loss of progress, but not of faith
many thanks to anonymous for her kind, thoughtful, insightful words. anonymous spoke about the culture of shame around death and dying in reference to my culture of shame around abuse. i think this is a wise connection. i believe that it is a sign of our hyper-independent culture that we are expected to paint the rosy picture of our lives no matter what is happening. it's never considered part of our communal responsibility to actually admit that pain is a process, and that issues aren't always easily resolved or dismissed. i'm sorry that your father's death was so difficult for you.
and apologies to everyone for not writing more frequently. i have been writing my final papers for school, which has kept me quite busy for the past few weeks. but the time off has given me time to reflect and to think (and to recover from the last posting, which was difficult for me to write).
so, what other losses have i felt in my life? well, a few weeks ago we had an election. and there was some loss associated with that.
first, let me say that i don't necessarily care that george bush is in office. i don't like him, but i am actually heartened that the american people got out to the polls and voted. they came out in mass numbers. and, by a slim margin (given that number of people), they voted in the candidate who i dislike greatly. but he was the more popular candidate, and it appears that he actually did get a majority of the votes, both popularly and in the electoral college. so, the system is intact and working; it just produced bad results, or, more accurately, results that i disagree with. i can live with that. i have other accesses to power, and i intend to get active and use as many of them as i possibly can over the next four years to force bush to do what i want him to.
but i do have a sense of loss from this election, and that is the loss of progress. i believe that what we call the progressive movement made some great gains over the past few years, especially with regards to same-sex marriage. my husband and i took advantage of this progress to get legally married in san francisco in february of 2004. that marriage was nullified everywhere except in our hearts, but we held out faith that we had started the ball rolling toward something that was gaining momentum. in this past election, 11 states determined to constitutionally restrict marriage to between a man and a woman, and many of those states stripped rights away from domestic partners as well. this reactionary policy of hatred is hurting loving couples all over the country. my heart bleeds for them.
but, despite these setbacks and the pain of the present, i have faith in the future. i have faith in people. i believe that people aren't bad, just not ready, not wired for this movement. and time will fix that.
loss of progress, but not of faith.
daily dharma:In a well-known phrase, the Buddha said, "Hatred can never cease by hatred. Hatred can only cease by love. This is an eternal law." We can begin to transcend the cycle of aversion when we can stop seeing ourselves personally as agents of revenge. Ultimately, all beings are the owners of their own karma. If someone has caused harm, they will suffer. If we have caused harm, we will suffer. As the Buddha said in the Dhammapada: We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.... Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable. Happiness and unhappiness depend upon our actions.
Lovingkindness
Sharon Salzberg
and apologies to everyone for not writing more frequently. i have been writing my final papers for school, which has kept me quite busy for the past few weeks. but the time off has given me time to reflect and to think (and to recover from the last posting, which was difficult for me to write).
so, what other losses have i felt in my life? well, a few weeks ago we had an election. and there was some loss associated with that.
first, let me say that i don't necessarily care that george bush is in office. i don't like him, but i am actually heartened that the american people got out to the polls and voted. they came out in mass numbers. and, by a slim margin (given that number of people), they voted in the candidate who i dislike greatly. but he was the more popular candidate, and it appears that he actually did get a majority of the votes, both popularly and in the electoral college. so, the system is intact and working; it just produced bad results, or, more accurately, results that i disagree with. i can live with that. i have other accesses to power, and i intend to get active and use as many of them as i possibly can over the next four years to force bush to do what i want him to.
but i do have a sense of loss from this election, and that is the loss of progress. i believe that what we call the progressive movement made some great gains over the past few years, especially with regards to same-sex marriage. my husband and i took advantage of this progress to get legally married in san francisco in february of 2004. that marriage was nullified everywhere except in our hearts, but we held out faith that we had started the ball rolling toward something that was gaining momentum. in this past election, 11 states determined to constitutionally restrict marriage to between a man and a woman, and many of those states stripped rights away from domestic partners as well. this reactionary policy of hatred is hurting loving couples all over the country. my heart bleeds for them.
but, despite these setbacks and the pain of the present, i have faith in the future. i have faith in people. i believe that people aren't bad, just not ready, not wired for this movement. and time will fix that.
loss of progress, but not of faith.
daily dharma:In a well-known phrase, the Buddha said, "Hatred can never cease by hatred. Hatred can only cease by love. This is an eternal law." We can begin to transcend the cycle of aversion when we can stop seeing ourselves personally as agents of revenge. Ultimately, all beings are the owners of their own karma. If someone has caused harm, they will suffer. If we have caused harm, we will suffer. As the Buddha said in the Dhammapada: We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.... Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable. Happiness and unhappiness depend upon our actions.
Lovingkindness
Sharon Salzberg
posted by higgypiggy at 8:10 AM
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