this life here is marked by impermanence. things arise & fall away, conditions come together & then fall apart, the tide comes in & the tide goes out. life is constant movement, constant change. no thing is permanent, fixed, or solid. this applies to all things, even tyrants & their empires. impermanence means potential, openness to possibility. aware of this, in addition to pushing back against harm, we can use this time to work on transforming conditions with our love, planting seeds of generosity, kindness, equity, compassion & peace for the spring to come, the spring that will follow this winter.
even as others choose differently, choosing cruelty & harm, destruction & a culture of fear & death, may we who are aware of our interdependence choose open-heartedness, tenderness, & fierce compassion, embodying empathy over indifference, generosity over greed, gentleness over cruelty, courage over fear, & love over hate.
his, is a voice, that is sorely needed & will be missed. when those at the height of power exclude & push out the poor, the sick, the migrant, the imprisoned, the marginalized, Pope Francis undeterred by such worldly powers, spoke truth to power & centered his love & ministry on the very people that Jesus tended to in his life.
may we all learn to live in such a way that we include rather than exclude, that we open our hearts to the suffering in the world, & see ourselves as instruments of healing, of equity & justice, & of peace.
it is Easter Sunday, the culmination of the Christian Holy Week, & observed in secular fashion by many as well.
the universal promise apparent & available in the resurrection story is that through it all love continues. the seeds of springs are already here hidden within the cold darkness of our winter. love is already here silently always working & always available. every Good Friday, in time, gives way into Easter Sunday.
may we have hope in the work of love, may we be instruments of such love, for a beautiful world in need of such love.
today is the nationwide No Kings! Protest & March, a day to nonviolently exercise First Amendment rights of Freedom of Speech & Assembly. there is a clear majority in this country across political ideology that are deeply concerned & disagree w/ the current administration’s actions which ignore the Constitution & the Rule of Law, & present a danger to our democracy.
today is also the 250th Anniversary of the start of the American Revolution. we join their voices in saying, “No Kings!” as we stand up for democracy.
~j
⭕️♥️🙏🏼
*if you want a high res copy of this art, one is available via Drop Box – link in bio & below.
today is Good Friday of the Christian Holy Week, a day when the crucifixion & death of Jesus is observed. it is also a declaration of what the cost of fierce disruptive love can be. there are more than one way to view the crucifixion. viewing it as the end result of Jesus’ life of love, a life of love so unapologetically & fiercely embodied – the kind of love that flips tables – is, i think, very relevant today. it is important to see that Jesus’ message of love & what it meant to embody the heart of God – loving our neighbor (who incidentally is EVERYONE…i.e. the parable of the good Samaritan), welcoming the foreigner, feeding the hungry, tending to the sick & imprisoned – was disruptive to governmental, religious, & cultural norms. Jesus’ nonviolent protest tactics of turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, etc. can be also understood as shifting the power dynamic from oppressor to those oppressed, by exposing the oppression. the love Jesus was devoted to – divine love – which he preached & embodied, undermined & upset power structures, & the result was crucifixion & death. Jesus said whatever we do to the least of us (including all, but especially any marginalized group) we do to him. so, it’s not a stretch to see that Jesus would likely be crucified again today by the current systems in power, & disappointingly, tragically, by some of the very people who claim to love & worship him. it is interesting that Jesus never really says to worship him. what he says is to follow him. take up our cross & follow him. what does it look like to follow Jesus today? what does it look like to take up our cross today? our answer as it was in Jesus’ time, may be to find solidarity with all who are excluded, marginalized, & oppressed by the systems of power today – secular & religious, & offer our fierce, unflinching love, giving our life to it & for it.
Rabbi Susya said, a short while before his death: “In the world to come I shall not be asked: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ I shall be asked: ‘Why were you not Susya?”
~ Martin Buber
your open heart, your love embodied, your authenticity, is exactly what the world needs in this moment.
i got this tattoo prior to the election this past fall, knowing in my gut i would need this reminder written on my body to support myself & my practice in the times ahead. i had the same feeling in my gut that i had in 2016 – that he would win, despite all the dire warnings of what it would mean for us, especially those he had/has so often targeted. i had the feeling that it would be bad, far worse than the first time & perhaps far worse than people were thinking. with all that is happening, today, i’ve spent some time looking at this tattoo, reading it over & over.
may love, the source of all life, wake us up & transform hearts. may all that is love come together to push back against the cruelty, lift up what is true & good, & heal the harm.
60 Minutes’ investigation stated 75% of the 238 men snatched up and sent to the El Salvadorian gulag without due process and in violation of a District Judge’s stay/non-transport order, had no criminal record. Bloomberg’s investigation states upwards of 90% don’t have criminal records. a portion of these men also have/had legal status to be in the US.
at this point, the US Govt under Trump has no intention of bringing them back and has pushed back against any order to do so – even in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal resident, father of three (two of which have special needs) who the US says they sent to El Salvador mistakenly.
the US also in a recent brief to the US Supreme Court shared their potential goal of doing the same for US Citizens who are criminals. however, with no regard for laws and a two page statement letter from Secretary Marco Rubio counting as evidence against Mahmoud Khalil for deportation (with no other evidence of criminality) who is to say who/what citizens the US can/will say are criminals and thereby can be deported to another country’s prison system with no future of coming back?
friends, this IS fascism. now is the time to step into love and nonviolently push back. call your Reps and Senators nonstop, speak out, and protest while we still have the right to do so.
The Metta Garden 
