Pineridge Blog
OK, I am really giving up this time speculating what will happen the rest of this year. What will happen with the pandemic, the election, the Supreme Court, hurricanes battering the Southeast, wild fires ravaging the Northwest, or even Christmas? I will not be surprise if we learn Christmas has been canceled this year because one of the elves exposes Santa to the coronavirus? My only answer from now until Jan 1st is, “Well, it’s still 2020…” Is 2020 a year or a dumpster fire? Dunno, but it’s still 2020…
One of my most favorite spiritual teachers sent an email to his subscribers the other day, which I thought was really powerful and want to share. It reads in part:
In God alone is my soul at rest.
God is the source of my hope.
In God I find shelter, my rock, and my safety.
Men are but a puff of wind,
Men who think themselves important are a delusion.
Put them on a scale,
They are gone in a puff of wind.
—Psalm 62:5–9
“What could it mean to find rest like this in a world such as ours? Every day more and more people are facing the catastrophe of extreme weather. The neurotic news cycle... which amplifies the daily chaos. The pandemic that seems to be returning in waves continues to wreak suffering and disorder with no end in sight, and there is no guarantee of the future in an economy designed to protect the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and those subsisting at the margins of society.”
And he concluded, “If you will allow, I recommend for your spiritual practice for the next four months that you impose a moratorium on exactly how much news you are subject to—hopefully not more than an hour a day of television, social media, internet news, magazine and newspaper commentary, and/or political discussions. It will only tear you apart and pull you into the dualistic world of opinion and counter-opinion, not Divine Truth, which is always found in a bigger place.
Instead, I suggest that you use this time for some form of public service, volunteerism, mystical reading from the masters, prayer—or, preferably, all of the above.
You have much to gain now and nothing to lose. Nothing at all.
And the world—with you as a stable center—has nothing to lose.
And everything to gain.” (Richard Rohr, September 19, 2020)
This is Jim again... I have made that commitment to let go of the constant need “to know” by worrying about the future or anxiously partaking of the news for more than a total of an hour a day (national, world and especially political news, but local news isn’t included. I still need my weather fix!) in favor of service, spiritual reading and/or prayer. If you would like to join me I can even form a kind of virtul support group, send out some suggestions for alternatives maybe create a safe space for mutual sharing. Send an email to jgordon@pineridge.org and put “2020 Anonamous” in the subject line.