I am a child of Pisces, and so, will ebb and flow like the tides between heart and head, meander like a river slowly working away at the obstacles in my path, and ultimately find the stillness of my soul in a pond.
I have always loved lakes. One of my earliest memories is of wading in Wesserunsett Lake (Madison, Maine) on a warm summer day and hearing my mother scream “Don’t go over your head! You’ll drown!” I decided to believe her, and to this day, do not put my head under water. I never progressed beyond “advanced beginner” in swimming classes. And yet I excelled at sailing and canoeing, and spent much of my summer time on or near the water in the Belgrade Lakes region of Maine (the original locale of Ernest Thompson’s play, On Golden Pond). “It is not so much the boat itself, or even sailing, as the idea of it. There is something so complex yet pure about the relation of wind and sail, so absorbing about the need to balance conflicting forces.” [1]
Immediately after graduating from college, I started my “ideal” job as the first Executive Director of the Cobbossee Watershed District, Maine’s first and only regional agency devoted to protecting and improving water quality in 28 lakes and ponds in the Winthrop Lakes region. Lake water quality management is the product of watershed management. Noted ecologist Eugene Odum wrote, “it is the whole drainage basin, not just the body of water, that must be considered as the minimum ecosystem unit when it comes to man’s interests”.[2] For two decades, the focus of my life was on the interface between land and water, watershed and lake basin.
With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Lake Program, the Watershed District initiated major lake restoration projects on Annabessacook Lake (Winthrop, Maine) and Cochnewagan Lake (Monmouth, Maine) to eliminate phosphorus recycling from lake bottom sediments. The Watershed District also spear-headed the construction of 50 manure storage facilities on dairy and poultry farms throughout the watershed. The results of these efforts were slow to appear, but ultimately water quality in the lakes did improve dramatically.[3] With success in lake restoration, we began to focus more on protection of the gains we had made in lake water quality. Lake restoration may be measured in terms of observable gains in water quality. Lake protection, however, is usually measured in terms of failure, i.e. in terms of loss of water quality against the status quo.
In his book, Restoring The Earth, John Berger described my transition from lake restoration to lake protection this way:
[Gordon says] “The lake is going to be sensitive for a long time, and we could lose it again, very easily, if we don’t protect it. The agonizing thing is that you can never stop protecting the lake.” True to these words, during more than twelve years of work as director of the watershed district, Gordon has never taken a formal vacation. “This is my recreation,” he said. “It’s a hobby, a passion. I wonder what I’d do on a vacation.”[4]
Despite this passion, I eventually felt burnt out. Perhaps the “cost of caring” was too much, as Christina Maslach might say:
If all the knowledge and advice about how to beat burnout could be summed up in one word, that word would be balance. Balance between giving and getting, balance between stress and calm, balance between work and home --- these stand in clear contrast to the overload, understaffing, overcommitment, and other imbalances of burnout. “To give and give and give until there is nothing left to give anymore” means that one has failed to replenish one’s resources. Unless more fuel is brought to the fire it will eventually use up all that was there to start the flame --- and then die out. In a similar way, unless one has fueled oneself (with knowledge, rewards, strength), the fires of compassion can be all-consuming, leaving nothing but emotional ashes.[5]
While burnout may have been a factor, I also found the need for new intellectual and spiritual challenges to be compelling. Emerson wrote of "a foolish consistency" being "the hobgoblin of small minds". Thus, change is essential to our growth as spiritual beings. Abraham Maslow wrote that "life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth). Make the growth choice a dozen times a day."
I have also played for many years with the questions of what we know versus what we believe in science and public policy. As an example, consider the science and policies involved with phosphorus mitigation in northern lake watersheds. Phosphorus controls for lake water quality protection can be a particularly difficult "sell" to the public. Maine lakes typically experience nuisance algae blooms when total phosphorus concentrations reach 15 parts per billion (p.p.b.). Most Maine lakes have 5 to 10 p.p.b. of phosphorus. Our goal was to prevent any increase of more than 1 p.p.b. for the foreseeable future by allocating increments of acceptable phosphorus loading over all the potentially developable land in a lake watershed. This process required dealing with tiny fractions of a part per billion -- far less than could be detected by the best laboratory analysis. At some point, I realized that I was no longer dealing with science, but rather asking property owners and developers to put their faith in us as “high priests of phosphorus.” In high-quality Maine lakes, water quality protection could be considered a "faith-based initiative," where property owners were expected to curtail their short-term economic interests for the sake of a long-term goal of lake protection by means that could not be scientifically measured! Having spent almost twenty years advocating for the science of lake management, I felt uncomfortable about the speculative nature of our lake protection methodology, even though I had been one of the primary architects of this approach.
