Living in the Clouds

By Josué Picado,

I grew up in a little mountain town in Costa Rica. Despite already having Costa Rican nationals living in it, officially it was not founded until the Quakers came around and gave it its current name, Monteverde. When they came around, very few people were living in Monteverde, no roads existed and it was not yet part of the map. When they settled down, they were the first to notice the green treasure that lay in Monteverde. After discovering this, they went out of their way to preserve the rainforest. As Monteverde grew, the goal of preservation of our local natural sources grew with it.

With many role models within our community, including at the Quaker school I attended, I was mostly involved in ecological projects around town. It was at school where I met one lifelong friend. His mother happened to be the director of the Monteverde Institute whose focus is to study and preserve biodiversity within Monteverde. In addition to my early influence in community service, I did not hesitate when my friend asked me to join the institute and give a hand reforesting the cleared out land surrounding the town.

The Monteverde Institute has an ambitious goal to build a biological bridge that runs from the mountains down to the coast. Along with the help of community members and other neighboring towns, we have slowly worked to reforest cleared out land that was previously for cows and other farmlands. Trees and animals have been carefully studied and selected to be the best seed spreaders. It has been over 10 years since this project started and thousands of trees have been planted since. My friend and I grew up meeting people from all over the world during this project and who were thrilled to be part of it. Our goal was to help our community preserve the biodiversity we were well known to have and to give the future generation an example.

Not so long ago we lost an endangered Monteverde species due to climate change, the Golden Toad. It was never seen again in the cloud forest. This is why we have set out to commit and take responsibility to not have this repeat again. We have worked with countless friends, strangers, students, and tourists and as Monteverde grows in tourism, we hope to spread the word of preservation and give a good example of what is possible if we all work together.

Josué Picado comes from a small town in Costa Rica where a sustainable, clean, and green, lifestyle is embraced. Growing up, he spent a lot of time with his friend and his friend’s mom, director of the Monteverde Institute, where they would work on helping the environment around them as well as educating others to do the same. In addition to that, he joined his community with the goal of reforesting different parts of the mountain to help the endangered bellbird have better access to nesting. Although he currently lives in San Jose, he continues to practice sustainable techniques he grew up learning.

To learn more about the institute, click here: https://monteverde-institute.org/Photo of the Monteverde Institute by Selena Avendaño

Peace: An Inside Job

By Richa Sharma,

Peace is perspective. Peace has different meanings for each of us, but at the same time, peace is relative. To me, finding peace is an inside job.

We, all living beings, have this big bowl of energy—our life force. We borrow a little bit of the ever-recycling energy of the universe for our time on this planet and then we again surrender it to Mother Earth when we leave. While here, we share our energies with everything around us: air, water, and soil, plants, animals, and people.

So, when the energy inside us is at peace, we call this “inner peace.” I choose to call it my higher consciousness. My vision of a peaceful future is for everyone to be at peace, both within, and to align our energies together with all. It involves understanding the importance of our relationship with universal matter and to realize the gravity of the universal mind. Only when we are aware of our own reality as a human being, can peace then prevail on earth. Only then we would come to love our planet and everything on it, help it, nurture it, and live in mutual harmony with others.

There are lots of challenges which do not let us do that and a major one starts from the time we are born. We start to build our personality, consciously or unconsciously, starting in childhood. So, anything and everything that happens around us and the way we are treated changes the chemistry of our brain development and overall functioning as we age. If that treatment has taught us fear and resentment then it won't let us connect with our inner self. But we can resolve our past adversity. We need to look within ourselves, observe our behavior and our reactions to things. Only by becoming an observer of our own inner landscape, can we begin to untangle the many knots within our own hearts, piece by piece.

Another challenge to finding peace is our division of society in terms of religion and culture. The thing which should unite us—our faiths—sometimes creates conflict. Religions have existed on this planet for ages. Anything that primal could not have been made with bad intentions. Our faiths are sacred, holy and to be celebrated. One major change which may help us is to teach kids the importance of different cultures, and the commonalities of the distilled wisdom held in holy books of all the religions of the world in their school curriculum. The family will come into guiding their children using these principles, and the children, naturally, in their innocence, will follow this celebration of all that is.

When we see the unity in diversity, then I believe there will be a sense of calm in ourselves, then we can all move together towards peace.

Richa Sharma is from Think Round, Inc., San Francisco. She provides Outreach Technology, Marketing, and Organizational skills to Think Round Fine Arts Gallery. Now, she is also contributing in the digital space to showcase the artworks online and in Virtual Art Exhibitions. Richa is actively involved in different URI, North America, and Global Youth CC initiatives. She was one of the Youth Speakers to visit United Nations early this year to be part of the World Interfaith Harmony Week celebration. She also enjoys public speaking, connecting with people, and writing her journal.

Richa was a featured speaker this year at One Planet Peace Forum. Richa has a YouTube channel, “Event-ful.” Photograph of Golden Gate Bridge by Richa Sharma

What We Need Is Here, Somewhere

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks6C4QkmEWk[/embed]

By Lisa Steele-Maley,

At the end of September, I attended both the BTS Center’s Convocation: Engaged Hope and the OnePlanet Peace Forum. Both events were opportunities to learn from and enter into practice with faithleaders, visionaries, and justice workers. Needless to say, it was thought-provoking and inspiring.

Importantly, the internal and external conversations that continue to resonate from these two conferenceshave been rich and meaningful––I can feel new learning and ideas finding space inside my body andcollaborating with both prior experience and aspiration.

At one point in the weekend, someone quoted from Wendell Berry’s poem “What We Need is Here”.

And we pray, notfor new earth or heaven, but to bequiet in heart, and in eye,clear. What we need is here.

I re-read the entire poem to myself several times over the weekend. My body relaxed into the sacred truththat what we need is always here.

