Unitarian Steeple in snowOnly 36 days until totality solar eclipse (The End Is Here). As Houlton prepares for this climactic cosmic event, so we too, at UUHoulton are active and busy…You’ll see more details in the Eclipse section of the Support Page. We also plan to start mailing Eclipse-related information separately from now until totality just to keep everyone well informed. Stayed tuned.
This Sunday is an “Open-Pulpit Service” which means we are inviting attendees to share readings, poetry, resources or personal observations related to our theme of EarthCare and Environmental Concerns. There will also be time for group discussion. We haven’t done one of these services in a while so it should be a nice change of routine. YouTube Channel content for this week is a continuation of
our EarthCare series; part 6 titled “The Balancing Act.” As a global community we are faced with multiple and concurrent challenges that require an informed and coordinated response if we are to successfully navigate our way into a livable future. Sometimes it feels like a tipsy balancing act. Dave has a classic 1990s children’s game that will help illustrate the point – age appropriate for child and adult alike. The link for our YouTube service is listed below.
We hope you can join us for one of the services. Keep warm everyone!
In Ministry,Dave
Eclipse ’24
We have exciting Eclipse news to announce this Sunday (don’t miss it!) and we also have yummy food samples to try downstairs after coffee hour.
One suggestion was to make use of Sunday afternoons between now and Eclipse ’24 meeting in the cafe space to continue planning, try out menu items, train baristas, clean, eat food and generate momentum and good community vibes as we near the Eclipse. We continue this model on Sunday after coffee hour with a group meeting, sample tasting two varieties of chili followed by some hands on work cleaning the kitchen. Linda also offers her Gayatri Mantra Practice in the downstairs office space after coffee hour from 11:30 to 12 Noon. Here is additional information on the Gayatri practice for Eclipse weekend.
Come learn the Gayatri mantra!
It’s a 3 line mantra that we will take time to learn to recite it in the Vedic tradition which dictates the precise phonetic rules. We’ll also learn about the translation and meaning.
You can then join in on any of the Recitation sessions throughout the Eclipse weekend AND you’ll then have a chant that you can use on your own. It’s a great daily practice.
Vedic Recitation of the Gayatri
Join us for several 20 minute Recitation Sessions throughout the Eclipse weekend. The power of meditation or chant is magnified 1000x during eclipses. This is the best mantra to recite during a Solar eclipse.
The mantra is to Surya, the Sun or Savitr. The sun becomes a symbol of illumination, as it illuminates for all life. The recitation helps us find our own self, that which animates us. This animating principle in us and everything IS our inner Sun, so Surya becomes an object of prayer.
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)
SERVICE LINK WILL COME OUT LTER IN THE DAY
HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:
Topic: UUHoulton coffee hour & check-in
Time: Mar 3, 2024 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/85289611131?pwd=GmLkHtxaEQ4oJerv1jKm8wVLHJs7Se.1
Meeting ID: 852 8961 1131
Passcode: 580457
Calendar of Events @UUHoultonMarch 3 Sunday Service: Open Pulpit Service EarthCare
(Eclipse planning in the cafe during the afternoon)March 3Gayatri Mantra Practice with Linda Rowe in the downstairs office 11:30-12 noon (after coffee hour)March 6 Aroostook Climate Group meeting in the cafe 6PMMarch 10 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson
(Eclipse planning in the cafe during the afternoon)March 10 Social Action Committee meeting during coffee hourMarch 12 Meditation Group 4PM (online)March 16 LGBTQ+ Luncheon in the cafe NoonMarch 16 Houlton Coffeehouse 7PMMarch 17 Sunday Service: Annual Meeting (abbreviated service followed by potluck and meeting) March 24 Sunday Service: Rev. Dale Holden Palm Sunday
(Eclipse planning in the cafe during the afternoon)March 26 Meditation Group 4PM (online)March 31 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson Easter Sunday
(Eclipse planning in the cafe during the afternoon)April 5-8 UUHoulton Eclipse Fair (see events on church website) April 7Sunday Service: Eclipse Service in the SanctuaryApril 8 Totality Solar Eclipse April 9 Meditation Group 4PM (online) April 13 LGBTQ+ luncheon 12 noonApril 13 Houlton Coffeehouse 7PMApril 14 Sunday Service: Randi Bradbury & Ira DyerApril 21 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson (Earth Day Service)April 23 Meditation Group 4PM (online)April 28 Sunday Service: Jodi Scott
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
Develop a Mind Like Sky
Meditation comes alive through a growing capacity to release our habitual conflicts and worries that make up our sense of self, and to rest in awareness.
