississippi (MFA – Sculpture) and the University of North Alabama (MA – Clinical Mental Health). He is an eclectic artist who likes to pursue many different media.
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