The Coming Times ^TM

Mary

My daughter!

Now honey close your eyes

Where are we

Scribe

At the park bench Mother

Mary

And what am I doing

Scribe

Mother with one hand you are holding my hand

And with the other you are holding out the globe

On the end of your necklace

You are holding it out to me

You are squeezing my hand as if to comfort me

Mary

Or to warn you darling

Or to warn you

Brace yourself

This will not be a pretty meditation

Brace yourself dear one brace yourself

Scribe

Yes Mother I brace myself

I clear myself Mother

Mother I trust you

Mother I am ready to receive

Mary

Good child good

Now look into the globe now

Close your eyes and allow Spiritual Eye to look

Scribe

And I look into the globe that Mother is holding out to me

And the globe is shaking violently in her hands

It is trying to leap out of her hands!

The globe does not want to be in Mother’s hands

It is trying to jump out of her hands

It would be free of her!

Mary

Look into the globe

Look into it

Scribe

And I peer into the globe

And I see little people, so very many, so very little people

And they are angry, angry they are

And I see that they are demonstrating

And yes they are demonstrating against the Mother

They do not want her referenced

They wish no word mentioned of her

They do not want to hear her name

No not by their governments

Not by their schools

No not in their town squares

No not even on people’s lips

And they are demanding this!

Just as we are being told to no longer say Merry Christmas

But say Happy Holidays instead

So will we be told; no, we will be demanded

To no longer mention the Mother’s name

To no longer make reference of her

How can this be??

I look into the globe in puzzlement

How can such a situation arise

Free speech is a given

Religious freedom is a given

It is the law of the land

Both of these are fundamental and most closely guarded

And cherished

Both as the Law of the Land

And as the fundamental right of the people

What is going on here

And I look and I feel the people’s rage

They are angry

And I am reminded of the mob at Jesus’ crucifixion

How they were manipulated into demanding Jesus’ crucifixion

Why did they do so

How was it in their own interest to do so

Truly they were not doing their own thinking

Clearly they were being manipulated as sheep

Others had control of their minds

Others played them like violins

And they allowed themselves to be so played

They allowed

They allowed

And they actively participated in the unspeakable horror

That followed

They in fact were necessary players

It could not have happened without them

No the crucifixion of Jesus could not, would not

Have happened

Without the insistent demands, the very willing and active

Participation of the mob of angry people present

And a similar scenario is now being presented before my eyes

Oh Lord have mercy

I am seeing women dressed in black

Covered in black, the black garment of the Muslim women

And they are angrily decrying against reference to the Mother

But since when do the Muslims hate the Mother

This makes no sense at all

The Muslims have always shown great respect

And yes affection for Mary the Mother of Jesus

What is this turn of events?

Spirit

Tune into one of the women dear

Enter into her

Drop your fear, drop your revulsion, drop your prejudice

And enter into one of the women

Do so now

Scribe

And I take my courage in my hands

And yes we are in Paris

Beautiful, lovely, elegant Paris

Paris being swarmed by these women

In their black robes that cover them from head to toe

And forgive me, my stomach recoils

And I remember my spirit’s instructions

To drop my prejudice, to drop my fear

And yes to drop my revulsion of all this ugly black

This symbol to me of the oppression, yea imprisonment

Of womanhood

Yes drop it all; drop it all; drop it all

Pick a woman

And how unusual

The woman I am focused on

Has blue eyes!

She has clear white skin

She is clearly not an Arab

And yet she is Muslim

And yet she is covered from head to toe in black

In a large and loosely flowing black garment

That hides her, that hides her, that hides her

And I take a deep breath

For truly this is a bit much for me

And I look at this woman

And again her blue eyes startle me

She has chosen for this?

She was not born into this

She of her own free will, freely chose for this

It staggers the imagination

It is beyond my comprehension

Truly it is beyond me

My stomach recoils; forgive me God, my stomach recoils

For one can have sympathy for women who are born into this

But for a woman to freely choose imprisonment

Why it is as preposterous, as obscene

As a black man freely, of his own free will, choosing for slavery!

And yet, this woman I have focused on has done just that

And no she is not Arab

God help me, surely she cannot be French!

And oh my God, she is French

She is a native born French girl

Born to French parents

Raised French

And has married into the Muslim community

And has converted to the Muslim faith and way of life

And I stagger and I reel

And I remind myself that this is not about me

Focusing on my emotions and my reactions teach me nothing

Please God, please God

Give me what I need to be clear

Give me what I need to listen, and yes to hear

What this French woman

Who has of her own free will

Decided to choose for the chador

Decided to turn her back on her country, on her culture

On her very way of life

Yes on the faith of her fathers

What is this French turned Moslem woman thinking

What is her motivation

What does she want

Oh my God can I do this

Can I do this

Can I do this

And again I clear myself

And I look at this woman’s eyes

And they are a clear blue

And I am reminded that I am not to look at her

Not look at her from the outside

But enter her

Experience her from within

And oh dear I have been stalling

Out of reluctance and dread I have been stalling

And now once more I take a deep breath for courage

And I now enter this young woman

And I see and I feel that she is energized

Yes she is empowered!

This march is energizing her; it is empowering her

She has a voice!

She is speaking

She who had been silent for so long

Is now shouting and is now being heard

She who had been invisible for so long

Now has the television cameras, the news cameras

Focused upon her

Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

She has never felt this good in her whole life

She has never had this much energy in her whole life

Yes she has demands

And yes her demands will be heard

And yes, yes, yes

Her demands will be met

Yes her demands must be met

For she and her sisters will not stop

No they will not stop

They will not ever stop

Until their demands are met in full

In full to the spirit, to the letter

And what are these their demands

And yes it is the complete and utter rejection

Of all that they see as opposition to their culture

Their way of life

Their view of life

And somehow, just how I cannot begin to imagine

The Virgin has become a symbol

An icon upon which they focus

She represents to them

What?

