🌀

a light in the darkness. the tables of power flipped – scandalous & threatening. “love your neighbor…love your enemy…blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God…whatever you have done to the least of these you have done unto me…Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” i wonder if Jesus’ words hung in the air that day as his body hung on the cross. how astonishing it must have been & is still to see how far love is willing to go, blameless yet in solidarity with the blamed & suffering, with those cast out to the margins, defeated, broken, seemingly powerless by the standards of empire…the suffering servant.

a far cry from the imagery & language lifted up in the most adorned halls & behind the most elevated podiums of a warrior Christ. empire cannot comprehend the paradox of power hidden in such powerlessness, blind to the Ultimate hidden in the relative, the Wholeness hidden in duality, the abiding Suchness hidden in impermanence. empire is blind to Christ. yet, here we are, with those who have abandoned Christ for empire, where the name Jesus falls easily from lips, even as the very people Jesus called us to love & serve are attacked in rhetoric & policy – the hungry, poor, sick, imprisoned, the foreigner & stranger – Christ in the least of these. not seeing Christ again crucified in the mouth unfed, the body unclothed, the sick abandoned, the immigrant brutalized & disappeared, the trans person dehumanized, in the bodies buried in the rubble of war. what good are praises & tithes offered with one hand, when the other hand is around the neck of another child of God, of Life, of Love? we are more comfortable with law than love, with vengeance than restorative justice, with individual salvation than collective liberation, with war than peace, with crucifixion than an empty tomb.
may Jesus’ words once again hang in the air on this Good Friday, & may we have ears to hear.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#GoodFriday #Christ #Love #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

“Perhaps peace is not, after all, something you work for, or ‘fight for.’ It is indeed ‘fighting for peace’ that starts all the wars…Peace is something you have or do not have. 

If you are yourself at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world. Then share your peace with everyone, and everyone will be at peace.” 

~ Thomas Merton

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#war #peace #ThomasMerton #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🚫👑

For hate is not conquered by hate: 

hate is conquered by love.

This is a law eternal.

~ Dhammapada vs. 5

No Kings

No ICE

No Unnecessary Forever Wars

welcoming & loving our neighbors w/ food assistance, healthcare, shelter, normalizing rule of law & constitution, diplomacy, de-escalation, consistent view on human rights, w/ out exclusion, keeping religion & state power separate while allowing all to worship or practice as they feel called. 

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#NoKings #NoICE #NoWar #love #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🎭

sometimes it feels like another life & i miss it deeply. but my heart is also overwhelmed with gratitude for the meaning, the community, the joy & laughter, & the whole range of human experience that theater has gifted to me in my life. i can’t imagine what my life would have been without acting & theatre. it is truly uniquely magical.

happy #WorldTheatreDay

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

🚫👑

NO KINGS this Sat March 28th.

these are some posters i made for the last NO KINGS. you can download high res for FREE to use via dropbox or my patreon (public post). 

all links for event & poster art, here:

https://linktr.ee/jaysenwaller

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#NoKings #SitDownRiseUp #art #JinpaLhaga #JMWart 

🌀

we may not know it from looking at our leaders, but we’re not obligated to act on our every worst or non-beneficial impulse. we don’t have to act out of fear, anger, or greed. there are no trophies for vengeance, just destruction & death. we can come to all that arises with practice, be the observer of our thoughts, of our emotional landscape. allowing thoughts & emotions to arise, & then fall away. we don’t have to cling to them or go in the direction they may lead. that allowing of space is an act of love, of generosity, & courage. ultimately, it demonstrates strength & a power greater than is displayed when we are reactive & act out without mindfulness or self-discipline.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#mindfulness #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

in the chaos, hold to center. 

what is center? the anchored, steady, clear, openhearted space within you.

where is center? everywhere.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#center #anchored #enso #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

what do we do when so many are bent on destruction, on asserting power & dominance, who oppress & target their own people, or choose conflict, killing civilians including children, destroying hospitals, schools, & places of worship? many say “peace” & “liberation”, but what they bring is destruction & death. one of the greatest gifts the Jewish tradition has given this world & a teaching i hold in high regard & try to live by, is the philosophy of Tikkun Olam, which means “repairing the world”. it is a foundational ethic & call to action, that we all can take part in – indeed, the world needs us all to take part in, especially in this moment when even some of the world’s most powerful leaders, Trump & Netanyahu among them, are off course & escalating harm & destruction. the direness of this moment is existential in scope. people are already dying & the suffering is immense. perhaps at times a situation does require force, motivated by immense love, fierce compassion, & restraint after all other efforts have been exhausted, but this is often not the case for the majority of war & conflict we see. ultimately we have a choice, each of us, whether we are going to participate in harm & destruction, or whether we are going to choose love, life, & restoration over & over again for as long as the world needs. may Tikkun Olam inspire, motivate, & govern our words & action in this challenging time.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#TikkunOlam #RepairingTheWorld #JewishWisdom #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

friends, on this first day of spring, step outside. breathe deep. allow yourself to connect with & remember the order of nature. it is always moving towards life, towards creation. even, within the context of nature, death is a movement towards more life. this is all the more important, when we have world leaders who are bent on destruction. they are misaligned, they are in disharmony, blind & deluded. we don’t have to be. we as individuals, & collectively, can wake up. wake up to interdependence, to life, to love. may it be so.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#Spring #SpringEquinox #life #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

may there be more awareness & understanding.

may there be less othering.

may there be less violence, less war, less destruction, less hate, less indifference to the suffering of others.

may we see life is of one piece, love is of one piece, & in our delusion we are destroying whole worlds. 

may we wake up & may hearts open.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#interdependence #love #RobertThurman #JinpaLhaga #JMWart