I hear much about “taking sides” and the US Government has made it clear what they support.  As for me, I honor  humanity, and only humanity.  My heart aches for Jewish people who felt and experienced terror on October 7th, and continue to face ever-increasing hatred and danger as they have their entire history.  And that same heartache exists for the Palestinian people, along with many other Black and Brown people around the globe, for the ongoing and incomprehensible oppression and violence they have faced throughout history. 

In the past, I’ve felt apprehensive weighing in on situations like this, worried that I lacked context as a white Westerner who was conditioned by colonialism, white-supremacy, and who has enormous privilege. I’ve worked hard to deconstruct that conditioning, and create within me deep roots of restorative justice and anti-racism, yet I still acknowledge the many ways I benefit from my privilege while living under these systems of oppression. And during conflicts like this, many will take advantage of it to express their deeply held anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, anti-Black perspectives. For me, personally, if I don’t speak, my silence feels complicit in those harmful ways of being.

When this started, I made an audio recording about my thoughts regarding the violence that’s continuing and expected to spread. While it felt vulnerable to take a stand, my unrelenting sense of justice compels me.  It’s vulnerable because the way I was taught about this conflict over the years – educated mostly by network news and other white people – I was taught that it was a religious problem.  But this is not a religious conflict.  It’s political.  It’s colonial.  It’s an imperialist problem. It’s a dissociation from our shared humanity – which brings us to my heart on all this…

In my message yesterday, my heart was essentially expressing this:

I deeply care about and deeply identify with the human side, because choosing our humanity means choosing Love.

The next morning, I sought out two women on TikTok whom I deeply respect – Jameelah Jones and Twitchy Witch – to get their heart on the matter. I appreciate them, not only because they are women who often have a more eloquent and powerful way of communicating, they also have a deeper intersectional lens and educated perspective than I do.

The Wisdom

Their hearts were resonant with mine: leading with a compassionate focus on shared humanity is where we want our hearts to be. Better than I ever could have, they both also eloquently broke down the historical and social dynamics at play.

At its roots, this is a story of oppression and dehumanization stretching back over a century. As Twitchy Witch explained, Israel’s founding retained the colonialist and imperialist logic of European settlements in the Middle East. British and French colonists painted indigenous Arabs as “dogs” and savages. They segregated cities, denying native people access to economic opportunities.

Israel’s government adopted similar discriminatory systems. Their right to the land rested on propaganda about “a land without a people for a people without a land.” In reality, Palestine was inhabited. Israel enacted ethnic rules keeping Arab Israelis from full rights and participation. As Twitchy Witch basically put it, you cannot claim democracy for one group while denying it to another within your borders.

These systemic injustices cultivated the ground for radicalism. Groups like Hamas arose advocating violence as the only path to change. Such extremism hurts innocents on both sides. And kids absorb the harm too – Israeli youth taught to deny Palestinian claims to the land, Palestinian youth who cannot return to their ancestral villages.

Why is this happening?

I was reminded of the Black Lives Matter protests of a few years ago, when there were nightly protests and violence breaking out across the United States, and elsewhere.  As someone who generally renounces violence, one of the big insights for me was finally, finally actually hearing the quote from Dr. Martin Luthur King Jr. when he said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

The only reason this conflict is happening is because the hearts of the Jewish and Palestinial people went unheard. 

I don’t even want to call this Israel / Palestine situation a “conflict” because that word carries with it the idea that there is somehow a measure of power on both sides.  That’s not true here – not really.  Israel has power.  The Palestinian people do not. And power dynamics tell a much more honest story about what’s going on.

As Jameelah Jones said, this conflict is not about religion or simple “bad guys” versus “good guys.” It is centuries of dehumanization coming to a head. Like any war, the most vulnerable suffer most – the poor, the elderly, disabled, children of all backgrounds just wishing to live in peace. They are the ones who will suffer the most.

Every missile, every acre stolen, every child mourning a parent erodes our shared humanity. Viscous cycles of violence will continue claiming lives as long as our hearts are turned away from Love and from each other. Too many generations have only known oppression and conflict, not the freedom and dignity that is every human’s birthright.

And what we see now is genocide.  It has to be named.  The IDF, supported by Israeli and US governments (among others) are committing genocide against a powerless people, while they try to stop terrorism. We’ve seen it before.

And, Jewish people around the world are facing increased and ongoing threat to their lives as well.

None of this is okay.  Every single human heart is worthy of love, safety, and protection.  There is room for all of us – together.

