Suddenly Our Eyes Are Clear
There are times in our Co-Counseling careers when something very, very important suddenly becomes clear. Some very old, sticky piece of goo loses its grip and is gone forever, changing awareness so acutely that we spurt ahead and are effective in areas that have seemed impossible up until then.
Though every session that moves our attention in the direction of our real selves -- the benign reality -- is a very important session, sometimes a chunk of distress falls off and reveals so much of the picture underneath that we see it whole. A light goes on and the work becomes exciting and easier than ever before. We "find the handle." We discover a lever. The work is still there to be done, but suddenly we're whistling while we do it. We roll up our sleeves, we look around, our eyes are clear. We know in our hearts that "We Can."
Recently, International Liberation Reference Person for African heritage people, Barbara Love, led a workshop that was that kind of experience for me. Here is a fraction of the information that she shared:
- "You shall know the truth (about yourselves) and the truth will set you free."
- There is only one race: The Human Race. Information to the contrary is goo.
- The world and everyone in it is yours. You are permanently, completely, lovingly connected to everyone in the whole world, and you always have been. When you reclaim me, you reclaim yourself.
- Eliminating racism means we never have to collude with it again. Do that, and all the other "isms" go too.
- We don't have to "build" connections; we're already connected, and this has never not been true.
- Don't say, "I want to discharge my racism." It's not yours. and neither are those chronic patterns that you find attached to it. Racism got laid on you (along with those chronic patterns). You can dump it. It's not yours.
- Eliminating white racism will ultimately feel like facing death; that's what you're taught: "If you challenge this one, you'll die." When you notice that feeling, congratulate yourself, keep on feeling it, and let the discharge roll. The pattern is putting up its last defense. The pattern is dying; you are not. The scarier it gets, the closer you are to freedom.
- Pay attention to your feelings: name them, feel them, discharge the bad ones. It's safe to notice them now, as you reclaim your deep love for everyone on the planet.
- Notice how it feels to know that everyone on the planet loves (is proud of, cherishes, is completely delighted in and privileged to know) YOU. A hint for those of us who have been forced to take on the role of the oppressor: When anger comes at you, as you reclaim your true closeness to the oppressed, remember that 90 percent is an attempt to communicate some information to you.
Listen and change your behavior down the road; do something different. The more you heard the recording "You are bad," the less you are able to hear the information being offered to you by the oppressed person.
Georgia Prickett
Bangor, Maine, USA
reprinted from "Re-emergence News," Bangor RC newsletter