(Sorry - my image wouldn't upload! - please see here for the image I wanted - "Darth Turned by Yayoi Kusama!")

I'm sure many of us here in the U.S. have been stewing in the news over the last few weeks. Regardless of your political persuasion, the trauma of hearing the stories of survivors of sexual violence, and the psychological violence of feeling that those stories were dismissed, devalued and minimized by a significant, and victorious, segment of our government leaves me with a great deal of disappointment - but also determination. Determination to be a better person for the vulnerable people in the world, and to do more to contribute to the cultivation of compassion, reason and common humanity. 

I wrote a long essay 2 years ago, in the runup and fallout of the 2016 election. I sat on it - thinking it was perhaps too intellectualized, psychological and removed from the gritty political reality that faced us then. I wondered if I was doing a "psychological or spiritual bypass." But I re-read it recently, and agreed with my sentiments and analysis. So here it is. It's about an hourlong read, and I hope it might add something to how you think about the American Psyche. I'm attempting to bring our divisions over power to an agreement about our common humanity and vulnerability. I believe we do have to really see our human condition, and proceed with reason and compassion, if we are to have a shot at healing and survival. That, and VOTE! (I will be offering Mindful Self Compassion and Compassion Cultivation Training workshops in January onwards. Please sign up to get word at SF Love Dojo.)

The American Identity Crisis in the time of Trump and the Kavanaugh hearings: Towards a vision of our relatedness and collective suffering

Also, a couple of my emails from the summer didn't go through. You can find them here, with several podcast interviews and more articles. You can find all my podcasts on my updated Facebuddha website. Also, I remodeled my Ravi Chandra, Writer website. Let me know what you think :)

For a little uplift, nostalgia or comic relief, here are some fun poems from Pride 2018, part of my 36 Views of San Francisco series, published in August.

36 VIEWS OF SF: 12. REMEMBRANCE OF PRIDE’S PAST

36 VIEWS OF SF: 16. MINOLTA MIND, KODAK KISS

36 VIEWS OF SF: 32. SMALL PLATES

EVENTS AROUND TOWN

I'm going to be enjoying LitQuake and APAture, and perhaps more of SFFILM/SFMOMA's Modern Cinema series on Satyajit Ray.

Perhaps you can join me at LitQuake's Immigration and Community event or LitCrawl, a pubcrawl through the Mission with over 100 free readings!

Also, please consider going to Space for All: De-Centering White Privilege in Yoga and Mindfulness Communities next weekend. Organizer Kirthi Nath is still looking for donations to support this important conference. Please send contributions via Venmo to @KirthiNath  If you contribute, they will thank you as a sponsor! (if you need other means to contribute - paypal etc, reply to this email and I'll forward to Kirthi.)

Warmly,

Ravi