Beloved friends,
Last year in my meditation-and-living workshop I asked if anyone wanted a partner for support and inspiration. One person responded, so she got me. We began with a simple daily question: "What does practice look like for you today?" Sarah had taken other courses, so I'd known her for a couple of years. We’d shared lovely connection during Community Readings and had powerful conversations in practice; I was excited about this. It was last March when we began deeper connection, and Sarah is Muslim, so she was honoring Ramadan as we embarked on weaving more closely.
I aspire to lead an interfaith community, but did not actually have experience with Islamic spiritual practices, and I was a little nervous! I looked up whether it was appropriate to offer well-wishing during Ramadan, and how, and wished Sarah Ramadan Mubarak, a blessed Ramadan. I also asked how she felt about this and was relieved to find that my gesture was welcome and she was moved by my effort to show respect for her faith in a way that might feel like home to her. Our ensuing conversations rapidly drew us into dear friendship, because speaking of daily spiritual practice means speaking of the joys and sorrows of our living.
During the next workshop I asked if anyone wanted a partner. Just one more person responded, so we welcomed Amelia to our text thread. We're a diverse group in some ways: a white West Coast meditation and yoga teacher who was raised Catholic, an East Coast agnostic therapist raised Jewish, and an Arab-Canadian hijabi Muslim businesswoman. We’re kindred, too: women who love to think, move, read and who bring a lot of heart and curiosity to our living. Over the past year we've shared our days through many events for our near and dear ones: illnesses, holidays, marriages, pregnancies, deaths. Since Sarah has family in the Middle East, war and genocide, too, have been there.
We’ve learned much about one another this year: who will post in the morning at waking, who grabs a moment between things, who likes to post before bed. When someone’s not connecting in their usual pattern, we know whether to check on them or hold spacious grace for their return because we’ve seen how we respond to stress, how we recharge and mend. When I go on holiday, Sarah usually remembers before I do to suggest that she and Amelia move to a private conversation temporarily so that I can super-introvert. She and Amelia began to imagine the other beside them while running! Nowadays most of the folks in my workshops pod up like this, and some of those, too, have blossomed into wonderful friendships.
Recently, as Ramadan grew close once again, Sarah shared about the ways she was organizing her heart and life for this month of devoted spiritual practice. In her words, "It’s a time to reshift one’s focus from the daily experience and preoccupation towards one’s spiritual practice and connection with the divine." There is fasting; also a shift of energies, a centering of reflection, prayer, and gratitude. I can hear how full Sarah’s heart is after gathering with her family for iftar, the evening meal after sunset. In Northern California there was a tradition in the circles I moved in to thank people for devoted periods of spiritual practice as a service to all beings. Northern California is such a stew of spiritual traditions that I don’t know where this may have originated, but I find it afoot here: awe and gratitude to the 2 billion people deeply connecting with spirit and the divine as they know that. I feel loved by those efforts, which are not for me or about me. Amelia looked up which day would be the start of Ramadan and found different answers, so she asked, and Sarah's reply was a delight: that it might vary a bit, because the Islamic calendar is lunar and an ancient tradition carries on in on which appointed people in each community must sight the sliver of the new moon to begin the sacred season. Oh, my heart!
I am honored and grateful for the permission of my friends to speak of these things, especially Sarah's willingness to be seen in this sentiment: that her experience of Ramadan this year is particularly sweet for being enfolded in the thoughtful, curiousnncare of our friendship, for the chance to be seen, appreciated, and supported in her practices by people who do not share them. It is precisely the fact that we do not share these practices that brings a tender quality to our appreciation. Bringing loving attention to what is unique in each of our lives has been a great growing-closer for each of us, enriched all of us in our living. Watching the efforts of the fascists during this holy time has been a brutal contrast, though I believe that it will not be possible for them to stifle the loving interconnectedness of the world forever. They can try to enforce white supremacy by squashing DEI programs, but this can only be temporary. It is natural for humans to care, connect, seek understanding. It is also natural for us to fight over power and resources, but I hold hope that love can win. I hope that what may result from this flaring of horror will be a true turn toward connection and equality. I pray for this, and act for it: a better future, which nourishes my now amidst the hardship. My life is happier, wiser, and more tender for bringing my loving curiosity to the ways we sparkle with glorious uniqueness in the expression of our living, our loving, and our gratitude to the vastness to which we all belong. Ramadan Mubarak to all who celebrate. May your devotion bring you closer to the divine as you know that, and may it be a part of the path to freedom for us all.
