To be a spiritual warrior, one must have a broken heart; without a broken heart and the sense of tenderness and vulnerability, your warriorship is untrustworthy. ~Chögyam Trungpa
There is a common belief within all mystical practices in every religion that not only are we all connected but that we are, in essence, one. It is a knowledge that is easy to forget in the physical trappings of existence—whether it be consumerism, democracy or autocracy, or the constant identification with self of the mind simply awake (not to be confused with the awakened mind.)
As in a trance, we live in this world–intrinsically a dual one–full of pain and suffering; love and fear; wellness and sickness; poverty and wealth. Seldom is there a moment of solace, a time for introspection as we put the phone or tablet down and simply remain in the moment. True Self discoveries are rare nowadays, but every discovery eventually leads to the discovery of Self (not self,) that which remains when all else is taken away. My guru used to call it, “Isness.”
We are witnessing a great American awakening now. Pandemics, like wars, affect populations en masse and the intrinsic equality of everyone’s experience bubbles up to the surface, becoming an indelible awareness of our sameness. Quarantine has forced us to stop, to breathe, to masticate the meaning of our path over and over, consciously or not.
The current presidency has also slowly been affecting and infecting our psyche. The morals that our parents instilled in us and the American dream that we were taught about as children is coming to terms with the opposite America Trump and all his followers are wanting to keep alive. There comes a time when, in moments of collective affliction, our spirits rise and scream out: enough is enough!
This cry for freedom, for justice, dwells within all of us–a longing that never goes away, free or enslaved, literally or not. It is what built this country and within that spirit we have taken to the streets for we are “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” The veil has been pulled away and we see our bothers and sisters marching with us and the belief that we are in the majority and that this means something, is slowly dawning on us.
It is like we have been the slave of the narrative of hate and subjugation long enough. Nothing will stop us now. As we progress forward, however, it is important to understand the power of your vote—for it is your strongest voice. We have this luxury that most of us take for granted and that Republican legislators everywhere are constantly trying to take away for they know the true power of it.
So your awakening must continue. You need to realize the power that the Republican narrative has taken away from you, your belief that your vote does not count, that it does not make a difference. Well, guess what, are your eyes opened now? Do you see the hordes of people following you and with you virtually and physically worldwide? It is sad that for some of us with out the internal will to see this depended on seeing it around us before believing it for ourselves.
But not to worry, this is how revolutions are made. You must know that this is only the beginning, because Republicans will try to hold on to power and will make all kinds of excuses come November–and this is where the pandemic could hurt us in another way.
Imagine that we are not even out of our first wave now and doing badly with it but that we may get another wave in the fall, come November? The Republicans will gladly quarantine us then, push us to the brink so that we do not exercise our vote. So we must remain vigilant. Register to vote. Call a friend and make them register to vote. Repeat. And last, come November, SHOW UP.
We owe it to each other, to our ancestors, and to the generations to come. If not, all of their pain and suffering to safeguard our right to vote was in vain.
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