Remembrance

This is the month of remembrance. I remember the ancestors who came from European lands to arrive in a new (to them) continent. They worked hard as farmers, coal miners, carpenters, women who cooked and cleaned as hired "girls" and later, birthed their children, cooked, cleaned, raise and put up food, sewed and knitted.

They and their friends and neighbors built this country to be the place it is now. Little did they know about what the dangers their descendants would face. They did not concern themselves with global warming. They took pride in what they could do and what they did. They engaged in civic activities. Mother was on our small town school board for many years because she cared passionately about education. Father was on the village board for even more years, many of them as Village President. They both valued education and civic life.

Paternal Grandfather started to work when he was just 10 years old. His father had tried to organize a union at a local paper mill. He was fired and blackballed. Grandfather was the youngest of the boys of his large family and the only one available to work to bring money into the household. He worked hard, learned carpentry, and later worked on the dams and locks of the Wisconsin River. He was gone to work sites much of the time. But, he managed to buy a cottage on Lake Poygan and loved the time he spent there hunting and fishing. Paternal Grandmother loved her church and her church friends. She knit amazing sweaters and afghans. She and he both loved playing cards and listening to ball games on the radio.

Maternal Grandfather died of a heart attack when he was still quite young; he had had rheumatic fever as a child. Maternal Grandmother was left with a 5 year old, a 16 year old and a 17 year old still at home. During the depression, Maternal Grandfather had been a union representative and was able to make enough money to start buying land. The farm he bought kept the family in food, and was quite prosperous for many years. He also bought rental houses. Maternal Grandmother administered his assets after he passed away, and built on them, providing for education for her children who were still at home. She was also quite civic-minded and passionate about education. She was on their small town library board for many years, was an avid gardener, and a noted flower show judge.

I am the descendant of some very talented, conscientious and passionate people who only aimed to be as Mother would say, "the salt of the earth."  Only one of them is still alive in this world, Father is in his early 90's, and is quite frail. The others have been gone for many years. May my siblings and I keep the memories alive.

Emergence and Active Hope - Summer 2014

Recently, I've become compelled to resume blogging. Since the last time I blogged, two or three years ago, I've been mainly private, centered on private practice at Soul Focus where I've been seeing clients, providing psychotherapy, or spiritual direction or spiritual healing touch - a form of energy healing. As world, national and local events continue to unfold, it has become clear to me that this is a time for reaching out to others beyond the one-to-one relationships on which I've concentrated for the last two years.

What I'm hoping to do here on this blog is reflect on some of the reading I've been doing, personal and group practices I participate in, and conversations I've been having. There will also be reports on projects and collaborations that have to do with being a loving, grounded presence in the midst of the challenges of seeing how our human activity increasingly affects the entire world's ecology, causing global climate change, thousands of species to go extinct each week. In turn, these consequences intensify pressures on the human population of the planet, create economic and climate refugees, and lead to increasingly militarized competition for fossil fuel and water resources.

This fall I will offer a weekend workshop/retreat on Active Hope. It will be based in the ideas and exercises offered by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnston in their book, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're In Without Going Crazy. The workshop will incorporate informational material from the book, supplemented by other materials; facilitated discussion of thoughts and feelings regarding our current situation; and experiential exercises designed to create a sense of discovery of wonder and awe, and love and connection with other participants, community and our earth. Participants will have a chance to touch deeply into their values, their strengths and vision as we support each other in finding our power to support a long term engagement of loving presence and active commitment in meeting the challenges of our times.

Part of what will appear on this blog over the next weeks and months will be my explorations of the information, reports on my experiences with the practices, reflections on a search for collaborators and recounting some of my conversations with people along the way.

For many years, I've had a strong sense that only a very centered, loving and spiritually grounded approach to all these issues will be of real use in the growing multiple crises that are occurring and may well intensify. Recently, I have come across the term used by Andrew Harvey, "sacred activism," which resonates deeply with me. He is speaking near Madison next month, and my husband and I will attend his Friday night and Saturday workshop there. This is another strand in the interweaving of the networks of ideas, beliefs, emotions and people that contribute to active hope, compassionate connection and sacred activism.

