Light on the Path ![]() (Remember to begin with the Opening Meditation and the Recitation of the Three Jewels as in Mindfulness Trainings One through Five -- scroll down in the burninghandblog for this.) We begin: "In the Name of the Holy One, Boundlessly Compassionate, Boundlessly Merciful... Beauty within Beauty within Beauty..." Ninth Mindfulness Training: Aware that words can cause suffering or unhappiness, we are committed to learning how to speak constructively with a reverent use of language, using words that inspire hope and confidence. We are determined not to lie or manipulate "facts" in pursuit of a private agenda. We are determined not to gossip or utter words that might cause discord and division. We will stand for justice and serve the dignity of every person, especially the most powerless among us. Reflection: Every single time that we read through the Mindfulness Trainings, whether our "massaged version" or the original as written by Thich Nhat Hahn, we experience a deep interior shredding... "Did you notice another piece of my ego and my pride and my feverishly constructed self-identity slip off into the mud beneath our feet?" ..."Did you notice mine, too?" And then on into, "Gee, is everyone looking at us? Are we the only ones this hits square on the nose?" While the shredding is genuine, it is also true that there is no easy escape from the human condition -- there is no easy path forward into one's personal transformation, just as collectively we seem to only move forward by circling back much of the time, only to be nudged ahead again by the words and shining light of another prophet... This Ninth Mindfulness Training is jam-packed with clarion-calls for a thorough-going effort at transparency and wakefulness. It only takes a word to take a life. On the Chinatown streets of Salinas, "Bobby" was a goof-ball, crazy-happy, mixed-up young man. Always loud, usually obnoxious, frequently intimidating and threatening. For him, "let's party", meant a no-holds-barred night of anything-you-can-get-away-with-goes... on and on, month after month, year after year... his only "down" time was his jail time. If you flip this Ninth Training on it's head, and maybe turn it inside out into it's opposite, you'd have the daily life story of "Bobby"... not exactly an endearing character... and yet, and yet... (those "and yet's" are the hidden secret of "Bobby" and of all of us)... we had increasingly frequent conversations as to the "why's" of his behavior's. One day we were in the office together and he told me the story of his father beating him and sexually assaulting him as a young boy... in the midst of the flowing tears, and questions wondering "why why why?" (he asked me why why why, God Almighty, I don't want no cheap word to come out of my mouth - so what do I say?...) "Bobby" asked if he could use the phone -- he made a call to his brother, saying that he needed to talk to him... I don't know if "Bobby" ever got to talk to his brother... One bad-decision-too-many caught up with him that night: he sold some laundry detergent or some such powder to a couple of out-of-towner's. When the powder didn't do for them what they wanted, they came back to Chinatown and shot "Bobby" dead. He died by the railroad tracks just as the train was leaving town... just another day-another night-another life ending in Chinatown... and yet, and yet... The irony of our fractured human condition slapped me across the face a few days later when I was greeting our guests at the Soup Kitchen door... "Bobby's" father came up to me, shook my hand, and in the midst of his tears, could only ask me, "Why? Why? Why?" When "we stand for justice and serve the dignity of every person, especially the most powerless among us" we are choosing to stand on Holy Ground -- wherever it is that we are. We may not have the "right" word to say at just the "right" moment -- but the truth is, when someone is living in any sort of version of hell, they're not particularly or especially wanting to hear a "right" word. IT IS OUR BODIES THAT THEY WANT! They want to know that someone is standing, living, crying, salvaging, working, losing, struggling, winning, and dying WITH THEM. Sometimes we'll be surprised by the words that will leak out from our mouths -- like, where the hell did THAT come from? The only wisdom that's worth anything at all is the wisdom that flows from solidarity and the wisdom of US. This is Beauty and Love made tangible, made edible, made worth entering into the whirlwind of history for -- just to see what little bit of hell we just might be able to raise! "Pray for the dead -- Fight like hell for the living." --Mother Jones Have you noticed yet that each of the Mindfulness Trainings is specifically serving us, like a magnifying glass, by focusing our attention on suffering? Each and every one among us is / has / will cause even