Resources
Connecting: On Conversational Doorknobs
Adam Mastroianni is a psychology researcher who has been considering and studying conversation. His charming little essay on conversational styles helped to deepen my understanding, compassion, and skill; the title gives you an excellent sense of how much fun it will be to read: "Good conversations have lots of doorknobs, or Spiderman Is My Boyfriend."
Hope
I am finding comfort and hope in Venkatesh Rao's illustration of the Gramsci Gap, which is a shorthand for famous words by Italian Marxist philospher Antonio Gramsci, "The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” You can read Venkatesh Rao saying more about this in his newsletter, Contraptions. Thanks to Heidi
Hope in the Dark
Our Community Reading of Hope in the Dark finished last week. I've read this little 144 page book twice now and am quite changed: my sense of what it means to be politically active, what hope is, what change and revolution are, how we humans organize ourselves, how we are as a species, and my willingness to take action. I'll have more to say about this in a newsletter soon. Goodness, how I needed this. I've heard from many people that they are reading too, and this lifts my heart. Together, friends. Thanks to Jessie for setting this in motion and to every person who attended
Awe is a Healer: Zooming Out
We live in the Milky Way galaxy. Our nearest neighbor is the Andromeda galaxy. NASA has used the Hubble Space Telescope to gain new information for a 3D map of the Andromeda galaxy and its colossal ecosystem of 36 dwarf satellite galaxies. Earthsky has a great article on this which contains an animation that zooms through foreground stars and the blackness of intergalactic space, crossing 2.5 million light years, to show the Andromeda. (paraphrased from EarthSky, who teaches me daily.) It's breathtaking, LITERALLY literally; I have to concentrate in order to breathe while watching it. Existence is so vast. The mysteries are so many. Wonder is my endless companion and comfort.
Resistance
A Healing Vision of Christianity
While I respect the faith of others, my childhood relationship with Christianity was not gentle, and when a friend sent me a link to a sermon by Christian pastor James Talarico, I could not hurry to it. Turns out he is also a Texas State Representative and "proud progressive". I knew it was going to be outside my experience when it opened with a reading that James' pastor, who he was filling in for at his home church, had provided of "The Top Reasons Beer is Better Than Religion." This is an incredible 19 minute sermon which elucidates clearly the ways that Christian Nationalism is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. It exhorts Christians to fight Christian Nationalism. James speaks of a God that is one with the universe and of love as the core of faith. He speaks with respect for science, other faiths, and the right to abortion. I found it personally cathartic and healing. I believe that it could be useful as a tool for conversation across divided families. Thanks to Leah
Give the Dems a Piece of Your Mind
The DNC, the Democratic National Committe, is seeking feedback about their course of action. I entirely ignored the questions and used the comment box to tell them in the strongest terms that I wanted them to stop doing business as usual, treat this as the existential threat to our democracy that it is, and fight fascism tooth and nail. It was deeply satisfying, and it is not any one small action but the roaring voice of all of us together which can make a difference. You can add your voice here.
Protect the Climate
Climate Changemakers says, "We advocate for federal, state, and local policies in the U.S., focusing on high-leverage, evidence-based, no-brainer climate solutions where constituent advocacy can make an impact." One of their events is so easy: 1 hour action meetups in which you are both educated on an issue AND take action on it, such as writing letters or making calls. There are many events, both local and virtual, every week. I'm excited to check this one out! Thanks to Jessie, who has a friend in this organization
Letter Writing to Fight Gerrymandering and Musk's Influence
Vote Forward, who organizes letter-writing campaigns to encourage likely Democratic voters in key elections, has a campaign going now. Letters encourage voting in Wisconsin's upcoming State Supreme Court election, which will be deciding a gerrymandering case that could affect the balance of power in the nation, among other important issues. Musk has been pouring money into this election. Mother Jones calls this election a referendum on Musk. You can join me in writing to Wisconsin voters, and there's a virtual letter-writing party if you need more support. Addressing envelopes before bed has been such a soother for me this week! Thanks to Wendy, Amelia, and Aimee, whose participation in Vote Forward inspired mine
Don't see your favorite activism source or tool here? Please send it my way! We're wiser together.
