Holy MOLY!

Truth Is One, Paths Are Many

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Steve

On a recent Saturday morning, our group, eighteen strong, journeyed from campus to Yogaville, otherwise known as Satchidananda Ashram. Our journey was not far—a little more than an hour’s drive from Lynchburg to the ashram. An ashram is a form of religious community that comes out of the South Asian dharmic traditions. It is a place of study and practice organized around the teachings of a particular guru—Swami Satchidananda, in this instance. “Swami” is an honorific title meaning “teacher.” “Satchidananda” is his spiritual name, given to him by his guru (another word for teacher). His name, in fact, is a short phrase: sat-chit-ananda, which means “truth, consciousness, and bliss.” According to Hindu philosophy, sat, chit, and ananda are one. This essential oneness is Brahman, known as Supreme Consciousness and Absolute Reality. Individuals obtain liberation (moksha) when they realize that Brahman is all, Brahman is one. Sat-chit-ananda points to the blissful experience of living truth that characterizes self-realized persons. Thus we can understand Swami Satchidananda as a teacher of truth, consciousness, and bliss.

One of Swami Satchidananda’s favorite sayings—“Truth is One, Paths are Many”—is written on the gate we walked through on our way to LOTUS (Light of Truth Universal Shrine). LOTUS is sometimes described as a monument to interreligious understanding. Indeed, we had traveled to Yogaville because of our shared interest in religious and spiritual diversity. On the lower level of LOTUS is a series of displays about different religious and spiritual paths. In that place we shared meditation practice with members of the Yogaville community. Some members of our group lingered afterwards to read the descriptions of the various paths and examine the artifacts, such as a cross, a statue of Krishna, and a copy of the Qur’an. It was a comparative religions class manifesting before our eyes in this sacred space.

Yogaville in so many ways is an ideal location for engaging in first-person experiential meaning-making and truth-seeking precisely because of its commitment to diversity in its various forms. In fact, if this were a space of argument, I would argue that religious diversity necessarily entails all of the other forms of diversity, such as race, class, gender, and sexuality. I say this because hardened boundaries of exclusivity—those borderlines where we and they stand in stark opposition—can soften and become fluid in religiously plural situations. As Swami Satchidananda teaches, “In order to have a better world, a more peaceful world, we must learn to love, respect, and honor every human being. Celebrate and enjoy the diversity because you recognize the underlying unity.” Love, respect, and honor—or fostering a sense of belonging—require leadership and cultivation. They are practices—what we do, both individually and as members of a community—rather than mere words that we say. Truth is one, paths are many. Sat-chit-ananda. Find your path and walk into bliss.

The Season of Hospitality

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Amy

The beginning of November is a time of so many celebrations! We have just celebrated American Halloween, and today we acknowledge the beginning of American Indian Heritage month. This is also the time when our LatinX brothers and sisters are celebrating Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead.  All of these wonderful observances form a season of hospitality.  Hospitality is, of course, the welcoming of others into our hearts and homes.  It involves extending true care to friends, family, and strangers alike.

In Native American storytelling, hospitality is a recurring theme. One story from the Sauk tribe tells about how corn came into existence from an act of hospitality offered to a strange woman who descended from the sky. After two Sauk ancestors generously offered her some of their food, she told them to return to that place in a year’s time. Although their kinspeople thought they were foolish, the two ancestors returned to the sacred spot a year later and found corn growing in the place where the woman had been resting her hand.

Although we might not realize it, the celebration of Halloween also involves hospitality as we give treats to others’ children, regardless of whether we think they “deserve” it. Halloween is a remarkable moment in our culture when traditional lines that divide our communities – race, ethnicity, and social class – can be temporarily suspended for a night.  Sociological research indicates that communities that have a robust celebration of Halloween tend to be healthier. 

The Day of the Dead, which is celebrated today and tomorrow by many LatinX peoples and countries, provides hospitality to dead loved ones and ancestors. Celebrants create an ofrenda or home altar and place items on it for the dead. The ofrenda is an acknowledgment of the ongoing presence of the dead with the living, and honors their memory.  Celebrations then move from the home to the cemetery where the dead offer hospitality to the living. In Oaxaca, Mexico, Day of the Dead celebrations are viewed as absolutely necessary to the wellbeing of the whole community.

What all of these stories and celebrations have in common is that the experience of hospitality blesses both the giver and the receiver.  True hospitality changes all of us. As we enjoy this season of hospitality, each of us has the opportunity to reflect on a time when we felt welcomed and treated with loving care and attentiveness. How can we extend that experience of welcome to others?

The Staircase in our Spiritual Home

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Nathan

I was reading the book Cracking the Walnut by Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn, in which he shares the story of getting a letter from a German Christian priest. In this letter the priest spoke about his Christian journey and how he eventually was drawn to Buddhism. Citing how much Buddhism enhanced his spirituality, he asked whether he should reject Christianity and become a Buddhist. 

