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Today, as I awoke and pondered what would come through me within the topic of Poverty I realized I was swimming in thoughts and feelings.

Firstly, I considered, is poverty a social condition…or is it possible it’s a state of being? I thought of how from certain lenses it sure seems to be a social condition. We can look at a region and ascertain that indeed that area is poverty stricken. We can then conclude that this then must be a social condition as this is the state of society as it exists in this area.

Being who I am…I began to question this theory. In my observation, from my perspective, I feel it’s possible that poverty is a state of being. I’ve traveled many places near and far…I’ve observed what we, through our lens of perspective see as poverty. I’ve also observed that when I remove that lens and step into the essence of that which surrounds me I can see the beauty and the soul of that particular place thriving in its own unique vibration. I observe children playing happily in the dirt with nothing more than a stick and I see contentment and aliveness in their eyes. I don’t see want or lack. I see peace and what is-ness. As I recognize this it’s interesting to consider that poverty perhaps is not so much a social condition, something that we perceive as “less than”…but rather a state of being that simply is.

If the media didn’t tell someone that they were impoverished, would they know it? If another area of society didn’t provide the contrast, would we see it as such? I wonder.

Wikipedia states that: “Poverty is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, and may also include the deprivation of opportunities to learn, to obtain better employment to escape poverty, and/or to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens.” It goes on to state, according to Mollie Orshansky who developed the poverty measurements used by the U.S. government, “to be poor is to be deprived of those goods and services and pleasures which others around us take for granted.”

I find this in and of itself intriguing and supportive of my initial query. A person actually develops the “poverty measurements” used by the U.S. government. So it would seem that this is subjective rather than objective. My point is that if we can remove ourselves from the emotional interference that perhaps we can see that the idea of poverty is sometimes steeped in our own projection.

I’m certainly not suggesting that poverty doesn’t exist, or that it’s right for one person to be graced with all things good in life and for others to have to go without. I am suggesting that I wonder how we would view all of this if it weren’t for the contrast that is so evident in our lives today.

At this point I feel it is important to balance my ponderings thus far with this: My wish for the world is that all people, if they choose, if they desire, have access to food, clothing, shelter, clean water, safety, connection, education and opportunity to become all that they wish to become. I am not a separatist. I am one with the Universe, one with all sentient beings on this planet. On an emotional level I am not free from feeling the pain in a starving child’s eyes. On that same level I feel the hurt of a nation grieving what it feels it has lost or has never had. I am human. I am connected. I feel the pulse that runs through each of our veins just the same. All of this being said, I trust. I trust in the Universal Harmony, the Universal Rhythm that flows through the All. I am willing to be active in showing up for what moves me, in showing up for what screams YES in my being. I am willing to support the world in maintaining its own ‘True North’…and I know that this is already done.

In closing, I offer another perspective of poverty. Ones inability to see and feel the Truth, the Supreme God Source in All…in oneself and ones neighbor…ones strong attachment to the material world and all that reflects, an attachment so strong that one starves oneself from the very essence that created us, the very essence of that which we are…THIS may be poverty. Perhaps poverty is as much within us as it is without.

Poverty as a state of being. Poverty as a social condition. I see both. In today’s world, the world that is projected to us on the big screen 24/7, it’s easy to get drawn into the web of polarity. In my world, I choose now more than ever to see that polarity and recognize the Light in all of it.

The contrast serves to inform, engage, inspire..to give us our point of reference, our perspective, our compass to our own ‘true north’ and from there it’s our choice what it is that we see.

Namaste`. I bow to the Divine Spark in All.
~Debra

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