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
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
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/
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/
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, January 19, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Chronus and Kairos
As we approach the start of 2009, and another New Year, we are very conscious of time, a mysterious realm that we don’t really understand. Chronos and Kairos are two archetypal markers of this mystery; Chronus — that logical, mighty, masculine keeper of clocks and calendar, of past and future, while Kairos, portal to the eternal now, the present, can be likened to the intuitive swirling, feminine space of “once-upon-a-time.” Like dancers on the stage of eternity, these two aspects of time are locked in an eternal tango in which the ever-present Chronus sets the rhythm and beat for an unfolding reality. Kairos confounds us with the color and flow of movement that tantalize us with a sense of new possibilities and ancient tales from the world of myth and story that reveal and then conceal themselves once more.
As Kairos dips and swirls into awareness, we grasp for the wisps of an alternate and complementary reality that seems to withdraw just as we reach out. Kairos introduces chaotic sparks of possibilities that slip in and out of the pattern of order established by Chronus. Kairos is a portal to an eternal, “once upon a time” dimension that is home to our souls; the realm’s “lingua franca” of imagery that is the language of our souls.
Most of our days are filled with Chronus ‘form’— the fore-grounded, outer reality of our existence that separates and differentiates us as individual human beings, each living our own ‘story’ with beginning, middle and end. Sadly, for many, temporal Chronus time is all that we know. It is where we spend most of our waking moments, remembering the past or anticipating the future and in so doing, missing entirely the present moment. Eckhardt Tolle, a contemporary mystic and spiritual teacher, reminds us that if we are able to still our ever-restless minds, we have possibility of opening to the realm of Kairos, mostly relegated to the background of our awareness.
Synchronicity. Serendipity. These words have a special magic and a musicality just as words; sparking through the drabness of our daily routines, they are portals to mystery and intrigue of Kairos where we acknowledge and celebrate our similitude. It is here that we recognize and remember that although we are all totally unique individuals in the world of form in Chronus, at the same time, we are also all interconnected, identical sparks of The Eternal.
This all came to mind in a very real way several months ago, when my little dog was gravely ill with an undiagnosed problem. Deeply concerned about his very life, I was startled by the doorbell and the arrival of a friend I had not seen for some time. Miracle of miracles – not just a friend I respect and love, but a medical intuitive par excellence, who just ‘happened’ to arrived unexpectedly when I most needed her insight. She immediately recognized the problem with our beloved dog and we were able to formulate a plan. Her arrival on our doorstep at that exact moment was a clarion call of Kairos, a synchronous and serendipitous event graphically reminding me of how interconnected we all are on a very deep and mysterious level.
As we contemplate a New Year, a new administration in Washington DC and a new beginning many more levels than just in Chronus, my New Year’s resolution is open myself more fully to the mysterious and celebratory realm of Kairos. My spiritual practice is becoming more regular and I intend becoming more conscious and appreciative of the inner landscape in which we are all one.
As Kairos dips and swirls into awareness, we grasp for the wisps of an alternate and complementary reality that seems to withdraw just as we reach out. Kairos introduces chaotic sparks of possibilities that slip in and out of the pattern of order established by Chronus. Kairos is a portal to an eternal, “once upon a time” dimension that is home to our souls; the realm’s “lingua franca” of imagery that is the language of our souls.
Most of our days are filled with Chronus ‘form’— the fore-grounded, outer reality of our existence that separates and differentiates us as individual human beings, each living our own ‘story’ with beginning, middle and end. Sadly, for many, temporal Chronus time is all that we know. It is where we spend most of our waking moments, remembering the past or anticipating the future and in so doing, missing entirely the present moment. Eckhardt Tolle, a contemporary mystic and spiritual teacher, reminds us that if we are able to still our ever-restless minds, we have possibility of opening to the realm of Kairos, mostly relegated to the background of our awareness.
Synchronicity. Serendipity. These words have a special magic and a musicality just as words; sparking through the drabness of our daily routines, they are portals to mystery and intrigue of Kairos where we acknowledge and celebrate our similitude. It is here that we recognize and remember that although we are all totally unique individuals in the world of form in Chronus, at the same time, we are also all interconnected, identical sparks of The Eternal.
This all came to mind in a very real way several months ago, when my little dog was gravely ill with an undiagnosed problem. Deeply concerned about his very life, I was startled by the doorbell and the arrival of a friend I had not seen for some time. Miracle of miracles – not just a friend I respect and love, but a medical intuitive par excellence, who just ‘happened’ to arrived unexpectedly when I most needed her insight. She immediately recognized the problem with our beloved dog and we were able to formulate a plan. Her arrival on our doorstep at that exact moment was a clarion call of Kairos, a synchronous and serendipitous event graphically reminding me of how interconnected we all are on a very deep and mysterious level.
As we contemplate a New Year, a new administration in Washington DC and a new beginning many more levels than just in Chronus, my New Year’s resolution is open myself more fully to the mysterious and celebratory realm of Kairos. My spiritual practice is becoming more regular and I intend becoming more conscious and appreciative of the inner landscape in which we are all one.
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