FTWMI (x2): What the Gurus Teach Us & Heart Filled… [revised] August 26, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Bhakti, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Loss, Love, Meditation, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Women, Yoga.Tags: 988, Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, bible, Buddha, Chris Pine, Christopher Isherwood, compassion, Diamond Sutra, Diamond Sutta, Dorothy S. Hunt, Edmund White, Edward W. Desmond, faith, god, Gospel According to St. John, Gwen Costello, Hillel the Elder, Jesus, Love, loving-kindness, lovingkindness, Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize, Qur'an, Swami Prabhavananda, Swami Tattwamayananda, The Gospel According to John, Thornton Wilder, Tom Eubanks, Torah, Vedanta, Yoga Sutra 1.33
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone observing the Dormition (Theotokos) Fast; and/or working to cultivate friendship, peace, freedom, understanding, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Hydrate and nourish your heart, body, and mind.
For Those Who Missed It: The following was originally posted in 2024. Class details and some links have been added/updated.
“STAGE MANAGER….. – Now there are some things we all know but we don’t take’m out and look at’m very often. We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always letting go of that fact. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.”
— quoted from Act III of Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Given the fact that I love Thornton Wilder’s work and that the Stage Manager in Our Town has a special place in my heart — and given the fact that that little bit from Act III plays as a regular loop in my brain — I should not have been caught off guard by a question someone asked Swami Tattwamayananda, the Minister of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco, at the end of one of his 2019 lectures on the Bhagavad Gita. But, there I was doing my hair on a Friday, listening to the podcast, and being completely flabbergasted that someone didn’t get the lesson taught by all the “Big G” gurus associated with all the major religions and philosophies.
I’m not going to lie; for a moment, I got “hooked.” My judgement kicked in and I just waited for the answer… the answer I knew was coming. I just didn’t know how it was going to come. I knew it was coming, because (again), it’s the most consistent lesson in the world. It is the lesson that is at the heart (pun intended) of all the major philosophies and religions. In no particular order…
It’s the one underlying most of my practices (and highlighted in all of the practices over the last couple of days).
It’s the one Hillel the Elder taught while standing on one foot.
It’s the one the Buddha taught with a Diamond.
It’s the one the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) taught with a brother.
It’s the one Jesus taught until his final words and the one Patanjali taught, with a twist. (See below.)
It’s the one taught by so many teachers we could spend our whole lives just naming the teachers (and never even getting to the lesson). But, let’s get (back) to the lesson, the heart filled lesson.
For Those Who Missed It: The following is a revised and expanded version of a 2020 post. The revisions include more information on Christopher Isherwood, citations for quotes, and a coda related to the 2019 Vedanta lesson referenced above.
“… if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
— quoted from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University’s Architects of Peace essay, “Reflections on Working Towards Peace” by Mother Teresa
“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”
— quoted from (“the last words of Jesus”) in The Gospel According to St. John (19:26 – 27, KJV)
I have officiated three weddings as a yogi and I did this after pretty in-depth conversations with the couples about their relationships, their backgrounds, their expectations, and their love languages. Each wedding was uniquely beautiful — as the relationships are uniquely beautiful. However, I ended each ceremony with the words (above) of Mother Teresa. When someone says, “Start as you mean to go on,” I again think of Mother Teresa’s words; because to me they are as vital in a marriage as they are in any other relationship — including (maybe especially) our relationships with our master teachers and our precious jewels, people with whom we have no peace.
Born Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, today in 1910, Mother Teresa spoke words that remind me of one of the Stations of the Cross that falls in the rubric of “the last words of Jesus.” According to The New Testament, specifically The Gospel According to John, when Jesus looks down from the cross to see his mother and one of his disciples, he tells them that they are family. Now, I know that some folks don’t treat every member of their family with love and respect. I know that we all have a moment when we forget what many great minds and sacred texts keep telling us. Yet, the lesson on love and kindness persists. Even before Johannes Gutenberg created the first printed Bible on August 24, 1456, the lesson was there in the Hebrew Bible and in the Christian New Testament. The lesson also appears in the Diamond Sūtra and in the Mettā Sūtra. While I often say that the lesson on offering love, kindness, equanimity, and joy also appears in the Yoga Sūtra — and it does, Patanjali made a distinction that is overlooked in some translations.
“Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating feelings of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked [ or non-virtuous].”
— quoted from How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali (1.33), translated and with commentary by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood
Born today in 1904, Christopher Isherwood was a British-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. He was the author of the semi-autobiographical novel Goodbye to Berlin (1939) — which John van Druten adapted into the 1951 Broadway play I Am a Camera, which was the inspiration for the Broadway musical (1966) and movie Cabaret. He was also the author of A Single Man (1964), a semi-autobiographical gay romance about learning to live despite grief, which was adapted into a film by Tom Ford in 2009, and his 1976 memoir, Christopher and His Kind, (which was also turned into a television movie by the BBC in 2011). When reviewing the author’s diaries in a 2012 LAMBDA Literary article, Tom Eubanks noted Mr. Isherwood’s “melancholia [with] humorous doses of hypochondria and body dysmorphia” and stated that “As Edmund White notes in the preface, there’s a surprising amount of anti-Semitism and misogyny in these pages. Overall, it could be argued that Isherwood was an equal opportunity hater.” At the same time, Christopher Isherwood and his closest friends, like W. H. Auden and Truman Capote, were critical of Nazism and Adolf Hitler.
Other seemingly contradictory aspects of Christopher Isherwood’s life were his long-term relationships with young men and his long-term relationship with the Vedanta Society of Southern California. The former was about romantic (and sexual) love; the latter required so much austerity, discipline, and devotion to spirit (rather than to the flesh) that the author did not a novel during the six years when he was becoming a monk. Yet, there is no denying that, after Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley introduced him to Vedanta, he was deeply committed to the philosophy. He and Swami Prabhavananda, the society’s founder, even spent 35 years researching, translating, and collaborating on several books and papers.
Christopher Isherwood and Swami Prabhavananda’s collaborations included Bhagavad Gita — The Song of God (1944), which features an introduction by Aldous Huxley, and a translation with commentary of the Yoga Sūtras, called How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali (1953). As noted above, they were very explicit and specific about sūtra 1.33; noting in the commentary, “As for the wicked, we must remember Christ’s words: ‘Be not overcome of evil.’ If someone harms us or hates us, our instinct is to answer him with hatred and injury. We may succeed in injuring him, but we shall be injuring ourselves much more, and our hatred will throw our own mind into confusion.”
This, too, seems to be a lesson Mother Teresa carried close to her heart. She was considered a saint by some, a pariah by others; but, there is no denying that she served, taught, and ministered to the poor, the sick, and the hungry in a way that fed bodies as well as minds. She heard her (religious) calling at the age of 12 and left home at 18-years old. She was an ethnic Albanian who claimed Indian citizenship; Catholic faith; said, “As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus;” and considered August 27th, the date of her baptism, as her true birthday. She took her religious vows in Dalkey, Ireland in 1931. Her chosen name was after Thérèsa de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries; however, she chose a different spelling as the Loreta Abbey already had a nun named Theresa.
“You in the West have millions of people who suffer such terrible loneliness and emptiness. They feel unloved and unwanted.”
— quoted from “Pentecost: Spiritual Poverty — Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost — Spiritual poverty of Western World” in Love, A Fruit Always in Season: Daily Meditations From the Words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Mother Teresa, selected and edited by Dorothy S. Hunt
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
— Mother Teresa, quoted from the December 4, 1989, TIME interview, “Interview with MOTHER Teresa: A Pencil In the Hand Of God” by Edward W. Desmond
While teaching in Calcutta, India, Teresa heard God telling her to leave the safety and comfort of the convent so that she could live with and minister to the poor. With permission from the Vatican, she started what would become the Missionaries of Charity. 13 nuns joined Teresa by taking vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and devotion to God through “wholehearted free service to the poorest of poor.” When Pope Paul VI gave her a limousine, she raffled it and gave the proceeds to charity. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she asked that the money that would normally go towards a gala dinner be donated to charity. When the Nobel committee asked her what people should do to promote peace, she said, “Go home and love your family.” During her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, she also said, “Love begins at home.”
