Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing Lent, Great Lent, the Baháʼí 19-Day Fast, and/or Purim during this “Season for Non-violence” and all other seasons!
This is the “missing” post for the “First Friday Night Special” on March 3rd. It includes an excerpt from 2021 that has been expanded and placed in a different context. You can request an audio recordingof this Somatic Yoga Experience (SYE) practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply)you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
“We are all made of the ancestors who came before us, those who bore us and those who bore the ones who bore us, all the way back through the generations to Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather Amoeba. Some of our ancestors may not have been admirable people, but we came from them, too, whether we like them or not.”
– quoted from “We Will Be Ancestors Too” in Alive Until You’re Dead: Notes on the Home Stretch by Susan Moon
Don’t laugh; but, I was yesterday years old when I realized that each of the “Season for Non-violence” themes provided (online) by the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace actually contains an embedded link that provides practice tips for each day and theme. In my defense, each daily theme is inspired by the work of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. – and, up until March 3rd, I could fairly easily recall speeches, talks, and sermons from each leader that connected to to the theme. Also, what I considered (in my practice) fit the declared objective: “…to create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and communities.” Had I paid more attention to the last part of the statement (“It is, therefore, the purpose of the Season and the following 64 Daily Practices to educate and inspire individuals and organizations alike to actively seek out nonviolent means by which to empower themselves and others to co-exist in peace and prosper together in community.”) I would have gotten more curious about the “educate” aspect; but, alas, I was just cruising along until the March 3rd theme: Acknowledgement.
If you follow the “Acknowledgement” link (which I am including here), you will find quotes, discussion topics, and exercises related to the oneness of life, the sacredness of life, and how our interconnectedness enables us to achieve the things we achieve in life. Acknowledgement here is directly tied to gratitude. In particular, it is tied to gratitude for those whose efforts contribute to our existence and way of moving through the world. This is very much a theme that shows up in the work and words of both Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. King, and it makes sense that contemplation along these lines “elevates our awareness of nonviolence.” Additionally, I think it is important to recognize and acknowledge when someone has the best intentions and yet causes harm. I think, too, that it is important to acknowledge how someone can make great contributions to the world – contributions that benefit most of our lives – and, yet, they can be not so great people (and/or have really horrendous ideas).
If you wonder how such contemplation can also meet the season’s objectives and elevate our awareness of nonviolence, consider that (a) we all make mistakes; (b) individually and collectively, we are all better off when we can learn from past mistakes (and other people’s mistakes); and (c) healing and empowerment can begin/continue with an acknowledgement that people (individually and collectively) were wronged.
Please keep all that in mind as you soak up the following; because, March 3rd is a day when I sometimes reference people who are venerated (socially and, in one case, religiously) even though their actions caused harm.
“‘The ideal, Arjuna, is to be intensely active and at the same time have no selfish motives, no thoughts of personal gain or loss. duty uncontaminated by desire leads to inner peacefulness and increased effectiveness. This is the secret art of living a life of real achievement!’”
– Krishna speaking to Arjuna (2.47 excerpt and 2.48) in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley
When we are going about our every day, busy, mundane/profane lives, we may find ourselves measuring success in very different ways than we do when we step into the sacred and mystical. Stepping into the sacred for a week or two, or several months, requires changing the business (and the busy-ness) of our days and, also, changing the focus of our days – which is exactly what people are currently doing as they observe the Lenten season and/or the Baháʼí 19-Day Fast. During these times, some may look at success as successfully giving something up or doing something positive for a predetermined period of time. That kind of success, however, is still rooted in the physical. Spiritual success, on the internal level, is not measured in the same way. Remember, people in different traditions are spending this time (i.e., these “liminal days”) focused on a higher, deeper, more resilient (i.e., “lofty”) and lasting connection with the Divine (whatever that means to you at this moment). So, if their success could be measured, it would be measured by that deeply personal and sacred relationship. I emphasized “if” and “could,” because what I am suggesting is similar to what happens when we look at the practice of Brahmacharya.
Brahmacharya is the fourth yama (external “restraint” or universal “commandment”) in the Yoga Philosophy. The first part of the word refers to one of the name’s of God and also to an individual’s highest Self. The second part of the word can be translated into English in several ways, including as “occupation with, engaging, proceeding, behavior, conduct, to follow, moving in, going after.” It was first explained to me as conducting oneself as if you are “chasing God” or “following in the footsteps of God.” In Yoga Sūtra 2.38, Patanjali explained that it is a practice through which one gains “vigor and vitality.”
So, what is the practice, you ask?
There is an actually practice, which is different in different traditions; however, most people (in the West) talk about the practice of the concept of brahmacharya, based on the way Yoga Sūtra 2.38 is translated. Some English translations use the words “continence” or “abstention from incontinence” – both of which are related to passions/desires and bodily functions (like elimination). Some English translations, however, just focus on celibacy (and refraining from sexual relations on a physical, mental, and verbal level). These are all things that can, mostly, be seen and measured on the outside. They are, on some level, identifiable and obvious. I would argue, however, that this most obvious part of the practice misses the fact that brahmacharya is an internal practice. Like the other yamas, it just shows up in external ways.
But, just because we can easily see how something like sex can be distracting and how it can pull our focus, does not mean that we don’t go deeper. Since we often measure profane success financially, one way to go deeper is to look at the life of someone who had a lot of money and yet successfully devoted their life to the sacred.
“‘To work without desire may seem impossible, but the way to do it is to substitute thoughts of Divinity for thoughts of desire. Do your work in this world with your heart fixed on the Divine instead of on outcomes. Do not worry about results. Be even tempered in success or failure. This mental evenness is what is mean by yoga…. Indeed, equanimity is yoga!’”
– Krishna speaking to Arjuna (2.47 excerpt and 2.48) in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley
Full disclosure: I do not detail egregious behavior and/or opinions; however, the remainder of this post does include passing references to eugenics, racism, and cultural genocide.
In the past, I have compared the path of Saint David to the path of Saint Katharine (Drexel), whose feast day is March 3rd. Born Catherine Mary Drexel on November 26, 1858, Saint Katharine was a Philadelphia-born heiress who, along with her two sisters, inherited several millions when her father and step-mother died. That’s several million USD, even after the $1.5 million USD that was subtracted for charitable donations stipulated in their father’s will. The will also ensured that the sisters maintained control of their own finances.
In many ways, the Drexel sisters (Elizabeth, Catherine, and Louise) were American royalty. Their grandfather, Francis Martin Drexel, was an Austrian-born banker, whose American-born sons followed in his footsteps. Francis Anthony Drexel, the girls’ father, was a wealthy banker whose younger brothers were Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. and and Joseph William Drexel. Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. was one of the senior partners of Drexel, Morgan & Company (now J.P. Morgan & Co.); the founder of Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University); and was deeply committed to integrating art and urban planning. Joseph William Drexel worked as a banker at Drexel, Morgan & Company until he decided to give up the business world in order to focus on collecting books and art and other philanthropic endeavors. Elizabeth and Catherine’s mother, Hannah Langstroth Drexel, died several weeks after Catherine was born and, in 1860, their father married Emma Bouvier – the great, great aunt of Jacqueline (née Bouvier) Kennedy Onassis.
The girls grew up with luxury, privilege, and a devout Roman Catholicism that emphasized good works. Their father, Francis Anthony Drexel, prayed 30-minutes a day. When their mother died, the eldest girls spent some time living with their uncle Joseph, who owned a farm where he provided room and board and agricultural training for people who were out of work. When Francis married Emma, the girls returned home and saw how their father supported and encouraged Emma to open their home in order to provide food, clothing, and medicine to the less fortunate. At some point they would have also been aware that Francis and Emma regularly paid the rents of approximately 150 other families – and they would have learned the importance of doing what one could and looking out for others in the world.
“At her canonization in 2000, Saint John Paul II said, ‘From her parents [Blessed Katharine Drexel] learned that her family’s possessions were not for them alone but were meant to be shared with the less fortunate. She began to devote her fortune to missionary and educational work among the poorest members of society. Later, she understood that more was needed. With great courage and confidence in God’s grace, she chose to give not just her fortune but her whole life totally to the Lord.’”
– quoted from “March 3” in 2016 edition of A Year of Daily Offerings by James Kubicki S. J.
In 1887, several years after their parents died and they became multi-millionaires, the sisters received a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. Katharine wanted to know why the pope wasn’t doing more to alleviate the suffering of Indigenous Americans. The pope suggested that Katharine become a missionary and undertake the task. Ultimately, she decided to take on the suggestion. She took holy vows in 1891. Then, joined by 13 other women, she founded Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People (now known as Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament [SBS]), a religious congregation for women that specifically served Indigenous and African American people. She dedicated her time, energy, and considerable resources to the Church, financing over 60 missions and schools around the United States, including founding Xavier University of Louisiana – the only historically Black and Catholic university in the United States.
Of course, the unfortunate and tragic part of this story is that the students at the Indian schools were (more often than not) stolen from their homes and families, in order to make them less-Indian – something Pope Francis has recently acknowledged and apologized for on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church (at least in Canada). Also documented, though less publicized, has been cases of racism experienced by African American students (who were often treated as an afterthought) and African American nuns who took vows through SBS.
Of course, none of this injury to marginalized communities was seriously considered when Katharine died on March 3, 1955. I’m not even sure how much it would be considered if she died today; because, her life’s work would be (and was) measured by the perceived good that she did for the Church and in God’s name. It was those metrics (and a series of miracles) that led the way for her to eventually become the second U S. citizen to be canonized, and the first Roman Catholic saint actually born a United States citizen.
“African American Catholics who supported Drexel’s sainthood were seemingly unaware of the order’s 1893 segregationist vote and SBS leaders seemingly did not inform them….. Finally, knowledge of SBS’s segregationist practices may not have disqualified Drexel for sainthood. White female congregational leaders Elizabeth Seton and Rose Philippine Duchesne, who exploited enslaved labor and practiced segregation, were canonized in 1975 and 1988 respectively. Cornelia Connelly, another enslaver and the US-born foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Child of Jesus (SHCJ), was declared venerable in 1992.”
– quoted from the note “72” of “Notes to Introduction” in Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle by Shannen Dee Williams
Katharine Drexel is considered the patron saint of philanthropy and (ironically) of racial justice; however, the miracles that led to her beatification and canonization are not related to the racial justice. They are related to the senses. She was beatified in 1988, after the Vatican concluded that her intercession resulted in a boy (Robert Gutherman of Bensalem, PA) being cured of deafness in 1974. She was canonized in 2000 after the Vatican announced that a young girl (Amy Wall of Bucks County, PA) had been cured of her deafness after her 7-year old brother (Jack, who believed in miracles) insisted that the family prayer to “Mother Drexel.” Her feast day (which is the anniversary of her death) is also the anniversary of the he birth of Alexander Graham Bell (b. 1847), whose interest in hearing and speech and all things acoustic stemmed from his mother’s deafness and his father’s work in linguistics.
Like Katharine Drexel, Alexander Bell (the “Graham” was added when he was ten years old) was a middle child whose early life was touched by death and loss. His mother, Eliza Grace Bell (née Symonds), started losing her hearing when he was around twelve years old and his brothers (Melville James Bell and Edward Charles Bell) died of tuberculosis when he was in his early twenties. His father, Alexander Melville Bell, followed in the footsteps of his father (Alexander Bell) and older brother (David Charles Bell) and became a phonetician and elocutionist. Young Aleck’s father, specialized in speech disorders and developed “Visible Speech” – a system of symbols specifically designed to teach deaf people how to position and move their throat, tongue, and lips in order to speak – and wrote books about how to teach deaf people to speak and to read lips. Alexander Melville Bell was also his sons’ first teacher and, so, the three Bell brothers learned all the tricks of the linguistics trade.
“The question arose, ‘“How are you going to describe a constriction?”’ It was observed that the principal organs concerned with speech group themselves into two classes, namely, active and passive. Generally, the lower organs fall in the active group and the upper ones fall in the passive group. For instance: ‘“In forming the sound (t), the point of the tongue is the active agent involved, and the upper gum is the passive.”’ It must also be understood that in this case the two organs under discussion approximate together so as to completely close the intervening passageway.”
– quoted from the Journal of Speech Disorders (1947, 12, 377-380) article entitled “The Method of Alexander Graham Bell and A. Melville Bell for Studying the Mechanism of Speech” by James H. Platt
Alexander Graham Bell had a special affinity for music and art, as well as a special talent when it came to language, elocution, mimicry, and even a form of ventriloquism. He learned different ways to communicate with his mother, including using a version of Sign Language, and was so adept at “Visible Speech” and his father’s principles of elocution that Alexander Melville Bell used Aleck during public demonstrations, to show how they techniques could be used with a variety of languages. All of this led Aleck to study elocution and acoustics at the university-level. It also led him to experiment with sound-producing mechanisms and, when he was a teenager, he and his brother Melville even created a machine that could “talk” – inspired him to experiment with ways to make his dog speak English.
Aleck was pursuing a career as an elocution teacher, specifically working with deaf students, when his brothers died and his parents thought it would be best if the remaining family relocated to North America. In Canada, he continued working with elocution, experimenting with electricity and mechanical devices, and eventually used “Visible Speech” to create a written version of Mohawk (Kanienʼkéha, “[language] of the Flint Place”). In 1871, he started working with deaf schools in New England (training teachers to use his father’s “Visible Speech System”) and continued working on a device that would be able to transmit and receive sound. A little over a year later, in October 1872, he opened the “School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech” where he worked directly with deaf students. During this time, he was also working as a professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of Oratory and continuing his experiments.
