It’s been a full week of dramatic shifts and turmoil — both inner and outer. I think as a country we’ve crossed a line from which there is no turning back — for better or for worse; while for myself, I feel like I’m coming back to center, but with increased awareness….and increased visibility as well!
It feels good to have opened myself up to being part of the dialogue; it will be interesting to see just what exactly that means going forward.
Which brings me to the question of race at Ananda, which a number of friends have asked about.
Speaking only for myself, I have never once felt any sort of discrimination or prejudice in my twenty years as a member of Ananda. On the contrary, I have felt a level of feeling “at home” and a sense of belonging beyond anything I had ever felt before.
In order to explain this a little better, I’d like to explore the idea of being “colorblind.” I remember one time many years ago, when I was in college, being part of a conversation where a friend was trying to describe me to someone who was going to be meeting me for some reason.
The adjectives included “short”, “dark hair”, what I was wearing, etc…and I finally broke in to say, “tell them I’m black!” I mean, it seemed ridiculous to me to ignore what — in that particular setting — would have been the quickest and simplest identifier. To me, that’s a false colorblindness that actually draws more attention to the differences.
At Ananda I’ve experienced what feels to me like true colorblindness, when someone’s attention is drawn to the color of my skin and they’re surprised, because they had never really noticed it.
Hmmm…that explanation seems a little lame, and yet…that’s how it has felt! Why? Because as devotees living in spiritual community, we are committed to shedding our egoic self-definitions in order to fully realize the truth that — in essence — we are all one in God.
The more we believe that and live that, the more we can look at everyone around us and all we see is the light in their eyes and the joy in their smiles. And we will feel the love in their hearts and know that we’re all expressions of the one light and joy and love of God.
Of course, most of us aren’t entirely there yet, but we’re committed to trying and we’re getting closer all the time.