grateful to see some friends joined the #MarchForOurLives event today!
i was planning to attend as well, as i had 4 years ago in 2018, but was thrown a curveball this week when after two years, Covid finally visited the Waller house. all are doing well, most have gratefully evaded it so far. grateful for a weaker variant, vaccines and boosters, and therapeutics! feeling quite fortunate. have loved seeing some of the signs from the march. in a spirit of solidarity with March For Our Lives, the desperate need for sensible #GunReform, and with all those who participated today, i’m sharing some pics from my experience with the 2018 march.
may open hearts and sanity prevail.
may we rise above this crisis to choose life over guns of war. ~j
“I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.”
we first hear this mantra when Chirrut Îmwe says it in repetition in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. although not a Jedi, Chirrut is a member of the Guardians of the Whills, an order of spiritual warrior monks devoted to the Force and beliefs of the Jedi. we also hear this mantra spoken by Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars.
i love it. it’s a great mantra. it reminds us that we are not alone in our efforts or in our lives. we are part of something vast, that is within us, and around us. this can be a beneficial reminder in times of struggle and challenge. you can just as easily replace “the Force” with another word to your liking that resonates for you and your practice: Life, Love, Tao, God, etc.
sometimes when we have a lot of energy moving around in our body and/or our mind is racing and unfocused, we can use a mantra. this gives us a focus for our attention and something to do with our body and mind together. Buddhism and Hinduism use mantras and some contemplative forms of Christianity, including Catholicism use prayers similar to mantras. i’m sure there are others in other traditions as well. if you don’t have a mantra in your tradition or perhaps you don’t have a spiritual tradition, maybe give this one a try and substitute with a word that supports you in your life, or simply use “the Force” however it resonates for you.
this most recent debate (can we call it that when one group won’t even budge or be moved by such loss of life???) on gun accessibility and gun violence, reminded me of this quote by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg that i shared originally during the middle of the pandemic when the simple steps of masking and social distancing were major conflict points even as loss of life mounted. now over 1 million lives lost. how many could have been averted, saved, still living?
it’s one thing to not know what to do in a crisis, when surprised by life events. it’s another thing all together to know what to do and refuse to do something about it, or when not knowing to refuse to try to do something about it.
as the pandemic continues and we just move ahead, as children’s lives and other innocent life stacks up due to gun violence, bodies unrecognizable from the gaping damage caused by weapons and ammunition of war in the hands of 18-year-olds, we should remember and repeat to ourselves and others:
“Mass death is not inevitable.
Preventable death is not inevitable.”
we have the capacity to be present with this, although it is difficult. within our hearts we have the capacity to be empathetic, we have the capacity to be kind and compassionate within us. are we willing to bear witness, to see the harm and suffering? are we willing to be moved by love into compassionate action?
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 Metta Garden 