Robert Lyman Baittie's Blog

With the recent passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I couldn’t help but find myself thinking, “Yeah, it fits.”

Please don’t misunderstand, I mean no disrespect. I as much as anyone else am devastated by her death. Her life made an incredible difference. Hers was a life of service to help bring about positive change in the lives of others. It was a life any one of us would be proud to have lived.

But it fits because it’s another event amongst the many this year that seem to be following a script. A script where we’re confronted with an incredible challenge and the response that follows is far less than what one would hope for. I for one believe humanity is capable of so much more.First, came the challenge to our beliefs about our health and our healthcare system, as we face the Covid-19 pandemic, which when looked at with a discerning eye makes it very apparent that our overall health is only as secure as the lowest common denominator in society. In other words, it is in the poorest regions of the world where people live without the basic necessities for life; good food, clean water, and adequate healthcare, that diseases are going to be born. So, until we begin to tackle healthcare and quality of life on a global scale, future challenges such as Covid-19 are likely to become our new normal.

The response to the virus itself was for leadership to engage in political posturing and debate over the merits of masks or no masks while people began dying by the thousands. States were pitted against states to compete against each other for the precious commodities of PPE, beds, and respirators, as opposed to responding as the “united” states that we are.The front-line healthcare heroes did step up and take the lead risking and sacrificing their own lives to save the lives of others. The response from many in the general public was a slap in their face. People began socializing and spreading the virus even more rapidly with total disregard to the pleas from medical personnel to wear masks and social distance. Personal needs and desires outweighed the need to be considerate of others.

Next, we’ve been challenged on our beliefs about discrimination and equality. I for one blindly believed that as a society we had made significant progress towards a greater understanding and appreciation for the rights of all peoples, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality orientation, or gender identity. 

That apparently is not the case. We witnessed a summer of senseless murdering of people of color by those that we’ve entrusted to serve and protect us. The response has been more of the same.

There are people who are actually anxious to take advantage of Ruth’s passing to shift the tables of power in the Supreme Court away from the values RBG had dedicated her life to; decency, fairness, justice, and equality for all citizens. That’s what they feel an urgency to shift away from? Really? I feel there is a different urgency. I personally sense that we are coming to a very critical point in our existence. Our survival not only as a nation, but as a species lay in the balance of our decisions moving forward. I believe our fate will be determined by the answer to one question.

“What do you stand for?”

To answer that, you first must believe in the importance of standing for something. To stand for something is far different than to believe in something. To believe can be personal and private, to stand for something implies action.

Standing is silent but visible. It is not forcing another to stand, but nor is it sitting down, views unknown, controversy avoided.It feels good, to think that we could stand for something. Not just exist, or search for your own happiness or identity, but decide what you actually STAND for. What significance can you have, beyond your own life, because you stand for something more than yourself?

To stand for something is to acknowledge the significance and importance of the power of one among many, to believe in the power of grassroots movements, to know that each of us must try our best to be part of what is right and that the difference we make in doing so is far from insignificant. It might be far from enough, too, but that magnifies rather than negates its importance.

What do I stand for?

I stand for living my life with purpose and doing as much as I can each day to be in service to others and live the best life I can, causing as little harm to the environment and others in the process.I stand for love, compassion, kindness, and for doing good for goodness’ sake, not because I fear being judged later for what I do, but because I want to do what is right within my heart.

I stand for ending racism, bullying, and abuse.I stand for living in gratitude, and for restoring hope in the hopeless.

I stand for nonviolence, education, and good citizenship.I stand for the respect of all living things.

It makes me feel good to know what I stand for. As I said, I think we are living in a time that knowing what you stand for is vitally important. But I also think the question is incomplete. I think the real question is:

What do you stand for, and what are you going to do about it?

A great place to start is, VOTE.

I think we’ve all seen or heard that challenge of if you could write your 9-year old self one piece of advice from the future, what would it be?

I put together the following list in the hopes of narrowing it down to one.

Don’t run behind the mosquito abatement truck.

Take the doors to the Jeep when you drive cross-country to Colorado.

Ask every girl out on a date that you’re too afraid to ask.

Drink more water.

Stand up for people being picked on.

Take less, give away more.

Save all your baseball cards.

Never swallow chewing tobacco.

If it looks like too much to flush, it is.

Don’t show-off.

Don’t ever say something to hurt someone else.

Don’t let Dad cut your hair.

Don’t beat Dad’s Army canteen into the tree because the metal makes a neat sound.

Don’t take apart your cars carburetor to clean it.

Don’t hide the cigarettes in the candy jar downstairs that Mom and Dad never use.

