Beginning Anew, Beginning Again

This is the time of year when so many of us emerge from the festivities, celebrations, and doldrums of the holiday season ready for something new. We feel a longing to commit or re-commit to change. There is an inner urge to contribute in some way to our own lives or to our families or to reach out to the world’s many problems and lend a helping hand.

From deep within our psyche and heart, our conscience (that factor of being that intuitively knows when we are kind and caring and when we are not) is stimulated to clear out the old debris that is blocking the channels. Somehow we intuit that in this moment it is just and fair to rid ourselves of our unnecessary burdens — those extra burdens of what we no longer need, that have served us well, and are now blocking the plumbing. This practice is one partially of letting go and of then repairing what needs replacement.

So many of us are looking this year to see what we can do to mend the rifts in our nation, the antagonism between people of different political persuasions, the wounds of name calling and insults to those different from us, the threat of civil liberties being tampered with, the inclinations of those coming into political power to speak false words and no longer care about protecting the poor, those less financially fortunate. We are hurt by the great greed that threatens the very core of our American democracy. And the voice that tweets thoughtless propaganda like the man in the “Wizard of Oz” who stands behind the curtain pretending to be something he is not!

I just read this quote by Charles M. Blow, NY Times, in Sylvia Bornstein’s latest blog: “Public pressure has a very real impact on political power. Don’t be silent. Don’t be invisible.”

Some of us are more motivated than ever to take a stance, to take some actions that can remedy these situations, and want to stand up for the values, rights, and liberties of all persons. We know to join together, interconnected with others is the path of both strength and courage. We are just beginning to mount our campaign; we are uncertain, still unsure but inspired to have a world politic of integrity, virtue, respect, love, wisdom, and compassion. We are beginning anew, beginning again to find our way. So many women and men will be together in unity at the Teach-in on Civic Engagement and Non-Violent Protest Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017, and will walk in the Tucson Women’s March – Saturday, January 21, 2017 (10 AM, at Armory Park, 221 S. Sixth Ave., Tucson). This is in solidarity with the Woman’s March in Washington, D.C.

Please remember these words as we move forward individually and collectively: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.

And I leave you these words as you move forward on your own journey:

Not Christian or Muslim,
Not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion or cultural system.
I am not from the East or the West.
Not out of the ocean or up from the ground,
Not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,
Am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam or Eve or any origin story.
My place is the placeless,
a trace of the trace less.
I belong to the Beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and
that one
call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner only that breath breathing.
Human Being.

—Jalaluddin Rumi

*Please be aware that we are offering a new monthly daylong of practice at Tucson Community Meditation Center beginning Saturday, February 11, and every second Saturday of every month following. This will help in having regular silent sittings to bring you peace during these times.