by Jack Kornfield
Meditation comes alive through a growing capacity to release our habitual entanglement in the stories and plans, conflicts and worries that make up the small sense of self, and to rest in awareness. In meditation we do this simply by acknowledging the moment-to-moment changing conditions—the pleasure and pain, the praise and blame, the litany of ideas and expectations that arise. Without identifying with them, we can rest in the awareness itself, beyond conditions, and experience what my teacher Ajahn Chah called jai pongsai, our natural lightness of heart. Developing this capacity to rest in awareness nourishes samadhi (concentration), which stabilizes and clarifies the mind, and prajna (wisdom), that sees things as they are.
We can employ this awareness or wise attention from the very start. When we first sit down to meditate, the best strategy is to simply notice whatever state of our body and mind is present. To establish the foundation of mindfulness, the Buddha instructs his followers “to observe whether the body and mind are distracted or steady, angry or peaceful, excited or worried, contracted or released, bound or free.” Observing what is so, we can take a few deep breaths and relax, making space for whatever situation we find.
We sense ourself being born and dying with each breath, each experience.
From this ground of acceptance we can learn to use the transformative power of attention in a flexible and malleable way. Wise attention—mindfulness—can function like a zoom lens. Often it is most helpful to steady our practice with close-up attention. In this, we bring a careful attention and a very close focus to our breath or a sensation, or to the precise movement of feeling or thought. Over time we can eventually become so absorbed that subject and object disappear. We become the breath, we become the tingling in our foot, we become the sadness or joy. In this we sense ourself being born and dying with each breath, each experience. Entanglement in our ordinary sense of self dissolves; our troubles and fears drop away. Our entire experience of the world shows itself to be impermanent, ungraspable and selfless. Wisdom is born.
But sometimes in meditation such close focus of attention can create an unnecessary sense of tightness and struggle. So we must find a more open way to pay attention. Or perhaps when we are mindfully walking down the street we realize it is not helpful to focus only on our breath or our feet. We will miss the traffic signals, the morning light and the faces of the passersby. So we open the lens of awareness to a middle range. When we do this as we sit, instead of focusing on the breath alone, we can feel the energy of our whole body. As we walk we can feel the rhythm of our whole movement and the circumstances through which we move. From this perspective it is almost as if awareness “sits on our shoulder” and respectfully acknowledges a breath, a pain in our legs, a thought about dinner, a feeling of sadness, a shop window we pass. Here wise attention has a gracious witnessing quality, acknowledging each event—whether boredom or jealousy, plans or excitement, gain or loss, pleasure or pain—with a slight bow. Moment by moment we release the illusion of getting “somewhere” and rest in the timeless present, witnessing with easy awareness all that passes by. As we let go, our innate freedom and wisdom manifest. Nothing to have, nothing to be. Ajahn Chah called this “resting in the One Who Knows.”
Yet at times this middle level of attention does not serve our practice best. We may find ourself caught in the grip of some repetitive thought pattern or painful situation, or lost in great physical or emotional suffering. Perhaps there is chaos and noise around us. We sit and our heart is tight, our body and mind are neither relaxed nor gracious, and even the witnessing can seem tedious, forced, effortful.
Develop a mind that is vast like space, where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict, struggle or harm. Rest in a mind like vast sky.
In this circumstance we can open the lens of attention to its widest angle and let our awareness become like space or the sky. As the Buddha instructs in the Majjhima Nikaya, “Develop a mind that is vast like space, where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict, struggle or harm. Rest in a mind like vast sky.”
From this broad perspective, when we sit or walk in meditation, we open our attention like space, letting experiences arise without any boundaries, without inside or outside. Instead of the ordinary orientation where our mind is felt to be inside our head, we can let go and experience the mind’s awareness as open, boundless and vast. We allow awareness to experience consciousness that is not entangled in the particular conditions of sight, sound and feelings, but consciousness that is independent of changing conditions—the unconditioned. Ajahn Jumnien, a Thai forest elder, speaks of this form of practice as Maha Vipassana, resting in pure awareness itself, timeless and unborn. For the meditator, this is not an ideal or a distant experience. It is always immediate, ever present, liberating; it becomes the resting place of the wise heart.