However, Thich Nhat Hahn’s response was that he should not become a Buddhist. Instead, he told the priest to think of Christianity as the first floor of his spiritual home. This home has nurtured him and sheltered him for many years. Perhaps, Nhat Hahn pondered, Buddhism has become a staircase that will allow him to get to the second floor of his home and spirituality. 

I’ve been thinking about this analogy all week and wonder if it might be a helpful model for the interreligious work our office is doing. 

We often talk about helping our students engage in a spiritual path that brings them life, wholeness, and fullness. However, we do this together. Thus, one can become a fuller Christian by learning from a Muslim while a Muslim student can become a fuller Muslim by learning from a Buddhist. 

We actually need our religious neighbor to help us understand the fullness of our own religious tradition. The more we learn about our religious neighbors and their religions, the more we learn about the fullness of God. We need the active engagement of religious difference. Therefore, instead of religious diversity or religious pluralism as a problem, it can be seen as a gift and promise. Such religious diversity allows us to see the multiplicity of the Divine life, as theologian John Thatamanil argues. 

This is why we had our Interfaith Panel Discussion yesterday evening. Bringing together a Rabbi, two Christian pastors, and a Unitarian Universalist minister, we learned about their personal spiritual journeys, what convinced them to become spiritual leaders and guides, and how we can better engage with others from different religious traditions. 

Hopefully, all of this will allow us to see there is a staircase that can lead us to spiritual rooms we have yet to explore.

Cultivating Peace

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Jeremy

“How can I be a presence of peace during so much chaos?” 

This is the question I have repeatedly asked myself since the news broke of violence in Israel. 

I took off a few days over midterm break, and with my Juzu (Buddhist prayer beads) in hand, I spent hours chanting. I meditated on a world where Oneness is fully realized. I read poetry by the late Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. 

Yes, as a chaplain, it is important for me to spiritually center myself so that I can care for others. In the spirit of Thich Nhat Hanh, I must have peace within so that I may create peace in the world. I lean on my twenty-year Buddhist practice to help me do so. I chant. I meditate. I cultivate calmness. I tend to all of those I have been called to care for. I, like so many Buddhist chaplains, strive to be a presence of peace for all faculty, staff, and students, no matter their faith or secular traditions. Even during chaos, we practice to remain centered.  

I sit with those who are scared, those who are deeply grieving this violence. I go home and breathe carefully and deeply. I reset and come to campus again the next day ready to provide care for those who need a compassionate presence.

I wonder, dear reader, how you are caring for yourself through the chaos. How are you processing the images of war on tv and computer screens? Are you taking walks in nature? Are you visiting your place of worship? Are you checking in on friends and family? 

Like me, are you meditating on or praying for peace?

I urge our community to think about members who are suffering. I urge us to exercise even more compassion for each other. We never know what burdens another may be carrying. Beings from multiple faith traditions are grieving this violence. May we be a loving presence for all. And do not forget that our University’s wonderful counselors and chaplains are here to support you. Yes, one of the greatest gifts we are given is that of community. May we be a supportive and loving community today and always. May we keep peace within so that we may foster peaceful spaces for all.  May a world of peace and Oneness come into being.

Reverence for Life

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Nathan

When I saw the news headlines this weekend about another war and a tally that included over a thousand individuals who have been killed, my heart sank. I learned of this event after I had spent a wonderful day with my family and friends enjoying the outdoors, laughter, and food together. 

That evening, I was reading a book by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn in which he wrote, “Life is both wonderful and dreadful.” I underlined the sentence and realized that I had seen how life can be so wonderful and yet so dreadful in one day. I experienced a worry-free day while humans across the globe experienced violence, destruction, and the loss of innocent lives . 

For centuries, many religious and spiritual traditions have been advocates for peace, nonviolence, and have spoken out against senseless acts of violence around the globe. Many traditions speak about liberation and freedom from oppression, violence, and harm. They proclaim there is a Divine nature within each human being. 

At the same time, however, other religious traditions throughout time have misused their religion as a means to advocate for violence. Some have misused religion to justify oppression, harm, and negating the Divine nature within each human being. 

Oftentimes, our spiritual and religious traditions can be both wonderful and dreadful. 

In the Buddhist tradition, the Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global and spiritual ethic. The first mindfulness training, reverence for life, reads, 

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachments to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

The events of this past week have shown the ugly and awful “suffering caused by the destruction of life” and have forced me to reflect on how I can “transform violence…in myself and in the world.”

I think this includes lamenting, praying for peace, committing to peacemaking, liberation, and non-violence, acting with compassion, and honoring the Divine light that is within every human being. 