When his workload started to affect his health, he gave up all but two of his private students: six-year old George “Georgie” Sanders (who was born deaf) and 15-year old Mabel Hubbard (who lost her hearing after contracting scarlet fever). He was particular inspired by Mabel, who he would marry in 1877. Another student whose life he would greatly inspire was Helen Keller, who lost both her hearing and sight after experiencing a severe illness as a baby. He recommended that Arthur Henley Keller and Catherine Everett (née Adams) Keller contact the Perkins Institution to find a teacher for young Helen. The recommended teacher was Anne Sullivan (the “Miracle Worker”), who started working with the young girl, Helen Keller, in March of 1887.
“Doubtless the work of the past few months does seem like a triumphal march to him; but then people seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved.”
– quoted from a letter written by Anne Sullivan, dated October 30, 1887
Thomas Sanders and Gardiner Greene Hubbard (the fathers of “Georgie” and Mabel) became A. G. Bell’s benefactors, providing him with financial support and a place to conduct his experiments. That support enabled Alexander Graham Bell to apply for patents; hire Thomas A. Watson, an electrical designer and mechanic, as his assistant; and organize what would become the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (established in 1877). Mr. Bell and Mr. Watson successfully transmitted sound in June 1875 and, on March 10, 1876, successfully made a “telephone” call. Over the next few months, they extended the range for one-way calls and then were able to make two-way calls. Ten years later, over 150,000 people in the United States owned landlines and the inventors were continuously improving on their device and on the infrastructure needed to make them work.
Again, however, there was/is controversy – and some of it is quite unfortunate, tragic even. First, there is the controversy around the patents and the device that ended up working. Many people said (and say) that Elisha Gray should be credited as the inventor of the telephone (because of a discrepancy in the patent process and the fact that A. G. Bell’s success required the use of Mr. Gray’s liquid transmitter). Then there is the controversy surrounding Alexander Graham Bell’s opinions of people with disabilities – and this part is a controversy wrapped in a controversy.
Alexander Graham Bell believed in deaf people and people with impaired hearing (essentially) masking their deafness by learning to speak and read lips. This is an undisputed fact – meaning, his belief in this idea is undisputed. Neither is it disputed that he wrote about and participated in eugenics studies that advocated for people’s civil rights and liberties to be diminished. Nor is it disputed that some of his peers and students, like Helen Keller, supported eugenic philosophies. What is disputed is whether or not he actually believed the nonsense. He made a point of stating and writing, on more than one occasion, that he did not believe deaf people should be limited in who the could marry. When asked if the thought “‘environment and heredity count in success,’” he said, “‘Environment, certainly; heredity, not so distinctly.’” But, people saw the next part of his statement as open to interpretation. Similarly, he made a point of distancing himself from certain organizations; however, his actions did not stop said organizations from using his name and his words to support their very damaging theories and world views.
Both Saint Katharine Drexel and Alexander Graham Bell wanted to help people that, on a certain level, they saw as less fortunate than them – and that’s commendable. The fact that they were “successful,” according to certain parameters, makes their stories inspirational. However, their good intentions and good work also caused harm; possibly because they didn’t just think they were helping people that were less fortunate than them. It is possible that they believed they were successfully helping people who were “less than” them – and that is a mindset that is always problematic and always leads to suffering.
While I say all of this, I don’t want to discount the fact that people continue to be inspired by both Saint Katharine and Alexander Graham Bell. March 3rd was even designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as World Hearing Day.* (Although I can find no reference to A. G. Bell in WHO materials, it seems a little too coincidental to not be related.) People are inspired for a lot of different reasons; but, one of those reasons is that both were famously focused – and our ability to focus was the main point of Friday’s practice.
“Peacefully do at each moment what at that moment ought to be done. If we do what each moment requires, we will eventually complete God’s plan, whatever it is. We can trust God to take care of the master plan when we take care of the details.”
– St. Katharine Drexel (d. 03/03/1955)
Doing what ought to be done, requires focusing on the moment and the task at hand. To varying degrees and for varying lengths of time, we all have the ability to focus. Sometimes we do it intentionally; sometimes our mind is just drawn in a certain direction. Either way, focus leads to concentration; concentration leads to meditation – maybe, even, that perfect meditation, which can be considered “Union with Divine” (whatever that means to you at this moment). These are the last three limbs in the Yoga Philosophy: Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna, and Samādhi. (which can also be translated as concentration, meditation, and absorption). They combine to form the powerful tool of Samyama, which leads to powerful insight, the highest wisdom, and more siddhis (“powers”) than one can imagine. However, before we can focus/concentrate on a single thing, we have to draw all of our senses towards that single point. In other words, we have to withdraw our senses from everything else – this is Pratyāhāra, the fifth limb of the 8-Limbed Yoga Philosophy.
“‘Next must come concentration of purpose and study. That is another thing I mean to emphasize. Concentrate all your thought upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.’”
– quoted in the section entitled “Concentration of Purpose” in “Chapter II – Bell Telephone Talk: Hints on Success by Alexander G. Bell” in How They succeeded: Life Stories of Successful Men Told by Themselves by Orison Swett Marden
*NOTE: The 2023 World Hearing Day theme is “Ear and hearing care for all! Let’s make it a reality.”
“‘I repeat, Arjuna, nobody can really become one with the Godhead without leaving their desires behind and abandoning their attachment to the fruits of their actions. The paths of desireless action (karma yoga) and renunciation (sanyasa) may seem to be different from one another but they are not. All spiritual growth is based on surrendering attachments and selfish motives.’” (6.2)
– Krishna speaking to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley
Many blessings to those observing and/or preparing for Lent. Peace and ease to all during this “Season for Non-violence” and all other seasons!
This is a special post for February 11th and February 12th.The word for these dates are creativity and humility. You will find both in the stories below.
“‘What was Jake’s last name? Can you tell me?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t think he had one. He was one of those flying African children. They must all be dead a long time now.’
‘Flying African children?’”
– Milkman and Susan Byrd in Chapter 14 of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
According to Orville Wright, the desire to fly is a human birthright “handed down to us by our ancestors” and I easily buy into that idea because I grew up hearing so many stories about flying: from Daedalus and Icarus to Wilbur and Orville Wright and from Amelia Earhart to the Tuskegee Airmen. Then there were stories of enslaved Africans who, as one of my favorite spirituals indicated, could “fly away.” Later, I would learn that they flew in all the different ways people fly in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Of course, the history of flight – as it is usually taught in the United States – is very much “his”–story, a story of men in flight. With the exception of those Africans in the song, the Tuskegee Airmen, and Toni Morrison’s characters (and the notable exception, of Ms. Earhart and Pilate), the stories I heard growing up were mostly about white men in flight. Oh, yes, and many of these stories – especially the ones not about white men – ended tragically.
But, what about the stories just regarding women? And, what about the stories that didn’t end tragically? How creative did people have to be to follow their dreams and let their hearts soar?
Well, for many years, women in the United States were only hired as flight attendants (née stewardesses or cabin hostesses) a job that mostly required women to meet a certain beauty standard – and, in America, for a long time, that beauty standard did not include women who were minorities. So, it is no surprise that the first Black person hired as a stewardess was actually African. Her name is Léopoldine Emma Doualla-Bell Smith – and, she had no idea she was making history when she became a stewardess in 1957. In fact, for many years, people would identify Ruth Carol Taylor as the first Black stewardess, because of all the publicity surrounding her maiden flight on February 11, 1958.
“Once there was a princess who made history in the sky…. She loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian. But her father said women could only be nurses or teachers. Her father was wrong.”
– quoted from the profile of Léopoldine Emma Doualla-Bell Smith in Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Real-Life Tales of Black Girl Magic by CaShawn Thompson, edited by Lilly Workneh
Léopoldine Emma Doualla-Bell Smith is a princess, born into the royal Douala family of Cameroon. In high school, she received ground hostess training for Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) and Air France and then, when she graduated at the age of seventeen, she went to Paris to take flight training. The following year, in 1957, she joined UAT as a “hôtesse de l’air,” In 1960, the same year that UAT merged with Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux to form Union de Transports Aériens (UTA), she was offered a job with Air Afrique, an airline created to service the eleven newly independent French-speaking nations. At the time, the then Miss Doualla-Bell was the only qualified African in French aviation and her employment identification card was No. 001. She was promoted to first cabin chief, but throughout her employment at Air Afrique she faced racism and sexism. Some white customers did not want her to serve them; others acted as if her “service” included sex. In fact, at one point she slapped a customer who touched her inappropriately. The incident. however, did not cost her her job. She retired from Air Afrique in 1969 and became the manager of Reunited Transport Leaders Travel Agency (in Libreville, Gabon) until she relocated to Washington D.C. in 1975.
While studying English at Georgetown University, she her future husband, an American named Leroy Smith. The Smiths moved to Gabon in 1976, at which point Mrs. Doualla-Bell Smith worked as an Air Zaire’s station and officer manager at the Libreville airport and supported the Skal Club (also known as Skal International), an international association that promoted travel and tourism in Africa. Beginning in 1983, the Smiths worked in the Peace Corps – yet, even then, Léopoldine Emma Doualla-Bell Smith kept working in travel and tourism. To this day, as a retiree in Denver, she volunteers at the Denver International Airport and promotes travel and tourism via the company she co-founded with her husband (Business and Intercultural Services for Educational Travel and Associated Learning (BISETAL)).
“Although [Léopoldine Emma Doualla Bell Smith] developed close relationships with some of her fellow flight crewmembers over the years, the racial divide was clear when they stepped off the plane in other countries.
For example, during the days of apartheid in South Africa she was not allowed to walk off the plane with her co-workers. Instead of joining the rest of the crew at a local hotel, once she was covered and whisked away to the home of a fellow employee who lived in the country.”
– quoted from the NBC News story “World’s First Black Flight Attendant Honored: Léopoldine Doualla-Bell Smith, world’s first black flight attendant honored.” (posted online March 15, 2015)
While the young Léopoldine Emma Doualla-Bell Smith didn’t know she was making history in 1957, Ruth Carol Taylor was very intentional in her decision to break the color barrier. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in December 27, 1931. Her father, William Edison Taylor, was a barber and her mother, Ruth Irene Powell Taylor, was a nurse. The family moved to a farm in upstate New York when Ms. Taylor was young and so she ended up attending Elmira College and then earning a Nursing degree from Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City. She worked as a registered nurse for several years and then decided to apply to be a stewardess at Trans World Airline (TWA), which rejected her application. Not to be thwarted, she filed a complaint against the company with the New York State Commission on Discrimination and also applied to Mohawk Airlines, a regional carrier, that had publicly expressed interest in hiring minority flight attendants.
About 800 Black women applied to the regional carrier, which hired Ruth Taylor in December of 1957. On February 11, 1958, she flew from Ithaca to New York City and, in the process, became the first African American flight attendant. The flight created so much publicity (and public pressure) that TWA, the airline that had rejected Ms. Taylor, hired Margaret Grant in May 1958. Ms. Grant, who was attending Hunter College at the time, was publicly declared the first African American flight attendant for a major airline carrier. She started training on June 12, 1958, after she graduated; however, she was terminated before she completed the training, because it was discovered that she had sickle cell anemia.
Around the same time Ms. Grant started her training, Ruth Carol Taylor was forced to give up her position, because she married her fiancé Rex Legall (they had been engaged since before she was hired). The couple moved to the British West Indies and then to London, and also had a daughter, before getting a divorce. Ms. Taylor subsequently moved to Barbados, where she created the country’s first professional nursing journal, and had a son, before returning to New York City in 1977. In addition to participating in the Civil Rights Movement, she co-founded the Institute for InterRacial Harmony (IIH), which developed the Racism Quotient Test, to measure racist/colorist attitudes and, in 1985, she wrote The Little Black Book: Black Male Survival in America or Staying Alive and Well in an Institutionally Racist Society.
“…[Ruth Carol Taylor] didn’t take the job because she thought being a flight attendant would be so great. She says she did it to fight discrimination.
‘It wasn’t something that I had wanted to do all my life,’ she tells JET about being a flight attendant. ‘I knew better than to think it was all that glamourous. But it irked me that people were not allowing people of color to apply… Anything like that sets my teeth to grinding.’”
– quoted from the JET Magazine article entitled, “First Black Flight Attendant Is Still Fighting Racism” (printed in the “Labor” section of the May 12, 1997 issue)
After Ruth Carol Taylor and Margaret Grant in 1958, no other African Americans would be hired by airlines until 1960. Eventually, however, African Americans were employed in every aspect of aviation. A prime example of that is the fact that, on February 12, 2009, then Captain Rachelle Jones Kerr, First Officer Stephanie Grant, and Flight Attendants Robin Rogers and Diana Galloway became the first all African American commercial flight crew. Their historic flights (on Atlantic Southeast Airlines flights #5202 and #5106, between Atlanta and Nashville) were not planned; they happened because someone called in sick. Still, the odds of everything falling into place as it did were pretty low considering there were less Black women licensed to fly then than there are now; and now, there are still less than 1%.
There are several initiatives to change the overall landscape. For instance, women have operated Delta Air Lines’ WING program (Women Inspiring the Next Generation) since 2015. The program introduces school-aged girls to jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) via flights fully staffed by women. This means that the students get to see women are working as pilots, flight attendants, ticket agents, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, ground crew, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents.
In 2016, former U. S. Coast Guard pilot Angel Hughes and United Airlines pilot Nia Gilliam-Wordlaw organized a meeting that would become Sisters of the Skies (SOS), “a nationally recognized [non-profit] organization focused on increasing the number of black female pilots in professional flight decks in both military and commercial aviation.” SOS holds networking conferences, provides mentors for aspiring pilots, and also offers scholarships.
“When we got to the gate in Nashville, and all of the passengers were off, we asked the gate agent would she take our picture. So we stuffed ourselves in the galley and one by one, she took our cell phones and snapped our picture. She asked us, ‘Why do you want your pictures taken?’ Flight Attendant, Diana Galloway said, “Oh, it’s because we’re sisters!’ The gate agent’s response was priceless. She said, “Oh, your mother must be so proud!’”
