The words you are about to read are fulfilling a desire I’ve had since I was a child.
From a young age, I’ve always been a lover of culture far before I knew what that word meant. I always had an interest in the living rituals and practices of what seemed foreign without ever feeling threatened by something unknown. The unknown never felt intimidating or scary, it actually felt magical. From falling in love with middle eastern cuisine that a childhood friend’s mother would cook for us and having a chance to perform with the first AME church gospel choir during a post LA riot peace rally, to visiting churches, temples, and mosques in far off countries, I have had the privilege of being exposed to the beauty of diversity that is woven throughout the oneness of life. None of this makes me better than anyone else. It merely helped to cultivate a perspective where my spiritual aspirations would remain grounded in a loving responsiveness for our global humanity.
"I have had the privilege of being exposed to the beauty of diversity that is woven throughout the oneness of life."
While many of you know me in current times by the spiritual role I play at events and on YouTube, there is very much a human being dwelling in this form, no matter how profound my insights and experiences ever become. I have never been too awake to be human and it’s something I pride myself in. Throughout our evolution, it is absolutely essential to never be more awake than we are compassionate. In fact, anytime the insights of awake awareness bypass the innate response of compassion, it is an obvious sign of a spiritual ego. As a way of grounding our expanded insights with the grit of compassion in action, it is important to never look away from the horrors and tragedies plaguing our fellow humans. Especially since the gut-wrenching response that may initially overwhelm and paralyze our innocence inevitably becomes a spark of inspiration bringing justice, harmony, salvation, and equanimity to communities and countries both near and far.
Ever since childhood, I found myself inspired to interrupt the behavior of bullies, even if it meant becoming their next target. It was absolutely instinctive to act as the voice of dissent whenever others were persecuted for their race, gender, body type, or physical challenges. Perhaps like you, I have always been the defender of the underdog. Someone who is compelled to listen to the battle cries of the voiceless. One who has always been willing to help balance the scales of opportunity for the underprivileged. Someone who is eager to shine a light of awareness wherever shadows may lurk; but instead of oppressing the oppressors, my instincts have always been to assist in the healing of those who hurt. I’ve intrinsically felt that I have way more love in my heart than I have fight in my body, so I naturally lean towards the direction of feeding the hungry and transforming the victim.
On some intangible level, I have always known the healing of the victim to be a vibrational way in which each perpetrator gets called into consciousness, to answer for their indiscretions and enter the reformation process where every sick and twisted “villain” is destined to be tomorrow’s hero — no matter how many lifetimes are needed to complete the journey.
From the moment I became aware of hatred and the many ways it is used to harm and suppress the wellbeing of others, I found myself wrestling with a mixture of emotions. It’s difficult to feel connected to attributes of our human experience, such as gender, skin color, and religious background, when opening our eyes to the cruel and primitive ways in which many of our forefathers have acted. It’s hard to feel a part of the group you appear to belong to when how such characters have historically acted seems lightyears away from the consciousness coursing through your being. And yet, in the reality of life, I am a long lost member of a tribe, who walks this Earth having to answer for the crimes of discrimination caused by those who came before me.
This is why I am writing these words. It is to fulfill a desire that has lingered in my heart since childhood. That desire has always been to apologize to anyone who has ever been hurt or damaged by the actions of another human being. It is one of the ways in which I embrace my sense of social activism. To me, the word activism is a willingness to remain active and as equally willing to support the wellbeing of others as we are eager to expand ourselves.
It would be so easy to shrug off history, as if it’s “not my problem” if I don’t remember personally being a part of it. And yet, the Source I AM that I serve has put me in a body that is connected to a history of hurt that my consciousness has an opportunity to help heal in others. This doesn’t occur by looking away from hardship, but daring to face forward and offer the gifts of respect, reverence, generosity, acceptance, love, and compassion that my ancestors didn’t have the awareness to show our fellow man and woman.
"To me, the word activism is a willingness to remain active and as equally willing to support the wellbeing of others as we are eager to expand ourselves."
If the very color of my skin, the tone of my voice, the gender of my body, or any other attribute I embody triggers the cellular memory of pain, torture, oppression, or harm in another, it is not just their problem to solve. Rather, it is our opportunity to come together, where I have the chance to be for another the qualities that are unlike the hateful past that lingers within.
If I have an awareness greater than those who feed off the pain of others, it is my opportunity to provide the healing power of love and compassion to those affected by any human predator.
