"Spiritual practice involves, on the one hand, acting out of
Through this process a new intention was birthed within me: to continuously work to grow my circle of caring until it came to include all of life on Earth. And out of this ongoing journey of consciously expanding my circles of caring grew the intention to dedicate myself to the deep work of alleviating the suffering in our world. And, of course, none of this could happen without my profound commitment to truth and to healing my own trauma.
The power of intentions, of truth, of healing and opening our hearts and minds ever more deeply is amazing and profound and sacred.
For me, coming from a place of deep generational and cultural trauma, I had felt separate from everything. And because of this, throughout my young life I was fragmented, disassociated, addicted, and disconnected within myself and with my own heart and soul. It is hard to express how profound it is to go from this place of pervasive and painful disconnection to one of increasingly feeling ― not just thinking, but experiencing ― a growing connectedness and interrelationship within myself and all of life.
I was no longer alone! More and more, I felt and saw the sacredness within life. And all of the planetary family were growing to be as family to me.
One of the many impacts of this radical change within myself was that I gradually, ― and especially as I learned about factory farms and felt a kinship with other living beings ― I grew to no longer be able to eat anything with a face. It was a very organic process, nothing forced, there were no "shoulds." I simply began to eliminate all animals and fish and seafood from my diet. And I've now been vegetarian since 2006.
That said, I respect that this is not the path for everyone. Again, there are no "shoulds" here. There is just this story that is one part of my human journey of dismantling my separateness from other humans and animals.
So while I won't suggest that everyone should become vegetarian or vegan, I will simply share that the intention of growing our circles of caring does evolve us, change us, grow our capacity for empathy and compassion, and increasingly open the ears and eyes of our hearts so that we are more readily disposed to act out of concern for others' well-being. At least this has certainly been my experience.
* * * * *
There are countless horrors happening in our world today, too many to even begin to cover here. And whether we are acutely aware of the suffering in our world, in our nation, in our communities, in our families and our own hearts, or not, we are impacted. Your joy is my joy, your suffering is also mine. This is a reflection of our deep interconnectedness with all of life.
Before I go any further into a focus on what is happening to the Palestinian people ― and how this is deeply connected with a Caring Revolution ― it comes to me to stress the critical importance of not losing sight of the great acts of kindness, courage, compassion, generosity, and love that are flooding our Earth everywhere. Experiencing this balance is critical to not getting burned out, to not being swept up in despair and bitterness and hatred, to strengthening our hearts and expanding our capacity to not turn away and to act out of conscious awareness of a highest good. Yes, there is horror and heartbreak. AND there is beauty, kindness, compassion, joy, and love.
In the midst of it all, it is also Love that remains the greatest medicine.
And truth is essential to empowerment and to dismantling over time the fog of illusion, ignorance, and indoctrination that we may unknowingly be immersed in. And yet, how could any of us be free of the impact of the imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy (bell hooks words) that is in the air we breath and the waters in which we swim? Noam Chomsky's words need to be heeded and taken seriously: "Americans are a profoundly propagandized people."
And once we see and understand and own this fact, it is then that we are empowered to take responsibility for actively removing the many layered blinders and biases and denials and distractions that have been handed down to us generationally in our families and culture. It is then that we can recognize and see through more and more of the lies and half-truths and disinformation that so tragically plague our country ― and which impacts us all nationally and globally.
There is a connection to all of this with what is unfolding for the Palestinian people. Some may notice and wonder why I am spending hours posting and sharing and speaking out about and acting in every way possible to address the horrors of what is happening in Gaza. I won't speak at length here. My blog is full of much of what can be said and needs to be illuminated. So what I will say is simply that if we have ever wondered what we would have done, how we would have responded had we lived in Nazi Germany, we are doing it now. We are doing it now.
There are so many messages and disinformation circulating which feed and fuel our turning away, our dehumanization of the Palestinian people, our justification for inaction. Which to me is the same as complicity. We are doing it now. We are either responding in ways which side with the oppressors within the Israeli government and our own. Or we are standing in fierce opposition to the unfolding atrocities. We are speaking out. Or we are silent. We are turning to independent media and resources of information. Or we are listening to the narratives of corporate funding mainstream media (and, yes, this includes NPR/PBS, not just FOX).
There is a great deal of pushback against standing up to the forces which have caused the death of over 30,000 babies and children, mothers and fathers, the elderly and disabled, whole Palestinian families and communities. So often I hear things like:
- Hamas is equally as much at fault as Israel
- Don't you care about what Hamas did?
