Life is not simple. Life is complex and filled with many facets which evolve and become the movement of 8 billion people on this phenomenally resilient and forgiving planet. Imagine a faceted gemstone with 8 billion cuts made on its surface, each reflective side catching the light depending how you turn it and from what angle one is seeing it. And also imagine that it keeps changing as people are born and die. Certainly, this world is more than people so not to discount animals, plants and all life, but as a point of conversation, let’s start with the culprits of great distress – us humans. Whether as the facet itself or the witness looking at the multi-faceted, evolving gemstone, we cannot easily see all of the facets on this three dimensional wonder at one time. These facets can lose their luster but shine again when life gives it a polish. Without seeing or knowing all of the 8 billion unique people on this planet, maybe we can establish an agreement that we are a collective human race navigating this brief moment on this sparkling blue, green, white gemstone.
A simple phrase might be, “we are all connected,” but I think we can also see how that’s as complex as creating this 8 billion faceted gemstone. Without knowing every sentient being on this planet, a simple biological truth is that it took a great convergence of energy and wonder of nature for all life to come into and out of existence. In moments of great tension, I sometimes find it helpful to pause and focus on the broadest truth I can call up, such as the miracle of life that has persisted through some of the darkest times in Earth’s history. Wouldn’t we want to celebrate the successful story of the cultures that have endured and mourn the loss of those who died suffering? I’m not sure anyone has the capacity to hold all of these different stories or can make room for every single viewpoint. But I do think it’s possible to simply consider that life is precious, especially when you realize how complex it is.
Life is not simple. Life is complex and filled with many facets
We could just as quickly develop a view that life is simple by clearing away or distancing ourselves from the very things that create diversity and complexity. We could disregard the relevance of voices that contrast with our own and work to hush our differences. We could use blinders to only see others like us or simply see what we want to see. Maybe that’s a form of safety, protection and grounding? Maybe that’s trauma speaking? Maybe a moment of holding space that supports easy, relatable connection will make it possible for someone to have capacity later for greater perspective. Maybe keeping it simple is the way to be, especially when it presents no immediate harm to someone else. That is real and that is important to note here. But is that all there is and could there be a next chapter to this story? Is it possible that some of that behavior is also a form of White supremacy, colonialism, or simply entitlement, impatience or denial?
Maybe that’s a form of safety, protection and grounding? Maybe that’s trauma speaking?
With yet another viewpoint, we could say that life truly is simple, in that we are more similar than different, seeking connection and understanding, wishing for kindness and recognition, searching for true happiness and joy. So rather than a battle between complexity and simplicity, I welcome a both/and where life is both complex and simple and requires conversation. Each part exists within the other. A student in class reminded me while we talked about this topic, it’s like the Yin and the Yang – the white side has the black dot in a part of it, while the black side has the white dot inside of it. This Taoist symbol really does say it all. I’ve been making another reference as a mixed race person – I am not part this and part that, I am a person who is able to hold the mixedness of my ancestors as a single person who feels the union of being whole. Even when I’ve felt more culturally fragmented, I still knew that I was me and there wasn’t someone else that I was supposed to be. I am an evolutionary expression of history and race finding its way towards peace. That’s been my personal journey and the journey I see of our planet. I’m an example of coexistence. And truthfully, if we look at the complex journey of human evolution, we are all that. From this deeply investigated place, I believe in the human capacity to offer compassion as a medicine for all misunderstanding.
I am an evolutionary expression of history and race finding its way towards peace.
The current “war” between Gaza and Israel is very much a frustrating continuation of an ongoing battle for land, power, natural resources and desire for each side, rightly wanting to be a liberated people. Due to the fact that the primary report to the world was the specific massacre that happened on October 7th, there can be a simple response to attack and kill the ones who perpetrated the obvious wrong in that moment. And any killing of innocent lives is simply and clearly wrong in humanitarian eyes. For those of us willing to be open to the complex story that started thousands of years back with the original inhabitants of Palestine and the more current lives of Palestinians living peacefully before the 1900’s, the full story would be far from simple in making a one-sided response. And, the story is not about figuring out which side should “win” or “lose.” In many ways, both are losing when killing is the method of announcing each others’ suffering and wish for dominance. The story of Palestine and the emergence of the state of Israel is at best a mixed history, at worst opposing history, depending on who retells the story. My early Jewish education explained that Jews were given this barren dessert land in 1948 as a best way to relieve the horrific deaths of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. Furthermore, we learned this sacred land had been promised for the Jews from the Torah/bible and has been part of the Jewish story of being the “chosen people.” It’s nearly impossible to have a one-sided view of this just as there’s never just one side of the story in any argument or one interpretation of a painting. It’s nearly impossible to accept that this story that I learned, many have learned as children isn’t the complete truth. We never learned about the experience from the Palestinian side who, instead of celebrating Israel’s independence, recognize the Nakba. Nakba is an Arabic word that means catastrophe. I am grateful for my education and still a proud Jew. It’s just that I’m learning there is more to this story and I have learned from Jewish Voice for Peace that there are Jews who understand all the facets of this history and wish for freedom for Palestinians.
