A Significant Movement

As the discourse continues as to why we as a nation are burdened with so many tragic homicides and mass murders, I am reminded to come to myself.  I am reminded to feel my feet on the ground, my breath moving through this body, to feel the feelings.  Like everyone else, I too have the desire to "fix" this, to throw a few directives into the mix and watch everything change to a rosier hue.  But with feet planted and my breath not moving so freely, I feel the sorrow of the impossibility of this.  Change is hard.  Too young at the time to remember, I imagine the civil rights activists of the 1960s might have had several similar and sobering pauses.  And even though we technically have more secured legal rights for all, garnered by the hard work of those vigilant activists, we still are plagued with prejudice, hatred, suspicion and separation for those different than us, whether they be of color, religion, political affiliation, age, geographic origins, class, gender, mental/physical wellness or sexual orientation to name but a few.  What hasn't changed is an internal movement, the type of movement that actually is significant.


Violence is born from isolation and attachment; attachment to static belief and isolation from other (experiences).  Isolated and attached, relationship is not possible; there is no room, no breath, no inner flexibility to rely on.  Non-sensical violent actions transpire because most of me is not related.  Not related to myself, not related to my environment, not related to others. I am not watching.  I am not listening.  Or if I am, it's superficial, not from a fuller, more embodied intelligence.  Moving toward this intelligence must become our bottom line, not how much profits can be had (possibly a reason why mental health is not supported by systems: it's not profitable -in immediate dollar terms-, unlike most medical treatment).  Cultural violence, which has been pointed out so tangibly in statistics as of late, has to be taken on. There is no singular magic fix.  It's nature is complex. Personally, we have to own our own violence before the trickle down manifests.  As was mentioned in my Violence: a Cautionary Truth post, violence can be subtle and insidious.  This then, would require a greater ability to sensitize oneself to what is, a willingness not to turn away, a capacity for nonjudgment and acceptance of oneself (and others).

Sort of ridiculous to ask this of a culture at large?  Yes it is.  So, then I ask this of myself.  And then I ask this of myself again.  And I try to remember internal movement is significant.

Sonnet 07 - The face of all the world is changed, I think by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The face of all the world is changed, I think,
Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul
Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole
Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink
Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,
Was caught up into love, and taught the whole
Of life in a new rhythm. The cup of dole
God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink,
And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear.
The names of country, heaven, are changed away
For where thou art or shalt be, there or here;
And this . . . this lute and song . . . loved yesterday,
(The singing angels know) are only dear
Because thy name moves right in what they say.