Fully absorbed, graciously witnessing, or open and spacious—which of these lenses is the best way to practice awareness? Is there an optimal way to pay attention? The answer is “all of the above.” Awareness is infinitely malleable, and it is important not to fixate on any one form as best. Mistakenly, some traditions teach that losing the self and dissolving into a breath or absorbing into an experience is the optimal form of attention. Other traditions erroneously believe that resting in the widest angle, the open consciousness of space, is the highest teaching. Still others say that the middle ground—an ordinary, free and relaxed awareness of whatever arises here and now, “nothing special”—is the highest attainment. Yet in its true nature awareness cannot be limited. Consciousness itself is both large and small, particular and universal. At different times our practice will require that we embrace all these perspectives.
Every form of genuine awareness is liberating. Each moment we release entanglement and identification is selfless and free. But remember too that every practice of awareness can create a shadow when we mistakenly cling to it. A misuse of space can easily lead us to become spaced-out and unfocused. A misuse of absorption can lead to denial, the ignoring of other experiences, and a misuse of ordinary awareness can create a false sense of “self” as a witness. These shadows are subtle veils of meditative clinging. See them for what they are and let them go. And learn to work with all the lenses of awareness to serve your wise attention.
The more you experience the power of wise attention, the more your trust in the ground of awareness itself will grow. You will learn to relax and let go. In any moment of being caught, awareness will step in, a presence without judging or resisting. Close-in or vast, near or far, awareness illuminates the ungraspable nature of the universe. It returns the heart and mind to its birthright, naturally luminous and free.
To amplify and deepen an understanding of how to practice with awareness as space, the following instructions can be helpful. One of the most accessible ways to open to spacious awareness is through the ear door, listening to the sounds of the universe around us. Because the river of sound comes and goes so naturally, and is so obviously out of our control, listening brings the mind to a naturally balanced state of openness and attention. I learned this particular practice of sound as a gateway to space from my colleague Joseph Goldstein more than 25 years ago and have used it ever since. Awareness of sound in space can be an excellent way to begin practice because it initiates the sitting period with the flavor of wakeful ease and spacious letting go. Or it can be used after a period of focused attention.
Whenever you begin, sit comfortably and at ease. Let your body be at rest and your breathing be natural. Close your eyes. Take several full breaths and let each release gently. Allow yourself to be still.
Now shift awareness away from the breath. Begin to listen to the play of sounds around you. Notice those that are loud and soft, far and near. Just listen. Notice how all sounds arise and vanish, leaving no trace. Listen for a time in a relaxed, open way.
As you listen, let yourself sense or imagine that your mind is not limited to your head. Sense that your mind is expanding to be like the sky—open, clear, vast like space. There is no inside or outside. Let the awareness of your mind extend in every direction like the sky.
Now the sounds you hear will arise and pass away in the open space of your own mind. Relax in this openness and just listen. Let the sounds that come and go, whether far or near, be like clouds in the vast sky of your own awareness. The play of sounds moves through the sky, appearing and disappearing without resistance.
Problems, possibilities, joys and sorrows come and go like clouds in the clear sky of mind.
As you rest in this open awareness, notice how thoughts and images also arise and vanish like sounds. Let the thoughts and images come and go without struggle or resistance. Pleasant and unpleasant thoughts, pictures, words and feelings move unrestricted in the space of mind. Problems, possibilities, joys and sorrows come and go like clouds in the clear sky of mind.
After a time, let this spacious awareness notice the body. Become aware of how the sensations of breath and body float and change in the same open sky of awareness. The breath breathes itself, it moves like a breeze. The body is not solid. It is felt as areas of hardness and softness, pressure and tingling, warm and cool sensation, all floating in the space of the mind’s awareness.
Let the breath move like a breeze. Rest in this openness. Let sensations float and change. Allow all thoughts and images, feelings and sounds to come and go like clouds in the clear open space of awareness.
Finally, pay attention to the awareness itself. Notice how the open space of awareness is naturally clear, transparent, timeless and without conflict—allowing all things, but not limited by them.
The Buddha said, “O Nobly Born, remember the pure open sky of your own true nature. Return to it. Trust it. It is home.”
May the blessings of these practices awaken your own inner wisdom and inspire your compassion. And through the blessing of your heart may the world find peace.
This meditation is one of a variety of practices offered in Jack Kornfield’s “The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace (Bantam Books).”
Jack Kornfield is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Center and one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He is a former Buddhist monk, a clinical psychologist, and a husband and father.
