{"id":18985,"date":"2020-06-19T09:09:09","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T13:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18985"},"modified":"2020-06-19T09:58:42","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T13:58:42","slug":"love-and-justice-are-not-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18985","title":{"rendered":"Love and Justice Are Not Two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Inner and Outer Freedom<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Love\nand Justice Are Not Two<\/strong><br>\nFriday, \u202fJune 19, 2020<br>\n<em>Juneteenth<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UEzCQBwQkdA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Love\nand Justice are not two. Without inner change, there can be no outer change.\nWithout collective change, no change matters. \u2014<\/em>Rev. angel Kyodo williams,\nSensei<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I enjoyed\ngetting to know Rev. angel Kyodo williams when she presented at the CONSPIRE\nconference in 2017. She is one of very few black women Zen Senseis (teachers).\nThrough her Buddhist practice, she seeks to liberate both the oppressed and the\noppressors, which is appropriate as we celebrate Juneteenth in the United\nStates today, to recognize the final day of emancipation from slavery in our\nnation. In this passage she shares her path to becoming an agent of\ntransformative, peaceful social change. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not\nlong after finding my place as an activist for social justice, I came up\nagainst the need for not just reacting to what was happening in the world,\nwhich gave me a sense of purpose, but developing a way to look at what was\nhappening, which provided a sense of meaning. I found a second home in\ncultivating a spiritual life. . . . My formal Zen practice and training were\nteaching me to find a more restful place that I could abide in within myself\ndespite the chaos and calamity [of] living in an unjust society. . . . It also\ngave me a way to be in response to sometimes overwhelming situations that could\njust lead me to a downward spiral of anger and negativity. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Zen community I eventually became engaged with [the Zen Peacemaker Order] . . .explicitly committed to social action.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nwas captivated by the bodhisattva ideal. . . . In their infinite wisdom and\nboundless compassion, they responded to the cries [of the world]. Even though\nliberation is available to them, they hold it off until every person can be\nawakened, too. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nadvocated for [a] more balanced approach to fiercely address injustice from a\nplace of empowerment as a warrior\u2014but one that was ultimately committed to\npeace rather than aggression. This path recognized the clarity and resilience\nbrought about by cultivating one\u2019s inner life. . . . I saw this as a more\nsustainable path, especially for Black people, whose road to victory in the\nexternal landscape would likely be a long one given the deep entrenchment of\nthe forces of oppression set against us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nresponse to the events of September 11th, I wrote what became known as the\nWarrior-Spirit Prayer of Awakening. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May\nall beings be granted with the strength, determination and wisdom to extinguish\nanger and reject violence as a way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May\nall suffering cease and may I seek, find, and fully realize the love and\ncompassion that already lives within me and allow them to inspire and permeate\nmy every action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May\nI exercise the precious gift of choice and the power to change [as] that which makes\nme uniquely human and is the only true path to liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May\nI swiftly reach complete, effortless freedom so that my fearless, unhindered\naction be of benefit to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>May I lead the life of a warrior.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"338\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-19-at-9.57.47-AM-500x338.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18989\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-19-at-9.57.47-AM-500x338.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-19-at-9.57.47-AM-300x203.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-19-at-9.57.47-AM-768x519.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-19-at-9.57.47-AM.png 1928w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inner and Outer Freedom Love and Justice Are Not Two Friday, \u202fJune 19, 2020 Juneteenth Love and Justice are not two. Without inner change, there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters. \u2014Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Sensei I enjoyed getting to know Rev. angel Kyodo williams when she presented at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18985"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18990,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18985\/revisions\/18990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}