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manas-0.bsky.social
mānas
@manas-0.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.5K following 10K posts
I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and a survivor of complete dehumanization.

I wish you only health & happiness.

🤎

Jai Bhim! Jai Savitri!

🐘• https://hachyderm.io/@manas_
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manas-0.bsky.social
I have been leaving this comment in the comments section of Youtube videos on mental health that I have found beneficial.

I have left this comment (sans the opening ’Thank you‘) on the speeches given by the representatives of Singapore & Canada during the 80th session of the UNGA General Debate.
Thank you. I was subjected to CSA at age 9 in the racist, colorist, casteist, eugenicist fascist South East Asian country of Singapore. Through repeated, regular, constant traumatization I was completely dehumanized by age 12 in Singapore. I was migrated to Canada June 2005. I have engaged in a peaceful, non-violent struggle to re-humanize and (re)educate myself since I was 12 years old. I have carried out this struggle in spite of the casteist HIndutva biological household that I was born into. I have succeeded at my struggle and declared a significant victory on my 36th birthday, 31st October 2024. It has taken me 27 years to heal from the wound of CSA. It has taken me 24 years to heal from the wound of complete dehumanization. I have filed 2 Human Rights complaints with the UNHRC: WHRC/10695 against Singapore for their blatant, gross, extreme violations of the UNCRC and WHRC/10698 against Canada for their blatant, gross, extreme violations of the UNUDHR. I today live a completely ostracized & totally isolated life surrounded by racists, colorists, casteists, and fascists in Waterloo Ontario, Canada. I am trapped on the enforced legislative poverty of ODSP and my life is made intolerable & unliveable by my abusers/oppressors in the hope that I choose to cease breathing through my own means or through MAiD. This is a campaign of eugenics against dark-skinned males that I have survived and continue to survive with every breath that I take. --- I take refuge in The Buddha I take refuge in The Dhamma I take refuge in The Sangha I take all of your dukkha, past, present, & future I give to you all of my joy & happiness
October 1, 2025 at 3:48 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
By failing to seriously investigate and criticize educational and medical systems, we hand oppressors convenient weapons through which they may carry out eugenics campaigns as they implement ad-hoc caste systems for their own ease, comfort, and privilege.
On this basis, I interviewed fairly for and won 2 job offers. Each opportunity ended in heartbreak and severe traumatization. The last time I was severely traumatized was on 12th February 2021. I had not had one joyful, trauma-free year of life at that point in time. I was 32 years old. I had to relive my 32 years worth of memories of traumatization at one unavoidable, excruciating, painful length. I believe that this was the result of racist white supremacy, casteist Hindutva, and colorist fair-skinned Asian fascists. There was no one there for me other than my former partner who I will forever love, respect, and appreciate deeply. I survived with only nature, The Buddhadhamma as my guides, and a single drop of love for nourishment. I survived by focussing on my sincere, genuine attempt to traverse The Noble Eightfold Path, to implement Right Livelihood regardless of the role I may be playing in any organization or institution. I was able to forgive and release all of the abuse that everyone inflicted upon me, all of their cruelty, their neglect, and their deep lack of humanity. I have not worked since 12th February 2021. I am on the enforced legislative poverty of ODSP, Ontario's eugenics program. I was forced onto this by the corrupt, abusive casteists and the white supremacists who would rather abuse people into disability and death rather than respect and protect Human Rights. But, I am not despondent. I am not sad. I do not feel like I need to be working. I spend my life studying dukkha, violence, the consequences of abuse and the paths to recovery and healing. I study The Buddhadhamma so that I may be best prepared for formalizing my renunciation of all worldly desires & possessions in order to pursue ordination as a Buddhist monastic.
September 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
Please read the comment I left on the video, if you would like to.