And then, on Sunday, I saw a video of the Pihcintu chorus, a chorus of immigrant and refugee girls basedin Portland, singing “Somewhere”.

Somewhere there’s a place for me. Somewhere.

Watching the girls sing, I could see their innocence, feel their longing, and hear their strength. My ownbody recognized the yearning for community and belonging to the wider web of creation. And Irecognized my simmering anger, frustration, and sadness of the injustice of our world systems. My perfectrootedness here, and my continual longing for connection, are both true.

This paradox of here and somewhere is both delightful and vexing, painful and beautiful, heart-wrenchingand heart-opening. As I hold this paradox and turn it over and over in my mind, I recognize that it isexpanding both my heart and my spirit and that that expansion will benefit all I am and all I do. Here andSomewhere.

After growing up in small towns of New England and Wisconsin, Lisa developed a strong connection to the affirming rhythms of the natural world while working in the mountains and coasts of Alaska and Washington. She currently lives in an aging farmhouse on the coast of Maine with her husband, two teenage sons, and a handful of animals. Lisa was ordained an Interfaith Minister by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME) in June of 2019. She is the author of, Without A Map: A Caregiver’s Journey through the Wilderness of Heart and Mind. Lisa shares reflections regularly at lisa.steelemaley.io

Break Glass In Case of Emergency

By Rev. Seth D. Jones,

Church historians date the beginning of the Protestant Reformation on October 31 st ,1531. October 31 st is celebrated yearly in Protestant churches around the world as the daywhen the Reformation began. Before this day in 1531, there was only the CatholicChurch. Reformation Day is the day we remember Martin Luther, a deeply devotedBenedictine monk and professor, who posted 95 theses on the door of the WittenbergChurch door (the bulletin board of the day). These theses were reasoned statementsbased on Biblical texts which excoriated the Catholic Church, the primary and onlyspiritual power in Europe at that time, over numerous acts such as charging poor peoplefor indulgences (a church tax guaranteeing minimal stays in Purgatory), mistreatmentof church clergy in small towns, misuse of the offices of priest, bishop, cardinal, andPope, and other points of theological and practical concern.

As a result, Martin Luther was brought to trial for heresy and insubordination. Lutherlost his trial and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. However, Germany inthe day was not a single country but a collection of burgs, fiefdoms, and principalities.Many of the princes and lords were not happy with giving so much money to the Vaticanin Rome. These civic leaders rallied around Luther and began to create a motivated blocof financially, nationally, and spiritually motivated followers.

What followed was a many year disassociation from the Catholic Church. What we callthe Protestant Reformation was really a rapid unraveling of control by the CatholicChurch and its political arm, the Holy Roman Empire. This unraveling was fueled byrage against feudal systems still in place, which oppressed the rural and poorpopulations; moralistic campaigns by the Church which singled out the powerless butoverlooked the powerful; and, most of all, the first mass production of writings by theGutenberg Press. The 95 Theses was the first mass produced printing press release inWestern history.

I like to say that Martin Luther saw the beautiful Rose Window in the south transept ofthe Notre Dame Cathedral, found a very large rock, and threw it through the center ofthat window. The 95 Theses, and the fallout that came from it, shattered the ‘unified’Catholic Church into a thousand little pieces. The Protestant movement that shatteringcreated has led to many, many denominations and associations. Like a hologram,though, in each shard of that once unified whole is the reflection of the one truth claimthat ties all Christians together–Jesus buried and resurrected.

Rev. Seth Jones is the pastor of Rockland Congregational Church in Rockland, Maine. He is a Congregational pastor and has also pastored a church in Yellowstone National Park. Before that, Rev. Seth worked in the financial industry for many years, taught Tai Chi Chuan and still does, lived in a commune in Minneapolis, got an MA in Religious Studies, received a BA from a small midwestern Lutheran college in Minnesota, and grew up in western Wisconsin. He is the proud father of a nonbinary trans child who lives in New York City, and is happily married to the woman he met in a college Shakespeare class. Rev. Seth is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics at Portland Seminary.

South Rose Window of Notre-Dame, Paris. Photo by Suaudeau

The Bookends of Life

by Jean Berman,

printed in Expired and Inspired, Nov 21, 2018

The call came from a woman I liked and had learned from: would I consider participating in a Taharah –a what? Someone had died and she was spearheading a new initiative to offer the traditional Jewishceremony of purification. I was hesitant but open, and after more conversation decided I would give it atry. I felt unsure – what would it be like to cleanse a dead body? Would there be a smell? Could I handleit, or would I want to leave?

The woman who had called me led the team as we met together in a room of a local funeral home. Sheasked for questions and feelings, which we discussed. When we were ready, our leader set a sacred toneinto which I relaxed. Praying to the soul of the deceased woman, we let her know our intention of offeringhonor, respect, and comfort, and asking forgiveness in advance for anything we did or didn’t do thatmissed the mark. That was reassuring.

The sights and smells of the funeral home were unfamiliar and felt challenging. What was I doing there?As one woman was directed to begin reading the prayers for the ceremony, the rest of us gently, and withreverence began to prepare the body of the deceased. The liturgy was mostly unfamiliar to me. We wereall learning. We debriefed afterwards, talking about and giving thanks for the opportunity. I left with deepgratitude for the sacredness of the experience.

During my second Taharah, I found myself feeling how much this was like welcoming a newborn babywith tenderness and care. I imagined and wished that all those in the process of dying and everyone onEarth could have this experience. I sent wishes of peace and blessing out to those in the dying processeverywhere, that they might feel held, comforted, and honored. I had a deep sense within that I was bornto do this work.

Over time the spiritual experiences of Taharah and Shmirah (staying with the body of a deceased personbefore burial) have deepened for me. I have immersed myself in learning and sharing aspects of thesesacred traditions with others.