– quoted from “12th Anniversary of the First All-Female African American Flight Crew” by First Officer Stephanie Grant, Director of Development for Sisters of the Skies, Inc.
Before any of the women above flew – in fact, before any of these women were born and could dream of flying – “the Black Swallow” and “Queen Bess” were among a handful of Black, Indigenous, and Asian Americans flying through the air.
Eugene James Bullard, later known as Eugene Jacques Bullard, is remembered as the first African American fighter pilot to fly in combat, and one of four Black pilots during World War I. Although he was the only one of the four from the United States, her never flew for America. Born October 9, 1895, in Columbus, Georgia, he escaped the racism of the South as so many others did at the time – by becoming an expatriate. First he traveled to Scotland and then to England and France. In fact, he was in France at the beginning of World War I and served in several of France’s Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion (R.M.L.E.). He eventually joined the 170th French Infantry Regiment, but was wounded on the Western Front, in March 1916, during the Battle of Verdun. During his recovery, he learned to fly (as part of a bet) and was able to go through training at the Aerial Gunnery School in Cazaux, Gironde and flight training at Châteauroux and Avord. After receiving his pilot’s license (#6950) from the Aéro-Club de France on May 5, 1917, he returned to the Western Front as one of the 270 American aviators at the Lafayette Flying Corps. That same year, Corporal Bullard was assigned to Escadrille SPA 93. Around the same time that he was flying for France, the United States started recruiting the Americans in the Lafayette Flying Corps; however, the man who would earn 14 French war medals and became known as “L’Hirondelle noire” or “L’Hirondelle noire de mort” (“The Black Swallow” or “The Black Swallow of Death”) was not selected to join the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces simply because he was Black.
After World War I, he returned to Paris and worked in as a jazz musician, a club manager, a club owner, a boxer, and a variety of other capacities that put him in close proximity with members of the Harlem Renaissance (not to mention their white contemporaries). He also opened Bullard’s Athletic Club which was a gymnasium offering physical culture, boxing, massage, ping pong and hydrotherapy. He briefly served in the French infantry during World War II; however, after being wounded, he returned to the United States, via Spain. Despite being brutally attacked during the Peekskill riots, Eugene Jacques Bullard would live in New York City until he died of stomach cancer on October 12, 1961.
“One fact, however, emerged as a constant throughout Bullard’s incredible 66 years. Despite late-life recognition in his birth country, which included a well-publicized embrace by a visiting Charles De Gaulle, and, in 1959, a deep tribute on the radio from Eleanor Roosevelt, Bullard never enjoyed the pursuit of happiness in America that he did in France, where he was awarded numerous prestigious honors. As [journalist Phil Keith, with his co-author Tom Clavin] write, ‘It was a proud moment for a black man not quite 21-years-old, far from home, and recognition he never could have received had he been on American soil.’”
– quoted from the NPR’s Baum on Books “Book Review: ‘All Blood Runs Red’” by Joan Baum (published January 30, 2020)
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman became the first African American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license when she earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921. Her African American and Cherokee heritage also made her the first Black person and the first Indigenous American to earn an international pilot’s license. Born in Atlanta, Texas on January 26, 1892, the woman who became known as “Queen Bess” and “Brave Bessie” would eventually make her living as a stunt pilot. Before that, however, she worked as a laundrywoman in Waxahachie, Texas. She earned enough money taking in laundry and picking cotton to attend one semester at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University, the only Historically Black Colleges or Universities in Oklahoma). When she had to drop out of college, due to a lack of funds, followed her brothers to Chicago, Illinois, where trained at Burnham School of Beauty Cultures to be a manicurist at a barbershop. In fact, it was at the barbershop that she got truly motivated to be a pilot.
Since no American flight school would train her, Bessie Coleman used the money she earned as a manicurist to learn French and then travel to France to take flying lessons. Once trained, she became a barnstorming daredevil. She was often criticized for the risks she took – and she was no stranger to accidents and broken bones and bruises. But, her aerobatic stunts gave her a platform which she used to speak out against racism, to promote aviation, and to encourage people of color to pursue aviation as career (or a hobby). Like some other prominent entertainers, she put her money where her mouth was and refused to perform at events where African Americans were not permitted to attend.
“One day John Coleman strutted into the White Sox Barbershop and began teasing Bessie. He started comparing African-American women to French women he had seen during [World War I]. John said that African-American women could not measure up to French women. The French women had careers. They even flew airplanes. He doubted that African-American women could fly like the French women. Bessie waited for the barbershop customers to stop laughing. Then she replied, ‘That’s it. You just called it for me.’”
– quoted from “Chapter 3. Seeking Independence” in The Life of Bessie Coleman: First African-American Woman Pilot by Connie Plantz
Ultimately, being a principled daredevil while also facing racism cost her. At one point, she opened up a beauty salon in Chicago in order to earn extra money so that she could buy her own airplane. Sadly and tragically, the airplane she was able to purchase was poorly maintained. On April 30, 1926, in preparation for an air show in Jacksonville, Florida, the plane spiraled out of control killing Bessie Coleman and her mechanic and publicist, William D. Wills, who had been piloting the airplane.
Although Bessie Coleman’s was just barely 34 years old when she tragically died doing what she loved, her legacy still lives. There have been schools, scholarships, and at least one library named after her. The United States Postal service issued a commemorative stamp in her honor in 1995; a Google Doodle was posted on what would have been her 125th birthday; she has been inducted into numerous halls of fame; and Mattel recently issued a Barbie doll in her honor. There are streets and boulevards named after her in the United States and there are airport roads bearing her name all over the world.
Bessie Coleman’s legacy also lives on in the lives of the women she inspires and the people they inspire. For instance, in 1992, Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) became the first Black woman to travel into space. At the time, the African American chemical engineer and M. D. was working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. She was making history at the age of 35 (mere weeks before her 36th birthday) – and she was doing it while carrying a photo of the Brave/Queen Bessie.
There have been also been commemorative fly-overs in her honor and, in 2022, a commemorative American Airlines flight (from Dallas-Fort Worth to Phoenix) was fully staffed by African American women: from the cockpit and aisles all the way to the tarmac (cargo and maintenance crew) there were sisters of the skies.
“For communities who may not fly often, that outreach and activism from Black aerospace professionals and pilots can combat the unknown and can help show Black communities that being a pilot is a real possibility.
‘A parent comes up to me and she says, “You a pilot?” and I said, “Yes, ma’am.” And she said, “They let us be pilots?” And that really was something,’ says [Delta Airlines Captain Stephanie Johnson]. ‘The parents don’t know what the opportunities are, because they didn’t grow up with opportunities. And so it was even more important, that “OK, this has just got to be my life because I can open people’s eyes.”’”
– quoted from the AFAR article “Where Are All the Black Women Pilots? – Nearly a century after Bessie Coleman first took to the skies, Black women remain a rarity in the cockpit.” by Syreeta McFadden (February 20, 2020)
This year, just before the Super Bowl kick-off, the annual flyover was piloted by an all-women team of pilots (who had a maintenance crew that was mostly women). This was a historic occasion that marked 50 years of women flying in the United States Navy. This was not the first time, however, that a ceremonial Navy aircraft squadron had been flown by all women. In 2019, a team of women flew in the diamond formation during the funeral of (retired) Captain Rosemary Mariner, who was the Navy’s first female jet pilot. With regard to the Super Bowl flyover, the pilots made a point noting that they were honoring “every man and woman in the service” – which includes Lieutenant junior grade (Lt. j.g.) Madeline Swegle, the US Navy’s first Black woman to serve as fighter pilot.
All of those aforementioned Navy pilots fly in the proverbial footsteps of Jesse Leroy Brown, the first Black man to be accepted into Navy flight school, the first Black pilot to earn Wings of Gold, and the first Black Navy officer killed during the Korean War; Lt. Commander Brenda E. Robinson, one of only 10 women to attend the Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1977, the first Black woman to serve as a Navy pilot, and the first Black woman to earn Wings of Gold; and Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell, the first Black woman to serve as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force.
“…fill the air with ‘Black Wings’.”
– quoted from “Chapter XIV – A Plan” in Black Wings by Lieut. William J. Powell
NOTE: Lieutenant Powell served in the the 370th Illinois Infantry Regiment during World War I and was able to obtain train to be a pilot in the United States in (at the Los Angeles School of Flight, 1928 – 1932). He dedicated his book to Bessie Coleman and founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, which welcomed people of all races and genders.
Practice Notes: Two or three times a year, I lead flight-inspired practices where we explore physical terms like “pitch,” “yaw,” and “roll” – all movements that are already in our practice. This is also an opportunity to cultivate awareness around core engagement and different parts of the body (usually, feet or hips) that serve as our “landing gear.” A practice specifically related to flight attendants could include some extra lateral extension and some “funky” poses, where one elbow is flexed and one is extended (similar to the way one might lift a suitcase into an overhead bin). Naturally, “Airplane Pose” would be a peak pose.
### “And he still gives his love, he just gives it away / The love he receives is the love that is saved / And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky / A human being that was given to fly / Flying” ~ Pearl Jam ###
Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing (or getting ready to observe) Lent during this “Season for Non-violence” and all other seasons!
Some elements of the following were posted in 2021 and 2022.
“I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron: Penelope did this too. And more than once: you can’t keep weaving all day And undoing it all through the night; Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight; And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light, And your husband has been gone, and you don’t know where, for years. Suddenly you burst into tears; There is simply nothing else to do.”
– quoted from the poem “An Ancient Gesture” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
In honor of Zitkála-Šá and Edna St. Vincent “Vincent” Millay (who were born today in 1876 and 1892, respectively), February 22nd is normally a day when I focus on ancient gestures and movements that reflect certain aspects of the human experience. A smile, a hand brushing sweat off our brow or waving away a flying pest, a finger dashing away a tear, children laughing – these are all symbolic and can be understood across cultures and generations. Most of us have experienced these things in relation to our own mind-bodies and we have experienced these things through observation. Some of these ancient gestures and movements are so universal that performing artists, politicians, and liars fake them in order to communicate something without saying a single word – or to strengthen their words. Today, however, I’m going to focus on some symbols and gestures that may not be universally understood – even though the sentiment and motivation behind them may be shared across cultures and languages.
But, first, let’s talk about movement.
“Having gone many paces ahead I stopped, panting for breath and laughing with glee as my mother watched my every movement. I was not wholly conscious of myself, but was more keenly alive to the fire within. It was as if I were the activity, and my hands and feet were only experiments for my spirit to work upon.”
– quoted from “Impressions of An Indian Childhood – I. My Mother” in American Indian Stories and Old Indian Legends by Zitkála-Šá
It may not be scientifically correct to say that there is a symbiotic relationship between our mind-bodies and our movements; however, take a moment to consider the underlying idea. We move – or don’t move – in a certain way because of the shape and abilities of our mind-bodies. As we move – or don’t move – our movement shapes our mind, bodies, and abilities… and then the process cycles back into itself. We can think of this neurologically as hard-wiring the brain and/or we can think of this philosophically as creating saṃskāras (mental “impressions”) and vāsanās (the “dwelling places” of our habits). Either way, when we pay attention, we can see how this cycle shows up in every day life. Since the practice mirrors life, we can also see how it shows up in every practice.
Even if we just think about the practice as a physical endeavor, engaging our bodies requires us to engage our minds – which is part of the reason the practice is a mind-body exercise; it is physical and mental. It is also considered psychic and symbolic, as well as emotional and energetic. Emotional and energetic, I think, are self explanatory, especially as anyone who has practiced has probably experienced some shifting of emotions while and/or as a result of practicing; and the system of movement is based on an Ayurvedic energy mapping system of the mind-body. Just for clarification sake, we can think of psychic as being “[related to abilities] or phenomena that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws; supernormal; and relating to the soul and mind.” It is also important to remember that each pair goes hand-in-hand – which means that the symbolic aspect of the practice is related to the supernormal aspects of the practice.
What does that mean?
Well, contrary to certain conspiracy theories, it doesn’t mean that people are (trying to) turn themselves into trees (or cobras, camels, eagles, dogs, and God). However, it is possible to embody certain qualities found in trees (or cobras, camels, eagles, dogs, and God). Before anyone gets too excited about the possibility of this being sacrilegious; consider that if you are a Christian who observes Lent, you are engaged in a physical-mental + psychic-symbolic + emotional-energetic “exercise” during which you symbolically place yourself in Jesus’ shoes. In other words, you embody Divine attributes in order to inform a more spiritual life on Earth.
Given this context, there are (of course) a number of poses that immediately spring to mind as being symbolic. Take a moment, however, to consider the trees as well as the forest; the details as well as the big picture. It’s not only the shapes that are symbolic; it is also the movement that is symbolic. One of the most ancient gestures, one that is literally embedded in our bodies, is the lifting and opening of the heart when we are inspired and the settling into space (into the earth) that occurs when we expire. Yes, as we exaggerate our body’s natural tendencies, we are, in fact, engaging ancient symbolism. Furthermore, the power is not only in the movement; it is also in our understanding and recognition of the movement – as well as in our understanding and recognition of that symbiotic cycle the feeds the movement.
