Sunday Musings - August 9, 2020
As I settle into this Sunday I am aware that I have not posted a blog in four days. I am also aware that I made some very deliberate decisions to use my time in other ways. I also made the decision to allow various thoughts and feelings to hang out together without needing to force them to come together in some smooth or coherent form. I did some writing, some of which might find its way into a future blog, but most of which will not. For me that is part of the writing process. I always attempt to write to determine if I have anything to say that I need to hear and then determine if there is anything I need to share with others.
Various voices and memories have been hanging out in my brain this week. One of the voices was of a long-time acquaintance who struggled with alcoholism and left instructions that alcoholism be named in his obituary as cause of death; a brilliant, loving, often funny, talented writer and lover of books. Sadly, he died this past week. Of course, I was also aware of the acquaintance who had died the previous week and the friend who was hospitalized with covid-19 (Thankfully getting better and now home). Voices from my past and voices from such distant places as Beirut also visited.
The On Being podcast this week features a conversation between the host Krisrta Tippett and the primatologist, Jane Goodall who speaks on her work with chimpanzees and her ongoing moral and spiritual convictions about our relationships with all of nature. At 86 she is still very active intellectually, spiritually and physically. She has long been one of my heroes and has been one of the voices in my head this week.
One of the recent Fresh Air podcasts featured a conversation between the host Terry Gross and the Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize journalist and author of Caste The Origins of our Discontents. She eloquently talks about the caste system in the United States and how it has been an essential part of what continues to determine the history and off tragic reality of relationships in the United States based on the social construct of race. She, too, joined Jane and the other voices.
Many other voices from current past relationships joined the often-dissonant chatter in my head this week. The common theme of all of them was relationships: our relationship with our own humanness, with each other and with the rest of nature. Often our relationships as humans are fueled by overpowering love and creativity. Sadly, they are also often fueled by fear; fear of not being enough; fear of settling into an interdependent relationship with all of nature; fear of not being loved or respected; fear that we have less then which must mean that we are less then; fear of how we appear to others; fear that we are not as special and unique as we like to believe. Yet, the voices of individuals such as Jane Goodall and Isabel Wilkerson remind us that it is safe to relax and celebrate our small, but essential role in the universe(s). Those very same voices remind us that it is not what we accomplish as much as it is how we accomplish tasks. We may momentarily accomplish a feat which seems to defy the laws of nature, but if, in the process, we treat any other person or part of nature as less than sacred we will find all of nature suffers.
On this Sunday which for many is the sabbath, the question is whether our goal is to love and take care of each other with enormous compassion and humility or to make sure we grow religious institution or ensure the survival of the institutions. Do we put love or comfort first? Are we who are involved with the frameworks of religious institutions asking the tough, uncomfortable questions that people like Jane Goodall and Isabel Wilkerson are asking. Is our goal to be comfortable or to grow spiritually? Are we willing to risk the death of the god of our understanding to have a relationship with something greater that ourselves?
On this sabbath my intention is to be more aware of my attachment to tasks at the price of relationships.
Written August 9, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
As I settle into this Sunday I am aware that I have not posted a blog in four days. I am also aware that I made some very deliberate decisions to use my time in other ways. I also made the decision to allow various thoughts and feelings to hang out together without needing to force them to come together in some smooth or coherent form. I did some writing, some of which might find its way into a future blog, but most of which will not. For me that is part of the writing process. I always attempt to write to determine if I have anything to say that I need to hear and then determine if there is anything I need to share with others.
Various voices and memories have been hanging out in my brain this week. One of the voices was of a long-time acquaintance who struggled with alcoholism and left instructions that alcoholism be named in his obituary as cause of death; a brilliant, loving, often funny, talented writer and lover of books. Sadly, he died this past week. Of course, I was also aware of the acquaintance who had died the previous week and the friend who was hospitalized with covid-19 (Thankfully getting better and now home). Voices from my past and voices from such distant places as Beirut also visited.
The On Being podcast this week features a conversation between the host Krisrta Tippett and the primatologist, Jane Goodall who speaks on her work with chimpanzees and her ongoing moral and spiritual convictions about our relationships with all of nature. At 86 she is still very active intellectually, spiritually and physically. She has long been one of my heroes and has been one of the voices in my head this week.
One of the recent Fresh Air podcasts featured a conversation between the host Terry Gross and the Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize journalist and author of Caste The Origins of our Discontents. She eloquently talks about the caste system in the United States and how it has been an essential part of what continues to determine the history and off tragic reality of relationships in the United States based on the social construct of race. She, too, joined Jane and the other voices.
Many other voices from current past relationships joined the often-dissonant chatter in my head this week. The common theme of all of them was relationships: our relationship with our own humanness, with each other and with the rest of nature. Often our relationships as humans are fueled by overpowering love and creativity. Sadly, they are also often fueled by fear; fear of not being enough; fear of settling into an interdependent relationship with all of nature; fear of not being loved or respected; fear that we have less then which must mean that we are less then; fear of how we appear to others; fear that we are not as special and unique as we like to believe. Yet, the voices of individuals such as Jane Goodall and Isabel Wilkerson remind us that it is safe to relax and celebrate our small, but essential role in the universe(s). Those very same voices remind us that it is not what we accomplish as much as it is how we accomplish tasks. We may momentarily accomplish a feat which seems to defy the laws of nature, but if, in the process, we treat any other person or part of nature as less than sacred we will find all of nature suffers.
On this Sunday which for many is the sabbath, the question is whether our goal is to love and take care of each other with enormous compassion and humility or to make sure we grow religious institution or ensure the survival of the institutions. Do we put love or comfort first? Are we who are involved with the frameworks of religious institutions asking the tough, uncomfortable questions that people like Jane Goodall and Isabel Wilkerson are asking. Is our goal to be comfortable or to grow spiritually? Are we willing to risk the death of the god of our understanding to have a relationship with something greater that ourselves?
On this sabbath my intention is to be more aware of my attachment to tasks at the price of relationships.
Written August 9, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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