Getting to know Becky
Worth Preserving
Recently I came across a presentation titled, Healing With Love, Hopeful Wisdom For Difficult Times, a conversation between Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman originally recorded at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
In this archived lecture, Jack shares the story of Maha Ghosananda, the Gandhi of Cambodia, who lived through the horrific genocide that took place during the political upheaval of 1970’s. In addressing the emotional reactions of the survivors, Maha Ghosananda quoted the eternal wisdom of the Buddha, “Hatred never ceased by hatred, but by love alone is healed.”
With the local and national news headlines continually testing our reactivity, I am called to reflect deeply on this eternal wisdom as our community and country navigate this transformation. I ask myself, “How will I participate in the world that I want to live in? Will I do so with hatred? Othering? Blaming? Or will I reflect deeply on my own thoughts, whether spoken or silent?”
Martin Luther King stated the following in 1967, ”Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.”
When I defend, react, or speak harsh words, and call it my civic duty, I have to ask myself, is it?
When I write, or protest, and say freedom of speech is my constitutional right, I have to ask myself, do I speak from a place of hatred, or from a place of love that will help myself, others, and my community to heal?
I believe what integral philosopher Ken Wilber calls us as a society to do, “Grow up, clean up, wake up, and show up.”
If we truly want to create the best world possible, and leave it in good condition for the generations to come, we each have to understand the triggers and reactions within our own thoughts. When we find ourselves reacting in the extreme to what we see, read, and hear, we need to ask ourselves, are we being triggered by unconscious trauma of which we are completely unaware?
When I, “show up,” whether it be in my thoughts, talking to my mother on the phone, or while reading a letter to the editor in my local paper, I want it to be from a place of truth that is current and based in the here and now, not from unresolved traumas from which I need to grow up, clean up and wake up about.
This work isn’t easy, in fact it is the hardest work I have ever done. What does make it easier is when it is done surrounded by people who love and know me, wounds and all.
I am hopeful that we as a society can develop an overriding loyalty to mankind. For I believe our culture, our community, and most importantly, a future for our children is worth preserving.
Resources:
- Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 276 – Healing With Love: Hopeful Wisdom for Difficult Times
- Voices of Esalen Podcast
- Ken Wilber’s Call to Grow Up, Clean Up, Wake Up, and Show Up
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