When Mother Teresa died in 1977, Missionaries of Charity had expanded beyond India. It had become a worldwide institution with more than 4,000 workers in 133 countries. The organizations ongoing efforts include orphanages, homes for people suffering from tuberculosis, leprosy, and HIV/AIDs. Mother Teresa opened soup kitchens, mobile health clinics, schools, and shelters in places like Harlem and Greenwich Village, while also brokering a temporary cease-fire in the Middle East in order to rescue children trapped in a hospital on the front lines.
All of the above is why some consider her a saint. However, the celebrity status her work earned her, as well as her pro-life position, was criticized by people who felt she was hurting the poor as much as she was helping them. For every documentary, book, and article praising her, there is a documentary, book, and article demonizing her. While she was known to have “dark nights of the soul,” or crises of faith, she continued to wash her $1 sari every day and go out in service to the world.
“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within the reach of every hand. Anyone can gather it and no limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through meditation, spirit of prayer, and sacrifice, by an intense inner life.”
— quoted from the front page of Love, A Fruit Always in Season: Daily Meditations From the Words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Mother Teresa, selected and edited by Dorothy S. Hunt
“It is not how much we are doing but how much love we put into doing it. It makes no difference what we are doing. What you are doing, I cannot do, and what I am doing you cannot do. But all of us are doing what God has given us to do. Only sometimes we forget and spend more time looking at somebody else and wishing we were doing something else (HP, 138).”
— quoted from “Pentecost: Martha and Mary — Monday — Wishing we were doing something else” in Love, A Fruit Always in Season: Daily Meditations From the Words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Mother Teresa, selected and edited by Dorothy S. Hunt
𝄌
“Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”
— Mother Teresa, quoted from “22. A Simple Response” in Spiritual Gems from Mother Teresa by Gwen Costello
So there it is: the lesson that, according to the Stage Manager in Our Town, “All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always letting go of that fact.” And, there is no denying that we can’t seem to hang on to it. Because, if we got it — really, really got it — we would not be so disconnected, disenfranchised, and without peace.
While I (mostly) hold on to the lesson, I sometimes forget that not everyone gets it. So, as I mentioned before, I was flabbergasted to hear the 2019 exchange between an unnamed person and Swami Tattwamayananda — an exchange that could have just as easily been between Christopher Isherwood and Swami Prabhavananda in the 1930s or any other teacher at any other time in history. I paused, hands still in my hair, and this is what I heard:
“Unnamed Person: You mentioned compassion for others as leading to a state of equilibrium or — I was wondering what that has to do with – anything, really. Why is that important?
Swami Tattwamayananda: Compassion for —
Unnamed Person: Compassion for others, and purity of thought. Why is that important to —?
Swami Tattwamayananda: Yeah. Vedanta tells you that this spiritual reality is present in everyone and everything. So compassion is not really an act of charity. It is rooted in the idea of the spiritual unity and oneness of humanity. So, when we show compassion to somebody, we are spiritually helping our self. When we do not do that, when we are [doing] harm to someone, we are spiritually doing harm to our self. So, the idea of the spiritual oneness of humanity, [of] one spiritual family, that is the practical aspect of Vedanta metaphysics.
The metaphysics tells you the same reality is present in everyone. It’s practical application makes you a better human being. And that, compassion, humanistic impulse is not an act of charity. It’s rooted in the understanding and realization of the fact that when we do good to others, we are doing good to our self. And the opposite way! When we do harm to others, we are doing harm to our self.
The spiritual unity and oneness of existence is the foundation of this compassion.”
— quoted from an exchange between a person in attendance and Swami Tattwamayananda (at the end of the guru’s lecture, “4 – The Real and the Unreal: Beyond Pain and Pleasure,” recorded February 22, 2019 as part of the “Bhagavad Gita | The Essence of Vedanta” lecture series)
Please join me today (Tuesday, August 26th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Tuesday’s heart-filled playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “08262020 Heart Filled for Teresa & 2 Christophers”]
(The second “Christopher” is Chris Pine, born today in 1980, so I have also previously offered last week’s (Courage filled) playlist, which is also available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “08192020 To Boldly Go with Courage”])
It’s hard to be loving or kind — to yourself or another — when you’re uncomfortable. Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
— a compilation quoted attributed to Mother Teresa
### LOVE MORE (hate less) ###
Looking Around At All the Believers (the “missing” Saturday post) April 12, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, California, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Passover, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Wisdom, Writing, Yoga.Tags: 988, Ellen Lesser, faith, Gary Soto, Great Week, Holy Week, James Kubicki, kriya yoga, Lazarus of Bethany, Lazarus Saturday, Lent / Great Lent, Maty Ezraty, Passion Week, Passover, Pesach, Rabbi Mordechai Becher, Shiva, shiv’ah, Stuart Chase, The Gospel According to John, Yoga Sutra 2.20, שִׁבְעָה, שבעה
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“Chag Sameach!” to everyone celebrating Passover! Peace and many blessings to everyone and especially to celebrating and/or observing Lent & Great Lent on Lazarus Saturday!
This is “missing” post for Saturday, April 12th, which was Lazarus Saturday in the Orthodox & Western Christian traditions, as well as erev Pesach (the eve before Passover). This post contains new and “renewed” content. NOTE: There are passing references to death and dying. You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“As far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this:
You buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
From a fruit stand, and what coins
Are passed on helps others buy pencils, glue,
Tickets to a movie in which laughter
Is thrown into their faces.
If we buy a goldfish, someone tries on a hat.
If we buy crayons, someone walks home with a broom.
A tip, a small purchase here and there,
And things just keep going. I guess.”
— quoted from the poem “How Things Work” by Gary Soto
Born today April 12, 1952, in Fresno, California, Gary Soto is a poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, memoirist, and film director/producer, who also writes literature for children and young adults. He was the first Mexican-American to earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA, 1976), at the University of California, Irvine, and taught at both the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of California, Riverside. In addition to being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, he won Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award for his memoir Living Up the Street (1985); the 2014 Phoenix Award for his children’s book Jesse (1994); and a Nation/Discovery Award and the Levinson Award from Poetry. Eight of his books have been translated into French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
Mr. Soto is a two time recipient of both the California Library Association’s John and Patricia Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional accolades have come from his work on movies like The No-Guitar Blues, based on the story of the same name in his collection Baseball in April and other stories (1990) and the movie based on his book The Pool Party (1993, illustrated by Robert Casilla). He wrote the libretto to the Los Angeles Opera’s Nerdlandia and has also collaborated with the illustrator Susan Guevara on the bilingual Chato series (about “the coolest low-riding cat in East L.A… and his best friend, Novio Boy”).
Gary Soto’s work mirrors the Mexican-American communities of his youth (and his adulthood) as well as his early fascination with English (Western canon) literature, which did not reflect his lived experience. His parents were immigrants and day labors. When his father died, when Mr. Soto was five years old, the future award-winning author worked in the fields in San Joaquin and had little time for school. Later, he worked in factories of Fresno to help support his family. By high school, however, he had discovered his love of fiction and poetry and wanted to create literary worlds that felt like home. He mixed dirt with philosophy; English with Spanish; reality with fantasy. His fiction and poetry have the feel and texture of real life being lived in the moment or, they are, as he puts it, “portraits of people in the rush of life.”
Like so many others, I love what Ellen Lesser, in Voice Literary Supplement, called, “the immediate, human presence that breathes through the lines [by Gary Soto].” Another thing I love about Gary Soto’s portraits is that they illustrate how we are all connected, how our stories are all interconnected, and how it all comes back to what we believe.
