SPIRITUAL FIRST RESPONDERS Words of wisdom from Commencement Speaker Kyva Holman
While Naropa’s 2021 Spring Commencement Ceremony had to take place virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event was still full of lively and radical Naropa spirit. Kyva Holman, graduate of Naropa’s BA in Interdisciplinary Studies and MA in Religious Studies, was elected to be the graduate student speaker for the class of 2021. His address below speaks to the unique hardships our 2020 and 2021 graduates faced and the beauty and resilience they found in these challenging times.
W
ow… Naropa University class of 2021—just trip off how crazy that sounds for a minute. Advanced, dystopian, apocalyptic. The fact is that we are living in the future. Many predictions have been made about this future by everyone from economists, climate scientists, and think tanks to philosophers, poets, and even prophets. Well, here we are. You, me, and all the sentient beings who are desperately counting on some form of sanity to prevail on a deeply troubled and imperiled planet. So before I say another word, I want to enthusiastically offer you a 21-ton salute for having made it this far in the first place. That was never a fait accompli, and if you're anything like me, you've probably had many moments where it looked like you actually might not pull it off. Unlike Ivy League institutions, which prepare people for material and technological success, our contemplative education at this crazily wise Buddhistinfluenced institution provoked us to look deeply
Photos by Tashi Browder
into the very essence of who we are as spirit beings having a human experience. We faced Babylonian towers worth of maladies like structural racism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and the like, beset—if not bombarded—by notions like planned obsolescence, systems theory, and intersectionality. Really? Yes, really. We've been forced to reckon not with statistics and algorithms but with the very psycho-spiritual origins of human dysfunction. How many times have you cringed just anticipating the next discussion post, the vulnerability-exposing homework assignment, or the next warrior exam? Time and again we have faced down the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. The arrows of Maras demons assaulting Buddha beneath the bodhi tree and the invitation of provocation was to not freak out, like so many in this chaotic moment, but to respond with deep presence, compassion, and skillful means; and don't forget for a minute the broader social conditions you did so in.
Naropa Magazine | 2021–22 | magazine.naropa.edu
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