Wisdom from South Africa

A benediction popular in South Africa.

Let us take care of the children, for they have a long way to go.
Let us take care of the elders, for they have come so far.
Let us take care of those in between, for they are doing the work.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness comes from the realization that I cannot have a better past.  It is an understanding of my wholeness without the need for another’s actions.  It is the decision to lift the burden of judgment from my ways and walking and to free myself of conditional living  (I’ll feel better when….I’ll have happiness if….).  A paradox: forgiving the other does not necessarily change that person.  Forgiving the other changes me.

The "T" in LGBT

I found myself deeply challenged, several years ago, out of a complacency and into uncharted territory.  I did not expect it, as one rarely does, and continue to feel grateful for the growing edge.  The surprise was my inner resistance to transgendered being.

The surprise was threefold. 

First, having worked in lgbt rights advocacy for many years, including the “t” (transgender) in that advocacy, I was surprised by the pronounced discord in me between theory and reality.  I found myself wondering, upon actually meeting and getting to know a transgendered person, why she was living that life.  My resistance to change took refuge in philosophy and analysis, stereotyping and psychobabble.  Outwardly, I made gestures of equality and was truly engaged and eager for community.  Inwardly, I was uncomfortable and judgmental.  Fortunately, I knew my inner response to be a fear response, but it woke me up out of smugness and into, I hope, deeper authenticity.

Second, I was challenged by my basic assumption of binary thinking, an assumption I had not realized before the challenge of new being was before me.  This, after the initial embarrassment that one can feel when discovering an ignorance, was an exciting invitation to expansion of perspective.  So much of our lives are centered around binary thinking – either/or, us and them, right and wrong, my way or the highway. 

Gender assumption goes to the core of communal understanding and of ordering society.  In Native American circles duel-sexed people are often named "two-spirited" and are respected as teachers, considered messengers from the Creator. They are honored as sacred, for they are living the truth within their being of the interconnected dynamic of all being – male, female and other.   I have been given the gift, by meeting transgendered people, to realize I am just beginning to open to a consciousness that transcends binary thinking.

And third, I was surprised, after my initial resistances to difference, how encouraged I felt to be truly who I am.  The courage it takes to claim our authentic selves pales in the face of those who are ridiculed, disdained, and often physically harmed, even unto death, to simply claim who they are.  I am in awe of that courage and fortitude and realize it will take us all to claim who we truly are before we bring about a just and compassionate world.

May we welcome that which stretches us into deeper understanding, and may we hold in our embrace the glorious diversity of life and spirit that is the truth of our Being.

So may it be.  With love, lisa.

Opening Words 3/13

Let us lift up our joy...
     that we have chosen to gather together.
Let us bring forth our truth...
     that we are worthy of life and each other.
Let us channel our love...
    for this moment and the sharing of essence within.

It is good to be with one another.
    

I Just Happened To Be

I just happened to be.
I see that now.
This does not mean there is any less ever-present love.
I exist because of the sun and the air and the dance of creation.
I was not born for a reason.
I was born in a season of human being.
This does not make me special.
I merely chanced onto this blessing.
This does not make me any less responsible.
It means gratitude and giving, praise and humility.
It means living and loving, recognizing beauty and joy.
For that's the energy we can give to on-going creation,
To help it enter into the next evolution.

Seismic Shifts

The seismic shift of the recent earthquake in Japan was so powerful that the earth’s axis was slightly altered.  Such a physical shock and emotional toll has shifted sensibility, as well, in millions of lives, and, hopefully a positive shift in the global reach toward wholeness.  As I write, we do not yet know the full extent of the damage, nor the outcome of the nuclear power plants.

I feel humbled by the earth; this living organism that sustains us.  I feel unnerved by the unpredictable rhythm of transformation and the randomness of our life-times.  It is all one – life and death.  It is all a part of the system of being we find ourselves in.  It’s all fragile and awe-inspiring, exhilarating and heart-breaking.  Life can change irrevocably in an instant.  Sometimes that is a welcomed liberation.  Sometimes it begins a journey of grieving.

In all of this, though, in our lack of ultimate control, we have within a steady  ground of being.  We have a deep, unbroken connection with life everlasting, the eternity that changes form but not  essence.  This eternity, this being that flows through life and death, devastation and rebuilding, transformation and creation, is the life heralded by Spring.  It is the life known through Easter tide and Passover celebration.  It is the life that transcends death, it is the worthiness of this endeavor of being.

May we celebrate our days, love our connections, heal our brokenness and embrace our lives in their fullness.

Shed The Drama of Me

In order for all to be well
I have to shed the drama of "me".
This does not make me irrelevant,
But One with all Being.
It does not dull the senses,
But opens the self to Now.
It does not take away my beauty,
But welcomes me into wonder.