Ironically, it was during this time that I became far more involved with Paganism. While I had “felt Pagan” since the age of 10, I did not make spirituality a major focus in my life until the late 1980’s. During dinner at a national lakes conference, a colleague turned to me and said “I’m a Pagan; you probably don’t know what that is.” Needless to say, an interesting conversation followed, and we found that several of our colleagues were also searching for some form of alternative to traditional religion with an environmental context. I found myself becoming more involved in my Pagan spiritual practice, and less committed to my environmental career. Ultimately, I took a decade off from public service before volunteering to serve on my county soil & water conservation district’s board of supervisors. Now, I view my environmental service as a primary means of fulfilling my spiritual path. To me, this is sailing -- the balance of conflicting forces that Susan Kenney describes in her novel.
Notes
[1] Susan Kenney, Sailing (1988) pg. 6.
[2] Eugene P. Odum, Fundamentals of Ecology (1971) pg. 16.
[3] Norah Deakin Davis, “Cobbossee Lake: National Success Story”, Down East (January 1988) pp. 60-61.
[4] John J. Berger, Restoring The Earth (1985) pg. 41.
[5] Christina Maslach, Burnout – The Cost of Caring (1982) pg. 147.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Hospital Chaplaincy
Thoughts on hospital chaplaincy
Thomas Moore writes in Dark Nights Of The Soul:
"Go to a hospital, and you will see people abandoned in a hall, waiting for an X ray, or sitting in a bed, staring as though catatonic or blankly watching a television screen that has been fixed onto the wall. You would never know that these are people with intense relationships, intelligence, talent, a work life, ideas, strong emotions, and unsettling fears and hopes. For the sake of convenience and economy, they are being fed unimaginative food, nothing like the food they know from home or restaurants. Their families can visit them, but there is no place for visitors to sit. Everything is arranged for the flow of technicians and technology. Whenever I see someone in a hospital wearing a plastic bracelet identifying who they are, I think of the way we brand and label animals. It’s an expedient practice, but the image is dehumanizing."
Just as the spiritual motif of prisons might be control, the spiritual motif of hospitals seems to be science. Our system of health care is based on science, objective monitoring and analysis of data. Medical treatment relies primarily on carefully determined dosages of powerful chemicals and the high technology and skills required for surgery. The system seems driven first by the funding decisions of the insurance industry and second by the burgeoning scientific and technological capabilities of the health care industry.
What can we as Pagan clergy uniquely bring to hospital chaplaincy? We can bring a holistic approach and attitude to our presence with patients, families, and medical staff. Thomas Moore suggests that care of the soul should be a significant concern in times of illness. In the face of a system based upon the dueling concerns of technology and cost control, we can advocate case-by-case, person-by-person, for the mind/body/spirit connection.
Disease, or “dis-ease” may reflect a disconnection between our selves and our own biology. Pagans may serve as examples of groundedness, of the vital connections we have to Nature and the natural cycles of life. Even within the hospital setting, we can encourage healthy life styles, good attitudes, love, and attention to diet and exercise. Many patients end up in hospitals because they have been disconnected from the soulful care of their own bodies.
Perhaps we can help patients to identify the irrational forces that tie people to their bad habits. I remember, many years ago, advocating for an asthmatic patient whose roommate was a lung cancer patient; the nurses “bribed” this person into taking his medications by letting him smoke a cigarette in the room! The staff’s problem-solving with one patient exacerbated the health issues of another. Fortunately, most hospitals now recognize the irrationality of allowing smoking in and around a healthcare facility. But there is still much more to be done to promote wellness as the primary mission of hospitals.
