“We say, to shine one corner of the world — that is enough. Not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.”
~Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
there’s a lot going on, in our personal lives, and in the world at large. so much suffering, but also much beauty and joy. the suffering can seem overwhelming, so many conflicts and challenges. it’s impossible to take it all on, but it is fully possible with practice to make it clear where we are, to keep our hearts open where we are, to shine our light where we are.
meditation is a practice of not waiting until later, but gently and persistently meeting life as it is and as we are in this moment. staying put. meeting our demons with compassion and gentleness. moving beyond winning and losing. letting go of control, allowing space for awareness and insight to arise. it is really only from such a space that we can transform and heal our suffering rather than transmit our suffering. suffering not attended to and healed can contribute to harm towards ourselves and others. from a space of awareness and insight we have no need to go to war with ourselves, with others, with life. we can have peace and share that peace with others, for others, and the benefit of the world.
this nation began as an experiment in democracy, where power was no longer to be found in the hands of a sovereign theocratic ruler.with the SCOTUS immunity ruling earlier this week, one of the last guardrails against possible tyranny in this country has fallen. Trump’s own words of what he will do with a 2nd term aligned with his adoption of Project 2025, if elected, puts this country in grave threat of authoritarianism and theocracy.
i’ve practiced my patriotism today by reading up on Project 2025 and its danger to our democracy. it is my strong suggestion that each of you do the same.
Project 2025 is a policy agenda document created by The Heritage Foundation whose President, Kevin Roberts, said earlier this week, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” they wish for and are working toward a Christian Nationalist theocratic state with an authoritarian leader. there’s nothing Christ-like about this. Project 2025 is a 900+ page book with detailed plans for every aspect of our government, from agenda and policy to loyalist staffing and consolidation of power with the President, with goals of targeting political enemies (including protestors), immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, abortion/contraception, women’s use of abortion and conception along with those who provide or assist, through use of Homeland Security and military on civilians on domestic soil along with use of other agencies, and plans to get rid of the Dept. of Education. Project 2025 is public and you can access at project2025.org
Protect Democracy is pushing back and has made available their own document which breaks down the threats of Project 2025 clearly, with ways to respond. You can access at authoritarianplaybook2025.org
In addition, here are two recent articles outlining the threat:
i understand that this may be overwhelming, so read as you can with self-care in mind. however, we also must stay informed, so we can relate and act accordingly.
our world needs us now, our energy, our resilience, our courage, and strength.
while others are motivated by their anger and hate, fueled by fear and efforts to control and dominate, WE who align with love can be resourced by our compassion – our fierce compassion, cutting through delusion, seeing our interdependence – that our collective well-being is inextricably woven together – and then we act from that awareness, clarity, and space. there is hope in this. there is hope in the work of open-hearted people who are devoted to love and act from that space.
those pushing for authoritarianism want us to despair and feel powerless. let’s be clear, authoritarianism will not bring or allow for the well-being of all. there will be harm, destruction, and suffering.
it is on each of us to stand up and speak out at this time in history, that we will not accept such avoidable harm, destruction, and suffering, that we stand with democracy, with compassion, with love for all.
though it can feel overwhelming, this moment needs us.
please don’t be overwhelmed. this is what those in their delusion, consumed with desire for and maintaining power want. they want overwhelm, division, and despair. but despair is built upon lies. it’s hell realm activity.
we need not despair. we do not carry the world on our individual shoulders. we just do what is in front of us at any given time. we honor the call of our conscience and love what is in front of us, heal and help, build and repair what is within our power to do.
we show up and do our part that is ours to do, joining countless other beings doing the same.
if we do this, if each of us plant the seeds of love that are ours to plant, tending our area of the garden that is ours to tend, then the long arc of history will be one of love recreating this world for the benefit of all beings.
this is the work of hope. my hope is born of and grows in the truth of those who do the work of love, and my capacity to do the same.
there’s no time or place for despair, when we are doing the work of hope, which is love, fierce love.
“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. Tie no weights to your ankles.”
~ C. JoyBell C.
let go, let be, and be free.
letting go can be a practice of love.
we may think letting go is the same as not caring, that it is indifference and not loving, but holding on – grasping tightly, is not love. it is an attempt, even with good intention and care, to control, to have things stay and not change.
with love we can care, we can do our part, offer our portion of compassion and healing, without holding on, without trying to control an outcome. we just plants seeds, we tend, we water, we let go.
letting go, we can allow for change, we can allow for life.
love is freedom, letting go is freedom, and we should be free.
i heard the incomparable Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Pema Chödrön, give a talk once where she shared a story of waiting in line at an airport. she recalled looking around and seeing all the different people going through their different experiences – frustration, impatience, and irritation, but also laughter, joy, sadness. all these different people coming and going, and hurrying and waiting. and she thought about her own emotional experience dealing with flying, what she was going through, and she thought to herself, “Just like me.” looking around at each person, she said to herself, “Just like me.” and this, she shared, could be a practice. whether at the airport, or stuck in traffic, or in line at the bank, grocery store – whatever – we could use that time to connect with those people around us, recalling that we have a shared human experience, “Just like me”, and we can wish for them whatever it is we too may be needing, whatever seems supportive in the moment.
of course, on one level, our lives are very different from each other. we may all be bobbing around in the same ocean, but some are bobbing around in yachts, while others are bobbing around in rafts, barely afloat. we should keep aware of such inequity and do our part to remedy it. so on one level our experiences have a taste of uniqueness to them, however on another level, we will all share the human experience of gain and loss, of old age (if we are fortunate), sickness, and death. we will have our various experiences of laughter and tears, of love and loss, bliss and pain. the practice can be that we remember this when we feel alone in our experience, or when we feel divided, separate from each other. we can recall our shared human experience, and looking around at each person we see, we can say to ourselves, “Just like me.”
as i understand it, the explosive death of a star is what propels out into space oxygen, carbon, iron, and other elements that make life possible. a star in its death, makes new life possible. it is said that the elements within our bodies began in stars billions of years ago. so, in a very real way, we are indeed made of “star-stuff” as Carl Sagan once said, which later came to be popularized as stardust.
how incredible and miraculous is that? without the events of billions of years prior to us, we wouldn’t be here. if ever we feel like we don’t belong, that we don’t fit in, we can remember the incredible truth that we are an expression of this universe, it quite literally continues within us.
whether we believe this life is it, or there’s a hereafter, or whether we believe in rebirth or reincarnation, this life now that we are living is unique for us, billions of years in the making and that is a precious, sacred gift worth cherishing and honoring with our love.
“Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The Sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world.”
~ Ramana Maharshi
we don’t just practice meditation or ethics, steadying our mind or opening our heart, for ourselves.
we practice for ourselves and for the benefit of the world and all life in it.
open-hearted caring people, kind people, gentle people, thoughtful, mindful, compassionate, wise, resilient, balanced people make the world a better place to live.
so we work with ourselves, with our own mind, and our own heart to engage life and our world in a healthy way. then we and others see it is possible to live in this world with love, as love embodied, rather than fear, aggression, and hate.
we are authentically available and able to assist others in a healthy way, a way that is truly beneficial, a way that doesn’t repeat patterns of suffering, because we have begun to unravel the patterns of suffering within ourselves.
The Metta Garden 