I came across an article that featured Dr. Charles Johnson, University of Washington, Professor Emeritus. I want to share the important message of this article with my readers, so I have decided to preempt this wise article; only because of Dr, Johnsons use of the misnomer “Black America”. But I must remind my readers that while I will not change his words in this article, please note that I attribute this information to Americas Indian Aboriginal. (AIA).
To continue; Dr. Johnson spoke to several Seattle-area writers at the Mt. Baker Community Club. The author of the article confessed that he was particular interest in what Dr. Johnson chose to share that day, and ever since. They also discussed ideas about what Dr. Charles Johnson called “liberation in the mind”, what he says is “our most private, internal space”. They also discussed Dr. Charles Johnson delivery on a lecture entitled” Mindfulness and Black America”. Also during the article, Dr. Charles Johnson: stated, that what we, as Blacks “don’t do in America—materialistic, capitalist country that it is—is we don’t devote much time to the life of the spirit and developing those practices that will lead to our naturally being compassionate toward others”; and I might add being compassionate to self”. But one of the most important take-aways in this article is that he also acknowledged he is witnessing what he calls “the mindfulness movement” in Black Americans, who are ripe at this moment for a spiritual awakening and the wisdom of the Buddha dharma. Dharma just means teachings.
I found this to be a most profound observation to those of us who recognize our rise to consciousness. We who know who we are and that we are witnessing what I call the Chiron Movement, wherein the AIA is experiencing an awakening and the healing of or DNA memory. In our DNA memory, mindfulness is something that is available to us in every moment of the day. It is important for us to begin to respond to this memory by setting aside specific times to practice mindful meditation, mindful walking and a moment of mindfulness body scanning. I agree with Dr, Johnsons statement,” when mindfulness becomes a “practice,” you’ll notice that mindful moments begin to occur more frequently throughout your day – like taking a moment to pause and breathe before rushing” into the nest moment.
This is a most important time for the AIA to bring our movement in to recognition, because we are still largely driven by various mental poisons that occur out of hundreds of years of persistent generational traumas. While I suggest that it is most important to be able to remember, it is most important to note that I am not suggesting that we dwell on living in a victimized past here. I am suggesting that it is time that we properly acknowledge these traumas as the root cause without fear of social repercussions. Because It is no secret that our traumas were administered by persistent American greed, ignorance, selfish desires and out-right sociopathy. But we can use this memory to create a viable path of healing through mindfulness training. As stated in this article, we are still “grappling with the same issues”. Now we must put them in their rightful place as a root cause to be assessed when needed and nothing more.
Dr. Johnson gives a great example of this when he states “If someone shot an arrow into you, your immediate concern is getting that arrow out. You don’t look at the arrow and say, “What tree did this wood come from?” Right? You want the pain to stop, and you can go to the root of what is causing your suffering in this world. That is within your control”. This analogy supports the use of Social Construct by way of addressing past traumas for healing rather than continuing see ourselves as victims of our traumas. “He was very clear about the fact that we have to work on two fronts. On one front, we must work to eliminate the evil encounters of systemic racism. And also, we can use mindfulness meditation to transform the self in order to eliminate the deficiencies and problems where they can no longer work against us in our most sacred space.
Dr. Johnson is correct in his memory of being back in the ‘60s, “[Blacks didn’t want] King to talk about Black people’s [internalized] problems. He would try but they would shut him down. They would say “No! Talk about the white man!” So that’s the battle. That conversation got lost.” As a sociologist, I am happy for Dr. Johnson’s memory because it supports the concept of “social Construct” as a healing tool. So, I will close this article by also agreeing with Dr. Johnson that we, AIA are a very radical people, in the sense that to be radical means to go to the root, and the root, of course, is consciousness. Your mind. That is where everything—your whole world! —is presented to you.