Pagan clergy can serve not only patients and their families, but hospital staff as well. Too many healthcare professionals are overly stressed by the constant pressures of their jobs, the suffering that they see, and the cool, scientific detachment that seems be glorified in the workplace. We need to encourage health care professionals to be spiritual, soulful human beings. One interesting program I’ve been involved with through the Maine Humanities Council has been literature & medicine discussion groups; the soulfulness of doctors, nurses, administrators, and patients can flourish through sharing poetry and prose (see for example, Judy Schaefer’s The Poetry of Nursing: “both nursing and poetry are ways of practicing the art of attention”).
Poem of the Week
A friend’s sage advice:
Just do what you can do
on a given day.
So on days I can’t pray or pick up the phone
I send a poem.
Poem of the Weak, I once accidentally called it.
I’ve sent Carver, Frost Sarton, Levertov Pastan, Olds and others—my emissaries my cloud of witnesses.
Let these poets earn their keep.
Let them speak for me.
Let them enter the house haunted by illness.
Let them open the doorsshut against fear.
For in trouble the poem is strong medicine
like the wind that blows where it wills,
like the serpent of brassset upon a pole
in the wilderness.
---Veneta Masson
We can serve as a constant reminder in hospitals that spirituality is fundamental to the process and practice of healing. In Still Here, Ram Dass distinguishes between healing and curing: “while cures aim at returning our bodies to what they were in the past, healing uses what is present to move us more deeply to Soul Awareness, and in some cases, physical ‘improvement’”. Our mere presence in hospitals as joyful, calming, caring human beings may help the healing process of all who inhabit those spaces.
By this merit, may all living things be healed.
Here are some resources for Pagan hospital chaplains that I have found useful over the years. Feel free to add your own:
Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul http://www.careofthesoul.net/
Ram Dass, Still Here (conscious aging) http://www.ramdass.org/
Christiane Northrup, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom (required! Men too!!)
http://www.drnorthrup.com/
Deepak Chopra, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind
Julia Ross, The Mood Cure
Deb Soule, The Roots of Healing (herbal medicine)
Michele Longo O’Donnell, Of Monkeys and Dragons (Christian-oriented but still good)
Mona Lisa Schultze, Awakening Intuition (good intro to intuitive medicine)
American Holistic Medicine Association http://www.holisticmedicine.org/
Thomas Moore writes in Dark Nights Of The Soul:
"Go to a hospital, and you will see people abandoned in a hall, waiting for an X ray, or sitting in a bed, staring as though catatonic or blankly watching a television screen that has been fixed onto the wall. You would never know that these are people with intense relationships, intelligence, talent, a work life, ideas, strong emotions, and unsettling fears and hopes. For the sake of convenience and economy, they are being fed unimaginative food, nothing like the food they know from home or restaurants. Their families can visit them, but there is no place for visitors to sit. Everything is arranged for the flow of technicians and technology. Whenever I see someone in a hospital wearing a plastic bracelet identifying who they are, I think of the way we brand and label animals. It’s an expedient practice, but the image is dehumanizing."
Just as the spiritual motif of prisons might be control, the spiritual motif of hospitals seems to be science. Our system of health care is based on science, objective monitoring and analysis of data. Medical treatment relies primarily on carefully determined dosages of powerful chemicals and the high technology and skills required for surgery. The system seems driven first by the funding decisions of the insurance industry and second by the burgeoning scientific and technological capabilities of the health care industry.
What can we as Pagan clergy uniquely bring to hospital chaplaincy? We can bring a holistic approach and attitude to our presence with patients, families, and medical staff. Thomas Moore suggests that care of the soul should be a significant concern in times of illness. In the face of a system based upon the dueling concerns of technology and cost control, we can advocate case-by-case, person-by-person, for the mind/body/spirit connection.
Disease, or “dis-ease” may reflect a disconnection between our selves and our own biology. Pagans may serve as examples of groundedness, of the vital connections we have to Nature and the natural cycles of life. Even within the hospital setting, we can encourage healthy life styles, good attitudes, love, and attention to diet and exercise. Many patients end up in hospitals because they have been disconnected from the soulful care of their own bodies.
