First and foremost, the long-awaited list of Australian beer highlights:
*Pure Blonde
*James Squire Amber
*Fat Yak
*James Squire Golden Ale
And, the equally noble list of our Favorite Aussie Phrases:
*You're better off going for a wander
*I want you to have a think about it
*Please make welcome our next speaker
*I'll be back in a tick
*Let's meet up for brekkie (breakfast, of course)
*We'll throw some snags on the barbie (meat on the BBQ)
*Actually, our group is pretty pissweak
Truth be told, there were so many more, but we couldn't understand half of what these people said to us! As they say: "English is the common language that divides us."
Well, my friends, we just packed up our room and are preparing ourselves to head home. It's very bittersweet, I tell you. I miss J and K soooo much and I can't even wait to be with them again! Our lives back home are incredibly full and blessed and wonderful.... and.... it's really hard to leave here. We have become so at home in this city, in this setting, on this land. Outside the Parliament, we enjoyed walking, sight-seeing, eating, biking, and walking some more.
Within the Parliament, we reveled in an experience of global diversity and solidarity like nothing we've ever experienced. We had serious conversations with people from India, Egypt, Germany, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kuwait, the UK, and Somalia. We heard presenters from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, France, Scotland, Japan, and so many more. We were surrounded by beautiful people in religious and cultural dress from religions and regions all over the world. Each day was an immersion in learning and sharing and opening of hearts and minds.
There have been a million pertinent lessons for my work (thankfully, since they are the ones who paid for me to come here!). Some of the most memorable and applicable sessions were specifically focused on interfaith work of university chaplains! I heard about many great models, insights and opportunities. I connected to a national and international network of university interfaith chaplains.
At all times, I was aware of the lessons that apply to the impending Interfaith Understanding Conference that Nazareth will host in April. My positive experiences - and critiques - of the Parliament have led me to create a big list of "what to do at IUC" and "what not to do at IUC." One thing I know for sure, we have a TON of work to do between now and April to get ready for our event. The five of us from Rochester (Shafiq, Denise Yarborough, Allison Stokes, Mike and I) rallied a LOT of interest in our Rochester conference - including students from Somalia, UK and Australia.
On a personal level, wow, I don't even know where to begin. I feel so enriched by the experiences of people from other faiths and cultures. I have such a bigger perspective on everything. I can close my eyes and remember how it felt to do yoga and dance beside people I've never met. I can hear Dalai Lama's sweeeet voice. I can remember the urgent call for change in our world. I can see the colorful dances from Indian youth. I can hear the music of the aboriginal people. I can feel the solidarity of our whole human family, united in the microcosm known as the Parliament of the World's Religions. I feel wonder. And peace. And hope.
THANKS to all of you who have supported our family (through child care, emails and simply reading our blog) while we have been away. We are excited to come home sweet home to you ~ enriched and rejuvinated.
Love,
~Lynne
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Victoria Market
It's Thursday here in Melbourne. The conference is over and our life feels somewhat surreal. The routines we established over the past week changed today, and I think we both feel a little disoriented. Instead of eating brekkie and running down to the convention centre to catch a workshop, we slept in, started thinking of packing and set our sights on a different part of town.
Today we took a little shopping trip to Melbourne's Victoria Market. It's quite a collection of a cross between a food market and all kinds of other vendors. Lots of people - visitors and locals - shopping for a mix of weekly needs, souveniers or a whole assortment of goods. It was quite an experience. The market is located just a bit north of the city and only a 15 minute walk.
The locals here have a saying that Melbourne has 4 seasons in a day. Today was a good example. The day started off nicely - a bit overcast but pleasant and warm. By 2pm, the sun was blazing hot. By 4pm it was raining hard and the temps had dropped. You never quite know what you're gonna get here.
A few observations about Melbourne. First, this is a clean city. There's very little trash anywhere. Maybe we're missing the dumpy spots, but wherever we went, the city seemed quite tidy. Secondly, the Asian influence is huge. The population of people from Asian countries is just amazing. I don't know if they are visitors or residents, but it is quite wild to see the faces, skin tones and languages of so many different nationalities from Asia. Speaking of language, what is also wild is to hear everyone speaking with the same accent. I might expect someone who looks like they're from Thailand or Cambodia to speak another language and they break out with a thick Aussie accent that I can't even understand...
OK, we just read today's local paper - honestly the first time I picked up a paper in a week. One of the headlines is that the Obama administration confirmed sending some secret reps to the Parliament to talk with religious leaders about Islam. Apparently they met on Monday and had a very good meeting. Never knew the parliament exerted that much influence.
