seven states have primaries tomorrow Tues June 7th, including my state California.
VOTE.
our right to vote and our participation in voting are how we keep democracy alive. it’s the bare minimum, but democracy is nonexistent without it.
please be engaged. please participate. educate yourself on the resources available in your state and reach out for assistance if needed. the primary way we overcome attacks on democracy is by participating in our democracy.
to authentically be who we are in this life, to be able to authentically express our embodiment of life and love in this life, is our greatest gift to the world. living fully our embodiment of the beautiful diversity of life is a gift to the world. beautiful Buddhas awakening. it helps the world to learn to open its heart, to love better, to love fuller without exceptions without discrimination.
and where there is discrimination, where there is bigotry, fear, anger, hate – this is where our work is. the narrow road of hate and discrimination arises out of ignorance and fear, which gives rise to anger and eventually to hate, all of which adds the the suffering in this world – even for the one who hates.
may life and love continue to flower in all of its beautiful diverse ways for a world in need of learning love.
this call to embodied life and love, this wish for opening and loving without discrimination, perhaps is even more important than it has been in many years. let us ground ourselves in love and move from love, even as others move from fear and hate.
~j
⭕️♥️🙏🏻
*IF you like this art, i have prints and products available at my Redbubble store.
ALSO – become a Patreon supporter today at any level ($3 and up) and you’ll receive a digital print of this art, along with other art, and benefits. Patreon subscribers are often gifted digital prints of my art in addition to listed benefits, as a thank you. grateful for all support.
it’s honestly just so ugly, how the rhetoric around these school mass shootings often makes teachers the scapegoat.
the expectations put on teachers is unrealistic. it’s cruel to place the burden on teachers and students, expecting them to learn triage, to use guns, to barricade, etc., rather than having an authentic, serious, responsible dialogue about gun reform in regards to weapons that kill and wound en masse. it’s not a choice made from sanity or love.
all the while consistently criticizing and policing teachers, restricting/censoring what they teach and banning teaching materials. it’s some sick gaslighting abuser sh*t and it needs to stop.
i think this art illustrates the insanity of this time and our country in regards to how we value teachers.
the cost of war is too high to estimate. although at times, war may be necessary when no other option is available to end an even greater harm and destruction, it is always a failure of our species, that we descend into war. we should meditate on this.
in some ways we all bear the cost of war, with collective trauma, but no one bears the cost and trauma of war more than those and the families of those who have sacrificed their lives in service. to them we should offer our deepest prayers and heartfelt gratitude.
the willingness to serve and offer up one’s own life for the protection and welfare of others is an immense selfless act. and it is to them and our children that we owe our pledge to work tirelessly for peace and an end to all conditions that lead to war.
we are all connected. all life is connected. this is why so many of us believe in prioritizing gun reform, poverty, hunger, universal healthcare, peace, climate change, along with other causes. to act as if we are individual and separate is to act in opposition to the reality we live in, contrary to life itself. this disharmony is destructive and harmful. and to be aware of the harm, to see the destruction happening, while those in power either do little to nothing to address the harm, or even add to the harm, is deeply unsettling.
how to remain steady, resilient, and clear within such insanity?
this is what we practice for, so in that in rough, violent seas, we can remain buoyant, able to breathe, and still see the horizon. the horizon is still present, the ability to breathe and float are still present.
allow time for nature.
allow time for silence.
allow time for relationships.
allow time for service.
allow time for love.
invest in connection. this is how we know what connection is when so much is disconnecting around us. we recognize love, we recognize clarity, and harmony by practicing love, clarity, and harmony. and when we practice in this way, when we can see the abiding power of love that pervades, when we feel connected, we have less fear, we have less anger, and then we have less aggression, violence, and harm.
we need to engage in such a way that is healing, harm ending, and beneficially transformative, in a way that recognizes our interconnection with all life and then honors it, even while others engage in harm.
we can do it. we need to do it, if we want to survive, if we want future generations to survive.
please please please, if you are a Christian, do not support the marriage of Jesus with that of using gun violence as an answer. it’s the antithesis of Jesus’ message. it’s an abomination. it’s a marriage made in hell.
i’ve seen some ads from the firearms company, Daniel Defense, that are just an abomination. i won’t show them here, but will describe them. one shows a young child holding an assault rifle with the magazine detached and a hand pointing where it goes under the headline “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” another on Easter shows a gun with a cross necklace resting on it, with the headline, “He is risen.”
i see some of these Right Wing preachers promoting more guns as the answer, putting guns in the hands of teachers, and making statements that a horrific tragedy like this means we need prayer back in schools. i bet there was a lot of prayer going on that day in those moments and there are still 19 children and 2 adults dead.
even though i’m Buddhist, i was raised Christian and Jesus (and his message) deeply resonates with me. i feel protective over it. what he taught is the complete opposite of what we are seeing, what these people are believing, and what these charlatans are preaching.
knowing that my voice as a Buddhist (and a part of the LGBTQ+ community) undermines any moral authority in the narrow view of those on the Christian Right, i’m offering some wisdom from some contemporary Christian leaders, speakers, who are setting the record straight.
if you disagree, so be it. peace be upon you. i don’t debate this topic, so please don’t expect me to engage.
the tendency is to close up, to shut down, to become hardened and firm, or to run away and stick our head in the sand.
but who benefits when we avoid the pain and the suffering we see?
if we want to better this world, we need more people willing to be IN this world as aware, attentive, open, tender and caring people. people willing to be engaged, willing to speak up, and willing to take action from a place of fierce compassion.
to do this, we can practice in this way, we can approach life in the way this quote prescribes: we can first acknowledge, then allow space to feel, and the allow what we feel to soften us.
being soft, means being in touch with our open, tender heart. it means being in a place of love. there is no better place, no greater power to act from. and act we must, because love doesn’t sit out.
immoral, unethical, perverse, and certainly not “pro-life”.
our empathy, our compassion, our kindness are just further wounding and harm without action, without engagement.
thoughts and prayers are but mere shadows of love lost to us if we aren’t ready to acknowledge the problem and do the work needed to lessen and end such harm.
may hearts open.
may sanity prevail.
may we embrace love.
may we let go of our addiction to guns, to violence, and aggression both in speech and action.
a really beneficial story and wise advice from Sharon Salzberg below.
this is one i’m still learning. remembering that we must include ourselves in our compassion as well as others. that compassion includes the whole situation and sometimes includes healthy boundaries. most situations aren’t perhaps as big or vital as the one referred to in the Dalai Lama story below. in any case though, healthy boundaries can be challenging for many of us and some situations make it even more challenging. my current circumstances make it near impossible, but setting healthy boundaries – even small ones – can be a beneficial practice and can be an act of compassion for oneself and also for others. when we don’t, it can lead to frustration, stress, anger, and even resentment, all of which add to suffering for ourselves and others.
Posted @withregram • @sharonsalzberg Compassion needn’t be divorced from insight and intelligence. For example, it doesn’t always mean reconciliation. We can remain apart from someone while still having compassion for them. I can remember when a longtime student of the Dalai Lama asked him, great vessel of love and compassion that he is, if she should go see her mentally ill mother, who had been a danger to her physical well-being in the past and who was now asking to see her. “You should offer your mother a tremendous amount of lovingkindness,” advised the Dalai Lama, “from a distance. It’s not safe to go see her.”
[Image Description: Photo of graffiti hearts with white box superimposed with text reading, “Compassion needn’t be divorced from insight and intelligence.”]
The Metta Garden 