Disturbing headlines from the Middle East this week. Here are two related stories; a US serviceman’s self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy in Washington and a theological reflection on the critical role of historical/religious interpretation.
Taking Aaron Bushnell at His Word (and Deed)
The Nation Magazine
I will leave it to others to discuss the precedents for Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, from Thích Quảng Đức to Norman Morrison to Mohamed Bouazizi to Irina Slavina to Wynn Alan Bruce. Yes, this has happened before. The world has been a terrible place for too many for too long, and for that reason, the rare few most inclined to feel that terror, to breathe in its ashes, have found no other option but to set themselves on fire in protest. So that others may be forced to breathe in some of those ashes too.
My name is Aaron Bushnell. I’m an active duty member of the United States Air Force. And I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.
When someone commits an act like this, and leaves us with words like that, I feel obligated to take the person at their word. And the words couldn’t be more instructive.
Bushnell begins with a pertinent self-identification, as an active-duty member of the United States Air Force. Given the sincerity of his last moment in uniform, it seems he was also announcing his vocation. He was someone who had signed up to sacrifice himself for the greater good, only to discover—as so many of us, myself included, have discovered—that he had signed up for the opposite: to become a willing accomplice to evil.
Bushnell doesn’t spell out the precise nature of his complicity. But the mere mention of his branch of service suffices. The US Air Force has played a significant part in the killing spree in Gaza, assisting with intelligence and targeting. It has helped build Israeli airpower for decades now, and shares the same suppliers of aircraft, missiles, and munitions that have contributed to what the political scientist Robert Pape has called “one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history, [now sitting] comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.”
The airman goes on to call the crime by its name: a genocide, an attempt at destroying a people. Their homes and farms and orchards and entire means of subsistence. Their schools and hospitals and universities. Their journalists and professors and teachers and students. The whole of their intelligentsia and their children—so many of their children. An unprecedented number, an almost instant mass killing of children too grotesque to even fathom for more than a second. Their museums and archives and age-old mosques and churches. Hundreds of registered ancient sites. Their past and present and future. Even their cemeteries, their last and only resting place.
I’d be remiss without noting Bushnell’s penultimate sentence on this earth, right before the necessary “Free Palestine.” He curses our ruling class for making all this normal. All of it. The spoken and unspoken. The sometimes beautiful and joyful but often needlessly cruel world that’s been built in our name. For our purported security. It’s a plea for the rest of us, those still living. Bushnell’s fellow service members specifically, many of whom entered their service with similar doe eyes. Veterans like myself. (For good or ill, we enjoy a certain discursive power most don’t. And with that, as the cliché goes, comes responsibility.)
I doubt that Bushnell would have wanted us to follow in his footsteps—at least not by dousing ourselves in gasoline before a sad and enraged farewell. But he no doubt was counting on us—and not just us service members or vets—to convey and make use of the sadness and rage in our own ways. In manners that burn and last. Beyond the man-made firestorms in Gaza. Beyond the all-encompassing fire.
note:
People have set themselves on fire as an act of political protest for many centuries. Following the examples of Vietnamese Buddhist monks and nuns who self-immolated in 1963 to protest persecution by the U.S.-backed Ngô Đình Diệm dictatorship, at least half a dozen Americans burned themselves to death to protest the Vietnam War. Americans also self-immolated over the 1991 and 2003 invasions of Iraq, the climate emergency, alleged corruption at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and other reasons.
The late Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, and author Thích Nhất Hạnh explained in a letter to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that the monks and nuns who self-immolated were not committing suicide. Rather, their self-sacrifices were aimed “at moving the hearts of the oppressors, and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured.”
“It is done,” he explained is “to wake us up.”
The Battle for the Soul of Judaism: Tribalism, Amalek and the Axial Age Universalism of Isaiah
Kyoto (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Any student of history, let alone a diplomat, will testify, conflicts between nations cannot be understood, let alone resolved, without an understanding of their historical roots. Could this also be true of the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians?
The roots of this conflict are often explained with reference to establishment of Israel in 1948, including as it did, the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland as well as the killing of thousands more. Although the Zionists who founded Israel were for the most part Labor socialists and often secular-minded, the civil war in which the British Mandate of Palestine collapsed brought out a nationalistic tribalism among the newly minted Israelis. That tribalism among the Zionists was further reinforced by the Nazi mass genocide of Jews in Europe during WW II, i.e., the Holocaust. Ironically, the Jewish tribalism of the Zionist paramilitaries in late British Palestine also impelled Palestinian and Arab tribalism. Despite the ethical universalism of the Qur’an and Islamic values, extremist Muslim groups have in recent decades become seduced by modern notions of ethnic nationalism, veering into a tribalism of their own, in the face of colonialism and neocolonialism.
