WAVES ... UNITE

There's no doubt that I am a little bit obsessed with the newish word game now owned by The Times and blandly named Wordle. I've even tried Dordle and Quordle. The latter especially is more like work than fun (though it sounds amazing). The only other thing I've been obsessing about as much lately is what it means to "unite."

Unity is a key principle in the Baha'i teachings. Not unity as in uniformity. Unity in diversity, which means the ability to complement each other instead of compete; to move forward into the future with confidence that as a community we've thought about all the ramifications of a particular action and made an informed decision to go ahead in a certain direction knowing that if things start to go wrong we will not blame each other and fall apart, but figure out what was wrong in the original decision and make adjustments accordingly.

As a believer in the power of my subconscious mind to tell me things about myself based on my wordplay, a quick reflection on the two intermediary words in the made-up Wordle graphic above above (TENOR and UNTIE) taught me this:

An important step in UNITE-ing is to UNTIE oneself from all the "isms and schisms" that Bob Marley was so "sick and tired" of. This is not about lowering your standards or accepting wholesale someone else's idea of reality. It means a long (years long), deep (regular if not frequent meditation in solitude, plus many conversations with trustworthy friends) look at what are the origins of your beliefs and attitudes. It means going to the source of inspiration (not books**, although I love them!) I'm talking about searching your inmost being and praying--if you are a believer in God--to your Creator. ** Scripture is an exception. And if you don't know Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" please listen right away...

A step that's tied in with UNTIE-ing is reflection on your personal values and standards. It's somewhat easy to just let go of something that may seem to have been weighing you down. It's not easy at all to determine what crosses that seem difficult to carry are yours to bear. TENOR--not the musical 'soprano-alto-tenor-base' tenor--means "the course of thought or meaning that runs through something written or spoken; purport; drift." I think of this kind of tenor as a part of who you are as an individual. It encompasses your talents, positive qualities, and your purpose or mission in life. It defines your essence--what's left after you strip away your looks, money, education, belongings, etc. It's the spark of the divine my mother tried to teach me about.

So anyway, you can see why I need a nice easy game like Wordle to conquer every morning. It puts me in the mood to overcome the more serious challenges of the day.