Perhaps we can help patients to identify the irrational forces that tie people to their bad habits. I remember, many years ago, advocating for an asthmatic patient whose roommate was a lung cancer patient; the nurses “bribed” this person into taking his medications by letting him smoke a cigarette in the room! The staff’s problem-solving with one patient exacerbated the health issues of another. Fortunately, most hospitals now recognize the irrationality of allowing smoking in and around a healthcare facility. But there is still much more to be done to promote wellness as the primary mission of hospitals.
Pagan clergy can serve not only patients and their families, but hospital staff as well. Too many healthcare professionals are overly stressed by the constant pressures of their jobs, the suffering that they see, and the cool, scientific detachment that seems be glorified in the workplace. We need to encourage health care professionals to be spiritual, soulful human beings. One interesting program I’ve been involved with through the Maine Humanities Council has been literature & medicine discussion groups; the soulfulness of doctors, nurses, administrators, and patients can flourish through sharing poetry and prose (see for example, Judy Schaefer’s The Poetry of Nursing: “both nursing and poetry are ways of practicing the art of attention”).
Poem of the Week
A friend’s sage advice:
Just do what you can do
on a given day.
So on days I can’t pray or pick up the phone
I send a poem.
Poem of the Weak, I once accidentally called it.
I’ve sent Carver, Frost Sarton, Levertov Pastan, Olds and others—my emissaries my cloud of witnesses.
Let these poets earn their keep.
Let them speak for me.
Let them enter the house haunted by illness.
Let them open the doorsshut against fear.
For in trouble the poem is strong medicine
like the wind that blows where it wills,
like the serpent of brassset upon a pole
in the wilderness.
---Veneta Masson
We can serve as a constant reminder in hospitals that spirituality is fundamental to the process and practice of healing. In Still Here, Ram Dass distinguishes between healing and curing: “while cures aim at returning our bodies to what they were in the past, healing uses what is present to move us more deeply to Soul Awareness, and in some cases, physical ‘improvement’”. Our mere presence in hospitals as joyful, calming, caring human beings may help the healing process of all who inhabit those spaces.
By this merit, may all living things be healed.
Here are some resources for Pagan hospital chaplains that I have found useful over the years. Feel free to add your own:
Thomas Moore, Dark Nights Of The Soul http://www.careofthesoul.net/
Ram Dass, Still Here (conscious aging) http://www.ramdass.org/
Christiane Northrup, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom (required! Men too!!)
http://www.drnorthrup.com/
Deepak Chopra, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind
Julia Ross, The Mood Cure
Deb Soule, The Roots of Healing (herbal medicine)
Michele Longo O’Donnell, Of Monkeys and Dragons (Christian-oriented but still good)
Mona Lisa Schultze, Awakening Intuition (good intro to intuitive medicine)
American Holistic Medicine Association http://www.holisticmedicine.org/
Soil & Water Conservation Districts in the 21st. Century
I’ve been working with conservation districts since 1973 -- I’ve watched them, partnered with them, fought with them, and now advocate for them as a Supervisor. Districts have grown up with a 20th Century operating model created for them by the Federal Government in 1939. Now is the time to create a new model of Conservation for the 21st Century -
- Districts need to develop stronger partnerships with the Maine Department of Conservation, the Maine Farmland Trust, the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association, and other organizations that are advocating for sustainable land use and conservation. NRCS and the Maine Department of Agriculture are good partners, but are limited by their budgets to focus on priority Farm Bill and Nutrient Management activities. There is much more to be done to promote good land management on farms and forests.
- Districts need to develop a formalized relationship with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, similar to our arrangement with the Department of Agriculture. We need an advisory committee to the DEP Commissioner and senior management, and we need ongoing funding from the Department. As Maine grows, we need to develop our services for all residential land owners, communities, and organizations.
- Districts need to be on the forefront of public education about land management and conservation. Our education programs must be cutting-edge and broad-based to foster conservation values and ethics in our society. We need to take a fresh look at conservation education and update our teaching technology and techniques.
- District Boards need to be expanded to 7 or more members to allow more diverse representation of landowner interests and to encourage new leadership.
