I was musing about what things might be like after the pandemic. The possibility of starting all over drifted up. With the radical nature of how things have changed so quickly in the last month I imagined starting the country with its glorious democratic ideals, but transforming the three major original sins that were baked in: Genocide of the native people, Slavery as the engine of the economy, and Disempowerment of everybody but the white male landowners. I would add a fourth positive element that they couldn’t have known about then, the interconnectedness of everything on Earth.
So the four principles for starting over would be
1-Structural generosity toward native people, recognizing that we owe them an unpayable debt.
2-Structural generosity toward African American people, recognizing that we owe them an unpayable debt.
3-Explicitly equal structural empowerment of all who stand outside the category of white male landowner.
4-Replacing the sanctity of sovereignty with an overarching Earth-centric perspective in all relationships with other national entities.
I saw your question “How are you doing today?” and waited until something positive came up. After an hour of watching videos about Elvis Presley’s original drummer and guitarist, I checked my email and saw this quote featured on a message from ZCLA:
“Stop looking to fix your situation, and find your freedom right here in this overflowing sea of hardship. Stop fighting difficulty and sink into acceptance.” – Roshi Grace Schireson
That’s a message I’m getting from numerous sources. It’s the other side of my heroic brave face. Sometimes it gets exhausting to pretend I’m not primarily learning from the opportunities to suffer.
The other side of slipping the traps of culture is the sadness of being isolated from the sangha I lived in for 28 years. It doesn’t have to be this way. I’m reading the Sangha Sutra and feeling inspired by the idea of being woven back into the fabric of the sangha. Two old friends are visiting in the next two days. The Sangha Sutra Verse says
Stitch by stitch, breath by breath,/I take up the practice of sewing the Sangha Sutra. /When seams rip apart and tears appear,/I take up the practice of mending.
That’s what I want to do this week.
Secret of the Golden Flower – Cleary translation
In both Taoism and Buddhism, the term turning the light around means turning the primary attention from involvement in mental objects to focus on the essence or source of mind. This exercise is practiced as a means of clearing consciousness and freeing awareness.
Dogen’s backward step (from Fukanzazengi)
Therefore, put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inward. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will manifest.
Jigme Lingpa’s verse
Then, when conceptual thinking arises,/Don’t look at what arises: be what knows the arising./Like an oak peg in hard ground,/Stand firm in awareness that knows,/And go deep into the mystery.
tr. by Ken McLeod In The Trackless Path, 3.9