And, the story is not about figuring out which side should “win” or “lose.”
There are innocent people in Israel and in Gaza that are being killed and traumatized by warfare. And that’s been the case far before October 7th but certainly an acute situation here today. It can be beyond difficult to imagine how someone who is directly affected by bombings, who lost family members taken by hostage or death, wouldn’t want harm to come to the other. As outsiders who empathize and also put forth modest effort to reflect on history, we might conclude that war and killing do not ensure a beneficial outcome. It might make some people feel better in the short term, but it also encourages an endless cycle of more unrest in the longterm. And, especially in this particular repetition of history where one group of people is trying to be wiped out by the other, our reflections from history have shown where we’ve even made grave mistakes when choosing war. We’ve seen genocides happen when the world looked the other way. Instead of solving anything by mass killing or imagining that a terrorist as the needle in a haystack of humans can easily be removed, it’s more likely stoking the already resentful and angry opponents with even more hatred and justification for retaliation. It’s considered a crime by the United Nations when attacks involve innocent lives. History has also shown us, time and time again, that extreme power can eventually exhaust and weaken those who once held power, as we know from the collapse of Nazi Germany for example. But by and large, killing innocent people has the potential to increase the cause for more outrage exponentially and creates a never ending story for more and more deaths of innocent people for the sake of peace. One could argue for a simple solution by killing. But I would argue that killing turns any story into a complex one. Killing innocent people is the tragic bell that tends to wake up our distracted world and forces us to listen to what’s going on and even see what’s been going on. We learned that with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor as well as the many killings of trans folks over these last few years, and rather than it ending, black people and all of us concerned, sit on the edge of discomfort, knowing that without systemic changes, there will be more.
It might make some people feel better in the short term, but it also encourages an endless cycle of more unrest in the longterm.
I attended the Wisdom & AI Summit this last weekend and hosted a dinner event at my studio for the first night of the event. It was one of a dozen other dinners that were hosted in SF restaurants where guests could meet and discuss relevant topics around well-being and AI. We gathered in Mukunda Studio for a vegan, alcohol-free, shoes off experience with food catered by neighborhood restaurant and bar, Azucár Lounge. It was a wonderfully intimate evening of 20 people gathering together for conversation on “Exploring Well-being through Collaboration.” We were a fairly diverse group of people and though we were quite different in many ways, we experienced a sense of relief by being amongst like-minded friends meeting for the first time. In many ways, it was simple to connect as we gathered for a common goal.
Some of us fear the direction of AI, while some of us think it will be the most important advancement we’ve seen. One of the speakers at the event spoke about whether AI would have the real capacity for compassion or if it would be simply a generative response based on the collection of data it receives. Or will it learn to become so complex that it actually can express compassion or be good enough at mathematically responding with compassion that it will serve the purpose? The good news, is that we’re all willing to sit together to talk about it and even work to be the ones to help direct what happens with how AI is used and perceived. I also bet that the longer we get to know one another, more will surface in our differences and we’ll be challenged with reasons to stay connected or pull apart. Or time will simply test our bond, especially if we aren’t able to maintain a more nuanced reason for staying connected. Nonetheless, I am very grateful to have the impulse within me to seek out community in the midst of something that is generating more polarization in our world. I feel so strongly that we must come together to talk about how to move forward with everyone’s liberation and well-being in mind. It doesn’t work if we only wish for one group of people to be the seemingly modernizing/advancing ones, the free ones. We must learn to choose all and that is by far a simple task and requires personal work, community work and collaboration as far and wide as one can manage.
The good news, is that we’re all willing to sit together to talk about it and even work to be the ones to help direct what happens with how AI is used and perceived.
I believe life flows without the emotional attachment like we have, and maybe universal consciousness appears to be devoid of a purpose and meaning simply because we cannot relate to it. After all, we are the most recent inhabitants in this creative outpouring of existence and we tend to think we know far more than we do. Our human ways cause us to wonder, ponder and seek experiences that create meaning and value. Our creative hearts and minds enable us to divine language for what has not yet been written about. What would we want to make of what’s going on in the world today? What would we want to imagine could change after learning all the lessons of war, crimes and lies? Of love, harmony and bliss? What is the world that we wish we could live in and what are we doing to help move us in that direction? My best answers always seem to bring me right back to being grateful to have Mukunda Studio to share space for conversation, well-being events and Yoga. Mukunda – a Sanskrit name that means, “giver of liberation.” May we keep working to find our way towards a truth that unites us. May we become exhausted by every other effort that causes suffering, and be willing to be the one that provides relief when possible and welcomes kindness in return. May we move away from repeating cycles of harm so we can heal. May we come to understand that all of this is actually the way to understand the deepest need for truth and love. And as we sing Dayenu during Passover to suggest that it would have been enough if the lord would have given one boon to the Israelites, may our good efforts be enough to inspire truth, liberation and peace for all beings.
What would we want to imagine could change after learning all the lessons of war, crimes and lies? Of love, harmony and bliss?
Let’s stay connected,
Marc