There are good chunks of our lives when we don’t think about that cycle. Then, there are times when we very intentionally and very mindfully create new patterns. We can do it on the mat when we practice. We can do it off the mat when we deliberately do something to change our habits. Even if we are only temporarily changing a habit or pattern, doing so can change the mind-body, the heart, and one’s engagement with spirit. In fact, those changes are some of the reasons why people practice. Those changes are also some of the reasons why people all around the world are beginning their observation of Lent or getting ready for their observation of Great Lent.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
– Ceremonial words used on Ash Wednesday (drawn from Genesis 3:19)
“Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
– Ceremonial words used on Ash Wednesday (drawn from The Gospel According to Mark 1:15), Roman Catholic tradition after 1969
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word “Lent comes from the Middle English word lente, meaning ‘springtime,’ which is itself descended from the Old English lencten.” (Italics are mine.) It is also the past tense and past participle of “lend,” but we will get into that symbolism in a week or so. In most Christian traditions, Lent is a 40-day period (46 when Sundays* are counted) during which people actively focus on their spiritual life and connection to God by fasting, praying, and either giving up something – something to which they have a strong attachment (or aversion) – and/or doing something positive. When people give something up they will often donate the money they would have spent on whatever they gave up. The 40-day ritual is a mirror of the days Jesus spent in the desert and is an opportunity for Christian contemplation, discernment, and self-reflection. Like the observation of Passover, the holy month of Ramadan, and the Baha’i Nineteen-Day Fast, observing Lent falls under the rubric of a type of practice that Patanjali called kriyā yoga (“yoga in action”): a combination of tapah (“heat, austerity, or discipline”), svādhyāya (“self-study”), and īśvarapraņidhāna (“trustful surrender to [God]”).
The Lenten season officially begins with Ash Wednesday. For many it is a day of fasting and prayer – and it is also the day when people truly begin to get ready for Easter. Many take a moment out of their day to attend Mass or services and receive ashes, which are traditionally made from the previous year’s Palm Sunday fronds. In a ritual that has ties to Judaism and Biblical times, the ashes are a sign of penance and preparation. They are sometimes sprinkled on the crown of the head, but the more common practice in modern times is for a priest or pastor to use the ashes to make the sign of the cross on a person’s forehead. People are not required to wear the mark of the cross throughout the remainder of their day; however, many choose to maintain that link and reminder.
The practice is considered sacramental in the Roman Catholic tradition, but the ashes and receiving the ashes are not sacraments; which means they serve as a symbol and preparation aide for holy sacraments, as well as a reminder of the grace of the sacraments. The fact that receiving ashes is not a sacrament also means that, in the Roman Catholic tradition, anyone (including non-Catholics and those who have been excommunicated by the Church) may receive ashes.
Of course, if you are unfamiliar with these religious traditions and rituals, you may find it odd that people are walking around today with a mark on their face. Or, perhaps you recognize the mark as a symbol of their faith, but you’ve been unclear about the symbolic significance (as mentioned above) or even why the Lenten season – like the other religious observations mentioned above – can be so powerful that the rituals and traditions have endured the test of time.
“When I was in college, my Jewish roommates used to tell me what to give up for Lent….
Since then, for over 20 years my friend Rob has phoned me every Ash Wednesday to assign me a Lenten sacrifice. The sacrifices have grown easier over the years since Rob is running out of things for me to give up. For a few years he favored spices. One Lent I was suppose to avoid anything with oregano. It sounded easy until it dawned on me that pizza was out of the question for six weeks. Having another person choose your sacrifice adds an extra dimension to Lent. Since my penance is not within my control, it feels a little more spiritual. As with far more serious struggles in life, like an illness or the loss of a job, things outside our control are the most difficult to deal with. They are, in traditional Christian theology, crosses that eventually need to be accepted, much as Jesus finally accepted his cross.
When I was dealing with a long illness, I once complained to an older priest that I didn’t want that particular cross. He said, ‘Well it wouldn’t be much of a cross if you wanted it, would it?’”
– Father James Martin quoted from the interview “Priest Lets Friend Choose His Sacrifice for Lent” with Melissa Block on NPR’s All Things Considered (2/28/2006)
Please join me today (Wednesday, February 22nd) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You will need to register for the 7:15 PM class if you have not already done so. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “One for Ash Wednesday 2022”]
*NOTE: Sundays during Lent are considered anniversaries of Easter and the Resurrection; therefore, they are not counted as days of penance.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, playlists, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations to Common Ground are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
### FIND HARMONY ON THE INSIDE & IT SHOWS ON THE OUTSIDE ###
“‘Come , now,’ I said, ‘let’s make a city in speech from the beginning. Our need, as it seems, will make it.’”
– quoted from the exchange between Socrates and Adeimantus in 2.XI of The Republic of Plato, translated and with an interpretative essay by Allan Bloom, 1968 (with a new introduction by Adam Kirsch)
(1894 translation by Benjamin Jowett: “Then, I said, let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet the true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.”)
If we consider the very beginning of something (or someone) as Socrates and the others do in Plato’s Republic, we find that everything (and everyone) begins as a flicker of something out in the ether. We can call that flicker an idea, for lack of a better word, or we can call it a need – the word Plato uses. Either way, that flicker of something (or someone) is out in the either and then it gets grounded and rooted into something (or someone) – or it sets off a spark – and then from that conception there is creation and then being/existing in reality as we know it. And, even though we can follow that train of thought, there are a lot of things we use on a regular basis that we don’t think about in this way.
We don’t often think about the initial idea/need – unless our need is sudden and acute. Neither do we think very often about the space between that initial idea/need and all the steps that brought it into reality – which means, we don’t think about the people we have to thank for things we use everyday. But, let’s say we were going to think about the inventor of something – like, let’s say, we wanted to thank the person or people responsible for the microphones (and speakerphones) in our phones and other electronic devices. Let’s say, we wanted to thank the person or people responsible for the technology inside hearing aids, audio recording devices, video recorders, baby monitors, computers, and cell phones.
Be honest. If you were to imagine such a person (or people), what’s the first idea of a person that comes to mind?
Be honest.
Would you be surprised that one of their parents worked for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Langley Research Center? Probably not. Would you guess that they were still in college when they started inventing things that would change the world? Probably not. But, if you weren’t think of this person in the context of this special post, would you imagine someone whose grandparents were enslaved and who was born in a house because the local hospitals wouldn’t admit their mother (that NASA employee)? Possibly not. And yet…
“James’ approach to learning sounds very familiar: ‘If I had a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, anything that could be opened was in danger. I had this need to know what was inside.’”
– quoted from “James West Began 40 Years at Bell Labs with World-Changing Microphone Tech” by Mike Szczys (posted at hackaday.com on February 17, 2021)
Let’s start with Matilda Omega Miller West. She worked at Langley Air Force Base as a teacher and also as one of the NASA (human) computers that we now recognize as “Hidden Figures.” In fact, she was distantly related to Dorothy Vaughn, who became the first African American woman to receive a promotion and supervise a group of staff at the center when she was named acting supervisor of the West Area Computers in 1949. Mrs. West was also an active and prominent member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as well as at least one other organization that the government viewed with suspicion. When she lost her job at NASA because of her political activism, she started teaching at a Native American reservation in Pennsylvania. She was married to Samuel Edward West, who held a variety of jobs, including owning a funeral home owner, working as an insurance salesman, and as a Pullman porter on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Wests had two children (James and Nathaniel); however, as they had to travel in order to work, their two sons were left in the care of Matilda West’s mother – who had formerly been enslaved.
The oldest of the West children, James Edward Maceo West, was born February 10, 1931, in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. He was a super curious kid, who wanted to understand how things worked. At an early age, he was taking things a part and poking around in things. He once took apart his grandfather’s pocket watch and discovered it had 107 parts, but then couldn’t put it back together again. Another time, he found a broken radio in the trash and set out to fix it. When he thought he was successful, he needed to plug it in; so, he climbed up on a bed, held onto the brass headboard, and plugged into a light socket. Needless to say, he shocked himself and probably would have died if his brother Nathaniel hadn’t knocked him off the bed. The family would have probably loved it, on some level, if either of those incidents had discouraged young James West from tinkering. Since, however, he was not deterred, they had to find other ways to channel his energy and inquisitive nature and he ended up working with a cousin who wired electricity for houses in rural Virginia.
“Describing the experience later, he said that when things happen that he doesn’t understand ‘… I have to figure them out. I have to learn. And that’s essentially what led to some of the discoveries that I made, you know, the curiosity. Well, why does nature behave in that way? You know, what are the compelling parameters around the way nature behaves? And how can I better understand the physical principles that I’m dealing with? You know, it’s still a big part of my life.’”
– quoted from the Biz & IT section of Ars Technica, in an article entitled “Listen up: James West forever changed the way we hear the world – Now in his 80s, the legendary inventor still pursues research and fights for education.” by Kevin Murnane (dated 5/8/2016)
Growing up in Farmville, in the twentieth century, was challenging for African Americans. It was a time when education and job opportunities were subpar in areas like Virginia. There was an all-white school across the street from where he grew up. There was a an all-Black school (Robert Russa Moton High School) on the other side of town; but, that school lacked some very important resources, including: a gym, a cafeteria, indoor bathrooms, and blackboards. There were no science labs and a lack of classrooms, in general, meant that some classes were held inside of a school bus. On top of all that, R. R. Moton High School received the discarded books from the all-white school; so, they were dog-eared and out-of-date.
James West was scheduled to start high school long before 16-year old Barbara Rose Johns Powell led a student strike in April 1951, and long before Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (Docket number: Civ. A. No. 1333; Case citation: 103 F. Supp. 337 (1952)) was rolled into Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). Since the Wests valued education, and had the means to do so, they decided to send their son to Phenix High School in Hampton, Virginia. Phenix HS, established the same year James West was born, was an all-Black feeder school for Hampton Institute (now known as Hampton University), one of the private Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBCUs), and it trained students to be teachers, even requiring them to be student teachers. The Wests expected their son to to follow a plan that included pre-med at Hampton, medical school, and a job with an uncle who had built a clinic and started a practice – and he did follow the plan, for a while, but he was still compelled to tinker.
“In life, racism was my biggest obstacle. I always felt like if I was white, would I have had a better life? I don’t know because I really do have fun. But I had to pay attention to things that more directly affected me than others. For example, I got an email from a colleague a few days ago that said basically I wish I hadn’t accused you of conspiracy theory as much as I did. We used to have lunch together and talk about the disparities between the races, and now he finally understood why I was so upset by getting continuously stopped by police on my way to work through an all-white community.
Now more people understand why the fear is there.”
– quoted from the Acoustics Today interview conducted by Hilary Kates Varghese, entitled “Being a Black Scholar, James West as told to Hilary Kates Varghese” (Winter 2020, Volume 16, Issue 4)
In high school, James West and a friend built their own telephone system. When he graduated from high school, he followed the plan, but he couldn’t get into it; so, he made plans to transfer to Wilberforce University (another HBCU) in Wilberforce, Ohio. His parents tried to dissuade him – even introducing him to two Black PhDs who couldn’t find jobs because of their race. James West, however, had that will and determination – that compulsion – that can only be considered a calling. He would not be moved off the course he had set for himself. But then, he was drafted by the United States Army during the Korean War.
After being wounded in combat, and receiving two Purple Hearts, James West went back to school. This time he decided to study Physics at Temple University, an integrated school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There were, however, some race-related challenges. Temple was founded around the idea of study groups, but the study groups in his department kept rejecting him because of his race. Taking a page from women in his family (like his mother and Dorothy Vaughn), James West decided to show the white students what he could do – what his mind could do. Being able to solve complex equations earned him invitations to the very groups that had rejected him. Suspecting that he might face similar issues on the job front, he applied to pretty much every internship he could find. In 1957, he started his first summer internship at Bell Telephone Laboratories (now Nokia Bell Labs) and felt like it could be his professional home.
“I found Bell Labs to be among the few places that I felt as a Black male, that I would have a comfortable and prosperous career. I measured and monitored this is terms of the number of underrepresented minorities and women that I saw in roles that I might eventually want to be a part of.”
– quoted from the Acoustics Today interview conducted by Hilary Kates Varghese, entitled “Being a Black Scholar, James West as told to Hilary Kates Varghese” (Winter 2020, Volume 16, Issue 4)
As part of his internship, James West started working in the Acoustic Research department where he studying interaural time delay (ITD), which is the time lapse between when each ear detects a sound and is a major part of how humans locate the source of a sound. The lab was re-purposing microphone technology, but the results were limiting their research – the system produced frequencies so low that very few people could hear the full spectrum of frequencies. The future Dr. West, still in college, dug up a German research paper (on solid dielectric elements) and completely revamped the test equipment. His new system produced more sound; thereby, creating better testing conditions. The professional scientists were impressed and James West was energized when he went back to school. Two or three months later, there was a problem: the intern’s system had stopped working. Since none of the professionals had done the research to understand the system, they sent the young Temple student a ticket back to Murray Hill, New Jersey.
James West could fix the problem, but he couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. In order to make that guarantee, he had to understand the technology better. That was his need; that is what compelled him to make an even better sound system. As he researched electrets (basically, electricity magnets), he started working with Gerhard Sessler, a scientist originally from Germany. Dr. Sessler was exactly five days younger than James West, but he his education had not been interrupted by war. He studied physics at the Universities of Freiburg and Munich (where he earned his diploma in 1957); earned his PhD (from the University of Göttingen in 1959; and then moved to the United States to work at Bell Labs. In 1962, James West and Gerhard Sessler invented the electroacoustic transducer, the technology for the foil electret microphone.
US Patent No. 3118022 would be the first of over 100 (US and international) patents for Gerhard Sessler and over 450 (US and international) patents for James West. It would revolutionize the way people hear sound via electronic equipment and it would change James West’s life. To this day, 90% of all devices that relay sound do so using this technology. As for it’s American co-inventor, he would never go back to Temple (as a student). James West would continue working at Bell Labs, moving over to Lucent Technology, Inc. after it was created through a 1996 divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies business unit of AT&T Corporation (which included Western Electric and Bell Labs). Throughout his career, his work has been published in journals and books.
After over 40 years of service, James West retired and was recognized as a Bell Laboratories Fellow. That same year, in 2001, he started teaching at Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research at Johns Hopkins has included studying the acoustics of hospitals in order to find noise-cancelling solutions and developing technology for a smart stethoscope that cancels out background noise and can detect things like pneumonia and lung cancer. One of his daughters*, Ellington West, is CEO of the company that would take that digital stethoscope to market.
