Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"Unfair Anti-Racism Campaign





Our mayor, Don Ness, is receiving threats and hate mail.  It's all because he is supporting the Unfair Anti-Racism Campaign that has begun in Duluth.  It alerts those of us who are white to be aware of times we might be subtlety "racist" and enjoying our white privilege in some way, perhaps even unconsciously.  Apparently those who are complaining are doing so because they feel they are being called "racist," which they say is being racist.

Even though I consider myself open to all races, I know in my heart that I can unconsciously ignore the "white privilege" that is the default position of communities like mine, in which the majority are white.  I remember becoming aware of how heterosexuals occupy the default position over homosexuals.  I know I don't always even notice when I am assuming my default thinking.

I think to ignore the possibility that we all can be racist in some way, is to ignore our shadow sides (those parts of us that are unknown or unwelcome).  When that happens, those parts of us show up when we least expect it (or want it).

Instead of feeling threatened by the Unfair Anti-Racist Campaign, why don't we all open up to the possibility that we could be and then strive to notice those times and then be open and welcoming to all?

A much lovelier and saner world, I think.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

GRACE

Even though I'm not "officially" diagnosed with early Parkinson's Disease, I'm pretty sure that's what I am experiencing, and it's got me to thinking.  I have more than PD going on in my body, and it's confusing to discern one's best and truest path.  For a while my mind was in a spin and I felt very confused.  I spoke with my yoga guru, Deborah Adele, who suggested I look at this new event in my life as an "Initiation."  I felt an instant shift in my psyche--opening to possibility.  Initiation into what?  Into a new and glorious opening into freedom (freedom from fear, from attachments, from expectations).  I think it would mean being in the precise instant of every now as it unfolds--resting in the now.

My Spirit Group to which I belong is reading Richard Rohr's "Everything Belongs."  He also speaks of living in the present, and emphasizes living in the opposites--good/evil, easy/hard, pleasant/unpleasant "everything belongs!"  We need to go into, and to experience the void--that dark place.  I received a stunning revelation:  the dark and void is Grace, just as happiness is Grace.  My probable diagnosis of PD and all that may mean for my future is Grace.  IT IS ALL GRACE!