Berman, Jean, is an Interfaith Minister ordained by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine. She is president of Kavod v'Nichum, meaning Honor and Comfort, a resource for Jewish end of life rituals. She currently coordinates volunteers for Constellation hospice in parts of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Jean is a lover of ceremony and cycles, and lives on Peaks Island, Maine. She has buttons on her backpack.

Candle Photo by Brian Lary

And The Rains Came...

By Rev. Dr. Mary Gelfand,

And the rains came.

Not wild and crazy rains—thunder and lightning bumbling around thehouse—sky split open again and again—trembling dog pressed against myleg.

Not brief ephemeral showers descending from a passing cloud, almost asan afterthought—bright sunlight pouring between raindrops.

Long slow steady rains—softly sweet—gently caressing—exchanges oflove between earth and sky.

Maple and oak, cedar and pine—perk up—shake newly washedleaves—and drink deeply of the gift.

Rose and goldenrod, day lily and black-eyed Susan—lift ecstatic facesheavenward to be blessed.

Fruits plump before our very eyes—sweet and tart and moist and luscious.

Ponds and streams welcome their kin, gathering drops from far afield intotransient forms of ebb and flow.

Air, washed clean of dust and dirt, assumes a softer aspect—blurred edgesand hazy hues dwell under the canopy of clouds.

Mother Earth sighs and relaxes into the tender embrace of her lover.

Rev. Dr. Mary Gelfand is an ordained Interfaith Minister, a gifted teacher, and Wiccan High Priestess. She teaches and writes on the topics of feminist spirituality, Tarot, and Earth-centered spiritual paths. She resides in Wells with her husband Mark, two cats, and a forest full of birds, chipmunks, and other mysteries of life. You can see more of her writings at weavingthestars.blogspot.com.

Rain photo by Julia Tikhonova

The Morning Glories

By Helen Rousseau,

Sitting with morning gloriesin my gardenas before an altar of hope,a sacred moment.

I’ve planted morning glorieswherever I’ve lived in Maine.Being with them,I experience a holy calm.

They look at me,and seem to say:“All is right in the world Helen,all is right in the world.

Right here right now,this moment when youare totally present,nothing else matters.

The world around you can berotating in a vortexthat is self-defeating.Let it do that.

Just be here. Absorbthe beauty we offer you,the peace and wholeness you feelwhenever you sit with us.

And don’t forget us when theseason is over.Remember what happenswhen we are together.

Remember. Trust thatnext summer we willmeet again, in this garden,where hope begins.

Helen Rousseau is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She was a Catholic nun for thirty years and spirituality has always been central to her life. The transition from nun to Interfaith Minister was a very long journey but to paraphrase T. S. Eliot: After all our exploring, we arrive where we started and though it is familiar, it is totally new. Helen is the author of Coming to The Edge; Fifty Poems for Writing and Healing. She leads writing classes using her book and has witnessed deep healing from the writing process, in herself and in her students. This book is also used by many therapists with their clients. She is presently working on a new book of poetry called Poems for a World on Fire. She reads one of these poems every Wednesday on Facebook. Her website is under renovations but she can be reached on Facebook.

Morning Glory photograph by Helen Rousseau

It's Hard Right Now

By Sarah Siegel,

It’s hard right now. As I prepare for homeschooling our two youngest; try to decide what school scenario is best for our almost-15-year-old; support the kids and keep them occupied when their summer has been anything but normal; get my small business off the ground; maintain a part-time workload; do a practicum in Motivational Interviewing for groups; manage the house and the yard and garden; manage my health which is unreliable; connect and invest in my relationship with my husband in a mindful and intentional way; try to make time for writing; make healthy meals; tend to my kids’ emotional and mental health struggles as the changes from the pandemic have effected them all...

It’s a huge amount to manage. I’ve found that if I sacrifice my need to continue learning and growing professionally for being home with the kids 100%, I end up in a bad place. I am someone who needs to keep learning and growing and feeling like I have a way to do that in the world.

It’s hard.

I continue to find solace in a mindfulness practice centered on radical self-love and heart-opening work. I continue to do my best to welcome in each moment, no matter what it holds, whether it be pleasure, pain, or anything in between. I continue to work on forgiving myself for being imperfect and messy and for struggling with procrastination and anxiety. I continue to try and love others better and better each day and to not get lost in the sea of fear that seems to surround me—whether through politics, social media or the voices of the struggling people I have the honor of walking beside as they take their own healing journeys.

It takes intention and effort to refocus my attention on the abundance I have in my life, on the gratitude I have for all the material spiritual and emotional gifts I have, instead of constantly feeling a sense of lack.

I remember Einstein’s words often:“We can not solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Fear, worry, shame, hate, anger are not the tools I want to use to solve the problems in my life. They certainly crop up at times in my mind, but I don’t want to get swept up in them. I work hard on returning to love. And there is much work to do.

How are you managing during these crazy times, when the earth shifts beneath our feet and the landscape of our lives continues to change in dramatic and often scary ways? How are you keeping your feet firmly on the path of love instead of fear and hate? How are you getting by? May today be a day that brings some new awarenesses and expanded love. May youeach be well.

Rev. Sarah Siegel was Ordained as an Interfaith Minister through ChIME in 2013. Currently, she also works as a Recovery Coach, Mindfulness Meditation Coach, and Writer.

Sarah has been in recovery from Opioid Use Disorder and Substance Use Disorder since 2007 and from working in the sex industry since 2003. Given this, much of her writing centers on healing from addiction and trauma. Sarah writes regularly for Recovery Journey Magazine and has been published in Lion’s Roar Magazine as well.

In her spare time, Sarah enjoys being with her three children, meditating, and reading. She also enjoys public speaking, finding ways to tell her story of recovery, and challenging the stigma around Substance Use Disorder.