- Districts need to tap into the capabilities of all State and Federal natural resource agencies through a State Land & Water Resources Council, a renewed State Soil & Water Conservation Commission, or some new organization which can formalize and expand our partnerships and focus agency resources on our common needs. This is particularly relevant to Commissioner Bradstreet’s response to natural resource agency reorganization. For his proposal to work, the relevant State agencies and Districts must be at the same table on a regular, structured basis.
The fact that soil & water conservation districts have endured for seven decades despite limited funding indicates to me that there is an ongoing need and demand for our services. Even in hard financial times, the public supports conservation. We need to be effectively and efficiently organized to advocate for ourselves. The question is: will we be up to the task?
- Districts need to develop stronger partnerships with the Maine Department of Conservation, the Maine Farmland Trust, the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association, and other organizations that are advocating for sustainable land use and conservation. NRCS and the Maine Department of Agriculture are good partners, but are limited by their budgets to focus on priority Farm Bill and Nutrient Management activities. There is much more to be done to promote good land management on farms and forests.
- Districts need to develop a formalized relationship with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, similar to our arrangement with the Department of Agriculture. We need an advisory committee to the DEP Commissioner and senior management, and we need ongoing funding from the Department. As Maine grows, we need to develop our services for all residential land owners, communities, and organizations.
- Districts need to be on the forefront of public education about land management and conservation. Our education programs must be cutting-edge and broad-based to foster conservation values and ethics in our society. We need to take a fresh look at conservation education and update our teaching technology and techniques.
- District Boards need to be expanded to 7 or more members to allow more diverse representation of landowner interests and to encourage new leadership.
- Districts need to tap into the capabilities of all State and Federal natural resource agencies through a State Land & Water Resources Council, a renewed State Soil & Water Conservation Commission, or some new organization which can formalize and expand our partnerships and focus agency resources on our common needs. This is particularly relevant to Commissioner Bradstreet’s response to natural resource agency reorganization. For his proposal to work, the relevant State agencies and Districts must be at the same table on a regular, structured basis.
The fact that soil & water conservation districts have endured for seven decades despite limited funding indicates to me that there is an ongoing need and demand for our services. Even in hard financial times, the public supports conservation. We need to be effectively and efficiently organized to advocate for ourselves. The question is: will we be up to the task?
The Lady of the Lake
Each summer, I make love with the Lady of the Lake.
At the Dark of the Lammas Moon, she calls me.
I finish my goblet of wine, and sky clad, leave the cottage.
The stubborn Land offers pebbles and twigs beneath my feet,
But at last, I stand before Her, my old familiar friend.
Her first touch is warm and inviting.
I enter Her easily and gently,
As though we have always been One.
She touches every inch of my body,
And I feel myself dissolving into Her.
Her rippling surface caresses my face.
I feel Her weight pressing against my chest.
She could hold me this way forever.
But I hear my mother’s voice,
And I must withdraw from Her immortal embrace.
Her essence beads on my body.
I look back on Her and savor our quiet connection.
The jealous Air chills my skin and urges me homeward,
While the Lady of the Lake smiles starlight at me,
And whispers “remember”.
At the Dark of the Lammas Moon, she calls me.
I finish my goblet of wine, and sky clad, leave the cottage.
The stubborn Land offers pebbles and twigs beneath my feet,
But at last, I stand before Her, my old familiar friend.
Her first touch is warm and inviting.
I enter Her easily and gently,
As though we have always been One.
She touches every inch of my body,
And I feel myself dissolving into Her.
Her rippling surface caresses my face.
I feel Her weight pressing against my chest.
She could hold me this way forever.
But I hear my mother’s voice,
And I must withdraw from Her immortal embrace.
Her essence beads on my body.
I look back on Her and savor our quiet connection.
The jealous Air chills my skin and urges me homeward,
While the Lady of the Lake smiles starlight at me,
And whispers “remember”.
Ecotheology
I often think about our relationship with the environment, and how our environmental values have been shaped by our religious heritage. Generally, Christianity has been perceived as not being helpful to conservation of our natural resources. The history of Christian civilization is replete with examples of destruction of native cultures and exploitation of economic and natural resources, particularly in European exploration and conquest of the Americas. Church and State have collaborated to subdue the natural world for economic gain.
