Meet Your God

"Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God."

in Palestine, Sudan, the Congo, Haiti, Yemen, Puerto Rico, Tigray, Hawaii, Ethiopia, Somalia, Amerikkka, and all across this Earth we share, there is a struggle - for freedom, for living; not against dying, because that is just as much a part of our nature as living itself is, but against killing. against destruction for the sake of ephemeral profit; so for the sake of destruction; imbalance. for our nature, for nature.

they say to write what you know, and in truth, i don’t know much – i admit, my own position-ality limits me – but if you think that will lead me to take a passive stance, no, i won’t. instead, i will take you to the place where i live & my homeland, let you into what little i do know, and more than that, let you into what i believe. there is not much in this world i am sure of. this is what i am sure of:

Your God does not have Dominion, Your God is Dominion.

by which i mean; from Palestine to Amerikkka; if your God, your Creator, your Mother, Father, your Holy Divinity, your Cosmos, your Reality, even, is one of love, you are bound by your faith to love as well. i am not religious myself, not in any traditional way; i find myself frequently disillusioned by Christianity, Catholicism, and those are the only i know well enough to see their corruption as clearly as i do. but if you are religious, if you would swear to your God, live for your God, die by your God, if you are preaching love, forgiveness, humility, and you do not practice anything like it, i disagree that that is true faith. but then, what is “true faith?” in the Ancient Greek pantheon of my ancestors, Delphi was a deity & right hand for Poseidon, the god of the sea. Delphi’s animals were the dolphin, which were said to symbolize hope, friendship, compassion. today, on the same seas the dolphins swim in, choked by pollution and garbage, refugees from Turkiye are turned away by the Greeks even before the boats reach their islands. oh, the irony. you think you have an enemy there? you moralize war? you are not born with enemies, you make them, you have been through war, you know; war is not an idea in the head, it is blood on the ground. most believers in the Western dissemination of Christianity, according to the scripture that teaches God is in all of us, would agree with James Baldwin when he said, “everyone you're looking at is also you. you could be that person. you could be that monster, you could be that cop. and you have to decide, in yourself, not to be.” (and from wizard_bisan: “we have a verse in Arabic that says, ‘my country and if it oppressed me is dear to me....and my family, even if they grieve against me, are honorable.’”) knowing that, even on a cerebral level, everyone & everything you see is you, or could be, or is, is at least made of the same shit you’re made of – whether it be stardust, or anything less or more Divine or Cosmic or Real than that – and deciding to remain passive as you see that version of you fall to chemical weapons, bombs, fire, crushing rubble, is that “true faith?” deciding to kill another part of the same thing you are a part of, to expand your territory, your God’s domain, His Dominion, is that faith of any kind, or love, or forgiveness, or humility? is it? your God does not have Dominion, your God is Dominion. i can get by without a God, a corrupt one at that, but if there was ever a case for God, perhaps it is now, perhaps it is when so many call His name without knowing what they are calling. if you have killed, you are calling what & who you have killed. if you have sent chemicals, bombs, started fires, you have destroyed something sacred. each and every person (and i am saying “person” in the species-inclusive way; referring not just to Homo Sapiens, but to literally all of us), according to the scripture, is sacred, because we are all holding a part of God in & with ourselves. olive trees, native to both Palestine and my Greece, are included in that. i am paraphrasing the Palestinian Youth Movement with this next line; those who are from the land, sacrifice themselves to protect a single one, while those who occupy the land, set soil on fire indiscriminately. a single tree. not just everyone, but everything, too. if your God is in everyone, everything, and He is everywhere, not only do you have to careful where you send your military, you have to be careful where you step. you needn’t expand your territory. because the land doesn’t belong to us, in that we own it, the land belongs to us & we to it. you needn’t rip up roots, your own and those of the trees in the orchards you raze, all to find a home where you already have one. Manifest Destiny. British Mandate for Palestine. look your chosen opponent in the eyes, if you respect him, if you respect Him; for those eyes should be familiar to you, they are just as much your home as anything else. so go, raze them; raze home; raze God. and i will draw your faith out into the light, and challenge it. Delphi is disappointed.

the next time i go to the shore, i will bring a prayer with me.

for his dolphins; for hope, friendship, compassion. for love, forgiveness, humility. for freedom. 

may the waves carry it, from the sea, to land, from land, to the river, from the river, to the sea.

PART 2: IN IMAGES