Dear People
Thanksgiving Day 2016
I
know many of you hoped to hear from me sooner, and I have been trying
to write. I labored over three letters and tossed each of them, because
they did not begin to do justice to the situation we’re in. They
sounded either hysterical or flat.
I’ve been asking myself: How can I be honest and not spread fear? How do I say “game over” when we mustn’t give up?
Maybe
the game that’s over is the pretense of normalcy. Maybe what’s over is
the delusion that with millions of souls already in prison, with
millions of undocumented already deported, with over half of America
already in poverty, the rest of us can stay so preoccupied with our
personal pursuits. Perhaps what’s finished is the fantasy that we can
find ourselves without taking our suffering seriously.
Now,
a triumphant Trump brings into the spotlight at stage center those who
have been waiting in the wings: the lords of coal and oil, the masters
of surveillance, the white supremacists, the war-ready generals, those
eager to rule the bodies of women.
So
it is good that we reach for each other, find our strength and our
sanity in each other. It is good that the churches are filling again,
and places of worship choose to be sanctuaries for the hated and hunted.
I
rejoice that many of you are gathering people together in your own
communities, schools, and workplaces, so they can share their thoughts
and feelings. Some of you are inviting people to talk and hear each
other; some of you are offering processes from the Work That
Reconnects, such as Open Sentences and Breathing Through and the Truth
Mandala. This is not only rewarding, it’s essential. For isolation and
fear reinforce each other.
For
myself, I turned yesterday to the Brahmaviharas or Four Abodes of the
Buddha (loving kindness, compassion, joy in the joy of others, and
equanimity), which we practice interactively in workshops as “Learning
to See Each Other.” I was experiencing another wave of fear, and in the
midst of it I recalled the many times I heard myself say: “See, in the
actual experience of these four abodes, there is no room for fear.”
That
recollection helped me—and so did what happened with my eye doctor when
I mentioned that wave of fear which I was still feeling in my body.
For the first time in the years he’s been treating me, Dr. L. stopped
what he was doing, pushed the door closed, and began speaking of himself
and his life. He conveyed the impact of Trump’s election on an
American with Chinese parents, the stress on his wife who couldn’t eat
for days, their children’s confusion and upset. His friend, an
American-born ethnic Chinese practicing medicine at the VA Hospital, was
verbally attacked at the corner store for being a “Chink” who doesn’t
belong in our country.
Once
again I experienced it: how, when we open together to the suffering
around us, we become more real to each other. Even in the midst of grief
and fear, we are not alone. The mystery at the core of our existence
is that simple: we are held in a web of mutual belonging.
Because
the world needs us right now to practice our values and step into our
power, it’s good to make a list of priorities. Here are some
ingredients drawn from my own list:
- - Meet weekly with a committed group to look deeply at what’s going on and share responses.
- - Join efforts to protect people who are targeted for harassment, arrest and deportation.
- - Amp up support for movements opposing global warming and nuclear weapons, including support for the epochal resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock.
- - Read (preferably with others) books on creative mass nonviolence, such as Why Civil Resistance Works by Chenoweth and Stephan.
- - Stay steady and faithful in your vows and your meditation practice.
- - Share the Work That Reconnects!
Since
this letter is accompanied by one from Anne Symens-Bucher, I would like
to close by sharing a communication I made three months ago.
Addressing a group of facilitators who were meeting to focus on the WTR
Network, I wrote:
“Since
I never created an organization for the Work That Reconnects, and chose
to offer its theory and practices as a give-away and Open Source, I
have no formal office to retire from, or pass on to a successor. But
there is a person I do want to name now as one whose experience and
vision I would ask you all to use and trust. Anne has known the work
for 32 years, and has assisted me on a daily basis and in many locations
for almost 11 years. No one, other than I, is more familiar with its
global spread and cast of characters. I have come to believe that
Anne's intuitive sense of best strategies for a coherent,
bureaucracy-free organization is better than my own, and that our
expanding network would be well served if she were seen as my
“successor,” and consulted for her canny suggestions. What this will
mean in practice is still unclear and will be sure to unfold, as
emergent properties do!”
The next issue of Deep Times,
the journal of our WTR community, will soon be out on-line. Don’t miss
its invigorating wealth of news and reflections from our brothers and
sisters near and far. Stay connected!
In grateful love and solidarity,
Joanna
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