Trying to Make Sense of Oppression

Lately I've been struggling with a sense of oppression as I've read and heard more about global climate change, peak oil, and political repressions and wars around the world. At the same time, I'm aware that many good people are trying in a multitude of ways to bring about the good: to end wars, to make peace, to create demand for good public policies regarding greenhouse gases and the end of cheap energy. At this point, it often seems to me that progress in the good is not as great as progress in greed and destructiveness.

Here in west central Wisconsin, we have our own environmental and economic issues with which to contend.  Sand mining for fracking sand is intensifying. However, there is now a growing movement to think through the environmental and economic effects of this mining. Controversy about other mining efforts near Lake Superior that could affect the life of this great lake and the people who live around it has also pulled more organizations and groups into opposing mining. Here, too, unemployment has hit many families, and there is far greater demand for assistance with food, shelter and energy than there was a year or two ago. Yet, the Walker administration has successfully ratcheted down on the budgets for human services, has eliminated public workers' rights to collective bargaining, and has dismantled wherever possible the progressive gains of 100 years of hard work. In response, local teachers' unions and progressive groups have organized to assist in recall elections, and to support progressive policies related to unions, education, and access to voting. The struggle has taken hours and hours of labor, and is ongoing. In contrast the Walker administration and Republican legislators have been supported by much outside money and the assistance of the Koch brothers supported ALEC.

For me there has been a growing sense of powerlessness and a diminution of hope. It seems to me that the people concerned about human thriving and the wellbeing of this planet earth have too little power, organizational muscle or sense of purpose to be able to overcome the money, power, focus and drive of those who seem determined to destroy human rights, plunder the planet and benefit their own bank accounts. I have recently been reminded of some of my thoughts and images from three and four decades ago when I had become aware of nuclear war games being played in Washington D.C. At the time, I could not believe that people were playing games that, if they were to happen in real time, would destroy not only the United States and the Soviet Union, but also most life as it has been known on earth. I tried to imagine the people playing the games and wondered what they thought of their own children being vaporized in a nuclear explosion. I remember feeling sick at the thought of people actually planning for such events. Their lack of imagination and positive vision is now being matched by the lack of imagination of people planning such things as the tar sands pipeline. Tar sand mining, transportation and processing requires almost as much energy as it would provide and vastly increases greenhouse gases. Respected climate scientists have stated that if we continue with the tar sands mining and pipeline, it is "game over" for any hope of controlling global climate change. People who live in coastal areas (Washington D.C., Louisiana, parts of Texas, Florida, New York, etc.) can expect the destruction of their homes and communities, probably within their own lifetimes, certainly within the lifetimes of their children.

With the pincers movement of global climate change and peak oil, along with growing economic inequality on the planet, vast food insecurity and destruction of rain forests, ocean health, water resources and agricultural lands, we face an increase in suffering that is stunning. This suffering is the suffering of children, old people, and billions of people without income, land or hope. This suffering is the suffering of the great whales, dolphins, the factory farmed animals, the dying trees through the American west and in European forest lands. It is the suffering of the land itself turning into desert, of the mountains that were previously held together by glacial ice now disintegrating. This suffering is the suffering of one species after another going into extinction.

This morning on my morning walk with the dogs around our south field, now clothed in goldenrod, I was brought almost to my knees, tears filled my eyes, and a lump formed in my throat. I was suddenly flooded with past, present, and future images. I saw images of galley slaves, people slaving in factories around the world, people being tortured for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, for being the wrong kind of human, having the wrong color of skin or wrong social class. I was seeing children born with horrible birth defects because of genetic damage to their parents and toxic effects of chemical and radioactive pollution. I was seeing wars in which children, women and men are killed for something/nothing - just madness and greed. Then I thought about the practice of tonglen, of "driving all blames into one" and of taking into myself what of that suffering I can. I imagined sending out love, peace and healing. And, I thought of the saints who accused themselves of terrible sin, and I wondered, were they taking into themselves the sins and sufferings of those around them? Were they praying for the mercy of Christ to flood into the suffering and sin of all people, as they prayed for mercy and forgiveness for themselves?