For those who have been discriminated against, may I be an example of a white man, unlike how any ancestor or present life caucasian misrepresents this race. For those who have been attacked, manipulated, abused, or dominated by the male gender, may I be an example of the divine masculine that allows all men, women, and children to feel respected, safe, secure, and honored in my presence. For those who have been mistreated by the religions of my forefathers, may I be an example of the true living principles that invite and inspire the divinity of all to shine at full capacity.
I am not interested in scapegoating my way out of the crossfire of other people’s pain, when the very blueprint of my body shows me the lineages I came to transform by being a more conscious example of all aspects of self to further the individual and collective healing of all. As a soul in a human body somehow connected to lineages of atrocity that I now, in my current state of consciousness, would rather give my own life in order to preserve the innocence of another, I must somehow respond on behalf of a past that is unavailable for the answering of its crimes. In my heart of hearts, my soul jumped at the opportunity to incarnate and help humanity heal in the most personal way possible. There is also a profound knowing that the ancestors I was grouped with sent me here to apologize on behalf of generations that perhaps lived out the regret of unconsciousness to give our current generations the freedom and perspective to think and choose differently.If I had been present during past times of persecution, I would have been labeled a turncoat for throwing my body over a helpless victim, just to give them one less moment of pain. I would have been jailed for talking out against the views of a biased establishment. Most certainly, I would have been stoned, burnt at the stake, or crucified for standing for a truth that doesn’t fit within the walls of rigid religious views. In some way, I feel as if I’ve already lived those lifetimes, and yet, here I remain today, ready, willing, and able to listen to the pain others haven’t processed, willing to forgive the debt of the past to liberate more hearts, and able to contribute to our current social crisis so those who are deprived are given an equal opportunity to thrive and succeed.
I cannot assume to know your feelings or history of challenges, but I write these words as an invitation to unite our hearts together and deliberately make choices that reveal a new era of human behavior on a verbal, emotional, spiritual, energetic, and socio-economical level.
Facing the atrocities of the past and present may weaken your knees and cause your voice to tremble, but it certainly won’t lower your vibration. In fact, there is nothing more potent in lowering our vibration quite like the pattern of avoidance and denial. To think that we would look away from hardship as a means of preserving our own individual experience reflects a tendency absent of the compassion that all our Earthly brothers and sister deserve.
Here are the words my inner child has always wanted to say:
Because I dwell in a male body, I apologize for the indiscretions of my gender to anyone affected by the historical arc of abuse, suppression, and domination. Because I appear to be of caucasian decent, I apologize to any race that has ever been held back or adversely affected by the blindness and cruelty of my forefathers’ actions. Because I was raised in a family of a specific religious background, I apologize to anyone abused or harmed by any egoic religious patriarchy, in each and every form.
"I am willing to face the actions of the past with a willingness to listen, learn, and grow, so that I may spend as many breaths as I’ve been given to help clean up the mess left behind and correct the patterns of misconduct of those who have come before me.”
Do these words magically erase the past and make it all better? Of course not. They are merely the beginning of deeply emotional and mature conversation within our human community. A conversation, where as intuitive as I am and as empathically as I can feel the pain throughout our planet, I do not pretend to know your pain or hardship. Instead, I am willing to face the actions of the past with a willingness to listen, learn, and grow, so that I may spend as many breaths as I’ve been given to help clean up the mess left behind and correct the patterns of misconduct of those who have come before me.
While the Universe has always been my guide, guardian, moral compass, and companion, one of the key people I have always most looked up to is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The first time I heard him speak felt like thunderclaps erupting throughout the skies of my consciousness. When he spoke, I had no choice but to feel my heart being ripped open by the passion he expressed. He provided me my first conscious moment of inspiration and it remains a gift I am grateful to pass along. For any contributions I will make throughout my lifetime, he is one of my peers that I look to as a guiding light as to how my Earthly time shall be best utilized.
And so I type the very words my inner child has always wanted to express. Words that allow me to use my reach and influence to invite anyone who reads this to join me in standing for love, tolerance, faith, and compassion, without turning away from the hardships that seem too overwhelming to process.
We can surely get through this together. It will take all of our efforts combined to create the depth of healing that brings to every heart the justice, relief, opportunity, and peace that is our right, privilege, and honor to equally receive. Even while a historical pattern of unconsciousness always sets the stage for a greater consciousness to emerge, it is only when we roll up our sleeves and dare to dig our nails into the dirt that we put forth the appropriate effort that shows respect to every person adversely affected by those who came before us.
All for the love of all.
All For Love,
Matt Kahn