NOTES FROM GUATEMALA

The following was sent by a peaceloving sister with whom i've had the blessing of traveling the Africa land. Love in action. NOTE: original content. font/style editing only, executed by Peacemaker.

hola,

first off, let me just say that the rain here is ridiculous.
yesterday was actually the first day it didn't pour in the week and a
half since I arrived in Xela. Mornings are usually sunny and warm but
the late afternoons and evenings are monsoon-like. Supposedly it is
not going to rain for the next two weeks (!) and then there will be a
huge storm.

my days usually consist of spanish class in the morning, long meals
with mi familia and hanging out/studying at cafes. hmmm...not all
that different from life in the U.S., except that communication takes
much longer and everything is uber-cheap. my teacher this week is
great, though we do spend much more time talking and sharing stories
than learning grammar and vocabulary, which is a good and bad thing-
I'm gaining a lot of confidence but am speaking incorrectly most of
the time! its pretty amazing how much you can communicate without
knowing each others language very well. or rather, me not knowing
hers as she knows even less english than i do spanish.
my host mother is amazing for many reasons, but one in particular is
that she basically does not allow us to speak english during our
meals. the number of students in our house keeps growing because so
many people request to live with her!
Last weekend we went to hot springs nearby, which actually weren´t
that hot, and walked about halfway down the mountain before hitching a
ride. So so beautiful. We also went to a few small towns nearby and
saw a beautiful church in Zunil.

I was surprised to learn that
evangelical Christians make up about half, or
maybe a little more, of
the religous population here in Guatemala.
there is also a bakery in
town that is owned by Mennonites. i am
fascinated by this and am
going to try to learn more about it.

sunday we went to a huge market in Chichiquestanago, a town a few
hours
away, and also saw a Mayan ritual that consisted of a young
woman being
blessed by her parents for her upcoming marriage. we were
not entirely
sure what is was all about since the ritual was in one of
the many indigenous
languages spoken in Guatemala.
About 60% of the residents of Quetzaltenango
(the full name of Xela),
and I think 60-70% in Guatemala, are indigenous and
about three years
ago, one or two indigenous women dressed in traditional
clothing were
denied entry to a popular bar in Xela because of their
dress. the
case is pending and the owner is currently under house
arrest. sadly,
there are many, many more stories of discrimination
against indigenous
Guatemalans across the country that are overlooked every
day. i just
read an article about indigenous dress and how it is slowly
becoming
extinct because no vale la pena (not worth it) for the women to put
up
with the harrassment. (indigenous men stopped wearing traditional
dress
a long time ago because of colonialism and discrimination)
sadness that
Nathan, my friend from Berkeley, is leaving on Saturday.
but of course it is
easy to make friends here at the school and i
really like the other students
in mi casa, at least the ones who are
there now. it changes practically
every week.
all for now, amigos. miss you much!
amor,
Bethany

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME......dingalingalingleling

Drink from this cup of Life. We are all cups of Life. Love is drinking each other. Let others drink from you. Drink from others when offered. Offer your cups to one another in celebration of the One who is the reservoir of all pleasure and enjoyment. In remembrance of the Most High. Peace to your days. Every day a birthday, every moment a breath of infinity, every moment a death, every moment a chance for resurrection. Be mindful of the Breath. It comes and goes whether you are mindful or not. It's a continuous gift from our Creator. It is our very lifestuff. Gratitude is attention. You don't know what you've got until you lose it. Same for the breath? Its up to us. Use it before you lose it. Be mindful of your intention in every endeavor. Sin is that thing that tarnishes the cultivation of My Highest Self. Sin is what binds me to the illusion of my separateness from everyone and everything. Sin is what reinforces my alienation from innocence. Sin is hurting others to "satisfy" myself. Despite the stickers on my fruit, the labels on my apparel, the barcodes on my food, the fruity essences and wavy emblems of my water, I am not fooled. There is only One provider. There is One Source that provides sustenance for all of Creation.

The birds don't need Chiquita, the ants don't need Evian, the butterflies don't
need Levi.