My hope is that you might be able to find a moment today to do the same, honoring that life can be both wonderful and dreadful, while trusting you have a part to play in advocating for peace, non-violence, and reverence for life.

Being Safe May Require Change

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Dan

At a clergy retreat last week, storyteller Sheila Arnold recounted how a woman she knows desperately wanted to attract beautiful songbirds to her front porch. She had seen her neighbor’s array of bird feeders and even a bird bath and wanted to recreate the same setup. So, paying close attention to the porch next door, she did her best to emulate it. However, days passed and not a single bird visited. She double checked that she had put out the right kind of bird feed and that the height of the feeders was correct. Yep. It was the right kind and the right setup, all guaranteed to bring droves of birds to her front steps, yet none had come. Not one. Days turned into weeks. She was desperate and confused as she looked over at her neighbor’s porch day after day and saw so many birds flying in and out. “What am I doing wrong?” she asked herself. 

Finally, her neighbor noticed her outside one day and asked how her porch makeover was going. “Not so well. No birds seem interested in my porch.” 

“Oh? Let me take a look,” the neighbor said as she walked over. After a brief inspection, she kindly told her, “You have to remove your wind chimes. The birds are startled by the extra noise on the porch.”

The lady was stunned. Something as simple and seemingly harmless as wind chimes had kept the birds from coming to her home all these weeks. Sure enough, as soon as she removed them, the birds came.

I think this story helps remind me that there are plenty of noises in our lives, but some are making our spaces unsafe for others. If you want “the song birds” to feel comfortable on your front porch (whoever or whatever that might be for you), you may have to remove some of the “wind chimes” (whoever or whatever that might be for you). We want to make our spaces, our dorm rooms, our classrooms, our clubs, our meetings as inclusive as possible. Let’s try to find what “wind chimes” (though possibly well meaning or pretty sounding) might be hurdles for others feeling truly welcome.

I know most of us on campus, including Church of the Covenant on Sunday mornings, work tirelessly to make our events inclusive. However, we are not perfect and need feedback when spaces aren’t as inclusive as they should be. So, please speak up and let us know how we might improve. We want everyone to feel welcome and know they are fully appreciated. The “song birds” are more important than the “wind chimes.” Let’s be safe for one another! 

Love and light, Pastor Dan

Season of Forgiveness

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Jeremy

Last Hanukkah, my mother gave me a snow globe with a Star of David inside. Sometimes when I shake it, and see all the particles fly apart and then gather together, I am reminded of something a rabbi once told me: “When we depart, our souls go up and then connect with other souls to come back and continue G-d’s work.” If she is right, we are truly more connected than we ever imagined. 

We are days away from the Jewish holy day, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). From sundown on September 24th through sundown on September 25th, many Jewish people will spend the day fasting, attending temple, and praying. This holy time is a day to confess sins, ask for forgiveness, and focus on abandoning jealousy and strife. 

As we move closer to autumn, we may sense a starting over, no matter our faith or secular tradition. There is a feeling that things are ending, but the bright fall colors reassure us that change is not always terrible. There is often beauty before rebirth. There is often rest before awakening. And sometimes, saying I’m sorry is the path to that new start. 

In this holy time, dear reader, I ask you to spend some time in contemplation. Have you held on to anger or strife? Do you need to apologize to yourself or to someone else for something that is heavily weighing on your heart? How often have great relationships ended just because we were unable to acknowledge our part in the separation? 

To me, we are just like the little specks in my snow globe. Life sometimes throws us in many different directions, and sometimes we find ourselves far apart, divided over deeply held opinions or differing beliefs. Yet, in the end, we can come back together in a state of holy Oneness. It’s never too late to say I am sorry to G-d, to family, or to friends. Perhaps one of the most holy of gifts is forgiveness.

Sculpting the Awe-Inspiring

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Nathan

During my senior year of college I had some freedom in my schedule to take a sculpting class in the art department. One of our big assignments was to sculpt a self portrait out of clay. 

At each of our stations, we had a collection of selfies (which at the time was not a word in our vocabulary) and different size mirrors so we could meticulously study our faces. Our professor slowly introduced us to the angles, shadows, and highlights on our faces. He encouraged us to see patterns, freckles, folds, blemishes, curves, and much more. 

It got to the point where I started looking at faces in a brand new way. Once at lunch in the cafeteria, sitting next to my friend James, I caught myself awkwardly staring at the angle of his nose and how the sides of his nostrils folded into the rest of his face. 

I started to see things I had never noticed before. I began to see every face as a unique and beautiful creation. Each face became a wonder. What was once unnoticeable was now awe-inspiring. 

This reminds me of a phrase that one of my mentors shares often. She says that every person is a “once in eternity, irreplaceable, unrepeatable, revelation of God.” 

As great as this phrase is, this isn’t an easy way to see, though. Many of us forget this truth. 

