Pain Embraced

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense,

once hate is gone,

they will be forced to deal with pain.

                                             James Baldwin

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What is down there

Deep down in your soul?

What is it that lurks in the dark corners,

Menacing

Hovering

Waiting to pounce?

What powerful force looms

Behind the fear, the greed,

The lust for power

Perhaps it is made up

of all the pain we have suffered in our lives

all the failures, all the rejection

all the abuse

all the trauma

Perhaps it is pain

The pain of not being nurtured by a parent

The pain of not being loved

The pain that comes from deep rooted poverty

The pain of violence

The pain of being dehumanized

For being a woman,

Or being a person of color

Or being poor

We don’t like pain

We do not want that creature to come into the light

And so we leave that pain

Hovering

Hiding in the corner

While we allow other things to pour forth

Distractions

Substituting things that cause pain for our pain

Hate, anger, greed

Control

Driving the monster deeper into the shadows, but feeding it

Feeding it

Until it fills our soul

Perhaps it is time

To walk into that dark corner

To walk into that place, with love, grace, and acceptance

Perhaps it is time to make that pain our friend

To embrace it

Welcome it

Explore it

Touch it

Pain loses its power when it is acknowledged

And accepted,

Perhaps shared

With another who can hold our pain gently

For pain embraced is softened

And as it is softened

So too our need to avoid

All our defenses can come crashing down

And we can find our humanity again

Homo divinus

Sacred Children

And so too we can once again se the humanity

And divinity of others

Then we can see the Face of God

Not only in the mirror

But in all we meet