Racism is real. Colorism is real. Casteism is real. Campaigns of eugenics in the so-called developed world that exploit the supposed ethical and moral standards of educational and medical systems are real.
Thank you. I do have something to share on this topic, the prevention & restriction from obtaining an education and from pursuing a career have been major sources of abuse and traumatization in my life. I returned from a Buddhist BIPOC retreat in Guelph on Sunday and since then I have been feeling the exploitative, consumptive, rapacious greed of the loveless casteist Hindutva biological household trying to consume the love that we expressed for ourselves and each other at the retreat. If you feel weird reading this, regardless of when this might be, please do everything you can to feel better. If you like to eat beef, please have your favorite dish for me. I eat beef when I find the casteists' horrible energy gets too overwhelming for me. They love cows more than they love themselves or other human beings, they do not eat beef and their cowardly energies flee from any beef consuming bodies. (Long walks in nature without any electronics, or as few as possible to be safe, also work. whatever works for you!) In racist, colorist, casteist, eugenicist, fascist Singapore, I first experienced traumatization that I can clearly recall in kindergarten. I was subjected to CSA at age 9 and through repeated, regular instances of traumatization I was completely dehumanized by age 12. I was a strong swimmer before this. I was a strong student, I would read all of my textbooks for the year before the first day of school. All of this was destroyed because the Chinese didn't want any competition academically, economically, or politically. The casteists watched silently because they are cowards and sell their children to pedophiles to fund their caste prisons/hovels. (continued) Regardless, I continued to educate myself to the best of my ability. I reached a university, which was white supremacist and deeply racist, colorist, and fascist, and left without any degree. I carried out a peaceful, non-violent protest against the normalization of my dehumanization on the basis of love. I was arrested in November 2011 for this and I have completed my 2 year probation period and received a discharge. I do not have a criminal record today. I have taught myself several different programming languages. I may not be an expert at any of these but I can get things done when required. I have taught myself the operation & administration of server systems (dedicated systems, before cloud things existed). I operated a hosting service focussed on privacy & security through using only Open Source Software. I have contributed to open source software projects through the infrastructure that I operated, I have contributed several petabytes worth of secure data transmission through the systems & networks that I had full responsibility for. Through this work, I have been the first to find and report serious, showstopper bugs in major open source software projects, one bug that I found and reported was for a new release of the FreeBSD operating system.
September 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
Here is a comment I left on CPTSD Foundation's video on Rebuilding Trust in Recovery:
I was at a Buddhist BIPOC retreat over the weekend in Guelph Ontario. I had watched this video on rebuilding trust a few days before leaving for the retreat, it turned out to be super relevant. I happened to experience intrusive thoughts that made me wary and paranoid of the Asian retreat attendees, constantly and regularly catching myself thinking if any of them may be agents of the Chinese government. It took 2 days before I was able to sort out the truth from the delusions. In that time I developed a deeper understanding for the enmeshment that I believe I have been struggling against. I realized that oppressors could and would take advantage of the dynamics of enmeshment & co-dependence, especially in immigrant households such as my own where boundaries between adults and children, and between children, are ignored and never developed in order to facilitate ease of employment as immigrants. The adults may practice some level of enmeshment upon their children, but this enmeshment can be exploited by oppressors in the countries we migrate to in order to enmesh upon the children as well as the adults. Since we would reject any enmeshment directly from the oppressors, the oppressors can enmesh upon us after enmeshing themselves upon those who we trust (by default) and live in close proximity to. I believe that this is part of what has taken place towards me. I don't know the oppressors' faces, I don't know the oppressors' names, I have no concrete, physical, material evidence of this abuse. But, through the dukkha that I have paid mindful attention to over the years, dukkha for which I am able to identify no speech, actions, or behaviors of my own that would lead to that dukkha, I confidently believe that I have been enmeshed upon by the oppressors in the countries that I have lived in as a dark-skinned immigrant, and that they have enmeshed upon those we live in close proximity to and may have trusted at some point in our lives. (continued) This way, the oppressors get to treat us as close to slaves as possible, through colonizing deeply our mental, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual capabilities & capacities. They can not openly chain us, they can not whip us, they can not call us the n-word. But they still hold all of that hateful, possessive energy and they find ways of implementing all of that evil while avoiding as much of the negative consequences of disrespecting Human Beings and Human RIghts. Studying, learning, implementing, and in turn sharing & teaching serious mental healthcare is so important for anyone alive today. I am grateful for the patience, kindness, and friendliness of the Asian attendees at the retreat. The years of abuse I had to experience in Singapore as a child, the vast majority of it having been implemented by the Chinese, have made me extremely wary & suspicious of Asian people. I am glad that I had a chance to talk to them after the silent retreat was concluded and that I was able to know for myself how kind, compassionate, peaceful, and empathetic they truly are. I am glad I had that opportunity to attempt to rebuild trust with The Sangha as I take refuge.
September 22, 2025 at 5:42 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
…
A screenshot of a section of Al Jazeera's webpage: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/9/12/live-charlie-kirk-shot-dead-fbi-releases-images-of-person-of-interest Utah governor says cryptic messages on shell casings Governor Cox says cryptic messages were engraved on the shell casings recovered with the rifle believed to be used by the shooter. Authorities have yet to release the exact wording of the messages, which Cox read phonetically. Their meaning is not immediately clear. One spent shell case read: “Notices bulges, OwO, what’s this?” Cox said three unfired shell cases read: “Hey fascist! Catch! Up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols” “Oh Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao” “If you read this, you are gay, LMAO”
September 12, 2025 at 7:43 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
6 Healthy Choices You Can Make In Enmeshed Relationships - CPTSD Foundation

