I may not speak Italian but I understand what it means to be a human
Sunday 20th June 2021
I have a rule with myself that I must be free for Sunday, no work. It can be hard to achieve but most times I get there. The other week I didn’t but it is still a good rule. Today, if I am honest, the hoover ( vacuum cleaner) was out in preparation for the surveyor later in the week.
I was reminded of a TS Eliot quote when a friend shared it this morning at Meeting.
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot
We never actually leave this body yet in the pilgrimages that we make each day we if we are sensitive also make an interior journey.
Covid has changed us or at least our response to it. As friends return to the Meetinghouse it is clear that some may not be able to return physically yet Zoom enables them to participate. I guess we all knew a revolution was occurring.
In the afternoon I joined with some of my fellow Elijah Summer School 2020 participants. As we were trying to understand the perspectives of others I was reminded that often when we talk about different faiths, it is as if we are trying to speak French, German, Russian and so forth. One shared that a similar verse was found in both Jewish and Islamic writings. Should that surprise us for language is our attempt to communicate what we feel our think interiorly? Is there not a universal human experience that our language whether national or faith is trying to convey? Do the names of the characters matter? Is the message the point rather than the detail?
When we institutionalise faith do we reduce its potency?
I had also been reflecting on the Israel Palestinian conflict and the role in peacemaking an interfaith organisation has or not that is based in Jerusalem? When I lived on the island of Ireland I was concerned with peace work but I also had a political view. I am not sure the two ever merged? Perhaps it is no different for an interfaith organisation in Jerusalem, you get on with the work you just happen to be in Jerusalem. That said it seems to me to be authentic there has to be a merger whereby our commitment to peace has to fuse into our politics.
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