Results tagged “spiritual” from Marilyn Sewell

Yesterday I took part in a panel discussion at Lewis and Clark College's current conference on "Reimagining the Good Life."  Our panel's subject was the relationship between economics and religion, in attaining "the good life."  I opened with the following three-minute statement, which I'm sharing with readers as my "Reflection" for this week:

I remember the first time I began to understand that our economic system could be questioned, that it was not just a given, but actually the product of human choice.  I was a social work student, back in the '70's, and I heard a speech by David Gil, a professor from Brandeis.  "Who owns the air?" he said.  "Who owns the water?"

A word about the ancient god of the free market system, Adam Smith.  When Smith is quoted regarding the "invisible hand" of the market, what is conveniently forgotten is his assumptions about the conditions necessary to make free markets work.  Smith assumed that we would operate on a small scale and so would know the character of the people we trade with.  He assumed that our financial dealings would exist in the context of our values.  Instead, Smith's writing is used to justify the mad pursuit of shareholder profit, which is held to be holy and untouchable.

If we consider ourselves religious or spiritual, we know that we must see and enter the suffering of the world, else our own spiritual wounds will never heal.  The question comes, though, how do we enter the suffering of the world?  Churches are most comfortable with deeds of charity alone.  I recall the words of Archbishop Camara of Brazil: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint; when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."  There's nothing wrong with giving soup to hungry people--but the more difficult and dangerous way is systemic change, to get at the system that causes the suffering.

Wendell Berry looked at the derivation of "economics" in his book Home Economics.  Originally the word meant "activity involved in caring for the home."  Now it is a sophisticated discipline, supposedly a science, grounded in mathematical equations instead of human values.

Do I, a minister, know enough to speak about economics?  Am I a citizen?  We cannot leave this crucial area to the "experts," who have overlooked the poor among us, saying "that's just the price we have to pay for prosperity"; who have called the bleeding of the earth an "externality"; who have been enamored of formulas in books and have not been concerned that children are hungry.  No, we can't leave economics to the experts, because economics is all about how we divvy up resources and therefore it is fundamentally a moral issue.

We wonder that we can do in the face of forces which seem immovable.  Well, these forces are in fact subject to change.  Human beings have made choices, and different choices can be made.  We can say no, and no, and no.  We can say no, until they hear us.  And we can say yes, here is a new way.  It's time now.  Let's move there together.

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I recently received an anonymous letter.  Now no leader is immune to these things, and I've gotten a few in my day.  Generally they are nasty and often incoherent ravings which I don't bother reading.  This one was decidedly different.  This one was a cry for help.  But since I don't know who sent it, I can't respond.  I know only what she has told me about herself in a 3-page letter. 

M is a person not unlike many of you reading this blog.  She says she has a good sense of humor.  She is a single woman from a middle-class, two-parent family who has worked hard to create a good life for herself.  She has struggled successfully with health problems and problems of self-esteem for the past 10 years and has learned  to cope, in her words, "without self-medicating (food/alcohol/drugs)."

M successfully bought and sold her first house, making a tidy profit.  She re-educated herself about U.S. history from the working people's point of view and found her life's passion as an activist. She opened the first fair-trade shop in her area and created a peace movement in her hometown.  Having previously lived in Portland for a short time, she decided to move here and dedicate herself "to creating a just and equitable society with the good people  in the City of Roses."

But job hunting in Portland has been daunting.  After a life of successful employment, she can find nothing.  When she wrote the letter, she was less than two weeks from being kicked out of her rented room and needing to live in her van.  She needs money for food, medical care, and transportation.  She is asking herself the question, "How is it that an able-bodied person with good work skills and a positive mental and spiritual outlook . . . who comes from a solid middle-class family with loving and supportive parents be standing on an economic cliff, just waiting to be pushed off?"

Dear M--

Had you come to me for counseling, I would have given you a cup of tea.  We would have sat quietly together, and I would have listened.  I would have tried to get to know you not only by your words, but by your facial expressions, by the quality of your voice.  I would have tried to be fully present with you during our time together.  I might have said some of the following things:

I'm so sorry that you are in such a state of fear and pain.  You may feel alone in all of this, but so many people in our church and in Portland and all over the country are facing similar frightening circumstances.  You may feel alone also, because you're new to our city--but  there are many compassionate people who care, and some of them may be found in our church.  Come to the church and visit with one of the ministers, or a lay minister.

