LeBron James: a true American hero; an impeccable role model, a black man who is an authentic spiritual teacher and healer.
Above: The July 30, 2018 opening of the LeBron James Family Foundation's “I Promise” School in Akron, Ohio. “I Promise” is a public elementary school created to help struggling elementary school students stay in school. LeBron considers it the most important professional accomplishment of his life.
In reflecting on his choice of words to describe LeBron James, Friar André Maria writes:
With my post earlier this morning where I labeled LeBron James an "authentic spiritual teacher and healer" (and I am completely serious about that) something was awakened in me that, in truth, has been awakened before. However, it now seems more solidified.
What has been awakened in me is to help create a movement, perhaps or perhaps a re-creating or a re-awakening/imagining of a template for understanding the definition of spiritual teaching and healing work; one that comes directly out of the experience of contemporary people of the African Diaspora and specifically not from a place of the colonized mind that almost every black person in America and Europe has been indoctrinated in. I know I am not the first person to do this. However, this iteration will have my specific touch and will reflect everything I specifically bring to this project.
Several weeks ago there was the "Beyoncé Mass" at the Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. And today there is my calling LeBron James "an authentic spiritual teacher and healer." This is what I'm talking about. This is only the very, very beginning.
And have you ever been on a spiritually based nondual forum, for example? Trust me, Beyoncé makes far more sense as a potential source of authentic spiritual enlightenment and inquiry than what passes as such on many such forums.
I reject the narrow constructs and definitions the colonized, patriarchal, and white supremacist (overtly and/or covertly) mindset tells us and instructs us is the criteria for understanding what an authentic "spiritual teacher" and "healer" are. I embrace a defining and a living out of these terms that reflect the specific reality of modern day people of the African Diaspora.
Related Off-site Links:
What LeBron James Keeps Doing Is More Impressive Than You Think – Terence Moore (Forbes, August 2, 2018).
Trump Insults LeBron James’s Intelligence in an Echo of “Shut Up and Dribble” – Alex Horton (The Washington Post, August 4, 2018).
Twitter Explodes Over Donald Trump’s “Disgusting” Attack on LeBron James: “LeBron Puts Children Through School. Trump Puts Children in Cages” – Jeff Zillgitt (USA Today, August 4, 2018).
Sports World Reacts to Donald Trump’s Attack on LeBron James – Michelle R. Martinelli (USA Today, August 4, 2018).
Trump’s Tweet About LeBron Is Pathetic, Immature But Not Unexpected – Jeff Zillgitt (USA Today, August 4, 2018).
UPDATES: LeBron James Tweets Positive Message to Kids After Donald Trump Attacks Him – Hilary Hanson (The Huffington Post, August 4, 2018).
When Trump Attacked LeBron James, It Had an Unintended Effect: Other Athletes Speaking Out – Cindy Boren (The Washington Post, August 5, 2018).
Amid LeBron James Flap, Melania Trump Again Charts Her Own Course – Associated Press via MSN.com (August 5, 2018).
LeBron Shows Trump What Winning Really Looks Like – Dave Zirin (The Nation, August 6, 2018).
LeBron – The Leveret (August 7, 2018).
LeBron James' Latest Nike Ad Confirms It's Nearly Impossible Not To Like This Dude – Tomas Kassahun (Blavity, December 30, 2019).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – April 23, 2018
• The Important Cultural Moment That Is Black Panther
• Michael Sean Winters on This Year's Grim Fourth of July: "The Entire Republican Establishment Has Caved to Trumpism"
• Quote of the Day – May 23, 2018
• Opposing the Trump Administration's Inhumane Treatment of Immigrant Families
• "What We're Seeing Here Is a Tipping Point"
• Jeremy Scahill on the Historical Context of the Trump Administration's "Pathologically Sick" Anti-Immigrant Agenda
• On International Human Rights Day, Saying "No" to Donald Trump and His Fascist Agenda
• 2000+ Take to the Streets of Minneapolis to Express Solidarity with Immigrants and Refugees
• Trump's America: Normalized White Supremacy and a Rising Tide of Racist Violence
• Trump's Playbook
Images: Photographers unknown.
No comments:
Post a Comment