“I turned down the lower level management opportunities because I did not see a clear ladder of progress in management as a Black male. I remained in the lab and retired in 2001 at the highest rank of non-management, a Bell Labs Fellow. ”
– quoted from the Acoustics Today interview conducted by Hilary Kates Varghese, entitled “Being a Black Scholar, James West as told to Hilary Kates Varghese” (Winter 2020, Volume 16, Issue 4)
As I already mentioned, James West has always been curious and he was fortunate to have parents and extended family that fostered his ingenuity – even when they thought he was applying it in the wrong way (and they withdrew financial support). But, he proved himself to his parents, just as he proved himself to the Temple study groups and to the world. He was named New Jersey’s Inventor of the Year in 1995; elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1998; inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999; received an honorary doctorate from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in 2007; and received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering (along with Gerhard Sessler) in 2010.
Throughout his career, Dr. James West has supported opportunities for others to follow in his footsteps and to stand on his shoulders: to fill needs and discover opportunities regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, and/or perceived ability. He is the co-founder of Bell’s Association of Black Laboratory Employees (ABLE); helped create and develop the Corporate Research Fellowship Program (CRFP) for graduate students pursuing terminal degrees in the sciences and the Summer Research Program (SRP); and has served on the board of directors of the Ingenuity Project, “a comprehensive, advanced math and science instructional [non-profit] program for Baltimore City students in grades 6-12.”
“‘My father is my hero, role model, my greatest inspiration,’ [Ellington] West, 34, once told an interviewer.”
– quoted from the Citybiz+ article entitled “Sonavi Lab’s CEO Ellington West: Black Entrepreneur On A Mission To Fight Bias And Save Lives” (dated August 10, 2022)
Practice Notes: As I write this post, I am listening to jazz (beginning with Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert) – music I always associate with being fearless, engaging in fearless play, and improvising. A practice dedicated to James West would be a practice where we delve into how things work and how things don’t work (or don’t work well). Then, we would be fearless and play – remembering the rules of improv: not breaking the flow, saying “yes and,” knowing the rules in order to break the rules, and (from the musical side) playing what’s not there. This would be a vinyāsa krama practice, with “things placed in a special way” “for a step-by-step progression” towards a peak pose (possibly Naṭarājāsana, “Dancer Pose.” The primary goals here would be to have fund and to listen to your mind-body.
*NOTE: James West and his wife Marlene have four adult children: Melanie, Laurie, James and Ellington. I would normally include more information, but could not find accurate information about when/how they met and what the other West children do for a living. He does talk about his family and his life choices in the interview conducted by The HistoryMakers, but I do not have access to those interviews. Many of the above quotes (except where indicated) are originally from The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with James West, February 13, 2013. The HistoryMakers® African American Video Oral History Collection, 1900 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
### “And up on a hill in Rishikesh I came across a holy man / With shining eyes and a toothless smile / He grinned and this is what he said / ‘There’s nothing so tall we can’t climb over / There’s nothing so wide we can not cross / The time has come to raise your voices / The light burns brightest when all hope seems lost / Be Fearless and Play’” ~ Wookiefoot ###
This “missing” post related to Tuesday, January 10th is an expanded and revised remix of a 2022 post. You can request an audio recording of either year’s practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
“Some days I catch a rhythm, almost a song in my own breath. I’m alone here in Brooklyn Heights, late morning, the sky above the St. George Hotel clear, clear for New York, that is. The radio playing “Bird Flight,” Parker in his California tragic voice fifty years ago, his faltering “Lover Man” just before he crashed into chaos.”
– quoted from the poem “Call It Music”by Philip Levine
Breathing is something we all do. It’s something we all must do in order to survive – and, yet, it is all to easy to forget about it. Even in this day and age, it is all too easy to take our breathing for granted. So, take a moment to breathe.
Just breathe and pay attention to your breath.
Catch the rhythm that is your breath, the rhythm of your life.
Breath – and the awareness of breath – is the guiding teacher that we carry with us where ever we go. Our breath can be a true reflection of how we are living and/or surviving in any given moment. It can tell us if we are about to soar like a bird and/or if we are about to crash into chaos.
“The perfect sunlight angles into my little room above Willow Street. I listen to my breath come and go and try to catch its curious taste, part milk, part iron, part blood, as it passes from me into the world. This is not me, this is automatic, this entering and exiting, my body’s essential occupation without which I am a thing. The whole process has a name, a word I don’t know, an elegant word not in English or Yiddish or Spanish, a word that means nothing to me.”
– quoted from the poem “Call It Music” by Philip Levine
There are any number of words in any number of languages that could come to mind when reading the words of the poet Philip Levine, who was born January 10, 1928, in Detroit, Michigan. Of course, the word that immediately springs to my mind is the Sanskrit word prāṇāyāma. Defined as the awareness of breath and the extension of breath, prāṇāyāma is the fifth limb of the 8-limb Yoga Philosophy. It is the second half of the physical practice of yoga and it bridges the gap between the mind-body and our awareness of our mind-body.
Although there are many techniques, basic prāṇāyāma is a very simple practice: focus on your breath for a set period of time. While the practice is just that simple, it is not always easy. There are lots of things that can get in the way. However, one of the great things about this practice is that paying attention to the breath is also the true way around those obstacles. I would even argue that nothing is more simple and true than breathing and bringing awareness to that automatic entering and leaving.
“Some things you know all your life. They are so simple and true they must be said without elegance, meter and rhyme, they must be laid on the table beside the salt shaker, the glass of water, the absence of light gathering in the shadows of picture frames, they must be naked and alone, they must stand for themselves.”
– quoted from the poem “A Simple Truth” by Philip Levine
Philip Levine was the second of three sons (and the first identical twin) born to Jewish immigrants just as the Nazi party was getting a foothold in Germany. He had the unfortunate experience of watching anti-Semitism rise in is own (proverbial) backyard and to also witness how racism (and other -isms) created a schism between the different people who made up the working class. Following in the tradition of Walt Whitman, he started giving voice to America’s voiceless and – even after he left the “mitten state” – he wrote poems about the plight of regular people in his hometown.
In some ways, Mr. Levine followed in his parent’s footsteps. His father, Harry Levine, owned a used (car) parts store; his mother, Esther Priscol (Pryszkulnik) Levine, sold books; and, starting at the age of fourteen, the poet worked in auto factories as he pursued his literary degrees. After graduating from Detroit Central High School, he earned his Bachelor of Arts, in literature, from Wayne (State) University and then “unofficially” attended classes at the University of Iowa. He earned a mail-order master’s degree and then returned to the University of Iowa to teach and pursue a Masters of Fine Arts, which he completed in 1957.
By the time he graduated from the University of Iowa (1957), he was beginning to gain significant recognition as a poet. In addition to teaching at a plethora of major universities around the country, he was lauded and recognized with national literary awards, including the two National Book Awards (1980 and 1991), Guggenheim Foundation fellowships (1973 and 1980), the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1995, for the collection The Simple Truth), and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1987). He served on the Board of Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (1000-2006) and as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (also known as the U. S. Poet Laureate) from 2011-2012. In collaboration with saxophonist and composer Benjamin Boone, Philip Levine created a collection of jazz poetry, “a literary genre defined as poetry necessarily informed by jazz music” – which was released in 2018, almost exactly three years and a month after his death. As a writer, he not only protested the Vietnam War, he kept speaking for the disenfranchised using simple truths… truths that could not be denied.
“Can you taste what I’m saying? It is onions or potatoes, a pinch of simple salt, the wealth of melting butter, it is obvious, it stays in the back of your throat like a truth you never uttered because the time was always wrong, it stays there for the rest of your life, unspoken, made of that dirt we call earth, the metal we call salt, in a form we have no words for, and you live on it.”
– quoted from the poem “A Simple Truth” by Philip Levine
The sixth chakra, which is located around the third eye (and about in inch into your forehead, half an inch above there), is symbolically associated with big “T” Truth – and with our ability to seek it, perceive it, and recognize it when we encounter it. The energy of this area is a curious energy, in that it continually pushes us to question everything. It supports healthy self-inquiry when the energy is balanced; however, when out of balance, it can manifest feelings of doubt or an inability to “see the truth” when it is right in front of you.
In Wheels of Life: A User’s Guide to the Chakra System, Anodea Judith, Ph.D., connects the sixth chakra to “knowledge, understanding and transcendent consciousness,” as well as to intuition. In Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing, Caroline Myss, Ph.D. further connects it to the Christian sacrament of Ordination and the sefirot (“emanations” or Divine attributes) of Binah (Divine “understanding”) and Hokhmah or Chokmah (Divine “wisdom”). Similar to the love described in the sixth mansion of Saint Teresa of Ávila‘s El Castillo Interior or Las Moradas, ordination distinguishes and elevates the faithful. Note, also, that in the Kabbalah-inspired system I have previously mentioned, the “higher” or mind-related sefirot are not included in a physical practice of the Divine attributes.
My standard summary of how the energetic and symbolic elements manifest in our lives goes something like this: Consider how where you come from determines the friends you make (or don’t make); how where you come from and the people around you play a role in how you see yourself; and how where you come from, the friends you make along the way, and how you see yourself, play a part in how (or if) you embrace yourself (or others), embrace a moment, and extend your gifts out into the world – or not. Consider also how where you come from, the friends you make along the way, how you see yourself, and whether you extend what’s in your heart connect to how you express yourself, how you know (or don’t know) the truth when you perceive it, and how all of that contributes to your experience of this present moment.
That summary can be extrapolated and applied to a variety of scenarios, including how we cultivate new habits and achieve our goals, dreams, and desires. Consider, for instance, that the first chakra is related to physical survival and physical form – which means it is our matter. It is also our plans. Friends are our support system, cheering us on and/or providing guidance, while also providing accountability. When I think of the third chakra, the solar plexus – as it relates to our self esteem, our personality, and our sense of self – I think of the idea that we have “fire in the belly.” We can think of this idiom literally, in terms of digestive juices – which is a whole other conversation – and we can think of it as the internal element that keeps us physically motivated. To continue the metaphor, it’s what makes us hungry for more.
Then there is the heart, which connects the physical with the mental and emotional. It’s the energetic-emotional connection between the mind and the body. Here, it is the connection between the idea (the pattern) and the manifestation (the matter). This is also the idea of purusha (pure consciousness) and prakriti (elemental, unformed matter or substance). When we get into the throat chakra – related to mental determination and willpower – we are starting to move into the intangible. Those parts of our lived experiences that are “barely describable” and can only be indicated (lingamatra) and those things that are “absolutely indescribable [because they are] beyond any point of reference” (alinga).
Consider that last bit a moment. As you think about that last part, also think about the idea that your goals and desires, your wishes, hopes, dreams (and yes, even your fears), are fully formed somewhere in your heart… and maybe the back of your mind. Somewhere out in the ether, that possibility is real. But there are a lot of steps between conception and manifestation. And until we take the first step, they all feel like giant leaps.
To make life even more challenging, anybody can give anyone a metaphorical road map about physical survival and what it takes to sustain the body. We know the body’s basic necessities and there are people who are dedicated to breaking that down into what different body types need to survive at a peak level. On a certain level, people can also create road maps for the mind – and we do, all the time, which is why the self-help industry is so massive. But, there’s still a part of the journey that can only be experienced by the person taking the trip. There’s a part of the journey that is barely or absolutely indescribable. It’s the part of the journey that can never be duplicated. It’s the journey between what’s in a person’s heart and what’s in their head.
Even if someone explained how they got from point A to point B – and even if that explanation came with a Jean-Paul Sartre nauseous-level breakdown of how they felt and what they thought along the way – the only thing the rest of us could completely replicate would be the physical aspects of the journey. But, that part in between, it’s like getting lost, stuck in a traffic jam, and not knowing where you’re going – all while on a schedule.
“The longest journey you will make in your life is from your head to your heart.”
*
– possibly a Sioux statement, although it is often attributed to “Anonymous”
*
Tuesday’s (2023) playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.
NOTE: The end of the YouTube playlist includes a special recording of the Bird Flight radio show, hosted by Phil Schaap on WKCR 89.9. I couldn’t find it on Spotify (maybe because I’m like “Lazy Bird” – which is what rounds out the Spotify playlist).
For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted December 6, 2020 and 2021. I have revised it slightly and added a new playlist. I am re-posting it, because history is important and it is important to remember how we got here as we move forward.
“As to the charge of treason, what is treason? I would ask. Treason in a people is the taking up of arms against the government or the siding of its enemies. In all revolutions the vanquished are the ones who are guilty of treason, even by the historians, for history is written by the victors and framed according to the prejudices and bias existing on their side.”
– quoted from a speech given by Missouri Senator George Graham Vest on August 21st and printed in “Vest on Succession. Speech of the Senator at the Confederate Reunion…” in the Abilene Weekly Reflector (Dickinson County, Kansas) on August 27, 1891
Then there was that whole sticky freedom and equality thing.
It’s actually still a sticky/problematic thing even though the Committee of Five (and eventually the Second Continental Congress) declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It’s a sticky/problematic thing even though Article IV, Section 2 of the newly formed nation’s Constitution promised “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” It’s a sticky/problematic thing even though the 5th Amendment, which was ratified along with the Bill of Rights in 1791, states, “No person shall… be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” It’s a sticky/problematic historical thing, because everyone within the country’s borders was not free, equal, equally represented, and/or entitled to the guaranteed the most basic rights, privileges, and immunities. More to the point, the decision to exclude certain individuals was deliberate and intentional (see Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, quoted below) – although we can argue the level of willfulness that went into the decision.
Then again, even our amendments aren’t always perfect and, more to the point, the way we remember the history of our amendments isn’t even close to perfect. Consider, for instance, the issue of freedom and representation as it pertained to enslaved people and their descendants. People are quick to laud and celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued by President Abraham Lincoln September 22, 1862, and went into effect on January 1, 1863, but the document only applied to the Confederate States of America – which were still in rebellion; meaning, the document (technically) didn’t free a single enslaved person.
