This is the first time I’m recording a real-time reflection without trying to get it as perfect as I can. I was just sitting in a meditation half an hour ago and this wisdom came flowing through. It felt too important to sit on. So I recorded this right away to share with you.
The TL;DR of this message is this – if we want a free Palestine and for the violence to end, then we have to believe in a version of Israel and the US that also wants freedom and genuine peace among all peoples. And THAT takes a lot of inner work.
Here is the transcript…
I was just sitting in a meditation, and I had a song playing that – I'm not even trying to pronounce the words because I don't have the proper pronunciation – but in essence, is a song that is repeating the words, “May all beings be happy.”
And I was sitting in meditation and was nudged, to do a Ho’oponopono practice. And for those of you who don't know what that practice is, it's a Hawaiian healing practice in which you repeat this mantra, if you want to call it a mantra, over and over and over again. And it's quite simple. But what you're repeating is
I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
And I bought this book a while back, never opened it up. It was all about ho’oponopono. And this last week, I was compelled to open it and start to read this book. And so this practice, I feel like, is finding me in this time, as we're watching everything unfolding in Rafah.
And so, as I was sitting in this meditation, I began to just softly whisper these words – I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I'm sorry, please forgive me. Thank you, I love you.
And I had a lot of different impressions coming through. A lot of different visions coming through. The one I really want to share is, what's coming through is, the idea or the concept of belief, and the power of belief. And what is necessary in this moment.
Because I think we've all been collectively watching since October 7, what has been unfolding in Gaza. And those of us who are crying out for a ceasefire, crying out for a free Palestine, we haven't stopped.
We've gone through many cycles of this over the past eight months. And within the cycles, we've experienced a lot of different things. From just deep sadness and grief to just blood-boiling rage at how our government in the US can be funding this effort. How the Israeli government can be okay with perpetrating, what in my personal view is, a hate crime against Palestinians, repeatedly under the guise of self-protection.
And what was coming through in this meditation is –
We, who want change to happen, have to believe that there is good in the US. That there is good in Israel. And I'm not somebody who likes to talk in binaries. But when I say “good,” I mean –
If it's true that we all hold all light and all shadow, then that also applies to our government powers. The US itself holds all light and all shadow. Israel holds all light and all shadow. And so if it's true, that we all have these aspects of ourselves, what was brought to my consciousness is the stories and the names that we place upon people, things, beings, ideas. And by naming these people, places, things, ideas, as either an angel – a power of good – or evil, you know, a villain, which for those of us who are crying out for a free Palestine, we've been labeling Israel as the villain. Israel is the perpetrator, the bad guy in this scenario.
And so as I was sitting, I was brought to this invitation. What if I tried my damnedest to believe in the compassion of Israel. What if I tried, and focused my energy on not labeling Israel as the villain, not labeling the US government as the villain, the Biden administration as the villain, but instead really tried hard to believe in a future in the version of Israel, in the version of the US government, that is standing for true freedom, true democracy, true compassion, true support for all. Not just our peoples, but all humanity.
Because that version exists. We haven't seen it, but that version exists.
If it's true that we hold everything within each of us, that we are all universes. You are a universe. I'm a universe. The United States is a universe. Israel's a universe. Big and small, we are all our own universes. And so when we label each other, we project an identity on one another.
And you've probably all seen, when we label people as such, when we label, when we don't believe in the value of a people, if we don't believe in the strength of a person, the resilience of a person, the kindness of a person, they tend to live up to what it is that we named them as. You know, it's it's kind of almost like a law of physics and energy.
And so we are the ones who are creating this reality. We are the ones truly perpetrating this reality. And so if we really want a different reality, then we actually have to imagine a different reality.
We actually have to imagine that there is a side of the United States, a version of the United States, that is not about facilitating genocide. We have to believe that there is a side a version of Israel, that also wants freedom for everyone, including themselves. That wants to be free of their ancestral and generational wounds. We have to believe that that version exists. And that this role of villain that we've put or placed upon these different entities is actually not the full truth.
So I wanted to share this, because it's probably a very unpopular idea. I'm sure I’ll get a lot of backlash for putting this out there. But I wanted to share it because even as I was sitting, I was coming into a new consciousness. I am perpetrating this genocide. I am perpetrating the violence by continuing to call and label Israel and the US government as the bad guys, as the villains, rather than focusing my energy on imagining and believing that there is a version of these two countries that wants harmony. That wants peace, true peace, not a forced peace. That wants freedom for all peoples. I have to believe that there is a version of the United States that really believes that. That there's a version of Israel that really believes that.
And so that's where I'm starting to put my energy. I'm starting to pull back these labels of “bad guy,” villain, genocider, occupier. And instead, what I want to do is surround these two countries, these two entities, with all of my heart, with all my love, believing in these versions of them. It's like the Higher Self of the US, the Higher Self of Israel. I have to believe that that exists.
We have to believe that that exists.
Otherwise, this [violence] will go on forever.
The Power of Belief to Create Change