While Paganism has been important in my life in clarifying and emphasizing the connection of the human spirit and the natural environment, I recognize that the vast majority of Americans are Christian, or at least guided by Christian values and beliefs. Pagans are not likely to represent a majority unless other faiths redefine themselves and look to their roots. The initial lectures outline how pagan beliefs may have merged with the founding of many of the world’s major religious traditions. We need to touch the common beliefs of Pagans and Christians – to maintain a dialogue, to educate, and to lead in the direction of a better relationship with the environment by using their own spiritual language and culture.
The Christian Bible does not bestow ownership of the Earth to human beings: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1). While civilization has developed a system of property rights and codified these rights as law, the Bible emphasizes that land transcends human ownership: “The land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me” (Leviticus 25:23). In a Biblical sense, land ownership is an artificial construct, antithetical to God’s will.
The Creation does not seem to be a finite occurrence, a one-time event; rather, it appears to be an ongoing process, where Divine inspiration allows for evolution and change through biological cycles more complex and delicate than we may ever comprehend. The “perfection” of God’s Creation 3000 years ago is certainly different from the “perfection” of Creation as it exists today. William Blake wrote that “everything that lives is holy”. The American poet and conservationist Wendell Berry has written “We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy”.
Henry David Thoreau called the Bible a “hypaethral book” – one that is “open to the sky” and best read outdoors in nature rather than in a church. Perhaps it is through outdoor worship services that we could begin to reconnect Christians to the natural environment: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). If indeed the Church is described as “where two or three are gathered together in my name” (Matthew 18:20), then outdoor worship could provide a climate of receptivity to the natural wonders of earthly existence. Biologist Daniel Botkin wrote in No Man’s Garden:
“…like it or not, accept it or not, our perceptions of biological nature and of our connection to it do affect our spiritual sense. Within the context of Western civilization, which has treated religion as a historical process, a theologian who ignores this change risks having his religion become irrelevant to the masses of people when religious precepts no longer fit human needs, no longer answer human questions, no longer are congruent with the emerging world view.”
While Paganism has been important in my life in clarifying and emphasizing the connection of the human spirit and the natural environment, I recognize that the vast majority of Americans are Christian, or at least guided by Christian values and beliefs. Pagans are not likely to represent a majority unless other faiths redefine themselves and look to their roots. The initial lectures outline how pagan beliefs may have merged with the founding of many of the world’s major religious traditions. We need to touch the common beliefs of Pagans and Christians – to maintain a dialogue, to educate, and to lead in the direction of a better relationship with the environment by using their own spiritual language and culture.
The Christian Bible does not bestow ownership of the Earth to human beings: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1). While civilization has developed a system of property rights and codified these rights as law, the Bible emphasizes that land transcends human ownership: “The land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me” (Leviticus 25:23). In a Biblical sense, land ownership is an artificial construct, antithetical to God’s will.
The Creation does not seem to be a finite occurrence, a one-time event; rather, it appears to be an ongoing process, where Divine inspiration allows for evolution and change through biological cycles more complex and delicate than we may ever comprehend. The “perfection” of God’s Creation 3000 years ago is certainly different from the “perfection” of Creation as it exists today. William Blake wrote that “everything that lives is holy”. The American poet and conservationist Wendell Berry has written “We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy”.
Henry David Thoreau called the Bible a “hypaethral book” – one that is “open to the sky” and best read outdoors in nature rather than in a church. Perhaps it is through outdoor worship services that we could begin to reconnect Christians to the natural environment: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). If indeed the Church is described as “where two or three are gathered together in my name” (Matthew 18:20), then outdoor worship could provide a climate of receptivity to the natural wonders of earthly existence. Biologist Daniel Botkin wrote in No Man’s Garden:
“…like it or not, accept it or not, our perceptions of biological nature and of our connection to it do affect our spiritual sense. Within the context of Western civilization, which has treated religion as a historical process, a theologian who ignores this change risks having his religion become irrelevant to the masses of people when religious precepts no longer fit human needs, no longer answer human questions, no longer are congruent with the emerging world view.”
