Years ago I used to volunteer at Unity, a modern church that bills itself “a positive path for spiritual living.” Mike and I took care of the little ones during the service for almost a year. It was pre-grandchildren, and we enjoyed hanging out with the kids. Aside from that sweet contact, what made the most lasting impression on me was something a guest speaker, Edwene Gaines, said one Sunday morning: “The Universe is perfect just as it is, and you need a project.”
This contrast has continued to challenge me. How could everything be perfect, if there’s work to be done? I think of all the perfection I see, feel, experience… and then pan my inner eye across to all the despair, cruelty, violence, …and the two seem utterly irreconcilable.
Over the years some resolutions to this koan (which is what it has been for me), have emerged. One is to shift from considering the two tenets as either/or — Either the Universe is perfect, OR you need a project, and join the two with an emphatic AND. The Universe is perfect right now, as it is, AND there’s much that needs attending to. 
This AND version allows us to hold it all: all the greed, hatred, ignorance, and the aftermath of these in our hearts and in the world, AND the miracles and magic of love, caring, connection, and the effects of these in our lives and on our planet.
These fighter planes tightly aligned in perfect formation may epitomize the contrast: I see a certain kind of beauty, plus precision, cooperation, connection in the pattern, AND then also pollution, hierarchy, imminent death and destruction, all intertwined.
We may also move toward resolution, on a spiritual, mystical dimension, when we consider the perfection to be in deep, true Nature of Reality, while the roughness and gristle is what’s found in places at the surface level.
I will leave you to ponder the koan for yourselves, and also the multitudinous ways the universe is perfect, and offer you a worthy project! I am sure you have many of your own. Good on you. What follows is one that has come to my attention recently, and I want to share it with you.
Perhaps you heard that the International Criminal Court recently issued its first decision, and a momentous one is was indeed: the conviction of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga. The judges pronounced him guilty of war crimes for the enlistment, conscription, and (ab)use of child soldiers. Even while acknowledging that justice is often slow, ponderous, and expensive, this is cause for celebration.
And there is more to be done. Joseph Kony, head of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), a Ugandan guerilla group, has been perpetrating the same heinous war crimes against children for decades, and is still active and at large in spite of great mobilization to find and bring him to justice.
But progress is being made and we can all help. Watch this compelling video about Kony and the ‘Invisible Children’ in his toxic sphere. It’s 28 minutes, but worth it. In case you are concerned about the people involved, or the organization, read this article in the New York Time Opinion Pages by Nicholas Kristof, (that indefatigable champion of women’s and children’s rights). It puts things clearly in context.
I urge you to inform yourself, and then spread the word. The premise is that if people knew what Joseph Kony is doing, and that he’s still viciously and virulently out there, there is increased likelihood he will be found and brought to justice. So one goal of the campaign is to make him a ‘household name’, famous, so to speak. You can help too. 
Two weeks ago I was oblivious to all this, and now Kony is a household name, and helping to expose and enclose him, a project.
Blessings to you, for being you, being there, doing what you do, being who you are.
I close with some images of perfection 🙂
BECOMING addresses these issues in the chapters “Universe Unfolding,” and “This or That?”, which you can read in the Preview section of this site.
Jill Schroder is the author of BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity. BECOMING is an invitation for self -reflection, and to mine our memorable moments for insights, meaning, and growth. Check out a sample chapter, or see the reviews to get a flavor for the volume. Your feedback is most welcome.
2 comments
Carol Richards says:
Apr 16, 2012
Hi Jill,
I like your overall point but uncomfortable with your Kony example. There are layers in this story that have come out having to do with US using Kony group as rationale for locating many Special Ops forces in Uganda now , even though Kony and group are no longer there. I met one of the Ugandan mothers who publicized what Kony was doing in Uganda ten years ago. Kony took her daughter for a sex slave at a very young age. So his atrocities have been known in the west for quite a while. Why do the movie now? Why mobilize in Uganda now? (What are special ops doing in Uganda now? Not looking for Kony…) It is a really murky picture, I’m afraid. And apparently the movie does not focus on DRC and other areas where Kony actually is; and the movie obfuscates that his group not active in Uganda while advocating focus on Uganda. Strange. ( I have not seen the movie I will confess.)
Carol
admin says:
Apr 19, 2012
Hi Carol, thanks for the thoughtful comment. I certainly don’t know the details about the special Ops forces, and much damage has certainly happened with such forces around the world, no doubt. However, Kony, though indicted in 2005, is still at large, still perpetrating the horrors. The premise of the video is that we must raise awareness of Kony, and such criminals, and keep up the pressure, and not give up on trying bring them to justice. Making his name a ‘household word’ is part of the campaign.
I relied on Nicholas Kristof’s Op Ed in the NY Times for vetting.
Before settling into a view, I do think it is important to watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc, and to read Kristof’s Op Ed in its defence. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/kristof-viral-video-vicious-warlord.html?_r=1
a He is on the ground, wise and critical.
Finally, I suggest this reflective piece from The Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166724/what-does-kony-viral-video-say-about-us
In case you don’t read the whole thing, which I recommend, here’s the conclusion:
Ultimately, as an attempt at policymaking or history, the Invisible Children film comes up short. But as an attempt at inspiration and education, as a jump-off point for learning and debating a faraway problem beyond the twenty-four-hour news cycle, it is a tremendous success. And it would be much harder to get people sharing a video without an action plan—even a weak one. Jonah Peretti, the viral guru who left the Huffington Post to found Buzzfeed, says that even if people care about “human rights atrocities,” videos about them “almost never go viral” because “it’s a bummer to send something like that to all your friends.” The Stop Kony film worked, he explained, because it “starts out not with the gruesome issue, but the fact that we’re all connected to each other,” and pivots to “inspiring things you can do to change the situation.” Hollywood wants happy endings, and the Internet wants ways to make a difference. Even if the solutions are unlikely, it’s a great way to start the conversation.
(There’s a sequel to the Kony 2012 video addressing some of the criticisms.)