It’s been a challenging few days to be a human.
I feel guilty writing that as I type from the comfort of my desk. My cat Sadie is sitting next to my keyboard looking out of the window and the radiator next to me is putting out a warm glow. I am listening to the peaceful sounds of the Durgaashtakam, 8 verses dedicated to the goddess Durga, and trying to calm my nervous system after another morning watching more devastating images of innocent people stained in blood and crying for the loss of their loved ones.
Pain and suffering is part of the human condition and we can never erase it completely from this world. In my relatively short lifetime of 37 years I’ve already lived through more wars on this planet than I can count. The real tragedy in conflict is that the value of lives is weighed based on identity. In this case, our government, and others have made the decision that Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian ones. That hurts me deeply. It hurts because I am on the side of humanity. Because I value every individual no matter their race or religion. But, as Eddie pointed out, it also hurts because the Palestinian people are my cousins. I’m half-Egyptian and the Palestinian people are my family’s neighbours. They have had the experience they have had over the past 70 years simply because they had the misfortune of being born on the wrong side of the border across the Sinai peninsula. Part of my heartbreak is related to identity too.
As human beings we are inevitably shaped by our experiences, our heritage, our upbringings and our cultures. And there are as many different ways of being human as there are shades of colour in a rainbow. We could get into the failings of the political systems, the history that has led to these conflicts, the imbalance of the ‘types’ of people in positions of power and much more. But my intention is not to divide us along the lines of identity- of who we believe, who our family are, or what we think should happen. It is the opposite. If we focus on what divides us we will remain divided. It is what we share that has the power to unite us.
Yoga has a radical message for the world. It teaches us that the essence of who we are is consciousness itself, and that this consciousness is the same in us all. We are inextricably connected, and it is our identification with the personal self that keeps us divided. When we become associated only with our individual identity we ‘other’ those who do not look like us, behave like us or speak like us. As yogis and people on spiritual paths I believe it is our duty to keep returning to this radical basis for compassion. When we recognise every beings’ innate worth and value, and we see divine consciousness in them, our behaviour inevitably changes and we see all people through loving eyes.
A rainbow is beautiful because of all of the different shades within it, and humanity is beautiful partly because of our differences, but also because together the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Join us for practices based on this Heart of Yoga over the coming six weeks.
Sending lots of love and Om. I hope to see you soon.
Warm wishes
Ayesha
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