What is it

That the Virgin Mother

Whom the Moslem population has always shown respect

And reverence for

How is it that they have chosen the Virgin

Upon which to focus their rage, yes their strident demands

And yes I can feel the woman’s sense of power

For the first time in her life

She feels power

She feels powerful

And what a wonderful feeling power is!

What an energizing, exciting, vibrant feeling

Why she who had been numb, who had been as half-dead

Is now alive!

Yes she is alive!

She has power

They are listening to her

They must!

They are so many

And they march down the boulevards of Paris

And no the French people are too civilized to stop them

They will not shoot these women down

Of course not

The French people are a very civilized people

And they listen, they listen carefully to what these women

Are saying

And yes, they nod their heads in agreement

Yes it is offensive to have another’s religion

Rubbed in one’s nose

Yes if one is not a Christian

It is truly offensive to see crèches at Christmas

No, the crèches must be brought down

No, the crèches must not be allowed on any public property

One must leave the people to do as they will

In the privacy and sanctity of their own homes

But in the public square, in the community centers

In the town hall, on the street

In the common area

The public domain is simply no place for scenes of Christianity

No, no place at all

And for some reason

The French do not think upon the fact

That in the Muslim countries

Public displays of the Muslim faith abound everywhere

And at all hours of the day

Yes the Muslim bells ring five times a day

And yes these bells are heard by all

Faithful and secular and non-Muslim alike

And no one takes offense

No one suggests that this is offensive

No one demands an immediate halt to this practice

But somehow this is overlooked

And the French government to keep the peace

For the French having experienced war

Having had their fill of war

Would avoid war at all cost

Will keep the peace at any price

And the French decide to yes

They understand the women’s position

Public displays of a particular faith

Are offensive and aggressive

Toward members of other faiths

Toward people of no faith

They are offensive and worse than that

They are hostile and aggressive

And show disrespect to these non-Christians

And so the crèches come down at Christmas

No they are not allowed out in public

And now even the people

Out of respect for the Muslim sensibilities

Do not put up crèches in their front yards at Christmas

For they would show sensitivity to their neighbors

And when the Muslim stops what he is doing

Five times a day

Where ever he happens to be

And drops on his prayer mat

Be it at the office, be it on the street

No one thinks to object

No one finds this offensive

No one finds this aggressive nor hostile

On the contrary

The Muslim is praised for his faith and devotion

And no contradiction is seen

No double standard is seen

The people are oblivious

The people are in denial

They do not realize that they are the ones being aggressed

They do not realize that the hostility is not only

From the French to the Muslim in the form of fear

But also from the Muslim to the French in the form of anger

In the form of anger, in the form of rage

And yes, yes, one must admit it

One does not dare to admit it

Such thoughts are not permitted to be spoken

In the form of jealousy

For of course the Muslim is jealous of the European

He has for generations now blamed the European

For all of his problems

He had blamed European colonialism

He had blamed European imperialism

But European colonialism and imperialism

Had disappeared from the Muslim nations

Decades and decades ago

And unfortunately life has only gotten worse for the Muslim

And truly he understands not why

It is the Jew’s fault

Yes it is all their fault

If Israel did not exist

Then everything would be all right

And yet, somehow that answer

Does not satisfy all the Muslims

The poor and the uneducated

Especially those living close to Israel

Are able to be so convinced

For truly they feel the wrath of Israel

For truly they feel Israel’s hatred and contempt of them

And they internalize it

And they externalize it

And they manifest it

But those Moslems further away from Israel

Are forced to silently admit to themselves

That no, Israel is not the reason that their countries

Fare so poorly

And yes, the fact that the Americans pour millions of dollars

Into their countries each year

Yes just to pacify them

Rankles.  It rankles, it humiliates

Especially since they seem to have almost nothing

To show for all these American dollars that have been pouring

Into their countries for how many years now

How many decades

It is humiliating

It is humiliating

It is humiliating

And the Muslim is left bewildered

Just why and how has he been left behind

And now the European has left the Muslim countries

And now the Muslim countries are poorer and worse off

Than they were when the hated colonials were in power

And now the American dollars keep pouring in

Year after year after year

And yet the money seems to evaporate

Where, who can tell

Into the pockets of the politicians in power one suspects

But one cannot be sure

And so the European leaving did not help the Muslim

And the American dollars do not help the Muslim

And now finally the Muslim gives up on his country

He leaves his country

Leave his country he does

And he goes to Europe

He goes to the land of the gods

The land of the white man

Who seems so all powerful, so civilized, so competent!

And he goes to this land and hopes to be converted into

A European himself

But finds himself rejected

His swarthy skin

His thick accent

Give him away

He is not French; no he is not

And he never will be

And so he is confined to the ghetto

And he is treated with contempt

And he is not able to succeed in this land, in this Europe

And he is reminded yet once again

That he is inferior

And he internalizes this self-knowledge

And he externalizes this self-knowledge

Yes he is inferior

He had been inferior

During the times of European colonialism

He has been inferior

Despite the massive infusion of the American dollar

He is inferior now

In the land of the European

Even here where all the structures are already set in place

He is not able to succeed

He is inferior.  He is inferior.  He is inferior

There is no escaping this apparent fact

There is no accepting this apparent fact

And the Muslim rages

He rages.  She rages for him

They rage

They rage

They rage

And are helpless; helpless they are

For a long time they are helpless

They are helpless to construct

They are powerless to build a civilization of their own

They are helpless and powerless

Or at least they were

But there is strength in numbers

And if one is not able to do something oneself

One is powerless to