I grew up in an ethnically diverse community in Miami. My best friends in school were white, black, and brown. I never saw them as "different." My mom always went out of her way to speak to people-of-color, and I grew up to appreciate diversity. I was taught that we were all the same… all divine, all children of God. My grandmother taught at an all-black school in Miami and she adored her students. She was surrounded in her old age by her black neighbors, who treated her like family, often surrounding her bed, joining hands in prayer and song. As a nurse, I shared intimately in the personal struggles of people of all colors, races, and ethnic backgrounds... I found more similarities than differences.
This doesn’t mean my thoughts or impressions were not affected in some way by the belief systems ingrained in many white minds. Though they are subtle, through the years, I have recognized these programs, and the thoughts or impressions arising from them, and I have been able to transform them with love and awareness.
I hear my brothers and sisters, people of color, crying out. I see you. I respect you. I value you. I still have work to do… to keep listening to you… to see you even more clearly. My prayer is that you walk through the same world I walk through... feeling Free, in your Fullest Expression… feeling that your Voice is of Value, and that You are Heard… that you bring something Extraordinary and Unique to the world that Only You can… that you feel Appreciated and deeply Loved. This is my prayer for All.
As we learn to see the outside world as a reflection of our inner world, we will learn to heal ourselves, to return to wholeness. When we return to wholeness within, the world will return to wholeness... we will return as One Tribe... the Tribe of Many Colors… the Rainbow Race. It’s already happening… and we are experiencing the growing pains, and the crumbling of that which has been, so something new can grow up in it’s place.
It is my hope that as we move through this time, that we are able to rid ourselves of the Judgment, Blame, Shame, and Guilt that is rooted in Anger and Fear… and keeps us in the Illusion of Separateness. We can’t erase history… and history will continue to repeat itself, as long as we have not done the inner work, the inner healing… all of us.
This weekend we experience the new moon, the solstice, and the solar eclipse. Take some time to close your eyes and look around, to shine some light. Now is the time to delve into those shadows… to experience the judgment, shame, guilt, or anger that may come up… and to transform it with awareness, with forgiveness, with ritual, with prayer, with chanting, with compassion, with Love.
We all want the same thing… we all want to be free of suffering, to be free from fear, to feel joy.
Jai Maa.
Written on June 18, 2020
Nobody wins unless we all win.
All One. All Beings Free. Jai Maa!