Why I Don’t Call Out for Peace

Many people all over are calling for peace.  I understand the intent is sincere, yet we have to understand where these calls for peace are coming, and what they mean.

Within many power dynamics (micro to macro) peace is used as a tool by those with power to simply silence those without power.

In this situation, peace is used by Israel and others to keep the non-white world silent.

Saying, “We just want there to be peace on both sides” is asking for non-white resistors to be quiet.  Peace for the white world means silence for the non-white world.

That is not true peace.¹

This is why I call for Love.  This is why I call for humanity. Do I long for peace?  Of course I do… but not the way whiteness usually calls for peace.  I want more love, not less – all-ways💜^™ and I know that peace will follow.

The Path Forward

The path forward begins with looking into the eyes of every victim and seeing yourself. This is akin to the concept of Adab, which we discussed in The Village Workshop in October. Adab is seeing the face of the Divine reflected in every face.  As human beings, we are responsible TO each other and FOR each other. Hurting one group does not lead to healing for the other. It only breeds more senseless harm. True peace springs from reciprocity and mutuality – seeing your equal humanity in people who seem unlike you.

This situation is a more macro reason why I do the work I do of more love, not less – all-ways.™💜  It is a larger reflection of the war that has existed within my own heart for the 51 years I’ve been alive.  My traumas marginalizing my magic, power, and beauty. My religious conditioning oppressing my humanity.  And the systems within which I was born and raised, colonizing my heart and spirit of Love.

The work I do in The Village with “more love, not less – all-ways™💜” is meant to help each of us de-colonize our own hearts… to remove the marginalization caused by traumas, restore an experience of Love within ourselves, and ultimately establish a reciprocity of shared, compassionate humanity between us, our businesses, and the world.

Trauma runs deep on all sides of what we’re seeing in this situation. Lifting one group up by oppressing another is a formula for endless bloodshed. Lasting change starts with unconditional compassion rooted in our common bonds… a willingness to listen, apologize, forgive, and repair. Efforts to provide security, self-determination and economic opportunity for all people – rooted in Adab.

I pray the day comes when all who call Dar al-Salaam (The House of Peace) home can live without fear, worship without restriction, and raise their children with hope; when the humanity in each soul is honored above all else.

From that sacred place of love, justice flows.

I certainly don’t have the answers regarding how to get there, but I do know that doing the work we’re doing in The Village is a step in that direction.  This work is so much more than simply self-love or getting our businesses to work.  The way we participate and engage in both is necessary to change the planet and all the hearts upon it.

Lastly, I want to mention that if you’re anything like me, all of this can feel crushingly heavy on a sensitive heart.  What I’ve found in my own practice with horrors over the years is that my own sense of being “untethered” in relationship to situations like this, leaves my nervous system nowhere to go but sympathetic and dorsal (especially dorsal, for me). 

Sharing This Together Helps

The reason I wrote and shared this today is because doing so metaphorically puts ground underneath my feet, giving me a solid place to ground myself and my heart.  It helps me to remain tethered both to the planet and to the Divine, through one, unified cord.  

From this grounded place, I can grieve without collapsing.  From this tethered position, I can be angered without furthering harm.  It is from this framework that I can stretch out to offer support.  It is from this solid, anchored place of Remembrance that I am able to remain in a ventral place of safety in my system – remembering that what’s happening to the vulnerable hearts in Dar al-Salaam is not without access to the Divine and all of it’s powerful and beautiful qualities.  It is the remembrance of Love which gives me hope, guidance, and comfort. And it is only Love which will help those in Dar al-Salaam get through this.

I’ve resereved comments on this post to people who are in The Village. However, I invite you to consider how this lands in your heart, and consider taking some time to write down how you’re feeling about it. You don’t have to share it… just let it get onto a page. Lean into your relationship with the Greater Reality of Love through spiritual practice, ritual, and somatic experience. Let yourself been seen in your vulnerability with someone you trust, so you can hold tight together. And, if you feel called, consider joining the dear hearts in The Village we’d love to hold your heart along with all of ours.

If your sensitive heart, trauma, and/or neurodiverence is amplifying all of the harm to a degree that your nervous system is overwhelmed – please make it a priority to indulge yourself with care and resources that are available to you (or, those available in The Village, if you’re a member) to help you regulate and find your nervous system “safe enough.” Remember, the mechanic of Ventral is the social engagement system.  We don’t find safety alone – we find it together.  And that’s why we’re here – we do better together – we find safety in connection.