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I8_...
⸻

I have been trying to study my own dukkha for my whole life.
My current focus is mass, extreme enmeshment as practiced by Hindutva.
Here is a comment I left on this video.
Thank you. I have been focussing on this topic, enmeshment, in an extreme, mass form. I was born to a casteist Hindutva (Hindu nationalist fascist) biological household. They are enslaved to Hindutva and their lives are funded purely through the sale of their fair skin to fascists all over the world, we have lived in Singapore and Canada so far. They do not raise their children, they have no idea what that is. They have no idea what mental health is. They have no idea what emotional hygiene is. The entire household exists to serve the sensorial desires & cravings of the male who considers their responsibilities towards their offspring to be complete at the point of ejaculation. They do not raise their children, they do not know what this means. Their technique is to enmesh and force co-dependency. They ignore all boundaries, including sexual boundaries, and they have no ability to teach these to their children. The result is that Indian children experience rates of CSA at over 50% according to some relatively recent research that I have read on the topic. They enmesh themselves with their children and force their own, deeply backwards & ignorant, minds into their children instead of raising us to be strong, independent, healthy, and capable of protecting ourselves and others. In the case of casteism, this enmeshment is permitted and enabled across the entire caste as well as by every member of every superiorized caste. I have been describing this as a mass, extreme enmeshment that can be experienced as someone born into a casteist household. (continued) (continued) One of the worst aspects of this enmeshment is the way that destructive emotions (I am using this term in the Buddhist sense) such as fear, rage, hatred, and lust all arise quicker than I am able to process the information that I experience through my senses with my own mind. If I focus on my breathing for long enough for the destructive emotions to dissipate without allowing myself to be consumed by them, I can experience my actual, peaceful, non-violent mind that has no requirement nor necessity for these destructive emotions. Understanding enmeshment has helped me to understand why there is nothing that I can say or do to the members of this household, or this caste, or to any Hindu, that will cause them to recognize my suffering and my humanity. They are of no worth or value to me for the rest of my life.
September 9, 2025 at 10:21 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
things i think of randomly and start smiling or laughing:
• i sure hope it does
• the meme of someone wearing a chair on his face with the caption that says ”these are not my glasses“
a meme which consists of a photograph of a man in a pale green sweater and jeans standing on wood flooring in front of a plain white wall. he happens to be wearing a chair with his arms through the arm rests. his face is at a 90 degree angle against the backrest of the chair. the text ’THESE AREN'T MY GLASSES‘ is at the base of the image in white.
September 2, 2025 at 11:53 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
Listened to this on audiobook recently. It is great.

Robyn Maynard (@policingblack.bsky.social) - Policing Black Lives
The cover for Robyn Maynard's book: Policing Black Lives The background image on the cover is of a person with thick curly hair kneeling in front of a row of heavily-armed police, there is another person standing behind them looking towards the row of police. The photograph is in dark, sepia tones. The title of the book, Policing Black Lives, is set in the bottom half of the cover, in all caps and angled slightly upward. The subtitle of the book is in all-caps below the word 'Policing', State Violence in Canada From Slavery to the Present. The author's name, Robyn Maynard, is below the word 'Black'. To the right of the word 'Lives' in the bottom right corner of the image, there is a quote from Angela Y. Davis: "This book should be read not only by those who have a specific interest in Canadian histories and social justice movements but by anyone interested in the abolitionist and revolutionary potential of the Black Lives Matters movement more broadly."
August 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
the album cover for Nine Inch Nail's And All That Could Have Been - Still the background is shades of shadowy greyish-blue the words And All The Could Have Been are written in black in the upper third of the album cover in all caps, they are repeated and overlap below that, the band's name Nine Inch Nails, with a repetition slightly below and slightly to the right on the last two rows of words that are in the upper half of the album cover, Still, also with a repetition below and slightly to the right the album cover for Sigur Rós' ( ) it is a black and white cover, with the band's name at the base of the image, it looks like it were written by hand. above that a pair of thick, rounded parentheses that form a circle. there is a pattern in the parentheses in black, white, and grey. the album cover for Sigur Rós' album Takk… the background of the album cover is yellow and off-white with a thin strip of black at the right edge, it looks like it has been painted the band's name is in the center of the album cover at the lower edge in black above the band's name, a figure can be seen in the center surrounded by shrubs, trees, branches, and leaves
August 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
since this is a really long thread, i thought i would end it with 3 of my favorite snacks. either of these on their own are great, but they are also great when combined. you can use as many varieties of raisins as you like, or just your favorite variety. hope you dont hate raisins.
a red packet of an Indian snack: khatta meetha - sweet - n - salty mix of sago and rice flakes an image of 4 different varieties of raisins in small bowls
August 20, 2025 at 11:00 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
Another one.

