Journal of Sacred Work

Days 121-122 Beyond Fear & Hope – by Margaret Wheatley

There's something very interesting to understand about hope. That is, that hope and fear are one. Any time we're hopeful, we don't know it necessarily, but we're bringing in fear. Because fear is the constant, unavoidable companion of hope. What this simply means is that I hope for a certain outcome and I'm afraid I won't get it. I hope for a certain result and I'm fearful it won't happen. This is the way that hope and fear are wedded together. There is a place called, "beyond hope and fear." It is to be free from hope, so that we are free from fear.

So, it might be that the road to fearlessness is only found by giving up hope. By giving up outcomes, by giving up goals.

I find this to be an intolerable posture, by the way. If we don't have hope, where will we find our motivation? If we don't have hope, who will save the world? If we go down in despair - which seems to be the alternative to hope in many peoples' imaginations, who will save the world?

Can we work beyond hope and fear?

Can we find a way to be motivated, to be energetic, to be happy; to take delight in the work that we're doing that isn't based on outcomes, that isn't based on needing to see a particular result? Is that even available?

What if we could offer our work as a gift so lightly, and with so much love, that that’s really the source of fearlessness? We don't need it to be accepted in any one way. We don't need it to create any certain outcome. We don't need it to be any one thing. It is in the way we offer it, that the work transforms us. It is in the way we offer our work as a gift to those we love, to those we care about, to the issues we care about. It is in the way we offer the work that we find fearlessness. Beyond hope and fear, I think, is the possibility of love.

What would it take for us to just deal with what is? To not need to be always engaged in changing the world?

Yitzhak Perlman, the great violinist, was playing in New York. Yitzhak Perlman was crippled by polio as a young child, so the bottom part of his body doesn't work well and he wears these very prominent leg braces and comes on in crutches, in a very painful, slow way, hauling himself across the stage. Then he sits down and, very carefully, unbuckles the leg braces and lays them down, puts down his crutches, and then picks up his violin. So, this night the audience had watched him slowly, painfully, walk across the stage; and he began to play. And, suddenly, there was a loud noise in the hall that signaled that one of his four strings on his violin had just snapped.

Everyone expected that they would be watching Yitzhak Perlman put back the leg braces, walk slowly across the stage, and find a new violin. But this is what happened. Yitzhak Perlman closed his eyes for a moment. Yitzhak Perlman paused. And then he signaled for the conductor to begin again. And he began from where they had left off. And here's the description of his playing, from Jack Riemer in the Houston Chronicle:

"He played with such passion, and such power, and such purity, as people had never heard before. Of course, everyone knew that it was impossible to play this symphonic work with three strings. I know that. You know that. But that night, Yitzhak Perlman did not know that. You could see him modulating, changing, and recomposing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before. When he finished, there was an awe-filed silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. Everyone was screaming and cheering and doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had just done. He smiled. He wiped the sweat from his brow. He raised his bow to us. And then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet and pensive and reverent tone,

"'You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.'"

Sometimes, it is our task to find out how much music we can make with what we have left. What is the name that is big enough to hold your fearlessness that is big enough to call you into fearlessness? That is big enough to break your heart? To allow you to open to the suffering that is this world right now and to not become immobilized by fear and to not become immobilized by comfort? What is the way in which you can hold your work so that you do feel free from hope.... and therefore free from fear?

Excerpt from  Article by Margaret Wheatley, March 2009, Shambala Sun

Butterfly Watercolor by ~liz

Days 116-120 - Where Are You From?

   In her story telling workshops renown spoken word artist Minton Sparks poses the old question, Where are you from? in a provocative new way.

   We typically answer with our home city or state. I spent most of life in Ohio but I am more truly a Californian. But, Sparks locates the question not in physical places but in the people and experiences that shaped us.

   In this way I am from my Los Angeles childhood & the eucalyptus tree that soared skyward from the corner of our backyard & I am from the mother who hung out wash in the everyday sun & fluttered fresh sheets down upon my four year old self as she put me to bed amid the scent of the lemon tree outside my window.

   I am from my father's Hollywood YMCA where I spent every Saturday swimming, playing chess & watching my dad play handball from the small stands above the court. I am from the man who would pause between points, glance up at me & smile like the sunshine. And I am from the dad who was almost killed on that same handball court when he reached for a shot, struck the back wall & fell into a seven-day coma. 

   I am from the older sister who helped raise me, my first friend Jill & the younger sister who never grew in a typical way but soared as tall in spirit as the eucalyptus tree in the backyard.

    Sparks' exercise expands our consciousness. It enlarges our sense of what helped shape us & thus informs the soul of who we are today.

   For caregivers, this is crucial. Every patient becomes more than admission sheet data & diagnosis. As someone more than that their humanity blooms.

   Match your heritage with your patient & you enrich your sacred encounter with that vulnerable person in need.

   Where are you from?

-Erie Chapman

Photographs: "Minton Sparks Live," and "With Dad, 1945"

Days 114-115 May We Walk Gently

“The universe as a whole, in all its manifold relationships, shows forth the inexhaustible riches of God. … Everything is connected.” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 86, 91)

Earth day, April 22 and every day,  provides us an opportunity to celebrate the beauty of creation and increase our awareness of our need to awaken. The signs that Mother Earth is in grave distress cannot be ignored. She needs our attention and intentional healing. 

We are not separate; we have lost sight of the intricate connections that exist between us and all manifestations of life.

“This landscape is a living, breathing part of me. I consider it something to protect, like I would my own body.” (Taylor Lee Kirkland, “Mountain Memories: Interview with Judy Bond”)

Good and Gracious God,

Source of all Life,

all creation is charged with your Divine Energy.