It's hard to believe that our trip is ending. Melbourne has become so central in our daily lives and the city and landscape have quickly become so familiar. There's much we will miss about this place and what happened here...and we miss our life back home. We miss Jonah and Kateri, the family, all our friends. I know I am grateful to have been here with Lynne. Were I not able to ride her coat tails to Melbourne, this wouldn't have happened for me. But beyond that, she's just a great partner on the journey, and it is always so powerful to have these experiences together. It's been fantastic to get away with her, and we feel so blessed to have had this time together. Thank you to all those who made this possible for us.
Gonna try to get a good night's sleep. Long plane ride tomorrow. We leave at 1pm in Melbourne and get in at 10am in L.A. Neck pillow. Airplane food. Movies. Deodorant. Journal.
Today we took a little shopping trip to Melbourne's Victoria Market. It's quite a collection of a cross between a food market and all kinds of other vendors. Lots of people - visitors and locals - shopping for a mix of weekly needs, souveniers or a whole assortment of goods. It was quite an experience. The market is located just a bit north of the city and only a 15 minute walk.
The locals here have a saying that Melbourne has 4 seasons in a day. Today was a good example. The day started off nicely - a bit overcast but pleasant and warm. By 2pm, the sun was blazing hot. By 4pm it was raining hard and the temps had dropped. You never quite know what you're gonna get here.
A few observations about Melbourne. First, this is a clean city. There's very little trash anywhere. Maybe we're missing the dumpy spots, but wherever we went, the city seemed quite tidy. Secondly, the Asian influence is huge. The population of people from Asian countries is just amazing. I don't know if they are visitors or residents, but it is quite wild to see the faces, skin tones and languages of so many different nationalities from Asia. Speaking of language, what is also wild is to hear everyone speaking with the same accent. I might expect someone who looks like they're from Thailand or Cambodia to speak another language and they break out with a thick Aussie accent that I can't even understand...
OK, we just read today's local paper - honestly the first time I picked up a paper in a week. One of the headlines is that the Obama administration confirmed sending some secret reps to the Parliament to talk with religious leaders about Islam. Apparently they met on Monday and had a very good meeting. Never knew the parliament exerted that much influence.
It's hard to believe that our trip is ending. Melbourne has become so central in our daily lives and the city and landscape have quickly become so familiar. There's much we will miss about this place and what happened here...and we miss our life back home. We miss Jonah and Kateri, the family, all our friends. I know I am grateful to have been here with Lynne. Were I not able to ride her coat tails to Melbourne, this wouldn't have happened for me. But beyond that, she's just a great partner on the journey, and it is always so powerful to have these experiences together. It's been fantastic to get away with her, and we feel so blessed to have had this time together. Thank you to all those who made this possible for us.
Gonna try to get a good night's sleep. Long plane ride tomorrow. We leave at 1pm in Melbourne and get in at 10am in L.A. Neck pillow. Airplane food. Movies. Deodorant. Journal.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Another Flippant Reflection
I am getting tired. These long days are starting to take their toll, and there's only so much that the mind, heart and body can take in....Yet I try to keep finding a bit more space for 'one more thing' knowing that this is a time limited opportunity.
One of the highlights of the day was going to a "Voices of Indigenous Youth" panel this morning. One of the young women from Albuquerque, NM, spoke about the fluidity of her identity as an indigenous young women. She spoke about the pressure from both the Native community to "be more native" and from the wider society to be less native. She spoke of how a new generation of indigenous young people just want to be themselves. She's 28 and trying to figure out who she is without turning her back on her heritage or on how she decides to live it out.
This theme has permeated the entire Parliament - how does one live out one's faith/cultural identity in this world. As dear Bob Dylan said, the times they are a changing, and what worked for a past generation does not necessarily work for a new generation. At the same time, there seems to be a great need to remember all that has gone before us as we try to figure out how to move into the future - individually and collectively. It is fascinating to see how the world's faith are trying to addresss the identity issues and how individual people within those traditions are trying to do the same.
Hanging around with this indigenous crowd over the past few days also brought home another very sad realization. I guess sometimes one needs to travel 8,000 miles to discover one's own backyard. While here I have learned much about the so-called Indian Schools that were set up throught the US and Cananda by the Christians and Catholics to systematically dismantle Native culture and language. Many other atrocities happened at the schools as well. One presenter asked us to imagine the following and I invite you to do the same. Imagine that people came into Rochester tomorrow. They rounded up all of the Catholics, let's say, or people with some specific identifiable characteristic - but let's stick with Catholicism. They took the children from the parents - from ages 6 - 14 - and sent them off to schools - sometimes up to 400 miles away. They told the parents they were sinners, people without souls and if they didn't comply that their children would die from punishment. As for the children, they told them never to speak their native language again, never to do their heathen ceremonies, never to associate with people who looked or acted like them. They were taught that what they were was bad in God's sight and that they needed to be and act another way. They taught them a new language, gave them new clothes, taught them 'proper' ways of being in the world. They taught them proper subjects like math and reading and history. They would routinely beat them and often would sexually abuse them.