“How strange that we can begin at any time.
With two feet we get down the street.
With a hand we undo the rose.
With an eye we lift up the peach tree
And hold it up to the wind – white blossoms
At our feet. Like today. I started”
— quoted from the poem “Looking Around, Believing” by Gary Soto
As someone who loves stories and loves yoga, I often quote Maty Ezraty who said, “A good sequence is like a good story. There is a beginning (an introduction), the middle (the heart of the story), and the end (the conclusion).” However, as I have pointed out before, life is a little different in that we meet each other in the middle of our stories and simultaneously progress forward and back (as we learn about each other’s back stories). We are also, simultaneously, living the middle, beginning, and end of some part of our stories — while also telling the beginning, middle, and end of some part of our stories — every time we inhale and every time we exhale. As Gary Soto put it, “We’re here in the day. One step, / A simple hello, and we’re involved.”
When we are sharing our stories with each other, we pick where we begin. Where we begin, when we tell a story, is based on what we know/understand about the story and may change the way the story is understood (by ourselves and others).
Elements of the following have previously been posted.
“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.”
— quote attributed to Stuart Chase, economist, social theorist, author
Like life, the various religious rituals and traditions currently being observed around the world are stories of cause and effect. In fact, the order and arrangement of things like Great Lent, Lent, and the Passover Seder intentionally heighten our awareness of cause and effect. Our physical practice of yoga, regardless of the style or tradition, can do the same thing. In fact, just like with the associated religious stories, where we start matters, because where start determines how things unfold and how the story is told. How the story is told reinforces the message and plays a part in what we remember — and in what we believe.
I generally associate the aforementioned Stuart Chase quote with the idea expressed in Yoga Sūtra 2.20, which indicates that we “[understand] only what the mind-intellect shows us.” All of which makes me wonder: What happens when we start in a different place?
For instance, what happens when three different people/communities, get together and tell the same story from their different points of view? In some ways, that is happening right now as today (Saturday, April 12th) is Lazarus Saturday in Orthodox Christian traditions (and, technically, in Western Christian traditions) as well as the day before Passover in Jewish traditions. It simultaneously marks a beginning, middle, and end of these observations with overlapping stories. While they don’t always coincide the way they would have historically, this year’s observations of Great/Passion Week in the Orthodox Christian traditions, Holy/Passion Week in the Western Christian traditions, and Passover in the Jewish traditions all overlap this upcoming week — and today is the “eve/erev” or moment of anticipation for all that is to come.
“As spring is nature’s season of hope, so Easter is the Church’s season of hope. Hope is an active virtue. It’s more than wishful thinking….. My hope in the Resurrection is not an idle hope like wishing for good weather but an active hope. It requires something on my part – work. Salvation is a gift from God for which I hope, but Saint Paul told the Philippians to ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ (2:12). My hope in the resurrection and eternal life in heaven requires work on my part.”
— quoted from A Year of Daily Offerings by Rev. James Kubicki
Passover (in the Jewish traditions) and the story of Jesus (in the Christian traditions) are stories of hope, suffering, and the end of suffering. These stories overlap, historically, because Jesus was a rabbi whose last week of life — according to the Gospels — was spent travelling home for Passover and preparing for the betrayal, crucifixion, temptation, death, and resurrection. These stories, like so many of the holy and auspicious stories told this time of year, feature periods of waiting.
For instance, in the Jewish tradition, a notably period of waiting occurs after someone dies and their loved ones are “sitting shiva.” The Hebrew word shiva ( שִׁבְעָה ) comes from shiv’ah ( שבעה ), which means “seven”, and it is a seven-day period of mourning. The rituals, traditions, and prayers associated with shiva formalize the grieving process and also provide a container for people to express compassion. It can also be a way to express hope.
In the Gospel According to John (11:1 – 45), Jesus received the news that Lazarus was sick, but then waited (until Lazarus died) before traveling to Bethany. The text is very clear that Lazarus had been dead (or dead and buried) for four days. Historically speaking, and given that there are seven-day periods of mourning depicted in the Torah, Mary and Martha (and all of their friends) would have been “sitting shiva” when Jesus and the disciples arrived in Bethany. To be clear, they were waiting for Jesus and then they were waiting for the end of the mourning period.
While Lazarus Saturday is not always highlighted in Western Christian traditions the way it is in Orthodox Christian traditions, there are several parts of the story that are critical. First, Jesus waited (and knew when Lazarus died). Second, the description of how Lazarus was buried — in a cave with a stone in front — matches the descriptions of how Jesus was buried. Third, Jesus asks the sisters if they believe in him (and ask for verbal confirmation) — which was the whole reason he waited. Finally, it is notable that news of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead reached Jerusalem before Jesus arrived home for Passover.
Why did the news travel faster than Jesus? According to the Gospel, it is because he waited… in the desert — and that period of waiting in the desert is commemorated by people who observe Lent and Great Lent. However, those are not the only periods of waiting in the Christian liturgy. Remember, after his crucifixion and death, Jesus was buried, much like Lazarus — and his mother, Mary, and his followers waited. (But, that’s a story for another Saturday.)
Meanwhile, people who are preparing to observe Passover are commemorating the time(s) in Exodus when the Jewish people were waiting to be freed from slavery in Egypt.
Looking around, at all the believers — and their story/stories — notice how these periods of waiting are not only periods of hope and faith, they are also periods of time when people are expected to do something to actively express their faith (and their hope). Notice how they are actively participating in the elimination of their own suffering/sorrow.
“First and foremost, we believe creation of the world, G-d created a world in which he wanted the human being to actually be able to do something – that is to say, to exercise free will, to be like G-d, meaning to be a creator, not to be lab rats…. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. But to have a relationship with G-d requires that I have an exercise of my free will…. Free will means an environment in which not necessarily do I always have pleasure when I make the right decisions and not necessarily does someone always suffer when they make the wrong decision. Free will is having real power to create stuff. Free will is having real power to alleviate suffering.”
— Rabbi Mordechai Becher, in vlog explaining one of several reasons why suffering exists
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04112020 LSPW”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
### What Do You Believe? ###
Looking Around At All the Believers (mostly the music & blessings) April 12, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Passover, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 988, faith, Gary Soto, kriyā yoga, Lent / Great Lent, Passover
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Peace and many blessings to everyone and especially to those getting ready for Passover and/or celebrating and/or observing Lent & Great Lent on Lazarus Saturday!
“How strange that we can begin at any time.
With two feet we get down the street.
With a hand we undo the rose.
With an eye we lift up the peach tree
And hold it up to the wind – white blossoms
At our feet. Like today. I started”
— quoted from the poem “Looking Around, Believing” by Gary Soto (born 04/12/1952)
Please join me today (Saturday, April 12th) at 12:00 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Saturday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04112020 LSPW”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
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Faith on the Precipice of Change (the “missing” Sunday post w/excerpts) February 9, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Art, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Hope, Kumbh Mela, Life, Music, New Year, One Hoop, Philosophy, Religion, Suffering, Super Heroes, Texas, Wisdom, Women, Yoga.Tags: 988, Bob DeRosa, brahmavihārāḥ, Carnival, Colonel "Tom" Parker, courage, Divine abodes, Dorothy R. Robinson, Ed Sullivan, Elvis, faith, Forest Whitaker, Forgiveness Sunday, Fred Kaps, Grace Chen, Hokkien, Jade Emperor, Jieho Lee, Juanita Jewel Craft, Kitchen God, Lunar New Year, Maha Khumb Mela, Mahā Kumbha Mēlā, R. S. Thomas, Season for Nonviolence, Shi Fa Zhuo, Spring Festival, The Beatles, Wisdom, Year of the Snake
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Many blessings to everyone, and especially those observing Carnival, Maha Kumbh Mela, and the Spring Festival.
May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy / May you be healthy and strong! May you keep the faith throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!