They have all been expertly provided for. Yet in our current delusional state we fail to see our creatureliness, we fail to see our oneness. We don't believe that our Creator will provide for us in the same way as he does for the rest of creation. Oh yee of so litte faith. And now we toil just too eek out an existence. Just to fill our bellies we now must go to radical extremes and make extraneous efforts. Just to do something that the Creator has already made natural and easy. Who are the real asses? The ones that get tied up and kicked around and worked till they drop or those that tie themselves up and allow themselves to be kicked to and fro by the onslaughts of a material wetdream. Work to be free, to free your heart rendering it more compassionate and tender. Make yourself Free, in other words, no one has to pay anything, do anything, say anything to get the best you have to offer. Your Love is Free.

The Poor People's Campaign

June is not Black History month here in the U.S.A. No stamps, no "I have a dream" audio/photo clip montage. We are in June. White history is in full swing now. And now, the blackwashing of a previously whitewashed minister from Alabama.

Despite the absence of any significant documentation regarding the years between the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama and his slaying in 1968, King remained not only committed to the struggle for Black Americans but engaged in what would be the most militant and controversial endeavor of his life: organizing America's poor. He maintaned that civil rights were baseless without "human rights" - including economic rights.

Now even once sympathetic allies to King's cause sought to abandon ship. Funny how quick the 'liberals' become de-liberalized when you talk about radically altering the economic structure of the nation. Remember, the majority of those living in conditions of poverty were white. King traveled the country to assemble what he deemed "a multiracial army of the poor" that would descend on Washington engagin in nonviolent direct action with the hopes of contructing a poor people's bill of rights. He vociferously denounced America's militarism in Vietnam, Africa and Latin America, claimined the U.S. to be "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."

King was no longer a Southern Baptist minister with a racial perspective or platform who could be accommodated and appeased. He was now perceived a class conscious radical whose rhetoric could incite insurrection amongst America's disaffected, multiracial poor.

It is 2005 in America. King is dead. The nation is as economically affluent as ever yet poverty and global warfare are perpetuated. Seems to me that the world we live in is strikingly similar to the world King lived in. And therefore there is still one surefire way in provoking the wrath of a nation. There is an easy path to historical anonymity/castration. There is an easy way to be ousted by the camps of conservatives and liberals alike. Care about and mobilize the poor.

Thanks to Jeff Cohen and Mornam Solomon for their article entitled, "The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV", appearing in You Are Being Lied To, edited by Russ Kick.

To You, Friend

Friendship is Grace. Although we are all pilgrims passing through, God gives us people of like-mind and spirit with whom to share life's ups and downs.

To my friends, thank you for your presence. Without your smiles I am lost and through you I see how God works miracles everyday.

May you all realize the contentment that your heart enshrines. I may be gone from this place tomorrow or some time from now, but moments with you have surely made it a worthwhile trip.
For what its worth, please know that you are appreciated by me.

And to all my friends to be, I anxiously await your arrival. May our encounters be blessed with encouragement, consolation, creativity and praise.
For wherever and whenever there are two gathered in peace and goodwill, there too stands the Almighty Lord of Love.

Peace of Heart

WE DANCE BECAUSE WE ARE FREE

Travel Tip 412: Unlike Palestine, when in Tunisia, do get out of the car and inquire into the nature of the mini-explosions and mobb frenzy. Chances are its an opportunity for you to dance the streets with the locals in celebration of what else but INDEPENDENCE. Even if you are a dread-headed foreigner with little to no understanding of the customs, culture or history of the land, these Muslims will not only invite you to lead their Independence Day parade, but they'll give you a mock weapon and chant sweet songs of liberation and unity with you for as long as you want. Good thing God gave us a common language that we can all communicate with....Dance and Laughter!! Just look at the smiles on our faces and tell me we aren't free. Nothing but Joy and Celebration here. Love is alive in the Maghreb. Open your heart and your feet will follow.

WANTED SUBMISSIONS/SE PIDEN APORTES

Now accepting photographs and testimony from around the world from those seeking to advance the cause of Peace, Unity, Truth, Justice. Do you have something that you want the New York underground to vibe with? Let this be a virtual venue through which we can share and celebrate our common humanity and marvel at the diversity of our personalities.

