history

The Walls are Tumbling Down

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

To quote the immortal words of John Mellencamp:

When the walls come tumblin’ down
When the walls come crumblin’ crumblin’
When the walls come tumblin’ tumblin’ down

It may not appear like that to some. One certainly wouldn’t know it by looking only at the surface of things. In fact, at first glance, it may appear as if the United States has lost its damn mind or fallen into an abyss out of which we will never return.

I do not, however, believe this is the case. Every single day we get closer to the final collapse when the shifting sands upon which the “American Dream” was planted opens and swallows the dream, revealing it to have been a lie all along.

When our “great” nation was established 250 years ago, it was made to benefit only a certain few. The idea that all people would be guaranteed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” has always been a lie. But we bought into it hook line and sinker.

Over the course of the last 250 years, we have little by little seen the intentional obstacles in the system that prevent certain populations from enjoying the benefits of the promised liberties and freedoms. Those of compassion and a sense of justice have pointed out these obstacles and doggedly worked to eliminate them so that more might be free. But with every course correction, the “men in charge” have worked to create more and more limitations to freedom.

A nation divided against itself, as these men intend, cannot stand. Further, a system built out of fear and propped up by gluttony and greed is simply not sustainable. It will eventually fall.

Which is where we find ourselves today. Every single day we are met with a new deception attempting to hold up the system. Some choose to ignore these deceptions and symptoms of corruption, but for those with eyes that can see, we are watching the increasingly rapid tearing away of every lie behind which those in power hide.

It’s exhausting. And yet, as much as it pains anyone with a conscience to see the pure evil that runs our nation and likely our world, we cannot eliminate an evil that cannot be seen. And boy are we seeing it – so much so that on some days I feel like my eyeballs are on fire from all that we are being made to see.

More and more people are beginning to see. People on both sides of the illusionary divide are seeing the evil that has been hiding behind the mask of “democracy” for 250 years. We are no longer living in a Representative Democracy – if we ever truly were. Instead, we are living in a lie where we have been told that our “votes count” and that our elected officials are making decisions on our behalf. Bullshit! Instead, corporations are choosing our “representatives” and paying them to make policy decisions on their behalf.

Corporations now rule our nation. They are the ones making decisions that benefit them – their CEO’s and stockholders. To these corporations, the only thing that matters is how much money they have in their pockets.

But guess what, there are more of us than there are of them. For years, regular Americans have been pitted against each other, made to believe that the cause of our pain is “the other” (people of color, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, Evangelical Christians, independent women, liberals, conservatives, etc. etc. etc. ). The truth many are beginning to see is that we are not each other’s enemy, and we never were. Instead, the enemy is one we have in common:  CORPORATE GREED and the corrupt system that has been built to support that greed.

People are disgusted. People are angry. People are beginning to set down the illusion of separation, tentatively joining hands across the aisle toward a common cause. This common cause is the desire for the system to crumble under the weight of its corruption so that something more fair and just can rise up to take its place – something that more closely resembles the “American Dream” we have chosen to believe in – this time with a firm foundation and a solid framework to insure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not just for the very few, but for the all:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. – The Declaration of Independent, July 4, 1776

Spiritual Appropriation and White Privilege

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

Today I write with a question for our community. It is a question about which I welcome and invite your response. The question is about spiritual appropriation and white (colonizer) privilege. When seeking definitions related to this topic, I found Google to be the most succinct:

Cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements from a minority culture by a dominant culture in a way that is disrespectful, exploitative, or that strips the cultural element of its original meaning. A key factor in identifying appropriation is the power imbalance between the dominant and minority cultures, where the dominant group benefits from something that the marginalized group may be mocked or punished for. 

Key Characteristics

  • Power Imbalance: 

The act often occurs when a dominant culture borrows from a marginalized or minority culture, leveraging its power to gain benefits from the culture it is borrowing from. 

  • Disrespect and Exploitation: 

Elements are taken without understanding their significance, which can strip them of their original meaning or turn them into a stereotype. 

  • Lack of Credit or Compensation: 

The dominant group may profit from or receive credit for cultural elements, without acknowledging their source or providing compensation to the marginalized group. 

  • Reinforcing Oppression: 

The act can reinforce harmful stereotypes or contribute to the oppression of the marginalized group. 

I have seen examples of this throughout my spiritual journey – from people of white, European descent taking on rituals and practices of indigenous people or adopting devotional practices that originated in West Africa and arrived here through slave-trade. I have admittedly been somewhat guilty of this myself as my spiritual journey guided me toward teachers and scriptures, rituals and practice that are not of my own Catholic, Western European ancestry.

Appropriation becomes a difficult question, especially for descendants of colonizers who in the melting pot of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, find ourselves in cultures without a culture. In the journey of trying to find ourselves, we are also looking for what defines us and speaks to us as a culture. In this exploration, it is natural to seek outside the (mostly Christian) traditions that were handed down to us through our ancestry.

But in exploring these non-white, non-Christian traditions, beliefs, and practice, when does it become appropriation?