more suffering on this precious blue Planet. So the Mindfulness Trainings are a sort of crash course on how each of us might reduce a bit of this suffering. This is of great importance! Many many lives hang in the balance between our will to act in solidarity or our retreat into "getting along to go along" (which is just a stylish form of impotence)... But there is another suffering that needs, not a magnifying glass, but Books, Lights, Videos, Academy Awards, etc. etc. It is suffering voluntarily endured for life, for peace, for justice, for equality, for hope, for the children, and for the Planet. Mahatma Gandhi made voluntary suffering an art form in his Satyagraha campaigns. But this moment in time requires of us the courage to go deeper than the Mahatma in questioning the dominator paradigm -- and in deconstructing its myths and legitimizing power so as to reconstruct a human civilization that will work for and include all. Here are some examples for your reflection: Last January, Asmaa Mahfouz uploaded a video in which she stated, "I, a girl, am going down to Tahrir Square, and I will stand alone.' After posting it to Facebook, it went viral and today her video is credited with starting the Egyptian revolution. Jestina Mukoko, a human rights defender and director of an NGO called the Zimbabwe Peace Project was abducted from her home in December of 2008. She was tortured and detained for three weeks, before resurfacing in court on December 24, 2008 and charged with trying to overthrow the government. She was released three months later, and the Zimbabwe Supreme Court ordered a permanent stay of criminal proceedings on Sept. 21, 2009. A year after her release, the US State Department honored her with a 2010 International Women of Courage Award. She has said, "I think the detention made me even more resolute. I do not regret anything because whatever I did at the time was legal and had nothing to do with the spurious charges they eventually preferred on me... I did not intend to give these people the pleasure of victory because if I had withdrawn from my work they would have been victorious." On November 13, 2010 the barriers came down outside the house of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi and the leader of her country's human rights and pro-democracy movement became again a free woman -- after about 15 years of the last 20 under house arrest. Despite years of isolation her resolute courage is still contagious. She simply states, "The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear." Dr. Wangari Maathai was born in 1940, and passed away in 2011. She founded the Green Belt Movement that has planted millions of trees to fight soil erosion and deforestation. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Her husband divorced her saying she was "too strong, too successful, too stubborn, and too hard to control" for a woman. Her autobiography is entitled Unbowed. Arundhati Roy was born in 1961. She is an author, an activist, and a spokesperson for the alter-globalization movement and a fierce critic of neo-imperialism. She is adamant that peace with justice is everyone's responsibility. "Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness..." Herein lies our hope! An Alternative Ninth Mindfulness Training: Aware of my contributions to suffering, I am choosing to activate my passion for possibilities! I am choosing to practice beauty and liberation through my everyday choices and actions. I am choosing to stand and act in solidarity with everyone who suffers from injustice and oppression. I will serve the dignity of every person especially the most powerless among us. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. -- John Steinbeck A questing mind is a great help in withstanding violence or oppression. -- Aung San Suu Kyi God expects something from each one of us that no one else can do. If we don't it will not be done. -- Dorothy Day Question of the Week: Have you ever taken a stand for justice that made you feel very alone and uncomfortable? Practice of the Week: Write a story -- not more than 250 words -- in which you are the one to do / say something great and heroic. How can you make the story of your life as great as it can possibly be? Recommended Reading: Awakening, by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan With Love and Blessings, Michelle and Robert "In the Name of the Holy One, Boundlessly Compassionate, Boundlessly Merciful... Beauty within Beauty within Beauty..." Comments are closed.
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AuthorRobert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in California. He is living now almost within shouting distance of the Twin Cities. He is a poet, artist, writer, and long-time Companion of the Way still dreaming... Archives
May 2022
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