Please do not blame yourself for the situation you're facing--it's all too easy for an unemployed person to think that there's something wrong with them.  That's just not true.  Our unemployment rate is in the double-digits in this state--and those stats don't include all those who have given up looking for work and all those who are under-employed.  You've had problems with self-esteem in the past, and these same demons may reappear while you're going through this vulnerable period.  Keep telling yourself that you are not the problem.

In your letter you say that this economic crisis is proof that the current economic model is not viable.  I couldn't agree more.  We are trying to "bail out" a system that is corrupt and finally imploded upon itself.  We are going to have to reimagine how we want to be together as a people, and we're going to have to create an economic model that is inclusive of the well-being of all, not just the wealthy.  With your understanding of class and your commitment to change, you will be a part of creating that new future.

As to how we got in this fix--and it is a world-wide phenomenon, of course--the short answer is "sin."  Too many people were willing to look away from what they knew to be true, because they were being enriched by a system that had no integrity, that was bound to fail.  Government and business ane functionally interchangeable, and one might even say that the main purpose of government in this country is to protect and support big business.  Until the people say "no more!" shameful economic inequity will continue,  I hope that the bankers and money brokers and government officials who turned a blind eye to our economic disaster-in-the-making understand that real human beings like you--millions of them--are suffering terribly because of their selfishness and lack of responsibility.

The last question in your letter is "When will it end?"  I wish I could prophesy, and tell you.  But no one can, because the situation we are facing is unprecedented.  Thus far, we have been throwing old solutions at a new problem--kind of like treating AIDS with lots and lots of penicillin. 

I will tell you this--it will end, though, because human beings eventually figure stuff out.  All of us have to be a part of the new age that is coming.  In the meantime, find a community.  Know that you are not alone.  Know that you a good person.  Know that the future will open once again for you, as it has in the past.  

Bless you, my dear, wherever you are.  Though I don't know you, know that I'm thinking of you.

Marilyn 

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One of the most difficult of all human tasks, emotionally and spiritually, is forgiving those who have harmed us.  I suppose the difficult part is that we are human, and it is natural to want to strike back and hurt this person in return. Because so many of my congregants found my sermon, "Slouching Toward Forgiveness" helpful, I decided to expand upon it and to write a book on the subject.  The book is small and unpretentious--indeed, I do not claim to have perfected myself in this regard--but it contains the essence of what I have discovered thus far in my own search for understanding and practice.  The book is entitled simply A Little Book on Forgiveness, and it is now for sale in our own Beacon Book Store.  I will be doing a book signing on Nov. 30 and also on Dec. 14, for this book and for my other titles, which the bookstore carries. 

To give you a taste of the content of the new book on forgiveness, I'm going to reprint a few passages here in today's blog:

"Forgiveness asks us to go beyond that understandable impulse to judge and to punish.  It is a softening and healing of the heart, in response to pain or injustice.  It is a gift, not to the offending party, but to ourselves . . . ."

"Forgiveness is not just a single act, but is a way of being.  I believe that this way of living--living, that is, with discernment but not with judgment--is our best chance as human beings to find at last the peace of body and soul that we seek in vain, through other means."

"Forgiveness is a profound act of self-healing.  It allows us to make choices for our lives that we could not otherwise make, to make room for joy, for love.  Yes, as we forgive, we find that we are no longer defined and controlled by our pain and sadness . . . ."

"We need not be surprised if forgiveness is difficult, or if it takes a long time.  We need not feel guilty about our struggles to forgive.  We are not bad people because we struggle in this way.  We are just human.  We simply cannot will ourselves to forgive.  Quite honestly, I think forgiveness is an act of grace."

"We grow in compassion as we reflect upon our own lives and circumstances.  We realize that even our best-intentioned, most spirit-led decisions have the capacity to hurt others, including those we love."

"Each of us, no matter what our circumstances, has a rock-bottom choice to make, and that choice will determine the character and direction of our lives.  We can decide to be on the side of love, or not."

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