Ignite your Spark within us,

that we may know ourselves as truly human and holy,

irrevocably part of the Web of Life.

All creation

- each star and every flower,

- each drop of water and every person,

- each and every atom, down to its very electrons,

explodes with the revelation of your Sacred Mystery.

Our minds alone cannot fathom such splendor.

Our hearts can only respond in awe, praise and gratitude.

Forgive us we pray, our ignorance and insecurities which

- blind us to your Thumbprint writ large,

- deafen us to the sacred space between two heartbeats,

- prompt us in arrogance to demand and dominate,

- numb us to the destruction we’ve caused,

- hold us hostage to “either-or” thinking and living.

May we always walk gently upon this earth, in right relationship,

- nurtured by your Love,

- taking only what we need,

- giving back to the earth in gratitude,

- sharing what we have,

- honoring all with reverence,

- reconciling and healing,

- mindful of those who will come after,

- recognizing our proper place as part of, not apart from, your creation.

Grant us the strength and courage, we pray,

for such radical transformation into your kingdom.

Then we, too, with the very stones will shout, “HOSANNA”

By Michelle Balek, OSF “.

 

..Social love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which permeates all of society”.  — Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ (231)

Every gesture, no matter how small can have a positive impact. What is one action you and I can initiate this week? Let’s share ideas so that we can inspire and encourage each other.

Contributed by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala my ~liz

Days 109-113 - The "Barbarian" President

   All leaders are also caregivers. The larger the position, the more important this role. Yet, our best leaders are subjected to enormous criticism & are frequently unappreciated by their contemporaries. 

   "He is a barbarian, Scythian, Yahoo, a gorilla in respect of outward polish..." wrote attorney George Templeton Strong in 1860. He was describing Abraham Lincoln. 

   Noted educator Carl Schurz, described Lincoln thusly, "He is an overgrown nature-child and does not understand artifices of speech and attitude." 

   On a fall day in Gettysburg Lincoln delivered the finest speech in American history.

   How could Strong & Schurz have been so wrong? They judged surface instead of substance. 

   In fifty years of leading & of studying leaders I have seen the full array. Every leader has a different personality but every successful one operates from the same core energies: Integrity, high purpose & an inner peace grounded in humility.     

   The next American President is sure to impact healthcare. We need substance. Yet, the current campaigns are rife with battles that sometimes sound childish. 

   Amid concerns over healthcare, the economy & terrorism Ted Cruz & Donald Trump have engaged in disputes about who insulted the other's wife first, whether John McCain was a hero & (stunningly) whether Donald Trump's hands & penis are large or small. The only GOP candidate displaying integrity is last place John Kasich. He spoke the best line of the campaign, "I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land." He has integrity & experience & has been largely ignored. 

   On the once-civil Democratic side the capable Hillary Clinton & independent Bernie Sanders have taken to shouting at each other. Meanwhile, vitriolic attacks on President Obama suggest that some think he, too, is some kind of barbarian. 

   This election is important to every caregiver because Presidents set the nation's tone. A negative approach can influence millions to decide cynicism is better than optimism. Every great President has led with hope & love, not fear & disdain. 

   Fortunately for America the "barbarian" President Lincoln became a model of Radical Loving Leadership. What if we used his example to judge today's candidates?

-Erie Chapman  

Days 107-108 Wordless Poem

Blessed are you, spring,
season of hope and renewal.
Wordless poem about all within us
that can never die.
Each year you amaze us
with the miracle of returning life.

By- Joyce Rupp

Contributed by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala by ~liz

Days 102-106 - The Male Need for Softness

   Historically, most poets have been men. But, few men are poets.

   Men honor softness in women. Yet, only a small number admit to honoring it in themselves.

   As a former football player, trial lawyer, healthcare CEO & father I have fitted the role of "typical" male. I never tell most male friends that beyond the end zone I love soft rain & enjoy stroking rose petals. Why trigger their disdain?  

   Early Jewish clerics (all men, of course) even hardened God's name by subtracting the vowels so that "God" became the unpronounceable YHWH. The gentler spirits among them inserted softer letters to yield "Yahweh."

   Men start wars. Men commit the crimes I used to prosecute. But, for men like me the television news from Syrian deserts & Chicago streets needs Love's sweet embrace as well as tough intervention.

   Hostility's fist opens before healing lace.

   The angry world needs Love's kindest face. 

   Mean is always present (the knife edge of the leaf.) Kind is shy & needs nudging to offer her hands. Today's television violence needs God's gentlest fingers.

   Just now an oyster is handling a new pearl. A trio of dolphins dances in a flow of secrets. Fish breathe beneath the roof of the ocean. A caregiver cools a fevered brow. Larkspur blooms in a forest where generous lovers touch the soft in each other.

   New life inhales. Last life exhales. 

   Here is lace.

   Here is Yahweh's grace. 

   This is the news that matters.

-Erie Chapman

Photograph by Erie (2014)

Days 100-101 Father of All

                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every being

entering into the ineffable sanctuary of its own nature

finds there a symbol of the

Father of All...

                                                                      ~Proclus

 

Contributed by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala by ~liz

Days 95-99 - Five Lines

 

Maybe all we want is to be heard.

Is that the "human virtue" the hand-sketched boy whistles?

Do you hear his song? Do I hear yours?

Is that what wins Love’s perfect smile?

I will be quiet now so that I can listen to only you.

Days 93-94 What Carries You?

" Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. " -Wendell Berry

 Love is what carries you...

 

Contributed by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Mandala by ~liz