Les Deux Plages; Parame et Saint Malo
painted by Clarence Gagnon (1909)
Beaverbrook Art Gallery
The days of summer are a special season for New Englanders, as we know the summer is short and we know what follows. Linda and I just returned from a two week vacation in Newfoundland and we had a marvelous time! It was our first trip to “the rock” and we will carry the experience and memories for years to come. Summer is a good time to take a few days off; relax, reflect, drink cold lemonade and explore travel adventures. It’s a way to restore our inner and outer self. In the next two services I will share reflections and photos from two summer trips; The Beaverbrook Art Gallery Trip that twenty four UUs took to Fredericton earlier this summer and our Newfoundland Trip. The photo in today’s support page, Les Deux Plages; Parame et Saint Melo is one of the paintings we saw at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. It struck me as a refreshing summer painting. Carol Tulpar, a literature professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia had this to say about it.
When Lord Beaverbrook acquired this large and lovely painting from the widow of the beloved French Canadian artist Clarence Gagnon, he promised her it would “hold the place of importance” to which it was “entitled by the genius of the artist.” Painted in 1909, it portrays the dress and customs of the times, including the quaint wheeled cabins people used to don their bathing costumes.
I will share other artwork from the trip, photos of our group and reflections on our day spent together with art, food and camaraderie. There will also be time for those who attended the trip to share some of their experiences. YouTube Channel content for this week
is a service led by Rev. Mary Blocher titled “God Only Knows.” You will find the link for YouTube listed below. Please join us for one of the services this weekend.
In Ministry,
Dave
CONCERT @HOULTON COFFEEHOUSE
August 19, Saturday Evening 7-9 PM
The Cup Cafe, 61 Military Street
Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards
(no admission fee / donations are encouraged)
Houlton Potato Feast Days are here and Houlton Coffeehouse is offering a special concert as part of the festivities. Folk music duo Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards from Webster, Massachusetts will appear on the coffeehouse stage at 7PM Saturday night*.
Mark and Raianne performed at Houlton Coffeehouse several years ago (pre-covid) and we figured it was time to have them back! Read the bio below for more about their unique brand of music and storytelling. We’ll also include a few of their videos on The Cup Cafe Facebook Page.
We have a Judy-Soup on our menu for the evening; potato chowder with a bacon option. It sounds yummy…Check out the menu below for more specials.
Come early for supper and hang out in our naturally air-conditioned space before the show. Cafe doors open at 5:30PM. Bring a friend!!
* since this is a full length concert there will be no open-mic this month
Bio Information:
Little by little, you will get to know Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards through their unmistakable vocal harmonies, poetic lyrics and down-to-earth personae. They are a married musical couple based out of Webster, Massachusetts. These prolific and hard working Massachusetts-based artists have contributed over seventeen albums within their first decade and toured consistently throughout the US and Canada. Their songs poetically reflect personal experiences as factory workers, teachers, community organizers, and natives of post-industrial mill towns in central Massachusetts. The memories of days gone by and toils of history can be better remembered through songs such as “That Old Machine” or “Winds of Change.” Listeners feel refreshed lyrics with references to elements in nature.
Accompanying themselves on guitar, harmonica, ukulele, penny whistle, electric bass, and most uniquely clarinet, their live performances are both musically captivating and spiritually uplifting as audiences are carefully balanced between serious songs and humorous commentary – concert goers will leave feeling a bit more human, as if they have experienced something genuine.
Mark & Raianne are famous among regional fans for their annual Massachusetts Walking Tour which defines them as true troubadours journeying with their instruments and humble voices, from stage to stage, town to town throughout the state on foot each June.
Each summer since 2010, Mandeville & Richards have organized the Massachusetts Walking Tour where they hike the roads and trails of the Commonwealth, more than 100 miles in less than two weeks, in support of the arts in local communities along the way. Each evening they stop over in yet another Massachusetts town, putting on a free concert there, along with local performers and fellow artists who accompany them on their journey. These annual two-week treks raise awareness of the trails and greenways in Massachusetts, including daily public hikes through recreational properties. The Massachusetts Walking Tour has partnered with The National Parks Service, Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), Freedom’s Way, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Trustees, with primary funding through grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council Program.
