More exchanging, which I'll pass along, is going o­n in the wake of the Viorst post, but I'm interjecting here with something inspirational.

Bo Lozoff is o­ne of the true saints o­n this earth. To stay aware of what he thinks and what he does is to pump pure love into your heart. I know this man — which you feel after o­ne exposure to him. There is no o­ne like him. It's a special quality of love, grounded in absolute non-judgment, and also in raw honesty.

Lessons in right thinking are to be derived from the invariably surprising-in-their-perfection responses he makes to letters from incarcerated prisoners that I love to read in his Human Kindness Foundation Newsletter. The premise he comes from is stated o­n the Foundation website: “The primary purpose of the Prison-Ashram Project is to inspire and encourage prisoners and prison staff to recognize their depth as human beings, and to behave accordingly. Our inmost nature is divine. The nature of our lives is an incomprehensibly wonderful mystery which each human being can experience o­nly in solitude and silence. Prisoners have the opportunity to dedicate themselves to this inward journey without the distractions and luxuries which occupy many people in the 'free world.'”

To be as beloved as Bo is by prison populations, and to achieve results that bring hard core criminals into a recognizable humanity, where you and I listen to their struggles and feel we meet as people, is a function of the rare humanity that Bo embodies. It's not a guru sort of thing with Bo. I'm not following him anywhere. It's just profound appreciation for everything I can see in all directions around him. He is 180 from the phoniness of the neo-conservatives who are running the country now — authenticity is a high art with Bo. And no reality show is as gripping or as touching as his Newsletter.

For a larger dose of him, read his first book, We're All Doing Time, that's the primer o­n the Prison Ashram Project. When I found it, years ago, I bought a case so I could share it with others, and it remains in my handful of all-time favorites.

If you are so moved, do send him a donation. You'll see o­n his website where they are what allow him to do his work, including sending his books free to prisoners who request them.

As you'll see reflected in this piece Bo wrote for the current Newsletter, he's not totally out of the energy of the year he spent in total silence, which began just before 9/11.

Spring 2003

The Real Deal

Dear Family,

It seems from your letters that many of you have been waiting for me to come out of silence and get back to being the old Bo with lots of words to share. It’s ironic how life unfolds. You and I have been supporting each other’s spiritual journeys for a long time now, praying for deep change in ourselves. Yet when really deep change takes place, we may resist it and say “come o­n, get back to “normal” already!

I do seem to have changed a lot from the past two years of silence and solitude. I don’t know when or IF I will be the “old Bo” with lots of words, lectures, books, tapes. I offered my life to God, and God seems to be calling me away from that sort of teaching for the time being. I’m not abandoning you, I’m doing the same thing I have always done and encouraged you to do: Keep following the spiritual journey and dedicate that journey to the common good. That hasn’t changed, I promise.

My first forty-day retreat, from September 2nd to October 12th, 2001, was more intense and confusing than any other time of my life. When I came out of retreat and heard about 9/11 and watched the fanatic hostility of our country’s response to 9/11, I realized the whole world was in an intense and confusing period, especially my own country. So why should I expect to be exempt?

The spiritual journey is not an escape from the world. The great masters, saints, the Messiah, come into this world, suffer along with us, and show us how we can respond when times are crazy, cruel, sad or unfair. The gifts of Spirit they give us have never resulted in political peace or social stability, but rather a personal, internal peace that “surpasses understanding.” Life is hard and uncertain right now for most people o­n the planet. So if my own life is hard and uncertain too, that’s okay with me. I can work with it. How about you? Can you “suffer hard times gracefully?”

My old friend Stephen Levine uses an image of “soft belly.” We can go through hard times with a soft belly, a sense of humility and acceptance, without throwing up walls of rejection and resistance and fear. And we can use our rough times to strengthen our compassion for the world, for everyone who is also having rough times.

You may ask, what distinguishes this state from a passive acceptance of depression or despair? Love. Love is always the key to the spiritual journey. To be in love with God, with God’s mysteries, God’s power, God’s love, God’s laws, even God’s many apparent cruelties. As most of us have discovered, being in love does not necessarily mean we feel happy all the time. o­ne of my favorite Bob Dylan lines, from Buckets of Rain, is “Everything about you is bringing me misery!” That’s definitely part of love, especially when we love God! Read the lives of the great saints, especially in the Christian tradition. Misery upon misery, pain upon pain, but underneath, a Love that purifies, consoles and heals.

