June 2016 meeting for reverence

Something in the air?  Last weekend was the weekend of national celebrations for the Queen’s 90th birthday – some sense of rootedness, perhaps, to balance out the national turmoil over the pending decision to remain in or to leave the European Union – and lo! our gathering for reverence took the theme “Maintaining a grateful balance”.

Or perhaps the theme reflected events and experiences closer to home, as members of our small community have been providing mutual support through some personally taxing, unforeseen life events recently.

Our readings came from Dan Millman and Kristi Nelson, taking two different perspectives on what is required in order to live in balance; and why it is necessary to say “no” to some things in order to be able to say “yes” to others.  The perfect balance of the egret when fishing, and the need to thin out crowded, green peaches were the two abiding images from the readings. The meeting leader mused on the intersection of the divine with the messy experience of life as it is lived, and suggested that the insight in common from the two readings was mindfulness, attentiveness, intentionality.

Our opening prayer came from Aelin – a Pagan Catechism by Darren Canning and our closing prayer from Spirit of Time and Place by Cliff Reed, and we sang two hymns from Sing Your Faith, about seeking faith and life being a gift.  We also heard The Island by Hollie Sue   http://www.holliesheard.co.uk/songs.html

Our candles as usual drew out matters of concern to us, joys as well as sadnesses, and we had a frank yet gentle conversation on our theological perspectives over refreshments.  It was generally felt that as we grow our group we must do what it takes to retain the respectful and occasionally intimate context we have achieved so far.

Online bells and candles to keep us centred

There are two wonderful websites for people trying to establish the habit of mindfulness and focus on the interior aspect of living, whilst having to spend a lot of time on their personal computers.  I'm not sure how well they work on smart phones or tablets.  You do not have to download any software onto your computer for either of them.  Both sites are freely offered but accept donations for their work.

The first website allows you to set up a 'mindfulness' bell to ring either at random or at specific intervals.  The practice one is encouraged to adopt is (just like monks in a Tibetan monastery) to go about one's usual business, but then when the bell rings, to take three mindful breaths and regain a wider perspective of just what it is one is doing right now, right here.  To live in the real world of one's senses, rather than in one's virtual world of thoughts.

http://www.mindfulnessdc.org/bell/

The second website allows you to 'light a candle online'.  By following the instructions and clicking, you are invited to go through the same interior process as you would do in lighting a wax candle with a match.  It may sound trite; but if approached in the right manner it can be a moving experience.  What you get from it, as with so many things, is determined by what you put into it.

http://www.gratefulness.org/light-a-candle/

2016 Festival of Unitarians in the South East (FUSE)

One of our group went to FUSE, a weekend Unitarian festival in Worthing, held each February for the past eight or so years.  This is what she said about it.

"It was a wonderful experience.  This was the first time I had been to FUSE.  Because it has no element of 'annual general meetings' or other administration, I could just enjoy the activities on offer, and get on with soaking up the atmosphere of being - for the first time in many years - in a large group of Unitarians all together.  The hotel had 90 or so rooms, and I don't know how many were being occupied by Unitarians on their own, or as pairs, or as families, but there were enough of us to fill their huge dining room and make a quite a din at meal times.

For me, it was a very prayerful time; but not all Unitarians like the word "prayer" or attach a meaning to it.  You see, not all Unitarians think in terms of God or even religion.  Some think in terms of the highest human values, the complexities of the human spirit, the common features of life as we directly experience it.  Others are more aligned to thinking about life as part of how God can be experienced in the world.  That didn't stop us all enjoying together the singing, the walking, the meditation and mindfulness, the Qi Gong, the spiritual elements that can in some way be called sacred, the encouragement of children to find their own spiritual path ... or any of the other activities that were laid on.  There were some very talented workshop leaders there, who with the management team, made it all happen.  And just outside there was the promenade along the beach, empty in February and with some tremendous waves crashing on the pebbles.  Spectacular!