In an attempt to persuade Southern states to peacefully rejoin the Union, President Lincoln issued the Proclamation for Amnesty and Reconstruction on December 8, 1863. This was an attempt to not only end the Civil War, but to also strengthen his proclamation. But, there were no takers. The Emancipation Proclamation remained purely symbolic – until the end of the war. Even then, however, it would be June 19, 1865, before news of freedom reached Galveston, Texas. And, yes, some of us celebrate that day, Juneteenth.
Much more expedient in its effectiveness, but arguably symbolic in the worst possible way, was the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. Signed by President Lincoln on April 16, 1862, the Act eventually freed about 3,185 people (and paid out over $100,100,000 as compensation to former owners of those freed). But, outside of Washington D. C. (where it’s a holiday) very few people take notice of the day unless it falls on a weekend and delays the official tax deadline.
Before we get too far down this rocky road, please keep in mind that President Lincoln (and everyone around him) knew the Emancipation Proclamation was more of a symbolic gesture. They knew that, even after the Union won the Civil War, there was a possibility it would be nullified. Not only could it have been nullified if President Lincoln had lost his re-election bid, some of his contemporaries worried that he might nullify it (on a certain level) in order to restore the Union. However, the president was quick to reassure the abolitionists. He campaigned on abolishing slavery and then he set out to fulfill that campaign promise.
“At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States passed the Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of course the abstract question is not changed; but an intervening election shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the measure if this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed amendment will go to the States for their action. And as it is to so go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on members to change their views or their votes any further than, as an additional element to be considered, their judgment may be affected by it. It is the voice of the people now for the first time heard upon the question. In a great national crisis like ours unanimity of action among those seeking a common end is very desirable–almost indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is the maintenance of the Union, and among the means to secure that end such will, through the election, is most dearly declared in favor of such constitutional amendment.”
– quoted from State of the Union 1864, delivered to the United States Congress by President Abraham Lincoln (on 12/6/1864)
Today in 1864, during his State of the Union Address, President Abraham Lincoln urged Congress and the States to take action “the sooner the better” on an amendment to abolish slavery. He proceeded to very actively, more actively than had previously been witnessed in other presidencies, work towards securing the votes needed to pass and ratify what would become the 13th Amendment – which was, in fact, ratified today in 1865.
Ratification of the 13th Amendment “officially” made slavery illegal in the United States. It also rendered the Fugitive Slave Clause moot and created the opportunity for more representation, by eliminating certain aspects of the Three-Fifths Compromise. So, we celebrate today, right? Right??
Funny thing about that ratification: Even before we address things like the 18th Century “Tignon Laws,” the 19th Century “Black Codes” or “Black Laws,” and the “Jim Crow Laws” enacted in the late 19th and early 20 Centuries – or the fact that a 14th and 15th Amendment were needed to secure the rights, privileges, and immunities of formerly enslaved people and their descendants (let alone all the Acts) – we need to look at the how the 13th Amendment was ratified.
“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
– “Amendment XIII” of The Constitution of the United States
By the time President Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865, 21 states had ratified the 13th Amendment (starting with Illinois on Feb. 1, 1865 and continuing to Arkansas on Feb. 14, 1865). President Andrew Johnson also made it a priority to get the 13th Amendment ratified when he took office; however, his approach was very different from his predecessor. Instead of encouraging the spirit and intention of the amendment, President Andrew Johnson spent his time assuring states that they would have the power and jurisdiction to limit the scope of the amendment. This led to states like Louisiana (Feb. 17th), South Carolina (Nov. 13th), and Alabama (Dec. 2nd) weakening the implementation and enforcement of the amendment by ratifying with caveats. Further weakening its perception, in certain areas, was the fact that ratification only required three-fourths of the states (which at that time equaled 27 out of 36).
Georgia came through today in 1865 as the 27th (and final) state needed to solidify the ratification. Five states (Oregon, California, Florida, Iowa, and New Jersey (after a 2nd vote) ratified the amendment within a few weeks. Texas would get on board over four years later (on February 18, 1870). Delaware, Kentucky, and Mississippi – all of whom, like New Jersey, initially rejected ratification – would make the amendment official in 1901, 1976, and 1995 (respectively). Curiously, Mississippi didn’t certify their 1995 vote until 2013.
Take a moment, if you are able, to imagine being a formerly enslaved person – or even one of their descendants – living in one of the states that only ratified the 13th Amendment with a “provisional statement” and/or didn’t ratify it until the 20th Century. You may know when you are technically free, but when does everyone around you recognize that you’re legally free? When do you feel free? Because remember, the Ashtavakra Gita says, “’If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, ‘Thinking makes it so.’” (1:11)
So, yes, we can talk all day about the fact that slavery “officially” end in 1865. However, we must also remember that for some folks, like Missouri Senator George Graham Vest, who was born today in 1830 – and was an ardent supporter of the “Lost Cause” ideology as well as the last of the Confederate States Senators to pass (on August 9, 1904) – the “War of Northern Aggression” was a war about states’ rights and there was (they believed) an economic, and therefore moral, justification for slavery.
Because he once defended an African American man in a court of law, my bias is such that I would like to say that “The Gentleman from Missouri” was more faceted that I’ve just painted him. However, he is best remembered for arguing a case about the killing of a dog. So, as eloquent as he was, I’m not sure I can make a case for him. There is, however, at least one thing upon which I will agree with him:
“Look at Adam. I have very little use for Adam. When he was asked who ate the apple he said Eve ate a bit of it first. Shame on him for trying to dodge the result. I know that if Adam had been a Missouri ex-confederate soldier he would have said: ‘I ate the apple and what are you going to do about it?’”
– quoted from a speech given by Missouri Senator George Graham Vest on August 21st and printed in “Vest on Succession. Speech of the Senator at the Confederate Reunion…” in the Abilene Weekly Reflector (Dickinson County, Kansas) on August 27, 1891
Please join me today (Tuesday, December 6th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules”calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
“When the physical war ended, then the real practical problems presented themselves. How was slavery to be effectively abolished? And what was to be the status of the Negroes? What was the condition and power of the states which had rebelled? The legal solution of these questions was easy. The states that had attempted to rebel had failed. The must now resume their relations to the government. Slavery had been abolished as a war measure….
The difficulty with this legalistic formula was that it did not cling to facts. Slavery was not abolished even after the Thirteenth Amendment. There were four million freedmen and most of them on the same plantation, doing the same work they did before emancipation, except as their work had been interrupted and changed by the upheaval of war. Moreover, they were getting about the same wages and apparently were going to be subject to slave codes modified only in name. There were among them thousands of fugitives in the camps of the soldiers or on the streets of the cities, homeless, sick, and impoverished. They had been freed practically with no land nor money, and, save in exceptional cases, without legal status, and without protection.”
– quoted from Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois): An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880 by W. E. B Du Bois
This is the “missing” post for Sunday, November 11th.Some passages were previously posted. You can request an audio recording of the practice via a comment belowor (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“If her functioning as a female is not enough to define woman, if we decline also to explain her through ‘the eternal feminine’, and if nevertheless we admit, provisionally, that women do exist, then we must face the question ‘what is a woman’?
To state the question is, to me, to suggest, at once, a preliminary answer. The fact that I ask it is in itself significant. A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself, I must first of all say: ‘I am a woman’; on this truth must be based all further discussion. A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man. The terms masculine and feminine are used symmetrically only as a matter of form, as on legal papers. In actuality the relation of the two sexes is not quite like that of two electrical poles, for man represents both the positive and the neutral, as is indicated by the common use of man to designate human beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without reciprocity. In the midst of an abstract discussion it is vexing to hear a man say: ‘You think thus and so because you are a woman’; but I know that my only defence [sic] is to reply: ‘I think thus and so because it is true,’ thereby removing my subjective self from the argument. It would be out of the question to reply: ‘And you think the contrary because you are a man’, for it is understood that the fact of being a man is no peculiarity.”
– quoted from “Introduction: Woman as Other” in The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Almost every January, I ask the question “What is a woman?” Then, at various times throughtout the year, I offer different lives and perspectives that could be considered as answers. But, whenever I address the issue, I recognize that the “controversial” question Simone de Beauvoir posed in 1949, is no less controversial today. In fact, it can seem more controversial today, because it is often used as a “gotcha” question asked by people who have vastly different intentions than Simone de Beauvoir. Remember, she was asking and addressing the question for philosophical insight. And, here I am doing the same.
I know, I know, I’m just asking for trouble here, but please consider a couple of things before moving forward. First, as I just mentioned, this is not the first time – in class or on the blog – that I’ve referenced what it means to be a woman. Second, I’m referencing it here in relation to Patanjali’s Yoga Sūtras. Specifically, I’m referencing the meaning of the word “woman” – or “women,” “wimmin,” “womyn,” “womban,” “womon,” and “womxn” – in relation to Yoga Sūtra 3.17, which indicates that “By making samyama on the sound of a word, one’s perception of its meaning, and one’s reaction to it – three things which are ordinarily confused – one obtains understanding of all sounds uttered by living beings.” [NOTE: “one’s reaction to it” is sometimes translated as “knowledge of it.”]
I absolutely could use a less “controversial” word – as other teachers do. I’ve heard a teacher reference a pencil and another teacher (Vyasa, perhaps) used a cow. In class, I actually cited Swami J, of the Himalayan tradition, who used the example of a table in his commentary on the sūtras. Those are all great examples, simple examples; because, if you know English (assuming you are reading this text in it’s original language), the sight/sound of each of those words is associated with specific objects, which immediately come to mind. If you don’t know a word, it is meaningless to you. Nothing comes to mind or you think of something that feels off, not quite right. But, you don’t know the word, so you need more information.
On the flip side, you can know the word and still need more information, because your perception of what I mean may not be the same as mine. We may not have the same object(s) in mind. However, by using our supernormal power of words, we can come to an agreement about the qualities that make up the concept that exists in the world (i.e., the pencil-ness, cow-ness, and/or table-ness of the thing). In other words, we can go deeper into our understanding of what makes something what we perceive/understand it to be.
While it seems like people have been going deeper into our understanding of what it means to be a woman since the dawn of time (or, at the very least, since recorded history), there’s always the possibility — not to mention the fear — that someone will completely miss the point.
“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow in our souls. Every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep to oursleves along, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of their rights and check our own development.”
– quoted from Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention (and birthday celebration for Susan B. Anthony), February 18, 1890
If we just stick with modern (Western) history, the question of what it means to be a woman is a question that contains multitudes. For instance, when we talk about Miss Maria Mitchell and Rabbi Regina Jonas, the question becomes about their vocations. In a conversation about Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, and Mary Oliver, the question becomes about upbringing and sex(uality). For Edna St. Vincent Millay and Zitkála-Šá, as well as for Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Erdrich, Nikki Giovanni, and so many others, the question becomes about culture, race, and behavior (including sex and sexuality). Then the conversation turns to health and well-being, especially mental health, when we focus on Bertha Pappenheim (“Anna O”). We can easily pickup all of those threads if we are discussion Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou, or Ntozake Shange, because their lives prove that the question of what it means to be a woman is always about all of those things – and also about rights and responsibilities. We can start our conversation about what the word means, to us and to others, at any one of those intersecting points. However, since Saturday was the anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, let’s start with the issue of rights and responsibilities.
Born November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a social activist, abolitionist, and suffragist. While she was one of the most influential leaders of the women’s rights movement, she does not fit the stereotypical image of a “women’s liber” or a “man-hating feminist.” She was, for example, no Susan B. Anthony. However, one could argue that there would have been no Susan B. Anthony — as she is remembered today — without Elizabeth Cady Stanton. While their backgrounds and life choices were different, they were united in their quest for equal rights.
“If I were to draw up a set of rules for the guidance of reformers, such as Franklin and other celebrities tell us they did for their own use, I should put at the head of the list: Do all you can, no matter what, to get people to think on your reform, and then, if your reform is good, it will come about in due season.”
– quoted from a diary entry dated “Cleveland, August 20 [1888]” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (as published in Elizabeth Cady Stanton As Revealed in Her Letterz, Diary and Reminiscences, Edited by Theodore Stanton and Harriot Stanton Blatch, Volume Two])
Elizabeth Cady grew up in a wealthy family with a conservative lawyer for a father (Daniel Cady) and and a very progressive abolitionist mother (Margaret Livingston Cady). Some biographers say that the Cady family had servants, at least three of whom were African American. At least one of those “servants” (Peter Teabout) was actually enslaved and it was in his company that she and her sisters sometimes attended church.
It seems that it was just her and her sisters that sat in the back pews of the church. While she was the seventh of eleven children, six of her siblings, including all of her brothers, died before reaching adulthood. Her last brother died when she was around ten and she responded to her parents’ grief by stating that she would live the lives her brothers would not get a chance to live. Her father’s response, that he wished she were a boy, was the first time she felt there was a difference between her sisters and her brothers.
Despite the perceived difference between the siblings, Elizabeth Cady was well-educated — for a girl of her time — and received high marks and recognition in her advanced classes. She even convinced her father to send her to Troy Female Seminary, where she became actively interested in the abolitionist movement. It was through the seminary and the abolitionis movement that she and befriended Frederick Douglass. It was also the way she met her greatest collaborators in life: Henry Brewster Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
“This can already be seen in the different reception given a new citizen of the world. If the father or someone else asked what ‘it’ was after a successful birth, the answer might be either the satisfied report of a boy, or—with pronounced sympathy for the disappointment— ‘Nothing, a girl,’ or ‘Only a girl.’”
– Bertha Pappenheim (b. 02/27/1859) as quoted in The Jewish Woman: New Perspectives, edited by Elizabeth Koultun
“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
– quoted from “Part IV – The Formative Years: Chapter XII. Childhood” in The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (b. 01/09/1908)
Elizabeth Cady and Henrey Brewster Stanton met at the home of her first cousin, Gerrit Smith (son of her maternal aunt), who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and one of the “Secret Six,” who funded John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry, which initiated the revolt that was a prelude to the Civil War. At the time that they met, Henry Brewster Stanton was an attorny, abolitionist, and social reformer, who would go on to become a journalist and politician. Some say his support of the suffragist movement was tangential, but no one can argue that it was instrumental. It was instrumental on many levels, including the fact that he unconditionally supported his wife.
When they married in 1840, the couple omitted the word “obey” from their vows — which was a common Quaker tradition, although neither of them were Quakers. Elizabeth Cady took her husband’s surname, but she was never known simply as “Mrs. Henry B. Stanton;” she was always, in some way, recognized as “Cady Stanton.” But the exclusion or inclusion of a single word, did not diminish the couples union. Nor did it diminish her role in the household.
“First, no woman should say, ‘I am but a woman!’ But a woman! What more can you ask to be? Born a woman — born with the average brain of humanity — born with more than the average heart — if you are mortal, what higher destiny could you have? No matter where you are nor what you are, you are power.”
– quoted from Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals by Maria Mitchell (b. 08/01/1818)
Mrs. Cady Stanton was a proud wife and mother of seven. Contrary to the social norms of the time, she recognized that healthy women had similar desires as healthy men; believed women should control a couple’s sexual relationships; and proclaimed a man’s “drunkeness” as grounds for divorce (or, at the very least, abstinance). She also belived that a woman should absolutely have dominion over her body when it came to childbearing. She was equally as bold about declaring her motherhood (when others were more demure silent) and would raise a red or white flag in front of her house depending on the sex of her newborn child.
Of course, her “voluntary motherhood” required a compromise when it came to social reform and that compromise required her to be at home when her husband was away. While Henry Brewster Stanton traveled ten months out of the year in the 1850’s, Elizabeth Cady Stanton felt she was “a caged lioness.”However, her partnership with Ms. Anthony made the compromise less restrictive. Whenever the family moved, they set up a room for Susan B. Anthony and the women figured out the best way to work towards their goals:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote; Susan B. Anthony organized and spoke.
“Eventually Anthony supplanted Henry in Elizabeth’s affections. Both Henry and Susan moved in and out of her life and her household, but overall, Stanton probably spent more hours and days with Anthony than any other adult.”
– quoted from the “Methodological Note: Stanton in Psychological Perspective” section of In Her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Elisabeth Griffith
The collaboration between Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was not restricted to speeches. They co-founded the New York Women’s State Temperance Society – after Anthony was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was female – and the Women’s Loyal National League in 1863. The league, which used different iterations of the name, was specifically formed to lobby for the abolition of slavery. At one time they collected almost 40,000 signatures in support of abolition, which was the largest petition drive in United States history at that time. They also initiated the American Equal Rights Association (1866) and founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (1869).
On January 8, 1868, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton started publishing the weekly paper The Revolution. The paper’s motto was “Men, their rights and nothing more; Women, their rights and nothing less.”In addition to women’s rights and the suffrage movement, the paper covered general politics, the labor movement, and finance. Ms. Anthony ran the business end of things. Mrs. Cady Stanton co-edited the newspaper with the abolitionist minister Parker Pillsbury. The initially received funding from the transportation entrepreneur George Francis Train – who shared their views on women’s rights, but not on abolition – but eventually transferred control of the paper to the wealthy writer and activist Laura Curtis Bullard, who toned “the revolution” down a bit.
The ladies that started it, however, did not tone down at all.
“He has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies, which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in man.”
– quoted from the The Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with Mary Ann M’Clintock
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was actively engaged in the fight for civil rights long before meeting Susan B. Anthony. Along with Lucretia Coffin Mott and Martha Coffin Wright, she organized the Seneca Falls Convention, which was the first women’s rights convention organized by women and was the primary author of the Declaration of Sentiments. One hundred of the approximately 300 attendees to the conference signed the declaration, which Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with assistance from Mary Ann M’Clintock, had modeled after the Declaration of Independence. Mrs. Cady Stanton (and her sister, Harriet Cady Eaton), Mrs. M’Clintock (plus her daughters Elizabeth W. and Mary M’Clintock and her half-sister, Margaret Pryor), Mrs. Mott, and and Mrs. Wright were among the 68 female signers; Frederick Douglass, Thomas M’Clintock, and James Mott were among the the 32 male signers.
Frederick Douglass’s name on the Declaration of Sentiments was not an accident or random happenstance. He and Mrs. Cady Stanton met early in her crusade for universal suffrage and he was one of her staunch supporters during the Seneca Falls Convention. In fact, some historians note that it was his very vocal support that led to the acceptance of the Declaration. While his support for women’s suffrage did not wane, he, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony (with whom he would also eventually befriend) did temporarily break away from each other when the issue of suffrage was divided over race and gender. He also called out E. Cady Stanton for using racist terms about Black and Asian men, when it looked like they might get the vote before (white) women.
That divide between the three friends is a great way to highlight the fact that the fight for voting rights has always marginalized already marginalized people. It has asked people to define themselves as one thing over the other. This, as many scholars have pointed out, is not something straight, white, Christian males in America have historically had to do. They can just be “men” and everything else is understood as a foregone conclusion.
Marginalized people, however, have had to “pick one” all the time. This was especially true in the 19th century, when the presence of Black women was desired by both sides of the suffrage movement. Yet, to deny one side of themselves meant that they could be excluded from voting; either because they were Black… or because they were a woman.
Susan B. Anthony forced this issue into the courts when she and fourteen other women attempted to vote in Rochester, New York, in 1872. She was arrested, indicted, “tried,” and convicted during the very public and very publicized 1873 criminal trial (United States v. Susan B. Anthony). The case hinged on the definition of a citizen (as it related to the 14th Amendment) and the definition of a woman. After establishing that “the defendant was, on the 5th of November, 1872, a woman,” the judge instructed the all male jury – all male because women were prohibited from serving on juries – to find the defendant guilty without discussion or deliberation, which they did. Ms. Anthony was instructed to pay a fine, of $100 plus court cases, which she did not.
It’s unclear how, exactly, they determined that she was a woman on the date in question.
“U. S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: Can I provide a definition? [Senator Blackburn confirms.] No. I can’t.
U. S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): You can’t?
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: Not in this context. I’m not a biologist.
U. S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): So, you believe the word ‘woman’ is so unclear and controversial that you can’t give me a definition?
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: Senator, in my work as a judge, what I do is, I address disputes. If there is a dispute about a definition, people make arguments and I look at the law and I decide….”
– quoted from the confirmation hearing of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ketanji Brown Jackson (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)
Fast forward to the 21st century, where Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Janelle Monet sing lyrics that seem to be lifted directly from the Declaration of Sentiments or Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s diary – and to that moment when then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was being interviewed to be the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. Fast forward to that moment, when two very different women faced the question about the definition (the meaning) of the word woman.
When I heard Senator Marsha Blackburn’s question, I heard it as so many people heard it: as that “gotcha” question some people like to ask these days. I also heard it, as so many others have heard it throughout history, as a pick-a-side question. The sides might be defined in different ways now, versus in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it still marginalizes people who are already marginalized. What I did not hear was a question asked with a sincere interest in the inquiry. What I did not hear was a question posed with an interest in how any of us decides on our answers.
Many people, Senator Blackburn included, have said that Supreme Court Justice Brown Jackson did not answer the question. Others have pointed out that she absolutely answered the question – she just didn’t answer the question with either/any of the answers they wanted to hear. It doesn’t help that many media outlets only reported a portion of her answer. In fact, most major outlets only quoted her as saying, “I’m not a biologist.”
Which, I think we can all agree is true.
I also think, though, that the issue isn’t whether or not Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is a biologist. And, despite the way the exchange was reported, the issue isn’t even whether or not being a biologist is relevant. The relevant part,in that case, was how a judge, or justice, defines things (i.e., words) as it relates to the law and specific contexts related to the law. As then-Judge Brown Jackson pointed out, the role of judges, or justices, is to look at the differing definitions (when there is a dispute),the arguments behind the definitions, and the law. In other words, they focus-concentrate-meditate on the word, people’s understandings of the word, and the related (or relevant) qualities (as they apply to the law).
Take a moment, to think apply the tool of samyama to the word “woman” (or any of the other aforementioned variations of the theme)*:
What, or who, comes to mind?
What’s your “standard” for a woman?
How many women do you know that don’t fit your exact standard?
What are the overlapping qualities that apply to your “standard” and also to those outside of your standard?
How do you know you know if someone has those overlapping qualities?
*NOTE: This is a deliberately simple rubric, so that you can decide on attributes. If your only attribute is “sex/female,” you could skip the first two questions or you could layout a biological definition of female.
Yoga Sūtra 3.35: hṛdaye cittasaṃvit
– “By making samyama on the heart, one gains knowledge of the contents of the mind.”
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.
NOTE: YouTube features several extra videos that are not available on Spotify. Some are speeches worth hearing. Some are music videos worth seeing. To make up the difference, the Spotify playlist has its own Easter egg.
ERRATA: The original post linked to the wrong YouTube playlist. My apologies for the inconvenience.
“If I am to confess what drove me, as a woman, to become a rabbi, two things come to mind. My belief in God’s calling and my love of my fellow man. God has bestowed on each one of us special skills and vocations without stopping to ask about our gender. This means each one of us, whether man or woman, has a duty to create and work in accordance with those God-given skills.”
– quoted from the doctoral thesis entitled “May a woman hold rabbinic office?” by Rabbi Regina Jonas (b. 08/03/1902)
“Well, what shall I talk about? I ain’t got anything funny to say. All I know is what I read in the papers.”
– Will Rogers
Since I started doing Movember classes, almost a decade ago, people have asked (and I have wondered) whether this month dedicated to “changing the face of men’s health” has made a difference. I say yes, and have anecdotal evidence to back it up; but a lot of the scientific evidence is based on the importance of stage migration, whereby improved detection of an illness leads to a change in the average life expectancy of people who are clinically healthy and also the average life expectancy of people who are considered unhealthy.
As recently as 2019, Italian researchers were studying how improved diagnostic scanning could improve life expectancy as well as quality of life for patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer. Another example of this type of stage migration in prostate cancer was documented in 2005 by researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut. Researchers noticed a decline in the reported incidence of “low-grade” prostate cancers and, therefore, a change in overall life expectancy of people with prostate cancer. Based on a “population-based cohort of 1,858 men,” 75 years or older, the researchers compared prognosis and outcomes of prostate tissue (“retrieved and reread in 2002-2004”) based on the original Gleason score readings versus more contemporary interpretations of the Gleason score.
The Gleason score is a combination of two “grades” assigned to the two most dominant tissue cell patterns (with the lowest “grade” being the closest to normal or healthy tissue). The more contemporary readings changed which tissue patterns were considered “low grade” cancer, hence the decline in population numbers. However, they also found that since the contemporary score readings were significantly higher than the original readings, the overall mortality rate lowered by 28%. Both the examples above (from Italy and Connecticut) are indicate how early detection saves lives. They are also classic examples of why stage migration is known as “the Will Rogers phenomenon.”
“When the Oakies left Oklahoma and moved to California, it raised the I.Q. of both states.”
– Will Rogers
Born today in 1879, in Oologah, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), Will Rogers was known as “America’s Cowboy Philosopher,” “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son,” and “Ambassador to the World.” He was a cowboy and circus performer, a stage and motion picture actor, as well as a vaudeville performer, a humorist, and a syndicated newspaper columnist. He was also a Cherokee citizen who traveled the world three times and was, at one time, the highest paid Hollywood star.
Rogers was known for his folksy, down-home wit and his rope tricks. His smile, attitude, and intellect allowed him to make fun of everyone from politicians to gangsters (yes, there’s a Will Rogers’s joke in there) and everything from prohibition to gender interactions (and, yes, there’s probably a joke in there too). He once joked that his ancestors weren’t on the Mayflower, but that “they met the boat” and was proud of the fact that while he could joke about everyone, he’d never met a man he [didn’t] like.
While he spun his jokes, Will Rogers spun his rope. He earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records by simultaneously throwing a rope around a horse’s neck, a second rope around the rider, and a slipping a third rope under the horse so he could loop all four legs together. He randomly roped a wild steer in Madison Square Garden, before it could hurt an spectators – gaining front page attention and a job on a rooftop: just him, his rope, and his horse. He eventually performed with the Ziegfeld Follies, appeared on Broadway, and showed he could rift about anything and anybody – including President Woodrow Wilson.
“A gag, to be any good, has to be fashioned about some truth. The rest you get by your slant on it and perhaps by a wee bit of exaggeration, so’s people won’t miss the point.”
– Will Rogers
He was also known for getting people to laugh at themselves – a skill which enabled him to serve as a goodwill ambassador to Mexico and mayor of Beverly Hills. Will Rogers was a symbol of the self-made man and the common man, who believed in working hard, progress, and the possibility of the American Dream. All of which is pretty ironic when you consider that when he was growing up (as the youngest of 8), his father thought he needed to “be more responsible and more business-minded.” While he did eventually buy land in Oklahoma, where he had intended to retire, Will Rogers did not follow in his father’s footsteps. On the flip side, the three of his four children who survived into adulthood all seemed to follow some aspect of Will Rogers: one was a World War II hero who starred in two films (as his father) and served in Congress; one was a newspaperman who worked a ranch; and his only daughter became a Broadway actress.
“There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin’. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”
– Will Rogers
Please join me tonight, Friday, Movember 4th, 7:15 PM – 8:20 PM (CST), for First Friday Night Special #25: “The More You Mou’”on Zoom. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
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Friday Night’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify.[Look for “Diwali 4 on Movember 5 2021”]
This Yin Yoga practice is accessible and open to all.
Prop wise,this is a kitchen sink practice. You can practice without props or use “studio” props and/or “householder” props. Example of Commercial props: 1 – 2 blankets,2 – 3 blocks, a bolster, a strap, and an eye pillow. Example of Householder props: 1 – 2 blankets or bath towels, 2 – 3 books (similar in size), 2 standard pillows (or 1 body pillow), a belt/tie/sash, and a face towel.
You may want extra layers (as your body may cool down during this practice). Having a wall, chair, sofa, or coffee table may be handy for this practice.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
“Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects.”
– Will Rogers
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255). You can also call the TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
Many blessings on National Navajo Code Talkers Day!
”When the war ended, other combatants were free to discuss their roles in the service and to receive recognition for their actions. But the Marines instructed us, the code talkers, to keep our accomplishments secret. We kept our own counsel, hiding our deeds from family, friends, and acquaintances. Our code was finally declassified in 1968, twenty-three years after the war’s end.
This book may be my story, bit it is written for all of these men.
May they and their loved ones walk in beauty.”
– quoted from the Dedication (“to the 420 World War II Navajo Marine code talkers”) in Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII by Chester Nez with Judith Schiess Avila
My apologies for not posting the music before the practice. You can request an audio recording of Sunday’s practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Musical Note: This is the remix that includes compositions by Pulitzer Prize winner Raven Chacon. With the exception of the seventeenth track and the final track, all the music on the playlist features musicians and/or groups recognized by the Native American Music Awards (NAMA), which awards “Nammy’s” for styles of music associated with Native Americans and First Nations and to nominees who are Native American or when at least one member in a group or band is from a State for Federally recognized tribe. Most of the songs feature people who have been inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame or have been awarded NAMA Lifetime Achievement Awards. Some songs simply won a Nammy (or two). To my knowledge, I only covered ten (maybe eleven) nations. I wanted to include “One World (We Are One)” – which is the result of a collaboration between Taboo, IllumiNative and Mag 7 – but the song was not available on Spotify.
”’I’m no hero,’ Chester Nez chuckles. ‘I just wanted to serve my country.’ I just wanted to serve my country. to appreciate that remark, you need to know a little modern Native American history. In Chester’s home state of New Mexico, Native Americans were still denied the vote when he volunteered as a Marine in World War II. Nevertheless, the military called upon Chester and fellow Navajos to devise a code that many analysts believe assured the United States’ defeat of Japan in the South Pacific.”
– quoted from the Prologue (by Judith Schiess Avila) to Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII by Chester Nez with Judith Schiess Avila
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
Stay hydrated, y’all, and “may our hearts be open!”
This is the “missing” post for today, Sunday, July 24th. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment belowor (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
“‘Consider purification, tapas, which literally means “to melt,” as in refining ore. The purpose of purification is not pain and penance, but to deliberately refine one’s life, to melt it down and recast it into a higher order of purity and spirituality. The goal is very important; it is not self-punishment but refinement – to shift from human existence into Divinity!
There are three main methods of purification: the refinement of one’s thoughts, words, and deeds – also called the purification, respectively, of one’s instruments of mind, speech, and body. When you modify these three you automatically change for the better.’”
– Krishna speaking to Arjuna (17.14) in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley
If you’re anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, I don’t have to tell you that it’s hot. Neither do I have to do much to bring your awareness to the heat – the great heat, the major heat. Since I use different calendars, I may talk about different things on this date. However, because it’s almost always really hot this time of year, no matter where you are in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m always aware of the heat – and that shows up in the practice.
For instance, in years past, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar has fallen around this time of year (on the Gregorian calendar). The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar and, like other religious calendars, the names of the months (and days) have special significance. In this case, the ninth month is the holy month of Ramadān, which means “scorching heat” or “dryness,” and is one of the “99 Names of Allah (God)” or “99 Attributes of Allah (God).” It is a period of fasting and reflection – which, in the Yoga Philosophy, is a form of tapas (“heat,” “discipline,” and “austerity”). On the other hand, if we want to just stick with a yoga paradigm, Guru Purnima, which is based on the Hindu lunisolar calendar, fell on today’s Gregorian date in 2021. This celebration of teachers is also a celebration of light (in the form of wisdom/teachings) burning away darkness (e.g., ignorance).
I sometimes mention John Newton, the Anglican clergyman known for hymns like “Amazing Grace,” who was born in London on July 24, 1725. Newton’s life was full of hardship and trauma. His mother died just a couple of weeks before he turned seven years old, and then – after a couple of years at boarding school and a couple of years with his father and stepmother – he went to sea with his father. When he was 18 years old, he was pressed into the Royal Navy, but ended up being publicly punished after trying to desert. Eventually, he transferred to a slave ship – but, he didn’t have any better luck there and was himself enslaved by the time he was 20. After three years, he was rescued, but found himself in the middle of a terrible storm. Faced with the very real possibility of his own death, John Newton prayed and made a promise to God: if he survived, he would turn his life around. True to his word, he gave up drinking, gambling, and cursing. Later, he would also give up working within the slave trade and begin serious religious study. He spent years applying to be ordained by several different churches before being ordained and accepted by the Church of England.
“Family worship succeeding, the portion of the Scripture read had in it the following words, ‘By the Grace of God I am what I am,’ –– It was [John Newton’s] custom to make a short familiar exposition on the passage read. After the reading, he paused for some moments and then uttered the following affected words –– –I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient – I am not what I wish to be, I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good –– I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection –– yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was, a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge; by the grace of God I am what I am, Let us pray.”
– quoted from passage entitled “Anecdote of Mr. John Newton” by Dr. Gill, in the “Gleanings” section of The Religious Monitor, or, Evangelical Repository (March 1825)
Finally, July 24th is “Pioneer Day” in Utah and it marks the occasion, in 1847, when Brigham Young looked out of the back of a covered wagon and said, “It is enough. This is the Right Place.” Young was the successor of Joseph Smith, the founder of what is now known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and – before he was exiled from Illinois – Young had a vision of a place that these Mormon settlers could call home, a place where they would be free from religious persecution and conflict: “a place on this earth that nobody else wants.” 148 settlers followed Brigham Young west. Most reached the Great Salt Lake Valley, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, a couple of days ahead of their leader, who was suffering from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
When the story of the Mormon pioneers has been the main focus of the practice, I have mentioned that some people in Salt Lake City spend today celebrating “Pie and Beer Day.” Some do so because they’re not part of the Church and it’s a funny little rhyme. Some do so because they feel this official holiday isn’t as inclusive as it (theoretically) could be. On that same note, there is an Intertribal Powwow on this date that celebrates indigenous culture and the contributions of Native Americans to Utah, as well as highlights the fact that there were, in fact, people who wanted the land. I mention all of this because I consider all of these viewpoints as an opportunity for svādhyāya (“self-study”), which is the niyama (internal “observation”) that directly follows the practice of tapas.
Similarly, I contemplate those religious pioneers that left New York, Illinois, and Missouri earlier (in 1946) and got trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains as they traveled to California. They got trapped and many – like in the case of the tragic Donner party of 18 – did not survive the extreme cold. But, when I talk about Brigham Young and those 148 pioneers, I think about the extreme heat. I have been to the east side of Salt Lake City, to This Is the Place Heritage Park – albeit in the winter; but I imagined what it would be like after traveling months on end and through so much heat. I thought about the religious fervor that carried people through the rocky terrain and I thought about what it might have been like for Brigham Young, sick, feverish, maybe delirious, and (even if he was experiencing chills) surrounded by major heat, great heat.
“The center of most ancient cultures, from China in the second century B.C. to the twentieth-century native America, was the earth. Human welfare was attached to the rains upon the soil, the wind of the heaves and pliable trees embedded in an abundant forest. Chief Seattle, in 1854, summed up this ancient view of how humanity stands in relation to the world” ‘This we know – the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood unites one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.'”
– quoted from “Chapter Three – Philosophy in the East: The Doctor As Gardener” in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. and Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O. M. D.
The traditional Chinese calendar, also known as the Agricultural Calendar and the farming calendar, is a lunisolar calendar that is also the basis for many other cultural and religious calendars throughout East Asia. It breaks down into twelve lunar months and twenty-four solar terms. Each day, month, season, and year is based on an astronomical and/or natural phenomena. For instance, days begin and end at midnight; a month begins and ends with the new moon; and the Lunar New Year begins on the second (or third) new moon after the Winter Solstice. Each month of the Lunar Year is associated with an agricultural phenomena as well as with a zodiac animal. On the flip side, the solar year begins with the Winter Solstice and each of the twenty-four terms is based on the sun’s celestial longitude and associated with “pre-climate” and “mid-climate” experiences. (NOTE: This system also includes intercalary or “leap” months during some years.) According to the traditional Chinese calendar, the sixth pair of solar terms are Xiǎo shǔ (小暑, “slight heat”) and Dà shǔ (大暑, “great heat” or “major heat”). This year, the latter started on Friday night and continues through August 7, 2022.
Dà shǔ (大暑, “Great heat” or “Major heat”) is the twelfth solar term and the last part of summer. It is considered the hottest time of the year in most of China and Chinese news media have reported that this year is the hottest “great heat” in recorded history. Agriculturally speaking, it is believed that “crops grow most rapidly, fireflies appear, soil becomes more humid, and heavy thunderstorms arrive” during this solar term. As is true of other religious and cultural observations, people in different regions throughout East Asia have different rituals and traditions related to this time of year. However, one commonality is the focus on how heat affects the mind-body and what people can do to boost their health and longevity. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this time of year is focused on “clearing” heat and excessive dampness and stagnation from the body and “clearing” and nourishing the heart.
“Since everything is connected by the circle, health is understood broadly, defining the whole being within the social and natural order. What is good for nature is good for humanity, what is good for one is good for all, what is good for the mind is good for the body, and so on. To harm a part is to harm the whole. What is bad for the heart is bad for the body, what damages one person damages all people, what injures the earth injures me. Conversely, to restore and preserve the good health of one body and mind is to foster the well-being of the whole, the earth and all life upon it.”
– quoted from “Chapter Three – Philosophy in the East: The Doctor As Gardener” in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. and Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O. M. D.
Like Ayurveda and Yoga, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) associates the vitality of the heart with the arms. The heart meridian (YIN) begins at the inside of the armpit and runs along the front inside edge of the arm to the pinky finger. It is paired with the small intestine meridian (YANG), which runs along the back inside edge of the arm, starting with the pinky finger, zigzagging across the shoulder and the up the side of the neck to the outer corner of the eye (just in front of the ear). These meridians are associated with fire, summer, mid-day (which is sometimes the hottest part of the day), red (with a little hint of blue), and joy (when in-balance versus anxiety when out-of-balance). Additionally, this time of year is associated with the “yang within yin” (you can think of it as action within the inaction) – a reminder that each energy type illustrated in the Yin-Yang symbol includes the opposite energy.
A common TCM practice is to “treat winter disease in the summer,” which is really about taking preventative measures against ailments like bronchitis, bronchial asthma, nasal/sinus allergies, and other cold weather ailments – all ailments related to the lungs, the meridians of which (along with large intestines meridian) are also located in the arms. Preventative care may include a customized herbal treatment, acupuncture, and/or a treatment whereby herbal patches are placed on specific meridian points. Being mindful of what we eat and drink is another way people take care of their mind-body vitality. Along with a lot of other traditional (and modern) medicines, TCM practitioners recommend eating light and staying hydrated during extreme heat. Specific to Dà shǔ (大暑, “Great heat” or “Major heat”), people avoid spicy food, oily food, and heavy meals – as well as (extremely) cold meals and raw food. There is also an emphasis on getting enough rest, not overexerting one’s self (say, with strenuous exercise), and not spending a lot of time outside in the heat.
“The key is to achieve balance, which means being flexible, diverse, moderate, and in harmony with your own rhythm and needs. Chinese medicine makes use of acupuncture, herbs, diet, physical exercise, massage, mental discipline, and the modification of life-style habits as forms of therapy to reestablish the rhythmic swing of the Yin-Yang pendulum.”
– quoted from the “Everyday Life” section of “Chapter Four – Cycles of Circles: A Theory of Relativity Yin-Yang” in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. and Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O. M. D.
As I mentioned before, different regions have different traditions and rituals related to Dà shǔ (大暑, “Great heat” or “Major heat”). In Guangdong province, people eat herb jelly, which is made of “divine grass.” Also known as “immortal grass,” this flowering plant is part of the lamiaceae or labiatae family of plants, which includes basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, and perilla, as well as conventionally identified medicinal herbs like catnip, salvia, bee balm, wild dagga, and “Chinese motherwort.” In Taiwan, this is the best time to eat pineapple. In at least one part of the Fujian province, people may make mizao from fermented and pickled rice (often cooked with brown sugar) and consume it to revitalize any energy sapped by the heat. They may also drink warm mutton soup – made from “summer mutton” – and litchis that have been soaked in cold water. In Hunan province, people may eat a spring chicken in order to harness the power of youth.
Finally, in Zhejiang province, one of the highlights of the festival is a “Great Heat Boat,” which is giant boat filled with offerings made in hopes of a good harvest, a good catch, and a happy life. Fishermen carry the boat during a parade that leads to the sea, where the ship is cast off and then set afire. Like many other festivals in China, this one includes firecrackers (to ward off the bad luck) and blessings (to cultivate the good luck).
“Eastern Philosophy is based on the premise that all life occurs within the circle of nature. Things within this matrix are connected and mutually dependent upon each other. Nature is one unified system, the Tao with polar and complementary aspects: Yin and Yang. Nature is in constant motion, following cyclic patterns that describe the process of transformation. When the elements of nature are in balance, life is harmonic and flourishes. When the balance of polar forces is upset, disaster looms.”
– quoted from “Chapter Three – Philosophy in the East: The Doctor As Gardener” in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. and Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O. M. D.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “08222021 Fire Thread”]
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988. If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can call 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING. If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
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A Joyful Practice 