Our Ancestors Are With Us Now
Our ancestors are with us now, as always. Our beloved dead remain, transmuted into many different energies that feed and nourish the multitude of currently living beings. When we breathe, we inhale them, and they circulate through our cells and systems, dropping love and energy as they whoosh through with the rest of the particles that make up the air. When we move along the ground, they are right there beneath us, sprinkled throughout the soil, soaked up in to the roots and leaves and fruits of all that grows. When the rain falls and the rivers flow and the lakes and oceans roll in and out, our ancestors are moved and carried and washed up on beaches all around the world. When volcanoes erupt and wildfires rage, our ancestors rage with and through them.
Our ancestors are all with us now, as they always have been and always will be. Their unmet needs and unfulfilled desires are also here with us now, contributing to our current realities in ways that are simultaneously obvious and mysterious. They swim in the sloshing sea of our subconscious, creating currents and guiding us toward what they wanted, what they needed, what they want for us, what they think we need. This is a beautiful thing, and I am beyond grateful for the ways they work with us, arm in arm, carrying us into the future along with them.
However, we do not always agree with them. We do not always have the same needs, desires, hopes, and dreams as they did. We all have ancestors who wanted what we want now, and we all have ancestors who wanted something we now reject.
When we consult the ancestors as guides, we should keep this in mind. We should keep in mind that we are free, that we are alive right now, and that it is our turn in our various lineages to steer, to create our collective future, one decision at a time. Literally every single moment, we can choose to repeat and strengthen ancestral patterns that align with what we know to be correct for us and our communities in the present, and what we hope will be helpful and useful and supportive for those who will come after we are gone. We are also already and eternally free to interrupt and change ancestral patterns that don't align with our values and that we already know will not lead us into the futures we want for ourselves and our descendants.
When we take actions that interrupt embodied ancestral patterns, it is pretty much a guarantee that we will doubt ourselves. That we will feel like we are doing something wrong, even when intellectually we know it is correct to at least try and change the pattern. This phenomenon makes so much sense to me when I remember that there are many, many ancestors with me right now who don't agree with me, who in their lifetime chose to repeat and strengthen the very patterns that I have chosen to interrupt. I assume they chose these patterns because for them, in their time and place, they believed them to be the best way to survive, or maybe the best way to ensure their legacy (including me).
It is not disrespectful to break unsupportive, harmful patterns, even when they are deeply rooted in our personal and/or collective lineages. We do not dishonor our ancestors when we reject the beliefs and traditions that were important to them. Instead, we honor them by consulting them, taking seriously their recommendations and guidance, and then deciding our way forward. If we decide in a way that they do not agree with, that is an example of us living into our liberation. If we decide in a way they do agree with, that is also an example of us living into our liberation. We are invited choose to partner with ancestors who support us in living into our collective liberation, and who support our friends and chosen family and neighbors and communities in living into our collective liberation. Just as with any other advisory board or consultant, our decisions are ours to make, and that if we diverge from the advice given to us, that is our right as free and living beings. There may be consequences as a result, and we can take that into consideration as we make decisions.
It is not disrespectful or immoral to disobey when the pattern we want to interrupt requires our obedience. It is not immoral to disobey when white supremacy and settler colonialism demand obedience. It is not immoral to disobey laws that require us to act in opposition to our values and what we know to be correct. It is right and correct for us to practice living into our collective liberation by disrupting patterns of violence, oppression, genocide, and abuse. It is right and correct for us to honor all of our ancestors by choosing each other, supporting each other, and loving each other well.
