a post of gratitude for all of these District Judges honoring their oath to the Constitution & obedience to the rule of law. they are literally, with the all but total absence of Congress (sans a handful of lawmakers who are up to this moment), the only part of the government holding the line on our behalf in this moment.
ultimately, it’s on us. are we willing to arrive at this moment in the way love & community calls us to? in the way a republic, a representative democracy, needs from its populace?
that in its hubris & delusion, it is unable to see that love has the capacity to use all things to its own fruition. moved by love exclusion becomes opportunity for inclusion. division becomes opportunity for community. cruelty becomes opportunity for empathy, tenderness, kindness, & compassion. destruction becomes opportunity for healing, reconciliation, & reconstruction. even death becomes opportunity for transformation, resurrection, & renewal.
this isn’t to diminish the reality that there is & will be pain, struggle & challenge, even suffering. but, there also seems to be an inherent movement from life itself, perhaps by necessity, toward continuing, flourishing, & opening to love.
though as individuals we may not have the ability to take on forces bigger than us, we as a community have the ability to work together in the face of such forces. however, we also individually have great power. we individually have the underlying power of our choice, our intention, our vow to work with our own heart & mind, benefitting ourselves & all those we come in contact with, a rippling out that continues beyond us. is this not love in action? is this not the ancient power the prophets, seers, & mystics of old speak of? we are part of a lineage of love that taps into the inherent luminous wisdom of things that exists here in this moment & also beyond space & time. seeds of love & good heartedness planted, that with the right conditions will bloom. remember, the darkest winter still gives way to spring.
“This is the moment to return to whichever practice reinforces our moral clarity, so that we do not wake up one day to find it eroded beyond recognition.” ~ Sofia Ali-Khan
friends, we are being asked to meet a moment that perhaps we thought we were here in the US were exceptionally immune to – the threat of fascism & fall of our representative democracy. it isn’t something ahead of us, but something already here & already doing immense damage & harm. this isn’t my opinion, but the observable reality multitudes of historians & authoritarian experts are alerting us to.
moral clarity, resilience, courage are being asked of us in a way that most of us have never faced. it is easy to be overwhelmed & indeed this is that “flood the zone” tactic they are using. but we cannot afford to check out or be indifferent to the harm & suffering taking place. however to stay the course without burn out, without losing the joy & beauty still available in life, we must have a way of connecting with, pay attention to, & prioritize such joy & beauty.
i’m resharing a practice i came up with for myself to cope, called The Five R’s:
“though it is hot, stay what is old shall fall away you are born from love.”
you matter. i matter.
together we matter & it is together, in community, that we can push back against fascism & oppression power, against cruelty & indifference. it is us, as embodiments of love, choosing to put such love into action, that we can be forces of healing, inspiration, & light, moved from a place of compassion born from empathy & open hearts.
love is our power & it is manifest in our work together, making the world anew. what can be more powerful?
The Metta Garden 