To bear witness is to be with that person or situation so completely, it is as if you are the person or situation. Perfect empathy. It is also to behold the truth. I have experienced this with people I have taken with me on journeys into the deep. I could share in their moments of awakening. -Michael R., a CLF member incarcerated in California
When have you experienced a shared moment of awakening with another person?
“Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.” -Linda Hogan, from Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World
What are the ancestors witnessing you right now telling you?
What is it that makes you profoundly uncomfortable?
How can we help you move into or through that discomfort?
How can we be present to you as you sit in that discomfort?
How can we bear witness to the growth that comes from it?
“In every person we meet, especially those who cause us discomfort, we find an opportunity for us to grow, to learn, to go further along the path of transformation that is our purpose in life. Every single one is our teacher. May [life] bring you many such moments of meeting that help you become the person you want to be, and may you welcome them with joy.” -Amy Zucker Morgenstern
How have you learned from an unexpected teacher?
Today, I ask you wherever you are, to commit yourselves to a practice of noticing, a practice of witness, a practice of understanding who else is in this world with you, alongside of you. I invite you into a practice of witnessing, especially those in our society who are regularly discarded on the side of the road. Those whom the rest of us are expected to overlook, to ignore to pretend like we don’t know they exist.
Notice. Here is a meditation I created about this, based on Bill Keaggy’s photo essay 50 Sad Chairs.
