On Sunday we had a chance to share a beautiful lunch with our Tribe π.
Delicious π€€ authentic Chinese β©οΈ π₯’ Food, at an obscure little restaurant not too far from our home π‘.
The food was fabulous.
A little spicy πΆοΈ but then many of the Provinces in China feature amazing spicy food.
And we love it π well, I love it.
For a moment we felt at home. π
Over lunch the conversation led to where we are, from where we have been and where we are going πΊοΈ.
Not in a physical sense, but more in an entirety, since where you physically go and who you physically meet and interact with does affect where you go emotionally and intellectually and even spiritually.
Isnβt that so often how life is?
βWhen we were growing upβ, I was telling my Tribe π βthere was a pattern to follow.
βA way of making progress through life.
βYou finish high school.
βYou study.
βYou start working.
βYou fall in love and get married.
βYou make a family.
βYour children finish high school.
βStudy.
βStart their family.β
π§
βThere was a North that was very true.
βAnd although we did not always follow that βNorthβ π§ it was there, knowable, visible.
βAlmost like an anchor that made sure you did not drift too far into oblivion β¦
βIf you needed money, the bank was there to make a loan πΈ .
βIf you needed a place for your family to live π ποΈ the building society π π¦ had a bond.
βIf you fell ill there was a hospital π₯ and a doctor π¨ββοΈ who would care for you, regardless of wether you had an βaidβ or not.
βAnd school taught your children π©βπ« π¨βπ« and made sure they had sport π π and music πΆ πΊ π» and art πΌοΈ π¨βπ¨ π and culture in the mix of their life.
βEven media was simple and rather straightforward with a few TV πΊ Chanels and a few TV Shows and a few Radio π» Stations and as few newspapers ποΈ and magazines, controlled by the state with a single clear message.
βSundays you went to Church βͺοΈ aware that some went to the Synagogue π on Saturday and others to the Mosque π on Friday.
βThere were communities.
βAnd although they were separated into well defined little homogeneous groups and areas, they shared something and cared some.
βDonβt misunderstand me,β I explain to our Tribe π, βIβm not being nostalgic or even romanticising those days β¦
βThere is a lot in those days that were less than ideal,
β β¦ that we intentionally walked away fromβ.
βBut I donβt want you to think π that we live without direction π§
βOr that, there isnβt a Way,
ββ¦ because we are not following that way.
βI donβt want you to think that we are drifting,
β β¦ so in the moment β¦ so scornful of yesterday or tomorrow β¦
β β¦ that we do not live with our eye π―on something.β
βWe donβt think that.β our Sophia interrupts.
βThat was a pretty fixed puzzle 𧩠that was pretty easy to put together.β our Miena adds.
βBut just below the surface there was something very terrible and destructive.β our TJ also interjects.
βAnd it is not something of the past,β Sophia continues. βI often meet people who are trying very hard to build that puzzle π§©.β
βMaybe we feel safe, if we colour ποΈ inside the lines?β TJ asks.
βOr perhaps we feel βworthyβ when we meet the requirements of the community in which we live?β Miena continues.
βTo grow β¦
βTo learn β¦
βTo heal β¦
βTo be wholeβ, Zuko comes into the conversation. βthat is our North π§.β
To grow.
To learn.
To heal.
βTo be free β¦
βFree from all that prevents us from being our self, completely.β
βFree from all that was less than ideal and whole, despite and on the other side of it β¦
β¦ that is our North π§.β
βI had a dream π a few nights ago,β I fall in step with Zuko.
βI was sitting πͺ ποΈ in my office at the Church where I was serving.
βI was in my early thirties.
βA young man had asked to see me – he was travelling 𧳠through the city ποΈ and someone suggested that I meet him.
βLydia, our assistant was at reception and Amor, the leader of our Childrenβs Ministry, was next door πͺ.
βThe dream is vivid π.
βI see the light blue of the sofa ποΈ and smell the books π on my many shelves.
βI hear the young man tell me the things with which he struggles β¦
βAnd I hear myself respond with compassion, but a little helpless, for all I can offer him is that we all have our demons πΉ who visit us every day and we all try to slay them, each day again.
βAnd then a prayer π€²
βI remember thΓ© awareness inside of me in that moment – as I pray π€² sincerely β¦
ββ¦ the awareness that although I can offer this man π¨ the gift of being seen and perhaps of not feeling alone, and of a sincere prayer – I am not offering him a way out β¦
βI am not showing him a way β¦
βTo become β¦
βFree.
βIβm not giving him tools π§°
βTools that will help him to find his own way.
βFor my own tool πͺ π¨ box is empty.β
βAnd then I sit on the floor of my own room.
βStill in my dream.
βIt is not my thirty-something incarnation.
βIt is the me of now.
βAnd I am meditating π§
βIt is a bit of an out-of-body experience, as I am spectator and participator, all at once, in this dream.
βAnd next to me is a toolbox π§°
βAnd in it are tools βοΈ πͺ π¨
βWhat tools are there?β Miena asks.
βA better understanding, I think.
βThe stuff we learned from Gabor Mate and Mario Martinez and Christiane Northrup.
βFrom Kelly A. Turner and Louise Hay.
βThe stuff we learned as we wondered from Jiamusi, via Beijing and Hong Kong and Hanoi and Phnom Penh to Xiamen and Longyen and Shishi and Fuzhou.
βThe stuff we experienced at Taihe as they helped Zuko.
βAnd at Kwendalo as Hanli helps our Tribe π to access the wisdom of plants π± and the memories and emotions hidden in the archive of our bodies.
βThe stuff we are learning from Gladys McGary and Ram Dass.
βAnd not of it is disconnected from what I learned before, while sitting at the feet of Max Weeber and Emile Durkheim, August Comte and Karl Marx β¦
βAnd at the feet of Kant and Aristotle and Plato β¦
βOr even from what I learned at the feet of Augustine and Calvin and Luther and Barth
βBut it is less veiled β¦
βLess divided β¦
βAnd much less theoretical
βMuch more in the spirit of Kierkegaard and Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir
βMuch more existential.β
βA better understanding, that is there, clearly, but also a renewed faith and practical ways to come into it.
π§ meditation
π± herbalism
ποΈ iridology
𦡠kinesiology
π₯£ soundology
π craniosacral therapy
π€ΈπΌββοΈ somato emotional release
βοΈ energy healing
βA whole toolkit of very real and very practical things we can use to βslay the demonsβ πΉ πΊ that haunt us and take away our freedom.β
βThese are new tools π§° β, Sophia suggests.
βBrand new to meβ, I admit.
βBut ancient.
βAnd precious.β
βAnd so we grow and learn and heal, become whole and freeβ, Zuko concludes.
And we enjoy our lunch.
We laugh.
And share.
Experience.
And taste.
And later we rest.
And then we learn some more.
And do.
And live.
π± π¨ π§ π₯
Connected.
In a new Way.
Our North π§ still true.
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