Now imagine the silence in the villages when all the children were taken away....
Now imagine that the boarding school children grew up apart from their parents. Some returned home, but many did not. Two and maybe three generations passed.
After so much time, how many of those Catholics in exile would be able to read the Bible, remember the mass or worship rituals, would remember the stories of the saints or the many other things that make Catholicism the faith that it is? How many would have positive self-esteem? What other problems would develop under such conditions?
This meditation gave me just a small taste of the impact of colonization (which really cannot be separated from Christianity) on native peoples - and especially those on whose land I now call home. The history of Rochester is no different from the history anywhere else. This week has been deeply moving for me to consider such stories in a new way. It leaves me wondering a lot as I venture home....
I also attended a session on human trafficking. Heavy. I went in part because I have 14 year old children and so many of the humans who are trafficked for sex, labor or other reasons are about that age. Another huge topic that requires our attention, concern and action - but I aint gonna get into that right now.
We just got back from a night out with Marcus Cumrow and his wife Rachel. Marcus and Rachel live in Melbourne and are friends of our friends Ched Myers and Elaine Enns in LA. Ched said, "You two gotta get together..." Marcus works at a place called the Urban Seed - a very cool community, outreach and faith experience wrapped into one here in Melbourne. Anyway, we had a wonderful evening just being in someone's home, sharing stories, talking about Aussie/US culture and just hanging out...It was a nice break from the conference schedule.
It's been a long day (again) and we need some sleep. Going to bed with the last day of the conference ahead of us....
One of the highlights of the day was going to a "Voices of Indigenous Youth" panel this morning. One of the young women from Albuquerque, NM, spoke about the fluidity of her identity as an indigenous young women. She spoke about the pressure from both the Native community to "be more native" and from the wider society to be less native. She spoke of how a new generation of indigenous young people just want to be themselves. She's 28 and trying to figure out who she is without turning her back on her heritage or on how she decides to live it out.
This theme has permeated the entire Parliament - how does one live out one's faith/cultural identity in this world. As dear Bob Dylan said, the times they are a changing, and what worked for a past generation does not necessarily work for a new generation. At the same time, there seems to be a great need to remember all that has gone before us as we try to figure out how to move into the future - individually and collectively. It is fascinating to see how the world's faith are trying to addresss the identity issues and how individual people within those traditions are trying to do the same.
Hanging around with this indigenous crowd over the past few days also brought home another very sad realization. I guess sometimes one needs to travel 8,000 miles to discover one's own backyard. While here I have learned much about the so-called Indian Schools that were set up throught the US and Cananda by the Christians and Catholics to systematically dismantle Native culture and language. Many other atrocities happened at the schools as well. One presenter asked us to imagine the following and I invite you to do the same. Imagine that people came into Rochester tomorrow. They rounded up all of the Catholics, let's say, or people with some specific identifiable characteristic - but let's stick with Catholicism. They took the children from the parents - from ages 6 - 14 - and sent them off to schools - sometimes up to 400 miles away. They told the parents they were sinners, people without souls and if they didn't comply that their children would die from punishment. As for the children, they told them never to speak their native language again, never to do their heathen ceremonies, never to associate with people who looked or acted like them. They were taught that what they were was bad in God's sight and that they needed to be and act another way. They taught them a new language, gave them new clothes, taught them 'proper' ways of being in the world. They taught them proper subjects like math and reading and history. They would routinely beat them and often would sexually abuse them.
Now imagine the silence in the villages when all the children were taken away....
Now imagine that the boarding school children grew up apart from their parents. Some returned home, but many did not. Two and maybe three generations passed.
After so much time, how many of those Catholics in exile would be able to read the Bible, remember the mass or worship rituals, would remember the stories of the saints or the many other things that make Catholicism the faith that it is? How many would have positive self-esteem? What other problems would develop under such conditions?
This meditation gave me just a small taste of the impact of colonization (which really cannot be separated from Christianity) on native peoples - and especially those on whose land I now call home. The history of Rochester is no different from the history anywhere else. This week has been deeply moving for me to consider such stories in a new way. It leaves me wondering a lot as I venture home....
I also attended a session on human trafficking. Heavy. I went in part because I have 14 year old children and so many of the humans who are trafficked for sex, labor or other reasons are about that age. Another huge topic that requires our attention, concern and action - but I aint gonna get into that right now.
