The Keystone

I was standing in a checkout line yesterday when someone called to tell me the State Department had approved the Keystone pipeline, the controversial gas line running from Canada's tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast.

I've signed petitions opposing the pipeline, known people have protested and have been willingly arrested opposing it, yet what crossed my mind upon hearing the news was a question, 'Isn't the keystone related to the masons?'

The line I stood in wasn't moving which at the moment worked for me as I perused several on-line sites regarding the keystone.

I learned it is the center stone in an arch, the stone that is essential in keeping the other stones in place ultimately ensuring thehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline arches stability.

Aside from the pipeline's risk of contaminating the major underground water aquifer and increased air pollution, I wondered as to the significance geographically and energetically in regards to the placement of this pipeline on Mother Earth.  Has the company naming this the keystone pipeline unknowingly offered up a clue as to the keystone of Earth's energy field?  

Then I considered the president's decision as he ultimately decides this project's fate. 

Will he cave to corporate interests - those in the oil companies to whom he's indebted in ways we know and don't know? Have they literally saved his or a family member's life in these past years or have they threatened his life or the life of someone he knows? (Rachel Carson and JFK are described by Douglas Brinkley in Audubon magazine as an environmental tag team.  Rachel Carson first sounded the unpopular and necessary alarm as to the dangers of DDT and promoted nuclear non-proliferation. The military-industrial-agribusiness complex couldn't have liked her a whole lot.  I've often wondered if the president was murdered because of his pro-environment stance and passion in supporting this woman warrior for the Earth.)

Now President Obama, if he votes "No" to the pipeline, will upset industries and people of perceived outer power.  And if he votes "No" he will be the keystone in relation to renewing the political process in the country rather than continuing to sell us out to corporations and fear.  Equally important he will be providing a new stability for deeper change in how we use energy while honoring the environment and realizing we live in relationship to ALL living things including those who support the pipeline.

In drawings I looked at earlier I noted the keystone in arches over doorways reminding me of the threshold we have crossed as a planet and people.  We have crossed a threshold and are in an arc of a story greater than any found in the movies!

I arrived home yesterday and busied myself in other things only to awaken this morning and find the first email I read stated: 

A keystone in spiritual growth is this: You cannot grow one iota if you do not love yourself.

I never run across the word keystone. So I paid attention.  I sat down and listened.

This message reminded me of how earlier in the week I had been comparing childhood notes with someone. We both grew up hearing the acronym for JOY is loving Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last.  Both of us on down Life's road realized the Bible also refers to loving your neighbor as yourself. 

Deep, enduring, big love starts with loving oneself, reveling in who you are!!!  Healthy self-love has gotten a very bad rap.  This lack of self-love combined with self-loathing and self-hate affects not just one's relationship with self, but with others and the Earth.  I can't love another or Mother Earth in my fullest if on any level I quietly hold disdain for myself.

We are in midst of great story yet the most important story and threshold is the one within.  Every day, every moment, I stand at my Heart's threshold choosing whether I will hold a spirit and vibration of Love.  This is the keystone that is most important.

I suspect this great being on which we live, Mother Earth, would say she wants us more than anything to develop the keystone of self-love. She knows with healthy self-love we will honor and find joy living in relationship with her whatever our politics or positions.   

-Dawn, The Good News Muse, 1 February 2014

dawn@imaginetheshift.com