“We must acknowledge that there is diversity in the oneness promised to us in the pledge of allegiance.”

Countries create symbols to express beliefs and values. These beliefs and values change over time. It is crucial to re-examine symbols and take note of how the meanings change. In many cases the symbols move from the meaning of freedom and become symbols to express hatred. Therefore, as a society we have to constantly examine the symbols that are meant to point to who we are as people.

I wrote in my book The Way of Tenderness, that as a society we must learn to see, to stop and look. A society that does not examined itself is an unenlightened one. We cannot be an enlightened society without facing ourselves (p.81). When Gabby Douglas, along with her gymnastic team won gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, she stood without placing her hand over her heart during the raising of the U.S. flag. She was publicly shamed for not pledging allegiance to the country.

The Pledge of Allegiance goes like this, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” In some states a student can opt out of saying the pledge for reason of conscience. For many today, elementary school is usually the last time that the pledge of allegiance is a regular part of the school day. And in many schools in our country this ritual has been abolished. Many of the athletes have been out of school for years. They are usually home-schooled and their daily ritual is training as an athlete.

I believe Gabby Douglas’ action was misunderstood. More importantly she was used as a black young woman to point out to people of African descent, even if born in this country that you must show that you “want” to belong to a country you already belong to. She was used to point out that black people of the African Diaspora must continue to cow down, drop your eyes, and bow to the master. Douglas did not take the posture of submission that was expected of black people. The attack upon her was tied to the times of slavery when a slave had to pretend to be lower than “thou” in order to stay alive. No, they did not lynch Douglas for her actions, sell her family to another plantation, but she was “whipped” for not behaving as someone who was bought and sold. Her sponsors did not save her. Were they a part of the attackers saying, “We have spent money and time on you. We made you Gabby Douglas and you must show us that you are with us and not with “them,” the other black people who don’t have what we have given you. Gabby might as well have thrown her fist up in solidarity for Black Power or today Black Lives Matter.

What meaning does the U.S. flag have today? When we pledge allegiance what are we doing? When is the pledge deliverable? A pledge is a promise. A promise indicates that the deliverables are in the future. We (who?) promise to be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We (who?) promise that everyone will have a spiritual or religious experience of oneness by living in this country [as long as you believe in God].

Whose God? Have we changed the meaning of the flag and the allegiance into a symbol of coercion and an opportunity to harm others? Stop and notice the gut reaction. What is that feeling similar to? The confederate flag, which was originally called the Stars and Bars flag, once represented a battle flag (among many in the South) for the Virginia Army of the Potomac, eventually became a symbol of terrorism and hate for the nation.

The swastika, a cross with four arms of equal length, with the ends of each arm bent at a right angle, is found in many ancient spiritual cultures of the Egyptians, Greeks, Celts, Native Americans, Persians, Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. The word swastika comes from the ancient Sanskrit word svastika, which means literally “all is well” or “good fortune” and “well-being. In Hinduism, the right-hand (clockwise) swastika is a symbol of the sun and the god Vishnu, while the left-hand (counterclockwise) swastika represents Kali and magic. The Buddhist swastika is almost always clockwise, while the swastika adopted by the Nazis (many of whom had occult interests) is counterclockwise. (source: http://www.religionfacts.com/swastika/buddhism). Thousands of years ago this ancient symbol emerged to unite people in wellness and later it was re-designed to express hatred.

How do we re-examine symbols throughout their usage? How do we keep track when a symbol such as a flag becomes a chance to cause harm to someone? First, we can acknowledge that our collective liberation requires that as a collective body, we remove all symbols of hatred despite their origins. We ask, is the U.S. flag in need of a re-design to reflect a collective ownership and a varied expression of how we have changed as a nation? Between 1777 and 1960 the flag was changed 27 times in response to how the country changes (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/Dynamic-US-flag-200-years-of-change.htm). Can we have a varied ritual of showing how we belong to each other beyond one’s right hand on the heart? Can we stand still eyes gazed up, down or closed? Can we hold hands or bow to each other? Can we raise our fist? Can we do what is in our hearts? We must acknowledge that there is diversity in the oneness promised to us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Of course, this is a simplified brief articulation of a much wider conversation. Yet, it is an effort to begin exploring what is true for us and what no longer serves us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hatred is treason against all life. It is to turn toward a living target and shoot. Internalized hatred is treason against oneself. It is to hold the gun to your own head or to the heads of those who look or appear like you. When you consciously or unconsciously hate others or your own physical incarnation it is a karmic response to systematically being a target of hatred in the world on a daily basis.

I have created these chants which are influenced by my life, spiritual walk, and my book The Way of Tenderness (Wisdom Publications) Working on recording them:

 

The Heart of Tenderness

Tenderness has a wellspring beneath it,

Draw from it to seek the good and obtain liberation,

May that which we have suffered be a moment of our lives and not our whole lives.

May we see what is truly in our own hearts without the distraction of imposed oppressive ideas of who others think we are.

May our rage be felt, breathed, and attended to on the path of awakening so that we may recover from ignorance and hatred.

