Sunday Musings – November 24, 2019
Oh wise one
Writing has been for me a way to access the wise person within, for getting some distance from some of the thoughts which, when left unobserved ,command my voice, my legs and other body parts to action when, in fact, the words and action are diametrically opposed to my best interest, my core values and often the interests of all who are affected.
It is curious to me that even though it is me, myself and I having a thought and directing words and/or other action it is also me, myself and I who has a much wiser voice. Yet, the wise voice, if it stays in my head, often will not communicate with those other voices within me.
I am well aware that many individuals access that wise voice by writing music, creating a sculpture, choregraphing a dance or just allowing it to speak for itself, through a character in a play, by debating or discussing with another person, or by drawing or painting. Each of us can access that wise voice which I believe resides in all of us. We have much to learn about what happens to that wise voice when various brain diseases makes it impossible to access that voice. With brain diseases such as addiction the wise voice might be present but it is not able to take charge of one’s behavior. With diseases such as clinical depression, the voice may be blocked out by the dark curtain which prevents one from seeing a different reality.
Letter writing was always a part of my childhood. Generally it was the women in the family – my mother, Grandma Fannie, Grandma Drake, Aunt Pleasie and others who write cards, letters, or kept journals. Yet, historically many of our most wise males have also kept extensive journals and were prolific letter writers. In many families it is still the case the adult females areis in charge of relationship health – relationship with self, children, other relatives and even friends. Of course there are exceptions. In some families it is one of the males who are in charge of maintaining and nurturing relationships. In rare cases it seems that this role might be shared equally.
When I am working as a general counselor or an addiction counselor I often strongly advise those for/with whom I am working to write, write, write unless, of course they can use music, art or dance to access that voice.
I am blessed in many ways. Chief of those blessings are friends who love me unconditionally while challenging me to think and act outside my often small box of thoughts. They also gift me in many other ways. My friend John often gifts me to a play production. Yesterday he gifted me with the production of the play “One Night In Miami” which is being performed by City Theater in Pittsburgh. The play features a conversation in a Miami motel between Cassius Clay, James Brown, Sam Cooke and Malcolm X – a fighter, football player, musician and strong spiritual leader in. Actually they are all strong spiritual leaders. These powerful African American men, during the course of the evening, challenge each other to explore the most effective and moral way to confront racism. As four gifted men who have “made it” in their respective fields they each know they all have some particular responsibilities as leaders. Two other characters in the play are body guards whose job it is to ensure that Malcolm X stay within the confines of the box outside the box. (That is purely my interpretation.)
Again I am reminded of the strength of those who live outside the box; of those who refuse to internalized the messages of oppression; of those who , despite the ease with which one could just experience outrage, struggle with how to actively confront oppression and, yet, align their actions with a moral code. That code may be based in a religion or from other deep place within oneself – that wise voice which will not be quiet and yet does not want to merely react. These are what I refer to as the intentional misfits; the humans who struggle and are not rendered comatose by the internal struggle. Misfits thinks outside the book of the oppressors, of those who rationalize injustice; of those who decide that violence is the answer; of those whose religions or philosophical belief system itself becomes another voice for oppression; a voice which knows that one must not respond to hate with hate; a voice which says that one must respond to hate with love; a voice which is not fearful of its own contradictions; a voice which is always evolving in a dance which can be as vicious as the fight dance of a Cassius Clay, as soothing as a love ballad, or as challenging as a spiritual song which reaches deep into the pain and brings it to light.
As we prepare to enter what, for many, are religious holidays I pray that they will also be spiritual holidays of struggle; of struggles on a base of love and outrage.
Written November 24, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
Oh wise one
Writing has been for me a way to access the wise person within, for getting some distance from some of the thoughts which, when left unobserved ,command my voice, my legs and other body parts to action when, in fact, the words and action are diametrically opposed to my best interest, my core values and often the interests of all who are affected.
It is curious to me that even though it is me, myself and I having a thought and directing words and/or other action it is also me, myself and I who has a much wiser voice. Yet, the wise voice, if it stays in my head, often will not communicate with those other voices within me.
I am well aware that many individuals access that wise voice by writing music, creating a sculpture, choregraphing a dance or just allowing it to speak for itself, through a character in a play, by debating or discussing with another person, or by drawing or painting. Each of us can access that wise voice which I believe resides in all of us. We have much to learn about what happens to that wise voice when various brain diseases makes it impossible to access that voice. With brain diseases such as addiction the wise voice might be present but it is not able to take charge of one’s behavior. With diseases such as clinical depression, the voice may be blocked out by the dark curtain which prevents one from seeing a different reality.
Letter writing was always a part of my childhood. Generally it was the women in the family – my mother, Grandma Fannie, Grandma Drake, Aunt Pleasie and others who write cards, letters, or kept journals. Yet, historically many of our most wise males have also kept extensive journals and were prolific letter writers. In many families it is still the case the adult females areis in charge of relationship health – relationship with self, children, other relatives and even friends. Of course there are exceptions. In some families it is one of the males who are in charge of maintaining and nurturing relationships. In rare cases it seems that this role might be shared equally.
When I am working as a general counselor or an addiction counselor I often strongly advise those for/with whom I am working to write, write, write unless, of course they can use music, art or dance to access that voice.
I am blessed in many ways. Chief of those blessings are friends who love me unconditionally while challenging me to think and act outside my often small box of thoughts. They also gift me in many other ways. My friend John often gifts me to a play production. Yesterday he gifted me with the production of the play “One Night In Miami” which is being performed by City Theater in Pittsburgh. The play features a conversation in a Miami motel between Cassius Clay, James Brown, Sam Cooke and Malcolm X – a fighter, football player, musician and strong spiritual leader in. Actually they are all strong spiritual leaders. These powerful African American men, during the course of the evening, challenge each other to explore the most effective and moral way to confront racism. As four gifted men who have “made it” in their respective fields they each know they all have some particular responsibilities as leaders. Two other characters in the play are body guards whose job it is to ensure that Malcolm X stay within the confines of the box outside the box. (That is purely my interpretation.)
Again I am reminded of the strength of those who live outside the box; of those who refuse to internalized the messages of oppression; of those who , despite the ease with which one could just experience outrage, struggle with how to actively confront oppression and, yet, align their actions with a moral code. That code may be based in a religion or from other deep place within oneself – that wise voice which will not be quiet and yet does not want to merely react. These are what I refer to as the intentional misfits; the humans who struggle and are not rendered comatose by the internal struggle. Misfits thinks outside the book of the oppressors, of those who rationalize injustice; of those who decide that violence is the answer; of those whose religions or philosophical belief system itself becomes another voice for oppression; a voice which knows that one must not respond to hate with hate; a voice which says that one must respond to hate with love; a voice which is not fearful of its own contradictions; a voice which is always evolving in a dance which can be as vicious as the fight dance of a Cassius Clay, as soothing as a love ballad, or as challenging as a spiritual song which reaches deep into the pain and brings it to light.
As we prepare to enter what, for many, are religious holidays I pray that they will also be spiritual holidays of struggle; of struggles on a base of love and outrage.
Written November 24, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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