Living in coronavirusworld 156: Emptiness or love

9/2

Mister Rogers shares the pool

The hat is simply the regular Wednesday hat worn by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Apparently to "honor the military” with its subtle black camouflage and olive. As for me, I just like the color combination. And today it goes with my real focus, the image on my t shirt. It recalls an episode of the Mister Rogers television show. There was a time of controversy of Black people being allowed to swim in public pools. In response, Mister Rogers simply invited his weary Black police officer friend to share a wading pool with him. That was the quiet power and strength of Mister Rogers. 

The shootings around the country have our attention. The “militia” are welcomed with “appreciation” by the Kenosha police. People are shot in Portland. Camo dressed “volunteers” roam the US-Mexico border in SUVs with assault weapons to protect the border. And a 17 year old with an AR15 who drove 20 miles to Kenosha and shot two protestors to death is hailed as a “hero” by the President and “her President” by media provocateur Ann Coulter. Simply watching Fox News for 15-20 minutes makes me realize that the country is living in two very different realities where each side has an apocalyptic view of the other. There is no conceivable middle ground. The Cold Civil War seems to be sparking, And we are all anxious.  The election fills us with as much fear as hope as does the feeling that something will happen.

Meanwhile we continue  our conversation about contemplation and meditation. I see them as different but others feel  they are close enough to be almost identical. Steve P talks of contemplative prayer through centering prayer.  A practice of concentration, as with your breath, as opposed of relaxing and letting go, allowing whatever happens to happen. In any event, there is a feeling that the practice, over time, changes who you are. 

I recall our Taize services at West Park, the candles, the repeated phrases, chants with harmony. The quiet feeling of peace that entered in. Ted Phelps has written about “natural meditation,”  that we have a built in meditative function to access. In our body. To slow our “busy brain.”  I know  that meditation for me is the necessity of just stopping, just freeing my head of thoughts. Just allowing it to be. 

There also seems to be a divergence with the Western contemplative tradition seeking a “fullness of God” while the Eastern seeks emptiness. Rosary beads and Buddhist prayer beads. Emptiness or love. 

Jesus seems to go to “quiet places” to listen, prayer for him being more listening than talking.  In Luke, the story of the Good Samaritan precedes the story of Martha and Mary where Jesus praises Mary for choosing the better part, (Luke 10: 25-42) Though Jesus’ point would have been better made had he gotten up to help Martha with the dishes.  (I myself always found dishwashing and lawn mowing meditative.). The two stories go together…the active love of neighbor  partnered with study and refection. Both needed. 

Liturgy, especially long established rituals as in Anglican or Roman Catholic serve the same function of opening the door to another space. Freeing from the analytic work of the mind  to the quietness of contemplation. Finding value in the God of Unknowing. 

one white pigeon

There is one all white pigeon among the birds in Morningside Park.

The police, aware of angry neighbors, made 12 drug busts -for sales and buys- no list of how many of each, on the Upper West Side between 77th and 83rd. The Lucerne Hotel right in the middle on 79th. They got marijuana, cocaine, heroin and a BMW.

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Living in coronavirusworld 143: the fruit of the prayer is not in the prayer

8/19

...and it does.....

Our Underground group gathers from New York City, the Berkshires, Catskills, Maine and the Jersey Coast.  Any of us who can be away are away. Typical New York August stretched out over months. 

A lot of time is spent today talking about contemplation and….like say action. How the depths of contemplation can lead to action. 

We talk about prayer. How true prayer is more listening than speaking.  How Jesus learned things through listening. To others. And to God. That the fruit of the prayer is not in the prayer. We talked about Thomas Merton. How through prayer we find ourselves, love ourselves. How he said the one who begins in contemplation will end in revolution.  And that prayer unleashes our power. Compassion and empathy as the fruits of prayer.

We talked about the difference between chanters and shouters. 

We talked about hope. How it is not objective, it has no object, it just is. And it is, as the Bible says, not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) 

Joel says we are living in a time of cold civil war. I describe my emotional state as quiet anxiety, not helped by our current system,  our crazy electoral system in which a voter on Wyoming has 4 times the voting power as one voter in California.  Hold onto hope.

We speak of the difference between meditation, emptying of all thought,  and contemplation, single minded reflection.  And what each leads to . And commit to following up on this conversation, deeper,  next week.

a reminder

trees

Walking through Central Park, there’s a new set of banners affirming the Park’s role in  our lives.

The Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association continues to explore the potential collaboration between our Disabilities Network and the Black Women and Girls working  group.  Our Reproductive Options group also sees collaboration as helping to move us past pro-choice, to reproductive justice, a perspective that explores the social economic and bias pressures that push abortion rates in communities of color. 

Tonight at the Democratic Convention is Kamala Harris’ night.  Fine points of ideology and change theory aside, her story is a quintessentially American story.  Immigrant parents from Jamaica and South Asia. Meeting in a march for justice. An extended family of various colors, cultures snd spices. An American story. Our story. That alone counts for something.  As does a Presidential candidate's wife who is a teacher and believes in public education, not ending it. People who know us. Yes, that counts. 

One month down. Already

1/31

My first visitor of the day is Anna., bringing me status reports on various people and the latest news from the neighborhood  streets. Puppy of course is there for backup. 

Nancy stops by to pick up my keys and for some real estate conversation.

And then my friend David.(http://www.davidmichalek.net/index.php ) His Fourteen Stations which were first hung in West-Park, are headed to Yale this Lent. We’d never really talked in detail about the process that created them before. That he didn’t know when he began what the result would be. It started just by getting to know the Speakers’ Bureau members of the Interfaith Assembly. Meeting several times a week for several months before the specific idea began to take shape. He’d actually begun thinking about Job. Needed people who were homeless (or formerly) and capable of making and keeping a commitment to go through a process. And after five months, Fourteen Stations was the result. All helpful to our project with Dzieci to create a Passion Play.( http://dziecitheatre.org/)

His Slow Dancing video installation and his newest project Figure Studies are on their way to Europe, ultimately Berlin by August. He speaks of his super slow videos as being occasions for contemplation and we talk about the difference between meditation and contemplation. As understoidd in the process of lectio divina, spiritual reading of scripture. ..The one focused, directed, mantralike. A form of ritual/ The other, no image, no metaphor, no ritual, just being. Finally just being.  His super slow filming opens up spaces to wander into explore, just be in. And we talk of the ontology of slowness, as in slow food. And how the root meaning of lent is slow, to slow down....

The questions about ritual and space go back to our very first event with Bill the architect  from Portland and continue to our exploration with Dzieci.  ( see An hour of ritual space) http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=335914640400880074#editor/target=post;postID=707662201799146266

I’m anxious for him to have this conversation with my Dzieci friends who are arriving for rehearsal soon. But first, Jamie has arrived with some serious questions of her own. Dream, vision, reality questions. 

First to arrive is Golan whose family came from Israel when it was still Palestine. His name a remembrance  of the mountainous border region with Syria.  Matt and Isis arrive and I want to  get them introduced to David who’s still talking with Jamie. 

The Prophet has been sitting quietly in the back of the sanctuary all afternoon. Rachelle is distraught because the  SRO where she lives has thrown out all the things she was sorting out in the hallway leaving her without winter clothes. Jamie immediately begins to help her find warm things. All this is happening at once when Cara calls from the hospital here she is with questions I can’t answer.

Jamie sees the look on my face. Figures I need to debrief. The B awaits. Dzieci will have to wait until the end of their rehearsal to work with me in what  will happen with them in worship Sunday. 

The Prophet will still be there, listening.