SERVING AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE OF PEACELOVING PEOPLE

What's going on in your country? Or maybe you want some insider information on what life is really like in the Big Apple? What is it that you feel we should know about how things really are.? Is there more to Jamaica than cocktails, white sand and all-inclusive debauchery? Is there more to Mexico than fajitas? Does Africa have more to offer aside from bony babies, terminal illness, and debt? Are Muslims really human beings? Are people outside of the U.S.A. really doing anything worthwhile or is everyone jealous trying to be like us? From the lens we see you guys through, you don't look so good. Just checking to see if your okay. Food for thought my peoples.

NOTICIAS EN TU IDIOMA

Tienen algo de interes que se queire ver por el mundo nuyorquino? Que quieren que sepa el publico estadounidense? O quiere enterarse sobre la perspectiva alternativa de un gringo puro y duro? Acuerdense que solo sabemos lo que los periodicos y los demas medios de comunicacion nos muestran. Otra es la realidad? Colombia no tiene mas que drogas? Todos los Arabes quieren matar y aman la guerra? Quien es Allah? Uds. nos da la informacion desde su perspectiva, desde su experiencia. Asi creamos la comprension y faciltamos el intercambio pacifico de ideas, perspectivas, esperanza, posibilidades y compasion. Espero que puedan manejar esta pagina a pesar de las dificultades linguisticas. Su aporte es clave.

Bienvenido/Salams/Welcome

IN EFFECT AND AT YOUR SERVICE.
Most High Special Mission report for duty
Destination Zion

DO NOT MISTAKE STILLNESS FOR INACTIVITY

God Christ appears in every millenium, in various incarnations, to annhilate the demons, protect the devotees, and reestablish the principles of religion.

Love and devotion is the Way

Why so exclusive in your religion buddy? We are all God's chosen people. He Loves us all just the same. If He has any preference it is for those who Love and serve Him. We are all eligible. No one owns God. We all have equal opportunity for heaven. The worst illusion is the false notion of owning anything. Now man is running to and from claiming proprietorship on land. Everybody wants to be Lord of something material. So we run around and artifically demarcate and segregate peoples and wave our flags around. The masses scattered about attempting to cling to something, some kind of permanence. God is the only owner. He is the Lord of everything material and amaterial, your body, your job, your kids, your intelligence, your house, your planet included. And we're sittin here with a chisel carving up God's territory just to fill our never satisfied bellies. What God gave us is more than sufficient but when we can't control ourselves and blind ourselves in the indulgence of our ever-rebelious appetities, we start flippin out and start doin some crazy shit like taking away what God gave other people for their sustenance and prosperity.

It's all on loan. Being present has the greatest return. It is of great interest to reconcile with the past and to walk mindfully toward an auspicious future built in the Here and Now.

SCHOOL ME PAPI. We're all refugees, chased away from our homes, abdicated of our thrones, milling about wonderin what the hells goin on. We're all out of Eden. We've all left the heart center, the center of our hearts, and put on the confining cumberbun of the ego. We all bit from the tree and with it came self-knowledge. Now its not that nudity is shameful, its just now I am aware of my own self and oh shit, I'm naked and I have no time for you or God!!! Now its all about me, how I look, how I'm perceived, etc, etc, etc. In paradise, its not about you. Its about God. You lose "you" because you are just so bugged out by the ineffable beauty of the King. You are totally absorbed in Love. Do whatever it is that makes you forget "you" and stay away from those things that bolster your ego and reinforce your sense of separateness from God. God is One.

God is the Supreme I. When you say the word, "I", like in I am going to the store, in reality you're stealing the show from God who is the only One really worthy of using the word "I'. Because when he says 'I', it means Everything, the wife, the kids, the peanut butter, Jupiter, Mars, your veins, your breath, wampum, sea creatures, the unseen, and it goes on. But when I say "I' , I'm really only referring to the affairs of my tiny temporal body, bound by time and space. God's "I" is far cooler than my "I". But since God is One, then that means that my "I" has to be an integral part of God's "I". I can only have an "I" cuz it exists in God. So wait, God's awareness is my awareness? But I can't poop straight. How can that be? Yes God wants to give you His awareness (which is Bliss or a happiness our brains can never conceive) but in order to do so you have to lose your "I", your sense of self, your ego, that which prevents you from experiencing the ecstasy of communion with the Supreme. You, yes the person who you think you are and take pride in (e.g. talented university student, smart, has potential, skinny legs, doesn't smoke, etc.), is your greatest obstacle in seeing whats behind the scenes. All that time huffing and puffing up your pride, arrogance and vanity, but in the end the jokes on no one but yourself. You got stuck in your head and never made it to the heart.

