facing our demons is uncomfortable, but necessary.

this is true individually and collectively.

we tend to fall into our habitual patterns of avoidance – anything other than experiencing the discomfort and facing it!

this is true individually and collectively.

on so many levels and in so many ways, our demons as a country, as a world, as a species are awakening to the surface.

scary? yes.

uncomfortable? yes.

necessary? yes.

the only way to heal these ancient wounds, this long suffering, is to face them, to acknowledge them. that’s the starting point, acknowledging. as Fr. Richard Rohr says, “You cannot heal what you do not acknowledge.”

it takes the courage of an open heart. it takes awakening to our interdependence. it takes getting in touch with our empathy. it takes enacting our compassion – sometimes fierce compassion!

all of this, all of the above mentioned, is an act of love.

love is not sentimental. it is a courageous, humble, connecting, in the trenches with dirt beneath the nails, healing force.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #healing #love #demons #interdependence #awareness #FierceCompassion #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

friends –

at this heavy moment and in what will likely be challenging months ahead, find and lean into a practice that keeps you grounded, your heart open, your mind steady, and reminds you there is beauty and love in this life.

~j

#practice #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

The killing of #GeorgeFloyd has just been sitting with me with no words available until today. It follows so many incidents of Police brutality and killing of men of color in this country. An unarmed human being only suspected of a nonviolent crime suffocating at the knee of someone who has sworn to protect and serve, while other police stand by ignoring the pleas to stop, “I can’t breathe.”

#BlackLivesMatter. We must keep saying it. A dear beautiful friend, posted how this has affected him and I messaged him. What I shared with him best describes how I feel and want to say.

I’m sorry. As much empathy as I can muster, even as a gay man who has felt the wounded side of being targeted a handful of times, in truth I don’t know what it is like to live in this kind of fear. I hate it, racism. I know I want to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem. I desperately worry about my nephews and nieces of color, especially my nephews as they become young men in this country. Two of them have autism. I’m afraid that they’re not going to read social cues from another citizen or a cop and will get shot, because they aren’t given the space, the time, the chance that breathes in the moment between life and death. I know that as a white man, as an ally, I am in a place of privilege and responsibility to be on the frontlines of the solution. I know we have to speak loudly at every turn, phrase, action, joke and embody being antiracist. It’s not enough to not be racist. We must be AntiRacist. We must dig deep into the soil, uproot fear, ignorance, cultural identity/traditions, hate. We need to elect more people of color into positions of leadership and power – especially women of color. I think as this happens, there will be fervent resistance from racists entrenched with fear. Let it be the last gasps of racism, then. I pray for this country. It is due for a reckoning, because we have been unwilling to look racism directly and name it for the evil that it is.

I love this friend, I love my nephews and nieces. George Floyd loved and is loved. There’s no peace without justice. There’s no justice with racism. We must end racism – personal and structural.

~j

05.27.20

This moment has revealed economic uncertainty and lack of healthcare for the vulnerable and revealed that many of us are more vulnerable than thought.

The virus doesn’t have a political agenda. The virus is just being a virus, not evil not good, rather it is a living organism looking to propagate and survive. Yet, its very presence has brought out our vulnerability biologically and has revealed our vulnerability at the whims of greed and excess.

Just yesterday an advisor to the President stated, “Our human capital stock is ready to go back to work.” Human capital stock? COVID-19 isn’t over. It is still considered uncontained in many states where businesses are reopening, including states like Florida who have numbers on the rise and where very large businesses with high visitor volume plan to reopen within the week. What are we thinking?

Yes, people need help, small businesses need help, and perhaps some large businesses need help. We should be pressuring the Federal Government to fulfill that role in conjunction with States while people stay home, rather than rushing businesses open and pushing a vulnerable population to make the hard choice to risk theirs and others’ health or to put food on the table, or pay rent and mortgages. Other countries with smaller economies have done far more for their citizens and businesses. Health and safety should be the priority in reopening, not financial hardship. People and businesses shouldn’t have to make that choice during a pandemic.

This moment has brought more to us than fear and an opportunity to capitalize on it and our greed, however. It has also brought an opportunity to see our economy differently, to prioritize our economy differently.

Money can be/should be used as a beneficial tool in preserving, healing, and benefitting life. This is what a healthy, moral, and ethical economy should reflect. Money should not be prioritized over life for profit. That’s an economy of death.

~j

#COVID19 #economy #health #ethics #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

Memorial Day is a reminder and an opportunity to reflect on those who have paid the ultimate price in combat for the United States. It is a day to honor their sacrifice and the cost they and their families have borne the cost of the violence and aggression of war.

Total combat deaths for the United States from 1775-2019 for all wars and conflicts is upwards of 666,440 lives. That’s just US soldiers direct combat related and doesn’t count all lives lost to war.

Many of these wars and conflicts were a necessity in their time, to preserve freedom, to secure safety for a county and a world in need. Too many of these wars and conflicts were unnecessary.

When will be wake up? When will love and awareness of our interdependence overcome fear and greed? When will we not need the lives of others to be volunteered, drafted, paid, sacrificed for peace?

With gratitude and debt for the lives lost, may we strive to find better ways to resolve our conflicts, than the lives of those bravely willing to sacrifice.

~j

MemorialDay #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #war #peace #life #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

“They were not simply names on a list. They were us.”

Sunday, May 24th 2020

The New York Times

stated so perfectly – “They were us.”

nearing 100,000 lives gone in just a few months. the number will be higher.

may their families and loved ones have peace.

may our hearts break and open, and may love, empathy, compassion, generosity and selflessness pour out 🙏🏻

~j

without abandoning facts and truth or our efforts to protect our loved ones, friends and community, with empathy and compassion for all who are suffering, even as tensions rise and aggression escalates, may we move forward with open hearts radiating nonaggression, compassion, kindness, generosity and light from a place of awareness, empathy, dignity, integrity and warmth.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #COVID19 #Coronavirus #Pandemic #interdependence #EngagedBuddhist #OpenHeart #practice #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

we are at a moment when what we value needs to be present and take priority. we are also at a moment when what we value is made visible and clear by our decisions and actions.

what do we value?

who do we value?

~j

#life #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga

“Some seeds will come to fruition quickly, some slowly, but our work is simply to plant the seeds.”

~Sharon Salzberg

#PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #EngagedBuddhist #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

we don’t have to wait for life to be perfect, to have joy.

we don’t have to wait for life to be just right, to love.

why wait?

the miracle, the grace may just be that we can love and have joy even in the midst of ours and the world’s pain. we don’t have to live only in our pain, in suffering.

an open heart, our open hearts, have the capacity to be with all of what life is – the pain, the joy, the loss, the love. to be present with all of what life brings, is to be alive, is to be awake.

~j

#OpenHeart #authenticity #life #love #suffering #joy #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga