In this second session of Awakened Action, Valerie Brown explores where we encounter the charnel grounds—a Buddhist metaphor for places where deep suffering is present, including in our own minds. Valerie shares her own charnel ground: the dismantling of civil rights in America and invites participants to name their own charnel grounds within and outside themselves. She weaves together teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on practicing peace in ourselves even in the face of obvious injustice. Through the practices of right view and becoming “transformed non-conformists,” Valerie calls us to meet “the sweeping, dismantling, and elimination of every office and every program designed to protect and defend civil rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in the United States” with courage and compassion—to refuse the normalization of injustice and to act from love. Her message: in times of violence, love itself becomes revolutionary resistance.
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