On October 24, 2011 I joined several
students and alums from Starr King School for the Ministry on the Interfaith
March in Solidarity with Occupy San Francisco.
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Interfaith
Clergy March in Solidarity with Occupy San Francisco Photo:
Suzi Spangenberg
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MANY faith leaders
participated including other seminarians from Starr King School for the
Ministry.
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Representatives
from SKSM Stand on the Side of Love with the Occupy Movement
Photo:
Suzi Spangenberg
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We marched on banks known for
predatory lending and later returned to Occupy SF where many faith leaders
spoke in solidarity with the Occupy movement.
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
Occupy SF was growing. I continued to build relationships.
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg | | | | | | | | | |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg | |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
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| Photo: Suzi Spangenberg |
I discovered a renewed sense of energy and community within the Occupy movement that I had been missing for the past year since I began Seminary. My reflection paper in my Howard Thurman class addressed this:
Faith
Somehow I
got ahead of myself in the reading.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Like King, Thurman’s words seem to be directed to me. I suppose that is what makes them such
strong inspirational leaders.
Many before them may have said something similar, and I am sure that
many after them will as well.
However, it is their way of reaching in and touching your heart and soul
that makes you sit up, take notice, and in some cases, take to the streets.
I have
been doing a lot of internal digging recently. Perhaps the death of my mother helped stir things up. Like the clear waters in a pond, when
stirred, they become cloudy. All
the stuff that had settled to the bottom rises up. I have found myself reflecting back to Tich Nhat
Hanh’s teachings in September. He
spoke of the necessity of the sangha. He spoke of the power of collective energy – that peace,
happiness, healing and transformation were all there within the sangha. He said that even Buddha needed a
sangha and that it helps us handle suffering and to create happiness.
I felt
disconnected from my sangha – my activist community – last year. I focused on my studies and on
school. My community at SKSM is
beloved, but I have come to the realization that it is my activist community
that acts as my sangha and I needed to reconnect with them in a more
intentional way. I chose to start
spending time with Occupy SF and once again felt that sense of sangha that I
had been missing all last year.
This mirrored something that Thurman said regarding his relationship
with his wife – an experience that I have found in the activist community:
“A great
gift in my life has been the companion who meets me at the gate in any arena
where I am called upon to do battle and who with great compassion finds the
weak points in my idea or contention without in any way diminishing me.”
The
activist community have provided that same compassion and opportunities to
grow. I feel safe when I am
with them and find when they point out areas where I can grow or areas where I
have been mistakes, they do so in a compassionate way which provides the space
to hear them and learn without becoming defensive. This is something I would like to work on myself – coming from
a place of compassion in all relationships.
I remember
Tich Nhat Hanh speaking about the cycle of all things. He said that flowers (love) can turn
into garbage (hate) but garbage can become compost and grow more flowers. I felt something open up in me when he
said that – and I have been reflecting on my past – people who have hurt me,
people I have hurt. I have been
reflecting on all the anger and fear that I see in the faces of those opposing
us at rallies – most especially in Arizona. Their faces are our faces. We are all one in this.
When I
make mistakes, when I act in anger, when I come from a place of fear I see that
I need to look at that experience and instead of beating myself up over it or
carrying guilt, I would better serve others by seeing where I can take that
negative energy and use it toward building something positive. I need to look at being
compassionate toward myself as well as toward others. It is easy for me to be self-critical and focus on the areas
where I have failed. This keeps me
in a static place. Allowing myself
to see my failings as something that can ultimately be composted and turned
into something beautiful and loving is freeing and allows me to continue onward
on my path..
I
recognize that this will be an ongoing journey and a long one at that. I recognize that it takes faith
to continue down this path just like it takes faith to be on it to begin
with. Like Thurman, I find myself
struggling with expressing what my faith is – I find it to be intensely personal
and not something easily identified in words.
“The life
of the spirit and the meaning of religious experience are intensely personal.”
I may have difficulty
expressing what that path is, but I have complete faith that I am doing the
right thing. I suppose when I
start questioning my future, or when fears about being homeless and unemployed
muddy my waters, I need to come back to what I know. What I know is that this path I am
on feels absolutely correct and right.
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