Welcome - Journey of Healing

Welcome to the Journey of Healing

Clan Mothers holding Journey of Healing banner

Mashpee Wampanoag Turtle Clan Mother, Seaweed (Amelia Bingham) & Bear Clan Mother, Mother Bear. Photo: Peter Bingham Jr.

Welcome to the Journey of Healing

This website is about:

HARM: Learning about the past harm (layers of genocide) done to the US’s original inhabitants.
HEALING: Learning about the current situation for all the Indigenous people who are very much alive to day; from the Eastern Woodland people to the Plains to the Southwest. (North America was inhabited and the native population did not die out soon after it was “discovered” by Europeans.) How many tribes can you name? How many would you guess are active today? click here for answer.
WHOLENESS: Entering into the process which only after learning, can lead to wholeness; an aspirational hope for tomorrow.

TO SOME Indigenous People this site could contain some serious trauma triggers. For Some white folKs, especially if you are new to this work, engaging in this website might feel like a “gut punch” when you learn about the injustice of things people take for granted as “just the way things are.” However, the good news is that becoming aware of injustice means we can change. Even tiny changes, like those that occur when people read the website, can make a small but positive difference. How marvelous is that? How often in life do we really have a chance to make something better?

We can’t be in “right relationship” with people when there is no real relationship in the first place.

Being in right relationship, whether individually or as communities cannot take place before understanding and acknowleging the harm done by predominately white people. Its similar to a sibling who was an abuser wanting to be in a good relationship with their victim. An apology without naming the wrongs is totally inadaquent. And once an approprate apology is created and accepted, there is still a long way to go before “right relationship” can be achieved. Far too many people want absolution with no restitution. This website is designed to facilitate this journey.

Harm

Tools for understanding the unspeakable harm, accurately described as genocide, done to indigenous people by the the European invasion.

Healing

Tools for healing past wrongs and creating a respectful environment.

Wholeness

Tools for walking into the space of wholeness so together we can work to address the challenges facing all of humanity.

Repairing the World — Tikkun Olam — Relationship

“Tikkun Olam,” described on the Healing Racism Toolkit page, often translated as “repairing the world.” It is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But the vessels shattered, spreading the shards into our world, including ourselves. Humanity’s great task involves freeing, reuniting and raising these separated sparks back into Divinity and restoring the broken world. Nothing keeps these sparks and each other more separated than racism. Regardless of the particular creation story, healing racism is a critical part of the process to heal a broken and fractured world. See The Healing Racism Toolkit which is for White people in North America to understand and begin to heal the racism they carry. This part of Tools for Racial Justice is specifically for ways of understanding how racism impacts Indigenous people in the US. Racism is a chronic spiritual disease born out of a false sense of racial entitlement, arrogance, egotism and superiority. It prevents the building of healthy community.

Repairing the World — Tikkun Olam — Relationship

“Tikkun Olam,” described on the Healing Racism Toolkit page, often translated as “repairing the world.” It is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But the vessels shattered, spreading the shards into our world, including ourselves. Humanity’s great task involves freeing, reuniting and raising these separated sparks back into Divinity and restoring the broken world. Nothing keeps these sparks and each other more separated than racism. Regardless of the particular creation story, healing racism is a critical part of the process to heal a broken and fractured world. See The Healing Racism Toolkit which is for White people in North America to understand and begin to heal the racism they carry. This part of Tools for Racial Justice is specifically for ways of understanding how racism impacts Indigenous people in the US. Racism is a chronic spiritual disease born out of a false sense of racial entitlement, arrogance, egotism and superiority. It prevents the building of healthy community.

The Work

The work to address racism can seem daunting, yet the wisdom teachings of many different cultures have similar ways of addressing wrongs. One such example is Alcoholic Anonymous’ 12-step process. Specifically, when we do something wrong, we need to understand and acknowledge the harm, apologize and listen to grievances, make amends and move forward.

First Steps

A first step is always to show up, show up then listen.