This one has vampire teeth (???) and devil's horns drawn on people hated by Hindutvavadis.
A screenshot from the Youtube website of the thumbnail of a video to the left and description to its right. The thumbnail has a gradient that transitions from black on the left to blue on the right. There is a photograph on the bottom left of the thumbnail of a male with brown skin, he does not have any artifacts superimposed upon him. To this brown male's right are three photographs of Devdutt Pattnaik, Udhay Stalin, and Audrey Truschke — all three have vampire teeth and devils horns superimposed upon them. The title of the video is written above the images of the 4 people in Hindi.
August 15, 2025 at 4:13 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
Look at this hilarious thumbnail for a video created by Hindutvavadis.

Honestly, @dalitdiva.bsky.social and @audreytruschke.bsky.social are 2 of the most calm & collected people that I have learned about casteism and Indian history from.

Hilarious to see Hindutvavadis draw fake tears on them.
A screenshot from a web browser showing a thumbnail on the left and description for a video to the right of the thumbnail on the Youtube website, the background is a plain black. The thumbnail for the video has some uninteresting yellow text with a black outline with photographs of 4 people below the text. The 2 people on the left are smiling while the 2 people on the right, Thenmozhi Soundararajan and Professor Audrey Truschke, have fake, low-quality tears superimposed onto their faces.
August 15, 2025 at 3:59 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
seems I am doing slightly better than I thought.

a paltry $20 in my account rn
a screenshot from a banking app that shows a balance of about $20 in a chequing account
August 14, 2025 at 11:32 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
Much better :)
a screenshot of the bluesky website in dark mode. the notifications and messages buttons in the navigation panel to the left have been removed so that the notification count and message counts are no longer visible. a separate custom stylesheet has removed the like & reskeet counts on the skeet visible in the screenshot.
August 5, 2025 at 1:47 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
I tried to figure out a system for counting my breaths while meditating because the regular numbers, symbols and their names, would cause distress due to traumatization inflicted in educational/academic & financial spaces.
Turns out it is great for tracking traumatic memories while surviving trauma.
a photograph of a sheet of grid paper with hand-written symbols in pencil. the symbols represent numbers, each number is given its own symbol. the symbols are arranged in sets of 5, starting from the top left, proceeding 4 grid squares to the right, continues to the grid square directly below, and then to the left 4 grid squares. the symbols then continue in the grid square directly below, repeating the pattern that was started at the first grid square. the numbers 1 through 140 are counted here. each symbol resembles a zero with a slash — similar to the mathematical symbol for the null set: ∅. there are dots in the four corners of each grid square, representing a 4-bit binary number. each symbol has an empty central circle representing an odd number, or a filled central circle representing an even number. the four corner dots for the odd numbers count upward only the odd numbers from 1 to 15, while the four corner dots for the even numbers count all of the numbers from 1 to 15 multiplied by two. there are up to 4 short lines drawn on the slash of each symbol, also representing a 4-bit binary number, thus the symbols count each number through a nested set of binary numbers. there is a bit of a shadow from the phone that was used to take the photograph in the bottom left corner of the image.
August 3, 2025 at 4:26 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
@snackowska.bsky.social u see this shit
a photograph of the inside of a reusable grocery bag. there is a thin red mist of red coating the inside base of the bag. the source of the thin red mist is fabric that lines the edges of a library case for dvds. it sheds this everywhere. it is just like having a pet, except only the part where it sheds hair everywhere and not any of the friendship, companionship, joy, or fun.
August 3, 2025 at 4:06 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
@snackowska.bsky.social