A further thought that emerged from something said at church last evening had to do with the understanding that we are all in this together. It is not that this person or that person is "evil," but it may be that they (we) are in thrall to spiritual forces that are beyond them (us) in power and malevolence. And that is the reason that within Christianity we see the triumph of God in Christ as being so very important. Because those "powers and principalities," these spiritual forces that use human beings, have been defeated in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. How this happened has to do with the divine/human unity of Jesus the Christ, the willingness of Jesus to die and to trust that his power and spirit would be infinitely amplified as a result. With his resurrection, his followers were assured that he was alive and active. The coming of his Spirit to the earliest followers filled them with power and hope that allowed them to live with serenity even under Roman oppression, to confront the imperial accommodation of the religious leaders in Jerusalem and throughout the empire, and to extend themselves with mercy and healing toward those who suffered. For them, the death and resurrection and the new world now made possible, were "good news." When we willingly "put on Christ" we become part of the means by which suffering is diminished, mercy is extended, and joy replaces sorrow. This is what the saints knew. May it be so for each of us. May we each do our part to Dwell in the Mercy. May all beings be free from suffering. May all beings dwell in peace. May all beings be happy. With Dame Julian I must focus on, "And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Waking Up

As I have practiced sustained Lectio this month, I find certain awarenesses increasing. One such awareness is that much of the time I am preoccupied with what I call "dithering," which means spinning my wheels without enough traction. I am pulled in several different directions, indicated by the stack of books next to me in the sunroom. Moloney is at the top of a stack of books on narratives and possible selves. On the floor is a book on Help for the Helpers, resting atop Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, above Sacred Space: the prayer book for 2011 - a book of daily readings and prayer. In another pile is the book, You Can Go Home Again, by Monica McGoldrick.

Yet, as I write this post, I find that, strangely, there is some coherence in these piles of books, and also a sense of connection to my practice of Lectio on the three chapters (15, 16, and 17) in the Gospel of John. That is, a dawning real-ization that there is an inescapable connection of each to all - within helping relationships; within the biosphere itself; within those called out to be a Light, dwelling and indwelt by the Holy; and within families - all the generations. Weaving all these threads together in a coherent life lived one day at a time, is both a challenge, and a joy.

The challenges are many. It is no longer possible to simply accept the "knowledge" passed on to me as I grew from childhood to legal adulthood. Much of what we knew when I was a kid has been shown to be demonstrably incorrect. Much of what we know now is quite fuzzy and we learn more all the time about the world of space, time, and form. For example, we know now that animals do feel and think. When I was first in biology classes in the 60's, we were cautioned about "anthropomorphizing" animals. Psychology classes taught that mental operations were not relevant, that you could not know what was in the mind of another person, so bothering with that was inefficient and not professional. Now we know about mirror neurons, and the electro-magnetic field of heartbeats, and how the mother's breathing affects the ability of her infant to regulate his/her own breathing. Amazing stuff! I am challenged to learn more through reading, listening, and becoming aware of my own feelings and intuitions.

Where some of the fuzziness comes in for me, and most of us, is in the persistent set of beliefs that somehow we "individuals" are separate, set off from the events all around the earth (and, mayhap, in "the heavens"). In a time when species are going extinct, when planetary water sources are drying up, being depleted, or gushing forth from disappearing glaciers, when rising sea levels threaten millions of people, when crops fail because of extreme weather events and people experience famine, how can we not feel this in our bones? There are now almost 6.9 billion people riding this beautiful spaceship. Well over 1 billion of them are in dire poverty, while almost half are living on less than the equivalent of $2.00 a day (figures are from http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/poverty_facts_and_statistics/). Yet we in the "developed" nations move through our days figuring out new ways to profit from that which creates the misery of people, eco-systems, and the planet.  Or we may simply try to deny that these tragedies have anything to do with us or our actions, our way of living.

Interlocking systems of global carbon emissions, global warming, global capitalism, and global governance are creating what is now a new eaarth, as Bill McKibben names it. Global climate change has already changed irrevocably what we once knew as earth.  We are left in an unpredictable world, one unlike that in which we lived through all the years of our evolving. How we humans respond to the new conditions on eaarth is immensely important. Will we in the developed world allow even more people to starve to death or perish in "natural" disasters each year due to climate changes? Will we continue to deny that global warming causes climate changes resulting extreme weather, crop failures? Will we curb our appetites for more...? Will we regulate our individual and community lives so that others, humans and other beings, may live? Will we reduce our carbon emissions, commit to ending unrestrained global financial speculation and corporate wrongdoing that that harm people and the earth? Will we care for each other and the eaarth we have now co-created in (unfortunately) our own image?

