I read the NYT bestseller "Between the world and me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, hailed by Toni Morrison as the successor of James Baldwin.
In this book Mr Coates explores how Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages everyone
but most of all black women and men — black "bodies" exploited through slavery and segregation, and today threatened, locked up
and murdered out of all proportion.
It's a gripping account of what it means to be a black man in America, and the writer sums it up by stating that "in America it is traditional to destroy the black body — it is heritage." I knew that Africans have been enslaved in America for 250 years — at least
ten generations!— but only through real life stories of my friend on death row could I guess how deep the legacy of slavery
is seared in their flesh, and Mr Coates' harrowing description of it all left me breathless. 
The book is very well written, yet after turning the last page I felt hungry for an answer to all that suffering that goes deeper than just the "body." Mr Coates doesn't believe in an afterlife nor in any invisible force. He fully identifies with this physical dimension, and the only solution he offers is to keep up the struggle. There is indeed a strong moral imperative to fight America's institutionalized racism, and especially the police brutality targeting black men. But balancing the scales of power is only part of the solution — true healing will take more. Because reacting solely from a perspective of anger and revolt, no matter how justified, keeps all those dynamics alive and kicking. Everything is energy — if we don't convert whatever comes our way into what we want it to become, we only get more of it. 
Reducing life to this physical reality is like being colorblind; everything is black and white. You are triggered by what you see and experience: victims and perpetrators, and your automatic response is distrust, defense, and struggle.
However, you reap what you sow, without any exception. Your distrust keeps attracting distrust. Your hate only begets more hate. 
But obstacle after obstacle the pain becomes so unbearable that you're ready to look at life from a different angle.
It may come in many ways: through a word, an encounter, a dream or a nightmare, lyrics of a song...
And suddenly there's a crack in your mind’s armor, and colors start seeping in. You open the door of your physical limitation
and you discover a Universe! You tentatively step into an infinite Energy that is luminous and loving and unconditional,
and you sense that this Life Force is actually the substance of everything that exists.
You start to see people beyond their toxic behavior, and without condoning that behavior in any way you choose to focus
on the Light in them. It's buried under many layers of fear or pride or violence, but it's always there. Always.
And what you focus on becomes stronger.

That is true healing, that is redemption: letting go of every charge except Love.

Love, the only Force capable of transmuting the collective pain of racism into brotherhood.

Friendship — true friendship — is a recognition on the soul level,

beyond any form of human perspective or judgment,

which allows us to meet each other without armor.

In such openness, friends become antennas sensing each other’s light and shadow.

And naturally, they encourage one another in the unfolding of their most luminous

talents — those for which their soul has come here, that make their eyes sparkle,

and with which each, in their own unique way, makes the world more flourishing.

And friends help each other to let go of what has become too heavy.

They discover together that humor is far less exhausting than drama,

and that those who inflict pain are always in pain themselves.

Thus, a friend becomes a catalyst for learning to truly see ourselves —

our real self, that magnificent being of love,

that we so often sabotage out of fear or woundedness.

And when we go inward and dive into that light within us,

we touch an undercurrent of joy — a joy that embraces life without any conditions,

and remains untouched by all the scenarios that come and go on the surface.

A joy that unites everything, and from which everything has begun.

In this way, friendship can inspire us on the most challenging journey of our lives:

the journey from head to heart —

because the only meaningful thing we will leave behind is the trail of love we’ve left in our wake.

How to transcend karma?

If someone could completely free you from your painful memories, they would do it—or, in the terms of your world,
they would become very rich!