A struggle within Judaism between universalism and tribalism can be traced much, much further back, however. This is the time of the author(s) of Second Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Among other things, Second Isaiah teaches the universal existence of God, i.e., not just the God of the Jews but of the whole world. It further contains numerous exhortations to ethical behavior and social justice. Ethical behavior includes such things as caring for the poor and oppressed, pursuing justice, and treating others with compassion.
This means that the author(s) of Second Isaiah were one of a small group of religious reformers of the Axial Age, a period given its name by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers. Jaspers identified the Axial Age as a worldwide transformation of religious consciousness that lasted from roughly between 800-200 BCE centered in the Mediterranean, India, and China. Overall, its key features included a new emphasis on ethical living, individual introspection, and universal principles.
By comparison, the multiple religions of the world’s peoples prior to the Axial Age, including Judaism, were tribal in nature, i.e., focused on what was good for the tribe as a whole rather than the individual tribal member, much less on what was good for those outside of the tribe. While tribes typically spoke of themselves as the “people” those outside of the tribe were regarded with disdain if not fear, as a potential enemy that, when necessary, had to be destroyed in order to ensure the survival of the tribe.
It is attractive, but mistaken, to assume that in the aftermath of the Axial Age after 200 BCE, the old tribal-centric religions, typically described as animistic in character, simply atrophied and disappeared. However, as many subsequent wars have demonstrated, that is not the case. When a tribe, now called a nation, comes under threat, whether real or perceived, the populace of that nation reverts to a tribal mentality if not a tribal morality, i.e., only we are human, the ‘other’ is not. The universal deity is returned, albeit unconsciously, to his/her status as a tribal deity concerned exclusively with the welfare of the tribe. Once tribalized, the deity goes on to bless and protect the tribe, and only the tribe, assuring them of victory. As for the treatment of the tribe’s enemy, anything goes.
In the case of the current conflict in Israel/Palestine this age-old paradigm is all too clear. Thus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not hesitate to invoke the Biblical image of the Jewish tribal battle against the Amalekites. He claimed Israelis were united in their fight against Hamas, whom he described as an enemy of incomparable cruelty. “They [Israeli Jews] are committed to completely eliminating this evil from the world,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew and then added: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.”
Netanyahu’s reference was to the first Book of Samuel in which God commands King Saul to kill every person in Amalek, a rival tribe to the ancient Israelites. “This is what the Lord Almighty says,” the prophet Samuel tells Saul. “‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Samuel 15:3)
Likewise, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.” While Gallant may have initially been referring to Hamas fighters, he went on to call for the collective punishment of all Palestinians in Gaza, stating, “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed.”
The tribal nature of Netanyahu and Gallant’s comments could not be clearer, just as their dismissal of the shared humanity of Israelis and Palestinians alike. It should be underlined that they are members of the secular Likud Party, so that despite their appeal to the Hebrew Bible, they are not exemplifying Judaic values. Stripped of any religious conscience, their naked tribalism became astonishingly cruel.
Yet, at the same time there are Jews, including in Israel, who recognize their shared humanity with Palestinians. Admittedly in Israel itself, groups like “We Stand Together” are numerically few in number. However, among Jews outside of Israel, groups like “Jewish Voices for Peace” and “Not in Our Name” number in the many thousands. These groups are supported by leading Jewish intellectuals like Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Noam Chomsky, Avi Shlaim, Miko Piled and Ilan Pappe. While it is common to describe these groups and individuals as “left-wing” or “progressive,” their stances are not so much political as they are a continued recognition of the universal Judaic values of caring for the poor and oppressed, pursuing justice, and treating others with compassionate based on their shared humanity.
At this point readers may be thinking, if this analysis is correct, it certainly doesn’t apply to adherents of Judaism only. Don’t all of today’s major religions teach recognition of our shared humanity, the need to be compassionate to others, i.e., some version of ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’? In response, I would certainly agree they do. We are fortunate indeed that all of today’s major religions share these basic values at least doctrinally. But what of the historical practice of these religions?
