In reading Alice Walker and her illustrations of the way interlocking systems of oppression keep us from our spiritual side I think about my own spiritual upbringing. My mother was/is a seeker and we had a lot pf spiritually oriented self help books around the house. The focus of most of these was on overcoming our physical selves and becoming aligned with our spiritual selves. She also had a thing about ”vibes”, particularly in regard to people with “bad vibes.” I always felt like it was somehow elitist. I rebelled against it and hung out with rebellious types, tried to be rebellious, and generally questioned this duality put forward as a framework for spirituality: body = bad, spirit=good. Is the “real” self a sort of liquid poured into the vessel of the body? It didn’t make sense to me.
Well, like anything else your parents do that you rebel against, you one day come to understand its value. I now also feel sensitive to “bad vibes.” All of the suffering people bring with them - it can suck you in, if you let it. Their problems, their negative emotions can become your problems and negative emotions. It doesn’t have to be that way, but there is a lot of wisdom in my mother’s awareness of bad vibes and advice to avoid those with them. I reallly like what Thich Nhat Hanh has to say about these negative emotions, that is, the suffering that people have. He says “Karuna,” which can be translated as “compassion” has the ability to “transform suffering and lighten sorrows.” He says the Buddha has a serene smile despite his awareness of immense suffering in the world because he understood how “to take care of it and help transform it.” I am thankful to my teacher this quarter for allowing me to read such soul-quenching books for my class and to help me come to know why social justice and spirituality are one in the same to me.
Sources: “Teachings on Love” - Thich Nhat Hanh; “We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For” - Alice Walker
Well, like anything else your parents do that you rebel against, you one day come to understand its value. I now also feel sensitive to “bad vibes.” All of the suffering people bring with them - it can suck you in, if you let it. Their problems, their negative emotions can become your problems and negative emotions. It doesn’t have to be that way, but there is a lot of wisdom in my mother’s awareness of bad vibes and advice to avoid those with them. I reallly like what Thich Nhat Hanh has to say about these negative emotions, that is, the suffering that people have. He says “Karuna,” which can be translated as “compassion” has the ability to “transform suffering and lighten sorrows.” He says the Buddha has a serene smile despite his awareness of immense suffering in the world because he understood how “to take care of it and help transform it.” I am thankful to my teacher this quarter for allowing me to read such soul-quenching books for my class and to help me come to know why social justice and spirituality are one in the same to me.
Sources: “Teachings on Love” - Thich Nhat Hanh; “We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For” - Alice Walker
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