David Bedrick: The Mountain We Must Face

The East has brought a plethora of venerable spiritual teachers and teachings to these American shores, many whom have brought light to my own sometimes ill lit path.

However, while there exists some fine eastern light to help illuminate our paths, this turn to the East can inadvertently bypass the spiritual wisdom of our own African American elders - teachings rooted in our own blood soaked soil, pain, and shadow.

I am thinking of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fanny Lou Hammer, who faced beating and death with voices compelled by love.

I'm talking about John Coltrane and Miles Davis whose vision of individual freedom and collective expression manifested in America’s finest music and most profound vision of democracy, (not forgetting that Contrane's Love Supreme is a channeling of Spirit oof the highest order).

And how about Billie Holliday and Nina Simone whose cries of truth brought soul to pain and misery. Is there a finer thing for a spiritual tradition to do?

And let’s not dismiss the teachings of Howard Thurman who brought brilliance and renewed depth, not dogma, to the practice of a uniquely American Christianity. And Cornel West whose intellect and prophetic voice soar in pronouncement of a love-based ethic.

And how could we omit the words of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, African American women who’ve revealed the glory and need for redemption of the individual as well as our nation?

These sages have elucidated a spiritual wisdom that has arisen from the fires of America's own alchemy--a process of cooking the demons and injuries of injustice along with the spirit of love and perseverance creating a unique brilliance out of the heat of diversity.

They didn't turn water into wine, but tears into the blues. They didn’t carry a staff and part the Red Sea, but they did honor to the Hebrew cry “Let my people go.”

They may not share their message in retreat centers or in New Age workshops, but their spiritual genius and light is undeniably magnificent and necessary in a world sorely in need of a wisdom path that walks right into the center of our conflicts and agonies, not one that veers away or bypasses the mountain we must face and embrace.

 

― David Bedrick 

*Edited from from David's 2nd book, Revisioning Activism.