All things are connected spiritually
Vancouver Spirituality Conference
April 2007
A Glimpse of the Himalayas from Vancouver
Mitakuye
Oyasin, a conference on
spirituality and an “extended Sabbath” took
place in Vancouver in British Columbia from April the
16th
to
April the 27th,
2007. The phrase, Mitakuye
Oyasin is a Lakota
phrase and conveys the meaning that all things are
connected spiritually. The idea of the idea of this
extended Sabbath was to gather Brothers, friends and
associates from the Edmund Rice Network around the world to
explore together just how true this reality actually is.
The event was a wonderful success and a marvellous
experience for anyone lucky enough to be a participant.
Inevitably, Vancouver, with its snow-capped peaks and
spectacular coastline added to the event in no small
measure.
The nine days fell into three parts of three days each. The
first three days looked at cosmology, concern for the earth
and the spirituality of one of North America’s First
Nations. There was the chance to create story beads, learn
about the medicine wheel and experience sacred rituals such
as the ritual of the peace pipe. The second three days
looked at aspects of Buddhist, Islamic and Judaic
spirituality and the last three days looked at Christian
spirituality, the practice of centering prayer and the
relationship between religion and spirituality. As all of
this was going on, a resident musician offered help to turn
prose and poetry into song and resident artists encouraged
the faint-hearted to dabble in colour, shape and form.
About seventy-five people took part in this extended
Sabbath and they, of course, created their own unique
dynamic. As a Network, we seem to have developed a very
happy knack of getting on particularly well with each other
when we gather. Within a day, old friendships were renewed,
new friendships were formed and there was an undeniable
excitement and vibrancy.
People were challenged in all kinds of ways and both
questions and insights came thick and fast. Comfort zones
were transcended and the proverbial envelope was pushed as
we sang, chanted, danced, swirled like dervishes, amazed
ourselves with musical composition and engaged, child-like,
in art. Something was being brought to birth. So, what was
being brought to birth, and how could it be translated into
significant activity by the Brothers and the Edmund Rice
Network around the world? On this extended Sabbath, what
were we celebrating?
For me personally, the experience of Mitakuye
Oyasin first of
all raised a number
of issues and challenges, reflection on which could lead to
something new, something that would meets the needs of
people and of Church today. These issues and challenges
were around consciousness, or, awareness, faith sharing,
prayer, inter-faith relationships, cosmology and care of
the earth, compassion and justice, language and tradition.
You expect a spiritual gathering to heighten consciousness
and Mitakuye
Oyasin did just that.
The raising of one’s level of consciousness, if it is
not actually the trigger of a spiritual awakening, is
certainly, at the very least, its first demand. It is
always relevant, after all, to question the level of
one’s awareness around God’s presence,
relationships with others, the delusions I harbour about
myself, the assumptions that I make and live daily and my
grasp of what are truly important issues for our
time. Mitakuye
Oyasin offered
plentiful opportunities for doing all of this. People were
challenged to widen their horizons and it was just
wonderful to be part of a group where this challenge was
being met with intent and where it was being wholly
enjoyed. Draw a picture or compose a song when you have
never done so before. Listen attentively to a viewpoint
radically different from your own. Hear a personal story
that inspires you, offers you affirmation, or sets you back
on your heels with a very uncomfortable question to ponder.
Confront your ego when it looks for attention, sets
limitations, raises objection, complains that it is
misunderstood, or unappreciated, or is simply not getting
its own way. These are ways of raising consciousness
and Mitakuye
Oyasin offered ample
encouragement and companionship to engage in the task.
Faith sharing and the sharing of life experience do go hand
in hand. There was encouragement to do both and to explore
spirituality and the link between the two. The wonder is
that the chance to do this is for many of us a rarity. We
readily and justifiably acknowledge the power of a story
such as that of Edmund Rice but seem less willing to
recognise the power of our own stories when they are humbly
told and respectfully received. This seems strange when we
consider that we belong to a Church that seeks to create
community and anchors its identity in the exhortation of
Jesus that we love one another. Do we need to do more faith
sharing within the Edmund Rice Network? Well, I know what
my answer to this question is.
Prayer was also central to the Mitakuye
Oyasin experience.
There were many types of prayer. We prayed with chant. We
prayed with gracious movement. There was song. There was
the breaking of bread. Most of all, there was silence. The
silence took the form of centering prayer, which precisely
because of the hustle, bustle and, often, the deafening
noise of our times, is a prayer for our times. Most
participants, I am sure, had experienced centering prayer
before, but for some, it must have been a new experience.
Being introduced to centering prayer can change a
person’s life and it is not difficult to provide
people with an introduction. Centering prayer also fits
well with any attempt to raise one’s level of
consciousness and its fruits can easily be traced in our
actions, in our interactions and in our relationships.
