2010 - an invitation to awaken to conscious evolution

When asked how she is, my friend and mentor, Barbara Marx Hubbard of Santa Barbara responds: “Evolving, thank you and how are you?” I love this response and was delighted to find that Barbara was interviewed recently as part of a 14 week teleseminar that has caught the attention of 30,000 women from all over the world— listening in on the computer or telephone. A gathering of this size, by women all over the globe, is simply astounding— women from all walks of life responding to the call of the process of conscious evolution. We re responding to something we may not be able to articulate but whose validity we intuitively recognize.

At a recent Peace Conference, the Dalai Lama stated that “ the world will be saved by the Western woman.” Inspired by this sentiment and following their intuitive wisdom, in balance with their technological knowledge, Katherine Woodward Thomas and Claire Zamitt (www.femininepower.com) devised and are presenting “Women on the Edge of Evolution”— an invitation to “awaken to the power to co-create our lives and shape the collective future.” The question they pose for us to consider is what our role as women will be, in the creature of our future on this planet— something profound to consider as 2010 opens for us.

In the New year, I plan to start a new conversation for women in the San Luis Obispo area based on this series and will welcome the participation of those who would like to be a part of this exploration. Please feel free to contact me at heathermendel@me.com should you wish to participate and I know we will gather together and watch our combined energy move us forward.

Signs and symbols, lost and found.

In his new book, The Lost Sign, Dan Brown informs us that the world is certainly stranger than we know. Members of the ancient fellowship of Free Masons are divided as to the meanings of the symbols of their tradition. Ancient signs are mythic and multi-layered and meet the observer at whatever level they are encountered. It was ever thus and is as timely as it is timeless. Quantum physicists are showing the validity of this concept as they explore the world on a subatomic level. The observer may affect the results of laboratory experiments. Are we seeing the meeting of science and spirituality?

Nothing is as it appears. Surface and substance — which is real? An ancient Buddhist teaching reminds us that the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon, and unless we move our focus away from the finger, and focus on the direction of where the moon is, we miss the splendor in the night-time sky. In a totally contemporary setting, we are confronted with the multi-layered world of twitter. As novices, what appears as a disconnected cacophony of signs and symbols carries layers of information. One ‘tweet’ does not follow another in conversation-like fashion of she-says, he-says. The short bursts of no more than 140 letters contain cryptic codes, apparently random events sent out to invisible audiences of people we have never met and likely never will. These messages contain strata of meaning and information that initiates are able to follow, at lightening speed no less.

In learning the language that connects them, people are able to find like-minded compatriots all around the globe and share information that is important to them, from the most mundane, such as where to get the most delicious chocolate in the neighborhood to satisfy the body, to the most profound concepts that inspire readers with courage, hope and empowerment to satisfy the soul.

Our language and communication skills are getting shorter and faster, closing vast distances of geography and society, as the communication net we cast out reaches further than before. Long gone are the days of the pleasure of receiving a long awaited letter in the mail. So much is changing so quickly. News is no longer news 24 hours later, which means newspapers were replaced by TV news, which is now getting its instantaneous information by e-news. Shopping in stores now being conducted online, and like-minded people all over the world connect through a gadget that fits into the palms of our hands.

Authors are discovering that it is no longer the reviews of professionals that build readership, rather it is the words of readers, you and me, that will encourage one another on enjoy what we have found meaningful.

For some, this is daunting, for others exciting. There are benefits and dangers to this e-age, multiple possibilities that are affected by the senders and receivers of these apparently cryptic messages. A strange new world indeed!

It is all about choice

Having just returned from an enjoyable and enlightening trip to the Balkan Peninsula, I am conscious of the importance of choosing to let go. Visiting the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the hope and aspirations for a better future were as tangible as the physical evidence of past conflicts, recent and ancient. The wounds from the recent homeland war in Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania were still fresh, both in the physical landscape and the hearts of the people. Geopolitical boundaries are permeable and shift while ethnic divisions remain deeper than any marks on a map.

As visitors, we are reminded of the ethnic pain suffered over the globe in far-off lands and close to home. Whatever our own ethnic background, we feel each other's pain and are reminded of our own familial stories. What do we do with our own historical and ethnic pain? What to we pass on to the next generation? With the blessing of becoming concious, we realize that we have choices. We can teach our children not to forget and at the same time to forgive, as we forge a new pathway forward. Our challenge is to find ways of releasing the past instead of living in it in the present moment.

