Martin Luther King ~ North Star of Equality Shines Bright

It's been a long time since writing in the "Freedom Series" category of this blog, and I know--I've highlighted MLK before but by far he's one of my favorites, so I'm extolling his praises again! I'm presently reading his book: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community and this story struck me as clearly defining a major driving force in MLK's life, his aspiration or in Inner Constellation language~his North Star:

...a group of us packed into four automobiles and made our way to that desolate spot on Hwy 51 where James Meredith had been shot the day before. So began the second stage of the Meredith Mississippi Freedom March. As we walked down the meandering highway in the sweltering heat, there was much talk and many questions were raised. 

"I'm not for that  nonviolence stuff any more," shouted one of the younger activists.

"If one of these damn white Mississippi crackers touches me, I'm gonna knock the hell out of him," shouted another.

Later on a discussion of the composition of the march came up.

"This should be an all-black march," said one marcher. "We don't need any more white phonies and liberals invading our movement. This is our march."

Once during the afternoon we stopped to sing, "We Shall Overcome." The voices rang out with all the traditional fervor, the glad thunder and gentle strength that had always characterized the singing of this noble song. But when we came to the stanza which speaks of "black and white together," the voices of a few of the marchers were muted. I asked them later why they refused to sing that verse. The retort was:

"This is a new day, we don't sing those words any more. In fact, the whole song should be discarded. Not 'We Shall Overcome,' but 'We Shall Overrun.'"

As I listened to all these comments, the words fell on my ears like strange music from a foreign land. My hearing was not attuned to the sound of such bitterness. I guess I should not have been surprised....I should have been reminded that disappointment produces despair and despair produces bitterness, and that the one thing certain about bitterness is its blindness. Bitterness has not the capacity to make the distinction between some and all." *

Equality shines bright in our hero Martin Luther King, Jr. May we, as his continuation, strive toward a freedom that sees not gender, race, sexual preference, financial status, class, political party or any other contrived divisions but rather practices this sole desire ~ for all beings everywhere to live unmolested and in peace.

Happy MLK day everyone. 


   * Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? on sale for $7.68 (Amazon) consider adding this classic to your North Star library

After the Rains, Birds Sing

January theme of silver lining is rich with practice material. Firstly, our Tahoe 2018 Winter has been wet and dripping as our pictures from Winter Retreat last weekend attests....

At the end of retreat, a beloved asked, "How can we take the theme of silver lining forward into our days?"

In everything we shared, it seems the commonality was: practice putting others first, step outside our own experiences and focus on the big picture, i.e. the silver lining.

How do we direct our minds to the big picture?

• practice gratitude
• take a pause, literally a breath 

Both of these suggestions are concrete mindful habits to practice and can actually be done in tandem. I notice a storm...breathe...practice gratitude. To do so may offer us a fuller experience and more holistic picture. 

I went on a rainy run the other morning and I noticed as it was still clearing, the chickadees came out, tweeting and collecting seed. In their song I felt the rejoicing, "we're alive, we survived the storm!" Grace filled tweety birds transformed the stormy moment to something better, a celebration of being alive!

Please consider joining us in the practice of noticing the silver linings in the storms this month of January. Lake Tahoe Mindfulness Community would love to celebrate your experiences.