i heard something that resonated with me today. it's Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and although i haven't been to a synagogue in a ridiculously long time, i went today. i'm glad i did for many many reasons, one being the fact that this was read in part of the service.
"[Now]
There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been: a people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful, and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive, and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death. It is a weakening and discoloring idea, that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time - or even knew selflessness or courage or literature - but that it is too late for us. In fact, the absolute is available to everyone in every age. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less.
There is no less holiness at this time - as you are reading this - than there was the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Chebar, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of God. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree. There is no whit less might in heaven or on earth than there was the day Jesus said, 'Maid, arise' to the centurion's daughter, or the day Peter walked on water, or the night Mohammed flew to heaven on a horse. In any instant, the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture.
Purity's time is always now. Purity is no social phenomenon, a cultural thing whose time we have missed, whose generations are dead, so we can only buy Shaker furniture. 'Each and every day the Divine Voice issues from Sinai,' says the Talmud. Of eternal fulfillment, Tillich said, 'If it is not seen in the present, it can't be seen at all."
-- Annie Dillard, "For the Time Being"
i don't consider myself a religious person. i don't believe that anyone is more or less deserving of love because of their beliefs, and i have trouble with the various exclusivities of organized religion. even if you're an atheist, i truly believe that this passage has meaning. to me it isn't just about God. to me it's about the fact that inside all of us is a capacity for humanity that gets ignored all too often these days. it's like it's not cool anymore, or even necessary or acceptable, to think deeply about who we are as human beings.
let's not mark our new years with champagne and empty resolutions that no one keeps. let's wake up a little and think about how we can be more truly ourselves.
An open letter to the occupation and city,
The night before the announced Sam Adams press conference I removed my tent, cleaned my area and officially left the camp. I am still visiting but will honor the eviction notice Saturday at midnight. I propose we take down everything, clean, leave the camp and withdraw peacefully. Lets show the city we can un-occupy just as fast as we occupied with minimal damage to the park. This will make it easier for us to re-occupy again downtown or somewhere else. If you have a place just go there. Why would you camp outside if you don’t need to? Lets encourage the street families and houseless to go where they would have gone if they weren’t at the occupation. Some will go to shelters and others back to the street. This is better than jail. We can do outreach to those who go back to the street. We can use our donated food resources to prepare meals for them and deliver to them. We can use our medic team to provide street medic services to them. We can use our Occupy movement to hold occupation donation drives in parks around the city to get necessary supplies like sleeping bags, tents, tarps, blankets and socks to give to the houseless. This will simultaneously accomplish much needed outreach both to the houseless populations around the city and to people who would like to support us. We can connect them and foster a community of sharing. These people will be occupying other spaces, but much of it will be alone behind dumpsters or in groups on empty lots and under bridges. Lets go out in affinity groups and form a ring of protection around them to prevent them from being harmed. Originally our intention was to fight corruption on Wall St., but our occupation was destroyed by three forces. First was our own prejudice against the houseless. Any occupation we setup will be dominated by those already occupying in that area. If we know these people we will start with a strong community and be able to know the difference between those truly in need and those preying on others. The second force is groups ignorant of or unwilling to commit to a strict discipline of non-violence. If we simply step out of the way we will be performing a judo move where instead of taking on the blunt force of the state, we will allow it to strike our enemy who chooses to foolishly remain in the camp and fight. The police have already said they will hold whoever they arrest as long as possible, and there are people in the camp who want to take on the police. Why should we stand in their way? Lastly the forces of the right used negative media attention to criticize the problems in the camp, but if we are helping people how can the right criticize us? They would look like jerks! How can you be against helping people? If we do this we should have no problem setting up our next occupation. In fact we could probably just ask to use whatever space we desire. If it was not granted the people would probably support us again. We can use this space to both build community and advocate for our broader political aims. Let’s take the good will of the city that has been given to us and “Pay It Forward”. This is more effective than fighting directly against the powers that protect the system of ownership. It is also the right thing to do. We cannot let the houseless people who stood with us go unprotected. Let’s stand with them in true solidarity. Occupy your heart. Take care of each other.
Peace and love, Lindsey Walker