Revelations on the River: Healing a Nation, Healing Ourselves

Introduction

rev·e·la·tion

/ˌrevəˈlāSH(ə)n/

noun

a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way.

the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world.

As I sit in my home on a few secluded acres nestled on the Blanco River here in Central Texas, amidst the Cypress, Live Oak and Pecan trees, I contemplate the slogan of the small rural town where I live—a little piece of heaven—and what it means to hear the voice of the divine and the truths I have uncovered walking on the earth beneath the heavens above.

Revelation is a concept that has unfortunately become captive to certain followers of religious faiths. Far too many adherents of religion use their sacred words taken from texts written hundreds or thousands of years ago as the end all and be all of revelation and only accept their view of the divine word of God as truth. In truth it is a word that applies moment to moment as each of us journeys through life in this mystery of our universe. Revelation doesn’t only have to be about the Apocalypse of John or the Book of Revelation, likely written in the first century AD. It is important that we consider both of the dictionary definitions of revelation listed above, and consequently a much more open concept of divine intervention or of any revelation than just what we presuppose from religion.

Further, we can accept the idea of an epiphany that doesn’t solely have to do with the Epiphany in religious circles of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles through the three Wise Men. Our epiphanies can be religious in nature, but often they are much more secular. For those of you not religious you are already much more open to insights that aren’t convinced by the divine, and for those of us who practice a faith let’s temporarily suspend the religious roots of epiphany and look at it through the broader definition of a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking, or an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure.

I am a person immersed in a faith tradition, whose faith has been dear and consequential to me throughout my life, with an additional link of having been an altar boy and altar server through my youth growing up in Michigan. I still attend weekly service on Sundays (with the divine exception granted during Covid), and I believe in the concept of divine revelation. However, logic and intuition inform me that if I believe in an omnipotent and omniscient force in the universe, I must not limit my conception of where insights can be garnered by my own structures or boxes.

Why would one accept only revelation or epiphany that came a few thousand years ago in the form of an inspired Bible (Old and New Testaments) to one tribe, at one time, and in one way? Wouldn’t God (or whatever name you give the divine) want to reveal truths at many times in divergent ways and faith traditions? Isn’t the act of creation revelation in itself, and the beauty of our world a constant form of epiphany?

My own faith opens me up to understanding that God is constantly attempting to communicate with us about the truth of the universe. God is doing this through all faiths as well as through the presence of compassionate and kind people in this world, and even through those who are not kind but are gifts nonetheless. Sometimes we pick up on the messages and let them settle into our hearts and souls. Some of us may even write them down so that generations that follow might benefit from our revelations.

I have tapped into much of the divine revelation as I have read and studied the Bible of my own faith of Catholicism and Christianity, but I have also seen revelation in the Gilluy Shekinah of Judaism, the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism, the teachings of the Buddha, the Koran of our Islamic sisters and brothers, the wisdom of the Native Americans, and in so many various faith traditions. For me, there are a thousand paths to get to the mountain top, and none is more right than another. Some paths may be smooth, but take you longer. Other paths may be shorter, but have steep inclines. Still others may take you into a grove of trees, while some may bring you by a stream or mountain lake. Each path has its own beauty, struggle and truth. All lead to the same destination at the summit of peace.

And there is also revelation of the truth of the universe from scientists, artists, writers or poets who may have no religion but reveal aspects of the universe we did not understand before. And revelation or epiphany can come to us in significant ways in our day to day walk through life as we encounter others on the trails and travails of our short human existence. Revelations can also be made known to us in a deep way even as we sit by the natural beauty of a lake, speaking to us in a sunrise or sunset in the words of the waves, or on a hillside or mountain top as we feel the earth beneath our feet.

Revelation to me isn’t limited by the timing of the divine or by some other force in the universe we are presently unaware of; it is only limited if we lack openness to the world and within ourselves. It is limited by how closed off we are to listening to the voices sometimes very quietly trying to convey some aspect of life or a truth of the universe. When we only accept revelation in certain forms at certain times, and shut down our minds, hearts and souls because we think we have all the answers already, we will easily miss out on a better understanding of this world and of life in general.