We just got back from a night out with Marcus Cumrow and his wife Rachel. Marcus and Rachel live in Melbourne and are friends of our friends Ched Myers and Elaine Enns in LA. Ched said, "You two gotta get together..." Marcus works at a place called the Urban Seed - a very cool community, outreach and faith experience wrapped into one here in Melbourne. Anyway, we had a wonderful evening just being in someone's home, sharing stories, talking about Aussie/US culture and just hanging out...It was a nice break from the conference schedule.
It's been a long day (again) and we need some sleep. Going to bed with the last day of the conference ahead of us....
Lessons in the Sand
I cried twice yesterday.
One time was during the evening youth plenary. The young leaders were strong and courageous and creative. I was so inspired (and excited to work with our amazing leaders back home). During the program, several young people performed a song about love... about the intense connection we share with our loved ones... and about how those who die are still with us in our hearts. It was sweet and simple and soulful. It brought me to tears of gratitude for the loved ones with whom I share my daily life, my loved ones across the miles and years, and my loved ones who have gone before me. It was an incredibly spiritual experience of connection and affection.
The other time was in the middle of the day, at the sight of a Tibbetan sand mandala.
I have seen mandalas before, and I was looking forward to seeing one during the Parliament. But like so many beautiful experiences, I simply couldn't have anticipated my reaction to this one.
I approached the area where all the Tibbetan monks were gathered. I walked up to the table where a quiet and gentle monk was working diligently with the colorful sand. The moment I saw the mandala I started to cry. I was so overcome by emotion ~ for the sheer and utter beauty of the design... the colors... the richness of texture.... the intricacies.... the stunning display of creativity and patience. Simultaneously, I was overcome by the realization of its short lived existence... of its imminent and inevitable demise. I was over whelmed by the non-attachment it symbolizes, by the fleeting nature of reality, by the selflessness of the monk-creators.
I can't begin to put into words the endless lessons for life that swirled around my head. It is all about love and beauty and art and creativity. And it's all about letting go and letting go and letting go some more.
I'm grateful to have captured this moment on camera (in my favorite picture of the trip thus far). It shows the mandala table - with a monk hard at work, surrounded by a group of young Jain boys around him, watching silently and reverently. This one little moment in time captures the spirit, diversity and heart of the Parliament.
One time was during the evening youth plenary. The young leaders were strong and courageous and creative. I was so inspired (and excited to work with our amazing leaders back home). During the program, several young people performed a song about love... about the intense connection we share with our loved ones... and about how those who die are still with us in our hearts. It was sweet and simple and soulful. It brought me to tears of gratitude for the loved ones with whom I share my daily life, my loved ones across the miles and years, and my loved ones who have gone before me. It was an incredibly spiritual experience of connection and affection.
The other time was in the middle of the day, at the sight of a Tibbetan sand mandala.
I have seen mandalas before, and I was looking forward to seeing one during the Parliament. But like so many beautiful experiences, I simply couldn't have anticipated my reaction to this one.
I approached the area where all the Tibbetan monks were gathered. I walked up to the table where a quiet and gentle monk was working diligently with the colorful sand. The moment I saw the mandala I started to cry. I was so overcome by emotion ~ for the sheer and utter beauty of the design... the colors... the richness of texture.... the intricacies.... the stunning display of creativity and patience. Simultaneously, I was overcome by the realization of its short lived existence... of its imminent and inevitable demise. I was over whelmed by the non-attachment it symbolizes, by the fleeting nature of reality, by the selflessness of the monk-creators.
I can't begin to put into words the endless lessons for life that swirled around my head. It is all about love and beauty and art and creativity. And it's all about letting go and letting go and letting go some more.
I'm grateful to have captured this moment on camera (in my favorite picture of the trip thus far). It shows the mandala table - with a monk hard at work, surrounded by a group of young Jain boys around him, watching silently and reverently. This one little moment in time captures the spirit, diversity and heart of the Parliament.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Look before crossing
Walking in Melbourne has become a bit of a metaphor for me with respect to what is going on here at the Parliament. As many may know, the Aussies drive on the left. This presents some immediate difficulties for pedestrians unaccustomed to this practice. On more than one occasion I have been talking and walking along not really thinking….only to find myself about to step into oncoming traffic. Hazardous indeed. What I have had to quickly learn to do is look in the opposite direction as to what I am accustomed.
This may be, perhaps, one of the greatest teachings for me of the Parliament – learn to look in the opposite or at least another direction. One thing that has been reinforced for me again and again over the past week is how small and patterned my world really is. This doesn’t belittle it or deny its goodness in any way. It just says that while I live with notions of my own openness, right thinking, importance, etc., there’s so much that I do not know, have not experienced and can’t even imagine.
