we can allow our suffering to open our hearts, to widen our awareness of others who also suffer. this strengthens our ability to empathize with others. our suffering can be an empathetic bridge to connecting with others & recognizing our shared experience in this life. when we see each other fully like this with open, empathetic hearts, we see allies instead of enemies. we can see this in groups like Mothers’ Call, made up of Israel’s Women Wage Peace & in the Palestinian women’s movement, Women of the Sun. mothers, tired of seeing their children die, connecting with other mothers tired of seeing their children die due to violent conflict. maybe all of these male leaders should take a seat & follow the lead of mothers.
when will our hearts no longer be ruled by tyrants & their manipulative mosaic of lies, but by the love found within the depths of our hearts, that is of one piece & the source of all things?
we know in our hearts that bombing children is wrong. we know starving children is wrong. forcing them into migration is wrong. we know that caging children & separating them from their families is wrong. we know withholding needed medical & food aid from children is wrong. we know that sex trafficking children is wrong. we know that normalizing of such atrocities is wrong. so why do we continue to accept & excuse all the blather for these atrocities, from leaders who have the power to choose otherwise?
it’s nonsense. for the sake of so many suffering, for the sake of our humanity – of our own souls, we can’t continue to fall for it. there is no liberation without collective liberation. there is no true, whole, authentic love that excludes anyone. love is either all inclusive or it is not truly & wholely (or holy!) love. if God is love then God is love for all. otherwise, we have fallen to our knees for the god of tribalism, nationalism, ethnocentrism, & whatever else our egos construct. may we be free from the delusion of separateness that says we can love in pieces, love with bias, love with exclusion, love in fear, & love while marginalizing, targeting, oppressing, killing, & destroying.
please take the time, only 10 minutes, to listen to HCR’s recent post regarding the threat to midterm elections, retired conservative judge Michael Luttig’s recent op-ed, & convention remarks by House Speaker Johnson. i appreciate HCR’s sober voice, which only emphasizes for me the reality of the threat. it also serves as all the more reason to vote, vote early, & vote en masse. may wisdom arise, may hearts open, may democracy prevail.
imagine being the richest person in the world. so rich you could live on a billion $ a year for 1000 years & this is what you spend your money on. not hunger or poverty or the unhoused, not research to cure diseases or assist w/ health care. AND you were pivotal in cutting a program (USAID which did help the poor, hungry, & sick) resulting in 700,000 people dying from lack of food & meds already – 500,000 of whom have been children. we have lost the plot. may hearts open. 🙏🏼
for the sake of this world, the vulnerable, the marginalized & targeted, those whose sacredness & inherent dignity have been ignored & dismissed, & all life here without exception, may it be so.
i was 26 when the attack on 9/11 happened. i recall being woken up after the 1st tower was hit, watching live as the 2nd tower was hit, as people jumped from flames & heat, & then as the towers collapsed. 2,977 lives lost. early on, the US & the world came together in solidarity, but as usual that began to unravel. fear began to sweep over the hurting & ignorant, Sikhs were attacked – i’m thinking of Balbir Singh Sodhi, owner of a gas station who had donated money to assist victims & was planting flowers outside his gas station when a man shot & killed him, thinking he was Muslim & a terrorist. this is where we are today, where our current leaders & some who follow are naming Muslims as the enemy, grouping an entire group of people by religion (only if they are brown apparently – Dr Oz gets a pass?) & naming them the enemy. going so far to say the Mayor of NY, only 9 at the time of the attacks, is somehow guilty & representative? insane. yet, the majority of the 19 9/11 terrorists were Saudi who we remain allies w/ & the Trump family continues to do business w/, but we don’t blame all Saudis, do we? don’t fall for it. it’s the pathetic reach of every authoritarian power to name scapegoats for the country’s problems – it’s the Muslims, it’s the immigrants, it’s the trans people. what it really is, is predictable. history bears witness. may we not be gullible & manipulated into hate & harm, death & destruction – the terrorist mindset. don’t fall for it! extremism is the enemy, hate is the enemy, aggression & oppression are the enemy, violence is the enemy. if we genuinely want to honor the lives horrifically taken on 9/11, then we must abandon extremism in all of its forms wherever & in whomever it arises, aligning w/ & calling all back to love. may clear, aware, wise, & steady minds arise in this moment. may hearts open w/ empathy, warmth, & fierce compassion in this moment.
i think that is the word future generations will use to accurately describe the actions of this administration & the ideology that motivates it. but we are not powerless. we have the ability, the responsibility, & the privilege to remind all things of their sacredness by bearing witness to, standing in solidarity with, & using our voices, our talents, skills, & abilities to call forth & embody love in this time. may we do so & may it be so.
i’ve been searching for a word to describe all that is happening under this administration with their ideology, rhetoric, & actions. i often use the word destruction, but it hasn’t seemed to quite capture the magnitude or the depth, or the offensiveness of what is happening. then the other day, i heard a pastor (unfortunately can’t recall his name) on a video describe what we are experiencing, what we are seeing, in one word – desecration – desecration of people, religion, institutions, nature, buildings & monuments, traditions & laws. all of it. the word has stuck with me, i’ve carried it since i heard the pastor use it & the awareness within me finally recognized it, fully & with clarity for what it is. now, today, i saw this quote by the great poet, essayist, & thinker Wendell Berry from his poem, “How To Be A Poet (to remind myself)”. he passed yesterday, August 31st, at the age of 92. may the alchemy of our love be a healing & restorative presence, calling all things back to their sacredness, during this era of desecration.
The Metta Garden 