Hello Dear Reader,
I had written a whole post about mudita (pronounced moo-dee-ta) which is a concept Jamie and I learned from our Buddhist monk friends across the road meaning sympathetic or altruistic joy; a gladness at the good fortune of others, and how this recent New York Times article presents the possibility that this perennial wisdom is perhaps now becoming mainstream: The Opposite of Schadenfreude Is Freundenfreude. Here’s How to Cultivate It. (And this should be a gift link, so in theory, everyone should be able to click and read it if interested.)
But then I saw this, and as it’s so in line with the Rising of the Divine Feminine I had to share.
I could barely make out the name at the bottom, but I found online: Lauren Brazzle Zuniga, who appears to be the author of this little piece of genius.
I love the brilliance of how it touches on the importance of being in presence (aka the Power of Now), and of being in this body and this awareness—recognizing both our humanity and our divinity. And while I chuckled at the humor in daily veg, it simultaneously points towards how nutrition is so sorely lacking in Western allopathic medical training.
I also love how it addresses our petty bullshit—in Buddhist terms, they’d say “no mud, no lotus.” How it talks about forgiving those with unprocessed trauma—also known as ‘the Pain Body’—as discussed in last week’s post about Family. And how it touches on codependency—also related to last week’s writing about liberational love versus possessive love, and how it recognizes we need to transcend the old patriarchal paradigm which no longer serves our human species. And how it addresses witchery—which for me, points towards how the Divine Feminine is completely in tune with the magic and mystery of the world, and how historically the patriarchy have called that witchery. And Afemme to Afemme!
~
On a different note, I have decided to serialize a few chapters from Part Two of The Rising of the Divine Feminine and the Buddhist Monks Across the Road: A Memoir.
I’ll preface my description of Part Two by explaining that when creating a character of yourself on the page in the endeavor of writing memoir, you’re required to cultivate an awareness of the difference between the parts of yourself that are the Character, the Narrator, and the Author. (I also feel compelled to share that I highly recommend the experience of writing memoir and if you’re interested in reading more about the spiritual aspect, I wrote about it in an article published in the literary journal Tiferet: Fostering Peace Through Literature and Art.)
Part Two of The Rising of the Divine Feminine and the Buddhist Monks Across the Road: A Memoir, braids chapters of the character Camilla growing up in a home only accessible by water, in Pittwater, Australia; with chapters of the characters of Camilla and Jamie living and working in New York City as young adults. Then after 7 years in the Big Apple, they move back to Sydney, where Camilla has a dark night of the soul crisis, and after only two years back in Sydney, they move back again to Manhattan.
So stay tuned for a few serialized chapters from Part 2, as I concurrently travel to my homeland “Down Under” where I will be until January 25, 2023.
Camilla I love your spirituality in memoir piece! It was inspiring and moved me on a soul level.🌷