Leaning Into the Unknown with BPF
BY CRISTINA MOON
Board Member, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
I am called to take my own actions and redouble my support for BPF, sensing how needed our work and solidarity will be in the days ahead. Please join me by contributing to BPF’s End of Year fundraising efforts now.
Ever since November 8, I’ve felt like I’m stuck at the top of a rollercoaster. Shocked and dumbfounded by the outcome of the election, I’m suspended in mid-air — floating and waiting to fall. But a month later the fall hasn’t come, and now I wonder if maybe it never will.I don’t have much choice but to restart the normal processes of life in this new reality where even the laws of physics — not to mention the conventions of the US Presidency — don’t seem to apply. But I’m half-hearted in it. It’s the unfamiliarity of it but also the fear that gravity could kick back in at any moment. Out of the fog of these days, however, I’m beginning to recognize a still and determined part of me that doesn’t want gravity to return. Suspended here with my questions about the world, myself and my role in it, there is a growing tenderness with this fear and not-knowing. It’s becoming, as in the Zen saying, most intimate. It is opening a window to a heartbreaking beauty that could be on the horizon if we want it.
It is in this time, more than ever, that I look to Buddhist Peace Fellowship for the boldness, tenderness and wisdom to know what these times ask of me. I’m grounded by the profound history of BPF’ers putting their bodies on the line for Right Action. In accord with what feels within reach for me and with the support of BPF’s conceptual and practical work, I’m observing how fearlessness arises from tender engagement with fear and uncertainty. I am called to take my own actions and redouble my support for BPF, sensing how needed our work and solidarity will be in the days ahead. Please join me by contributing to BPF’s End of Year fundraising efforts now.The spectres of mass deportations, climate change, global diplomatic crises and the normalization of Trump add up to tremendous fuel for fear. We may doubt our ability to not be completely overwhelmed by a Trump administration and the white supremacists emboldened by his win. Our own egos may harden into an armor against tenderness, dividing people into Us and Them. And consumption of media, foods, experiences and objects continues to be a terribly efficient anaesthetic.BPF as it exists today is at the edge of a new stream. The Block-Build-Be framework put forward this year honors diverse explorations of fearless action. It will be a sturdy support in our crossing. We have articulated robust values and culture that re-center marginalized peoples, prioritize healing our karma and nourishing bodies and call for deep responsibility. They will guide us in the right direction. Katie Loncke and Dawn Haney’s leadership as co-directors shows us every day what it means to embody BPF’s identity, karma and actions. As we close out a tumultuous year and enter uncharted territory, I invite you join me in leaning into fearlessness and engage more deeply with BPF. Click here to make a generous donation to propel a new era of BPF leadership in American Buddhism and social justice.And in the comments, please share what it means to you to survive, fight and transcend in a post-Trump Victory world. How are you channeling the Dharma to do it?