A Commitment To Love: The Edges

This spoken word reflection and mantra practice invites you to reclaim love as a force of protection, truth, and self-respect. Inspired by the words of James Baldwin, this track affirms that real love has boundaries—and that you do not owe understanding to those who deny your humanity.

Through poetic reflection and fierce declarations, this piece supports you in standing firmly in your truth, especially if you’ve felt the pressure to spiritually bypass your pain or make yourself small to keep the peace.

Let this be your permission to love without losing yourself.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to Janoji Healing.

This is a spoken word reflection and mantra practice rooted in truth,

Clarity,

And fierce love inspired by the words of James Baldwin and born from lived experience.

We can disagree and still love one another unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.

These words from James Baldwin stay with me and this is how they've come alive in my body and soul.

I believe in love,

The fierce kind,

The kind that anchors in truth and knows when to walk away.

I believe in love that doesn't flinch,

That doesn't shrink itself to keep the peace,

That doesn't wear silence like armor just to stay safe.

You say we should seek to understand,

And I do.

I understand sorrow,

I understand difference,

I understand the human ache.

But I do not need to understand those who wish me gone.

I do not need to open my heart to cruelty dressed up as opinion.

I will not sit at the table with those who call my existence a debate.

I will not soften myself for those who sharpen their words against my skin.

My love does not require my erasure.

Love,

Real love,

Has boundaries.

It says,

I see you,

But I will not let you harm me.

It says,

I am sacred and I protect what is holy.

It says,

You do not get to name your hate truth.

You do not get to call your fear faith.

You do not get to stand on my neck and speak of unity.

This is not about bitterness.

This is about clarity.

This is about the wisdom that comes from being harmed and choosing still to love myself back to life.

I believe in love,

But not the kind that forgets,

Not the kind that enables,

Not the kind that asks the wounded to hold hands with their oppressors and call it grace.

I believe in a love that rises,

A love that roars,

A love that draws a line in the sand and says,

Here,

No further.

And now,

I invite you to take a breath,

Place a hand on your heart,

And let these truths settle in your body.

These are not just words,

They are declarations,

Sacred reminders,

Mantras for your protection and power.

I am sacred.

I am not here to shrink.

I do not owe understanding to those who deny my humanity.

Love lives in my truth.

Love lives in my boundaries.

Love lives in my protection of self.

I can love and still say no.

I can love and still walk away.

I can love and still speak fire.

My existence is not up for debate.

My joy is not negotiable.

My love is fierce.

And it is enough.

Let those words live in you.

And now,

I'll leave you with this closing reflection,

My truth,

And perhaps yours too.

This is where I draw the line.

In many spiritual spaces,

There's a well-intentioned idea that we must always seek to understand.

And often,

I do.

I seek to understand pain.

I seek to understand difference.

I seek to understand the wounds that shape people.

But I do not need to understand those who call for my erasure.

I do not need to stretch myself thin trying to find the humanity in someone who sees mine as disposable.

I don't need to justify my existence to someone who thinks being gay makes me less worthy of love,

Rights,

Or safety.

I don't need to open my heart to bigotry,

To racism,

To homophobia,

To the politics of cruelty.

My love is not permission to be harmed.

Boundaries are a sacred expression of love.

And love without boundaries is not love.

It's abandonment.

To those who preach unity but turn away from justice,

I say,

Love demands more than soft words.

It demands that we protect each other,

That we call things by their name,

That we stop pretending neutrality is noble when it costs people their lives.

So,

Yes,

I am committed to love.

But not a love that asks me to make myself small or silent or spiritually bypass my rage.

I am committed to a love that protects,

A love that tells the truth,

A love that says you do not get to hurt me and still call it love.

Namaste.

Reviews

Love this. Yes love is not about shrinking others. Its about protecting each other. We need each other more than ever. Thank you John for sharing your wisdom and love ❤️ 🙏🫶

Thank you for providing focus and understanding for the loving rage I feel for all the injustice in the world right now and for giving me hope that justice will prevail 🙏🏻🕊️

So powerful and empowering to hear as a gay women witnessing the hatred leading the USA to disgusting regression and darker ages.

Very powerful. I needed this reminder that boundaries are an expression of love and neutrality is not a response to harm.

Your ability to show the hypocrisy so vividly is important because we have been dulled by constant hate filled propagandic rhetoric. I will listen for several days so I can truly appreciate the full extent of love

Wonderful reflections, a lot of sensitivity and truth. May you and all of us be blessed with true love, starting with love for ourself, recognising our true individual values and completing with encompasing love received from others. Namaste 🙏🏻

🙌 🙌 🙌 Exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you! 🏳️‍🌈💜💫

So true! I have to listen this more often. Thanks for the wise words.

A line I’ve always grappled to draw , which I can now so clearly see at , at a time that feels so poignant , thank you for your insight and devotion ❤️

It's sticky in the edges...innit?
Sometimes (or often) opposing "truths" arise...and a 3rd party comes along and speaks presumed wisdoms like "We should always seek to understand". Parables are easy to repeat when the person saying it may or may not have ever felt the wounds that one truth inflicts on another. Even if they Have suffered the same, not everyone reaches the same point of healing at the same time. Or ever.
My friends were brutally murdered, a married couple. She was 49 years old and he was 53. Three 18 year old men (boys?) entered their home and slaughtered them. They did not kill the dog but left her locked in the house for the days it took for the bodies to be discovered by the daughters, school chums of mine (this family "adopted me" when my own family had disintegrated and I was abandoned).
One man received the death penalty and the other two, life sentences in a plea deal for testifying against the "ringleader". Both men serving life sentences have been paroled and our governor has reverted all death sentences to life...so it is likely that he will also be paroled.
I seek to understand but what I understand is that sometimes there IS no justice. My friends will always be gone...and we will always live with what happened.
There are a lot of good arguments against the death penalty, and I agree with many of them. Except in the case of my friend's killers. In seeking to understand, I don't always like what looks back at me.

Appreciate the authenticity and modeling of healthy self-love here, John.

This touched me to my core. Thanks your for sharing. From my heart to yours. Namaste

Powerful! Thank you for addressing the politics of cruelty. We rise together to finally end this oppression. 💗🙏🏽

Whoa. Wow John. This was moving and powerful and all the things. Thanks for speaking this and sharing your thoughts so eloquently. 🥰🥹🙏🫶✌️