August 1st

Immigrant

Magic doesn't work in this new place.
Native poetry has lost rhythm and rhyme,
Familiar food is labeled a curiosity,
And hostile stares replace familial love.
To be an immigrant
Is to be solitary in the midst of millions.

Immigrants travel from their native lands for many reasons, but in general, they all involve expectations for a better life. For this, they will risk uncertainty, exploitation, discrimination, hostility, poverty, and sometimes even separation from family. Those who survive develop an inner fortitude and determination that sees them through their suffering.The preservation of spirituality is as much a concern as anything else. Spirituality, except in its highest stages, has a definite cultural context. (There is spirituality that takes its power from the land, culture, and time -- that is why most types of magic will not work outside their native lands; there is spirituality that one carries within oneself, and there is a rare spirituality which transcends all time and place.) Immigrants try either to maintain their native beliefs or to adopt the beliefs of their host country. The first option is difficult : They are in a culture incompatible with their native beliefs and will sustain their spirituality only if it was already strongly established. In the second case, where immigrants adopt the host country's spirituality, they must learn an entirely new system. In either case, immigrants must cope with the problems of conflict between two cultures, until they reach a spiritual stage where cultural references become meaningless.

Personal Interpretation


Immigrants either find themselves clinging to the ways of their homeland or attempting to adopt local beliefs. Sometimes they do both simultaneously. It can be difficult for one culture to thrive in a place that favors practices that are at odds with it. Likewise, it can take a long time before someone truly feels that they've made a strange new belief system their own.  With time and practice though, one can cultivate a spiritual awareness that transcends distinctions of culture. This is no easy task, but the immigrant is perhaps in a better position to reach this state of being. He or she is free to look at the world with a fresh pair of eyes. Perspective must necessarily shift as the immediacy of relocation requires great fortitude on the part of the recently immigrated. This strength of characters can be empowering. In a sense, we should all do what we can to go outside of our own comfort zones, for it is only when we leave the familiar that we can begin to understand who we are and how we fit into the grand scheme of things.