Hearing from indigenous peoples from all over the world (I have found myself drawn to many of these workshops and presentations), having conversations with people from remote parts of the planet, listening to incredible music and performance and chanting with Hindu masters, I humbly realize yet again how much territory I am unfamiliar with - both inside of and outside of myself.
Everywhere I turn at the Parliament there is someone, some tradition, some practice that is “other.” Some of it is familiar – or at least I think it to be so – until I start to dig a little deeper and I begin to see how complex and multifaceted people, traditions and faiths really are - including my own. (I am also finding some new resources in my own well that I did not realize were there let alone finding them in other people's wells.)
And if the faiths we profess and practice are complex, so seem to be the challenges the human family faces. While we may think we are familiar with them, understand them and have a remedy for them, they are, perhaps, far more complex and multifaceted than we realize. Some of these challenges require fundamental restructuring on so many fronts...
And yet in these conversations I am finding quite a bit of hope. People of real good will, real intellect and real passion are thinking about tough issues and responding to them everywhere. They dig deep into their wells of faith – just as I do - to find resources and strength and vision. And what is being brought home for me is that I do not have to solve global problems alone (thank God). What I lack, someone else possesses. What is more, there are traditions (that have been around for a long, time) and leaders (who are very wise) inviting us into a new way of being together.
With that said, there are a few things not happening at the Parliament that are a bit troubling. One participant referred to it as a ‘hug fest,’ and there can be that sentiment here – that we all believe similar things at the core, that we can all get along and work together, etc. Few of the panels I have attended have addressed some of the deep tensions that exist between, among and within the faiths. Sexuality has barely been touched (out of 300+ presentations, only 2 dealt with sexuality issues). It also has been a challenge to meet and get to know people from different places – due to the schedule and few real opportunities to sit down with someone you do not know.
So the Parliament is not a perfect world – but neither is the world we live in. And, perhaps, perfection is not the goal. As Chief Oren Lyons said in one of his talks on the effects of colonization, “We’re stuck with each other, whether we like it or not.” The situations we find ourselves in as humans are stark, and I am getting so much more of a sense of this than ever before. I am realizing how limited our media coverage is in the U.S. of issues that are critical (not sure how I can say this more emphatically) to the (literal) future of this planet – let alone religion, and I am feeling an even greater urgency to return home and get back to work.
It’s not all serious here, though. There’s a great deal of laughter, levity and celebration. Last night was an amazing concert and performance with folks from around the world. Some stuff I had never seen before. And pretty much every workshop is like the start of a bad interfaith joke, “A Sikh, a Christian and a Shinto walk into a room…” It’s also amazing that you can be sitting next to the head of some international order of such-and-such and never even know it. I was sitting next to a guy in what looked like Tibetan lama garb in one workshop. Then in the next, he’s on the panel I am attending as the dharma leader of over a million faithful. It’s nuts. There are some interfaith big cheeses here, and I attended a panel yesterday where the speakers probably represented about 3 billion people from 5 – 6 faiths. Imagine the possibilities if they all go home as jazzed as I do…This house we call earth is gonna rock.
As Lynne mentioned in her post, there’s just too much to try to capture it all. I hope these posts are giving you, our eight faithful followers, a small sense of both the content and process of the Parliament and of what remains with us as we move through it. Hard to believe it’s quickly coming to and end and hard to believe it’s been going on so long.
I continue to remain buoyed by the thoughts of you all back home.
This may be, perhaps, one of the greatest teachings for me of the Parliament – learn to look in the opposite or at least another direction. One thing that has been reinforced for me again and again over the past week is how small and patterned my world really is. This doesn’t belittle it or deny its goodness in any way. It just says that while I live with notions of my own openness, right thinking, importance, etc., there’s so much that I do not know, have not experienced and can’t even imagine.
Hearing from indigenous peoples from all over the world (I have found myself drawn to many of these workshops and presentations), having conversations with people from remote parts of the planet, listening to incredible music and performance and chanting with Hindu masters, I humbly realize yet again how much territory I am unfamiliar with - both inside of and outside of myself.
Everywhere I turn at the Parliament there is someone, some tradition, some practice that is “other.” Some of it is familiar – or at least I think it to be so – until I start to dig a little deeper and I begin to see how complex and multifaceted people, traditions and faiths really are - including my own. (I am also finding some new resources in my own well that I did not realize were there let alone finding them in other people's wells.)
And if the faiths we profess and practice are complex, so seem to be the challenges the human family faces. While we may think we are familiar with them, understand them and have a remedy for them, they are, perhaps, far more complex and multifaceted than we realize. Some of these challenges require fundamental restructuring on so many fronts...
