“In separateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength.” Buddha
Diane Dreher’s last blog about healing communities is, partly, the inspiration for this meditation. If I were to reflect on the kind of art that brings inspiration and healing to different communities across borders, the artist I can think of is Consuelo Jimenez Underwood.
Consuelo Jimenez Underwood is a contemporary Latina 
fiber artist who has exhibited her work across the United States and taught textile art at San Jose State University. Her work uses multimedia and, more than anything else, forces us to think about the meaning of borders. Whether it is the geographical borders that we erect to separate communities or the invisible borders we create to discriminate among different groups, she reminds us in her work that the mother earth is one. In her more recent exhibitions, in contrast with the painful partitions of the U.S.-Mexico border, we see the unity of a land filled with flowers.
When I see her work, I see the suffering of those desperate
enough to cross a very dangerous border, looking for refuge and healing among us. But those images of flowers remind us that the land is never divided, that there was a time when we saw in each other and in our immigrants the common humanity that unites all consciousness.
Try this practice:
- Sit with your back straight and focus on your breathing.
- As you are breathing in and out, ask yourself, ‘do I challenge the borders that keep me isolated from others?’
- Try to remember if there have been any moments in your life when you dared to cross a border to encounter the humanity of those different from you. Whether you have done it or not, watch your reaction with an open heart. If you did, what happened? If you didn’t, why not? Watch your mind with gratefulness and compassion for others and yourself.
- When you finish, write down your insights. Write about the borders that separate us from others, about the challenges of meeting and receiving the humanity of others different than you. Notice the way you could challenge yourself and those borders in order to create a more united world.
Paz,
Juan