I have often in life operated from a place of an over-reliance on certainty, whether that was in my personal life or in my political life, and in my speaking and writing. In politics, I have encountered many on both sides of the aisle who hold tightly to dogma or ideology. They allow these ideologies to get in the way of a more thorough understanding of the present moment and what might be needed to achieve progress. It is these dogmas or ideology that cause much of the division and bitterness that are far too widespread in our country today. Having all the answers based in a dogma not only prevents us from opening up to new answers or epiphanies that may better fit the world, it doesn’t even let us ask the right questions or know that there are still questions to be asked.

I have come to understand that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt—the opposite of faith is certainty. Revelations are not about unveiling or discovering certainties, but in illuminating in new ways what we might have missed or overlooked before. It is about an epiphany that causes us to reconsider or look with new eyes. Throughout history, the people of greatest faith also harbored many doubts. Whether it be a person of religion or a secular person in search of knowledge, it is the doubts that drove them to greater understanding as well as the acceptance of the mystery of life. It wasn’t certainty that caused them to keep wandering and searching for truth; it was the knowing that they didn’t know, and weren’t always sure.

I find many of those who are religious and seem to have all the answers don’t operate from a place of doubt, but from a place of absolute certainty. If you are certain about the existence of God or the stories conveyed in sacred books, why do you need faith? Certainty gets in the way of greater connection to the divine or to wisdom, and it blocks us from deeper connection with others who may not believe exactly as we do.

Mother Teresa, deemed a saint by the Catholic Church, was a person of great faith, self-sacrifice, service and virtue, and she had many doubts throughout her life. This is revealed so clearly in her personal letters published after her death. Martin Luther King, Jr., a minister and civil rights icon, was a man of immense faith and conviction, and also carried many doubts and conflicts about faith with him. Gandhi led throughout his life with deep faith, and was not afraid to experience and express doubt.

When we look around and consider how we are going to live our own lives and lead in a compassionate way, we find the most effective leaders who initiated profound change in the world to be those who had a faith in something bigger than themselves, and carried and examined many doubts in their hearts and minds. These leaders, as each of us can be, were open to learning more, growing in their lives and leadership, and being receptive to any revelations that might come.

So, with a great sense of humility, I would like to lay out some things I have come to know through my own revelations as I have lived these many years in my flawed humanity. I have learned them through the trials and tribulations, the pleasures and pains of life, and in staying still long enough to really listen. In walks on the river near me now, in strolls through the woods, in connection with others, in time on the Great Lakes surrounding Michigan, and even in smoking a cigar in the quiet sitting in a rocker on my porch…something moved me in these moments to dive inward and seek understanding.

For many people who encounter me in life, they have put me in a convenient box of political strategist or commentator. Or they know I have been married and divorced twice, or that I grew up in a rather dysfunctional family of 11 children, or that I lost two children in tragic circumstances, and that the twin daughter who survived started life with nine months in a neonatal unit. Some people know me by the good I have done, and others know me by the mistakes I have made. Yes, those are all aspects of who I was, or, in part, of who I am today, but like each of you, there is much more to ourselves than a label or a profession or personal circumstance that defines us in the years of our existence.

For myself, and I hope you as well, I try to let go of the labels I have used in my past or that were used to describe me. Some days I pursue the heart of a poet within me, and other days I like to see myself as having the soul of a prophet, while some days I feel the pagan roots of my Celtic ancestry. I don’t compare myself to leaders in the past who have been poets or prophets, but for us leading in the present, we each can listen to the song within us that calls us to truth, and we can embrace roles that we don’t often share with the world.

I have discovered many of these revelations or epiphanies in the darkness of night and life, and many in the sunrise and sunset of days when light came into my heart. I have had some of these revelations in a profound connection with a fellow human being, in walking through the beauty of nature, in the day-to-day observations with my children, and sometimes sitting quietly in a church or another sacred place, or sitting under the stars listening to the musings on science and space.

The ten topic areas I have chosen to explore in the pages of this book can only be explained by the fact each of them became clearer through many great loves and losses on this trail of time of my brief existence on this planet we all call home. The hymn Amazing Grace has always spoken to me in so many ways because it really