Permanent link for Drawing from Ancestral Wisdom: On Valarie Kaur's Visit to GVSU | By Liz English, Campus Program Manager on October 14, 2024

We slipped our shoes off to feel the ground beneath our feet, with the waters of the Grand River flowing nearby. Breathing deeply, we closed our eyes, and were invited to imagine an ancestor, one that represents courage, standing behind us, watching over us, encouraging us forward. Next, she asked us to envision a child, one from our lives who brings us joy, standing in front of us, smiling up at us.

At the beginning of both of her visits to GVSU, Valarie Kaur started off with an exercise grounding us all in both time and space, one which is also used to ground her newest book, Sage Warrior.

“You are the link between past and future,” she said. “With the earth under you, and waters around you, with ancestors behind you, and the children of the future before you - May you find the wisdom you need to be brave with your life.”

Because bravery is what is needed right now. Especially from people like me.

In her first book, See No Stranger, Valarie provided tangible tools and strategies to encourage those brave steps as we turn towards others, even our opponents, while accruing an essential self-awareness - the sweet labor of revolutionary love, of breathing and pushing. At our event last week, and in Sage Warrior, she invited us to remember how our ancestors came together in community through music, storytelling, poetry, and song, leaving no one behind, even in times of the most dire crises. Drawing from her Sikh tradition, Valarie painted a picture of pivotal moments in the lives and stories of several of the founding Gurus as they faced seemingly unprecedented challenges of their own.

I found that, in practice, drawing upon the wisdom and strength of my ancestors was not a straight-forward task. I remember sitting in that room, eyes closed, struggling to think of an ancestor standing at my back. While I have great pride for my immediate family, my grandparents, even the great-grandparents about whom I’ve heard stories or even vaguely remember from my youngest years, I could not focus on a particularly courageous figure. While the grinning, goofy faces of my nephews were as clear as day in front of me, my past was blurry. I heard Valarie emphasize the kindredness of humanity, and that “all ancestors are available when summoned with integrity.” And yet I felt myself reaching back through a haze of colonial guilt.

But my role as the link between past and future is not to become paralyzed with shame. That does not help my nephews. Nor is it to ignore my colonial history. That does not honor the voices of other ancestors long silenced. It is to wield the gifts, the lessons, the mistakes, the privilege of my past to create a better future for my nephews and for all of the children envisioned in that room. The grounding exercise came to resonate with me all the more as I wrestled with this tension. I will be their ancestor someday. How can I use my time well and make them proud?

From her early days as a civil rights activist, Valarie’s vision of impacting the world has been rooted in nonviolence. At the same time, the Sikh tradition is one of warrior-sages, taking to arms to defend the rights of all people in pursuit of Oneness. She in turn uses the military language as a metaphor to describe our roles, our strengths, and our ‘weapons’ in the fight for social justice - what is my sword? What can I use to fight on behalf of others - my pen, my voice, my work, my resources? Maybe my position of privilege allows me to more easily and more safely enter into conversations and listen to the pain and the rage of those who I would consider my opponents. And what is my shield? How can I protect myself, who can I surround myself with to support me when times get hard? Because this is work that we must do in community, and we must take care of ourselves.

The verbiage we so often hear on the news or social media pushes beyond the vocabulary of uncertainty to call these ‘unprecedented’ or even ‘apocalyptic’ times. Divisiveness seems to be at an all time high, with the upcoming election serving as a lightning rod for the polarization that is rampant in the air. How do we step into this season intent to know our neighbors and to come together in community while bludgeons are sailing overhead and bunkers are being reinforced? It requires bravery to even step out of your door in times like this, let alone to intentionally extend an invitation of curiosity and care across deep, entrenched lines of difference. It is a tall order to venture further into this unfamiliar, uncomfortable, even potentially unsafe territory. But how do we find the courage to do so? What I have learned from Valarie is that we all have a part to play - our own swords and shields - and that we must move forward together, with the strength of our ancestors behind us and the future of our children before us.

Posted by Liz English on Permanent link for Drawing from Ancestral Wisdom: On Valarie Kaur's Visit to GVSU | By Liz English, Campus Program Manager on October 14, 2024.