We will do what is necessary only if we can absorb the Light, experience the joy, revel in the intelligences and consciousness of "all our relatives" and the Creator.  Many have said that the doorway is through gratitude, and that ingratitude is a great sin. May I - we - take time to be mindful of who and where we are, and allow gratitude to surface. May I - we - express gratitude in every way that is possible to me - us. May we abide (dwell) in the One, and become one with the multitude of beings, of which we are one.

In the New Year

This morning I'm sitting in our sunroom, setting intentions for the new year. One of those intentions is to step up my practice of sustained lectio and be more consistent in that practice. I want for my everyday living and experience to reflect the ongoing incorporation of the Word, the revelatory text, in and through my life. In the month of January, I will listen to the recordings of the School of Lectio to refresh my memory and to be further inspired by the words and voice of S. Meg Funk.

I am making a commitment to myself to read daily in Moloney's commentary on the Gospel of John and in that of Aquinas as well. I will keep working on memorizing sections of the chapters I've selected in the Gospel of John, perhaps a short section each month. As I work along, I will also be reflecting on the symbolic dimensions of these chapters, and, where possible, expressing the symbols in some creative way. Finally, each day I will engage with the moral dimension of the chapters. Their theme is dwelling "in Christ" and being indwelt by Christ. It seems appropriate to "guard thoughts," as S. Meg suggests, to seek God's help to counter the thoughts that lead away from God, and to open to and fill my mind with God-thoughts. As I am able, I will practice "ceaseless prayer" using the Jesus Prayer and the practice of the Presence of God.

In addition, following the suggestion of one of the blogs I read, I have chosen three words for this year. In order of their appearance to me, they are: radiate, mercy, charis. They will be in my mind as I do lectio and live each day. At this point, 'radiate' seems to me to be the solution to a concern that has shadowed my mood and thought over the last couple of months. The problems of this world seem so great, the general mood so grim, the suffering increasing. Every day I receive at least a dozen emails asking me to send money, sign onto a petition, call a congress person, or contact some corporate wrongdoer. In my postal mail there are more solicitations for worthy causes to end some form or another of suffering. I have felt overwhelmed by the misery represented in these communications. What to do? How to keep from being overwhelmed and going numb to it all? The answer embedded in the word 'radiate' is to absorb the Light and radiate it outward in my thoughts, words and actions - to do my best to let the Light shine forth into the darkness.

The word 'mercy' has been on my mind for some time now. At one point some years ago I took some kind of online quiz to "discover (my) spiritual gifts." It turned out that the only gift that really stood out was 'mercy.' Mercy seems to me to be the opposite of the harsh, punishing, unloving tenor of these times. We do not see mercy when people are killed because of road rage. We do not see mercy when children are deprived of love, affection and models of how to live. We do not see mercy when old and young are refused medical care because they have no money. We do not see mercy when sentences for crimes are applied on the basis of race and class. We do not see mercy when people applying for employment are discriminated against on the basis of age, appearance, race, disability, and/or gender.  Mercy understands, comforts, binds wounds and heals them if possible. Mercy builds up the other, finding the good and affirming it. Mercy refuses to condemn others; it leaves judgment to God. Mercy seeks to knit together families, communities, humanity itself and the whole web of living beings.

When I was enrolled in the Shalem Institute's program for individual spiritual direction, the first residency was a magical time for me. It took place at the Seton Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The place itself was a lovely facility, built in a quadrangle around an inner garden. The atmosphere was sweet and holy. My small group for peer spiritual direction was filled with graced people. A word that emerged from within this group was this word, 'charis.'

Here is some discussion of what charis means. First and foremost, charis means grace. Within Christian theology much discussion, and ironically, not a few wars, have been prompted by trying to specify and determine what grace is. The quote below from www.bible-researcher.com addresses some elements of a definition of grace. The Catholic Encyclopedia has several pages on the various kinds of grace, how they are related, how they are communicated to and by human beings.