While limitations of space don’t allow me to go into detail, let me give but one example that has particular relevance to the current situation in Israel/Palestine. I refer to the role played by “Manifest Destiny” in American history. First coined in 1845, this term represented a collective mindset that viewed the expansion of the US as both necessary and ordained by God. As the US gained more territory, proponents of Manifest Destiny used it to justify the forced removal, enslavement, and even elimination of Native American tribes, as well as the expansion of slavery into newly acquired territories.
I suggest the tribal mindset of Christians of European heritage that was manifested in Manifest Destiny is similar to the far-right Zionist commitment to the forced removal and/or elimination of the Palestinian people as part of the current, extremist Israeli government’s drive to create Greater Israel, which it sees as comprising all the lands promised to the Jewish people by God in the Bible.
Compare these actions with the words that both Christians and Jews claim to believe in as contained in the book of Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
What is one to make of the vast difference between the practice of many Christians and Jews in comparison with the teachings they both claim to believe in? Should their practice be regarded as simple hypocrisy, i.e., do as I say, not as I do? And were there space, I could give similar historical examples from all the major religions of the world. Hypocrites all?
I suggest not. Instead, I point to what is as yet an unresolved split in allreligions, i.e., between their tribal heritage, based on tens of thousands of years of past history, versus their Axial-period awakening of less than three thousand years ago. This awakening was of profound importance in that it led to a recognition of the universal nature of their teachings based on their shared humanity. This in turn led to a feeling of mutual compassion in which others are recognized as extensions of themselves, extensions who have the same human needs and fears as they themselves.
Although the present conflict in Israel/Palestine may yet claim untold thousands of lives, at some point it will end, at least this time around. It is safe to say, however, that the battle for the soul of Judaism will continue on. The battle, that is, between those the sort of Judaism that sees itself in other peoples versus the kind that retains a tribal mentality in which its own well-being is the predominate if not exclusive concern. Inevitably this dichotomy will lead to further hostilities in the future and yet more bloodshed, possibly even among Jews themselves.
At the same time, we already see the emergence of groups like the Jewish Voices for Peace and Stand Together that show the universal values of the Axial age being increasing embraced, especially by young Jews living outside of Israel and even some inside of the country. Which side will prevail remains to be seen.
Yet, it is critically important for non-Jews not to assume this is a conflict that only involves the Jewish people. As recorded history all too graphically reveals, the struggle between a narrow tribal mentality versus a universal mentality truly accepting of the other, is one that transcends all ethnic, racial, national, and even religious, boundaries. In the US, the slogan “America First!” is currently embraced by millions, demonstrating that the tribal mentality remains firmly in place. Likewise, we have seen the recrudescence of a narrow Hindu tribalism in India, which betrays the Axial Age ethical universalism of Buddhism and the Upanishads.
As brutal and destructive as religion-endorsed tribal warfare was in the past, humanity as a whole was endangered. Today, however, things have changed, not simply because of the very real possibility of nuclear-induced “mutual assured destruction” but because of the ever-increasing dangers resulting from phenomena like global warming. None of the problems increasingly facing humankind as a whole can be solved by one or even a group of nations. They require concerted the efforts, including necessary sacrifices, of all nations and peoples of the world.
Thus, the question of “the battle for the soul of Judaism” is, in fact, the same battle that adherents of all the world’s religions face and even of those who identify with no faith. Adherents of Islam face the same dilemma. That is to say, can we homo sapiens collectively awake to, and transcend, the historical practices associated with our tribalized pasts or are we bound to continue to fool ourselves into believing that we are pursuing universal truths even as we betray such truths in practice. Thus, the battle for the soul of Judaism is in reality the common struggle of all who believe in human equality and dignity, now encompassing even the very survival of the human species.
About the Author
Brian Victoria is a nonresident fellow of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and the author of Zen at War among many other works. Brian currently resides in Kyoto, Japan where he is writing a new book on Uchiyama Gudō, a Sōtō Zen priest executed in January 1911 due to his opposition to the Russo-Japanese War and embrace of socialism. Brian is a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen tradition.
Stretch Out Sam’s Balancing Act in last week’s Sunday Service Whoa!!
In-Action scenes from last Sunday…(photos courtesy of Janet Brushett)
The balancing act; Holli Nicknair’s drying rack full of dishes!
Prayer List
For those working for social justice and societal changePray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nationThe war in Ukraine continues
Prayers for those in Palestine and Israel as the war continues into its fifth monthPrayers for the worsening humanitarian crisis in GazaPrayers for the homeless and hunger challenged during the cold seasonPrayers for those affected by the recent wildfires in Texas
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 delusion.
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