The tectonic plates in our shared polis shifted this past week. Some might say there were winners and losers. I’m of the mind that we all lost. Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious, but couldn’t all the money raised, spent and squandered by all parties in this 2 year political slog have shifted a whole impoverished underclass by now?

 We are all waking up to a new normal. Like post-911, our illusions about one another and our society have been ruptured. Our moral compass as a nation is spinning. The real issues are lost in a morass of our country’s shadow. Racism, elitism, misogyny, classism, violence and the cultural wars have become uncorked. The media has capitalized on the sensational and spectacle. The thin veneer of this country’s civility is now scratched open and the chasm of our discontent yawns wider. Our republic is broken.

Friends, there is no time like the present to visit the wisdom of the bee republic. Everyday, bees collectively roll up their sleeves and work for the commonwealth. Oddly, all the leaders are female. There is no celebrity. It is a gift rather than a cash economy. All the goods of the hive are shared by all. They even share with non-bees. We rarely say thank you.

The queen, contrary to popular opinion, is not the superstar. She has only one role:  working for the republic of bees, ensuring a healthy genetic survival for each successive generation. She will never see the light of day once anointed as queen (yes, it is quite drab). She will lay eggs tirelessly on behalf of her colony.

The Bee Republic is a commonwealth. Jacqueline Freeman, bee whisperer and author of “Song of Increase” (Battle Ground, WA: Friendly Haven Rise Press, 2014)spoke about listening to bees. After years, she understands the life of bees and the hive with a new level of competence and reverence. She points out how our small understanding of bees as only for our purposes of pollinating food leaves us viewing them as “chattel…indentured servants whose mission is to serve our needs.” (Forward to book)

This narrow thinking has led us to create ways of employing honeybees that keep us blind to the tremendous depth of knowledge they embody and the generosity with which they carry forth each day to serve the highest needs of our spiritual development and the evolution of the world.

I’m sure you know about the problems bees are having right now. Man could hardly come up with a better way to stomp on them than our current attitudes and beekeeping methods. These methods may serve man’s purposes but they certainly aren’t bee friendly. Treating bees this way is tremendously disrespectful.

Here I speak about treating bees with respect and gratitude, which is what bees are all about… Their respectful industry and fellowship are living examples of love, interdependent communities, and an ever outflowing story of creation. (Forward to book)

We can no longer rest on our laurels. It will take all of us who are awake to build a new world of dignity, respect and basic rights for healthy human and non-human communities.

Words are cheap. Actions mean everything. Walking the walk will mean more than talking the talk. More than ever we must examine those whom we give power to. Money, our pet issues and celebrity are low bars. Now we realize we must have leaders with integrity as well as a deep commitment, a listening heart and sensitivity to the zeitgeist of our time.  Candles of dedicated wisdom shine throughout our shared story. Abraham Lincoln.Dorothy Day. Nelson Mandela. Jimmy Carter. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Leymah Gbowee. Aung San Suu Kyi. Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks and MLK, Jr….to name a few. Their leadership spiraled out from a soul intact, a heart burdened with respect and love for humanity and a spiritual foundation that embraced a vision large enough for a nation, a whole earth. They enriched us through their lives of selfless service.

So, it is up to us, intrepid bee friends.

Let us go out now into the world that we must create together…with bees, butterflies, bats and more.