the Sabath.
I was reading something about a decline in air pollution due to people staying home. I remember right after 9-11 thinking the skies seemed bluer, surreal. I worked at DFW at the time, so I had good access to sky- surrounded by grounded planes. Scientist said the same thing then, air quality improved.
What happens when a human being works 24-7? He gets tired. Anxious. He is predisposed to health problems. What happens when a society is 24-7? More, what happens when you tell a people that are go go go all the time to go home and relax? They get anxious? They worry? Who in are day in age have been taught how to just be? We are out of touch with family and friends, and guess what, your relationship with your cell phone will only take you so far? Do you even know how to sit on the couch and just be with yourself? can you have quiet conversations over coffee at the table and watch squirrels play in the yard.
When given the chance, the Earth always recovers. Well, so far, it has a track record for recovering, with life diminishing then re-bounding. People, when given a moment to themselves, recover. I wonder if this, too, is a wake up call. A great way to determine this is to do a compare and contrast with nations that honor siestas and less work hours compared to nations that expect greater work hours. Who recovers faster? The people that are more laid back or the people who high strung.
We are high strung. OMG, we are high strung. I feel like I am walking through a room full of cats and snakes and everyone is hissing and spitting and hair is all on ends.
We need to chill. We need to breathe. This Sabath is way due in overcoming, and if you didn't honor it, well, you may have a 'month of Sunday's' to catch up, you accept the expression.
Be at peace, my friends. It is what is, and will be what it will be.
Love.
3-21-2020, addendum.
One of my dear friends, Robert, share with me what his wife shared with him, which was shared by the Shalom center. Synchronicity for sure. Evidence that I am not alone in holding this.
LOVE:
And they Assembled
And Moses said dayam, enough.
Enough: enough.
Stop, withdraw,
bring/do/perform/gather no more.
Let the silver glare of a silent sanctuary,
the gold blue of a plane-less sky
the garnet sheen of an empty concert hall
be our sacred offering,
meager gifts of absence from wise and less wise-hearted people.
Please God let our ceasing be enough.
Let our hospital beds be enough.
Let our slow awakening to the interconnectedness of every living being be enough
Let a pillar of stillness rest at the entrance to every home and prison.
Let this plague pass over us, enough of us.
Enough.
Shabbat Shalom dear chaverim, far and wide,
------Tamara
# # #
[Kristin Flyntz wrote the following poetic letter from the Virus to us all. She is the Content Editorial Director for Ascensus. -- AW, ed]
STOP: An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans
Stop. Just stop.
It is no longer a request. It is a mandate.
We will help you.
We will bring the supersonic, high speed merry-go-round to a halt
We will stop
the planes
the trains
the schools
the malls
the meetings
the frenetic, furied rush of illusions and “obligations” that keep you from hearing our
single and shared beating heart,
the way we breathe together, in unison.
Our obligation is to each other,
As it has always been, even if, even though, you have forgotten.
We will interrupt this broadcast, the endless cacophonous broadcast of divisions and distractions,
to bring you this long-breaking news:
We are not well.
None of us; all of us are suffering.
Last year, the firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth
did not give you pause.
Nor the typhoons in Africa,China, Japan.
Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India.
You have not been listening.
It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time, hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives.
But the foundation is giving way,
buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.
We will help you.
We will bring the firestorms to your body
We will bring the fever to your body
We will bring the burning, searing, and flooding to your lungs
that you might hear:
We are not well.
Despite what you might think or feel, we are not the enemy.
We are Messenger. We are Ally. We are a balancing force.
We are asking you:
To stop, to be still, to listen;
To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all;
To be with your ignorance, to find your humility, to relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart;
To look up into the sky, streaked with fewer planes, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, smoky, smoggy, rainy? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
To look at a tree, and see it, to notice its condition: how does its health contribute to the health of the sky, to the air you need to be healthy?
To visit a river, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, clean, murky, polluted? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
How does its health contribute to the health of the tree, who contributes to the health of the sky, so that you may also be healthy?
Many are afraid now.
Do not demonize your fear, and also, do not let it rule you.
Instead, let it speak to you—in your stillness,
listen for its wisdom.
What might it be telling you about what is at work, at issue, at risk,
beyond the threats of personal inconvenience and illness?
As the health of a tree, a river, the sky tells you about quality of your own health,
what might the quality of your health tell you about the health of the rivers, the trees, the sky,
and all of us who share this planet with you?
Stop.
Notice if you are resisting.
Notice what you are resisting.
Ask why.
Stop. Just stop..
Be still.
Listen.
Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well.
We will help you, if you listen.
------ Kristin Flyntz
# # #
[And this poem, "Lockdown," is by Richard Hendrick, OFM -- a Franciscan friar. -- AW, ed.]
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
-------- Richard Hendrick, OFM
What happens when a human being works 24-7? He gets tired. Anxious. He is predisposed to health problems. What happens when a society is 24-7? More, what happens when you tell a people that are go go go all the time to go home and relax? They get anxious? They worry? Who in are day in age have been taught how to just be? We are out of touch with family and friends, and guess what, your relationship with your cell phone will only take you so far? Do you even know how to sit on the couch and just be with yourself? can you have quiet conversations over coffee at the table and watch squirrels play in the yard.
When given the chance, the Earth always recovers. Well, so far, it has a track record for recovering, with life diminishing then re-bounding. People, when given a moment to themselves, recover. I wonder if this, too, is a wake up call. A great way to determine this is to do a compare and contrast with nations that honor siestas and less work hours compared to nations that expect greater work hours. Who recovers faster? The people that are more laid back or the people who high strung.