All things are connected spiritually and the faith sharing
and prayer during this extended Sabbath were across a
variety of faiths. There was wonder in coming to realise on
an experiential level that we are actually all on the same
journey. The learning seemed to be that though theology can
divide, the experience of God and the mystery of God
unites. Regardless of how we might articulate our belief in
God, the articulation of our experience exposes common
ground. This is never more evident than when we share our
insights into the mystery of prayer with each other and
when we pray together. As I have already said, centering
prayer was a key component of the conference and to hear a
Buddhist nun talk about her contemplative tradition and
practice in the same vein as centering prayer had been
presented was a great affirmation. With the snow-capped
Grouse Mountain at our backs, we were getting a glimpse of
the Himalayas. Wherever the high places, east or west,
north or south, God is to be found there.
By way of contrast, difficulties were identified, but, not
with inter-faith and inter-denominational dialogue. Rather,
the difficulties arose from the language that we use within
our own Catholic tradition. So embedded has our language
become that theological, liturgical and even devotional
mores and models, are often confused with dogma and
authentic tradition. This is no new insight but it was
striking to see in Vancouver that we struggle today to say
what we really mean when we find ourselves using, for
example, such instinctively familiar words like God,
Church, incarnation, consecration, redemption, heaven and
hell. Then, why is it that we tend to speak more
comfortably of the breaking of bread than of the sacrifice
of the mass? What are the consequences of such an
apparently simple change in language? How did we get
ourselves into a situation where we actually have to
reclaim a tradition such as the contemplative tradition for
fear that it will be lost? These are not just interesting
questions, they are critical questions. Though not answered
during Mitakuye
Oyasin, they were
certainly asked or implied, so, where are they going to be
answered now? Who will offer an opportunity and a
responsible context so that we can even make a start?
Mitakuye
Oyasin, however, did
not just raise questions. It also made an emphatic
assertion as to what, apart from the ever pressing need for
compassion and justice, is the great issue of our time. For
a gathering focused on the connectedness of all things,
therefore, cosmology and care of the earth had to loom
large. In another event, which took place in Vancouver just
prior to Mitakuye
Oyasin, Brian Swimme
had suggested that the great challenge facing humanity as
we struggle to come to terms with our responsibility for
our planet, was not scientific, or economic, or political,
but spiritual. What I took him to mean was that humanity
has to undergo a complete change in mindset, a radical
turnaround in our perspective on our relationship with the
earth, our relationships with each other and our
relationship with God. That would certainly be a spiritual
revolution, a challenge and task worthy of every youthful
idealist and every adult who believes that each one of us
is on the earth for a purpose and has a spiritual calling,
a vocation. Mitakuye
Oyasin, boldly
confirmed care of the earth as a global issue and as an
essential ingredient in Christian spirituality and in any
contemporary spirituality.
Our extended Sabbath had been a Sabbath celebration and all
the elements of religious celebration were manifest. We had
been reconciled with spiritual seekers from other faiths
and the mutual blasphemies of centuries-old intolerance had
been laid aside. We had broken open many sacred scriptures
and had listened to the Spirit. We had taken and raised up
timeless symbols, among them simple bread and wine, and
seen in them the timelessness of a billion galaxies and of
just one. We had broken the bread, drunk the wine and
communed with one another, with God and with the cosmos. We
had challenged ourselves to launch forth, to continue the
pilgrim journey and to reach out in new ways.
So, where do participants of Mitakuye
Oyasin, go now? How
can we reach out? I would suggest that we have to find a
way to continue the search that we so joyfully engaged in
during our time in Vancouver. An outline as to how we might
do that has been hinted at above. It was the Edmund Rice
Network that gathered us. Can we find ways now, through the
Network to continue to come together, to share faith, to
grow in prayer, to reach across religious boundaries, to
find new theological language, to explore liturgy and to
raise consciousness around the spiritual apathy that
threatens our very existence. Can we initiate a spiritual
revolution among ourselves and among others? We are already
familiar with the idea of basic Christian communities. Can
we form communities along the lines just described? Are we
committed enough to meet on a weekly basis and raise our
levels of personal and communal consciousness? Do we dare
let the Spirit lead us?
The New Life in Mission Group in the European Province has
proposed that the corporate mission of the Brothers in
Europe become the sharing of the spiritual search. Speaking
of Blessed Edmund’s charism they wrote:
We
compromise our inheritance when we fail to listen to the
Spirit.
We honour
our inheritance when we respond to the Spirit of God
with open hearts and when our response is validated by
tradition.
I
believe that the spiritual search was shared eloquently by
those who took part in Mitakuye
Oyasin. I am also
convinced that the Spirit was present during that
unparalleled and extended Sabbath and that we are now
called by the Spirit to share with others the gift that we
have received. By doing so, we will validate our tradition.
We will, in the spirit of Edmund, empower ourselves and
others to respond in love and full consciousness to the
life promptings of the divine. We will make of every day a
Sabbath and of every day a celebration.