Thank you for this deep sharing and it saddens me to see you in such despair. We all must do what we can within our awareness and capabiliites and I don't feel that I am able to assume all the injustices that may have been or were perpetrated by my ancestors, both those related to me and others of my culture.
I spent Friday night attending a virtual Yom Kippur service, invited by a friend whose wife served as cantor and leader. She was lovely and inviting and I was thrown back to being 12 years old where I found myself mystified by how little of this helped me understand or consider how I could atone for my past sins. It was, once again, a display to me of how religion distorts me away from any kind of spiritual engagement and fulfilment. I know religions are the common theme of the evil you write about whether it was American "westward ho" to fulfill "manifest destiny," or the work of Hamas to kill, rape and hold Israeli hostages or for that matter, the orthodox,ultra-right Jewish leaders who want to turn Israel into a theocracy.
Dear Rich, Thank you so much for this comment. I am not sure it is the work of those drectly impacted and recovering from genocide to engage as directly as I need to do. Your family lineage carries these impacts. Your amazing work on resilience is a testament to Love and the way forward. I am not feeling despair at this time. I have a hope that is grounded in the dance of life and in amazing communities around the world. I am also initiated to move with Courageous Love. Ha! It's in the Playbook!
Wow, what a deep relief to have you name this. Every cell in my body is alight. Recognizing and claiming Evil, and the propensity toward genocide, as a condition alive in ME and in my lineage, requires a surrender to the Great Love holding me and us. Otherwise, I continue the tradition of projecting it on to others. When I think justice is something that is my (even our) responsibility to “do” I can only bear to see the injustice that looks fixable from my bounded little-s self. What I hear you calling for is a willingness to become enlarged and deepened, in Love, that we might become participants in the metabolization of Evil, on Love’s terms, from within us. Facing the presence of Evil in me and my family line is not to wallow in our badness, but to say to the Great Life holding us, show me, heal me, Thy will. This acknowledges that there is a level of transformation that the socially constructed self can’t perform, but must show up, in Truth, to receive. Thank you, Cynthia. I will buy and read this book and would like to be in the embodied book study with you.
Cynthia,
Thank you for this deep sharing and it saddens me to see you in such despair. We all must do what we can within our awareness and capabiliites and I don't feel that I am able to assume all the injustices that may have been or were perpetrated by my ancestors, both those related to me and others of my culture.
I spent Friday night attending a virtual Yom Kippur service, invited by a friend whose wife served as cantor and leader. She was lovely and inviting and I was thrown back to being 12 years old where I found myself mystified by how little of this helped me understand or consider how I could atone for my past sins. It was, once again, a display to me of how religion distorts me away from any kind of spiritual engagement and fulfilment. I know religions are the common theme of the evil you write about whether it was American "westward ho" to fulfill "manifest destiny," or the work of Hamas to kill, rape and hold Israeli hostages or for that matter, the orthodox,ultra-right Jewish leaders who want to turn Israel into a theocracy.
That is the great evil.
Dear Rich, Thank you so much for this comment. I am not sure it is the work of those drectly impacted and recovering from genocide to engage as directly as I need to do. Your family lineage carries these impacts. Your amazing work on resilience is a testament to Love and the way forward. I am not feeling despair at this time. I have a hope that is grounded in the dance of life and in amazing communities around the world. I am also initiated to move with Courageous Love. Ha! It's in the Playbook!
Thank you Cynthia, for taking up this topic that’s so relevant to me.
Wow, what a deep relief to have you name this. Every cell in my body is alight. Recognizing and claiming Evil, and the propensity toward genocide, as a condition alive in ME and in my lineage, requires a surrender to the Great Love holding me and us. Otherwise, I continue the tradition of projecting it on to others. When I think justice is something that is my (even our) responsibility to “do” I can only bear to see the injustice that looks fixable from my bounded little-s self. What I hear you calling for is a willingness to become enlarged and deepened, in Love, that we might become participants in the metabolization of Evil, on Love’s terms, from within us. Facing the presence of Evil in me and my family line is not to wallow in our badness, but to say to the Great Life holding us, show me, heal me, Thy will. This acknowledges that there is a level of transformation that the socially constructed self can’t perform, but must show up, in Truth, to receive. Thank you, Cynthia. I will buy and read this book and would like to be in the embodied book study with you.
Angela, Thank you so much for your ensouled practice in the world and for so beautifully expanding my articulation. Another deep breath.