Are You Homeless?

This has nothing to do with your house.

Ming Tong, the Qi Gong teacher, conducted a workshop here on Friday and I, incredibly, not only attended but survived. What’s more, I’m inspired to practice every day now.

Early in the training, he tapped on his chest and said, “This is home… the heart. Most people are homeless.”

I read an article this morning about people who wake up hating their lives. They have jobs they hate, they hate having to get up so early, they hate the trap they are in. They must be homeless then, because, infected by hate, they are banned from the heart which is permanently quarantined against that virus.

Years ago, I had a dream about people lining up to get into heaven. They were asked a single question: “Did you hate anyone or anything?” Honesty was unavoidable. Those who answered “Yes,” hastened to explain why they hated but were immediately silenced and pointed to a doorway with a sign that read “Repeat.” Those who said “No, I didn’t hate” (fewer people) were directed to a different door with a sign that read “Next.”

Explaining why they hated didn’t change their fate: reincarnating to Earth School for another lifetime of learning how to love unconditionally. Graduates got to try something different.

Fortunately, life has conspired – in all its mysterious wisdom – to give us a most improbable way to exorcise hatred from our hearts before we attempt to graduate: politics / news. This has become a lightning rod for hate. Otherwise intelligent, loving people are posting the most horrible videos wishing death for those they have decided to hate, based solely on the propaganda they are ingesting. Influencers are inciting for the murder of government officials. Protesters are destroying buildings and attacking law enforcement agents. They are quick to explain and justify, but just like in my dream, this doesn’t change the basic fact of hatred.

Is there anyone or anything you hate for any reason? If so, you are homeless. But now is always the best time to clean house. Let go, quit rationalizing, and rise above the addictive toxins broadcast by media, which is singularly designed to program us (that’s why tv is called programming) into fear, hatred, and division. Very little of what we read, see, and hear is actually true, as people on the ground and those who know context and details often reveal. We are being fed toxic lies. We check labels on food, let’s check content in media!

There will always be seductive reasons to hate and judge. Hating hateful people has become a national pastime for many. As I’ve often quoted, from satirical song writer Tom Lehrer: “There are some people who do not love their fellow man… I hate people like that!”

It may seem like a virtue to be unconditionally loving and it is, but it’s also selfish. Where do you want to go when it’s your time to leave this world?