Hi, my loves,
I’m on my summer sabbatical, but I’m still reading, writing, and creating. I’m currently reading “God is a Black Woman” by Christena Cleveland, PhD. Cleveland’s text explores her journey towards finding the sacred Black Female through the Black Madonna figure through the lens of Womanism. As she disconnects from the WHITEMALEGOD, she realizes how disconnected she is from her body. How familiar this sounds to many of the individuals, specifically Black women, who have expressed how numb they feel. To reconnect to her physical form in order to begin to emotionally connect with the wisdom and knowing of inner self, a friend recommends that she begin a practice of mindfulness.
I am delighted to read to that she quieted the dissenting voice of her mother who stated that mindfulness and meditation are for those who think they can find peace outside of Jesus and went to a mindfulness class anyway. What mindfulness revealed to her emotionally was that she was fearful. Filled with fear of her ability to survive, to thrive, to meet the Sacred Black Female. Cleveland then notes that a friend told her that there is a Buddhist teaching that “Love and Fear form the basis of everything,” (62).
Love is a central tenet of my values, purpose, and work. I struggle with this knowledge though. I feel at times that it is too simple, cheesy, lacking the depth of other causes. Yet, what is life without love? Although our work is to go beyond a society that was created to conform to Cartesian duality, how do we experience the highs of love without the lows that come with the intensity of such an emotion?
Where does fear come into this? What role does fear play in the purpose of love? That is what I am interested in exploring further.
Perhaps more importantly, where do I feel love in my body? Where does fear reside within my body?
As I grow more into the space of practicing somatic-based activities to address the conditioning of our current social and institutional structures, which seek to disconnect our emotions from our bodies, I will utilize embodied alchemy as a form of activism to address white supremacy, misogyny, and capitalism. I will intentionally ask myself where I find this emotion, thought, and physical sensation in the body.
I invite you to ask yourself these same questions.
With love,
Kamilah Rose
Belle Awe 