Sometimes personal grief collides with grief that is historical and social. All three, the personal, historical, and social, are intimately interwoven in this moment. Allowing the fullness and power of grief to be a moving force from within us can lead us to a sane expression of our pain. Sitting in mindfulness meditation with a focus on loving-kindness and on our open hearts is one way to make this kind of expression possible.
So I sit and practice compassion for everyone: starting with myself, my friends and family, and then the world…including the politicians, the hungry, the military, the sick, business people, spiritual practitioners, children, and the elders. Then anyone I have left out, including all those I might call enemies, and all sentient beings.
Compassion washes my eyes. It helps me stand in the shoes of the soldiers in Syria, the citizens trapped there…and the refugees who have escaped. It lets me feel my anger at death and relief that I didn’t die. It makes me want to help those who suffer and it exposes my fears. Simultaneously it can make us strong and vulnerable.
So I sit and practice compassion for everyone: starting with myself, my friends and family, and then the world…including the politicians, the hungry, the military, the sick, business people, spiritual practitioners, children, and the elders. Then anyone I have left out, including all those I might call enemies, and all sentient beings.
Compassion washes my eyes. It helps me stand in the shoes of the soldiers in Syria, the citizens trapped there…and the refugees who have escaped. It lets me feel my anger at death and relief that I didn’t die. It makes me want to help those who suffer and it exposes my fears. Simultaneously it can make us strong and vulnerable.
Our present reality calls out for our voices. Our grief can find it’s social expression of the truth in a mindful painting, a drawing, a sculpture, a poem, a community mural, or a song. Here the social and the political are personal.
The tears are humanity’s ancient grief. They are my friend’s grief at losing her mind. They are my grief at her pain, her changes, and the loss of her presence in my daily life. They are my American friends' grief at the loss of their country. They are the country’s grief.
Like the sweeping power of a tsunami, the world is moved by the force of this energy. All of us feel the power of loss to change the order of reality. And we can all feel its’ ability to realign us with the stars. Now in these days of darkness, as the Solstice comes, where is the changing light?
In Leonard Cohen's words:
"I see you have gone and changed your name again.
Just when I've climbed this old mountainside
To wash my eyelids in the rain...
It's time we began,
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again."
The love between us is my rock. It supports new life in all weather and through every type of storm. Love matches every pain with grace.
The tears are humanity’s ancient grief. They are my friend’s grief at losing her mind. They are my grief at her pain, her changes, and the loss of her presence in my daily life. They are my American friends' grief at the loss of their country. They are the country’s grief.
Like the sweeping power of a tsunami, the world is moved by the force of this energy. All of us feel the power of loss to change the order of reality. And we can all feel its’ ability to realign us with the stars. Now in these days of darkness, as the Solstice comes, where is the changing light?
In Leonard Cohen's words:
"I see you have gone and changed your name again.
Just when I've climbed this old mountainside
To wash my eyelids in the rain...
It's time we began,
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again."
The love between us is my rock. It supports new life in all weather and through every type of storm. Love matches every pain with grace.
The fire dances over the water and it warms the earth.
It burns the past and liberates the future.
The rock rests in the water and on the earth.
Within its' stillness, it shows us the patterns of ancient hieroglyphs.
Our history and our life stories are written there.
We find the love in the ground we stand on.
After the tsunami of the election, I look for the rocks again.
Where is the earth that is trustworthy?
Where are my new loves?
What ground supports me to speak?
An aspiration: May this coming year bring fresh questions and fresh perceptions into all our lives. May we gather the power of our vulnerability and confidence into a song of the heart and sing and dance with each other. May we stand together in peace.
It burns the past and liberates the future.
The rock rests in the water and on the earth.
Within its' stillness, it shows us the patterns of ancient hieroglyphs.
Our history and our life stories are written there.
We find the love in the ground we stand on.
After the tsunami of the election, I look for the rocks again.
Where is the earth that is trustworthy?
Where are my new loves?
What ground supports me to speak?
An aspiration: May this coming year bring fresh questions and fresh perceptions into all our lives. May we gather the power of our vulnerability and confidence into a song of the heart and sing and dance with each other. May we stand together in peace.
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