Ghosts by Ibeyi
"Welcome to my earth
it's a crying shame.
We have built a foolish world.
Busy fighting, full of lying and denying.
My ghosts are not gone."
~Ibeyi
We watched Arrival recently. I also read the short story by Ted Chiang. You know, everything changes when extraterrestrials visit Earth! Suddenly, humans are given a huge mirror they need to look at. The movie brought up a number of issues: do we unify as humanity in the face of adversity? Do we bring out the worst in ourselves because of geopolitical barriers? Are we at first, a species who doesn't trust? Was the consciousness we have developed as humans meant for bigger and better things...meant to help others? Are we living at just a small percentage of what we could be?
I love the first verse of Ibeyi's song, 'Ghosts'. If a third party were to currently observe Earth, what would be the big takeaways? My hope is that whoever observed the human race would be able to look beyond the obvious: the veneer of fear and anger that surrounds us right now. I don't believe in this fear. I think we have too much in our DNA that was meant be much brighter. And I would hope whoever observed our human race would see the divine and somehow bring it out in us. I was reminded recently of the Hindi word for this concept: darshan...seeing visions of the divine in others, looking beyond the obvious.
I'm not sure if what I want is idealism or naivete, but I want to constantly believe that we have the divine in us. I am a seeker of it. I get side-tracked when my behaviors and those around me are further from divine. I think it's worth seeking the moments where we see beyond the foolishness of the world so we're not sucked into a narrative of hopelessness.
Throughout this week I saw beyond the obvious. I saw beyond with my friend Smita's son. He is a little over 1 years old. He has this presence and this peacefulness that just brings out joy in others. I also got the chance to see beyond by collaborating with 20 people in incredibly creative ways to solve challenges facing school districts in this country. I was able to laugh hysterically and work seriously with my colleague Jenn. She reminded me of the power time and space give us to see new lights in crevices. Finally, I was grateful that my husband let me cry and cry over something that challenged me deeply as he held my hand. He saw beyond to let me just be. When we can be our authentic selves, we go beyond what Richard Rohr speaks about as our false selves.
Last weekend, I was in Chicago and spent hours in my parent's basement as we looked through boxes of journals and photos that documented our narratives. Hmm, if extraterrestrials got a hold of my middle school journal entries, I'm not sure they would see the divine in me, but they would get pure comic relief;) You're welcome!
I wish we all got a chance to peruse photos and journal entries and artifacts from our childhood and our formative years. I felt like an anthropologist getting a chance to see my life in new ways. I was reminded of so many things: that we create stories about ourselves, that we CAN start fresh, that our family origin story has such a profound impact on who we become as adults, that as Ibeyi says, "without love, we ain't nothing." And even in the most challenging times, we are full of love, full of ghosts.
I was reminded of my ghosts in Chicago last weekend. I was reminded of the beautiful family I have that is the reason for my core. I was reminded that books and music and ideas have helped to cultivate and strengthen my core, to help see beyond this moment in our history right now.
Whatever makes up the love in our dna, whoever does it for us...that's what we have to hold onto so that we are not rocked by what appears to be a 'foolish world' right now.
Yes, my task these days: looking beyond the obvious. There are too many beautiful things that are hidden below the surface worth discovering.
Ghosts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urfJGhINjmY
it's a crying shame.
We have built a foolish world.
Busy fighting, full of lying and denying.
My ghosts are not gone."
~Ibeyi
We watched Arrival recently. I also read the short story by Ted Chiang. You know, everything changes when extraterrestrials visit Earth! Suddenly, humans are given a huge mirror they need to look at. The movie brought up a number of issues: do we unify as humanity in the face of adversity? Do we bring out the worst in ourselves because of geopolitical barriers? Are we at first, a species who doesn't trust? Was the consciousness we have developed as humans meant for bigger and better things...meant to help others? Are we living at just a small percentage of what we could be?
I love the first verse of Ibeyi's song, 'Ghosts'. If a third party were to currently observe Earth, what would be the big takeaways? My hope is that whoever observed the human race would be able to look beyond the obvious: the veneer of fear and anger that surrounds us right now. I don't believe in this fear. I think we have too much in our DNA that was meant be much brighter. And I would hope whoever observed our human race would see the divine and somehow bring it out in us. I was reminded recently of the Hindi word for this concept: darshan...seeing visions of the divine in others, looking beyond the obvious.
I'm not sure if what I want is idealism or naivete, but I want to constantly believe that we have the divine in us. I am a seeker of it. I get side-tracked when my behaviors and those around me are further from divine. I think it's worth seeking the moments where we see beyond the foolishness of the world so we're not sucked into a narrative of hopelessness.
Last weekend, I was in Chicago and spent hours in my parent's basement as we looked through boxes of journals and photos that documented our narratives. Hmm, if extraterrestrials got a hold of my middle school journal entries, I'm not sure they would see the divine in me, but they would get pure comic relief;) You're welcome!
I wish we all got a chance to peruse photos and journal entries and artifacts from our childhood and our formative years. I felt like an anthropologist getting a chance to see my life in new ways. I was reminded of so many things: that we create stories about ourselves, that we CAN start fresh, that our family origin story has such a profound impact on who we become as adults, that as Ibeyi says, "without love, we ain't nothing." And even in the most challenging times, we are full of love, full of ghosts.
I was reminded of my ghosts in Chicago last weekend. I was reminded of the beautiful family I have that is the reason for my core. I was reminded that books and music and ideas have helped to cultivate and strengthen my core, to help see beyond this moment in our history right now.
Whatever makes up the love in our dna, whoever does it for us...that's what we have to hold onto so that we are not rocked by what appears to be a 'foolish world' right now.
Yes, my task these days: looking beyond the obvious. There are too many beautiful things that are hidden below the surface worth discovering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urfJGhINjmY
Comments
Post a Comment