- We can't speak out against Biden because that will get Trump reelected
- It isn't genocide
- Biden's doing the best he can and we need to support him
- Hamas brought this on the Palestinian people
- Speaking out against Israel will bring about more anti-Semitic violence directed at Jews
- Israel has the right to defend itself
- The October 7th attacks by Hamas justify everything being done by the Israeli government
- Hamas is willfully not cooperating with efforts to achieve a ceasefire, such as by not supplying the list of names of hostages that they are holding
- There are other atrocities happening around the world ― why only focus on this one?
No one would be saying or believing these things if the larger pictures of truth and reality were known. No one.
Because the truth is that Netanyahu ― and with the full support of Biden and the American government ― has over the past five months engaged in "the slaughter, in cold blood, of more than 30,000 Palestinians. The slaughter in cold blood of 13,500 children. Of 12,000 women. They have actively helped wound 70,000 more people. They have aided and abetted the destruction of nearly every home in Gaza. The systematic and deliberate destruction of libraries, universities, archives, mosques, hospitals, schools, and so much more. They are currently overseeing the starvation of Gaza." (https://mollystrongheart.blogspot.com/2024/03/beyond-state-of-union-we-must-confront.html)
At this point in time, all that I need to say is that I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I will continue to speak out again and again and again against my own government. I will join all those who are putting pressure on Biden in every way humanly possible ― because Biden is funding this extermination of a whole population of people. Biden and our American government and corporate owned media are all complicit with genocide. Paid for by our tax dollars. It makes my heart hurt!
So now it is confirmed what I would do if my government participated in genocide. And I am doing it now. I am speaking out, acting out, illuminating the devastating actions of our president and government. I am taking sides! I am refusing to be silent! I am shining bright light on the horrifying truth.
Because if I were a mother or grandmother watching her children and grandchildren being starved to death, enduring limbs being amputated without anesthesia, witnessing whole families and communities being obliterated ― and I knew the government who was funding the genocide of my people ― I would pray to God that those in that country that was sending the bombs would fight back in every way humanly possible to stop the mass murder.
I refuse to cooperate with anyone who is perpetuating this ongoing genocide. Nothing can justify my silence or inaction.
* * * * *
.jpg)
In the midst of it all, there remain those who inspire our awakening and our shedding of our illusions and ignorance. All around us there are those whose beliefs and actions are rooted in compassion and kindness and love. We see brave human beings never ceasing in offering us the truth of larger pictures, and those who are tirelessly standing up to injustice and violence. There are the poets and artists, the authors and activists, the journalists and truth-tellers, the wisdom-keepers and visionaries who show a path of remembrance of beauty and courage and generosity and our interrelatedness with all of life. They model for us what an ever expanding circle of caring looks like. They help us remember who we truly are and to see the Sacred in all of life.
All around us are those who are actively engaged in a Caring Revolution and the Great Turning that is continuously unfolding ― one which is rooted in truth and justice, compassion and kindness and love. A Caring Revolution which embodies a passion for peace and stands up to the devastating impacts of war, greed, genocide, and all of the many faces of injustice, violence, and oppression.
All that is asked of us, those of us who live with privilege, I believe, is to increasingly do our part ― whatever that is for us individually and collectively ― to work to alleviate the suffering in our world. No small task. And yet no small act on behalf of life on Earth is too little.
First we must see the suffering, the horrors and heartbreaks, the truth of the injustices and brutality for what it is. We must be that courageous and care that much. I also say this to myself right now, and again and again, as much as to anyone else. I'm always working to more deeply absorb and integrate the sacred intentions and values I hold most dear.
It is not an easy path. Not at all. And that is why we all need each other. Deeply. We cannot heal or awaken ― or see more and more clearly with the loving wisdom of our hearts and souls ― in a vacuum.
And so the invitation is there for each of us ― to grow our hearts stronger, to find our community to grow stronger in, to set and strengthen our intentions, and to increasingly be the truth and wisdom and kindness and love that our beautiful hurting world so deeply needs and yearns for. We are indeed all in this together, all related, all family.
On International Women's Day and everyday, may we humans grow in the ways that we bring healing and empathy and justice and peace to ourselves and each other. May we root into the Caring Revolution and our human evolution that is long overdue and incredibly needed. And may we remember that the more we love, the more real we become.
No comments:
Post a Comment