Check out more info and photos on their website….www.markandraianne.com
See you at the Cup!
Feel the buzz…
MenuPotato Chowder (with a bacon option)served with a homemade burli rollElectric Blue Raspberry Italian Soda with a twist of Lemon
Salted Caramel Latte (hot or cold)
LGBTQ+ Houlton Luncheon
Saturday Noon – August 19
All LGBTQ+ allies are invited to Houlton’s first monthly luncheon at the Houlton Unitarian Universalist basement in the cafe space. Tuna, egg and chicken salad sandwiches and desserts will be provided. Please bring potluck items to add to the meal, but most importantly, bring yourself and possibly a friend. The espresso bar will also be open in The Cup Cafe. Join us!
THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE:
HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE
(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning)
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:
Topic: UUHoulton coffee hour & check-in
Time: Aug 20, 2023 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/87513206672?pwd=eUh4VzZ4SUhkbU8vaXFXejFudTltdz09
Meeting ID: 875 1320 6672
Passcode: 732312
Calendar of Events @UUHoultonAugust 19 Houlton Luncheon LGBTQ+ Adults (12 noon) (potluck) Hosted in the Church BasementAugust 19 Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards Concert 7PM Performance is on the coffeehouse stage (no admission fee, but donations are encouraged)August 20 Sunday Service: Dave HutchinsonAugust 27 Sunday Service: Dave HutchinsonAugust 29 Meditation Group 4PM (online)Sept 3 Sunday Service: Debra FrazierSept 10 Ingathering Service; Water Ceremony
Virtual Offering Plate
If you would like to send in your pledge or donation simply drop an envelope in the mail. The address is listed below. You can also send your donation electronically with our new payment system on the church website. Simply go to uuhoulton.org and click “Donate” on the menu and it will explain how the system works. You can set up a regular monthly payment plan or donate in single transactions. Thank you for your generous support!
UU Church of Houlton61 Military Street
From The New York Times MagazineAugust 13, 2023
The “World’s Happiest Man” Shares His Three Secrets For Lifeby David Marchese
Matthieu Ricard is an ordained Buddhist monk and an internationally best-selling author of books about altruism, animal rights, happiness and wisdom. His humanitarian efforts led to his homeland’s awarding him the French National Order of Merit. (Ricard’s primary residence is a Nepalese monastery.) He was the Dalai Lama’s French interpreter and holds a Ph.D in cellular genetics. In the early 2000s, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that Ricard’s brain produced gamma waves — which have been linked to learning, attention and memory — at such pronounced levels that the media named him “the world’s happiest man.” He was also late for our Zoom, and it was driving me nuts. Didn’t he get my confirmation email? Why hadn’t he emailed to say he was running late? I had deadlines! Tight deadlines! My carefully planned schedule was being shot to hell! Alas, everything turned out fine, as it was always going to. Clearly, I had much to learn about taming the mind. “You should not get quickly discouraged,” said Ricard, whose memoir, “Notebooks of a Wandering Monk,” is forthcoming. “You cannot master playing the piano now. These skills take time.”
OK, so I’ve been meditating twice a day for probably 15 years, and I feel as if it has improved my ability to control my thoughts and emotions instead of letting them control me. But still sometimes I’ll walk by a mirror and have an extreme flash of self-loathing. Or I’ll get all agitated over something stupid, like finding a parking spot. Will that stuff ever go away?
Well, they can. Absolutely. You know, once I was on the India Today Conclave.
They said, “Can you give us the three secrets of happiness?” I said: “First, there’s no secret. Second, there’s not just three points. Third, it takes a whole life, but it is the most worthy thing you can do.” I’m happy to feel I am on the right track. I cannot imagine feeling hate or wanting someone to suffer.
