Humbled and blessed by the abundance I am surrounded by. I am reminded that even though I live with my family in an old house with an aging furnace, 2 cars, each with well over 100,000 miles on them and marginal incomes, I have so much more than many.
I am also aware that by the randomness of birth, the color of my skin and my geographic location I am granted much that I did little or nothing to earn.
It challenges me within my environment that feels mostly very safe (though being female, I have often felt unsafe, for good reason,) that there are currently millions of children throughout the world that are refugees. That live in war torn violent areas. That have been orphaned or misplaced due to violence and have witnessed atrocities that chill the very bone marrow of all that is living. With all the knowledge and technology we have in this world, it appears our hearts and souls have not evolved along with these other advances. It is hard to reconcile that we can live in relative comfort when in many parts of the world the most vulnerable among us suffer and we can only argue the pettiness of politics in response and not be doing our utmost to at least open our hearts, our wallets, our homes to alleviate suffering of this nature.
As a follower of Jesus I look to the Biblical call to welcome the stranger, The Beautitudes, the entire book of James and many other scriptures and parables that speak to how we are to care for one another and embrace the marginalized.
As a yoga teacher that seeks to see the light in all beings including myself, I cannot honestly say the word Namaste, which honors this light, if I am not actively working to see that the inherent worth and value of all beings is honored. In a world where peoples lights are extinguished because of the color of their skin, who they choose to worship and who they choose to love, I, as a teacher of this tradition and a follower of Jesus, have to work in the best way I can to honor and reflect these teachings.
Right now, here in this nation, hate crime is escalating through out the country towards People of color, Muslims, Women, those in the LBGTQ community. This is unacceptable.
Ironically, as we prepare here in America for Thanksgiving,( a whitewashed holiday) , at the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock, the Sioux Nation with other First Nation Peoples and supporters are in solidarity to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline which dis honors and desecrates Native burial grounds as well as threatens their access to clean water. Respect to this and the peoples here. Mitakuye Oyasin. Please find it in your heart to support this in some way.
If any of us have the privilege to speak and let our voices be heard. Now is not the time for silence. Let us encourage one another and speak truth to power grounded in compassion, stepping out of reactivity. Let us boldly and skillfully choose words and actions grounded in the inherent value and worth of all beings.
Let us be in inquiry so we can learn from each other. Explore difference. Celebrating the various ways we worship God (or not), our multiple ethnicities, the many ways our families are structured.
Some of these conversations about race, privilege, faith, gender and sexuality may be super challenging but necessary if we are truly wanting to be allies. This is not the time for false unity and the colorblind political correctness spiritual bypass bullshit. This is also not the time for self righteousness and arrogance which do not open minds and hearts but further entrench people into fixed certainty and blind ideology.
Blessed ones, all of the ugly is out and visible. But it has always been here. We can observe it now.Know this. Love. Compassion. Peace. Mercy. It has never left and will never leave us. Breath and know this. Let’s do this. Together.