Without words for what we have lost in prolonged mistreatment,

Let our grief lead us to an experience of well-being and sanity,

May we regain sight of the connectedness, the same connectedness we were born with when as babies our tongues touched the roof of our mouths,

Whether we are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, let us draw upon the earth for ease and gentleness,

Let our arms caress our innermost fears,

And through this body, complete and perfect, its races, sexualities, and genders, let it be the gateway to enlightenment and to awaken collective awareness of our magnificence.

All Ancestors in all Directions,

All Honored Ones, Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas,

Wisdom Beyond Wisdom, Maha Prajna Paramita

 

Meditation on Liberation

There is no superiority or inferiority among sentient beings.

To know this is to know liberation. To experience liberation in such a way is to experience compassion, wisdom, love and interrelationship. Authentic experiences of these qualities do not come with ideas that someone is better or worse than anyone else.

When we clearly see, not only with our eyes but with our hearts, who and what has erroneously claimed power and domination over others in this life, we begin to see the ways in which fear and hatred lead to the destruction of other lives.

Do not overlook with theories, religious, or biological approaches the palpable dimensions of racialized, sexualized, and gendered experiences that lead to human tragedy.

If we consider a spiritual path as a path through which we live out our lives, then we will bring our lived experiences along with us as we walk it.

Liberation cannot be experienced through introspection alone.

If this is true, may the struggles of our lives be the places through which we catalyze liberation. May we come to know our embodiment as the spiritual path by which we come to see and know the ever-presence of awakened ones before our birth.

All Ancestors in all directions

May we be at peace with our incarnation,

free to experience liberation and live in joy together,

with all beings.

 

I Can Breathe: A Meditation on Surviving Acts of Hatred

May I come back to this body,

May I come back to this breath,

May I come to know this body as the earth itself.

May I breathe myself back home,

And once again be introduced to this great life.

 

May the great light of this Earth surround me,

May I be released from past harm and imposed hatred.

May I come to recognize my existence in the true nature of life.

May I come back to this breath,

to this body, as the sacred place in which I remain awake

and connected to the fragrance and taste of liberation.

 

May I remain visible on the path of spirit,

and be seen and heard,

May love given be returned tenfold,

May awakening be known in this body,

at this time.

 

And when I can’t breathe,

May, I breathe in the next moment,

May I say, I can breathe.

*Eric Garner, a black man, father of six, was choked to death by Staten Island, NY police in July 2014. A film shot from a smartphone recorded Garner’s words, “I can’t breathe.”

 

Be Love

May the heavy become light,

May what’s ill become well,

May what’s violent become peace,

May rage be settled,

May the idea of enemy be banished,

May actions be filled with sincere purpose,

May wellness be illuminated,

May gifts be recognized,

May all that we know to BE LOVE,

pour out and overflow

wherever it is needed.

 

 

 

For All Beings

May all beings be cared for and loved,

Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views,

Be accepted for who they are in this moment,

Be afforded patience,

Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated.

May all beings,

Be well in its broadest sense,

Be fed,

Be clothed,

Be treated as if their life is precious,

Be held in the eyes of each other as family.

May all beings,

Be appreciated,

Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet,

Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes,

Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm,

Be given what is needed to live fully, without scarcity,

Enjoy life, living without fear of one another,

Be able to speak freely in a voice and mind of undeniable love.

May all beings,

receive and share the gifts of life,

Be given time to rest, be still, and experience silence.

May all beings,

Be awake.

 

 

 

 

I have been afraid to speak on the Israel and Gaza horror. But I can’t be silent on what hits me so hard that I am afraid to speak . What I have to say has nothing to do with which side is doing what to each other. All the horrors of the world turn my stomach. I am nauseous at what we are capable of as human beings–all of us. Given different conditions we are all capable of taking lives in the name of keeping or reclaiming what we believe to be ours: our family, our homes, our block, our land, our lives, etc. Who hasn’t thought of carry a weapon? Who secretly carries a weapon? Mostly, I don’t read newspapers–not because of the bias or hidden agendas but more so it is the pain and suffering the papers present on the front pages that drops my head. Today, I read my neighbors New York Times. Just page one. Next, I tried to make sense of what we do and how what we do affects every other living human being. I see the bodies huddled on the front page.  Eventually, the bodies will be buried but all is not gone or put away that neatly. What is left in our bones has not been buried. I feel the trauma of lands far away and the trauma of living in the midst of sirens here in Oakland, CA. I can only affirm that in some way peace enters the bones in much the same way as trauma. If trauma can be activated in the bones by experiences  then so can peace. Except the experience of available peace is just not as loud. I can only feel it when I stop and face the fear of horror. Once I face it, the memory of peace prevails. There will be horror but can we come through it or do we begin again and again at the same place. What we see of ourselves today in Israel and Gaza is us beginning at the same place–at the place of being wronged, at the place of having what we feel should be ours. I have no answers but to question the fear and nausea. We can all question. Hopefully, in the inquiry, the quest to be awake, we see what is needed to be seen of ourselves and grow from our ancient beginnings– at least for the sake of new generations. May all who suffer war, suffer war no more.