This “missing” post for Sunday, February 9th is a compilation post. It includes some new material, some revised material, and excerpts. You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“‘Although we may not have an image of this deity in our temple, as long as devotees have the Jade Emperor in their hearts, their prayers will be heard,’ said [the Kwan Imm Temple’s] principal Shi Fa Zhuo.”
— quoted from The Star article entitled “Legend Behind Hokkien New Year emphasizes unity and solidarity” by Grace Chen (2/24/2018)
Over the last few weeks and over the next couple of months, there is (and will continue to be) something underlying every theme: “Faith” (with is the “Season for Nonviolence” principle for Sunday). Take a moment to bring your awareness to your faith and how your faith changes. It doesn’t matter if you bring your awareness to your faith in something and/or your faith in someone; your faith changes. Many people who are recognized as being faithful have talked about their struggles with faith and the ways in which their faith changed — how it can be “here a moment, then / not here,” as the Welsh poet R. S. Thomas wrote in the poem “Moorland”.
To me, faith is a heart practice, which is also what I consider the divine abodes (brahmavihārāḥ in Sanskrit) — loving-kindness or benevolence (mettā); compassion (karuṇā); empathetic joy (muditā); and equanimity (upekkhā). In some Indian philosophies (like Yoga), the ability to cultivate a good heart/make friends (suhrit-prapati) and generosity (dana) are also considered heart practices. Same thing with wisdom. Same thing with courage. In fact, when I reference Hanuman, the monkey king in the Rāmāyaņa, I often mention that the source of his courage — what allows him to take giant leaps for others — is the love and devotion (for/to Rama) that is in his heart (i.e., his faith).
My question today is really about whether your faith strengthens (or weakens) when you are on the precipice of change. Which brings me to another set of questions, the questions that Forest Whitaker’s character, known as “Happiness”, asks in the Jieho Lee and Bob DeRosa movie The Air I Breathe:
“So where does change come from? And how do we recognize it when it happens?”
For people who celebrate the 15-day Spring Festival, the twelfth day of the Lunar New Year is a bit of a recovery day — a much needed break after so much feasting — that some people refer to as “The Diarrhea Day”. It is also a prep day for the Lantern Festival. Of course, for some people who celebrated the Jade Emperor’s birthday a couple of days ago, there might also be a few leftovers. In fact, I often have leftovers on this date that are related to the Kitchen God’s annual report to the Jade Emperor.
For Those Who Missed It: The following is a revised excerpt from a 2021 post.
I always imagine that some years the Kitchen God’s report is really, really, wild. Take last year’s report for instance — or the last few years — or the report from the Year of the (Water) Rabbit that coincided with January 25, 1963 – February 12, 1964 (on the solar calendar).
In 2014, the first time I led a practice associated with leftovers from the Jade Emperor’s birthday celebration, the tenth day of the Lunar New Year coincided with February 9th on the solar calendar — so, I decided to incorporate the idea of the Kitchen God’s report. Specifically, I mentioned the wild report from that (Water) Rabbit year… you know, that year when there was a bit of mania all over the world and an invasion that moved across the pond: by that I mean Beatlemania and the British Invasion.
“First of all I want to congratulate you: You’ve been a fine audience, despite severe provocation.”
— quoted from Ed Sullivan’s remarks at the conclusion of The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964
The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on two consecutive Sundays (February 9th and February 16th, 1964). Of course, they had already made an impression in the United Kingdom and, towards the end of 1963, there were some North American radio stations that had played their music and a couple of times when prerecorded footage appeared on television. Notably, Walter Cronkite and Jack Paar had both shared prerecorded footage with their audiences. But, it was Ed Sullivan that brought the lads to the United States and had them perform live, in front of a studio audience — a studio audience that, for all intensive purposes, was hysterical with excitement.
I say, as many people say, that the crowd was hysterical with excitement — one could even say that they were out of control. However, it’s important to note that before the first song, Ed Sullivan made the audience promise to reign in their enthusiasm when he was making introductions — and they did (even though he sometimes had to remind them of their promise). Mr. Sullivan soliciting that promise from the audience wasn’t random. Remember, he had some previous experience with this kind of audience; after all, he hosted Elvis three times, starting on September 9, 1956.
Before the first set in 1964, Ed Sullivan actually mentioned that Elvis and Colonel “Tom” Parker sent a telegram wishing the British group “a tremendous success in our country.” The Beatles started off by playing three songs: “All My Loving”; “Till There Was You” (a show tune written by Meredith Wilson in 1950 and then used in the 1957 musical The Music Man, which was made into a movie released in 1962); and “She Loves You”. During the performance of “Till There Was You”, Paul, Ringo, George, and John were each featured in a close up with their names underneath. Ringo can be seen mumbling a comment to George, who seemed to get the biggest display of excitement. Of course, that excitement was only rivaled by the audible sounds of disappointment when John’s picture and name included the words, “SORRY, GIRLS, HE’S MARRIED:”.
After the first set, Ed Sullivan said that the first three songs were dedicated to Johnny Carson, Randy Paar (who he mentioned with a directional gesture), and Earl Wilson. On the surface, it was an odd grouping of people. Randy Paar was Jack Paar’s 14-year old daughter. She attended the performance as Ed Sullivan’s guest and brought along then former Vice President Richard Nixon’s daughters, Tricia and Julie. (There were a couple of times throughout the show when the camera focused on what I believe was the excited trio.) Johnny Carson was Jack Paar’s successor as host of The Tonight Show and Earl Wilson was a journalist. Part of what made the dedication so odd was that Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan had a contentious rivalry that started when Mr. Paar was hosting The Tonight Show and continued into the premiere of The Jack Paar Program (in 1962). Some would say the animosity increased when Jack Paar insisted that his show was the first United States variety show to televise The Beatles (back in December 1963) — but, of course, that footage wasn’t live. When questioned about the dedication, 14-year old Randy said that it was essentially an olive branch on Ed Sullivan’s part** (a claim, I find highly suspect after watching the footage again).
“This is a magnificent building… but I think the roof is leaking.”
— FISM Grand Prix Champion Fred Kaps, when he worked up a sweat during a performance
Before the second set, there was an Anacin pain reliever commercial and a five minute act by a world class, prize-winning magician named Fred Kaps — the only magician in the world to win the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques (FISM) Grand Prix three times. He was also inducted into the Society of American Magicians (SAM) Hall of Fame. Even if you’re not a magic aficionado, you have probably seen people perform some of the tricks he created and/or made famous, including: color-changing silks, the “long-pour” salt trick, and the “Dancing and Floating Cork” (which you could only purchase after signing a contract promising not to reveal the mechanics of the trick). Mr. Kaps interspersed humor and exaggerated facial reactions and mannerisms with his tricks and, by all accounts, he was his usual amazing self on February 9, 1964. But, what people would remember (as the Kitchen God would have reported to the Jade Emperor) was The Beatles.
Ed Sullivan reminded the audience that The Beatles would be back the previous weekend, but his actually introduction of the band was “Once again….” The second set featured “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. That’s it. All in all the two segments, including introductions; the round of handshakes; and Ed Sullivan expressing gratitude to the New York Police Department — plus the newspapers and magazine writers and photographers — lasted a little under 15 minutes. But, based on the expressions on people’s faces and the way some of the men were wiping the sweat off of their brows, it was an overwhelmingly warm and visceral 15 minutes.
“Now, I’m delighted – all of us are delighted – and I know The Beatles on their first appearance here have been very deeply thrilled by their reception here. You’ve been fun. Now get home safely. Good night!”
— quoted from Ed Sullivan’s remarks at the conclusion of The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964
One thing I should point out is that my Day 10 playlist (in 2014) wasn’t The Beatles playlist from 1964. Instead, it was the “leftovers” — or, what one might call “B-sides”. Similarly, in 2016, the Year of the (Fire) Monkey, the tenth day of the Lunar New Year fell on February 17th, Ed Sheeran’s birthday, and so the playlist featured what might have been “B-sides” if, you know, musicians still released 45s. In 2018, we were back to The Beatles — sort of; since the 10th day of the Year of the (Earth) Dog fell on February 25th, George Harrison’s birthday. (Serendipitously, I came across Mike Love’s tribute to George, “Pisces Brothers”, just as I was putting together the appropriate tracks.)
