Dear Common Ground Friends,
Whether we know it or not we are living in a relational world. We are always relating, always in relationship with each other, and we are always unavoidably in relationship with all the unresolved pain in us and around us, even when we rely on denial and distraction just to get by. To ignore this central aspect of being human only adds to the suffering in our heart and in our world. I recently rewatched Spike Lee’s powerful 1989 film, Do the Right Thing. One of the strengths of this film is how it exposes both the beauty and horror of our human predicament in such a tender, clear, and unnerving way. On this Juneteenth holiday when we are invited to reflect on the centuries of black people being enslaved on this continent, the abolition of slavery, and the ongoing reverberations of hate and ignorance that continues, I aspire to learn how to stay in relationship with all that remains unhealed, and I aspire to feel what is here to feel, in my heart and in the world around me. For me the Buddha’s path of awakening necessarily involves coming into relationship with all that my heart finds inconvenient and unsettling. What kind of freedom would it be if I had to stay unaware of so much of what is moving in me and around me?
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
Wishes for the Deepest Healing All Around,
Mark Nunberg
Co-Guiding Teacher