thisyearnofear

June 2021 - gather your tribe

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Ending the month back in the UK after a whistlestop tour through the wonders of Ghana. What an epic adventure hosted by the delightful Grace Wood. Epic to connect with her and spend some time. What a powerfully charged afrocentric poet and writer; her passion for societal contribution is awesome and definitely the kind of energy I should be soaking in as well as channelling more of. Received some wonderful tips on developing my spiritual practice especially, as well as my emotional and relational capacities.
First recommendation is a book I was surprised I enjoyed so much called “All About Love” by Bell Hooks. So many interesting questions and ruminations. One example being the contradiction inherent in parents hitting their children (or some gentler form of coercive abuse) and simultaneously claiming to love them. Behaviour we would never accept between adults somehow is socially acceptable with children. Or another fascinating insight is that modern youth culture is more cynical about love, looking for intimacy without risk, pleasure without emotional investment; fearful of the pain of disappointment they/we forgo the possibilities of love.
“There can be no love without justice…abuse and neglect negate love. Care and affirmation, the opposite of abuse and humiliation, are the foundation of love. It is a testimony to the failure of loving practice that abuse is happening in the first place.” Bell Hooks
Last insight (and this is only in the first few chapters) is the observation that so few men talk freely of love. It is far easier to talk of loss than of love, easier to articulate the pain of love’s absence than describe its presence and meaning in our lives. Powerful stuff. Funny one too, that Grace came up with (not sure its especially related), is the general notion that women like pretty things i.e. pinks, and lipsticks etc. Actually, its men love that stuff, which is partly the reason women adorn it.
Second recommendation is a book called “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” by Derek Chopra. I haven’t had a chance to soak that in yet but have strangely connected with a few super spiritual people recently. They’ve reconnected me with the teachings of Alan Watts, whom I used to listen to religiously until a phone that had all his recordings died on me. Anyway there is this beautiful passage which asks the question “Who are you?”. Seems easy enough, we all typically answer ‘Joe Dokes’ or ‘Alan Watts’ or ‘Bell Hooks’ i.e. our given names. Yet that’s not true. That’s what people told you you were. They put that name on you and they taught you to identify with it. To behave as it was expected to behave. But that’s not who you are. You know very well. Go back in your memory, go back into your infancy before they started telling you all this stuff. Who are you?
“You know the name you were given, you do not know the name that you have” Jose Saramago, All the Names
Finally, another passage that really moved me was shared by my original spiritual guide Dre aka Fairy T-Rex. It's actually very moving and from this book with a wonderful title called “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible” by Charles Eisenstein. It's the final passage of the book, subtitled A Gathering of the Tribe. We may all be aliens and connected from another life!
Anyway I just finished quarantine time which messed up the schedule a little. Going to miss my family, the heat, and simplicity of life back in Nairobi for sure. Many adventures to come!
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