Organ Mountain Zen



Monday, April 26, 2010

Fringes

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

When I wake up, I place my attention on your heart. I do. I open my eyes and look to the universe, seek out every imaginable being, and bow. Life is so very precious. All of life. And this makes even that which supports our lives equally precious: chairs, tables, cushions, forks, spoons, beds, floors, even notebooks and iPhones.

We practice to nurture both beings and the support of beings. We practice, in the end, to support the entire universe. Not just my corner, as opposed to your corner, or my clan, as opposed to your clan: mutual aid is our foundational survival strength and defines our humanity.
I am appalled by the recent legislation of Arizona. Aside from the racial/ethnic profiling aspect which is completely unacceptable behavior in a free society that values and cherishes diversity, it gives in to fear.

Fear is a terrible thing. It enables all sorts of not so good things to be done in the name of safety. The trouble is, once it is out of the box, none of us are invisible to its eye. If you look a little different, you are suspect when fear resides in the observer’s heart.


“What’s that you are wearing under that shirt?”
“Fringes, you say?”
“What are they?…Where did you say you were from?...ID, please.”

They screened my priest’s robe the other day. I felt offended and suspicious. Some readers did not think it such a deal. It gave me a lot to sit with.

Be well.

2 comments:

  1. HH: Arizona and New Mexico are so similar yet so different. I can't imagine what is happening in Arizona happening in NM.. But of course it could. I read on Joe Arpaio's and Al Sharpton's respective twitter pages that they will be debating the Arizona Immigration Bill tonight on Fox.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Anon, Fear is universal and our response to it very human. It is up to us to respond with our essential nature. As to tv, I don't have one.

    ReplyDelete