The Balkans are a complex interweaving of histories, ethnicities and cultures. Visitors marvel at medieval walled cities, now vibrant with internet cafes and people sipping coffee and chatting on cell phones. Museums are filled with ancient weaponry and swords— instruments of death, irrespective of their beautiful mother-of-pearl and inlay designs, for those deemed different. Just as buildings of ancient stone, partially destroyed by earthquake or human greed and fear of the 'other' can be left to accent the landscape, they are also used to rebuild new lives and start anew. Can we each learn to take past memories, remnants scattered over the terrain of our individual inner landscapes, and build something new, creative and hope-filled? By letting the past go, we can become conscious in the present moment and build a new and different future of mutuality, respect and celebration of diversity. It is challenging, possible and worth our striving.

Cultivating Soulful Self Care

The words of the Desiderata, purportedly written several hundred years ago and found in a church in Baltimore, remind us:

Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you consider God to be. . . . . with all is sham and drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world.

As we look around us, it is only with an innate optimism and unswerving faith that we can hold this vision. As the slumbering giant of the Eastern hemisphere awakens to the promise of all that consumerism can bring, the West looks at the emptiness that consumerism leaves in the soul and seeks answers to life’s questions in the wisdom of the East. As Nature is despoiled to the point of suffocation we are all finally forced to look at our place in the Universe and ask those embarrassing questions about what we individually are doing to help and what we are doing to hinder the realigning balance that is so out of kilter. We think we know so much! Science has provided incredible insights about the working of the natural world and gifted us with a corporate machine that clogs our world with plastics and aluminum, and our infests our bodies with parabens and other chemicals that we can’t pronounce that poison our bodies and we wonder at the number of cancer–related illnesses, numbers of children with being diagnosed with autism – all in the greediest, most consumerist nation on the planet. As American’s, as women, how do we find any sense of balance and soulful ways to live our lives? Just as the crew in any airplane instructs: In the event of any emergency, "please place one over your own face before trying to assist another." Audre Lorde reminds us too that caring for ourselves is not self-indulgence, it is self –preservation. Hillel stated us :If I am not for myself, who will be for me
John O’Donohue, mystic poet, has some fascinating ideas about living soulfully. “The more I've been thinking about this, the more it seems to me actually is that the visible world is the first shoreline of the invisible world. And the same way I believe with the body and the soul. That actually . . . the body is in the soul, not the soul just in the body. And that in some way the poignancy of being a human being is that you are the place where the invisible becomes visible and expressive in some way.”
Our scientific bias has blinded us to what indigenous people all over the world knew and know that nature – rocks, plants, animals, the stars, planets and universe is alive with a consciousness, different but equal in all ways to our own. When we go out each morning, silently and listening, in O’ Donohue’s words with “an open heart and a watchful reverence” we are amazed at what we can learn. Being aware of the vitality of nature and her cycles connects us into the rhythm of the universe. If we consciously attend to this energy we start to open to life in anew way in which the following can enhance the soulful quality of our days. Reading O'Donohue is taking the oxygen mask he offers.

Eve-0-lution: The birth of humankind

Studying midrash is a traditional method of studying biblical text. I offer a non-traditional midrash about Eve. Her name means the mother of the living. As women, how do we regard her and how does that affect the way we feel about ourselves? Eve, in Hebrew, Hava, can be understood in an entirely different light once we realize that the original story of our origins is told as poetry rather than prose. Poetry speaks in metaphor and when read literally, robs the reader of the grandeur of the images. The most dramatic result of such reading results in a negative, patriarchal assumption about the about the “mother of living”. Not the disobedient, temptress she has been maligned to represent, Eve is, in fact, the quintessential heroine. She represents the bold and courageous intuitive aspect each human being possesses that moves the human story forward.

