Come and go with me to that land
Come and go with me to that land
Come and go with me to that land
Where I'm bound (where I'm bound)
Come and go with me to that land
Come and go with me to that land
Come and go with me to that land
Where I'm bound
We’ll all be together in that land…
Nothin’ but peace in that land…
No more hatred in that land…
Come and go with me to that land…
Our opening music, performed by Sweet Honey in the Rock speaks to a sense of possibility that we are in dire need of at this pivotal time in history. I have begun to use the word possibility rather than hope, since possibility is something in the here and now and not in the distant future…it is palpable in the moment. Possibility is apparent in this song since it is anchored in movement…in an action we can take right now to move toward that place of our dreams…the place of peace…where there will be no hatred…where we will all be together. This speaks to our life in the present moment…full of possibility.
I have been experimenting recently with this present moment through meditation. Although I often suggest this daily discipline for others, I have rarely been successful with it myself. Here is a simple example of this type of meditation…
Although this is referred to as mindful breathing, I would argue that it is the shutting off of the mind that we are being asked to do in this present moment experience. It is this present moment state of being that Howard Thurman often spoke of in his description of meditations of the heart…of disciplines of the spirit. He often brought us to the present moment…such as in the meditation read by Mike Brown; How Good it is to Center Down. Thurman knew at a deep level that it is important to center down into the current moment in order to connect with our essence…our identity as children of God. I am reminded of the story of his grandmother, embedded in this description of religious experience as contagion…
Thurman is talking about the nature of religious experience as dynamic, fluid, yeasty, vital. This is the possibility! It is alive and full of the possibility of the moment. Instead of something that our mind can comprehend, it is something that we catch! This possibility is beautifully illustrated by his story of his grandmother. As she shares this story of her own childhood, she strengthens the sense of possibility experienced in that moment by her grandchildren. Thurman notes that there was a slight stiffening of her spine. This is a reaction that she had to reliving that experience which reminded her of her essence as a child of God. This is what I mean by action…by the possibility of this moment. It is something that we can observe in the moment. The following music can also serve as an illustration of this stiffening of the spine.
This is an example of this contagion. How can we not be moved by this music…the sense of authority, authenticity and indeed joy demonstrated here is contagious? This is something that is desperately needed right now…a sense of our own essence…as the bits of stardust that we are…in the words of so many…as children of God.
This idea of our essence is embedded in our journeys to healing and wholeness, whether it be in a group of fellow activists, in a spiritual community, at home in our meditation practice or within the compassionate space of a therapy session. One might even say that it is the goal of our journey to uncover our essence…our sense of who we truly are. Thurman put it like this, “…when a person actualizes their own potential, they become whole, harmonized, or fulfilled.” Asking the question, who am I?, then is of utmost importance. What is then our essence…our self? A spiritual teacher, A.H. Almaas writes of this as the promise…the life. He wrote:
Essence is the fulfillment of our deepest longings. Essence is the answer to all our fundamental questions, absolutely – no exceptions. This is such a fundamental point, yet at the same time, such a difficult point to understand. When you understand it, it is even more difficult to accept.
Almaas is describing the journey of health and wholeness that arises out of the present moment…that arises out of the wisdom of the body and soul. This wisdom was described by Howard Thurman like this:
Through slimy oozes of primeval ocean beds,
A human body. A living thing.
Climbed slowly up the years.
By fitful steps it made its way:
Swimming, crawling, climbing,
No stage was skipped.
At last, held taut twixt earth and sky,
It stood upright to shout defiance to the hills…
The body was mature,
All vital organs seemed as one
Without consent of mind.
The mind was there, mind it was not:
Taxed to the limit of its power
It kept the body safe, alive from every harm.
With life more friendly, mind released,
Thus the human, a living spirit, woke.
Thurman shows us the evolution of the wisdom of our body, mind and spirit…an interconnected whole. This is a recognition that our essence is more than just mind…it is the culmination of so many stages of evolution of many species with whom we share this past. We are in this together! And this inheritance is within us…our bodies and souls. It is the essence of our awakening in the present moment…awakening to the messages of our bodies and spirits calling us to unite…to truly believe that we will all be together in that land. Thurman put it this way:
It is time for assessing and reassessing resources in the light of the most ancient memory of the race concerning community, to hear again the clear voice of the prophet and seer calling for harmony among all the children of God.
At length there will be talk of plans for the new city –
that has never before existed on land or sea.
It is time…it is perhaps past time. But what we each have is the present moment in which to cultivate awareness and immediacy…the immediacy of now. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., written in 1963:
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.
May we heed this call of the prophet and seer, calling for harmony among all peoples. May we envision this new city and may we go there together.
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