Midiba on his 94th anniversary.
The crime of living in the world is being stuck in a place that is forbidding and terrifying. When one has visions of being lost, stuck, having no place that is safe and sound this burden stymies all ability for a person to see that we everyone has a place here, a place to come in and get warm, to lie down and rest, to put aside the unquiet mind and feel free.
These dark recesses inhibit our ability to be happy, to be well, to enjoy life, to live with a sense of beauty and serenity in our hearts. The sorrow is that many people live looking through prison bars of their own creation. They cling to perceptions that prevent them from running and jumping like a gazelle. What are we to do with these limits, these fears, anxiety and perceived failures? We must release them, dispel them, no matter how much we cling to the burden.
How often do we utter that we cannot go toward the light but must live in a cave, as the story of Plato describes in the Republic? We always seem to be caught in the grasp of a sentinel that does not watch over us but makes us feel powerless.
Nelson Mandela shared with us a means for overcoming the obstacles and flying beyond the bars of the prison on Robin Island. Many more have described that none can keep us from our divinity’ none can limit us in our ability to live with grace; none can contain the elan that we feel to rise and fly on.
This day and every one that follows let us give thanks, and proclaim that our life has been harsh but that we are at peace; that nothing is going to harm us anymore. Let us come to understand as we have always come to see that our lives are connected and that we are responsible and can go on, no matter what.
Let us within forgive and live in peace; in the world let us forgive praising whatever we meet along the way.
