“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” -Martin Luther King JR.
My heart is heavy with thoughts of what is to come. Perhaps a sudden realization of truth, by the perpetrators of an unjust tyrannical system? Perhaps a people still ignored by the cruel villainous separation of an illusionary authority, claiming violence as its only solution? What if there actually was peace? What if we were truly able to be free? Who’s to say what our leaders will choose to do in the face of such harsh realities.
This system has built itself upon the foundation of oppression and bloodshed, so how can those so deeply invested in fallacies ever see the light? I know that we are all brothers and sisters of the universe, and we are all so infinitely one, and that injustice against one of us should affect us all. I do not know how to bring clarity to those suffering with all the pain and loss that results from such corrupt institutions. I have lost my own mother and father to a society that refuses to heal the poor if they are sick, and allows them to knowingly die due to the hands of the system’s own negligence. But I do not know the profoundly immense, injustice that those attacked with anger and bigotry face everyday. The horrible cycle of ignorance and hate has been a part of this country since it’s formation. The very idea of American “democracy” was formed by racist, murderous religious zealots. How can we expect this country to live in a compassionate state that benefits all, when the roots of its own government are soaked in blood?
I hope and pray for the inevitable emergence of a greater understanding towards the government and its people. I believe that someday this world will live in harmony, and those that strive for power will only truly strive for peace. One day there will be no separation between nations or people. One day we will see true joy on the faces of a fulfilled global people, no longer separated by illusions. We all were born from the same Earth. Our ancestors all walked upon this land before us. We all were made of the same elements as the vast cosmos. Birthed by the unknown, set into motion through a series of destined occurrences, which have led us to here- alive and awake.
We share this life together, we share this world together… there is no reason to not be as one. It is only through some grand deception formed by the ruling elites, that societies ever even turned towards war, murder, and corruption. Because with authority comes division, and leaders only rule by enforcing their ideals of prejudice and propaganda, through militarized tactics of fear and separation. What has ever truly disconnected one human from another? We are one in the same. No one chooses where they were born or what they will look like. No one chooses what culture they will be raised in or what religion their family will practice. Perhaps an enlightened yogi would be aware of such things upon their reincarnation, but even then they would know that whatever body they did choose… that it is would only be a vessel and that in the end we are all part of the same cosmic soul.
There’s a famous zen koan that’s asks, “what did your face look like before your parents were born?” There’s many versions I have found and many interpretations of this koan. All coming back to ‘what did you look like before you were born?’ Who were you before you were anything? What is the essence of your true self? It is the mind-shattering embrace of intuition, breaking logic’s tethers binding which bind us to form. It also embraces the duality of known and unknown, of falsehoods and truth, of illusion and awareness. It is the shattering pieces of the ego’s glass mirage.
There is so much that we will never understand in this world, but to forget our true connection to one another would be the worst thing we could do. We are not separate, no matter what state of existence we are in. Whether we were born from one land to another, one family to another, one culture to another; these factors are all temporary. We are all and forever will be a part of the cosmic universal family that is this life/incarnation. We must honor our true selves and one another by speaking out against these ideas of separation and practices of injustice. I wish that one day there will be no more pain, and that no more innocent souls shall have to die in vain. Nothing is insignificant, every soul should matter… because in the end, every other being that exists on this Earth is also a part of you.
“What did your face look like before your parents were born?” Who are you really?
Quotes from zen masters on this concept of your ‘Original Face’:
Cease practice based
On intellectual understanding,
Pursuing words and
Following after speech.
Learn the backward
Step that turns
Your light inward
To illuminate within.
Body and mind of themselves
Will drop away
And your original face will be manifest.
— Dogen
You cannot describe it or draw it,
You cannot praise it enough or perceive it.
No place can be found in which
To put the Original Face;
It will not disappear even
When the universe is destroyed.
— Mumon
May all beings realize the infinite potential of peace and harmony.
May all beings find truth and joy in their daily existence.
May all beings be able to walk the Earth freely and without fear.
May all beings be as One.
The Remover of Obstacles
Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
The Infinite Essence 