**2021 NOTE: Some within the Eastern Christian communities refer to Shrove Sunday as “Forgiveness Sunday” and there is an extra emphasis on fasting, prayers, and letting go of past transgressions, sins, animosity, and rivalries. So, even though I’m not sure how observant he was, I might have to give Ed Sullivan a break. He was Roman Catholic of Irish descent and exposed to a lot of different cultures. More to the point, Sunday, February 9th was Shrove Sunday in 1964 — so maybe he really was asking for and offering forgiveness with his dedication.
“Now, I’m delighted – all of us are delighted – and I know The Beatles on their first appearance here have been very deeply thrilled by their reception here. You’ve been fun. Now get home safely. Good night!”
— quoted from Ed Sullivan’s remarks at the conclusion of The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964
Just as I wonder how much faith the original lads from Liverpool had in themselves (and how that faith waxed and waned) I wonder about the faith of the organizer, activist, lobbyist, and politician Juanita Jewel Craft (née Shanks), who was born in Round Rock, Texas on February 9, 1902. One thing I know, for sure, she had a stubborn faith in herself and a healthy amount of respectful faith in the Black youth around her. Mrs. Craft also had a decent amount of faith in the system of Democracy and citizens’ ability to make change through that system.
“The only thing that I could say, in defense of my being on the [City] Council, is an old stupid woman who wasn‘t satisfied with those persons that were running to fill the unexpired term left on the Council in this district. I think that that‘s a slogan that I‘ve carried with me – If I don’t like what the other fellow‘s doing, I get up and do it myself.”
— Mrs. Juanita Jewel Craft (b. 1902), quoted from The Black Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (interview conducted by Mrs. Dorothy R. Robinson (on 01/20/1977)
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
“In 1961, we started working on the theatres and the lunch counters. At which time, we picketed. We stood-in at the theatres. And you know, it got to be quite interesting. The way we performed. A youth would walk up to the window at the theatre and ask for an admission ticket. And when that youth was denied – without any further conversation – he would walk back to the end of the line, and go right through it again.
There was a complete circle. Students from SMU and other areas around Dallas joined us in our protest.
The thing that would worry me was that a lot of older people could not see our need, or did not join us. I‘ve had friends to say, ‘I came down to see the line.’ I would immediately ask them, ‘Did you bring a bottle of Coke? Or did you bring a sandwich to one of those kids?’
And I have seen those kids so dedicated to breaking the chain that was binding them. But they were, would [pause] – They would walk until their shoes became unbearable and they would continue to walk until they‘d worn out the feet of their hose.”
— Mrs. Juanita Jewel Craft (b. 1902), quoted from The Black Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (interview conducted by Mrs. Dorothy R. Robinson (on 01/20/1977)
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “02092021 The Invasion & Mania”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
### “…a really big shew” ~ a bunch of Ed Sullivan impersonators (but never Mr. Sullivan, himself) ###
Faith on the Precipice of Change (mostly the music & blessings) **UPDATED w/link** February 9, 2025
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in "Impossible" People, Art, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Hope, Kumbh Mela, Life, Music, New Year, One Hoop, Philosophy, Religion, Women, Yoga.Tags: 988, Carnival, Dorothy R. Robinson, Ed Sullivan, faith, Grace Chen, Juanita Jewel Craft, Lunar New Year, Maha Khumb Mela, Mahā Kumbha Mēlā, Season for Nonviolence, Shi Fa Zhuo, Spring Festival, The Beatles, Year of the Snake
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Many blessings to everyone, and especially those observing Carnival, Maha Kumbh Mela, and the Spring Festival.
May you be safe and protected / May you be peaceful and happy / May you be healthy and strong! May you keep the faith throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!
“The only thing that I could say, in defense of my being on the [City] Council, is an old stupid woman who wasn‘t satisfied with those persons that were running to fill the unexpired term left on the Council in this district. I think that that‘s a slogan that I‘ve carried with me – If I don’t like what the other fellow‘s doing, I get up and do it myself.”
— Mrs. Juanita Jewel Craft (b. 1902), quoted from The Black Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (interview conducted by Mrs. Dorothy R. Robinson (on 01/20/1977)
CLICK HERE FOR THE RELATED POST.
Please join me for a 65-minute for a virtual yoga practice on Zoom, today (Sunday, February 9th) at 2:30 PM. Use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “02092021 The Invasion & Mania”]
“Now, I’m delighted – all of us are delighted – and I know The Beatles on their first appearance here have been very deeply thrilled by their reception here. You’ve been fun. Now get home safely. Good night!”
— quoted from Ed Sullivan’s remarks at the conclusion of The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“‘Although we may not have an image of this deity in our temple, as long as devotees have the Jade Emperor in their hearts, their prayers will be heard,’ said [the Kwan Imm Temple’s] principal Shi Fa Zhuo.”
— quoted from The Star article entitled “Legend Behind Hokkien New Year emphasizes unity and solidarity” by Grace Chen (2/24/2018)
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A Quick Note & UPDATED EXCERPTS Regarding Social Economics (the “missing” Sunday post) December 29, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Bhakti, Changing Perspectives, Christmas, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Loss, Love, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 12 Days of Christmas, 988, Bobby Ray Simmons Jr., Chanukah, Christmas, Claude Kelly, faith, Feast Day of the Holy Family, Feast of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Jessica Cornish, Jessie J, Kwanzaa, Lukasz Gottwald, Mishlei, New Year's, Nguzo Saba, Proverbs, Twelvetide, Ujamaa, Wisdom
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“Kwanzaa, yenu iwe na heri!” – “May your Kwanzaa be happy!” to everyone who is celebrating! “Happy Chanukah!” to all who are celebrating. May you have a meaningful observation no matter your focus is on the Feast Day of Saint Thomas of Canterbury (and London). Many blessings to everyone!
This is the “missing” post for Sunday, December 29th.You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
I am offering in-person classes at the beginning of January 2025. Click here for more details and to reserve your spots now. Let’s start the 2025 together!
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes (and holiday cancellations).
“We’re paying with love tonight
It’s not about the money, money, money
We don’t need your money, money, money
We just wanna make the world dance
Forget about the price tag
Ain’t about the, uh, cha-ching, cha-ching
Ain’t about the, yeah, ba-bling, ba-bling”
— quoted from the song “Price Tag” by Jessie J (written by Lukasz Gottwald / Claude Kelly / Jessica Cornish / Bobby Ray Simmons Jr.)
Some things (like people) are priceless. Yet, even when we know that, it is so easy to get distracted by the price tag. It is especially easy to get distracted this time of year, because of all the gift giving and receiving (and, for some, the possibility of a Christmas bonus).
On the fourth day of Kwanzaa — which is also the the fourth or fifth day of the “12 Days of Christmas” (depending on when you start counting) — we focus on “Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)” and go a little deeper into how we value and appreciate people and things. We also touch on the struggles that arise in a society that has never found a good balance between the material and the spiritual — a struggle that also plays out in the back story of Chanukah, which happens to coincide with Kwanzaa and Christmastide/Twelvetide this year.
Even though “it’s not about the money,” I do talk about the money.
The following excerpt, from the 2022 “Social Economics” post, includes a 2024 update:
“The actual cost of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ varies, depending on if you are giving a single set of each gift (i.e. only one set of five gold rings) or if you are going the cumulative route. According to PNC Financial Services Group’s annual ‘Christmas Price Index’ (which they have issued for 41 years), the cost for one set of each gift in 2019 was $38,993.59; with a cumulative price tag of $170, 298.03, which was just barely more than the 2018 cost. In 2020, however, the cost was $16,168.10 – $105, 561.80. In 2021, the cost for a single set of gifts was $41,205.58; with a cumulative total of $179,454.19. In 2022, the overall cost went up 10.5%, putting the single set of gifts at $45,523.27 and the cumulative total at $197,071.09.”
