This meditation was offered as a way to help us work with the storms of police violence and racism and the response to them as expressed in the days after the murder of George Floyd.

Thich Nhat Hanh has offered us invaluable lessons in working with compassion that allows us to see bot victim and perpetrator with the eyes of interbeing.  His poem Please Call Me By My True Names is very well known.  Somewhat less known is the poem Recommendation.  These poems have been a great inspiration and have offered me practice tools in these times.  They are reproduced after the meditation.

We start by creating space within ourselves, by coming back to our breathing, calming and relaxing the body and the mind.

When I feel that I have space and peace within me and that I can maintain that space and peace, I begin with the first inquiry.  I see myself as a police officer killing a black person, as a guard in a Nazi concentration camp, as a pilot of a bomber plane on a mission to eradicate an entire city.   look at my own capacity of fear, of hate, of dismissing.  I see that my circle of compassion has boundaries – sone are clearly defined, and some are blurred.  I look at the compassion I offer for those who are very close to me, like family members, those who are not so close, and those who are very far removed, like members of other nations, other cultures, other eras, other species, and then those who I dislike.

 I look into where do I put my limits, under what circumstances.  I might be a vegetarian and my limits might be at squashing a mosquito or a tick.  My limits might be expressed with reptiles or rodents.  Or it might be with people who I consider evil.  I just observe my own definitions as they are with no expectations or judgments, simply being aware of those limits, boundaries, definitions.

I then inquire if my limits might be different when I feel threatened, or my loved are attacked, or my values are attacked.

I see that my circle of compassion has different levels of inclusion and exclusion.  There is no universal circle of compassion that is defined in all people and which stays the same.

The second inquiry is into racism in me.  I look at racism in me, the many hidden ways that I become a racist, even though I probably do not think of myself as a racist, or intend to be one.  I look at fear of others, at stereotypes and judgments that I have, at social and cultural values that have been passed on to me and left their stamp on me.

I the third inquiry I look at my relationship with authority.  I look at my need for approval, fears of being rejected, of being different, my relationship with punishment (fear of punishment, wanting others to be punished). wanting someone else to take charge, to make decisions,  wanting to take charge or to dominate.

Having looked at my own capacity for evil, the boundaries of my compassion, racism and judgment within me, and the different aspects of my relationship with authority, I set out to establish a circle of compassion with no limits.

First, I create safety in my own body – creating space and solidity.  I soften my groin, pelvic floor and lower abdomen.  I release tensions in my chest. I relax the throat.  I let the eyes and brain recede towards the back of skull.  I create space and solidity in my body to allow me to expand my circle of compassion, release my fears of, and need for, authority.  I touch all beings, victims and perpetrators, weak and strong and generate the circle of compassion, of love, for all beings.