Be a gardener

a special message from Shambhavi

Gaza Strip is 360 square kilometers, the same as the number of degrees in a circle and the circumference of our Earth. 

Many of us have recognized that liberating Gaza is not solely about the fate of the people inhabiting a parcel of land in the Middle East. It is also about the future of humans, other animals, lands, seas, and air. It is about the future of Earth. 

The rising desire of millions and possibly billions of us to liberate Gaza has erupted from a powerful global yearning to free Earth from the cruelty of Empire and the multiple global and personal calamities Empire has wrought. 

Gaza has become a magnifier for that yearning, and the movement to liberate Gaza has already announced itself in many ways as a movement to liberate all of us.

I don't believe that the liberation we seek lies in specific political systems or even in justice alone. These are structural overlays and systems of limited explanations and attachments that have proved time and again to not resolve the fundamental issue: how can we actually care for each other and our world? 

If we want to be free of Empire, we must start with community, stewardship, servanthood, mutual care and aid, reverence, and respect, not with ideologies. Any systems and structures must grow from the heart like wild gardens. 

Reaching beyond artificial divides of friends, family, identities, religions, regions, species, and nations to cultivate borderless communities of mutual care and aid is paramount.

And witnessing the Palestinian people’s embodiment of community has been the primary force that has opened up this global tide of yearning. We should heed this message and follow this upsurge from our hearts.

There is no liberation unless we do the work, gentle and fierce, to find ways to care for every being and every thing. 

Many people have communicated that indigeneity means tending to, caring for that place we call home. We are all indigenous to Earth. Many of us have to relearn this now, and the yearning that has been kindled in so many hearts can lead the way.

My teacher said it best.

In this world do not become an owner, become a gardener. All problems occur when you become an owner... I am only the servant, that is all. ~Anandamayi Ma

with infinite love,

Shambhavi