In responding to this question, I can only speak for myself, and the answer comes several-fold:

  1. The first part of my response is in the fact that in every “other” tradition/practice I have explored, I was always brought back to what I already know and which I can authentically claim as part of my own ancestry. In exploring, I have found truths and teachings that mirror and deepen what I have learned through my own Catholic/Christian contemplative practices. Through Eastern wisdom literature, for example, my adherence to Jesus’ teachings on oneness, love, etc. has only become more sure.
  2. Fact: the Catholic Church is one of the first and worst colonizers of indigenous people.  Catholic rituals have their roots in Judaism, Hellenism, the Roman culture, and the existing pre-Christian communities of the Mediterranean basin, and Western Europe. In its march west and north, the Catholic Church gobbled up (appropriated) the traditions and practices of the people they sought to subjugate. As my Celtic/Irish ancestors were one of those most targeted, I feel entitled to reclaiming these rituals and practices for myself without apology. If the frame drum (bodhran) and Irish female Shamanism is a part of my ancestry, then I feel it is not only my right, but my duty, to reclaim it.
  3. If, in the context of my professional work, I find myself sharing a practice or ritual from a culture outside my own (which is rare), I give credit along with the name of those from whom I learned the practice and/or was given permission to share.
  4. I really, really, really try to stay in my own lane. Hence, the use of primarily Judeo-Christian contemplative practices, Judeo-Christian scripture (canonical and otherwise), and Judeo-Christian or Irish ritual practices. If it’s not from my ancestors, or the tradition in which I was raised, I don’t feel I have a right to it.
  5. Now, there are two roads for me where walking the fine line of spiritual appropriation as a person of white European ancestry gets a little tricky.  Yoga and Pre-Christian/Jewish mysticism (ie: the Kabbalah).  I practice yoga. I have studied Vedic teachings and thought. I have been trained in chakra theory. I participate in Vedic chant and kirtan. From original source material, I have been a devoted student of Kabbalah and have utilized both the Practical and Mystical Kabbalah for my own spiritual development. I, unfortunately, have not had access to the guidance of a Rabbinical teacher of Kabbalah. Neither have I studied under the guidance of an Indian Vedic guru. These latter two points are probably a good thing as I could never become so arrogant in either field as to claim expertise. As I openly say to my students and friends who have explored these topics with me, “I don’t even know enough to get myself in trouble

Again, I bring this topic forward for community discussion and exploration. For me, I think the line between spiritual appreciation and spiritual appropriation lays in questions of ancestry and use. For me, ancestry is clear. Use is maybe a little less clear. Am I financially benefiting from something I learned from another culture? Maybe. Sometimes. Am I giving proper credit to the origin of what I share?  Hopefully always!  Am I causing harm to the originating culture in the sharing and use of these practices?  I sure hope not.

As a person of white, European, colonizer ancestry, I feel it is critically important that we ask ourselves these questions. I will also admit the answers are sometimes unclear and we might make mistakes along the way.

I welcome your thoughts and reflections on this topic! 

Thank you!

With love,

Lauri

The Second American Revolution

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Indeed. We are here. Everyone can see it.  Even those who benefit from the current patriarchal, hierarchical, capitalistic systems.

Why else would our world be so chaotic and have the appearance of a complete and total shit show?

  • Poverty and homelessness are raging.
  • Inflation is running rampant.
  • Corporations are getting fat off profits while Americans starve.
  • Corporations have destroyed the environment.  
  • Wars are raging around us as Corporate America gets fat off the spoils of war – wars the US is paying for.

As all of this is happening, the puppet masters of our nation are purposefully trying to distract us with thoughts of blame, taking advantage of our human tendency toward projection:

“It can’t be the system that’s wrong!  It must be those other people.”

(whomever those others are to those who want to hate them.)

The truth at the heart of all the chaos, inequity, and injustice is that the lies of patriarchal capitalism are being revealed.

It is not the fault of a singular political party, a person’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity.

The fault, indeed, is with the system. A hierarchical, patriarchal, capitalistic system created with the sole purpose and intent to increase the wealth of white, male, landowners. The first American Revolution was not fought for the sake of our freedom (as we have been taught). Instead, it was fought for the sake of the wealthy few who sought to have this nation for themselves and to have it unencumbered by the laws of Britain. They didn’t care for the people who were already here. They didn’t care for the rights of women. They didn’t care for anyone other than themselves, but they worked really hard to convince us otherwise.

The mess we are in today began over 200 years ago when white, wealthy men came up with their “great idea.” An idea that was flawed from the beginning and which has continued to create systems that favor the liberty of one single demographic. An idea that has proved itself to be unsustainable. As the powerful few are getting rich, the world itself is being destroyed.

America is a nation divided – not by race, religion, or gender (as the puppet masters would have us believe) – but by power. The powerful few getting fat off the backs of the other 99.9%. As Jesus said, “Every nation divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” (Matthew 12: 25)

This is what we are witnessing.  The collapse of an empire under the weight of its own unjust inception. And in the face of this collapse, we have a choice. Do we follow the distractions of the empire as it works to pit us against each other, or do we come together in our collective suffering and rise up?  In rising up, we rise above the chaos and confusion, distractions and projections, and come together with one common goal – to right that which was made wrong 200 years ago.

The second American revolution will not be fought with guns or bombs but will instead be won through a collective desire to create a new world – one in which the needs of all are met, where compassion and justice reign, and where all are free to enjoy the liberties that are currently enjoyed only by a powerful few. Sing with me: