I do understand that the fear of being outed as a White racist, and then left stranded on the bitter ice floe of a terrible self-knowledge without a remedy in sight, could be supremely difficult to surmount, no matter how much anyone might insist that it’s all remedies, all the time. It is all remedies, all the time—and they work—and it is healing, and it does make you feel better.
I’m putting it down in writing now, as best I can, just in case anyone may wish to try some DIY healing or design their own workshop—for free, please, and after trying out the practices you offer on yourself and finding them good.
This is also a love letter of sorts, to all the spiritual teachers, friends, and companions on my braided spiritual path—which besides a Sufi path includes shamanic practices, Santería, and Al-Anon—who have helped and hindered me along the way. Decades ago, during an individual retreat guided by a Sufi teacher, I found myself thinking, “These people have saved my life. They have saved my life.” So this is both giving back and paying it forward. I frequently quote Hazrat Inayat Khan, who brought the message of Sufism to the West and founded what is now the Inayatiyya Order, because I’m most familiar with his teachings. Any reader can no doubt refer to the teachings of any number of spiritual teachers for equally helpful guiding wisdom.
And while this little book principally addresses White people on a spiritual path, I hope that everyone may find it helpful for healing from the impact of White racism, whether shared, internalized, or experienced within groups of people of color in the form of colorism or the temptation to align with White racism in the hope that it might be of some personal advantage. We’re all in this together.
In fact, early on it occurred to me that for those who are not yet on a spiritual path, and those who are deeply ensnared in fear and hatred, spiritual healing techniques may be just what the doctor ordered. We cannot dehumanize other people without first sacrificing our own humanity. The impulse there, as we have seen, is so often—and always with utterly disastrous results—to try to get rid of the feared and hated people. The people are not the enemy. The fear, the hatred, the self-righteousness are the enemy—and they’re infinitely easier to get rid of. Those who long for civil war or a genocide, because they believe that this time they’ll win and then they’ll be happy, can really only find peace, and happiness, in themselves. All hatred is ultimately self-hatred.
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