And yet in these conversations I am finding quite a bit of hope. People of real good will, real intellect and real passion are thinking about tough issues and responding to them everywhere. They dig deep into their wells of faith – just as I do - to find resources and strength and vision. And what is being brought home for me is that I do not have to solve global problems alone (thank God). What I lack, someone else possesses. What is more, there are traditions (that have been around for a long, time) and leaders (who are very wise) inviting us into a new way of being together.
With that said, there are a few things not happening at the Parliament that are a bit troubling. One participant referred to it as a ‘hug fest,’ and there can be that sentiment here – that we all believe similar things at the core, that we can all get along and work together, etc. Few of the panels I have attended have addressed some of the deep tensions that exist between, among and within the faiths. Sexuality has barely been touched (out of 300+ presentations, only 2 dealt with sexuality issues). It also has been a challenge to meet and get to know people from different places – due to the schedule and few real opportunities to sit down with someone you do not know.
So the Parliament is not a perfect world – but neither is the world we live in. And, perhaps, perfection is not the goal. As Chief Oren Lyons said in one of his talks on the effects of colonization, “We’re stuck with each other, whether we like it or not.” The situations we find ourselves in as humans are stark, and I am getting so much more of a sense of this than ever before. I am realizing how limited our media coverage is in the U.S. of issues that are critical (not sure how I can say this more emphatically) to the (literal) future of this planet – let alone religion, and I am feeling an even greater urgency to return home and get back to work.
It’s not all serious here, though. There’s a great deal of laughter, levity and celebration. Last night was an amazing concert and performance with folks from around the world. Some stuff I had never seen before. And pretty much every workshop is like the start of a bad interfaith joke, “A Sikh, a Christian and a Shinto walk into a room…” It’s also amazing that you can be sitting next to the head of some international order of such-and-such and never even know it. I was sitting next to a guy in what looked like Tibetan lama garb in one workshop. Then in the next, he’s on the panel I am attending as the dharma leader of over a million faithful. It’s nuts. There are some interfaith big cheeses here, and I attended a panel yesterday where the speakers probably represented about 3 billion people from 5 – 6 faiths. Imagine the possibilities if they all go home as jazzed as I do…This house we call earth is gonna rock.
As Lynne mentioned in her post, there’s just too much to try to capture it all. I hope these posts are giving you, our eight faithful followers, a small sense of both the content and process of the Parliament and of what remains with us as we move through it. Hard to believe it’s quickly coming to and end and hard to believe it’s been going on so long.
I continue to remain buoyed by the thoughts of you all back home.
Parliamania!
Dear Friends,
The pace of the Parliament is frenetic ~ even for a hyperactive multitasker such as myself. There are 6 sessions per day, running from 8am until 10pm. There are about 30 choices for each of the 6 time periods! Plus special events, exhibitions, and performances throughout the day and night. The program book of workshop descriptions (which we need to study every night) is 390 pages long!! It is so intense here!! There are 8,000 people from countries all around the globe, many dressed in traditional religious and cultural attire. It's stunning, really.
I don't know how we'll ever find the time or space to try to put our experiences and insights into words. We'll fit in a little more blogging while we're here, then we'll spend the rest of our lives trying to make sense of everything we've seen and heard. We hope that we can share our experience in such a way that you get a sense of the insights and challenges we've heard.
For lack of time to give a full narrative, I thought I'd share some quotes that have captured some of the lectures, panels and conversations so far. I hope you enjoy them:
"If everyone believes that they are going to heaven and everyone else is going to hell... This creates hell for everyone." (His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
"Don't let religion be a time capsule. Let it be a time line." (Peta Pellach)
"Giving a lecture about dialogue is like giving a ballet about opera." (Rabbi Jeremy Jones)
"To listen to another's soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another." (Douglas Steere)
"When people ask us 'Are you Shia or Sunni', we all agree to respond: 'we are sushi.'" (Muslim man from Michigan)
"Relationships are the places where love exists and without them it doesn't get in." (Vijay, a Hindu chaplain from Edinburgh University, Scotland)
"Let's start where we want to end... in FREEDOM!" (Sri Sri Yoga instructor)
"When I was a young adult, I didn't even know there was 'a within'." (Phyllis Curott, wiccan priestess)
"The only thing we can control is our awareness." (Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo)
(On sexism in the Church) "The Western world sees with one eye, hears with one ear and thinks with half a brain. And it shows!" (Joan Chittister)
(On women leaving the Catholic Church) "If you are going to leave, don't leave quietly. If you are going to stay, don't stay quietly." (Joan Chittister)
"The purpose of life is not to be happy. The purpose of life is to matter - to make it matter that you lived at all." (Ratin)
"When people are staring at my hijab (headscarf) I smile as a form of charity." (Muslim woman of Indonesia)
"We are not all the same! And that's a good thing." (Brad Hirschfield)
(On the story of the Tower of Babel) "When everyone speaks the same language and speaks the same thoughts, no one is learning anything." (Joan Chittister)
"Religion is like fire - it can warm your home or burn it down." (Brad Hirschfield)
That's it for now. I'm heading to a great workshop on Interfaith Work in Higher Education - in India, Indonesia and the US.
