Reflections

What if this virus had a hidden agenda other than spreading fear about how it might compromise our health? What if, hidden in its drive to be contagious there was another message, urging to be heard?

Success is often defined by material gains, job titles, and superficial benchmarks. However, the nurturing of our spiritual health and awareness can tend to fall by the wayside. 

As the year comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on moments that have touched us and buoyed our spirits. “Hot Gravy,” a story of hope and healing, redemption and forgiveness, captures one such moment.

I have been so inspired by the lives and work of Frederic and Mary Ann (whom I have come to know through my work as a program officer at Fetzer) for "tracking down the sacred in the nooks and crannies of our popular culture." They have faithfully chronicled the spirituality alive in our everyday lives. They offer their insight generously through a rich website, Spirituality & Practice. They also extend that work across generations through their fellows program.

“Justice is not an outcome; it is a perpetual effort to set things right. Freedom is not the removal of all restraints on our appetites; it is the acceptance of restraints and of a duty to participate. Equality is not about pillaging and polluting as much as the next guy; it is about acting as if you were the next guy.” Thank you, Eric Liu, for these powerful reminders you share on Civic Saturdays!

In the hushed corners of small towns, acceptance can be a rare commodity. Where judgment hangs heavy the most basic human need might not be food or shelter. The worn path of ostracized souls reminds us that in a world quick to exclude, the deepest yearning might be a sense of belonging. It is a truth our small haven strives to offer; a sigil of sacred hospitality in a sea of indifference.

The holiest thing we have to offer the world is a broken-open heart, emptied of fear and vengeance, filled with forgiveness and a willingness to take risks with love. --Parker J. Palmer

In “Breaking the Cultural Trance: Insight and Vision in America,” Robert Inchausti offers a convincing perspective that living in America can impair our deepest "seeing" and how education is the sacred medicine to restore a deeper sight, one that is more "universal, transcendent, and real." Written in 2004, his insights are as fresh and relevant today as they were then. Here is an excerpt of his essay.

In honor of Black History Month, we share this excerpt from late Civil Rights veteran, Vincent Harding’s essay, “Is America Possible?” part of our Deepening the American Dream series. In it he recalls a pilgrimage he took in 2005 to trace the roads travelled and to honor the events that shaped the Civil Rights Movement.

In this nine-minute video from our Consider Forgiveness series, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders and scholars from around the world explore whether an apology is required in order to forgive. The approaches and beliefs shared in this video provide great food for thought and discussion.