Friends, a metamorphosis is taking place. This is a critical time. Its like the transition from a caterpillar into a butterfly. What does a caterpillar know of life as a butterfly? It is so foreign to a being whose life is on the ground or in the somnolence of a cocoon as opposed to in the air with wings. Like the caterpillar, for us it can be very frightening to leave the comfort of what is familiar. It takes strength and patience to realize our struggles are just part of this process and to be with each other in gentleness and support.
This is our opportunity to rise to be better, more wholly spiritual and lead our communities to the same. To do this we need to take concrete action to get closer to God and closer to each other - to be in Love. One of the most difficult parts of this transition is that in order to awake to this new life we have to be as clean and clear as possible of everything that keeps us separate. This includes speaking up when those around us act in hurtful ways. It also includes accepting our own unacknowledged benefit from oppression and the denial of our culpability and responsibility. Examples are that in one of the more affluent communities in this wealthy nation our sick, poor and elderly are left to die homeless on the street or warehoused in lonely over medicated stupors. Another is when we refuse to grasp that the mere fact of skin color drastically effects a person's ability to fully realize their potential (as does other arbitrary things like sexual orientation, gender, appearance, faith, etc). We also are separated by letting our desires for material comfort or dominance for ourselves and our families become insatiable needs which blind us to the issues and bind us to a caterpillar’s life. We need to wake up to some uncomfortable truths about our world and ourselves. We must wake up then stand up then soar to a higher sphere of consciousness.
Telling someone that they are defective is not what this is about. There is a difference between pointing out areas where we as groups need to work and include ourselves (we - our) and singling out another individual for attack or moral condemnation (you – you’re). It is easy to give up on each other or give in to the temptation to scapegoat. Sometimes this behavior is used as a substitute for giving up on or blaming ourselves. However, bringing the things we are not proud of in ourselves to the surface gives us the chance for correction and is simply part of the process of evolution. All this ugliness must rise to the light. We can’t clean up what we can’t see. There is no need for guilt.
Through experience of the Divine Within -- that everlasting spark -- we can see that the positive approach works best. Difficult, painful situations are perennial as the grass. In dealing with actions which seem inconsistent with higher principles we can share, in compassion and humility, our own understanding. We can say or keep in our thoughts something (anything) to affirm their innate goodness. Being truly with each other in the struggle is vitally important. No one is beyond the redemptive power of love. If an individual seems cut-off from their spiritual roots we can be the one to take the initiative and with respect and care, labor with them. They just might have something to teach.
To really be part of this work and be true peace makers we need to understand that "us" and "them" are really the same and try not to take the distress, projection and lack of spiritual maturity to heart. This is a time when all the nasty meanness has to come out. The brighter we shine the more this will happen around us. Nevertheless now is not the time to retreat. Yes its painful but we can be as ducks whose beautiful feathers let the water just roll off. We can hold oneself above the garbage in gentleness and patience.
We can also realize that it’s all about attitude and our attitude is something we have some control over. Holding onto anger does no one any good. Smile and breathe, laugh and touch. Relax and be happy. This is a challenge when things are hard. The process of the butterfly transition is not going to be pleasant, either in our interpersonal interactions or in the physical world. Upheavals will continue and intensify. We are poised for some country taking the war nuclear, bird flu, a worse than 911 type terror attack, an asteroid of ice falling into the Atlantic, stock or housing market crashing, an earthquake sending the coast into the sea, other catastrophic natural disasters or any sort of combination. The most important thing we can do to prepare is remember we are aligned with the Creator and the deep goodness within each of us. Lets be part of a rebirth of peace, respect and harmony between us. Lets be open and fearless in our search for truth. Lets together resolve that it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Lets together nurture healthy communities and relationships. We are all called to a sacred purpose. Lets make a commitment to have our work be of service, trusting that this Power will work in each person. Our time is limited.
Each of our traditions has instructions - follow them (without using religion as a shield or weapon to justify negative judgments). Each of our hearts longs to connect with others in love. Do it - let go of all that keeps us separate. Act out of our higher selves; out of that place of kindness, forgiveness and forbearance and call others to the same. In this way I believe we can truly be the beings of our destiny.
Poem by Kabir ( 1500's Indian mystic/poet)
Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables,
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
(day 22)
Thursday
Holy Obedience: From Worship to Witness
(The following was published onthe front page of
"The New England Friend" Spring 2006 issue
http://www.neym.org/NewEnglandFriend/index.html)
“And the Lord passed by. There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of God, but the Lord wasn’t in the wind. After the wind – an earthquake. After the earthquake – fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Ki 19:12) This was the experience of Elijah hearing and accepting God’s call. Its one thing to hear a voice. Its another to hear what is being asked and trust in the power. What did and does this voice ask? It did not say to Elijah that he should return and sit quietly in his cave or in my case a Friends Meeting simply connecting to the power of love and peace. He was told to make a huge nuisance of himself; charged with bringing the people to God or else they would perish. The prophets had intense struggles, they were ridiculed, attacked, many times having to flee for their lives. Prophetic mystery-ministry involves embracing the struggle. Not only what is seen in the outer world but the internal struggle as well.
Listening to “a still small voice” has been central to my being a spiritual person raised in a Quaker family. While the social concerns of Friends were important, I saw a sharp divide between those Friends who were peace activists and those who were mystics. I clearly and unequivocally identified with the latter. The first message I gave in a Meeting for Worship was in the beginning years of Framingham Monthly Meeting when we were meeting in peoples living rooms. I was twelve and simply said “God is Love”. This was so real to me. My spiritual obedience was and to a large part remains simply to love the Lord my God with all my heart with all my soul and with all my might and do my best to love my neighbor as myself. It hasn’t been easy and I fail much of the time but being obedient, being faithful means to make the attempt even with all our sometimes way too humanness.