So I think it is love that makes the difference. I think many people these days, in the o­nslaught of daily chores, pressures and fears, have lost love. It has slipped away. So when they get depressed or unhappy, there is nothing underneath it to help them endure. But Love endures. We all have the capacity to love something. Find out what you love at your very core, and don’t let it slip away. Hard times are hard, it is a drag to be unhappy, but it is not the end of the world. Love endures. We can endure.

And that’s basically what I am doing these days. This is not a happy period for me and not a social time. But I have not gone off o­n a detour. My path just seems to have changed a great deal, at least for the moment.

My days are spent in supportive tasks – milking the cow, cutting firewood, fixing vehicles, plowing gardens, keeping our computers running so you can receive our books and tapes, etc. I work hard, I meditate, pray, chant and sing a couple hours a day, and wait for God’s further leading. Waiting is not fun, but it humbles the arrogant spirit. It quiets the mind.

So I am still here, still your friend, your brother o­n the radical spiritual journey, but I’m not spinning out new combinations of words all the time. The star of the show should always be God, Life, The Journey, Dharma, or whatever you wish to call that single idea or reality that makes EVERYTHING else worthwhile. If we bring ourselves and others closer to constant awareness of that central loving force, then our lives are not wasted. If we do not bring ourselves or others closer to that awareness, our lives are wasted. It doesn’t matter how popular we are or how wealthy or how busy. Nothing else matters. I’m still here with you, breaking new ground together. Hang in there with me, okay? I love you very much.

I also want to give you a taste of his prisoner correspondence:

Bo,

First I wanna say that I think what you and Sita are doing is a good thing mostly. It is not my thing (I don't even try it), but some people in this world just need somewhere to lay all their bullshit. I am doing a four-year bit (it ain't nuthin and I ain't whining), and I have been in the hole for 112 days now with no end in sight, for mutual combat. Someone sent me your book, “We're All Doing Time,” and I read it. I am an ex-Hell's Angel (out in good standing) and have been through some heavy shit, believe me. I just want to say your sympathy for child molesters is a waste of your time. I treat them like shit every chance I get and they deserve it. Children are the o­nly true innocents in this world. Joe o­n page 222 is a piece of shit. Fuck him and fuck you.

T

Hey T,

Nice to meet you (I guess, even after you ended your letter with “Fuck you….”).

I do understand the “fuck you,” and in friendship I throw it back at ya — fuck you, too. You sound like a tough guy, and so am I — in fact, I'm tough enough to take the heat of all the tough guys who think child molesters are a piece of shit. A HUGE percentage of those pieces of shit wee innocent children who were molested themselves. So you have sympathy for the children, but not for who they become after such a terrible thing happens to them?

The main thing is, T, I'm old and gray and have been around long enough to see many pieces of shit become extremely good, decent people. So what can I do? I'm stuck with the wisdom of my own life-experience — I know people are basically decent deep inside, and I don't have a crystal ball to see which o­nes are going to make that change and which o­nes won't. So I treat everyone with respect. Not bullshit, bleeding-heart liberal candy-ass pampering, but just the respect that says “somewhere in there is a good, strong person, and I greet you there.” That's all. I obviously wouldn't allow a child to get molested. If I knew it in advance, I'd do WHATEVER NECESSARY to stop the offender, just like you would. But when that person is safely locked up and reaches out for help and friendship, what can I do? That's my job. Just like responding in friendship to a biker who signs off, “fuck you.”

It's still good to know you, brother,
Bo (another old biker)

Bo, I received your letter today. I can't say it changed the way I feel about child molesters, but your points are well taken. I must say, I do enjoy reading some of your material, and I look forward to seeing your other books. I don't claim to have the wisdom that you possess. I guess my hang-up about child molesters is something that I and they will have to deal with.

With respect, T

PS: I would think that someone who was a victim of child abuse would not want anyone else to suffer it. I was, and I wish it o­n no o­ne.

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