{"id":2039,"date":"2019-09-15T15:38:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T15:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triciablog.luricidex.com\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2022-08-28T22:12:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T22:12:38","slug":"sept-15-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triciabatessmith.com:443\/index.php\/2019\/09\/15\/sept-15-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 9-15-19, Diversity and Healing the Whole"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Happy Sunday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At work last week I had to attend a mandatory training on\ndiversity. I went into the course with a negative attitude as I was very busy\nbut had to fit the training in my schedule before my upcoming vacation. I\nentered the room just at the start time of the class so I ended up in the front\nrow in a class that had over 50 people in it. I sat with my mind saying I\u2019m\njust going to be quiet, not raise my hand for anything to avoid participating;\nthis is not like me as I am usually one of those people who sits near the front\nand fully participates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two female facilitators introduced themselves, a black\nwoman who appeared older than me and a white woman who was 10 or more years\nyounger than me. Both women gave introductions about themselves. The black\nwoman I immediately felt \u2018this is a wise elder here\u2019. The white woman gave a\nlonger introduction as if she needed to explain why diversity was a major cause\nshe supported and why a white woman would do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Terteria
Terteria Trent, great role model I learned of this week. Interviewed by Lisa Garr on Gaia ‘Inspirations’.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I was not happy when I realized the class involved many\ngroup exercises that we were supposed to participate in. For the first exercise\nI turned my chair to join a group in the row behind me. An elderly white lady\nimmediately started to speak about what she thought of related to diversity.\nShe said she grew up in Newark. She expressed that the neighborhoods were\ndiverse and everyone got along, this was because everyone was poor and needed\nthe community support to get by. She added that conflict began when some people\nstarted to rise above in their finances, then there was comparison of we\u2019re\nbetter than you as we have more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later we talked about the influences we received from our family. One young man said his father was in Vietnam and taught him respect for everyone, that we are all the same when working together to survive. An older black man said he grew up as one of 135 as he grew up in the foster system. The children were diverse in race but all shared the same in their experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room was just full of people with wonderful perspectives\nbecause of their experiences. One young woman told our group about how her high\nschool was all white suburban kids, segregated, and yet there were issues with\ngroups trying to come off as better than other groups. At one point in the\nclass I thought I would cry because of the amount of wisdom I was observing\naround me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are waking up. So many people are excited to share their\nobservations and personal lessons because of the experiences they have had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look on the training now and can see that in general, as a society, we don\u2019t have an issue with race. Our issues with differences are about economic classes. Who has and hasn\u2019t got the opportunities for monetary gain. Who has more than me to give, who has less than me that I have to fear taking some of mine. That \u2018survival of the fittest\u2019 mumbo jumbo we were fed to believe, dis-proven by genetics, but still serving a materialistic economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This morning I listened to Father Rohr\u2019s homily from July 6,\n2019. It has the title \u201cEvil is socially legitimated before the individual dares\u201d;\nbased on the Gospel reading Luke 10:1-12. Father Rohr pointed out that in the\nGospels Jesus only called out woe or treachery onto cities or cultures. It is\ncultures that make evil acceptable. Cultures honor killing in battle but the\nindividual is not to kill. Today lying has become common and acceptable for\nCorporations, Media, Government \u2013 if it serves profit and power. And yet a\nperson has no integrity if they lie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is in one is in the whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This must go the other way as well \u2026 what is in the whole is\nin the one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know, for me as an individual soul, there is only struggle\nand pain related to Self-betrayal when I lie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBe impeccable with your word.\u201d For me this is the most\nimpactful of the lessons of the \u2018Four Agreements\u2019, taught to me by Don Miguel\nRuiz. In a society, what is the \u2018Self\u2019 that is being betrayed? Where does the\ninner pain lie? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know from several teachers that these types of Self-betrayal\ncan lead to disease. What does disease look like on the society level? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If in the human body it could be cell cancer then in society\ncan it also be individual humans turning against the whole? (I\u2019m thinking: crime,\ngangs, mass shooters, humans wanting to inflict pain on others.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the bombing at the Boston Marathon I felt that there\nwas responsibility on our society. I had no clue how to track the\nresponsibility, what was the cause to bring about this effect of youth wanting\nto attack and kill others within their society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This writing exercise makes it obvious. It is a cancer;\nrogue cells hurting and in pain expressing the pain outwardly to the cells\naround them. Killing pieces of the whole that they themselves are part of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What creates the rogue cells? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole keeps swallowing the pain, not looking at the\nwrong it keeps choosing over the well-being of its own spirit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n