Despair is not a Strategy
A short 9-minute meditation to tune your nervous system so it can send energetic help to others:
First Quarter of Adar II
March 7, 2022
Just when I started to come up for air, remove my mask, feel a bit of sanity returning, the horror of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. The devastation is shocking and fast moving. I have an urge to play ostrich, but I know I dare not look away.
For those of us who have roots in Ukrainian soil, the cellular memory of ancestral traumas vibrates in our bodies. And for all of us, the implications of Russia’s high-stakes aggression are unmistakable.
Wherever you are located in viewing this horrific news, I invite you to pause and engage with me in this short 9-minute meditation above that I just recorded for you to listen to. (Click to download.)
Seeing photos of hundreds of thousands of protesters in cities around Europe, and even Russia, gives me heart. Perhaps the world is finally learning that we are inextricably linked to one another—down to the level of our nervous systems, where the immense distress of war is telegraphed from body to body.
When we are triggered and upset, our capacity to help is minimal. A Ukrainian friend told a teacher of mine that even if we do nothing else, our focussed attention on the situation helps, because people there can feel extremely isolated and unloved, and that disconnects them from the source of strength that they must tap to keep going.
It definitely does not take the place of advocacy or sending money, and I hope you will also join me in making a donation to one of the humanitarian non-profits working on the ground such as: HIAS, Doctors without Borders, and Kesher (who are supporting Jewish girls and women in Ukraine).
Without any illusions that our meditative efforts will end the war, I believe our focused attention (in many forms) will help. Let’s not turn away but unite to respond to Ukraine’s plight and all the struggles on earth by strengthening our kinship with others, and the mysterious love that connects us all.
You may also be interested to read Rabbi Irwin Keller’s sermon, “The [Jewish] Gifts of Ukraine.” and Hila Ratzabi’s poem, “We See You: For Ukraine.”
As Ruth Messinger reminds us:“Despair is not a strategy.”
Excerpt from “We See You: For Ukraine”
By Hila Ratzabi
We see you. See the subway train
Stalled at the station, the indefinite
Pause of commute. We see you
Huddled from the thunder
Of bombs whose distance from you
Is incalculable but near enough
To tremble the heart.
We tremble with you.
From across the world
We hold you close
Not with thoughts or prayers
But the presence of the heart
A commitment to witness
A dedication to peace.
We see you. We hold you.
We will not leave your side.
Images of demonstrations in the crowded Winceslas City Center in Prague courtesy of Reuters and AFP via Getty Images.