To remove yourself from the picture avoid talking about your problems and stop complaining. Its not about you. Energy used in worrying about your own sustenance and maintenance is foolishness and can be better utilized in prayerful service to Jah, to your gramma, to your neighbor, friend or stranger. To remove yourself from the picture, lower yourself first. Know that by doing so you are avoiding lifes greatest and most treacherous snare......the ego's nourishment and elevation. No, there are certain things that are meant to be dealt with in a stern and severe manner. The ego is one of those things.

I left paradise and opted for an ego trip. I tried to front like I was God, like I could do anything. I abandoned innocence for sophistication, to be esteemed in the eyes of man. We're all refugees when the sweet home-cooked aroma of our innocence is all but a memory. Let's go back Home together. Home is where the heart is, literally and spiritually. How you get there is up to you, but just get there!!! Zion Train, all aboard. Toot toot.

For you Preshya. Bless your seed. Peace to Cel. Let us populate this Earth with God-conscious children of Light.

Know matter how bad you screw up

I Love You, always remember that. Te quiero siempre. Punto.

Eye-Eye Captain

Love sees with equanimity the black, the white, the young, the old, the mute and the verbose. Love sees the constancy of the soul and is not fooled by our bodily transformations. Life is Eternal One Eyed Love, One Supreme I. I only have eyes for you Lord. No hay palabras que expresen lo que me siento, Jefe. Ud. es para mi.

Itations in I AMinor

Bless you and everyone that walks upon you today. Bless your daily exchanges. May you be wise and just in your financial transactions. May you smile at the stupid shit you can't control or change. Take a few deep breaths. Calm down, just chill, its going to be all right. Here is a Hug from above urging you to go within. God give us strength in the struggle. Take this pain away, take away the darkness. We don't want to suffer anymore. We just want Peace and Love. We just want to eat Italian ices together and dance with one another to good music. We all just want to vibe together. God give us the courage to vibe harmoniously. God let us dance again. I'm sure there was a time when people could really let go and dance together. It is our time to dance again. I mean, to really, really dance. No booty fi shake up your poon. May God grant you the strength to be whoever you are and the intelligence to not fall victim to who you think you are. The only one looking is God, he's the only One you should be worried about. And he wants to see you dance with joy, like children. Stiff tight hipped furniture bodies of anxiety, alcoholism and disease can't move the way the good Lord intented. Lively up your life, live, live, pray, dance, wake up, move, move, move. You have to be your own Exodus. Light the fire within you, give Thanks and Praise to the Most High and walk confidently towards your dreams. Bless you, God bless you my brothers and sisters. Peace and Love reigneth once again. Hark the herald angels sing. At Your service.

What can be more American than not knowing your neighbor?

Bizarre Dread Moment #3123, when matted hair matters.

"Where is the weed at, you gettin' all this cuz you high or somethin'
(smiles). Shit, where the weed at."

- Dunkin Donuts cashier response to an order of one blueberry cake donut and one small tea with milk and sugar

"No, I don't know where the weed is at. One sugar will be fine."

For a good glimpse into a highly entertaining cross-section of the American public, go to 7-11 and/or Dunkin Donuts between 2 a.m and 7-a.m. Interesting types. Dunkin Donuts is dirty and humble, its patrons comprising the closest thing to a cohesive labor movement this country has known in a while. Afterall, if we can't forge unity based upon our shared humanity or common status as eternal subordinates of an Almighty Creator, then at least we'll be bedmates in addiction. Sugar and caffeine please, and make it 24 hr. accessible in iced or fried form. Donuts, void in the middle, sweet exterior. America - void in the middle, but so sweet on the outside you'll hardly notice.

And by the way, how can we heed the commandment to Love thy neighbor if we don't know who he/she is? Most of us do not know our neighbors let alone Love them. If the state-of-the- art-design exhibited in New York suburbs is not conducive to people-2-people interaction, a.k.a. living, then what is? At least the cars look shiny in the driveway, the lawns all 'scaped, fences still box us in and keep out the Other. Such a pretty donut. Our hearts are withered.