Dear Spiritual Companions,

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I am writing toady about what I think makes someone our hero.  Dr. King is one of my personal guiding lights.  I can remember where I was when I heard the news of his assassination – I was on my way to attend a college class on Industrial Psychology.  I was devastated.  A part of me had died with Martin.  I hope I never forget that moment because of what he meant to me.  You don’t lose certain persons in your life without it having a lasting impact.  I will carry his spirit with me as long as I continue to follow in his footsteps and the lessons he taught me about how to live life in community with others.  I have been a pacifist for a long time and I know Dr. King and Gandhi have been the two key individuals who taught me what Jesus meant by turning the other cheek.  So I dedicate today’s thoughts to the life and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I think we can do two things with our heroes.  First we can put them on a pedestal and keep them distant from us.  Second we can see how they speak to our similar gifts and talents within us.  It is so tempting to put Dr. King on a level higher than us.  In the various celebrations we sometimes gloss over what a challenge Martin was to the powers of his day.  It wasn’t bad enough that he fought for Civil Rights for African Americans, but when he began challenging our leaders ab0ut the Vietnam War he had gone to far.  It was exactly like Jesus teaching about our responsibility to the widow and orphan and than being an example of what he meant.  That was bad enough, but when he challenged the policies of the Jewish Leaders he had gone too far.  When we fight for the forgotten we can depend on opposition, but when we challenge the social, economic, religious or political structures you can easily see how death may be in your future.  So instead of putting ourselves in this precarious situation we put our heroes on a pedestal and dilute their message.  More importantly we separate ourselves from them because they are also encouraging each of us to join them in transforming not only the world around us, but also transforming ourselves.  No wonder we run and hide when these leaders say, “Greater things than I have done you shall do!”

Let’s look further at why it is so important for us to enter into a one to one relationship with our heroes.  There is a reason why we look up to these persons and I believe it goes beyond what they did.  It speaks to how they connect to what is within us.  I think we have a part of Dr. King within us because we have as part of God within us.  Servants of God, by whatever Name you call God, are connected to an ongoing identification with the poor and oppressed in the world.  This is true because God is already within them.  When we are one with God we are also one with all of Creation.  If one hurts we all hurt, if one is forgotten all are forgotten, if one is an enemy we are all enemies and on and on.  Carl Jung said that there were archatypes in the world.  They are examples of certain characteristics that lie deep within our soul.  A Hero is an example of an archetype.  They are here to right wrongs and free people from the chains placed upon them by the world they live in.  They cannot rest until they live out their personal adventure which includes enabling others to be set free.  We each have within us a place, like King’s Mountaintop, where we can see God’s Vision of Love for all of Creation.  Once we see our vision than we spend the rest of our lives working on making it a reality.  Our heroes come down off the pedestals we have created for them to take us by hand so we can see what they saw.  This is scary business, but there are more and more people joining in the Heroes Journey today.  Transformation is happening often, we just need the eyes to see and the ears to hear what is occurring around us.  It isn’t the great acts that change the world, but all of the little things done by us which God turns into big things.

As I said this is a dangerous business because we will not only see the best in our hero but also his or her humanness.  If Dr. King had some personal weaknesses does that mean he is less of a hero?  Those in power, who are afraid of his message, would like us to think so.  Judge not less you be judged comes to mind.  If we are not at peace with our own pitfalls and failures as human beings we will project that uneasiness onto others.  We become disappointed and disillusioned when we hear our heroes are human.  They are just like us and maybe it is those very human limitations which provide the basis for working for change.  We cannot separate ourselves from whatever is within us, good or bad.  To think we can, however, leads to a life of attacking who we are which stops us from using our weakness to show God’s Strength.  So often God uses the least of these because they are the ones who know they can’t do it on their own.  They need a grater power and God says, “Here I Am.”  The added benefit is when others find out we  not perfect they can’t defeat us by telling us they know who we are.  We can’t be blackmailed by our imperfection.  I’ll bet this is what made Dr. King strong, as well as the other heroes who went before him.

If you are still with me now it is time to see the greatest gift our leaders can give us.  They open the door to discovering ever more fully who we are.  Certain people touch us more than others because we have similar characteristics and desires.  If you have a deep passion for righting wrongs.  Maybe you had a great injustice done to you a long time ago and whenever you see a similar injustice you are moved to action.  Another possibility might be your compassion for other’s hardships in life.  In each of those situations Dr. King would be someone you could identify with in rectifying wrongs or injustices.  I could go on, but your discovery of yoursimilar gifts rests with you and your inner searching.  By identifying who we are we are freed to act upon our God given gifts and talents.  We can join in the Great Drum Major’s March for Unconditional Love and Freedom for all.  It actually isn’t so scary to invite our heroes off of the pedestals we have placed them on.  We may do the very same thing for ourselves.

Peace