In a comment to a recent post, Erin posed the following question which caught the attention Mother Mary.
Erin: I would love to ask anyone who cares to weigh in about all these neurodiversity categories we create for people with diverse neurologic wiring, when our societal structures seem built by an apparent "neurotypical" mindset that appear to not serve a great number of people. Are neurodiverse people really the minority?
Ann: Would anyone care to weigh in on this? I feel Richard, Mother Mary and Jesus here.
Richard: Let Mary take the lead. She knew it, lived it, and watched it destroy her son.
Mother Mary: It is true, Richard, that I suffered for being “different” as did Jesus and anyone in my time who went against the Roman oligarchy. The best that I can say to you, Erin, is that what you are doing, exploring how to understand your style of learning and teaching others theirs is God’s work, for he created all his children for a reason, and each has something to give.
It is critical for each of us to learn what works best for us to operate successfully in our society. While that work is an accommodation of sorts, it is necessary if you are to make communion with those in what is referred to as the mainstream. It is rather like living in translation where your words and actions have to be processed before proceeding so that they can be understood by others to be non-threatening – which for many “nondiverse” people they are, as you know.
But more important is to see your differences as gifts which allow you to see and feel with more acuity than others. Then do you begin to delve into the heart of God’s compassion and creativity. It takes confidence and curiosity to choose this path, but, once you look closely at your own configuration, never again will you assume that anyone you meet is “normal”.
Communion with the souls of others allows each individual genius their particular role in the world, to emerge. Many will not understand and will try to denigrate or even destroy you as they did to my son. Power is threatened by those with more obvious “differences,” for it gives them a glimpse of their own vulnerabilities. They hide beneath layers of fear and take refuge in arrogance and contempt. As you say, there are no nondiverse people, just people who have devised a system that works for them which they have managed to impose upon others. Without an awakening, they have become so invested in that system that “differences” feel like a threat to their survival.
The first task always is to love yourself as God loves you, for it takes great courage to undertake an objective journey into self-knowledge. Trust that what you will find is what God has given you in love. Do you have something denied to others? Do you make people laugh, do you have a special insight or talent? Can you see to the heart of your neighbour and offer friendship from your light to theirs? Are your eyes the ones that offer vision and love even if your lips cannot speak?
Again I say, you are doing God’s work, Erin. And not just to teach people how to pass for “normal.” Your task and that of everyone who feels themselves isolated and different is to engage, to learn to love yourself as the intended creation of a loving God, and to thereby change the mindset of everyone you meet. Ann is ADD and dyslexic. Once she came to understand and accept her differences as doorways to creativity and spirit, the restrictions became blessings as I think she would tell you.
Everyone has buried treasure in their soul when they look at who they truly are - not who they wish they were, or whom society rewards or enjoys taunting, but what is real and true. It is there, it just takes excavating.
As we discover our own gifts, we become empowered to see the struggles of others to do the same - even when they have turned a blind eye to their opportunities. It is in this way that we spread the light. Blessings upon you for taking up this challenge.
June 21, 2020