this is not a shitpost
this is a snackpost
an image of the packaging of a double choco cake by britannia. the rectangular package is viewed from the top left corner, it is deep brown with a picture of a slice of the cake on the right side of the packaging. on the left 3/4s of the large face of the package, the logo for the brand britannia is overlayed on large lettering that spells CAKE which is partially obscured by the logo. the word Gobbles in a font similar to handwriting is below the logo. below that, it says double choco cake and choco cake with chocolate chips. there are images of small strips of chocolate decorating the front face of the packaging.
August 1, 2025 at 1:29 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
why are the last 3 checkboxes prone to amnesia
a screenshot of the Content & Media settings page on BlueSky. the last 3 checkboxes for autoplaying videos & gifs and trending topics are unchecked. they revert to the enabled state when the account is logged out of and logged back into.
July 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
A review of Kitchener Public Library

(please clap for KPL, especially for the Black, Indigenous, and POC employees who make it a worthwhile place to visit)
KPL has been a space of refuge for me, especially the central branch. I have been a resident of Canada since 2005, I have lived in Waterloo since 2006, and I have been a Canadian citizen since October 2009. In my 2 decades here, I have experienced only racism, colorism, ableism, classism, fascism, and casteism. I have found little to no serious anti-bigotry groups or organizations that I can turn to or rely upon as a dark-skinned immigrant. I am forced to live in a casteist Hindutva biological household that is toxic, backwards, illiterate, uneducated, and extremely ignorant - they read not one book over the course of a year. This household has forced me onto ODSP against my choice or will. In the enforced legislative poverty of ODSP, I am not able to afford much of anything. I am constantly hungry and tired. There is a branch of the Waterloo Public Library that I can reach within a 20 minute bike ride in the warmer months. I avoid that branch of WPL and everything else in Waterloo unless absolutely necessary because it is an extremely racist, colorist, casteist and fascist city where child abusers are protected while those they abuse are ground into dust and disposed of. I make the hour+ journey to and from the central branch of the Kitchener Public Library because I am able to, after some time and effort, recover from the toxic, hostile, backwards environment I am forced to withstand while in my room that has the door locked at all times. Waterloo knows well all of what I have suffered and permits my suffering to be prolonged because my suffering benefits fascist white supremacists and all of their fascist servants, including Hindutva who are present in large numbers in Waterloo and Kitchener. I have submitted a Human Rights Complaint WHRC/10698 against Canada at the United Nations Human Rights Council alone, by myself, as I am a completely ostracized and totally isolated individual in a country of tens of millions. I hope KPL will take anti-racism, anti-colorism, anti-ableism, anti-classism, anti-casteism, and anti-fascism seriously so that these public libraries may serve as a refuge to those who may otherwise choose to achieve the cessation of their suffering through the cessation of their breath. I take refuge in The Buddha I take refuge in The Dhamma I take refuge in The Sangha I take all of you dukkha, past, present, and future I give to you all of my joy & happiness
June 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM
manas-0.bsky.social
a screenshot of a post on mastodon: ”I was in much worse state last September and October when I had posted elsewhere, perhaps as a Google review, as to how racist, awful, fascist, and nazi Perimeter Institute is. I experienced extreme degradation of my sleep which then culminated in the worst 2 months in my recent life. It all began when I called them racist publicly. I have had to do the same thing again yesterday, I cannot in good conscience say nothing when I se this place mentioned, knowing all that I have survived and endured here. If by me sharing this I prevent even one dark-skinned person from making the deep and terrible mistake of considering working here and experiencing the exact same Christofascist-Zionist violence that the people of Palestine are suffering through, it will have been worth it. Canadians trust these thoroughly white institutions too easily and are naïve and gullible as to the commitment of these backwards, fascist institutions to anti-racism, human rights, humanity. It is 4 am. The exact same shit as last time, extremely hateful intrusive thoughts that do not cease, extremely negative, hostile, toxic energy that prevent sleep. These are not good people, stop pretending like they were and allowing any more non-whites anywhere near these awful, ugly, abusive fascists.“ below that, the previous post is quoted
May 22, 2025 at 8:09 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
Perimeter Institute of Waterloo Ontario is a racist, colorist, and fascist organization.