Love photograph by Maciej Pawlik

Radical Gratitude

By Robert Shetterly,

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a native American botanist, writer, storyteller, and visionary of the way all of us need to live if we would prefer to survive on this planet and live in harmony with nature and with each other. By way of mediation, I offer here a few quotes from her most widely read book, Braiding Sweetgrass:

“Philosophers call this state of isolation and disconnection ‘species loneliness’—a deep, unnamed sadness stemming from estrangement from the rest of Creation, from the loss of relationship. As our human dominance of the world has grown, we have become more isolated, more lonely, when we can no longer call out to our neighbors.”

In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or natural resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, the source of all that sustained us. Our lands were where our responsibility to the world was enacted, sacred ground. It belonged to itself; it was a gift, not a commodity, so it could never be bought or sold.”

“... while expressing gratitude seems innocent enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a radical idea. Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives on creating unmet desires. Gratitude cultivates an ethic of fullness, but the economy needs emptiness.”

“If citizenship is a matter of shared beliefs, then I believe in the democracy of species. If citizenship means an oath of loyalty to a leader, then I choose the leadership of the trees. If good citizens agree to uphold the laws of the nation, then I choose natural law, the law of reciprocity, or regeneration, of mutual flourishing.”

In January 2002, in response to the Bush Administration’s propaganda for the invasion of Iraq, I began painting the series of portraits called Americans Who Tell the Truth. I had never painted realistic portraits before, but to save myself from the deep cynicism and alienation I had fallen into, I needed to surround myself with people I admired, people who made me feel good about this country, people who had struggled to close the violent gap between what we profess our values to be and what we do. I’ve now painted over 250 portraits which travel to schools, colleges, museums, libraries & churches all over the country. I have been amazed at the response to a project which began as personal art therapy and equally amazed by the people I’ve found to paint whom, until I began, I had never heard of. —Robert Shetterly, americanswhotellthetruth.org

Robert is a featured speaker this year at One Planet Peace Forum. This year’s OPPF event will take place on Zoom from 3-5 pm on September 25, 26, and 27. oneplanetpeaceforum.org

Painting of Robin Wall Kimmerer by Robert Shetterly

Shaping Peace Together

By Dot Maver,

We live in the midst of shifting times and the world is beginning to organize in a new way. World Unity Week was a demonstration of this in 2020 as networks and groups from around the world came together in the spirit of cooperation, unity and peace. That stream then merged with the 100 day countdown to the International Day of Peace, September 21st: Shaping Peace Together. Hiroshima- Nagasaki 75 was a powerful global observance, and on August 9th BlackSonDay was hosted by the UnGun Institute. One Planet Peace Forum will feature peacebuilders from around the world September 25 – 27, 2020. Together we are realizing the Culture of Peace as we build a world that works for everyone.

In the midst of it all, Global Silent Minute is often called to observe a sacred minute of silence dedicated to global cooperation, peace and freedom, with an intentional focus according to the event. We began on December Solstice 2019 at 9 pm GMT, continue a daily rhythm, and are building momentum to December Solstice 2020.

The Global Silent Minute was inspired by the original Big Ben Silent Minute. In 1917 Wellesley Tudor Pole was with a fellow British officer on a battlefield just outside Jerusalem. The officer shared with Tudor Pole that he had a vision in which he knew he would not survive the war but Tudor Pole would and, indeed, live to see “a greater…conflict…fought out in every continent and ocean and in the air.”

He urged Tudor Pole to provide an opportunity for him, and millions like him, to assist from the “other side.” He said, “Lend us a moment… [each day] and through your Silence give us an opportunity. The power of Silence is greater than you know.” He died on the battlefield the next day.

Twenty-three years later in 1940 Wellesley Tudor Pole realized how to meet his colleague’s request. London was being bombed and he initiated the Big Ben Silent Minute. Each night at 9 pm Big Ben would sound the bells and the BBC radio would go silent for one minute. The British Commonwealth of Nations participated everywhere.

After the war ended, a high-ranking German Officer acknowledged that they had no defense against the Allies’ “secret weapon”—the Silent Minute—preceded by the striking of Big Ben at nine each evening.

Tudor Pole later asked: “How long will it take for our Leaders to realize that the full use of spiritualweapons is essential if we are to survive, and that material weapons alone will bring either disaster orstalemate?”

Let us continue to use Silence as Action in sacred unity with one another and with those on the other side of the veil as we hold the intention of healing and peace; as we intentionally support policies and regulations that reflect our essential divinity; as we walk together the Path of Beauty.

May we know in our hearts that human security is not based on war and fighting. Human Security is based on peace, living in right relationship with self, others, and all life, a spirit of cooperation, loving understanding, and sharing. Only as our attitudes shift to realize true human security will we find the social and political will to free the world of nuclear weapons and come together to address climate change through the lens of solutions. May we have the courage, daring and wisdom to walk this path together, uniting our hearts across distance with shared intention. May the Spirit of Peace be spread abroad, in our hearts, through our groups, and throughout the world. May Peace Prevail on Earth. Amen.

globalsilentminute.org

Dot Maver is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is “Inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good.” Dot is a co-founder of the Global Silent Minute, the National Peace Academy USA, River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, and Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures of Peace. She co-facilitates monthly webinars focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals with 2025 Initiative. Dot is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom; is a Fellow with the World Business Academy; a board member with Lifebridge Foundation and Garden of Light; and serves on the International Cities of Peace Advisory Council, the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence Advisory Board, the Shift Network Summer of Peace Wisdom Council; and is an advisor for Compassion Games. From 2005–2007 Dot served as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace.

Dot is a featured speaker this year at One Planet Peace Forum. This year’s OPPF event will take place on Zoom from 3-5 pm on September 25, 26, and 27. oneplanetpeaceforum.org

Peace graphic by Wendy Thompson, Sydney Australia.