2024 UPDATE: This year, the overall costs for a single set of gifts went up (5.4%, from 2023) to $49,263.47; the cumulative total went up (3.67%) to $209,272.00; and the highest percentage increase was for the partridge in a pear tree — because the cost of the tree (in particular the fertilizer for the tree) has steadily increased over the last few years.
CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.
Ujamaa (cooperative economics)—To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
— The fourth of the Nguzo Saba (or “Seven Essential Pillars”) of Kwanzaa
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “12292021 Social Economics”]
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
I am offering in-person classes during January 2025. Click here for more details and to reserve your spots now. Let’s start the 2025 together!
### MISHLEI / PROVERBS 3:13 – 3:15 ###
Wednesday’s Quick Note & Excerpts About Symbols and Faith (the “missing” post) July 24, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, First Nations, Gratitude, Healing Stories, Health, Life, Meditation, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wisdom, Yin Yoga, Yoga.Tags: "Major Heat", 988, Alex Johnson, Bannock, Brian Maffly, Brigham Young, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Dà shǔ, Diamond Sutra, Dr. Gill, Efrem Korngold L.A.c. O.M.D., faith, Goshute, Harriet Beinfield L.Ac., Intertribal Powwow, John Newton, Navajo, Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Paiute, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Pie and Beer Day, Pioneer Day, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Shoshone, Skull Valley Band of Goshute, tapas, Ute, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, White Mesa Community of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, 大暑
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Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone practicing peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside). Stay hydrated, y’all!
This is the “missing” note and excerpts related to Wednesday, July 24th. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“The lord Buddha continued:
‘If any person were to say that the Buddha, in his teachings, has constantly referred to himself, to other selves, to living beings, or to a universal self, what do you think, would that person have understood my meaning?’
Subhuti replied, ‘No, blessed lord. That person would not have understood the meaning of your teachings. For when you refer to those things, you are not referring to their actual existence, you only use the words as figures of speech, as symbols. Only in that sense can words be used, for conceptions, ideas, limited truths, and spiritual truths have no more reality than have matter or phenomena.’”
— quoted from “Chapter 31” of the Diamond Sutra – A New Translation, translated by Alex Johnson
Using food as a symbol comes up a lot during this week’s practices. Monday it was tacos, Wednesday it was pie. It could have been pie and beer; but, since I don’t drink, I didn’t think to ask people what kind of beer represented their faith. In the past, no one really pointed out my oversight. However, it came up this year and it turns out that (when they think about it for a moment) people had really good answers.
Of course, by “good,” I mean meaningful.
Click on the excerpt titles below to find out why pie and beer come up today, what other foods people consume this time of year, and what it all has to do with faith and our origin stories.
Symbols for Reflection & Self-Study (the “missing” Monday post)
“Since everything is connected by the circle, health is understood broadly, defining the whole being within the social and natural order. What is good for nature is good for humanity, what is good for one is good for all, what is good for the mind is good for the body, and so on. To harm a part is to harm the whole. What is bad for the heart is bad for the body, what damages one person damages all people, what injures the earth injures me. Conversely, to restore and preserve the good health of one body and mind is to foster the well-being of the whole, the earth and all life upon it.”
— quoted from “Chapter Three – Philosophy in the East: The Doctor As Gardener” in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine by Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. and Efrem Korngold, L.Ac., O. M. D.
Dà shǔ “Major Heat” 2023 (an updated and revised post) *UPDATED*
“For generations, various Shoshone bands gathered on the lake’s shores for an annual fish festival to celebrate the lake’s bounty, according to Mary Murdock Meyer, chief executive of the Timpanogos Nation.
‘Our people raised families around these waters. We laughed and played. We worked and toiled. We swam. We fished. We utilized the surrounding foliage to make the necessary tools and medicines,’ Meyer said at last year’s Utah Lake Symposium. ‘Above all, we prayed. We held ceremonies. We danced, and we sang around the lake.’
Within a century of the pioneers’ arrival, much of this biological diversity would, like the Timpanogos, be gone….”
— quoted from The Salt Lake Tribune (March 31, 2022) article entitled, “How Utah Lake once sustained tribes and Mormon pioneers and why it needs help: After neglecting it for decades, Utahns want to make Utah Lake great again, but are sharply divided over how or even what that means.” by Brian Maffly
Wednesday’s playlist available on YouTube and Spotify.
Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
“Family worship succeeding, the portion of the Scripture read had in it the following words, ‘By the Grace of God I am what I am,’ –– It was [John Newton’s] custom to make a short familiar exposition on the passage read. After the reading, he paused for some moments and then uttered the following affected words –– –I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient – I am not what I wish to be, I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good –– I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection –– yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was, a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge; by the grace of God I am what I am, Let us pray.”
— quoted from passage entitled “Anecdote of Mr. John Newton” by Dr. Gill, in the “Gleanings” section of The Religious Monitor, or, Evangelical Repository (March 1825)
NOTE: John Newton was born July 24, 1725, according to the Julian calendar.
### Don’t Forget Your H2O ###
Quick Reflections on Friendship (a 9-minute post-practice Monday post, with excerpt) June 17, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Art, Books, Buddhism, Changing Perspectives, Dharma, Faith, Healing Stories, Hope, Life, Love, Mysticism, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: 5 Pillars of Islam, 988, Afterfeast of the Ascension, Akedah, Antoinette Sithole, Beresh't, Bob Schneider, Eid al-Adha, Emma Lazarus, faith, friendship, Genesis, Hector Pieterson, Islam, Martin Buber, Mbuyisa Makhubo, Qur'an, samkhya, siddhis, Soweto uprising, Statue of Liberty, Sūrah as-Saffat, Webster's 1828, yoga, yoga philosophy
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“Eid Mubarak, Blessed Festival!” to anyone celebrating Eid al-Adha. Happy Pride! Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone celebrating the Afterfeast of the Ascension cultivating a good heart, peace, freedom, and wisdom (inside and outside).
This is a post-practice post related to the practice on Monday, June 17th. It includes an excerpt from a related 2020 post and a note about the observation of Eid al-Adha. The 2024 prompt question was, “How long is your longest, ongoing friendship?” You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).
Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”
— quoted from the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
I have heard that the Buddha described sangha (“community”) as one of the three jewels; in other words, it is something of great value. In Yoga and Sāmkhya, two of the six Indian philosophies, the ability to “cultivate a good heart” (i.e., make friends) is so valued it is considered a great power that all humans possess. It is something within us and all around us, something we carry with us.
The excerpt below is from a 2020 post about friendship. If you click on the link (here or below), you will find that I shined some light on causes and conditions that can lead to friendship, as well as several examples of how people have expressed friendship. Notably, the highlighted expressions or tokens of friendship — the Statue of Liberty (which arrived in New York on June 17, 1885) and the moment when Mbuyisa Makhubo and an unknown woman helped Antoinette Sithole after her 12-year old brother Hector Pieterson was killed during the Soweto uprising (June 16 – 18, 1976) — involved strangers.
Even though most of the people involved never met or, in some cases, never met in a way that allowed their friendship to blossom, we can still feel the strength of their bonds. Because, as I mentioned in the blog post, “What initially connects people is on the outside…. What keeps people connected, however, is on the inside.”
“What is on the inside is something that can only be felt. It doesn’t always have an external reference point. Yes, we can see an expression of love, a token of friendship, and understand it from our own experiences. However, when we see a parent and a child hugging, or even two children hugging, we don’t exactly know what they are feeling. We can only know how we have felt in similar circumstances.”
CLICK HERE for the 2020 post entitled, “LIFT YOUR LIGHT, LET YOUR POWER SHINE!”