Pleasure
While Neopagans don’t have many well-established sacred writings, this phrase from Wicca’s “Charge of the Goddess” is familiar to most: “All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals”. In other words, the Goddess is honored through our living lives of love and pleasure.
This seems to be a predominant view in many forms of paganism. In the Pacific islands, the word aloha, commonly known as a phrase of greeting, represents a philosophy of healthful and pleasurable life. Derived from alo (to share) and ha (breath), the word means “to share the breath of life”. Breath is essential to life, and mindful breathing means taking time to be in the present, to enjoy the moment.
In The Pleasure Prescription, Paul Kaikena Pearsall creates a Hawaiian language anagram of aloha to describe the essential components of Polynesian belief and practice:
Ahonui: patience, to be expressed with perseverance
Lokahi: unity, to be expressed harmoniously
‘Olu’olu: agreeableness, to be expressed pleasantly
Ha’aha’a: humbleness, to be expressed modestly
Akahai: gentleness, to be expressed tenderly
Contemporary Taoist author Deng Ming-Dao writes in 365 Tao:
If what comes our way is occasionally wonderful, no one should deny our enjoyment. As long as we have behaved responsibly, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the best that life has to offer. Look at a cat as she stretches out contentedly in the sun. There is no thought of the next moment, only the sheer enjoyment of the present…. She is without anxieties, and so she is purely and totally who she should be. She acts as if she were nature’s favorite. And who is to say otherwise?
In all this talk about spiritual devotion, there is one simple fact. You have to like it. It should make you happy. It is unfortunate that so much coercion, unhappiness, bitterness, guilt, and fear become wrapped up in spirituality. Why can’t we simply do things out of joy?
While Taoists generally temper their desires, one early text, Yang Chu’s Garden of Pleasure (book 7 of Lieh Tzu), contains a chapter titled “The Happy Voluptuaries”, in which the brothers of Tse-Chan, the governor of Cheng, respond to his admonitions about their hedonistic life styles:
"You value proper conduct and righteousness in order to excel before others, and you do violence to your feelings and nature in striving for glory. That to us appears to be worse than death. Our only fear is lest, wishing to gaze our fill at all the beauties of this one life, and to exhaust all the pleasures of the present years, the repletion of the belly should prevent us from drinking what our palate delights in, or the slackening of our strength not allow us to revel with pretty women. We have no time to trouble about bad reputations or mental dangers. Therefore for you to argue with us and disturb our minds merely because you surpass others in ability to govern, and to try and allure us with promises of glory and appointments, is indeed shameful and deplorable.
See now. If anybody knows how to regulate external things, the things do not of necessity become regulated, and his body has still to toil and labour. But if anybody knows how to regulate internals, the things go on all right, and the mind obtains peace and rest. Your system of regulating external things will do temporarily and for a single kingdom, but it is not in harmony with the human heart, while our method of regulating internals can be extended to the whole universe, and there would be no more princes and ministers. We always desired to propagate this doctrine of ours, and now you would teach us yours."
Tse-Chan in his perplexity found no answer. Later on he met and informed Teng-hsi. Teng-hsi said: "You are living together with real men without knowing it. Who calls you wise? Cheng has been governed by chance, and without merit of yours."
This seems to be a predominant view in many forms of paganism. In the Pacific islands, the word aloha, commonly known as a phrase of greeting, represents a philosophy of healthful and pleasurable life. Derived from alo (to share) and ha (breath), the word means “to share the breath of life”. Breath is essential to life, and mindful breathing means taking time to be in the present, to enjoy the moment.
In The Pleasure Prescription, Paul Kaikena Pearsall creates a Hawaiian language anagram of aloha to describe the essential components of Polynesian belief and practice:
Ahonui: patience, to be expressed with perseverance
Lokahi: unity, to be expressed harmoniously
‘Olu’olu: agreeableness, to be expressed pleasantly
Ha’aha’a: humbleness, to be expressed modestly
Akahai: gentleness, to be expressed tenderly
Contemporary Taoist author Deng Ming-Dao writes in 365 Tao:
If what comes our way is occasionally wonderful, no one should deny our enjoyment. As long as we have behaved responsibly, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the best that life has to offer. Look at a cat as she stretches out contentedly in the sun. There is no thought of the next moment, only the sheer enjoyment of the present…. She is without anxieties, and so she is purely and totally who she should be. She acts as if she were nature’s favorite. And who is to say otherwise?