Unifying Principles to Live By

By Robert Atkinson, PhD,

Every spiritual epoch has its own Ten Commandments, or Beatitudes, that characterize the spirit of that age, or the essence of spiritual truth for that time. The distinguishing principle, central theme, and incontrovertible truth of our time is that humanity is one family.

All the world’s religious and spiritual traditions share the vision of peace on Earth. This will be the culmination of many centuries of the evolution of consciousness guiding us toward unity, interdependence, and wholeness. Principles that can direct a universal effort toward this vision are coming into clearer focus. Upon this foundation of unity and wholeness must be added a framework consisting of:

• equality between women and men;
• balance between wealth and poverty;
• harmony between science and spirituality;
• freedom from all forms of prejudice;
• justice that is unitive, not punitive;
• truth that is independently discovered;
• education that is universal; and,
• nature that is protected as a divine trust.

These unifying principles are so interconnected that the realization of one depends upon the realization of all the others. Each one is also a prerequisite for humanity to live as one family. When these principles are lived out in our lives, when we see all things with the eye of oneness, we will fulfill the age-old vision of peace on Earth.

We can bring this vision into being, complete the process of global transformation already underway, and solve the most challenging issues of our time, all by applying the spiritual principle most closely aligned with a particular social need.

Unity of purpose is central to the evolutionary impulse; its fulfillment depends upon what is going on inside our minds. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin reminded us, “Unity grows... only if it is supported by an increase of consciousness, of vision.” The goal is unity within the diversity that will always exist everywhere. The evolution of human consciousness will reach its fullest extent when humanity reflects the perfect unity, wholeness, and harmony that already exists in all the diversity of Creation.

Excerpted from Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future (Simon & Schuster, September 1, 2020), which features chapters by 43 thought leaders. Click here to learn more and to order.

Robert Atkinson, PhD, developmental psychologist, is the author or editor of nine books, including, Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future (2020); the 2017 Nautilus Book Award winner The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness; Year of Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969 (2019); Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul’s Story (2012), and The Gift of Stories (1995). He is professor emeritus at the University of Southern Maine, an internationally recognized authority on life story interviewing and personal mythmaking, a board member of the Abbey of Hope, a member of the Evolutionary Leaders, and founder of One Planet Peace Forum. www.robertatkinson.net

The Road Out

James A. Weathersby,

Exodus 1:8-2:10 Psalm 124 Romans 12:1-8 Matthew 16:13-20

As I become older, seems my memory goes farther back than anticipates events ahead. Iremember my Old Testament Class, learning that the Books were named for the central character, theTheme, or the pivotal event in the life of the people. Exodus means ‘the road out’, referring specifically tothe Children of Israel coming out form their captivity and 400 years of Slavery in Egypt. We have pivotalexperiences in the life of America: The Revolution, the World Wars, the Suffragette Movement, the CivilRights Struggle/Movement. Now our Nation, along with and the World, are experiencing the GlobalPandemic of the Novel Covid Virus and varying Civil Unrest. I wonder what history will call thesemoments in time? Whatever the name, I am confident we as the human species, will learn, adapt andmature thru these discomforting events together. That is the Nature of life; we shall find the road out ofthis mayhem. Scriptures confirm this continually; humanity has persisted through the toughest of eventsand experiences in History.

In the first half of the holy Bible, we find recorded in the second Book of the Old Testament,these words in Exodus, “When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and shetook him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”(Vs.10) This is the memory of the Children coming out form their captivity in Egypt, lead by the delivererMoses. His name is his resume, given to him by the daughter of Pharaoh ‘because I drew him out of thewater’. In the Middle Eastern cultures, names say something about your character, your heritage or yourfuture. The power of his name comes from his circumstance; Moses was born a slaves’ son among slavesin Egypt, who were condemned to death by the Pharaoh. His order to the midwives was clear, “SoPharaoh commanded all his people saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, andevery daughter you shall save alive” (Vs.22). To disobey the Pharaoh is punishable by death; theconditions Moses is born under are cruel. His circumstances are like today; the disenfranchised people arecaptive to their conditions beyond their resources because of the abusive politics in fear and power. ButGod is here.

Despite the edits commanding the destruction of the male babies born to the Hebrew slaves,Moses’ parents refuse to obey. The Hebrew Midwives Shiphrah and Puah refuse to obey; their namesmentioned as people of honor and respect by God (Vs.15). The babies are supposed to be thrown into theriver, another representative of a deity of the Egyptians. When this good-looking baby becomes too old toconceal, his mother constructs a basket, daubed with ‘asphalt and pitch’ (crude oil) to make it waterproof(2:3). This ‘mini ark’ with the baby inside, is placed among the reeds along the shoreline, with his oldersister watching him, “to know what would be done to him” (Vs.4). This situation is rife with thepotential for destruction; alligators, hippos, water asps, and the current harsh culture could lead to disaster.But God is gracious in every situation where people of faith obey. Despite the harsh culture of WWII,enslaved Jews and concealing Christians survived the Holocaust. African Americans survived the MiddlePassage and Slavery, ‘Jim Crow’ and Segregation Laws. LGBTQ communities survived the restrictiveCity Laws and the diagnoses and treatments of the DSM criteria. The road out of cruelty is long but leadsto freedom. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, butit bends toward justice.” Change takes a long time, but it does happen. There will be a road out in time.

