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friends, we are called to love & love isn’t silent in the face of harm. it won’t get any easier to speak out than it is right now. so let us speak out with love – fierce love – for our country, our democracy, for our fellow human beings. we must keep our hearts open, engage empathy, & practice courage. may we speak out with love as best as we can in so far as we can & are able, while we still can.

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“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.”

 ~St. Francis of Assisi

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#StFrancisOfAssisi #LoveThyNeighbor #BodhisattvaVow #OpenHeart #light #healing #heart #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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“Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” 

~Jalaluddin Rumi

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#Rumi #Sufi #LoveThyNeighbor #BodhisattvaVow #OpenHeart #light #candle #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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“No more apologies for a bleeding heart when the opposite is no heart at all. Danger of losing our humanity must be met with more humanity.” ~ Toni Morrison

please pay attention to your heart, keeping it open, vulnerable & tender to the sight of suffering. have the courage to be moved & grieved by the suffering we are bearing witness to & then to speak out & take appropriate loving action.

Netanyahu would have us believe mass death, starvation, & ethnic cleansing is necessary for the safety & security of Israel. Trump would have us believe that rounding up people in mass without due process or consideration, separating families, & resurrecting internment camps is necessary for US security & safety. 

don’t be fooled. they would ask for your humanity, your very soul, offered up on a platter out of fear & desperation. the very qualities that make cruelty, harm, & destruction not only possible, but preferred. thick in delusion, they offer up a starkly dark reality. a reality inconsistent with a path of love. they are not speaking or acting from a space of love, so abandon them & align with love! know who you are & anchor yourself in love, set your sights on love, allow love to pour out from your broken heart through your words & actions with both tenderness & fierce compassion. love is the antidote to hate, compassion is the antidote to indifference.

let your heart bleed!

~j

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#love #OpenHeart #humanity #Gaza #immigrants #BleedingHeart #ToniMorrison #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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tyrants never grew up. they are stunted in their emotional intelligence. all of our current tyrants are no different. they haven’t done the inner work of growing up & growing out. opening of mind to awareness of the other & then that there is no other. expanding & softening of the heart towards all life, rather than a closing & hardening that excludes. it’s their way or the highway & don’t even think of getting in their way. anything to avoid discomfort, their cruelty comes easily.

saints, on the other hand, are incredibly courageous. they go right into the difficulty & discomfort carrying with them the wisdom that their dark night of the soul is necessary and a gift, the inner journey that opens their eyes, mind, & heart to our interdependence, union, & our necessity to each other. saints carrying in their hearts the grown-up & vast love that benefits our world.

let us have the courage to do the inner work that enables us to be saints & bring benefit to our world.

~j

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#tyrants #saints #innerwork #OpenHeart #love #CSLewis #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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all life is sacred.

all beings, beloved.

no exceptions.

how would such a view look in our lives, in our words & actions, if we were to take such a belief seriously? who could we exclude from being our neighbor? what would loving our neighbor look like?

~j

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#life #sacred #beloved #LoveThyNeighbor

#OpenHeart #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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“You can survive on your own; you can grow strong on your own; you can prevail on your own; but you cannot become human on your own.”

~ Frederick Buechner

our humanity is defined by our relationship to life, because life IS relationship, love IS relationship.

when we dismiss the lives, the value, the sacredness of others & our interdependence with them, we are in danger of losing our humanity, or if not losing it, at least acting outside of our humanity & bringing immense harm to others & eventually to ourselves as well.

~j

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#humanity #interdependence #Ubuntu #life #love #OpenHeart #FrederickBuechner #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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we must learn, we must know that if our love excludes, it is incomplete, it isn’t whole.

if my heart doesn’t break open when i hear of the murder of children living in the kibbutzim on October 7th AND my heart doesn’t break open when i hear of the mass murder of children in these years since and now the starving of children, then my love is incomplete, it isn’t whole.

and if my love stops at children and doesn’t extend to all harmed, starved, or murdered, then my love is incomplete, it isn’t whole.

let Palestinians live.

~j

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#CeasefireNow, allow water and food to flow.

#love #empathy #mercy #compassion #OpenHeart #StephanieDowrick #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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this quote from Kahlil Gibran (which i’m sure i’ve often shared) from his book, The Prophet, has resonated with me since i first read it many years ago, and it came to mind as i learned of the passing of two incredibly profound voices this past week. Joanna Macy was a renowned Buddhist scholar, ecologist, and environmental activist. Andrea Gibson was a beloved poet and activist for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights with poetry that gave voice to death and life. both lovers of life in their own right with unique and inspired voices. please do yourself the great favor of checking out their work.

though i know of no connection between the two, their views on death and life seem so similar. Andrea Gibson in their poem titled, “Love Letter From the Afterlife” wrote, “I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined.” similarly, Joanna Macy when asked by a friend how it had been for her upon the death of her teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, she shared, “Oh! It’s been amazing. He’s everywhere!”

i think these two voices of light and love (so needed in this time) would appreciate Kahlil Gibran’s words here as well.

may all of our hearts open as wide as theirs and may their words and wisdom continue to teach and guide us who remain, to do the work of love.

~j

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#JoannaMacy #AndreaGibson #KahlilGibran #life #death #wisdom #OpenHeart #JinpaLhaga

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yes there is darkness, yet…

some awaken to love while the darkness still abides.

and some awaken to love at the first glimpse of dawn’s light.

and still, some awaken to love within the full light of day.

whatever the case, daylight arrives, and so it is with love.

the sun rises high into and across the vast sky, from behind and through clouds, shining on and available to all. 

so it is with love.

~j

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#darkness #light #daylight #awakening #OpenHeart #SitDownRiseUp #JinpaLhaga #JMWart