I can’t help but think of the countless ways we humans have forgotten that every other human around us is a one of a kind, irreplaceable, unrepeatable, glimpse of the Divine. As I was reflecting earlier this week on the tragedy that struck our country in 2001, I was reminded how quickly after 9/11 we forgot how our Muslim and Sikh neighbors, in particular, were one of a kind beautiful creations. Sadly, it remains too easy to view others with fear, judgment, or condemnation rather than as a once in eternity, irreplaceable, unrepeatable, revelation of God. 

At the same time, I can’t help but think how often we don’t view ourselves in the same way. When we look in the mirror or see our selfies, is the first thought we have about being an irreplaceable beautiful glimpse of God? At times, we all struggle to see our own value, worth, and sacredness. We forget that, in the words of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, we are a “wonder of the cosmos.” 

And so today, may you begin to see the unnoticeable as awe-inspiring. May you discover that all around you are glimpses of the Sacred. And, may you have the courage to know without a shadow of a doubt that you and every person around you is a one of a kind, once in eternity, irreplaceable, unrepeatable, revelation of the Divine and a wonder of the entire cosmos.

Moonbeam and Mercy

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Jeremy

Most days I am late returning to my home nestled in the woods. Lately, I am greeted by a deer I have named Moonbeam. She has two large white circles of fur around her eyes. When I look into them, I see two full moons. I also see compassion in the center of each. 

Moonbeam walks closely to my car as I arrive home, and then she follows me, somewhat from a distance, all the way down the sidewalk. She waits at the bottom of the stairs as I slowly ascend, find my keys, and unlock my front door. I always look back at her and say, “Hello, Moonbeam.” I don’t speak to her until the last minute because I don’t want to scare her off. I find comfort in the way she escorts me to the door; it is as if she is a presence of peace for me, a witness that I have worked and that I now need rest. In silence, we co-exist. I believe that Saint Francis of Assisi was right. I believe that animals can understand the Peace of God.

The older I get, the more I find inspiration in Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Catholic Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer who finds inspiration in Zen Buddhism and interfaith work. I am greatly inspired by his unwavering dedication to finding gratefulness in every moment. 

In one of his talks, Brother David speaks about his breath practice. While being mindful of his breathing, he recites to himself, “Lord Jesus, mercy.” This abbreviated version of The Jesus Prayer keeps him grounded as he twirls his own makeshift rosary ring. Being influenced by Brother David, I now find myself looking for gratitude in every moment, even the most stressful ones. For example, no matter how trying my day is, I am grateful for Moonbeam’s willingness to walk me home. Nothing can take away the beauty of that compassionate act. And when I find my days filled with meetings, grading, and other tasks related to my role as a director on campus, I say to myself, “Mercy.” This is a reminder that just as the Divine has mercy for all, I should have mercy for myself. 

This academic year, when you find yourself in the middle of busy days or stressful situations, remember to have mercy and compassion for yourself and for others. Perhaps, like Brother David, you can find a short prayer or mantra to recite as you pay attention to your breath. In the end, we are loved and held by the sacred force that weaves together all of existence. Sometimes that force is most visibly present in parents, partners, friends, or even a kind animal who waits for us each day. Just remember to be good to yourself and to others. Just remember to look for the various forms of peace and the moments of goodness. 

Paying Forward and Giving Back

Posted on by spirituallife Posted in Nathan

Last semester, our office utilized the Lynchburg Cares Fund to help cover the cost of a flight in order for a student to attend the funeral of their brother who had tragically died. After booking the flight, the student stayed in our office for a while and shared with me the depth of grief. As the conversation continued, they also shared the complete shock that the university would be willing to help in such a trying time. The student said to me, “I can’t believe a community would care so much about me to do this. I cannot wait to tell everyone back home about this university and what it has done for me.” 

Just last week, I saw this student again in our office. It was great to catch up and hear about their summer, share some stories, and learn if the funeral was a healing process in their grief. The student went on to tell me that after telling his family all that the university had done, they decided they needed to give back to the school. The student decided one simple way to do that was to become a Community Assistant. They hope to help other students along their journey in a similar way that the campus community has helped them. 

This got me reflecting on the reciprocal nature of giving back and paying forward. There are times when we help someone in need, and such an action can be a catalyst for that individual to help others. That person’s way of giving back might become paying it forward. 

One of the joys of working in higher education is the ongoing opportunity to help students flourish. No matter our role on this campus, we each play a part in that process. It could be as simple as remembering a student’s name, saying hello, or asking how someone is doing and ensuring they know you’re actually listening. 

To be honest, we may not always hear how our actions have impacted someone. Yet, I trust that such actions just might allow someone else to give back and pay forward. 

I hope today you find moments to help others. I hope you find moments to remember when others have helped you. And, I hope you find moments where you can pay it forward by giving back.

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