Peace to all,
~Lynne
The pace of the Parliament is frenetic ~ even for a hyperactive multitasker such as myself. There are 6 sessions per day, running from 8am until 10pm. There are about 30 choices for each of the 6 time periods! Plus special events, exhibitions, and performances throughout the day and night. The program book of workshop descriptions (which we need to study every night) is 390 pages long!! It is so intense here!! There are 8,000 people from countries all around the globe, many dressed in traditional religious and cultural attire. It's stunning, really.
I don't know how we'll ever find the time or space to try to put our experiences and insights into words. We'll fit in a little more blogging while we're here, then we'll spend the rest of our lives trying to make sense of everything we've seen and heard. We hope that we can share our experience in such a way that you get a sense of the insights and challenges we've heard.
For lack of time to give a full narrative, I thought I'd share some quotes that have captured some of the lectures, panels and conversations so far. I hope you enjoy them:
"If everyone believes that they are going to heaven and everyone else is going to hell... This creates hell for everyone." (His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
"Don't let religion be a time capsule. Let it be a time line." (Peta Pellach)
"Giving a lecture about dialogue is like giving a ballet about opera." (Rabbi Jeremy Jones)
"To listen to another's soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another." (Douglas Steere)
"When people ask us 'Are you Shia or Sunni', we all agree to respond: 'we are sushi.'" (Muslim man from Michigan)
"Relationships are the places where love exists and without them it doesn't get in." (Vijay, a Hindu chaplain from Edinburgh University, Scotland)
"Let's start where we want to end... in FREEDOM!" (Sri Sri Yoga instructor)
"When I was a young adult, I didn't even know there was 'a within'." (Phyllis Curott, wiccan priestess)
"The only thing we can control is our awareness." (Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo)
(On sexism in the Church) "The Western world sees with one eye, hears with one ear and thinks with half a brain. And it shows!" (Joan Chittister)
(On women leaving the Catholic Church) "If you are going to leave, don't leave quietly. If you are going to stay, don't stay quietly." (Joan Chittister)
"The purpose of life is not to be happy. The purpose of life is to matter - to make it matter that you lived at all." (Ratin)
"When people are staring at my hijab (headscarf) I smile as a form of charity." (Muslim woman of Indonesia)
"We are not all the same! And that's a good thing." (Brad Hirschfield)
(On the story of the Tower of Babel) "When everyone speaks the same language and speaks the same thoughts, no one is learning anything." (Joan Chittister)
"Religion is like fire - it can warm your home or burn it down." (Brad Hirschfield)
That's it for now. I'm heading to a great workshop on Interfaith Work in Higher Education - in India, Indonesia and the US.
Peace to all,
~Lynne
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Why are you here
Surprise, surprise...some of my posts are somewhat heavy.....
While this gathering is amazing, there was part of me that was wondering on the first day, “What am I doing here? Why did I come to the Parliament?”
As I have grown in years, I have come to have less patience for “conferences.” People gather, talk about all kinds of things, have these “feel good” moments, speak in general terms and then leave to back to where they came from – self-congratulating that they “did something” good. Let me just confess - I have attended these gatherings, felt good at these types of gatherings and went away with some self-congratulation. In fact, I have probably even organized these types of conferences! Meanwhile, injustice remains intact, oppression continues and social ills seem to gain a stronger foothold. Now I know it’s not that clear cut, but I have become more aware, I think, of the limits and potential dangers of “gathering” to talk about issues. I am indebted to my friends on the margins (of all kinds) who remind me and poignantly ask, “What good does your talking do for my life?”
I try to hold a question like this with me each day at the Parliament. What good does your talking do for my life?
What I have seen is that while the Parliament is vulnerable to the dangers of “conference,” the presence of people from around the globe helps to deter any self-congratulation. At most of the workshops I have attended, people are talking about poverty with the global poor in the room or we are talking about climate change and its impact on the nations with people from the most directly affected nations in the room. Heads of religious orders and denominations are not just talking about interfaith dialogue, they are actually doing it in front of us and it is happening in our very conversations. On this point I am also coming to appreciate the very real and basic value of dialogue itself. Talking to each other and listening to each other is actually a profound encounter. I know because I do this every day in my work, and I am seeing it anew here at the Parliament.