Some people would say that the feeling I’m referencing in that excerpt is something divine, something that requires faith. Some folks might even say that that same feeling — and a similar kind of faith — allows them to think of God as a the ultimate friend, someone who is always there and who offers tokens of friendship on a daily basis. If you count yourself in that number, the question then becomes, how do you express your friendship with God? How do others express their friendship with the Divine?
“Cause I can believe
In the in-between
What can’t be said
And only seen
When you close your eyes
And open your heart
And everything you know
Just falls apart”
— quoted from the song “God is My Friend” by Bob Schneider
There is a story in the Hebrew Bible / the Christian Old Testament and in the Qur’ān, that is also referenced in the Christian New Testament. It is the story of Abraham and the Akedah or “Binding of Isaac (or Ishmael).” Growing up, I learned the very basics of the story from a (mostly) Christian perspective. That is to say, in some Christian traditions, it is a prefigured prequel to story of Jesus and a story about temptation, Abraham’s faith and devotion to God, and how the faithful are reward. As a kid, however, something about the story always seemed off to me. So, as an adult, when I first heard about Eid al-Adha (which started at sunset on Sunday night), I kind of dismissed it. It still seemed off to me.
Going a little deeper, however, I discovered a couple of things I was not taught — and/or did not understand — as a child. First, some biblical scholars (in all traditions) indicate that everyone in the story (save for the son, in some version) knew there would not be a human sacrifice. Or, I should say, God and the angel knew and Abraham had faith. According to these same scholars, the story is more about Abraham’s willingness to follow a commandment than it is about the actual intention to sacrifice his son. Second, the story might have been a cautionary tale against human sacrifice. Finally, there are some significant differences in the way the story appears in Bereshit / Genesis versus the way it appears in the Qur’ān.
First, the Torah / Christian Old Testament does not indicate exactly how God spoke to Abraham and/or how Abraham knew the message came from God (versus the devil that tempted him to do the wrong thing). Second, the text (almost) makes it sound as if Abraham was lying to his son — which is one of the things that always felt really off to me. Another thing that felt off to me was that the son in the New Testament (Jesus) knew his role in the story, while the son in Genesis did not… at least in the Christian tradition.
“…[Ibrahim] said: O my son! surely I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice you; consider then what you see. He said: O my father! do what you are commanded; if Allah please, you will find me of the patient ones.”
— quoted from Sūrah as-Saffat (“Chapter of Those Who Set the Ranks” or “The Rangers” / Portion 37 of the Qur’ān”) 102
As quoted above, the Sūrah as-Saffat makes it very clear that the messages came to Abraham in his dreams. There is also a very clear conversation between the father and the son. That conversation established consent and, also, reinforces the idea that the story is as much about the faith of the father as it is about the faith of the son. In the Qur’ān, it is the faith of the father and the son that is emphasized and, also, celebrated. It is celebrated on Eid al-Adha, which started at sunset on Sunday (June 16th) and is observed in some countries through June 20, 2024.
In addition to a special prayer, there is (obviously) a feast, a ritual sacrifice (of a sheep or other livestock), and symbolic stoning of the devil. There is also extra alms giving, similar to the extra charity given during the holy month of Ramadān and Eid al-Fitr. The extra alms during this particular eid (“feast” or “festival”) have a particularly special significance since a third of the meat from the livestock is given to family and friends and a third is given to the poor. Eid al-Adha also marks the end of the Hajj (“pilgrimage”) in Mecca. The alms giving and the pilgrimage are two of the Five Pillars of Islām — which make up the framework of worship and signs of faith. In other words, they are tokens or expressions of ones devotion, respect, and affection.
FRIEND [Old English, with Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German words “to love,” also related to “free”] 1. One who is attached to another by affection; one who entertains for another sentiments of esteem, respect and affection, which lead him to desire his company, and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity; opposed to foe or enemy.
“FRIEND’SHIP, noun frend’ship. 1. An attachment to a person, proceeding from intimate acquaintance, and a reciprocation of kind offices, or from a favorable opinion of the amiable and respectable qualities of his mind. friendship differs from benevolence, which is good will to mankind in general, and from that love which springs from animal appetite. True friendship is a noble and virtuous attachment, springing from a pure source, a respect for worth or amiable qualities. False friendship may subsist between bad men, as between thieves and pirates. This is a temporary attachment springing from interest, and may change in a moment to enmity and rancor.”
— quoted from Webster’s Dictionary 1828
There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices.
If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.
White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.
If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).
“‘Take this story to heart,’ Rabbi Bunam used to add, ‘and make what it says your own: There is something you cannot find anywhere in the world, not even at the zaddik’s [home of a righteous person], and there is, nevertheless, a place where you can find it.’”
“There is something that can only be found in one place. It is a great treasure, which may be called the fulfilment of existence. The place where this treasure can be found is the place on which one stands.”
— quoted from “VI. Here Where One Stands” in The Way of Man: According to the Teaching of Hasidim by Martin Buber
ERRATA: I originally posted this with the wrong end date for the Soweto uprising.
### LOVE ONE ANOTHER ###
Beyond Sleeping and Waking (mostly the blessings, music, an excerpt, & a musical note) April 3, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Bhakti, Changing Perspectives, Faith, Healing Stories, Life, Music, Mysticism, One Hoop, Philosophy, Ramadan, Religion, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: Eastertide, faith, Jane Goodall, Laylat al-Qadr, nasheeds, Octave of Easter, Ramadan, Ramadān, Reba McEntire, Season for Nonviolence, Season of Non-violence, Seven Sleepers, Washington Irving
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“Ramadān Mubarak, Blessed Ramadān!” to anyone observing the holy month of Ramadān. (Keep your eyes open.) Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing Great Lent or Eastertide / the Octave of Easter, today and throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and during all other seasons!
“You know, I think the most important thing is for people to understand that every day we live on this planet we make some impact. And we can choose. So we should ask questions: This thing we are buying, did it harm the environment when it was made? Was it cruel to animals; like factory farmed meat, eggs, milk? Is it cheap because of unfair wages or slave labor?
If everybody asks those questions, and it might cost a little bit more to buy ethically produced products, but then you value it more and we waste less.”
— Dame Jane Goodall, quoted from a Today interview on her 90th birthday
Here’s a little excerpt from my 2019 post on this date:
“Upon hearing that the short story author Washington Irving was born April 3, 1783, some might suppose that today’s peak pose will be Savasana. Such an assumption, however, would mean that ‘some’ are making the same error as Rip Van Winkle.” [Note: Jane Goodall is also celebrating a birthday today. She was born in 1934.]
Click here for the rest of the post and to practice the featured poses.
Click here to check out this 2020/2021 post related to this practice.
Please join me today (Wednesday, April 3rd) at 4:30 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
Wednesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “04032024 Transcendence, remix”]
Some quick notes about the music: First, I remixed this playlist because we are approaching final days of Ramadān, when I usually use music featuring musicians who are Muslim (with a few exceptions). This is not the same as those playlists, but those are coming.
Second, there are some songs on the playlist that are Nasheeds (meaning they are religiously moral songs) that, in some traditions, are meant to be sung without instrumentation or only with percussion. I have, however, included orchestrated versions of these songs, because this seems to have worked best in an in-studio setting. I mean no disrespect by this choice. As far as I know, percussion or voice only recordings of the Nasheeds are available (if you want to build your own playlist). Alternatively, you can practice without the music.
One of the notable exceptions — notable, because she is the only female soloist and the only non-Muslim singer on my Ramadān playlists — is Reba McEntire. While this playlist is a little different, her song “Pray for Peace” is on the playlist because she re-released it during the month of Ramadān in 2014 — but not just randomly in the month, the song was released in the last ten days of the month!
One more musical note can be found at the bottom of this 2023 post.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.)