We are high strung. OMG, we are high strung. I feel like I am walking through a room full of cats and snakes and everyone is hissing and spitting and hair is all on ends.
We need to chill. We need to breathe. This Sabath is way due in overcoming, and if you didn't honor it, well, you may have a 'month of Sunday's' to catch up, you accept the expression.
Be at peace, my friends. It is what is, and will be what it will be.
Love.
3-21-2020, addendum.
One of my dear friends, Robert, share with me what his wife shared with him, which was shared by the Shalom center. Synchronicity for sure. Evidence that I am not alone in holding this.
LOVE:
The Shalom Report
Dear friends, These three outcries of the heart entered my in-box this week. They are pleas for us to learn from the crisis we are in. God forbid that we rejoice in this crisis; and God forbid that we learn nothing, turning our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our heads away.
The first of the three: Rabbi Tamara Cohen has written the following poetic midrash in the light of the Torah portion that is read tomorrow morning. It includes a passage about Moses' calling the people to assemble, and saying that their gifts to build the portable House of the Holy Presence to be carried in the Wilderness have been enough, and they should bring no more. Rabbi Cohen is the Chief of Innovation for Moving Traditions, a national organization focused on teens, gender, and Jewish identity where she spearheaded the creation of Tzelem, a group for transgender and non-binary teens. As an intern for The Shalom Center ten years ago, she wrote "Eicha for the Earth," a Book of Lamentations for Temple Earth.-- AW, ed.
Dear friends, These three outcries of the heart entered my in-box this week. They are pleas for us to learn from the crisis we are in. God forbid that we rejoice in this crisis; and God forbid that we learn nothing, turning our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our heads away.
The first of the three: Rabbi Tamara Cohen has written the following poetic midrash in the light of the Torah portion that is read tomorrow morning. It includes a passage about Moses' calling the people to assemble, and saying that their gifts to build the portable House of the Holy Presence to be carried in the Wilderness have been enough, and they should bring no more. Rabbi Cohen is the Chief of Innovation for Moving Traditions, a national organization focused on teens, gender, and Jewish identity where she spearheaded the creation of Tzelem, a group for transgender and non-binary teens. As an intern for The Shalom Center ten years ago, she wrote "Eicha for the Earth," a Book of Lamentations for Temple Earth.-- AW, ed.
And Moses said dayam, enough.
Enough: enough.
Stop, withdraw,
bring/do/perform/gather no more.
Let the silver glare of a silent sanctuary,
the gold blue of a plane-less sky
the garnet sheen of an empty concert hall
be our sacred offering,
meager gifts of absence from wise and less wise-hearted people.
Please God let our ceasing be enough.
Let our hospital beds be enough.
Let our slow awakening to the interconnectedness of every living being be enough
Let a pillar of stillness rest at the entrance to every home and prison.
Let this plague pass over us, enough of us.
Enough.
Shabbat Shalom dear chaverim, far and wide,
------Tamara
# # #
[Kristin Flyntz wrote the following poetic letter from the Virus to us all. She is the Content Editorial Director for Ascensus. -- AW, ed]
STOP: An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans
Stop. Just stop.
It is no longer a request. It is a mandate.
We will help you.
We will bring the supersonic, high speed merry-go-round to a halt
We will stop
the planes
the trains
the schools
the malls
the meetings
the frenetic, furied rush of illusions and “obligations” that keep you from hearing our
single and shared beating heart,
the way we breathe together, in unison.
Our obligation is to each other,
As it has always been, even if, even though, you have forgotten.
We will interrupt this broadcast, the endless cacophonous broadcast of divisions and distractions,
to bring you this long-breaking news:
We are not well.
None of us; all of us are suffering.
Last year, the firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth
did not give you pause.
Nor the typhoons in Africa,China, Japan.
Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India.
You have not been listening.
It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time, hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives.
But the foundation is giving way,
buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.
We will help you.
We will bring the firestorms to your body
We will bring the fever to your body
We will bring the burning, searing, and flooding to your lungs
that you might hear:
We are not well.
Despite what you might think or feel, we are not the enemy.
We are Messenger. We are Ally. We are a balancing force.
We are asking you:
To stop, to be still, to listen;
To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all;
To be with your ignorance, to find your humility, to relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart;
To look up into the sky, streaked with fewer planes, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, smoky, smoggy, rainy? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
To look at a tree, and see it, to notice its condition: how does its health contribute to the health of the sky, to the air you need to be healthy?
To visit a river, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, clean, murky, polluted? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
How does its health contribute to the health of the tree, who contributes to the health of the sky, so that you may also be healthy?
Many are afraid now.
Do not demonize your fear, and also, do not let it rule you.
Instead, let it speak to you—in your stillness,
listen for its wisdom.
What might it be telling you about what is at work, at issue, at risk,
beyond the threats of personal inconvenience and illness?
As the health of a tree, a river, the sky tells you about quality of your own health,
what might the quality of your health tell you about the health of the rivers, the trees, the sky,
and all of us who share this planet with you?
Stop.
Notice if you are resisting.
Notice what you are resisting.
Ask why.
Stop. Just stop..
Be still.
Listen.
Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well.
We will help you, if you listen.
------ Kristin Flyntz
# # #
[And this poem, "Lockdown," is by Richard Hendrick, OFM -- a Franciscan friar. -- AW, ed.]
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
-------- Richard Hendrick, OFM
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