Twenty four years later after attending George School and worshiping in Friends Meetings up and down the east coast I returned to the Friends Meeting in Yarmouth where as a child I worshiped with my family during the summer months. I had a opening and gave the second message of my life. It was essentially the same. God is in essence love and its our job to manifest this in the world. What is wanted from us is to do our part to build a world of peace. The ultimate wish for us is that we live in such a world; a world of harmony, faith, beauty and joy.
I heard that alleviating the suffering of the oppressed is vital - that we are joined together; as one suffers so do we all. I needed to take appropriate initiative and provide unconditionally support for others; to learn and model being an ally. The impossibility of achieving a world of peace when any group has to deal with discrimination and violence grew over the next 4 years into a conviction that the necessary healing can not take place until the oppressor and those who let hostility happen learn they have a spiritual disease. It is an unfelt, invisibly but soul obscuring attitude. Thus in 1990 began the Clothesline Project, to bear witness to violence against women.
I devoted myself to this issue for five years but the still small voice was not finished with me. There was a repeated call, an opening waiting for me to unlock my heart. When I did I had a very rude awakening about oppression. The perpetrator was me. I was steeped in a culture of racism and benefited without awareness of white privilege. It was time for me to embrace the struggle in a different and scary way. The witness became two fold, a witness in the world and a self witness.
For me, now at East Sandwich Friends, the journey from worship to witness travels as a circle. Witness leads back to worship, worship to witness, all embraced in a mantle of holy obedience. All I have to do is get out of the way. Too often I am trying to lead the Light into my activities rather then let the Light lead me. Being obedient means surrender to a particular spiritual path united through the heart, sustained through the breath, the voice. If ever there was a time to work together its now. Our time is short. We are joined together in Light; in oneness, to heal in order to fully connect with that which is eternal. Trust God’s power with gratitude and love. Be ready to change.
Rachel Carey-Harper
"The New England Friend" Spring 2006 issue
http://www.neym.org/NewEnglandFriend/index.html)
“And the Lord passed by. There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of God, but the Lord wasn’t in the wind. After the wind – an earthquake. After the earthquake – fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Ki 19:12) This was the experience of Elijah hearing and accepting God’s call. Its one thing to hear a voice. Its another to hear what is being asked and trust in the power. What did and does this voice ask? It did not say to Elijah that he should return and sit quietly in his cave or in my case a Friends Meeting simply connecting to the power of love and peace. He was told to make a huge nuisance of himself; charged with bringing the people to God or else they would perish. The prophets had intense struggles, they were ridiculed, attacked, many times having to flee for their lives. Prophetic mystery-ministry involves embracing the struggle. Not only what is seen in the outer world but the internal struggle as well.
Listening to “a still small voice” has been central to my being a spiritual person raised in a Quaker family. While the social concerns of Friends were important, I saw a sharp divide between those Friends who were peace activists and those who were mystics. I clearly and unequivocally identified with the latter. The first message I gave in a Meeting for Worship was in the beginning years of Framingham Monthly Meeting when we were meeting in peoples living rooms. I was twelve and simply said “God is Love”. This was so real to me. My spiritual obedience was and to a large part remains simply to love the Lord my God with all my heart with all my soul and with all my might and do my best to love my neighbor as myself. It hasn’t been easy and I fail much of the time but being obedient, being faithful means to make the attempt even with all our sometimes way too humanness.
Twenty four years later after attending George School and worshiping in Friends Meetings up and down the east coast I returned to the Friends Meeting in Yarmouth where as a child I worshiped with my family during the summer months. I had a opening and gave the second message of my life. It was essentially the same. God is in essence love and its our job to manifest this in the world. What is wanted from us is to do our part to build a world of peace. The ultimate wish for us is that we live in such a world; a world of harmony, faith, beauty and joy.
I heard that alleviating the suffering of the oppressed is vital - that we are joined together; as one suffers so do we all. I needed to take appropriate initiative and provide unconditionally support for others; to learn and model being an ally. The impossibility of achieving a world of peace when any group has to deal with discrimination and violence grew over the next 4 years into a conviction that the necessary healing can not take place until the oppressor and those who let hostility happen learn they have a spiritual disease. It is an unfelt, invisibly but soul obscuring attitude. Thus in 1990 began the Clothesline Project, to bear witness to violence against women.
I devoted myself to this issue for five years but the still small voice was not finished with me. There was a repeated call, an opening waiting for me to unlock my heart. When I did I had a very rude awakening about oppression. The perpetrator was me. I was steeped in a culture of racism and benefited without awareness of white privilege. It was time for me to embrace the struggle in a different and scary way. The witness became two fold, a witness in the world and a self witness.
For me, now at East Sandwich Friends, the journey from worship to witness travels as a circle. Witness leads back to worship, worship to witness, all embraced in a mantle of holy obedience. All I have to do is get out of the way. Too often I am trying to lead the Light into my activities rather then let the Light lead me. Being obedient means surrender to a particular spiritual path united through the heart, sustained through the breath, the voice. If ever there was a time to work together its now. Our time is short. We are joined together in Light; in oneness, to heal in order to fully connect with that which is eternal. Trust God’s power with gratitude and love. Be ready to change.
Rachel Carey-Harper
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