June 2005 - Posts
I don't do change very well. The first segment in the New Morning program on "Moving Forward" focused on Peggy Clanton. She has been working in the same doughnut store for 36 years, for 12 hours a day every day of the week; all this time, she has been married to the same man, who also works in the store. I thought, "That's me." Although a few specifics have changed over the years, I've been engaged in the same type of work for 36 years with the same man, usually for 12 hours a day, and we work t
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I have to admit that I really don't know my neighbors very well. I'm not talking about my human neighbors. We live in a small building, and we meet regularly to conduct coop business, so I'm acquainted with them. But I don't know a whole lot about the plants and trees in my neighborhood. Last week I went on an outing with a friend who had just been trained to participate in the New York City Parks Department's Tree Census. They are identifying and counting all the trees in the city -- in the par
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"What can you teach me today?" I say to my cat Merton. I've just watched the "New Morning" show about "Teachers All Around Us," and it's identified the many kinds of teachers we are likely to encounter in our daily lives -- except animals, and lately I've been thinking a lot about how animals can be our teachers.
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One afternoon shortly after the start of the Iraq War, I went to a mosque in downtown New York to pray for peace. The Sufi leader there, Shaykha Fariha al-Jerrahi, had invited some of her colleagues to help lead the service. Each presented a practice distinctive to his or her tradition and answered questions about it. A Jewish rabbi led us in chanting "Shalom." A Hindu priest sang a chant in Sanskrit. A member of the Zen Peacemaker Order had us take a vow. A Presbyterian minister had us read sec
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If the spiritual life is a journey, then how do you know where you are? I accept the view that being a spiritual person is a lifelong process of becoming, a path without a destination, but I still like signposts that say, "This Way," "Good Choice," and even "Whoops."
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I loved the segment in today's program ("Getting Unstuck") about Mary Izetelney and the Church of Craft in New York City. Visiting the website, I discovered that there are similar congregations of crafters in at least 10 other locales. I also found the sermon quoted on the show. Callie Janoff writes that "Making things is our spiritual practice." She then lists some questions the crafters found themselves asking: "How am I spiritual? What do I believe in? What in life moves me, compels me, gives
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I walked my first labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco about eight years ago. I'd read about this ancient practice and had come prepared with a question to contemplate as I walked the path. I was facing a transition at the time, and so the question, addressed to God, was something like "What should I do?" or "What does this all mean?" But about three-quarters of the way into the center, my question shifted to "How much longer is this going to take?" I had to laugh at myself. The walk h
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When I was in elementary school, our family belonged to a children's book club that sent us a biography of a famous person in American history every month. I loved those books, although right now, I can only remember one title -- Betsy Ross about the woman who sewed the first American flag. Parents today can get of inspiring spiritual leaders including Native American Black Elk, Catholic activist Dorothy Day, India's great soul Mahatma Gandhi, and Buddhist peacemaker Thich Nhat Hanh.
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