In all this talk about spiritual devotion, there is one simple fact. You have to like it. It should make you happy. It is unfortunate that so much coercion, unhappiness, bitterness, guilt, and fear become wrapped up in spirituality. Why can’t we simply do things out of joy?
While Taoists generally temper their desires, one early text, Yang Chu’s Garden of Pleasure (book 7 of Lieh Tzu), contains a chapter titled “The Happy Voluptuaries”, in which the brothers of Tse-Chan, the governor of Cheng, respond to his admonitions about their hedonistic life styles:
"You value proper conduct and righteousness in order to excel before others, and you do violence to your feelings and nature in striving for glory. That to us appears to be worse than death. Our only fear is lest, wishing to gaze our fill at all the beauties of this one life, and to exhaust all the pleasures of the present years, the repletion of the belly should prevent us from drinking what our palate delights in, or the slackening of our strength not allow us to revel with pretty women. We have no time to trouble about bad reputations or mental dangers. Therefore for you to argue with us and disturb our minds merely because you surpass others in ability to govern, and to try and allure us with promises of glory and appointments, is indeed shameful and deplorable.
See now. If anybody knows how to regulate external things, the things do not of necessity become regulated, and his body has still to toil and labour. But if anybody knows how to regulate internals, the things go on all right, and the mind obtains peace and rest. Your system of regulating external things will do temporarily and for a single kingdom, but it is not in harmony with the human heart, while our method of regulating internals can be extended to the whole universe, and there would be no more princes and ministers. We always desired to propagate this doctrine of ours, and now you would teach us yours."
Tse-Chan in his perplexity found no answer. Later on he met and informed Teng-hsi. Teng-hsi said: "You are living together with real men without knowing it. Who calls you wise? Cheng has been governed by chance, and without merit of yours."
A Breath Meditation
As you breathe, feel the earth beneath your feet.
Feel the earth supporting you, grounding you, feeding you.
This land was once covered by the ocean. It has been a beach, a forest, a farm, and a home.
As you breathe, feel the warmth of the sun. The sun has risen before you in the east and set behind you in the west millions of times before. Remember that we are here for a brief moment in time...and that we must live our lives to the fullest.
As you breathe, feel the moistness of the air, the dampness of the ground. There is water in every living thing here. It has been salt water in the oceans, water vapor in the clouds, rain and snow and ice a thousand times over. Remember that everything changes; we change everything we touch, and everything we touch, changes us.
As you breathe, feel the air moving in and out of your lungs. You share your breath with every living person, animal, and plant on this planet. You are connected to every living thing.
As you breathe, remember your ancestors --- your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, and generations before them. Each of them had a day like this, a day filled with promise of new beginnings, hope for the future, perhaps some doubt and apprehension. You carry their history with you, and you will add to that story in the years to come.
Feel the earth supporting you, grounding you, feeding you.
This land was once covered by the ocean. It has been a beach, a forest, a farm, and a home.
As you breathe, feel the warmth of the sun. The sun has risen before you in the east and set behind you in the west millions of times before. Remember that we are here for a brief moment in time...and that we must live our lives to the fullest.
As you breathe, feel the moistness of the air, the dampness of the ground. There is water in every living thing here. It has been salt water in the oceans, water vapor in the clouds, rain and snow and ice a thousand times over. Remember that everything changes; we change everything we touch, and everything we touch, changes us.
As you breathe, feel the air moving in and out of your lungs. You share your breath with every living person, animal, and plant on this planet. You are connected to every living thing.
As you breathe, remember your ancestors --- your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, and generations before them. Each of them had a day like this, a day filled with promise of new beginnings, hope for the future, perhaps some doubt and apprehension. You carry their history with you, and you will add to that story in the years to come.
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