Novel Virus Covid, Black Lives Matter Movement, Climate Change and Civil Unrest, everyoneis looking for relief from this mayhem. The Word from God is the same today as it was centuriesago...there will be a road out. Remain faithful to the Causes of Justice, Mercy and Humility (Micah 6:8).Pax

The Rev. James A. Weathersby M.Div., BCC was born in Chicago, product of a dedicated single mother and the Public-School system. He is a genetic Baptist and a historic Democrat; spirituality in his veins for generations. His family valued Education and the Black church; there are four generations of ministers in his family, serving as Pastors of congregations and Chaplains in Institutions. His Bachelors of Arts came from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois from the Reformed Churches of America tradition. His Masters of Divinity Degree (specialty in Pastoral Care and Counseling) came from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary of Louisville Kentucky, from the Southern Baptist tradition. His professional career as a Chaplain includes serving populations in Hospitals, Hospice, both Men’s and Women’s Corrections (Death Row Chaplain) in several Midwestern states. His time in Maine has included Chaplaincy at a Youth Development Center, Pastor to an island congregation and lately, Chaplain (II) of the State Forensic and civil Psychiatric Center. He has been honored to be married for 27 years and enjoy writing, yoga, and reading.

Moving Forward, painting by Valerie A. Clemons.

Melancholy on a Mountain

By Oggie Williams,

A few weeks ago—don’t weeks seem more like months in pandemic time?—Peggy and I went to Acadia for a few days. We were there when the park reopened for the first time after its covid-19 closure. Acadia was both amazing and weird. I felt like a character from a Twilight Zone episode, the wonder-struck guy wandering a once-crowded environment now depopulated by a nuclear bomb or some other catastrophe. The air was incredibly clear and clean, the roads nearly empty, the trails largely people-free. Places in the park where normally it’s, “be there by ten in the morning or there won’t be any parking spots left,” were empty but for two or three cars.

On our last day in Acadia we were hiking Pemetic Mountain and I realized I felt a deep sense of melancholy. I was in a beautiful place with Peggy, I have much to be thankful for, I wondered why I felt so sad. Well, I thought, I’ll just walk on and feel the sadness. I started taking photographs with my iPhone, trying to capture images that reflected my melancholy. The photograph above is one of them.

Eventually, I intuited what I think was the cause of my sadness: For weeks I had been behaving in a cautious, old man kind of way because of the pandemic. I viewed the world as a place of risk and danger, a place where my main priority was to remain safe. That’s not a life affirming approach and I think my spirit was protesting.

I am in no way suggesting I then decided to become a no-mask pandemic denier. But I did decide I’ve got to watch myself, consciously try to avoid becoming a fearful, brittle person. Somehow, I need to nourish the flexible and “green” qualities of a person who is still growing, still changing, still engaging with the wonders of life and existence. I don’t want to be so cautious about protecting my life that I end up killing the life that is in me. That would be a sorry state of affairs and sadness would be a reasonable response. That’s what I’m trying to do these days, being still careful but at the same time curious and absorbed by the miracle of living.

Oggie Williams graduated, with his wife Peggy, fromChIME in 2014. Until recently he worked as a per dieminterfaith chaplain at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

The Spiritual Two-Step

By Philip Goldberg,

In the late 1960s I was an idealistic student who wanted to change the world. I directed more of my energy to the civil rights and antiwar movements than to my classwork. I was also confused, anxious, and worried about my own life. I was on a quest for answers to the Big Questions: Who am I? What is my place in society? In the cosmos? How do I find meaning and happiness?

In the midst of this turmoil, I was drawn to the books about Eastern spiritual traditions that circulated in the counterculture. This attraction seemed odd to those who knew me, because, like my parents, I proclaimed that religion was the opium of the people. But the core precepts of Hinduism and Buddhism seemed somehow rational, pragmatic, and empirical. I liked that they were meant to be applied, not believed in without the validation of personal experience. I remember a turning point. Shortly after I moved to Boston, someone suggested I go see the Temple Room in the Museum of Fine Arts. I found myself alone in a small, quiet gallery with statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. I walked slowly from statue to statue, transfixed by the serene, unflappable, perfectly contented expressions on the faces, and had this thought: “Whatever those guys had, I want it.”

I wanted inner peace. I wanted joy. I wanted what was promised in the Bhagavad Gita: “equanimity in gain and loss, victory and defeat, pleasure and pain.” I took up meditation. I learned other yogic practices. I studied all the mystical traditions. I still wanted to change the world, but now I was convinced that the route to social betterment would come from changing individual hearts, minds, and souls. I became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation to help facilitate that transformation. Later, I tried to do the same as a professional writer.

Now, five decades on, the world seems just as insane as it was in 1968. I’m as certain as ever that enduring social change has to be an inside job. But it’s also clear that personal transformation is not enough. The times call for engaged spiritual citizenship. I call it the Spiritual Two-Step: go within to the source of goodness, wisdom, compassion, stillness, and love; then step out better equipped to add a measure of healing to the broken world. Every contribution counts. As the Buddha said, “Even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel.”

Philip Goldberg is an Interfaith Minister, public speaker, and author whose numerous books include the award-winning American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West; The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru, and his latest, Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times: Powerful Tools to Cultivate Clarity, Calm and Courage. He blogs on Elephant Journal and Spirituality & Health, cohosts the popular Spirit Matters podcast, and leads American Veda Tours to India. His website is www.PhilipGoldberg.com.

Phillip is a featured speaker this year at One Planet Peace Forum. This year’s OPPF event will take place on Zoom from 3-5 pm on September 25, 26, and 27. oneplanetpeaceforum.org

Picture of Philip by Daniel Jackson.

The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative: A Call to Religious Communities to Help Protect our Rainforests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYB_Ji0Zcc&feature=youtu.be

By Audrey E. Kitagawa, JD,

We are all beginning to understand more deeply, the importance of rectifying our mismanagement of our environment. In 10-15 years, we may reach a tipping point of mass extinction of numerous species, caused by humans, that poses a huge risk to our own survival. We are eroding the capabilities of the planet to maintain human life and life in general which will unleash the failure of ecosystems, destabilize economies, and governments, and trigger famine and refugee crises.