It’s not the best thing to say, but I can easily imagine wanting certain people to suffer. How are we supposed to deal gracefully with our polar opposites in a world that feels increasingly about polarities? I mean, the Dalai Lama could talk to Vladimir Putin all he wants, but Putin’s not going to say, “Your compassion has changed me.” Once, a long time ago, someone said to me, who is the person you would like to spend 24 hours alone with? I said Saddam Hussein. I said, “Maybe, maybe, some small change in him might be possible.” When we speak of compassion, you want everybody to find happiness. No exception. You cannot just do that for those who are good to you or close to you. It has to be universal. You may say that Putin and Bashar al-Assad are the scum of humanity, and rightly so. But compassion is about remedying the suffering and its cause. How would that look? You can wish that the system that allowed someone like that to emerge is changed. I sometimes visualize Donald Trump going to hospitals, taking care of people, taking migrants to his home. You can wish that the cruelty, the indifference, the greed may disappear from these people’s minds. That’s compassion; that’s being impartial.But why does compassion have to be universal? Because this is different from moral judgment. It doesn’t prevent you from saying that those are walking psychopaths, that they have no heart. But compassion is to remedy suffering wherever it is, whatever form it takes and whoever causes it. So what is the object of compassion here? It is the hatred and the person under its power. If someone beats you with a stick, you don’t get angry with the stick — you get angry with the person. These people we are talking about are like sticks in the hands of ignorance and hatred. We can judge the acts of a person at a particular time, but compassion is wishing that the present aspect of suffering and the causes of suffering may be remedied.What are the limits of compassion? Could blowing up a pipeline be a compassionate act? Well, we discussed a lot in those meetings with the Dalai Lama at the time of Kosovo what we call “surgical” violence. But the problem is if it triggers a chain reaction, leading to escalation from both sides. Also, if the barrel is bad, all the apples get rotten, so the system has to change. You can see that with this deep divide now in the United States based on ignorance. Delusion is a cause of suffering. If you could get rid of that, that will alleviate suffering in many forms.For a while now, people have been calling you the world’s happiest man. Do you feel that happy? It’s a big joke. We cannot know the level of happiness through neuroscience. It’s a good title for journalists to use, but I cannot get rid of it. Maybe on my tomb, it will say, “Here lies the happiest person in the world.” Anyway, I enjoy every moment of life, but of course there are moments of extreme sadness — especially when you see so much suffering. But this should kindle your compassion, and if it kindles your compassion, you go to a stronger, healthier, more meaningful way of being. That’s what I call happiness. It’s not as if all the time you jump for joy. Happiness is more like your baseline. It’s where you come to after the ups and downs, the joy and sorrows. We perceive even more intensely — bad taste, seeing someone suffer — but we keep this sense of the depth. That’s what meditation brings.Do you ever feel despair? There’s no point. We can feel sad if we see suffering, but sadness is not against a deep sense of eudaemonia,of fulfillment, because sadness goes with compassion, sadness goes with determination to remedy the cause. Despair: You’re at the bottom of the hole, there’s no way out. That’s fatalism. But suffering comes from causes and conditions. Those are impermanent, and impermanence is what allows for change.Your response to my question about despair was, “There’s no point,” which suggests that you’re making conscious choices about your feelings — whether to follow them or not — based on their perceived value. That’s not something everyone is able to do. Short of also becoming a Buddhist monk, how might other people start developing the ability to control their emotions like you can? Emotions are just like any characteristic of our mental landscape: They can change. We can become more familiar with their process; we can catch them early. It’s like when you see a pickpocket in a room: Aha, be careful. Twenty-five hundred years of contemplative science and 40 years of neuroplasticity — everything tells you we can change. You were not born knowing how to write your columns. You know it’s the fruit of your efforts. So why would major human qualities be engraved in stone from the start? That would be a total exception to every other skill we have. That’s why I like the idea of Richard Davidson’s that happiness is a skill. It can be deeper, more present in your mental landscape. We deal with our mind from morning to evening, but we spend very little attention on improving the way we translate outer conditions, good or bad, into happiness or