I’m sharing this video from the list25 YouTube channel, because it talks about stuff that has been in my mind lately with this year’s presidential election. Especially since most of the people around me did not grow up in the United States, it made me reflect on why U.S. values are what they are. I think this channel makes a good point.

In the video description, it says:

The United States is a very misunderstood country. In fact, almost everybody in the world has a different point of view concerning what it should/could be and the media never helps. As big as it is, generalizations are very hard to make. Every state is different. Actually, every state even has its own military! To understand why America is what it is you need to go back to its roots. It was built by people trying to escape government. It was built with a wild west, this-land-is-mine mentality. It’s a no-government-can-tell-me-what-to-do mentality. It’s survival of the fittest and this mentality survives until today. For better or for worse these are 25 things that visitors will find most surprising about the United States.

I’ve also noticed how my thinking has changed from this. I want everyone to have certain resources or rights regardless of what they’ve earned or haven’t. In U.S. culture, there is an underlying assumption that if you don’t do well, it’s because you’re lazy and didn’t work hard enough. It doesn’t take into account forces that are difficult for an individual to control.

Of course, in pioneer days, people had to survive regardless of the forces, like those of nature, that we couldn’t control. And we helped our neighbor to survive them too. If they didn’t succeed, people suffered and died. Life was hard, but some people thrived.

At the same time, I am still leery of “big government” and “Big Brother.” So then, the job of making sure everyone has their basic needs met, including training to support themselves in society, falls to the “people.” However,  I haven’t been doing much to help besides trying to raise awareness and consciousness. Maybe it’s enough, or maybe not.

As Ilchi Lee‘s new book with Dr. Emanuel Pastreich, Earth Management, proposes, both individuals, society, and the government should act with the Hongik spirit—we should act to benefit all others in addition to ourselves. However, the book emphasizes the power and responsibility of the individuals to make a change, especially considering society’s systems have failed to do it so far and considering that it’s harder to change those systems. Perhaps the United States’s culture of philanthropy is a ripe field for developing a Hongik society from the ground up.

Last night, we had a small memorial ceremony for the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death. It was inspired by traditional Korean ceremonies, although we made our own personal modifications.

During the ceremony, I could feel my mother’s consciousness and energy. I felt that she was a warrior, and she said there was a serious spiritual battle going on right now. She told me I needed to be strong, and, especially, keep a strong center line. She also told me to clear out any old energy, in particular, the old things from my bedroom.

My mother healed some of my energetic blockages at that time, and sent her love to my sisters. I also felt a long ancestral line of her children.

She recognized my teacher, Ilchi Lee, and said that he is good, if you like him, go ahead, do what you want, but the important part is Jesus. Then, I felt a deeper connection to Jesus, who I have known since I was a child.

At some point, my mind and energy connected my mother to another line of energy, one that I’m not familiar with. I do this randomly without planning to in different places with different people; I don’t know why. I don’t plan it, I don’t try to do it, and I don’t fully understand it. For example, I connected my father-in-law to some spiritual lineage I didn’t know of, but which seemed Chinese. I connected Ilchi Lee to Jesus and Thoth at different times, and I made some connection I don’t remember in the store called Atlantis in Sedona, AZ.

My mother’s energy was not as bright and light as I aim to be, perhaps because of the war. Despite that, whereas normally I would let her energy and consciousness fade from me easily and quickly, not wanting to hold her from her new life and work, last night, I wanted her to stay with me. I became very attached to her. I’ve been acting very attached to things and people in the last few days, when clearly the energy around me has been saying to let it go. I just need to let go.

Beyond space and time, we are all always together. We are all one.

But I think my feeling was not just my wanting to hold on to something. It was also my wanting not to avoid something. I want to make sure I’m willing to go deep into something instead of only sitting on the surface. Perhaps by going deep, I will have finished with it and the energy will move naturally on its own.

Anyway, I will do my best for the spiritual battle here on earth.

My soul only knows now.

My soul only is and only wants love.

True healing can only come from my soul.

True peace and happiness comes from being in alignment with these truths.