Eve stood beneath the branches of the Tree at the center of the Garden. They surrounded her, protectively like the wings of those who sang so sweetly from the tree. She loved being here, at home, in the Garden. The glowing fruit was in her hand, warm, soft and inviting. She knew that the juice would be sweet to taste. Although time did not yet exist, here she was able to gaze into what would become the past and future of earth’s history. Once again she thought about her alternatives. She had been given the choice before, and she knew she would be given the chance again. Not eating would ensure that innocence would remain in the Garden. Innocence, she knew, was incomplete, inexperienced and inert. She looked at the warm, living fruit in her hand. The rosy blush of the sacred fruit was as pleasing to her eyes as its feel was to her hand. Eating of this gift of creation would open for them the gates of the Garden. They could step out into a material beginning. She looked at her beloved Adam. As the separated beings they would agree to become, they would experience loneliness. They would not be able to merge, as they could now, in this Garden of Oneness. Sexual fulfillment would be the closest they would come to knowing the ecstasy of merging.

Separation would be necessary because the material world on Earth would operate under the law of duality. The challenge for their children would be to find a place of balance between the apparent opposites they would experience, to find the Oneness from which they came. This would be the first exodus of many for the children of humanity, whose mission would be incomplete until Oneness was attained. Physicality would bring the wonder of physical experience and emotion, as well as loneliness and even forgetfulness: to be totally present in their material world, their energies and attention would have to focus on the physical realm. She and Adam, her soul-mate and help-meet, would be the agents of consciousness that bring the God-force into yet another level of existence. Adam comfortably deferred to her intuitive sense in matters of discussions with Wholly-One, just as Eve, he knew, would willingly follow his plan once the course of action was decided. Balance and happiness, you see, really did reign in that Garden!

Eve knew how she would be vilified by humanity in its childhood. For a time, many of her sons would consider her the most evil of beings because of her decision to start this journey. She knew that her wondrous intuitive sense, with which she communed with Wholly-One would come to be detested and feared. Intuition would be symbolized by the awesome snake— icon of wisdom and knowledge— which, like Eve, would become feared and demonized. Wholly-One assured her that although this early stage would seem like an eternity when they were in physical garments of skin, it would really be as a momentary. Time and space, after all, would be but illusions they would devise in trying to understand and to remember. Each would claim their Divinity when ready. Ultimately they would bless her and gratefully acknowledge her as their mother, the spark of the start of physical experience.
For much of its childhood, humanity would take literally all the allegories their priests and storytellers would invent regarding their beginnings, until the time for maturity drew closer and understanding of symbol and myth would softly creep into their consciousness. It would take these children time to understand that this journey was a choice she and Adam were given by Wholly-One, who wanted them to undertake it— but only when they were ready. It had to be a choice of free will, which was the natural law in the Garden, as duality would be on Earth.

Previously, she had hesitated. Compassion for generations of her future children stayed her hand. She could see the road ahead, the blindness, the misunderstandings, the hatred, the pain and tears caused by their ignorance. Out of those painful lessons would come understanding and remembrance. She would be blessed always by Wholly-One as she was now. She knew what Wholly-One wanted from her when she was ready and now, finally, she was.

In joy and thankfulness, she put the sweet fruit to her lips, and savored its fragrance and flavor. This was the key to the Gates. She reached out and took another fruit from the sacred branch and giving it to Adam, encouraged him to eat with her. They once again discussed the odyssey they were to undertake. He was not sure he was ready for separation and the loneliness, for himself or for their children. He grieved for the time in the story in which his sons would forget the “wholiness” of his daughters. Eve understood and lovingly encouraged him, knowing that everything would turn out just the way it should. She knew it was time.

Hesitating, he came to a decision. If Eve was ready, he would follow her intuition. He ate of the fruit she had brought to him. It was delicious. Savoring the wonder of it, he walked to the tree and took a second peach. Eve knew that his eating twice from the tree would make memory more difficult for him but she would be there, at his side, to help him remember. In sleep and story they would have the opportunity to cast off their human forms and revert to all they really were. She, Daughter of Wholly-One gave thanks, honored and joyful to be doing what had been desired, but never asked, of her. She lay down next to him and merged with him once more, for the last time, the two becoming one— inner and outer, active and receptive, male and female, intuitive and intellectual, thinking and feeling, wisdom and understanding, compassion and discernment — all at-one-ment in the garden.

“Tomorrow” the adventure would begin. Eventually, they would return to the Garden, mature, whole and fulfilled, having completed the task lovingly offered them. The wholly-one slept peacefully beneath the Tree of The Wholly One.