But in truth, that person does exist: it’s you. 
It's important to understand the process. Heavy memories are actually wounds.
For example, you had experiences where you felt rejected. A theme of rejection. It may have been just your interpretation. But regardless, if you have this feeling of rejection, you will attract other situations that will allow you to change your interpretation and perception of rejection.
And if the new situation increases your feeling of being wounded, you will attract even more situations of rejection, and so on—across lifetimes. That means if you leave one life without resolving the theme of rejection, you will continue to attract these situations in your next life in order to change your perspective and, as a result, your sensations.
If for example others reject you because of your skin color, it is your personality who is experiencing that.
It‘s the image you have of yourself that feels rejected.
The being of light within you says: “It’s unfortunate for them, because I am a being of light, and so are they, and we could have collaborated. It’s a pity that they are stuck in their wound, their fear, which causes them to reject me.”
When you realize you have a wound, a karmic theme, you know that you will attract situations that will trigger your wound
so that you can transform your view.
But why is that so difficult? Because each time the wound is triggered, the wound intensifies, and it eventually creates a program, a belief. For example, you begin to recognize the type of person who discriminates based on skin color—you see them, and instantly you feel rejected which causes you to react (you flee, freeze, or fight).
The repeated wound has created a belief—perhaps that you are worthless, or you don’t belong in their world, or something similar—and this belief shapes your behavior.
To transcend, adopt a new perspective:
“In fact, they are the ones losing out! They reject me, and the rejection is their theme, not mine.”
However, even when you understand this, the belief program still causes you to react before you even reach that level of awareness. So in order to change the program, place your attention on the belief and the reaction it generates.
For example, “I am inferior to these people” becomes: “I am a being of light with magnificent qualities.”
And every time a situation arises that could trigger the old program, you declare the new one.
Gradually, your reaction will change, and you can say, “Sadly, these people are the ones losing out by continuing to react this way.”
You become increasingly radiant, increasingly heart-centered, and, curiously, you will begin to attract people who welcome you—and you have reversed the memory.

These are profound insights.
And the entire process begins with consciousness and love for who you truly are:
a being of light incarnate.
                            The Masters of Light

Earth is being showered with a formidable energy, coming from the sun and the cosmos, which fuels the fire in every 
human being. That fire — force of life, force of creation, divine energy, shakti, kundalini, no matter what you call it — is
a mighty force residing in the Hara, the chakra in our lower abdomen. When we use this fire to deploy our deepest talents, those that make our heart dance, we generate a joy that makes every cell in our body vibrate and our creative force flow. Infinite new ideas then inspire us, shattering the illusive limits of our wounded selves and lifting us into the higher frequency of the heart.

Yet before our fire reaches our heart, it has to cross the solar plexus — all too often clogged up with unfinished business
and heavy emotions obstructing the path and deflecting our fire towards destructive outlets.
Our fire then erupts as intolerance, criticism, anger... targeting others or consuming ourselves inside.
So before we judge others who sow bombs all over the world, let us realize how often we ourselves are sowing some kind
of darkness in our own small world...
However, we create our own reality, and we can use our fire to open our plexus. It's the will to release our heavy memories — the painful ones that created our wounds and fears.
There is NOTHING in the universe that retains our past, and the current strong energy makes our past no longer stick
to us — if we really choose so! Of course, our fears won't disappear by magical thinking and neither should we deny them,
because they're even more insiduous when underground. Our fears exist, and we should face them and try to understand
their message of transformation. But they exist next to us.They are part of our lives, but not part of us — a major difference!
As long as we identify with our fears, they run the show and determine how we feel and act.
So let's keep them aside. We are then free to guide our fire straight into our heart and let it trigger an abundance of love
and creative energy.

Don't appease your fire. The world is sick, we can no longer wait to heal it.
If our fire is now awakening with such force, it's because we need it.
The time to hide inside a protective cocoon is over. Every cocoon is exploding anyway.
We are called to co-create a new world of peace and love, each one of us with our own talents, with our mighty fire,
and the time is NOW !

Inspired by channelings of Master St-Germain

Every time I visit my friend in prison I am fascinated by the people who work there.
Who are these men and women making a living by driving every day to a building that houses so much pain? How is someone capable of working for a system that kills men like human refuse?
How do they manage to silence their humaneness? Who's hiding behind those uniforms that give them an illusion of power? Who are they, those guards who often make us visitors feel like we too should be punished?
They must be unaware that the prison system they work for is a reflection of their own inner world — their own prison of fears, frustrations, anger. Without feeling their souls of light, these guards project their unresolved issues onto those behind the bars.
When confronted with a disagreeable guard, I try to see the wounded child under the armor. I send light from my heart to theirs. And I try to understand why this person appeared on my radar screen. Everything is energy! What vibration within me is reflected by this guard? Am I in some way abusing power against someone? Against myself? Or is this simply an invitation to stay in my heart?
Master St-Germain teaches that every challenging encounter is a chance to release aspects of our own smaller selves that still resonate with that heaviness. 

And of course, I  also want to honor the countless guards who spread human warmth inside that cold world
— who understand that being locked up is the sentence, and that humiliation was never part of the deal.