Listen without preconceptions or judgement.
Listen without mentally replaying White cultural values or myths.
Listen without expectation.

One way to listen is to use this Toolkit starting with the Beginnings section, then Understanding, Acting, Becoming. Then read further down this page, to “Dear White People” letters and Important Resources. After listening to the perspectives and experiences that are shared within this Toolkit, it becomes time to fearlessly acknowledge the wrongs, both inwardly as well as outwardly without justification, being careful about timing and audience so not to re-stimulate past trauma.

Becoming Allies

Becoming a true ally does not happen because of our intention or self-identification. It requires consistently showing up and being useful over a long period of time in a way that creates non-superficial relationships. We can’t be in right relationship if we don’t have a real relationship to begin with. Being an ally requires accepting the validity of people of color shutting the door and saying no. No matter how much this might feel like rejection and how much it hurts, centering ourself and our White feelings and ingrained behavior are not helpful. Being an ally requires being willing to be accountable without reservation. A true ally follows, does not take over. We are there to take blame if things go wrong, to make the coffee and do the clean-up afterwards. Only then can a real apology be meaningful coupled with the ability to hear an honest response and the possibility of making amends.

Listed here are links to important recent articles

We invite anyone to consider sending any others that you think would be helpful. Contact us at info@tools4racialjustice.org

Links to articles concerning Indigenous People

Listed here are queries that you might consider:

Do you seek to understand the importance of place/land for the spiritual connection felt by people with many diverse spiritual practices, especially for indigenous people? Have you found out who and on what piece of land the nearest organized tribal group (not necessarily federally recognized) resides? Do you look for opportunities to deepen your recognition of the cognitive dissonance in how European’s saw and received “ownership” of the land our houses are on and how it left indigenous hands? Click here:

Do you look for opportunities to deepen your understanding about why many native peoples might find some dominate-culture practices dehumanizing and a threat to their human dignity? (These include such things as some holidays and the names of places and sports teams.) What are the spiritual consequences for actions or inactions to both the indigenous person/people as well as the consequences to the often well-intentioned members of the dominate-culture? Click here:
Do you strive to overcome the hunger that some members of the dominate-culture have to teach/learn native spiritual practice? Do you seek to understand why most indigenous people find such behavior offensive and exploitive?
“Can you distinguish between divine leadings and your own needs or desires?” (NEYM, F&P, Chapter 11, query number 6). Click here:
Are you open to learning about the foundational documents and actions that promoted genocide against Indigenous people? Have you considered our personal and collective spiritual responsibility to seek understanding? Click here:
Do you strive to understand indigenous people’s objection and resistance to circumstances that are dehumanizing and oppressive? If they were open to ally participation, are there people you know who have been led to participate? Click here:
For people without a direct relationship with thier local tribal group, after considering the above queries and after appropriate learning, seeking and seasoning, can you imagine a time when you might be led to develop a current relationship with them? What would your faith require of you before this process is transformative and in the service of God’s love? Click here:
For your next steps “Do you allow the Inward Teacher to work in you? Are you teachable?” (NEYM F&P, Chapter 11, query number 3.)

Adam, Eve, and Lilith

(Majolica plate by Eve Carey) “Adam, Eve, and Lilith,” is a derivative of “Adam and Eve,” a Majolica plate by Eve Carey.

Lilith’s name is not included in the creation story of the Bible but she appears in several texts. There are multiple origin stories for Lilith but the most popular speaks about Lilith as the first wife of Adam. According to the “first Eve” story, like Adam, Lilith was created by God from dust and placed to live in the garden with him until problems arose between them when Adam tried to exercise dominance over her.

Let’s bring LiIith back into the garden.

We are all part of a whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. — Albert Einstein

Please Click this Banner to Visit “The Healing Racism Toolkit”

The Healing Racism Toolkit is a separate component of the Tools for Racial Justice which deals with issues facing People of Color in the US and how white folks can begin the process to travel toward racial healing.