Don’t walk into your parents bedroom without knocking first.

If you ever think to yourself, “This is really stupid!” You should really listen to that voice.

When you organize a golf trip for 7 of your closest friends to Phoenix, don’t think you can make the 2am flight out of LasVegas (that they are all on) back to Phoenix on a Sunday morning when you’re standing in the cash out line with $800 in chips at 1:50am.

Don’t keep the keys for the rental van that’s back in Phoenix (with all the golf clubs in it), in your pocket.

Say I love you more often.

Bet on the Cubs to win the World Series.

Don’t pull anyone’s finger.

Don’t change a thing. You’re going to do fine just the way you are.

More to Come. :)

Every nine minutes someone is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease…here is nine minutes that could possibly alter the outcome.

Oh, oh mercy, mercy me. Oh, things aint’ what they used to be. ~Marvin Gaye

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Something is terribly wrong in our world.

If the murdering of innocent people is what is needed by fanatics to light the way for their political ideologies, I’d rather be plunged back into an abyss of darkness—for certainly it can’t be any darker than watching the horror of how man treats man.

What is the matter with people?

People are murdered like this for what?, a religiously based “Idea”? Terrorism justifies its murders “in the name of God”, or one of many variations. Whether one believes in that God or just uses the idea of that deity as a means to an end, there is no denying the billions of deaths that have been caused, either directly or indirectly over the history of time, by peoples beliefs in their religions.

My God doesn’t teach that. My God is about love, tolerance and respect. My God is about creating life, not desecrating it.

You think God is blessing these atrocities? Wake up! There will be no mercy on your soul.

We blame society? Wake up! We ARE society!

Since the beginning of time, the single greatest act a person can witness is the miracle of life. The instant when Divine spirit breathes energy into the soul of a human being. If you’re a parent, you know what I mean. As a child enters this world, you’re overcome by the magnificence and perfection that is life, and you feel as though you’re in the presence of God—you’re humbled to tears of joy. It’s a magnificent feeling of love.

And we as humans think we have the right to take that away?

We don’t. No one does.

Wake up people! WAKE UP!!!!!!

God resides within, so that we all can do without.

Love. Problem solved.

As I get ready to go off to my Shamanic class this week for the final direction on healing and becoming a practicing Shaman, it got me thinking about some questions, some observations, and it made me realize how much I truly love this group of people I have been working with over this past year. And I wanted to honor them and the work we have done.

What if for 24 hours you were given the opportunity to switch places with other people—so for that one day, you had the ability to see with complete clarity, how they see you— from their vantage point—what they thought of you, how they perceived you, what their overall impression of you was. Would you take that opportunity? Would you like to see how others see you?

I would venture to guess that if it were just that question, almost 100% of the people would respond, “Yes”. That they would love to see how other people view them.

But—now, what if in return, in order for you to be able to see how someone else sees you, you would have to surrender to them the opportunity to see and KNOW you as only YOU truly know yourself from within—they would know your every thought, see your every deed, and see your every action you have ever taken throughout your entire life. They would know everything about you as only you do right now. They would see into your soul.

Stop and think about that honestly…

Now, would you take the opportunity to switch places?
With that in mind, I’m guessing the vast majority of us would not trade places.
Yet, isn’t interesting that we live our lives far more concerned about how other people view us and and what others “think” of us and we put in much more effort on creating an image for others, than we do working on ourselves, “for ourselves” in such a way that we would not be ashamed to have everyone know us for who we truly are.

THAT is truly living an authentic life and a life based upon your truth.

It’s a hard thing to do, to work on yourself. It requires courage to be able to face yourself and the truths you know about yourself. We put a lot of fear in front of doing that. We’re often afraid of appearing weak or worse yet “unworthy”. Yet with your own loving heart and a willingness to forgive yourself and to offer acceptance to yourself, you can heal a lot of woundedness. And you can live a happier life.

Shamanic work and Shamanic healing is about doing just that. Going into your own dark places and your own darkness and healing your soul. Of your own choosing you bare your soul to the Spirits that surround you and love you. You learn to find the love for yourself, from yourself. That, is a truly unique gift to be given.

For one year now, I have worked with a group of 10 remarkable souls. Each has been willing to not only bare the truth of their own souls to each of us as a group, but each has held the sacred and loving space for me to bare mine. That’s what Shamans do. They simply hold the space with love for others to do the work of healing themselves. You can’t get any closer to any human being then when you share your soul and your truth.

I am forever grateful to all of them for their love and for the teachings.

And I would like to wish everyone reading this the miracle of being able to honor and live for yourself.