misery. And it’s crucial, because that’s what determines our day-to-day experience of the world!But if I were explaining that to someone, they still might say, OK, how do I change? Is the answer as simple as “Just start thinking about compassion”? When you are in that moment of unconditional love — say, for a child — this fills our mind for 30 seconds, maybe a minute, then suddenly it’s gone. We all have experienced that. The only difference now is to cultivate that in some way. Make it stay a little longer. Try to be quiet with it for 10 minutes, 20 minutes. If it goes away, try to bring it back. Give it vibrancy and presence. That’s exactly what meditation is about. If you do that for 20 minutes a day, even for three weeks, this will trigger a change.Who gets on your nerves at the monastery? My nerves? Once in New York, when I was promoting one of my books, a very nice journalist lady said, “What really upsets your nerves when you arrive in New York?” I said, “Why do you presuppose anything is upsetting me?” It’s not about something being on your nerves. It’s about trying to see the best way to proceed. Paul Ekman once asked me to remember when I got really angry. I had to go back 20 years: I had a brand-new laptop, my first one, in Bhutan, and the monk who didn’t know what it was, he was passing by with a bowl filled with roasted barley flour and spilled some on it. So I got mad, and then he looked at me, and he said, “Ha-ha, you’re getting angry!” That was about it. I get indignation all the time about things that should be remedied. Indignation is related to compassion. Anger can be out of malevolence.Not to reduce 2,500 years of contemplative science to a single sentence, but is there a thought that you can suggest to people that they can carry in their minds that might be helpful to them as they go through life’s challenges? If you can, as much as possible, cultivate that quality of human warmth, wanting genuinely for other people to be happy; that’s the best way to fulfill your own happiness. This is also the most gratifying state of mind. Those guys who believe in selfishness and say, “You do that because you feel good about it” — this is so stupid. Because if you help others but you don’t care a damn, then you won’t feel anything! Wanting to separate doing something for others from feeling good yourself is like trying to make a flame that burns with light but no warmth. If we try humbly, with some happiness, to enhance our benevolence, that will be the best way to have a good life. That’s the best modest advice I could give.What’s the wisest thing the Dalai Lama ever said to you? I remember I came out of this one-year retreat to take care of my father. At the same time I was interpreting for the Dalai Lama in Brussels. So I told him: “I’m going back to the retreat. What is your advice?” He said, “In the beginning, meditate on compassion; in the middle, meditate on compassion; in the end, meditate on compassion.”Sorry, are you wearing an Apple Watch? Yes.Why does a Buddhist monk need an Apple Watch? I walk in the forest. I try to count 10,000 steps to be healthy at 77 years old. I don’t do many interviews anymore, but when I do, I usually don’t put this on, because the first thing the guys say is “Why do you have an Apple Watch?”I realize this is a question that no one on the path to enlightenment would ask, but broadly speaking, am I on the right path? You?Yes. [Laughs.] I mean, I cannot make a clinical examination, but I feel that you resonate with ideas which are dear to me. So that’s a good sign.I’ll take it! If you had said, “Oh, that’s all rubbish” — you know, once there was a French journalist, very cynical, and he said to me, “This thing about becoming a better person and all that, this is the politics of the hash trade.” I don’t know what he meant. But what I said was, “My dear friend, if genuinely trying to become a better person and do a little good — if that’s the politics of the hash trade, I’m happy to spend my whole life in the hash trade.”
David Marchese is a staff writer for the magazine and writes the Talk column. He recently interviewed Emma Chamberlain about leaving YouTube,Walter Mosley about a dumber America and Cal Newport about a new way to work.
Prayer List
For those working for social justice and societal changePray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nationThe war in Ukraine is now in its second year
Prayers to ease the political unrest in the Middle EastPrayers for those affected by the recent violence in the West Bank, the Dome of the Rock and political protests in Israel
Prayers for the five lives lost in the Titan submersible off the coast of NewfoundlandPrayers for the firefighters in Canada and the US fighting fires this summerPrayers for those affected by the heat dome in the American southPrayers for the Hawaiian island of Maui after the recent wildfires
The Four Limitless Ones Prayer
May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.
May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and exclusion.
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