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How The Stories Unfold (the “missing” Sunday post with links, for context) March 26, 2024
Posted by ajoyfulpractice in Books, Changing Perspectives, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Faith, Gandhi, Healing Stories, Hope, Karma, Lent / Great Lent, Life, Music, One Hoop, Pain, Peace, Philosophy, Purim, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ramadan, Religion, Suffering, Tragedy, Wisdom, Yoga.Tags: Aaron Koller, Clark Olsen, Dr. Susannah Heschel, faith, Holy Week, James Reeb, Lent / Great Lent, Lyndon B. Johnson, March for Our Lives, Maty Ezraty, Orloff Miller, Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, Passion Week, Psalms, Purim, Richard Goodwin, Søren Kierkegaard, Season for Nonviolence, Season of Non-violence, Selma, Selma to Montgomery, Tehillim, The Gospel According to Matthew
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“Ramadān Mubarak, Blessed Ramadān!” to anyone observing the holy month of Ramadān. Many blessings to all, and especially to those observing Purim, Holi, Passion Week / Holy Week, and/or Great Lent throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and during all other seasons!
This is the “missing” post for Sunday, March 24th, which was Palm Sunday (in Western Christianity) and Purim (in some Jewish communities). Although it was also Holi in some communities, I do not reference Holi until the Monday night practice. There are passing references to domestic terrorism and violence (but no explicit details). You can request an audio recording of a related practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email me at myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.
In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es). Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.
Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.
“A good sequence is like a good story. There is a beginning (an introduction), the middle (the heart of the story), and the end (the conclusion)”
— Maty Ezraty
This time of year is all about the stories. There are so many stories, from so many cultures, and this is a time of year when I typically use the practice to tell an important story. This year, in particular, I want you to take a moment to consider how a story, any story, unfolds. Consider that as the story unfolds, there’s another story that unfolds — actually, a host of other stories unfold. Because we all bring something to the mat. We each bring our own story and our part of our collective stories.
So, as the story I tell unfolds through the practice your stories also unfolds, every time we inhale and every time we exhale.
In some ways, the story and the practice unfold in a linear fashion — they have all the parts that Maty Ezraty said can be found in a good story and a good practice. However, we are all meeting in the middle of our stories.
“It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.”
— quoted from Journals (IV A 164), 1843 by Søren Kierkegaard
I have found that one of the perfect places to look back while moving forward is in a practice that allows us to go deeper into our middles.
This Sunday was a day when I typically tell you a story. But, this particular Sunday (March 24th) there wasn’t just one story or 2 stories. There were actually 3 (or more) stories. Again, while it might have made sense to start at the beginning (chronologically). It also made sense to start where we are, right in the middle, and go backwards and then forwards again.
So that’s what we’re going to did.
“‘I will enlighten you and instruct you which way [to go]; I will wink My eye to you.’”
— King David, quoted from Tehillim – Psalms (32:8)
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
— The Gospel According to Matthew (6:26, NIV)
On March 24, 2018, 1.2 million people in the United States and around the world took part in the March for Our Lives demonstration against gun violence. The non-violent protest was in response to the mass shooting (on Valentine’s Day 2018) that killed 17 people and (physically) injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The primary protest event took place in Washington, D. C. and, like so many other “marches” on Washington it was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, which were inspired by the non-violent protestors who participated in the Salt Satyagraha in March 1930.
Three of those Civil Rights marches started in Selma, Alabama in March 1965. They were in direct response to the murder of activist and deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson. The first of the Selma marches, on March 7th, was led by Reverend Hosea Williams and (the future congressman) John Lewis. Horrific images from that “Sunday, Bloody, Sunday” march were televised all over the world. The second march, two days later, was led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It became known as “Turnaround (or Turnback) Tuesday.” In addition to Dr. King, some of the people who had marched and been attacked on the 7th, were joined by people who had seen the images from the first march and answered MLK’s call to action. Included in that group were Unitarian Universalist ministers and activists Reverend James Reeb, Reverend Clark Olsen and Reverend Orloff Miller. While the images televised around the world on March 9th were more “peaceful,” the ministers (who were all white) were attacked by three white men. Reverend Reeb, who had spent his entire adult life working for civil rights, died on March 11, 1965.
Neither of those first two Selma marches made it past the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In between the second and the third marches, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave his “The American Promise” speech (also known as the “We Shall Overcome” speech) a joint session of the United States Congress and Judge Frank Minis Johnson (no relation to the president) decided in Williams v. Wallace, 240 F. Supp. 100 (M.D. Ala. 1965) that the marchers were exercising their 1st Amendment rights and should be allowed to do so without interference from anyone.
Four days after Judge Johnson’s decision, 8,000 people gathered at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama, and started the walk that would lead them to the capital in Montgomery Alabama. By the time the movement reached the City of St. Jude, on March 24th, approximately 25,000 people were participating in the protest. One of those people was Viola Liuzzo, a Detroit mother of five who volunteered to drive people back to their vehicles in Selma. Like Reverend Reeb, she was murdered after the peaceful protest.
“For my father, though, the march was not simply a political demonstration, but a religious occasion. He saw it as a revival of prophetic Judaism’s political activism and also of the traditions of Hasidism, a Jewish pietistic revival movement that arose in the late eighteenth century, according to which walking could be a spiritual experience.
He said it reminded him of the message of the prophets, whose primary concern was social injustice, and of his Hasidic forebears, for whom compassion for the suffering of other people defined a religious person.”
— quoted from an article about the 40th Anniversary of the Selma-Montgomery marches, by Dr. Susannah Heschel
As I’ve mentioned before, not everyone who marched from Selma to Montgomery was African American. Neither was everyone Christian. So, this Sunday, while some people remembering those marches may have also been celebrating Palm Sunday (in the Western Christian traditions), others were also observing Great Lent (in the Orthodox traditions), or the holy month of Ramadān, or celebrating Holi or Purim (which started at sunset on Saturday night).
On Sunday, in addition to referencing the stories of the marches, I told the story of Jesus returning to Jerusalem for Passover and the story of Queen Esther. Rather than make this a super-sized post, check out the following links about the Selma marches, Palm Sunday, and Purim:
FTWMI: Winning the Lottery, with some Powerball® thoughts (the “missing” Monday post)
As you take note of how the stories unfold, notice also that the stories (even the modern stories) are rooted in people’s religious beliefs — specifically in monotheistic beliefs and the belief that someone or something is looking out for people. There is also, in each story, suffering and a desire to be free of suffering. While some might say that the principals in each story want to be saved, they are very different from the person in the parable or cartoon who is waiting to be saved. These people are aware that they must do something — grab the proverbial lifesaver or rope — in order to be free of their suffering.
In the decision to proceed in a non-violent manner, there is also the awareness that how we do things matters as much as what we do.
“In Selma as elsewhere we seek and pray for peace. We seek order. We seek unity. But we will not accept the peace of suppressed rights, or the order imposed by fear, or the unity that stifles protest. For peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty.
In Selma tonight, as in every city, we are working for just and peaceful settlement.”
— quoted from “Special Message to the Congress on Voting Rights and the American Promise,” original draft by Richard Goodwin; delivered by President Lyndon B. Johnson, March 15, 1965
Sunday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “Palm, Purim, Selma 2024”]
“A Talmudic comment (in B. Hullin 139b) playfully asks, ‘What is the source for Esther in the Torah?’ The answer given is that Esther was foretold in Deuteronomy 31:18: ‘I will indeed hide (haster astir) my face on that day.’ In part this is a pun, linking the name Esther to the Hebrew phrase ‘I will indeed hide’ (haster astir), but in part it is a serious theological claim: where did the Torah foretell a story with no God?”
— quoted from “8. Diaspora revisions: rethinking Exodus and rethinking God – Entering the fray: Esther as a political book” in Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought by Aaron Koller
Errata: The original post contained the incorrect first name for Judge Frank Minis Johnson.
A Joyful Practice 