Spring 2009

As we prepare for the Spring festive season of Passover and Easter, our thoughts turn to new beginnings. With a new administration in Washington, this year the idea of a new start somehow feels more authentic. Jewish tradition teaches that on April 8, the planetary alignment will be it was 'on the fourth day of creation.' This is the commemoration of a cycle that repeats every 28 years, a celebration of the birth of sun at the vernal equinox.

Celebrating the origins of our planetary system gives us opportunities to express our gratitude — my thoughts turn to my wonderful group of friends who enrich my life in more ways than I can express. I thank all those who kindnesses to me are overwhelming. As I welcome the sun in the sky in the next few days, I will think of all of you. The sun's birthday? Whatever one believes about such possibilities, this Spring seems a little more special and in spite of the severe downturn in world economics, it feels as if a corner has been turned and we are beginning to see the start of a new time and season. I wish everyone a joyful festive season

Inspiration for today

In a recent class, we discussed the role of praying in our lives, and whether these are words of 'asking' or words of 'gratitude.'

Here is a wonderful prayer of 'asking' from our new prayer book, Mishkan T'filah, that contains some magnificent poetry and meditations.

Grants us enough health to fulfill our duties
and the compassion we need to attend others.
Teach us humility that we may perceive our own faults
and grants us the wisdom of forgiving others.
Give us the courage to be true to our high selves
and the charity to see the best in those around us.
Give us patience enough not to become discouraged,
hope enough to overcome all fears for the future
and faith enough to know Your presence.

Beyond Stereotypes

When my husband and I were married thirty years ago, I inherited the role of ‘rebbetzin’ that came with marrying a rabbi. When he proposed, he asked me to think about what this role would mean and how, to a certain extent, our lives, and those of our children, would become more public. What he did not foresee, or certainly did not warn me, was the amusing comment that, over the years, has continued to amaze me. “That’s funny, you don’t look like a rabbi’s wife.” Always said (and received) with a smile, these few words have always left me bemused as I am not sure what a rabbi’s wife looks like and why I do not fit some preconceived notion. If the same people, casually met, would have been aware of my outspoken and passionate interests in feminism and spirituality, they may have been convinced that I don’t sound like a rabbi’s wife either! This comment has certainly served as a good introduction to my considering the role of stereotypes in our lives.

Surface and substance— where does one begin and the other end? Our physical appearance, apparent strength or weaknesses, our gender, race and nationality, the clothing, colors and adornments we chose to wear — all are taken in instantly by those we meet and filtered through a perceptive lens that has evolved within them through their life’s experience. Each of us operate in the same way and the more tied we are to the egoic mind, as described by Tolle, the more we assume that our perceptions of others, gained in this way, are valid.

Such superficial coverings, including the personality traits we show to the world, conceal, in varying degrees, the essence of who are— the former, where our individuality is found and the latter where our similitude resides in the identical divine sparks that animates each human being as children of One God, splendid in our diversity.

What is not quite so obvious when we first meet, is the intanglible information we intuit vibrationally, probably coming closer to the truth of the essence of the other. In an unconscious state, we are unaware that we take in information on many levels, and that surface impressions are so tied to our own inner voice as to be rightfully more to do with ourselves than the person we are meeting.

It is interesting to view all the subgroups we can identify with in terms of race, nationality, roles, gender and sexual preferences (to name just a few) and then to think of the stereotypes that abound about these groupings. Do they apply to us? Instantly we recognize where we match and more importantly, where we don’t.

When I was training to become a speech and hearing therapist in what seems now to have been a separate lifetime ago, each therapist-in -training had to agree, for a period of 2 week and in all situations, to ‘become’ a stutterer to know what this speech disorder feels like to the person dealing with it. It was a humbling experience indeed. Ask any woman who chooses to wear the hijab in Western society, and especially post 9/11, how her choice affects the reaction of strangers in the streets, or its effects on the initial moments of meeting someone not of her faith, for the first time? What of the elderly, or those in wheelchairs, who experience invisibility as strangers address whoever accompanies them rather than talk directly to them? If as heterosexuals, we were asked if we are gay, surely we realize that our sexual preference tells nothing about the core of who we are?

