Widest Gateways to Enlightenment

"If we were to simply walk past the fires of racism, sexism, and so on because illusions of separation exist within them, we may well be walking past one of the widest gateways to enlightenment. It is a misinterpretation to suppose that attending to the fires of our existence cannot lead us to experience the waters of peace.

Profundity in fact resides in what we see in the world. Spiritual awakening arrives from our ordinary lives, our everyday struggles with each other. It may even erupt from the fear and rage that we tiptoe around. The challenges of race, sexuality, and gender are the very things that the spiritual path to awakening requires us to tend to as aspirants to peace."

-- Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

"I have experienced being “colored,” “Negro,” “black,” “African American,” “descendant of Africans,” “straight,” “bi-sexual,” “two-spirited (masculine and feminine),” “tomboy,” “lesbian,” “dyke,” and “poor.” I am bi-sexual at heart but have lived in a same-sex or lesbian relationship most of my adult life. I have subscribed to these labels over time, to acknowledge my particular lived experience shaped by its particular suffering.

Yes, my bones know the absolute life, unencumbered by labels, fixed perceptions, and appearances. But the absolute life has never been the problem I have to face in the world."