The idea began as one of \u201cre\u201ddefining myself. It was a new thought . . . an . . . I \u201cget to\u201d do that, thought. It sounded creative, energizing, fun. But no describing or naming was forthcoming. I already knew not to approach any new idea with intent, and what happened next, without intent, was that I began paying attention to the sentiments of <\/span>activists and artists. I noted\u00a0<\/span>Tania Bruguera<\/span><\/a>, who\u00a0said, \u2018I don\u2019t want art that points to a thing. I want art that <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> the thing\u2019. Her comment reminded me of words from <\/span>A Course of Love<\/span><\/i>: \u201cThingness is over.\u201d (20.24) and \u201cEachness replaces thingness but not oneness.\u201d (20.39)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I, and maybe many of us, could call \u201cun\u201ddefining a \u201creclamation of our nature.\u201d <\/span>Latoya Ruby Frazier<\/span><\/a> spoke of \u201creclamation\u201d in a Ted Talk. A visual artist, she lived and worked in Flint, Michigan to document those affected by the city\u2019s water crisis. Then she went to new \u201ccreative lengths\u201d to bring them free, clean water.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote my initial entry in <\/span>Musings<\/span><\/i> on \u201cClaiming,\u201d<\/span> speaking of \u201cthe piece of ourselves that we set aside and don\u2019t allow the harsh realities of life to claim.\u201d (C:7.5)<\/span> When I realized<\/span> that what I had been \u201csetting aside\u201d <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> my true nature, I ceased to \u201cset aside,\u201d and began to \u201cre\u201dclaim. There, I discovered that reclaiming didn\u2019t mean re-defining. I had to un-define before I could experience recovery in \u201creclamation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0More and more I am seeing both the limitations of the words I use\u2014and what happens when I expand my acceptance of their reach, both within and without. The words you and I hear, speak, read, listen to\u2014in our internal as well as external life\u2014<\/span>matter. <\/span><\/i>Words like unto \u201creclamation\u201d include recover, repossession, recuperation, renovation. Each are powerful words! Words guide me. I am, more and more, letting each come as it comes. Some words rise out of a pit of negativity. But words do this! Words descend, words rise, and words turn sideways. That\u2019s what happens. Words turn. We turn our words, like we turn our gaze, but usually they take us for another spin. We feel them gurgling inside of us. We feel them in our throats. They \u201crise\u201d as prompts that soothe or aggravate, as memories that live in shadow and light, as goads that may ask for our descent before they ask us to rise. Their intent is to raise to our awareness all that we are.\u00a0 Mary and I use the word \u201cRise\u201d in Mirari:<\/span><\/p>\n

Rise from your beds to face love.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Hide no more beneath sleep\u2019s blankets.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Rise to Love.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Rise and be the risen Love.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Rise and be who you are.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Invite all to rise with you in love for love\u2019s sake. For love\u2019s sake, rise to end the suffering of the human condition. Rise to end racism, injustice, abuse, torture, and war. Rise to end the lack that does not need to be. Rise along with time to call on time\u2019s ability to heal all wounds, to provide for all. Rise to meet the consciousness of Mother Earth and the love of \u201cthis time\u201d and \u201cthis place.\u201d Seek no more for what will be. Love into existence what Is.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Speak your own words of love. Raise your voice to love. Love All.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Tread, my dear ones, gently with these words that have been spoken one heart to one heart. If you let them be such to you, you will begin to allow for the natural once again, and to be in joy with what will flow forth as you rise to your true nature. You will begin to see that which effortlessly extends from your newly placed devotion to your nature.<\/span><\/i> (see \u201cMirari,\u201d p. 125-26)\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You might be doing the hardest thing you\u2019ve ever done, but if you are being true to your nature, a joy that encompasses pain will come of it, and speak to you, \u201cof you,\u201d as \u201cyou\u201d rise,<\/span> and<\/span> do whatever reclamation your heart is calling you to<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

LaToya Ruby Fraizer said, \u201cI am showing these dark things about America \u201cbecause I love my country and countrymen. When you love somebody, you tell them the truth. Even if it hurts.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It all starts from a truth that we see, feel, breathe, and have revealed to us as we live our unique lives. We can\u2019t \u201cdefine\u201d our nature. It is too big, and it is constantly expanding. But we can describe it \u201cas we go,\u201d or discover that our words are describing it to us. Suddenly, they are there\u2014words of grace and of pain, speaking of how we feel and exposing truths that matter to us\u2014in our vocations, homes, countries, and world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u201d are the changing form of the world.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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