No Easy Answers

My Religion 101 students yesterday seemed unengaged and depleted of energy. Maybe it was the depressing weather outside (cold and rainy) or maybe it was that "time of the semester" (midterm). Whatever it was, I wasn't going to ignore it.

So, I stirred things up by having the class divide into groups of 3 or 4 and come up with three answers to the question: "How can the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be resolved?" Boy, did the energy (and noise) level increase! Suddenly, these unengaged students became involved in the activities of thinking and talking.

Nearly all of their answers to this question had already been attempted: get leaders from the two sides to negotiate, get the world community to bring pressure on both groups, use economic sanctions to bring about change. Both the "one state" and "two state" solutions were mentioned.

However, one group's answer was different. They said that all Israeli and Palestinian children should be required to take a Religion 101 type course to help each side understand and develop respect for the other's religion.

While using education to resolve this long-standing Middle East conflict might seem naive and idealistic, I think it's an idea worth trying. Educating children to have an appreciation and respect for the religion and culture of their "enemies" might work in the long run. At least it could prepare the way for negotiations.

If anyone has a better idea, I'd like to hear it.

Green Is Good (in more ways than you think)

A recent Dutch study found that people living near parks, gardens and other green spaces have better health and lower anxiety than those living in urban "concrete jungles" far from green spaces. This study was based on the review of 345,000 medical records.

An October 14 Bloomberg News article by Kristen Hallam titled, "Living Near Green Lowers Anxiety, Depression Rates, Study Finds," reports that better health is likely due from access to fresher air and opportunities to exercise, relax and socialize.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, asserts, "The role of green space in the living environment for health should not be underestimated." The link between green spaces and health was strongest for children and persons with low incomes because they are less mobile and spend more time near home.

I always enjoy finding a scientific basis for one of my firmly held beliefs. Our souls are fed by being in places of natural beauty like parks, gardens and forests. Being out in God's creation is nourishing for body, mind and soul.

However, I wouldn't want to limit the benefits of being outdoors to the color green, for nearly all the colors of the spectrum are found in nature-- deep blue oceans, purple mountains, red and orange sunsets, white clouds, golden leaves, and brightly-colored flowers-- and these can be soul feeding as well.

The Wonder of Cathedral Pines

On the second day of my two-day hiking trip, I journeyed to northwest Connecticut to hike Mohawk Mountain. My hike started in the Cathedral Pines Nature Conservancy. This was once the premier stand of white pines in New England. However, a rare Connecticut tornado blew down most of these majestic trees in 1989. There are still a few acres of these giants of the evergreen world. The photo on the right is from the Nature Conservancy website.

While hiking among these huge evergreens, I felt as if I were in an ancient forest. The oldest of these trees are up to 300 years old-- older than the U.S.! I half expected to run into Treebeard (the tree shepherd from Lord of the Rings).

I stopped several times and stared up in awe at the tops of these wonders of nature that can reach a height of 150 feet. It reminded me of visiting Muir Woods several years ago, even though the Redwoods there are much taller and older. The oldest living trees are reportedly Bristlecone Pines, the oldest of which is called Methuselah and is over 4,600 years of age.

It's good to be reminded that there are living things much older than we are. I find this both reassuring and humbling. The reassuring part is that life predates me and will outlive me. It's comforting to know that life continues. The humbling part of seeing ancient things is the reminder that we're not the center of the universe. The creation is so much older, larger and grander than we are. We're part of its grandeur, but not the whole of it.

Hiking Mount Greylock

On Columbus Day, I took the day to hike to the top of Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts at 3,491 feet. The day was excellent for hiking: cool and clear. When I started hiking, the temp was 35 degrees. However, the trail was uphill all the way to the summit and I quickly warmed up. The photo above is of Mount Greylock and fall colors from images.ibsys.com/

I took the Hopper Trail to the summit, so named because it parallels a deep ravine that looks like a grain hopper. The trail took me through tunnels of fall colors. The leaves are at their peak in this part of Massachusetts this week.

At ½ mile from the top, the Hopper Trail joined the Appalachian Trail. There, I was joined by hundreds of residents of the town of Adams located at the Eastern base of Greylock. They were doing the annual Adams Ramble. The mood was festive as everyone huffed and puffed up the last steep ascent.