When you soak yourself in a new atmosphere that is bursting with enthusiasm like that, especially over a whole weekend, it is a very intense experience and it does funny things to your thinking.  I chose to stop using any electronic gadgets, even the TV in my room. Whenever I was between scheduled activities I simply went back to my room and just sat, and looked, and waited.  I don't know what I was waiting for, but something definitely did emerge for me, in the quiet.

I can't wait to go back next year.

And I would like to thank the Southern Unitarian Association who generously gave me a grant towards my costs.  I'd like to think that one of the other Ringwood Unitarians might be able to take up a grant from SUA for 2017 FUSE.  I would hate to keep this experience all for myself."

Unitarians lead children's holidays

It was barely two and a half hours that I spent with Uni-Kids last night but I came back refreshed in spirit, though tired.  Uni-Kids is an annual adventure holiday for children largely from the south of UK, arranged and run by Unitarians.  This year, like last, the holiday is taking place centred on Burley Youth Hostel in the New Forest.  As this is only six miles from Ringwood, the opportunity to go and meet everyone and take part in a few activities was too good to pass up.  I’m not much good at children’s ages, but I would say that there wasn’t anyone over 13 in the group of ten children.

Burley Youth Hostel, New Forest, 28 July 2015

I turned up after dinner at the end of their first full day and heard tales of beach art and canoeing, blisters and getting wet.  Plans for the lido and a fusty museum tomorrow.  I was assigned to the Jumping Jellyfish team for the last two rounds of the evening quiz, which balanced things out a bit as several other teams also included an adult.  A hard fought competition ended in a four way tie-break; victory was underplayed by the children and the disappointment of the losers very slight.  All low key stuff.

Next we wrapped up warm, ready for a dusk walk in the Forest, and before we set out we played the old “Post It note on the forehead” game.  We each had an identity assigned through a picture of a Forest animal and by asking other people questions we had to work out what our animal was – or perhaps, who we were.  Funnily enough, I had seen this game often enough but had never before been a player.  I quickly found how hard it could be to think of fruitful questions to ask about “myself” out of the blue, and how much easier it became once I learnt to look at other “animals” and ask questions about “myself” through reference to other animals’ characteristics (am I stripey? – I asked the “badger”).  Hmm.  Serious learning point for me there, I think.  Can I easily learn about myself in isolation?

A shortish walk in the deepening dusk led us to a clearing where two mature oaks and two beech trees had been felled by some winter storm or other.  The Moon is about three quarters now and she was a beautiful sight above the tree line.  We carried out an exercise in mindfulness, paying full attention to all the noises we could hear.  For me, and for another as it turned out, it was a bit of a struggle to welcome the raucous throb of the tuned-pipe Harley Davidson motorbikes asserting themselves rather unnecessarily as they passed quite close by.  Much easier to welcome the alarm calls of the blackbirds and robins settling down for the night.  We didn’t hear any of the badgers, deer, sheep, donkeys, hedgehogs, squirrels etc that we had been earlier on, but we were able (after completing the mindfulness practice) to catch sight of a small bat.

When we got back to the Youth Hostel we had a reflective session over hot chocolate and biscuits, where we were each invited to say how we were feeling and name it in animal form, how that had changed since yesterday, what we had most enjoyed today and what we were looking forward to the next day.  And what would be tomorrow’s biggest challenge.

I felt like a heron or an ibis, poised, concentrating, watching, learning, picking out nuggets of food.  For I don’t have children of my own and I could recognise the skill it takes to make a learning programme seem like a holiday, or a holiday seem like a learning programme, without slip, without forcing, without pressure, without winners and losers.  I salute all those who carry out work like this to build the health and wholeness of the next generation.

For wholeness was what they were learning.  Working in groups and sharing the tasks and the responsibilities.  Walking quietly with intent, learning to listen.  Practical techniques for de-stressing and reconnection with the body.  Connection with the Earth.  Use of metaphor as a powerful tool of thought.  Listening to each other and self-awareness and self-examination.  A habit of active reflection and closure at the end of the day.  No wonder I felt refreshed as I drove home across the New Forest.