All non-whites committed to anti-racism and anti-colorism must be urged to avoid PI and Waterloo entirely.

It is not safe here for BIPOC who do not cower to whites.
a screenshot of a post from mastodon: ”they are massive racists, as is waterloo itself. this city (it is more of a shitty nazi coward village) exists purely for the purpose of production of white supremacy, white privilege, and whiteness. absolutely nothing else takes place here nor is it at all permitted. physics and mathematics are property of whites and are their projects that continually produce the illusory "proof" that confirms their delusion of intellectual superiority. this city does absolutely nothing for the benefit of humanity, only for fascist whites and all their fascist friends. DO NOT EVER CONSIDER WATERLOO OR THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO OR CANADA AS A PLACE TO LIVE, WORK, EXIST IF YOU ARE NOT WHITE, OR AT THE VERY LEAST FAIR-SKINNED We are only human-shaped livestock here and always will be forced to be only this or dead.“ below the post is a quoted post advertising a position at a white supremacists' deeply racist, colorist, and fascist institution
May 22, 2025 at 8:09 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
@kwardvancouver.bsky.social pierre the pizza
a photograph of pierre poilievre standing behind a podium that has had a blue box digitally superimposed with the phrase “PIERRE THE PIZZA” written in bold white text. pierre's left hand is in a victory sign and looks oddly reddish, like tomato sauce.
April 23, 2025 at 3:08 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
a meme of pierre polievre from verb-the-noun.com that says WAIT THE CONSEQUENCE on a dark blue background, with pierre standing behind it smiling and making the victory sign with his left hand.
March 28, 2025 at 5:25 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
The Three Mothers – Anna Malaika Tubbs
A color photograph of Anna Malaika Tubbs, a Black woman with shoulder length hair visible from the waist upwards, wearing a black turtleneck and leaning against a windowsill. The cover for the book The Three Mothers. The background is entirely black. The title of the book is at the top of the cover, in gold and capital letters. Below the title, three black-and-white photographs of Black women framed in intricate gold. The left and right photographs have rectangular frames, while the middle has an oval frame. The photographs are of Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little. Below the framed photographs is the subtitle of the book, How the Mothers of MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., MALCOLM X, and JAMES BALDWIN Shaped a Nation. At the base of the cover is the author's name in capital letters, Anna Malaika Tubbs. Alberta King, Berdis Baldwin, and Louise Little all chose to fight. They fought for their dignity and their families no matter what challenge was thrown in their way. Alberta turned her grief into motivation to continue the legacy her parents passed down to her. She stepped into her role as the first lady of the church and used her talents to fully embrace and become more active in the freedom movement. Her ability to move forward became an example to her community and, perhaps more important, to her children. Berdis chose to turn her years of caring for her husband into an opportunity to teach her children about forgiveness and unconditional love. She taught her children that it was okay to be vulnerable when she lost her father and let her children see her sadness , and when she continued to walk in optimism, they saw her strength. Louise chose to hold strong to her ideals even when unspeakable terrors were waged against her. Even in an institution, she continued to resist and speak her truth. Her children carried forward the lessons she taught them even when they were separated from her at young ages. These lessons would later result in their successful fight to bring her back home. Louise, Alberta, and Berdis were focussed on teaching their children the way to survive in a world that would deny them their humanity, to give them the tools they had picked up along the way. These women taught their children, in the best way they knew how, to maintain their sense of worth and inherent dignity even if they were going to hear the opposite beyond their homes. Could they have known just how far these lessons would take their boys? The three mothers may not have viewed their approach to parenting as radical, but in seeing the effect their love and lessons had on their sons and on the world as a result, one cannot deny the revolutionary power of their motherhood. The Three Mothers (page 125) – Anna Malaika Tubbs
March 9, 2025 at 4:10 AM
manas-0.bsky.social
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel – The Way of Tenderness
A black-and-white photograph of a smiling Black woman, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, visible from the waist upwards, dressed in monastic robes and beaming widely. The front cover of the book The Way of Tenderness by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel. The background transitions smoothly from a dark grey at the top to a light grey at the bottom. The author's name is at the top in white and capital letters. Below that, the title of the book in a rose pink color. Below the title is a photograph of a sculpture of a vase that has a feminine head perched on the top edge. To the left of the photograph is the subtitle of the book, awakening through race, sexuality, and gender. But 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 of peace. The Way of Tenderness (page 6) – Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
March 9, 2025 at 3:42 AM