Which brings me to the subject of my current post - reclaiming the language of spiritual morality in social & environmental justice. I went to a pretty awesome conference last Friday called the American Values Summit: Southern Voices on Faith, Politics, & the Common Good. Now, I went mostly for work, since I'm getting a new rural congregations outreach project going right now, and while I do have some help with this, and I'm recruiting more help in the form of an intern for the Summer, this is one heathen hippy who is kind of terrified of church, synogogue, mosque, temple, etc. So, I'm taking every opportunity I can to learn more about this whole faith-based thing, mostly just so I can quit being too afraid of it to just get on out and do it. Also, aside from work, I am personally fascinated by progressive faith-related things (even though I'm scared of it!), fascinated by how faith can cut across all the spineless, self-deconstructing, PC, relativist academic garbage surrounding justice issues and get right to the good stuff: some things are just & good, and others are not, and those who perpetuate justice are righteous, and those who perpetuate injustice must be stopped. Hallelujah! Isn't that just a breath of fresh air? If you check out my "Manifesto" post from last summer, it's actually on a similar theme - that religion affords people the opportunity to stew in a heavily moral language, and implores that they live their lives more intentionally and completely in alignment with those morals.
That's what religion and activism have in common, I think, that's the common thread for me - they ask us to LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE, to see that our personal choices are moral & political choices, whether we mean them to be or not, and to let that understanding guide the choices we make, so that we are living more and more in accordance with our own sense of what is true and right and just.
I heard some really great preaching at this conference, by Rev. William Barber, President of the NC NAACP, and Rev. Jim Wallis, who founded and edits Sojourner Magazine, President of Call to Renewal, and author of the book Gods Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it.
Some of the best soundbytes I captured in my notes were:
* The purpose of having power is to set people free.
* Scripture doesn't talk about morals & values, because they're too relative to culture, too subject to change. That's why the Bible talks about absolutes like Justice and Righteousness and Love. Absolutely.
* Historically, Christian prophets have arisen at times when kings and priests aren't doing their jobs. They come to "save" people from thinking that we can be personally religious while oppressing other people. They call broad ethical principals to bear on specific applied contexts and problems in their culture. They hold society accountable.
* Somewhere in Isiah, it says that the best expression of faith, the best holy fast, is to have some humility and fast from oppressing other people. Hot!
* It is our task not only to comfort the afflicted, but to afflict the comfortable.
* Our challenge is to speak about these issues with a vocabulary that lets everyone be who they are, unapologetically, and welcomes all to the table. No one should have to set their faith or their morals aside to work in "secular" society. Folks can and should speak authentically about what moves them.
* Hope vs. cynicism. Cynicism functions for us as a buffer against commitment. Hope is a choice.
Another bit of spiritual wisdom: my Sagittarius horoscope for this past week. Rob Brezsny and I are again in complete agreement about what influences Sagittarians are working under these days. Rob is starting to freak me out.Sagittarius horoscope for the week of March 2, from Free Will Astrology:
"They say a thing is holy if it makes you hold your tongue," muses a character in John Crowley's fantasy novel Engine Summer, speaking of the difference between his culture and another. "But we say a thing is holy if it makes you laugh." Let this be a seed thought as you re-evaluate and take inventory of what constitutes holiness for you, Sagittarius. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will thrive if you spend quality time in sacred space seeking out uncanny experiences that kindle feelings of adoration and awe and amusement."
Speaking of quality time in sacred space, did I mention that I also played outside a bunch this weekend? Any place with trees and critters and sun and moon and a wide open sky is sacred in my book. Not that I'm such an Amazon or anything, my list of outdoor accomplishments is not all that impressive, though I aspire to outdoor greatness someday. Aw, shucks, who am I kidding, pack straps give me rashes, and I'd rather lollygag around in the sunshine than hike all over creation anyway. But seriously, the feeling is unmistakable, the awe, the sense of the sacredness of the natural world....I bet it has a lot to do with why I was so much into the earth-spirituality stuff when I was a young'un. Pretty funny, since I was just joking with my boss today about how we aren't real environmentalists because we'd rather save babies than froggies, and here I was, all communing with the pagan tree sprites and whatnot. ;)
(I was a founding member of the Pagan Youth Chat Group on AOL, people! Don't ask what we accomplished, I have no idea, as I got totally distracted into chatting with only one other member of the group, who was a boy at least 5 years older than myself living in Baltimore. His name was Avery, I think? We had a sort of torrid online love affair - he was articulate and funny and kind and used code like -RBG-, meaning Really Big Grin. Hah. He wrote a poem about me, I remember. Or maybe it was a song. All I remember is the words on the screen. No pictures, no voice, no nothing. The days before MySpace were rough! He was the first person I told about certain major life things, actually - I remember writing him about my one and only foray into LSD-land in 95 or 96, must have been, and then also about heavy family stuff which was going down in spring 96. Anyway, Avery the former pagan youth, if you're out there, it's me, whatever my screen name was.....)(Photo above by moi, place Darjye Monastery, Ganzi Tibetan prefecture, Sichuan Province, China, November 2001. Beautiful, sacred nature. With a couple yaks in the foreground. Ahhhhhhhh, fantastic.)
OK, I can't resist. Earth spirituality links:
Hawk Circle - I went to their summer camp for 3 years. Notable firsts and other experiences included smoking my first peace pipe, getting my first period, meeting my first boyfriend (who was a counselor in training at the time, scandal!! But, I've already told one early romance story in this post, I'll have to save the story of Salim the hot CIT for another day), participating in several sweat lodge ceremonies, meditating on my medicine animals, indentifying edible plants, learning how to whittle and make fire with a bowdrill and track animal prey, getting super covered in mud to learn wilderness camo, not showering for two weeks at a time, smelling very bad. Mmmmm, earthy. :)
Wicca: A Guide for Solitary Practitioners - I think that's the book I had - can't tell, different cover. Anyway, interesting stuff. I used to have little rituals in my back yard with incense and candles and crystals. Never knew what to ask for, though, never knew what kind of "magick" I might need. Dumb things like make my boobs bigger or make me taller or make such and such boy fall madly in love with me felt too trite to bother the divine with, and I didn't yet have a broader sort of consciousness needed to ask for more meaningful things. Teenagers are so myopic.
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