The Whole World is One Family

“The highest religious principle is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam:
the whole world is one family.
No matter what religion we are following,
if we cannot love others then we are not following religion but the illusion of religion.
Where there is no unity, no love, no harmony among each other,
how can there be religion?”

~Swami Kripalu

~~~
So that’s the cosmic truth.
The bigger picture.
The energetic
And
Spiritual
Reality.

And then—
There is life.

Life
Inhabited by
Humans,
Flawed
Beings.

Life.
We get
Life on
Life’s terms.
~~~
My Civil Rights Pilgrimage.
From Atlanta,
To Birmingham,
To Selma,
And Montgomery,

As in
Alabama.

My intention for the trip—

To bear witness
To the realities
Of our culture’s
Relationship
To race.

To bear witness.
to show that something exists or is true

Maya Angelou says:

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.”

There are millions
Upon millions
Of more millions
Of untold stories
Of Black Americans.

So much under cover.
So much lost in the shuffle
Of the years,
Of the prejudices,
Of the assumptions,
Of the injustice,
Of the evil.

I went there to see.
To bear witness.
To deepen my connection
To all people.

I went there
To understand
Just a tad more
My place
In the
Scheme
Of
Things.

As a white woman
As a Jew.
As an old woman.
As an elder in my community.
It is time for me to see more deeply.
To know more intimately.
~~~
Now I’m home.
A week has passed
Since my return.

Words have been difficult.
It’s taken days to find any.
Now they are unpredictably
Available,

Either
Sparse
Or
Spilling
Over.

I will
Offer you
Images,

A few of the heart-openers,
The moments
My breath
Stopped
And
My
Heart
Shattered
Apart,

To become
More open
Than
Before.
~~~
In Atlanta, we visited the National Historical Park, where Dr. King is buried.

Dr. King’s Principles of Non-Violence, from his book, Stride toward Freedom, were on plaques on the wall.
I was stunned.
As a child of the 60’s, I thought I knew about non-violence.
Yet these six principles riveted me, opened me, shook me up.
A good, a healthy shaking, I do believe.
Their brilliance, their hope, their depth.
I repeat them here.

Isn’t this all we really want, right?

1. Noviolence is a way of life for courageous people.

It is an active nonviolent resistance to evil.
It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.

The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation.
The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.

3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.

Nonviolence recognizes that evil doers are also victims and are not evil people.
The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not people.

4. Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform people and societies.

Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation.
Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.

5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.

Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body.

6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.

The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.
Nonviolence believe that God is a God of justice.

~~~

In Montgomery, we visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Created by The Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization, which began as legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and others who may have been denied a fair trial. It guarantees the defense of anyone in Alabama in a death penalty case.

Here are their words about the Memorial:

“On a hilltop overlooking Montgomery is the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the legacy of Black Americans who were enslaved, terrorized by lynching, humiliated by racial segregation, and presumed guilty and dangerous.

More than 4,400 Black people killed in racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 are remembered here. Their names are engraved on more than 800 corten steel monuments—one for each county where a racial terror lynching took place—that form the main structure of the memorial at the heart of this six-acre site.”

The Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum was profound and overwhelming. Many forms of media come together to give us both the education about and the experience of Black America’s Legacy, from slavery to mass incarceration. Here are two of their short, impactful videos that carry the experience:

~~~
Dear Friends,

Where is the hope?

As injustice continues,
As racism rages,
As systems of race hierarchy
Continue along,
Simply evolving
Into new forms
Of injustice.

Where is the hope?

As the political climate
In our country
Teethers
Off the track
Of sanity.

Where is the hope?

I believe—

Hope lives
In the knowing.
in the witnessing.
In the seeing
One another
With
Kindness.

Hope lives
In the
Witnessing of
Each other’s
Suffering.

May we open
Our hearts
To another
With kindness.

May we tread slowly
And patiently
Toward
Other
Communities.

May we find
Our way home,
Disguised
Deeply
In
Each
Other.

May all beings
Benefit from our words.

Blessings, Aruni

The Whole World is One Family