COOKING FIRE

Another violent night in various places of the country.

The movement is evolving toward further uncertainty.

One morning I woke up with the recognition that we’re forcefully taught to be a minority. “We,” the people who want to have democracy and not a ridiculous mimicry of it.

We’re faced with something having an altogether different agenda in mind. And this something is the government that tries to repress and silence the resistance (by police force, heavy censorship of the media, and blocking the jurisdiction), worse still, to make it subject of a distorted reality. (“Just marginal groups, a handful of çapulcu who are breaking the peace!”) A government representing of a previous minority that has been repressed for decades by the secular governments with the “help” of the army. Hence their fearful reflex of us against them, their animosity, violence that blind them to the point of not being able to see what really is going on.

Being a part of a minority is something new for me, and yet I can already imagine what previously nonexistent sensibilities are to be developed, what wounds to be endured. A sobering perspective for sure, but also has a considerable potential in deepening the empathy, the understanding of “others.” A cooking fire.

*

In the middle of a spiritual inflammation (it really feels like this) I’m reminding myself things I’ve learned, discovered thus far.

Our built-in response to stress is closing down, worrying. So you have to counteract this reflex willfully. Keep it simple. Begin with getting rid of counterproductive emotions such as victimization, self-pity, sterile anger. First of all, unrealistic expectations. See your opponent as some force defending its lebensraum, just as you do with yours, period. Don’t let it take you by surprise and infuriate you with its every move. Anticipate bigger challenges, more injustice, and atrocities.

What makes things good or bad is but your interpretation. Work on it. Stay lucid.

Open up yourself to things that support vitality: friendships, solidarity. See(k) beauty, light everywhere, not as an escape but to keep a fuller sense of living. Don’t repress your wounded part rather enter a dialog with her, offering an alternative in perception.

Etc.