One of the many joys of having President Obama in office, is that the barrier of race has cracked and is crumbling. For the first time, many have been able to see through their own limiting stereotype, to the essence of the amazing man who now leads our country and the world. His meteoric rise, a great gift to us all, has cracked open the imprisoning national lens that has separated us, one from another.

How do we deal with difference? How much trust do we have in stereotypes? How much of our assessment of others is tainted because we are unaware or unable to see beyond the surface and the touch the substance of one another? Surely widening our perspective and becoming conscious of the lens through which we each view our lives will assist us to connect in more meaningful ways.

The Passing of a Hero

January 30

It was with great sadness that I just learned of the death of a woman I had the privilege of knowing for a just few short hours several years ago. Lani Silver cast a giant gleaming shadow and the world is definitely bereft without her. She lived the tenets of Judaism and was a 'light to the nations'. Feeling that the survivors of the Holocaust had stories that needed to be told, both for the teller and the listener— experiences that should never be forgotten, she recorded thousand of life histories and inspired Spielberg's Shoah Foundation. She was able to see that, tragically, prejudice extends far beyond the history of the Jews and turned her skills as an oral historian to the US. She founded the James Byrd Jr Racism Oral History Project, when she discovered that no one else had interviewed the family of the father of 3 who was dragged to his death by whited supremacists in Jasper Texas, Texas in 1998. She then started interviewing Americans about racism in their lives. How appropriate for a woman whose consciousness was truly awakened by visiting apartheid South Africa when she was a teen. She did for Nazi Holocaust survivors in Europe and some of the victims of racism in the US what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did in South AFrica.

I feel blessed to have been part of a workshop she lead at our Temple in San Luis Obispo and know how deeply she affected both the people she interviewed in our group as well as those who heard their stories. Rest in peace Lani, the world will miss you and you live on in my heart as a true inspiration. http://lanisilver.com/

And So The New Age Begins . . .

We have a new President and the new age begins. President Obama referred to the words from Ecclesiastes:

To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and
a time to die;
a time to plant, and
a time to pluck up
that which is planted;
A time to kill, and
a time to heal;
a time to break down, and
a time to build up;
A time to weep, and
a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and
a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and
a time to lose;
a time to keep, and
a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and
a time to sow;
a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak;
A time to love, and
a time to hate;
a time of war; and
a time of peace

How fitting to recall those words as we watch the changing of administrations. Eight years ago,in disbelief we watched the 'selection' of a President and his team that came into office in the arrogant pride that precedes a fall. Today we thrill at the return to American values of honesty, hope and optimism soaring on the hopes and dreams of a world transformed. In the traditional Zulu greeting, we say: Hamba Gashele, Mr President. Go in peace and safety.

The end of an error

Jan 19 2009

Happy Martin Luther King Day to one all. It has taken the proverbial 40 years through the wilderness to arrived at the Promised Land. Interesting synchronicity? Coincidence? However we view the road to this present moment, we are experiencing an amazing beginning and a call to action, to hope and to possibility.

A pre-election bumper sticker said it all: Jan 20 2009 - the end of an error. And tomorrow we see the Inauguration of President Barack Obama and experience a turning point in history. I feel sure that in the years to come, we will look at the 'old footage' of the present celebrations and remember where we were and what we were doing on January 19 and 20, 2009. As an ex South African I experienced the same sense of amazed disbelief and wonder when Nelson Mandela became the President of an apartheid-free South Africa. It was something for which we hoped, prayed, and worked towards in our different ways as South Africans. Many brave and committed souls suffered and lost their lives for that dream that became a reality.

And now as an American, it is our turn to experience the giddy excitement, goodwill, enthusiasm and love that is tangible across the land, and I am sure across the globe. One cannot help but be moved to tears as we hear Martin Luther King's words once more, as we see the shining faces of African Americans in dizzy and joyful celebration. The dream is becoming a reality.

As our prayers focus on the safety of the new Presidential family, we focus on the positive energy the we feel today and commit to using it as springboard towards a more inclusive society, a connected and balanced world that will celebrate our diversity.

As one who has felt totally alienated from the national scene over the past eight years, it is such a delight to once feel the excitement of possibility and potential that President Obama represents and we look forward to a new year, an new administration and a new era that will call to us all to play our own part in being present to the present moment and all that it can be as we strive to create a new world.