In order to stem this crises there has to be an immediate halt to deforestation, and a complete reform of the wildlife trade that will replace sustainability over profits. A strong call must be made to reduce human enterprise, especially our consumption demands on the biosphere, and create tools for educating and activating the public about this unfolding extinction.

I felt a personal sense of urgency to raise awareness about this impending crises, and helped to create this video with Dr. Jane Goodall,  Dr. Charles  McNeil and Vicky Tauli-Corpuz and myself to highlight the important work of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative. Communities of faith working together as the moral, spiritual voices which are shared in these valuable tools created by the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative can  educate the public and mobilize our respective communities to actively participate in stemming this crises.

Importantly, the nexus between the pandemic that we are currently facing and our increasing incursions into the rainforests is creating greater levels of animal to human pathogenic transfers that are unleashing harmful zoonotic diseases that are spreading globally. Communities of faith have a critical role to play in helping us to return to right relationship with our environment and honor the sacredness of life in its myriad of manifestations.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Audrey E. Kitagawa, JD, is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World's Religions, and the President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, and a former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict at the United Nations. She is the current Chair of the UN Task Force of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. parliamentofreligions.org/

Audrey Kitagawa is a featured speaker this year at One Planet Peace Forum. This year’s OPPF event will take place on Zoom from 3-5 pm on September 25, 26, and 27. oneplanetpeaceforum.org

One Planet Peace Forum

By Lori Whittemore,

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”

—John F. Kennedy

How do we create peace? How do we go about the process of eroding old barriers and building new structures? These are questions people of faith ask themselves. For those of us with children and grandchildren, these questions carry special meaning as we want to see our descendants inherit a world in which war and its underlying root causes of poverty, separation, and injustice, have become obsolete.

Here at the Abbey of Hope, an interfaith cooperation circle nestled within the framework of the United Religions Initiative (URI), our Leadership Council decided to contribute something positive to the conversation about peace. URI is a global grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities and the world. A few years ago, URI created a bioregional grant to promote interfaith events. The Abbey of Hope has been fortunate enough to receive a grant to launch the Piscataqua Peace Forum as we planned an in-person event at Green Acres, on the banks of the Piscataqua River.

Our planning team began our process over a year ago. The program was developed to feature important peace builders and truth tellers from different faith traditions and peace organizations and was originally scheduled for the last week in September—close to the International Day of Peace.

Sadly, as a result of the Covid-19 situation, the in-person forum has had to be postponed until September 24-26 of 2021. With that in mind we have worked to create a virtual event that will include many of our guest speakers sharing short presentations to start conversations and actions that lead up to the full event scheduled for 2021. We also decided to change the name to reflect a more global identity. Our new name is One Planet Peace Forum (OPPF). This year’s OPPF event will take place on Zoom from 3-5 pm on the 25, 26, and 27 of September.

Join us to hear Audrey Kitagawa, Chair of Parliament of World Religions; Victor Kazanjian, Chair of United Religions Initiative; Kurt Johnson; Layli Miller Muro; Swami Tyagananda; Philip Hellmich; Dot Maver; Mohammad Al Samawi; David Ragland; and Robert Shetterly begin our conversation about creating peace.

Please visit the website oneplanetpeaceforum.org to learn more about this year’s launch and to register.

Lori Whittemore a spiritual care volunteer for the American Red Cross and Maine Behavioral Health, as well as the founder and director of Abbey of Hope and Clinical Pastoral Training Center of Southern Maine (CPTCSM). Through CPTCSM she trains chaplains and pastoral care givers with today’s varied religious and spiritual landscape in mind. Rev. Whittemore approaches interfaith ministry from her Christian background and training as well as her interfaith education at Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.

OPPF banner design by Lindy Gifford

My Friend is Dying

By Rev. Richard L Bennett,

My friend is dying.In slow increments his working partsare rusting out like an old New England car.Whoops, there goes a pathway of circulation,Swoosh, there goes the rhythm of his speechto the far place where I will always miss his laughter.Damn!He writes to me now, his hand so shaky,a hand which can no longer bring me to my kneesin the ritual greeting of men.

My friend is dying.He used to be able to smell the fishbeneath the shadows at the darkside of the lake.Why he could hear the echo of a starstooping in free-fall across the northern sky.He used to be able to walk all day without complaintand tell lies with the best of them.Now he drools from a stroke-stiff lip;he catches his own spittleon his lap with a towel.His eyes are eternally damp with memoryas frustration clamps tight his gifts of expression.

My friend is dying.But together we found laughter today.We shared memories on a yellow padof a place we both have known and loved.We talked of the reservoir’s shineon the steep hill just northwestof the river where he used to fish each springa mile or so down from his old house.From out of the place of his silence,a half-grin ascended, as memory,just for a moment or two,overcame his headlights dimming.

My friend is dying.  I love him in the way of men.We punch each other in the arm.We share a knowing look or two.We don’t say overmuch.We pass the time in silence, or within memory,grateful for the moments remaining.

Dick Bennett has a bit of high mileage in several work/study areas. In addition to teaching and public-school admin, serving as Protestant Ecumenical Chaplain at University of Connecticut, he appreciates the privilege of serving as an ordinary United Church of Christ pastor for 30+ years. He holds special interests in hiking, animal tracking, mentoring, chaplaincy, the Enneagram/Myers Briggs, and writing. His 1993 BMW motorcycle has over 103,000 miles of joyous adventures of wandering and wondering.

Derelict car photo by Patti Black

All Will Be Well, Little Fawn

By Lindy Gifford

A doe deer has been visiting our yard. Browsing on the tall grass that boarders the woods and even venturing down the mown path, eying our garden. I’ve been wondering if she had a fawn hidden safe in the woods, which she does not take on these risky expeditions into human territory.

