Do you think a woman has the right to do what she wants with her body?

Whether you answered yes or no, I’m going to explore what a “right” is and where it comes from because it seems to me if we don’t understand that, how will we understand if she has it or not?

We won’t.

And that’s what’s happening today.

There’s so much emotion (as their should be with such an intimate subject) in both sides that we don’t end up arguing about the origin of why and where a woman’s right comes from. Instead we argue who’s right and who’s wrong and make laws and break laws and re-write laws to force our point of view and to “win”.

Leonard Cohen has a line that sums up this motivation perfectly for me:

I couldn’t feel so I tried to touch

Hallelujah – L. Cohen

That’s what we’re doing at the highest levels of our society and I say the “highest levels” because this is where it matters most to the most people. Really, everyone is doing this but when those who are tasked with the enormous responsibility of making and enforcing laws that we all “have” to live by are doing it, it has an effect of building negative momentum away from the soul of the issues. We end up in an emotional trap, like a child who doesn’t know how to get what he wants, we use the only tools we have, children’s tools, to try to achieve.

I think saying that “Abortion” is the issue is using a child’s tool and the problem is that children are easily controlled. Think of the last time you needed to control your child, what did you do? Right! That’s exactly what’s being done to us. We are “forced”, coerced, manipulated, coddled, made comfortable so we will stop our crying, except we’re not children, we’re adults with adult resources behaving like children and by using children’s tools, we’re sanctioning a lie…that human rights come from someone or something outside ourselves.

This is the same with almost anything of substance these days. Think of any national level arguement, civil rights, immigration, defense, spending, race, sexuality – and on and on it goes. We have all, individaully and collectively been duped and duped ourselves into believing that the appropriate store of human rights come from outside ourselves and can only be granted through our forcing and begging. Think of all the movements and marches and protests. Why are we begging to be recognized as human?Why are we building a world where we’re teaching our kids to beg to be granted something that cannot be granted? The answer is easy but painful.

Look at civil rights and/or the issue of gay marriage. The same underlying process is being used, the process of believing the right to be human can only be granted by something/one outside ourselves. Gay marriage is basically people who are gay begging, pleading, shouting, forcing, demanding their “right” to marry each other. Of course it’s more complex but the essence, the soul of the issue, is not. Civil rights, it’s black skinned people begging, pleading, shouting, forcing, demanding their right to be recognized in a civil manner and the same way others without black skin are.

We think we are revolutionaries but really, we are beggers and, yes…slaves.

This doesn’t mean that there was or is some nefarious intent or that people on all sides of these debates are not good people. I think it means we’re good people who are far off track and are creating a history for the future that is based in fear of not getting what we want. This is not hard to see, even if you disagree with what I’m saying. Look around today and you will see it everywhere. And now imagine teaching your child this lesson directly. You sit them down and you tell them, “you are not enough and your beliefs are not human and you have no right to them, in fact, you must be granted the right to be human from the government and it will never end and this is your life”.

This is the future we are building.

We think that someone else is the holder and/or grantor of the right to be human. We think someone else holds the definition of what it means to be human and if we don’t fit that definition we must appeal to them to change or include us in that definition. That is not where human rights come from. That is not where humanity comes from. Human rights and humanity is not granted by someone or some thing. Of course there is an argument for God, but even then, there are many who don’t believe and they are no less human and, as an aside, if you’re argument to circumvent all of this is simply…GOD, well, I’m surprised you’re still reading.

A woman does not need any person to tell her what she can and can’t do with her own body. Nor does a man, nor a gay person, nor a black person, nor any person. At no point is it appropriate to tell yourself that your right to humanity comes from outside you. This is the big lie, formed, perhaps, out of necessity but nonetheless, a lie. The risk however is real. The risk of waking up to this lie will, necessarily, put in jeapordy all that has been built from the lie and much has been built from the lie; most everything has been built from the lie and if you wake up you will lose the comfort of the lie. That is real. But what is the risk of remaining asleep? That risk is also real.

I have become comfortably numb

Pink Floyd

Abortion is about Humanity. Civil Rights are about Humanity. Gay rights are about Humanity. Human rights are about Humanity. This issues are not about who is “right” and who is “wrong”. Until we stop using childish tools we will not build a more peaceful world for our children. It’s not possible to win any of these debates and it’s childish to think winning is the goal. Consider this today:

What if the rights you cherish and fight for, reside ONLY inside you and do not come from any earthly person or entity? What would your world look like if every right was at home in your soul. What would change? How would the world change? And why would someone not want it to change? And why do you not want it to change?

Thanks for reading, please share, comment and contribute if you can.