Through the eyes of What Really Is:

When you read the history of racism, it’s hard not to get angry, frustrated or hurt. From there it is quite easy to move towards a request for justice, which often can include finger pointing and blame. Ironically, this serves the same mechanism it seeks to condemn.

When we blame, we accept the definition of the situation that our “finger pointing” mind offers, through the basic assumptions of good/bad, right/wrong, allowed/forbidden, safe/dangerous. From there also comes the act of pushing away what is perceived as not good or beneficial. In fact, without noticing, as the mind tries to correct the distorted, it presents and reinforces the illusion of separation; that there is “me” and there is “the other”, and we then forget the simple truth; that in our essence, we are one, and we are mirrors and ripples of each other and of all that exists.

If we agree to plant our feet in this truth; in the knowledge that we are one, even when it looks and feels exactly the opposite, what then will we see?

First, we may see the phenomenon of racism not as something that exists outside of me, “in them”, but as the thought-mechanism from which racism is an outcome and consequence. What are these assumptions, which exist in all of us, that allow racism and other forms of separation to flourish?

Second, We can ask the essential question; What is really happening within those who are still convinced of the rightfulness of an ethnic, racial or gender hierarchy? And, how do we speak to their heart and soul so that they can see the illusion?

When we see the thought-mechanism at the root of racism, we want to ask:

How did we get to the point where we believe that there are superior and inferior people?

What do we have to believe for it to make sense, that some people, by virtue of physiological or cultural characteristics, are worth more or less than others?

There are several steps that our mind lines up for us, and we buy into them;

I have dark, not-so-good parts that I need to eradicate from within, suppress and minimize my contact with as much as I can.

If I do not keep them away from me, they will take me over and suffocate my light. There is a war between light and dark inside me and all around me, all of the time, so I stay busy defending and controlling.

This inner dynamic is expressed in society, where we believe that there is a “me” and there is an “other”. The other = threat, and so we have to be stronger than the other, find justification for his oppression, and then activate mechanisms that will preserve it and serve it.

The mind always makes us look outside, giving us reasons, circumstances, events, problems, things we will have to deal with, and we buy into the story it presents, instead of daring to look at what is going on inside. We are not really used to this movement, of looking inward. But only through it, thanks to it, can we see the true “story” of what is happening. And through this action which is possible for all of us, whether prompted by collective or personal dynamics, we can recall our true nature, which is devoid of any hierarchy, has no preconditions and does not depend on anything external.

 We can move into witnessing what is happening within us, instead of automatically cooperating with it.

What opens up then? What does that look like?