#bringbackourgirls

I have been thinking a lot lately about ways that I do (and sometimes don’t) take responsibility for humanity’s shared humanity.  What I mean is – since posting my observations on the facebook about what I sense as backlash against the #bringbackourgirls campaign, the idea of our shared suffering has been weighing heavy on my mind.  And that brings up the opposite of suffering, which for me in this moment is peace.  Peace of mind, of heart, of body, and those feelings are also shared with humanity as a Whole.  

I was wrestling with the “what more can I do?” busted loop when I stumbled into a card store today and came across a series of beautiful cards by an artist named Kristian Johnson Michels.  The title of the card shown below is called “Iemanja:”

Iemanja – from the Umbranda religion – goddess of rivers and oceans in Nigeria, the goddess resides in the sacred depths of the Ogun River.  Here her devotees espouse an ancient theory of the spirit: water, alive in sound and motion identifies the presence of a goddess.  Her river sculpts the stones leaving them smooth and time resistant.  Smooth stones and rushing water together make a music: the murmur of immortality. 

Nigeria – the homeland of the Yoruba religion, one of many religions to include female deities in their pantheon.  This particular diety or “Orisha,” as they are known in the tradition, manifests as a beautiful brown woman.  Other photos depict her, not as separate from the ocean, but part of the ocean itself:   

...while there are still other fascinating depictions, always a beautiful brown woman in a flowing blue dress. 

Nigeria – the country in Africa where mothers’ hearts are bleeding from the loss of their children, and tortured by thoughts of what their child may be experiencing.  It’s almost too much to bear – this thought – and for me, it’s just a thought.  

 

What more can I do?  I can share what I learn about the ways in which we are more similar than different.  About how so many creation stories share central themes and so must have come from the same “source” and how there is so much beauty in every one of them.  

In this time in history where are we are constantly barraged with images of brutality, of pain, suffering, so much needless suffering, I have to believe that, at our very core, we all want the same thing.  We all want to be free – to live our lives in a way that expresses our own beauty and celebrates our differences as well.  Our differences, not as a threat to any “other,” but in the spirit of the Whole Being greater than the sum of its parts.