In most of the passages, however, in which the word charis is used in the New Testament, it signifies the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man, affected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. While we sometimes speak of grace as an inherent quality, it is in reality the active communication of divine blessings by the inworking of the Holy Spirit, out of the fulness of Him who is "full of grace and truth," Rom. 3:24; 5:2, 15; 17:20; 6:1; I Cor. 1:4; II Cor. 6:1; 8:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:5, 8; 3:7; I Pet. 3:7; 5:12. 
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, 1949), pp. 426-27

As I reflect on charis, I realize that for me, grace has the qualities of freedom, power, harmony, graceful and easy movement, loveliness, giftedness and gratitude. Several writers have addressed grace as the free 'gratuitous' gift of God to humans and angels. It seems to me that not only does God freely give, but also, the gift of grace itself is a gift of freedom to humans. We are free because we are graced with life, with our own gifts of body, mind and spirit. Further, we are graced with the companionship of God, who entered our own human life so as to share it most intimately with us. We are graced freely by the very Presence of God in our own souls.

Grace also has the aspect of power. The image that comes to mind is of a beautiful animal, perhaps a Lipizzaner stallion, bursting with focused energy, able to dance upon and above the ground. Charis is a dancer, disciplined, strong, and utterly beautiful. Grace accomplishes its ends because it has within it the giftedness of its being and it flows within and is sustained within Being of the dynamic God.

Another quality of grace is harmony. It brings harmony to human persons, to groups of people and to all of nature. Grace creates cosmic harmony, making a symphonic unity of a diversity of creatures. When charis is present, conflict is held within a wider harmony. Graceful and easy movement characterizes the harmony, the unity within diversity. Charis smooths harsh and jagged motions, allowing flexibility, stretching and strengthening, like the beautiful movements of a flowing yogi/yogini, or a dancer who seems to float in the air, or a free and happy child swinging or playing in the water.

Charis is loveliness itself. It embodies beauty and goodness. It conveys to its observers and recipients its own nature, which is sweet, gives pleasure, and is filled with joy. Charis is a gift, that gives itself, and that gifts the recipient with its own ability to gift others. Thus, it is truly the Gift that keeps on giving. Finally, charis is gratitude, gratitude for the gift of itself, gratitude for being able to gift others and gratitude for Being.

Lectio Time

I'm having difficulty taking the time to actually study the commentary this week. The best I've been able to do most days is have a sub-vocal "Jesus Prayer" going through my mind, and to occasionally think of the vine and the branches. The connection between this little branch and the vine could be much stronger.

I want to feel the life-blood flowing through my veins! I want to feel the energy of the vine bursting through my shyness and reserve, reaching out in love for each person I encounter. My soul longs to experience the sense of being loved so completely that I am aware of the Presence overflowing within me and through me. May it be so!

Voices of Lectio

S. Meg taught us the four 'voices' of Lectio, which she identified as the literal, the symbolic, the moral and the mystical. She said that in the literal voice we are working to understand what the revelatory text says.

A revelatory text can be a part of scripture, something in nature or an experience in one's life. God is present in each moment, and reveals Godself in scripture, nature and in our lives. One of the first decisions to make in practicing Lectio is to choose a revelatory text. And, that choice is made with discernment. Our instructions were to make the choice of revelatory text using the same pattern of discernment we had used to decide whether to keep silence during the School.

I had arrived at the School with two texts in mind, but had as yet chosen neither. In reading through each text and the surrounding scriptures, I focused on the issue of "what is my question here?" It seemed to me that my purpose was and is to learn what it is to be 'in Christ' and to grow 'in Christ' and to be increasingly 'Christed.' With that in mind, it was clear that the text I would choose would be the 15th, 16th and 17th chapters of the Gospel of John. 

We were instructed to first focus on the literal voice of our chosen text. What that has meant for me so far is to read the entire Gospel of John several times, and chapters 15-17 more frequently. I often think of and try to recall how the first few verses read and what they mean. 

1. I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. 2. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. 3. You are already made clean by the word that I have spoken to you. 4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5a. I am the vine, you are the branches.  (translation is the Revised Standard Version, The Gospel of John, by Francis J. Moloney, a commentary in the Sacra Pagina Series.)

Because it is important to know how the revelatory text fits within the whole book, I have been reading the commentary named above to understand more of the context and a better understanding of how the narrative is constructed. Yet, I keep slipping into the other voices as well. The symbolism of the vine and branches is so very present. I find myself praying to be a fruitful branch securely attached to the vine.