Last Tuesday there was very heavy rain over a short period of time in Midcoast Maine, where I live, and several places on the road to South Bristol washed out. In the evening as the rain slowed, I walked down to the stream behind our house to witness it roaring down it's little valley and flooding all the low land around it. Then I heard it. I knew immediately what that sound was—the heart-rending sound of a child crying for her Mama.

When I followed the sound, I found a young fawn, all alone, and she was crying piteously. I think the doe I had seen earlier that day was her mother and I think they were separated by the flooding stream. The fawn saw me and stopped crying. She took a few tentative steps toward me, as if to say, “Can you help me?” but then thought better of it and bounced back into the woods. I said a prayer for her and promised to check on her the next day.

When I returned the next morning to where I had seen her, she was gone. The stream was back inside its banks and I think the doe and even the fawn could cross it safely. In the fresh mud where the high water had been, I saw foot prints of a grown deer. I believe the fawn and her mother had been reunited.

It was a notable interaction. Whenever I have such an interaction with animals—or a plant, or even a rock—I sit up and take notice. I try to stop and ponder what has happened and the lessons it might hold for me.

A fawn always speaks to us humans of pure innocence. This little fawn was afraid, separated from her mother. Wondering how she could possibly cross the turbulent stream to get to her. In the Celtic tradition the hind or female deer had access to the fairy kingdom and was a spiritual guide to humans.

These days, the frightened child in me finds it very easy to identify with the fawn, terrified by the turbulence, crying for her mother. But our Mother is there, we may feel we cannot reach her, but she is faithful and will not leave us. The waters will recede and we will be reunited with her. She will come for us and guide us through the troubled waters—if we listen and pay attention to her messengers, like the fawn and her mother. They remind me that I am not lost and I am not alone.



Lindy Gifford is an artist, photographer, graphic designer, creative coach, and writer, ordained an interfaith chaplain in 2015 by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME). A life-long Unitarian Universalist, she is rooted in daily interaction with and connection to the Earth and Creation, as well as the Christian and pre-Christian heritage of her ancestors. She is the author of the Doodle-ography Journal. Her spirit-based practice as a creative coach and publishing consultant is Manifest Identity. Lindy lives on and learns from the Damariscotta River where she and her husband Steve raised two shining daughters.

Fawn photo by Jax

Love Thing

Words and music by Todd Glacy

Click here to listen to the recording

This song came to me during a time of deep introspection (specifically around the death of my mother) and help me to express my thoughts and feelings around the inevitability of change and the reality of impermanence on this physical dimension in which we live. I realized that, for me, accepting an attitude that LOVE is the creative force behind everything allows me to see things in a much broader, kinder and hopeful way. It seems that this is especially important in our current cultural climate. May this song help you see past mere physical appearances and bring you closer to the thing behind all things.....LOVE.

Love Thing

Time goes by,Things live things dieThings come, things goThings pass on and new things grow

And behind it all there is LOVEAnd behind it all there is LOVE

Now things go out, things come inSome things stop and other things beginThings rise, things fallThings can be anything or nothing at all

But behind everything there is one common thingAnd that thing is LOVE

And behind it all there is LOVEYes behind it all there is LOVEBehind everything there is one common thingAnd that thing is LOVEYes behind everything there is one constant thingAnd that thing is LOVE

Rev. Todd Glacy, MA, is an enlightenment advocate, empowerment coach and instigator of Joy! Based in Maine, he travels extensively as a guest presenter (speaker, educator, musician and workshop facilitator) sharing his ministry of Sacred Sound and Living, inspiring and empowering people to live happy, healthy, peaceful and more fulfilling lives. To learn more about Todd, visit www.sacredsoundandliving.com.

Sit Spot

Rev. Mark Gallup,

An important part of my spirituality is experiencing myself as part of Nature. One way that I do this is through a daily routine called the Sit Spot. The term was coined by Jon Young of the Wilderness Awareness School and is well described in his book What the Robin Knows. It is an important part of the learning that White Pine Programs—where I serve as an elder ministering to kids - provides as part of its Nature education program for children and adolescents.

The Sit Spot is an outdoor place to which I consistently go every day regardless of weather. I sit comfortably, coffee in hand, for about thirty minutes. I quiet my mind, undergo a breathing exercise to align my body, mind, and soul, and observe and listen. I attune to the natural world and observe with my full vision and listen intently to the sound of Nature, with “owl eyes” and “deer ears” as Young puts it. I sense the Life Force that is all about me in the trees, the birds, the animals, all things seen and the spirits unseen.

In this difficult time of economic instability, COVID-19, and structural racism in our society, the Sit Spot has become an increasingly important refuge in a turbulent world where the Life Force sometimes seems absent or overwhelmed by the poisonous power of the overculture. This is important. I need that Life-Force recharge I receive at my Sit Spot. It empowers me to hope again. With that hope I can take the Life Force with me out into a world dominated by toxic patriarchy and work with others to bring political, economic, and social justice for all.

So I encourage all of you to find a place outdoors where you can spend time in Nature, say fifteen minutes to start. It doesn’t have to be wilderness to do this; your backyard or nearby park will do. And time of day is immaterial, especially if you have a full time job, though I find that morning is best. Bring a journal and a beverage and move your spiritual practice outside for some or all of your days. You will find that it makes a difference.

The Rev. Mark Gallup is a Pagan high priest, interfaith minister, spiritual seeker, mystic, and diviner of the Natural World. Mark has been a practicing Pagan for over thirty years. He is a graduate of the College of Wicca and Old Lore as well as being trained in Feri. Mark was ordained in 2013 as an interfaith minister by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine. Along with his wife, Mary Gelfand, he leads Earth-centered spiritual events and serves as an elder and a member of the board of directors for White Pine Programs in York, ME.