The views from Greylock were worth the ascent. I could see the Green Mountains of Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Adirondacks in New York. On rock monuments there were several quotes from Henry David Thoreau, who ascended Greylock in 1844 and penned these words:

"As the light increased, I discovered around me an ocean of mist, which by chance reached up exactly to the base of the tower and shut out every vestige of the earth, while I was left floating on this fragment of the wreck of a world, on my carved plank, in cloudland. . . . As the light in the east steadily increased, it revealed to me more clearly the new world into which I had risen in the night, the new terra firma perchance of my future life. There was not a crevice left through which the trivial places we name Massachusetts, or Vermont or New York, could be seen, while I still inhaled the clear atmosphere of a July morning - if it were July there. All around beneath me was spread for a hundred miles on every side, as far as the eye could reach, an undulating country of clouds, answering in the varied swell of its surface to the terrestrial world it veiled. It was such a country as we might see in dreams, with all the delights of paradise."

In nature, Thoreau found genius, divinity and the sacred. For him the natural world was a palette on which the Divine Artist had painted a masterpiece. I, too, find in nature a place of spiritual refreshment and renewal. At the end of my 11 mile hike my overwhelming emotion was that of gratitude.

Mindfulness

Lately, I’ve been working on being more mindful of what’s going on around me and within me. The concept of “mindfulness” comes from the practice of Buddhist meditation and focuses in particular on an awareness of breathing.

However, I've tried to expand the concept of mindfulness to include nearly everything I do. For, to be mindful is to pay attention to the spiritual dimension of life.

Here’s an example. I love to hike. There are several ways you can look at hiking. You can view it as exercise, especially when you are hiking uphill. You can see it as a race to get from one place to another as quickly as possible. You can understand it as a competition and try to hike faster than everyone else.

You can also understand hiking as a spiritual experience. As you hike, you can look at the beauty of the trees, the rock formations, the streams and the wildlife. You can breathe in the smell of the woods. You can notice how the sunlight filters through the trees. You can look up at the vast sky above. If you come to a vista, you can stop and look over the treetops for miles and have a sense of eternity.

While hiking, you can also notice what is going on within yourself. How hard are you breathing? How hard is your heart beating? Are you feeling tired? Are you carrying your anxieties, worries and concerns with you? Are you feeling a sense of freedom or joy?

To be mindful is to be deeply aware and it can make all the difference in how we experience an activity.

To be mindful is to be fully present in the present moment. Mindfulness places you in the here and now. It takes you from doing to being. Mindfulness is a spiritual discipline.

Frederick Buechner writes, “If God speaks to us at all... I think that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us…if we keep our hearts and minds open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, then I think we come to recognize that he [God] is speaking to us…”

So then, let us look and listen carefully to what is happening to us. For being mindful is a way of connecting with the holiness and sacredness of life; it’s a way of connecting with God.

Gifts From Judaism

I've started teaching Judaism in my Religion 101 class. The impact of Judaism on world history and thought is nothing short of remarkable. It birthed the two most populous world religions: Christianity and Islam. Arguably, it was the first thoroughly monotheistic faith. And, the Torah (especially the Ten Commandments) is the basis for Western law.

However, I believe the greatest gift of Judaism is the portrayal of God in intensely personal terms. The God of the Hebrew scriptures is powerful and transcendent, and the Creator of all that exists. Yet, this same God is described as walking in the cool of the evening in the Garden of Eden, having conversation with humans, and caring deeply about the fate of his creation, especially humans.

As Huston Smith puts, "The God of Judaism is more like a person than a thing (my italics)." This is a God we can relate to and have a relationship with. This is a God who cares, loves, forgives and is with us in times of need.

Contrast the God of Judaism with the gods of the Romans and Greeks. The gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus were basically indifferent to humanity because they were so self-absorbed. Contrast the God of Judaism with Brahmin, the chief god of Hinduism, who is an impersonal universal spirit.

I prefer to think of God in personal, rather than impersonal, terms because I can have a relationship of love and trust with a personal God. As a Christian, this personal God is most powerfully manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet, the God in Jesus Christ is the same God whom the Jews have worshiped and praised throughout the centuries.

"Waken In Me a Sense of Joy"

The leaves are beginning to change in our part of Connecticut. Right now, gold is the predominant color but reds and oranges are starting to emerge. What a glorious season autumn is! Visually, I find it to be the most compelling of the seasons. The photo on the right is from freefoto.com.

In his book, Guerrillas of Grace, Ted Loder offers a beautiful autumn prayer:

O extravagant God,
in this ripening, red-tinged autumn,
waken in me a sense of joy
in just being alive.
joy for nothing in general
except everything in particular;
joy in the sun and rain
mating with earth to birth a harvest;
joy in soft light
through shyly disrobing trees;
joy in the acolyte moon
setting halos around processing clouds;
joy in the beating of a thousand wings
mysteriously knowing which way is warm;
joy in the taste of bread and wine,
the smell of dawn,
a touch,
a song,
a presence;
joy in having what I cannot live without--
other people to hold and cry and laugh with;
joy in love,
in you;
and that all at first and last
is grace.