Ida Lawrence, Contributor
Waking Times

When I set out to write on race, not as an advocate of something but as a communication, there is an inherent challenge: what can stretch across these extreme divisions? We already know the heart is the key, and we know this because as a child, we loved instinctively, without fear. Then came the programming, taking us far away from instinctive and authentic.

Very sadly, people who would be tender and understanding if they knew the experience and felt the pain of the ‘other’, are caught in a net of hate. Can talking and listening have an effect on that? I believe so… as a matter of fact, I know so.

Who in the wider world wants to deeply consider racism, and what the divides mean at this crucial time? Not many, I suspect. But those of us who tend toward heart-centered awareness may be ready for this conversation, because of the self-knowledge that we have gained, and the Divine Within that we are returning to.

Many have succumbed to ‘media made’ opinions about race because they have little direct experience with people of other races and ethnicities. We are often insulated. So, folks believe they know something because they watched a video, or an ‘expert’ said it, and the opinions sounded good and reasonable.

Also I’m aware that some spiritual and ‘consciousness focused’ people feel like it is not in their life path to deal with these issues. If it’s not, it’s not. But, we really are All connected as vessels of the Divine, so we might as well listen. Perhaps there is something in another’s experience that is going to intersect your path… you never know.

So, first we deal with fear. There are lots of emotional states that can come over a person, but for me the repeat visitor is fear. The situation with fear is different than with loneliness, sadness and so on, as this is about survival and protection of loved ones.

Past traumas like to hang out in my subconscious. It’s the ‘it might happen again’ fear, and I know it well. This low-grade fear isn’t as disabling as when traumatic stress becomes a disorder, but it can be a chronic stress, like a bruise. Some traumas still challenge me every day, and part of my liberation journey is to release these using techniques that I’ve learned. Thankfully I have the time in which to work on self-healing. Many people don’t.

If my past trauma can come and grab me, how much more must the Afrodescendant and Native American, and to a lesser degree Hispanic, African and Arab people that I encounter, be affected by trauma… especially the utterly unjust, for no reason at all other than race or ethnicity, hatred. I’m speaking of the U.S., of course.

Around the world the divides change. Palestinians, Dalits in India, and Aboriginal Australians are dealing with longstanding racism and genocide, while in Sweden political correctness has targeted white people with a broad accusation that clearly misunderstands how to deal with racism. A debate is currently going on as to whether skin colored band-aids are an expression of ‘hidden racism’ since they are beige. This is a cringe-worthy concern when people are being terrorized and their lives destroyed.

In addition to fear arising from trauma, there are overt and covert fear messages and images sent our way by the mainstream media, too often mirrored by the alternative anti-propaganda media. We give these messages our attention out of a natural desire to survive: “Tell me… who is the enemy? Should I run this way or that way?” It’s an incoming double whammy, and we need to not consume it blindly. Go for the valuable tidbits if there are any, and leave the rest alone.

Then we have ‘out of left field’ surprising incidents perpetrated by people who believe the propaganda and are made sick by it.

Just a few days ago my youngest son, who is racially mixed with tan complexion and is currently sporting a beard, was driving down a backstreet when someone who thought he was Middle Eastern tried to drive him off the road. The man called him a “sand-nigger” which apparently is meant to express ‘extra hate’. The assailant ended up on the losing end, but the point is… it’s personal, for many millions of people.

Before us is the challenge of seeing the sickness, understanding the causes, resisting the fear programming, healing ourselves, and making it right with others. It takes love of truth, love of love, and the heart’s good guidance to get through it.

Having introduced all of this, and in an effort to bring it home to personal accountability, I have a question: Whose play is this?

Some people believe that the future already exists, the play was written at the beginning, and we don’t see it – although prophets and visionaries sometimes see – in order that we might experience making choices: the experience of free will. Others say that all potentialities exist… so all potential futures. To others, we are, moment to moment, choice by choice, remaking the world.

What if they’re all true, we are remaking the world, a beautiful future exists right now, and yet we cannot see it, so we must act on the stage, participating and creating, because that’s the way this thing works. As consciousness expands we choose, and at the same time, we’ve already lived all of it… and truth and love and justice have won.

Why do I announce the winners? Well, in a war between truth and lie, which one can be crushed and which one is eternal? How about between love and hate? Which one outlasts the other? And then there’s a third we need to put out there… justice. One might ask, is justice in the realm of the Divine? Yes, love and truth require it.

We are in Creation’s play: the play of God or Source or Primal Light, or Illuminated Mathematical Codes… whatever word or words you wish to use describe that which experiences it all, within us, and within all that is.

These things I do believe: that human relationships are the highest form of spirituality we can engage in, that listening is the beginning of love, and that we come into unity consciousness by healing divides… all kinds of divides.

When we listen to another human being with the heart/mind, we instinctively know when something is needed. We know when someone is speaking from past trauma or present fear. We know because we feel – sometimes in our body’s resistance or comfort, tension or relaxation, revulsion or attraction, sometimes in the resonance of another’s voice, or simply, the peace when hearts connect.

When there is talk of race war, of course I listen and look for evidence of who has a desire for that. I don’t know a single soul, among Afrodescendant friends or family, eager for a race war. Not one. And not one among the bloggers and commentators. Even the public speakers and leaders, some who might express very understandable rage, who might say “This killing of us has to stop Or Else,” don’t want to lead people into death. Afrodescendants want justice, and to be able to live in this world as equal humans.

Now, in my head I wrote the next sentence. It was going to be: “Nobody wants more death and destruction.” But I had to re-think that. It’s not true. Somebody Does.

There’s a very old hidden hand that is really coming to light now. The ‘not so hidden anymore’ hand is busy with the propaganda, and that’s the reason why we’re even speaking the words… race war. Somebody wants a race war, and they’re doing their best. On the top levels it’s a long-range plan, and on the levels that we encounter, it’s a sick, programmed mindset that doubles down when challenged.

So, I’ve spoken of the divide, how listening is love, how the play is written but the choices are free, and now imagination and intent.

I like the imagination and intent part. It’s a way of purifying my inner sentiments and clearing the way: to sit back and relax into a quiet mind, and then imagine Afrodescendants and Native Americans… In Their Glory!

I see them collectively as peoples, safe, recovered, thriving, creating, bringing the earth back to balance, spiritually soaring to new heights. In this picture I don’t have a place… this is for them. My benefit is the clean heart, and the joy of loving the Divine.

We won’t be the ones to create their path between here and there… they will, and they will let us know how we can help. Right now I know we can help by allowing, intending, and celebrating their collective rise in our own hearts and minds.

And we can do other things too, like participate in stopping the harm. Sometimes when you fight a thing, you align to the same energy as the thing you are fighting, and that’s not the move. I don’t really see that happening here, except in the propaganda of those who want a race war. Young people are coming on the stage in this Divine play, not for war but for justice. They stand on the ground we gained, and they’re heart people! That’s inspiring!

About the Author

Ida Lawrence is an author, blogger, copywriter and editor based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has authored two books on racial justice and human rights, and numerous articles on human rights, self-empowerment and related subjects. Ida is also a certified Tai Chi instructor with a special interest in helping seniors and the disabled with Tai Chi and Chi Kung practices modified for their use. Her goal in life has been to find answers to the question of ‘why’ and then to explore the question of ‘what is’. More of her work is available at her personal blog, http://talk2momz.com/.

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