In 2007 the lawmakers of Annapolis, Maryland publicly apologized for treating African Americans in an inhumane way during the time of slavery. There were a myriad of responses from people after hearing about this public governmental apology. Among them were people who felt like this apology didn’t create full closure as there were still racial indiscretions happening all around them especially with crime and education. They felt that in order to come full circle with this apology action needed to be taken. As the saying goes “actions speak much louder than words.” If this apology was enough to create true closure there wouldn’t still be this unsettling feeling among these people. If this is the case then what is the missing piece of the puzzle? Maybe we need to do more than just make a public apology to resolve humanity’s past mistakes. This apology is a mere reflection of what still lies deep in our unconscious regarding this matter. It seems as though there is a certain dosage of grievance that still needs to be released from our individual and collective consciousness to prevent our past from repeating itself. We can only move on to an elevated level of existence if we fully realize the consequences of our past mistakes more than just on a cognitive level. A good number of our society’s institutions were built upon discriminatorily based foundations. Whether we were there or not this history is still a part of what we inherited in our psyches. If we blindly accept our “inheritance” it will lead us to a continuous cyclical unconscious transference of the past. If we solely look at our history through a cognitive lens we will not be given the chance to fully mourn for its injustices.

If we have the tendency to ignore our own physical and/or emotional pain it will inevitably amplify itself to the point where it becomes unavoidable. Choosing to go through the healing process gives us the opportunity to learn how to nurture ourselves in healthier ways. Listening to our pain with compassionate curiosity can lead us to an elevated state of awareness about ourselves. The same concept holds true for our collective consciousness which carries with it an unavoidable painful history that has been recycled time and time again. If we ignore the Karmic cycle created by man’s unconsciousness from the past it will amplify and inevitably repeat itself again in the future.

Our realization in and appreciation for the universe’s web of connectivity will help break this cycle. It can only be broken by surrendering our inferior/superior feelings and by focusing on our commonalities. This is not to be mistaken with the power of discernment that allows us to recognize the world of non-duality in its purest form. Andrew Zimmerman from ‘Bizarre Foods’ explains it best: “what I’m trying to show to the world is the more we can relate to the things we have in common the less we can focus on our differences”.