Shame, part 1
Here is a gathering of my thoughts about shame. These thoughts have been gathering for a few months and I don't know whether they will come out coherently, but I'm going to just begin, and let them out however they show up. 1. Here's my memory of one story about how certain cultures in Africa deal with someone in their village who has done something wrong: it starts with what happens before a child is born. When a person becomes pregnant, an elder in the village will get in touch with the unborn child and discover what purpose the child is coming to fulfill, and along with that purpose, the unborn human will transmit their song that expresses their true nature, as a soul coming with a gift for the world. As the child grows up, whenever, (not "if", because mistakes are inevitable) a child does something that hurts others, the village gathers around the erring child and sings the song that the person came with, and this reminds the child of who they really are. In o...