And I cannot tell you the number of times that I have heard honest and direct pleas and urgings that the United States must do more and take a more active role. Truly it is my sense that the “world” is literally waiting for us to take up our proper place in so many conversations that affect this planet.
I will also say that one of my more profound realizations came yesterday listening to a presentation on Yoruba – an indigenous religion of Africa – that only existed orally up until the last 10 years. As with any indigenous expression, there is something profound (dare I say direct from the creator) that gets expressed in the languages, practices and ritual expressions of the first peoples of this planet. I heard it again in the presentation today about the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations of the Iroquois). I think I appreciated in a new way and developed a more profound respect for the unique voice and contribution that is expressed (and was nearly destroyed) in so many of the indigenous practices, languages and belief systems.
OK, I can go on and on. It’ll have to suffice to say that I have just been drinking this stuff in. I am sitting in workshops with the likes of Jim Wallis, Joan Chittister, Chief Oren Lyons and Imam Khalid Fattah Griggs (African-American Muslim)to name but a few. I am seeing religious expressions that I have never seen before, meeting some new folks from across the US and the world and finding some new spiritual territory inside of myself. It’s not the mountaintop, but it’s pretty darn good.
I am not sure I will ever know “Why” I needed to be here. But I do think that all the “talking” that is going on is the seed for fruit that will only ripen once I return home. I also have to say how blessed I feel to be able to return to a life that is already so 'full' and laden with richness. Some folks come to gatherings like these and lament the end because there is not much to return to. When the Parliament ends, I know I get to come back to home. Inshallah!
While this gathering is amazing, there was part of me that was wondering on the first day, “What am I doing here? Why did I come to the Parliament?”
As I have grown in years, I have come to have less patience for “conferences.” People gather, talk about all kinds of things, have these “feel good” moments, speak in general terms and then leave to back to where they came from – self-congratulating that they “did something” good. Let me just confess - I have attended these gatherings, felt good at these types of gatherings and went away with some self-congratulation. In fact, I have probably even organized these types of conferences! Meanwhile, injustice remains intact, oppression continues and social ills seem to gain a stronger foothold. Now I know it’s not that clear cut, but I have become more aware, I think, of the limits and potential dangers of “gathering” to talk about issues. I am indebted to my friends on the margins (of all kinds) who remind me and poignantly ask, “What good does your talking do for my life?”
I try to hold a question like this with me each day at the Parliament. What good does your talking do for my life?
What I have seen is that while the Parliament is vulnerable to the dangers of “conference,” the presence of people from around the globe helps to deter any self-congratulation. At most of the workshops I have attended, people are talking about poverty with the global poor in the room or we are talking about climate change and its impact on the nations with people from the most directly affected nations in the room. Heads of religious orders and denominations are not just talking about interfaith dialogue, they are actually doing it in front of us and it is happening in our very conversations. On this point I am also coming to appreciate the very real and basic value of dialogue itself. Talking to each other and listening to each other is actually a profound encounter. I know because I do this every day in my work, and I am seeing it anew here at the Parliament.
And I cannot tell you the number of times that I have heard honest and direct pleas and urgings that the United States must do more and take a more active role. Truly it is my sense that the “world” is literally waiting for us to take up our proper place in so many conversations that affect this planet.
I will also say that one of my more profound realizations came yesterday listening to a presentation on Yoruba – an indigenous religion of Africa – that only existed orally up until the last 10 years. As with any indigenous expression, there is something profound (dare I say direct from the creator) that gets expressed in the languages, practices and ritual expressions of the first peoples of this planet. I heard it again in the presentation today about the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations of the Iroquois). I think I appreciated in a new way and developed a more profound respect for the unique voice and contribution that is expressed (and was nearly destroyed) in so many of the indigenous practices, languages and belief systems.
OK, I can go on and on. It’ll have to suffice to say that I have just been drinking this stuff in. I am sitting in workshops with the likes of Jim Wallis, Joan Chittister, Chief Oren Lyons and Imam Khalid Fattah Griggs (African-American Muslim)to name but a few. I am seeing religious expressions that I have never seen before, meeting some new folks from across the US and the world and finding some new spiritual territory inside of myself. It’s not the mountaintop, but it’s pretty darn good.
I am not sure I will ever know “Why” I needed to be here. But I do think that all the “talking” that is going on is the seed for fruit that will only ripen once I return home. I also have to say how blessed I feel to be able to return to a life that is already so 'full' and laden with richness. Some folks come to gatherings like these and lament the end because there is not much to return to. When the Parliament ends, I know I get to come back to home. Inshallah!
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