| OneLife Newsletter: Spring 2009 |
Click HERE to download a full-color 6 page PDF of this issue of the newsletter.
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Notes from the Director
Peace is not the product of terror or fear…
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution
of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism.
Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.
~ Archbishop Oscar Romero
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| Dr. Liza Rankow |
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In these times of local and global violence, economic crisis, and social division, we need inspiration. And we need each other. That was the purpose behind our March 14th community arts event, Transformative Visions. To come together in the affirmation that each of us carries a creative vision. Within each of us is the power to transform ourselves and our world. Yes, we must make a clear and honest assessment of present conditions and dysfunctions, but we must also look beyond them to see the new world that is possible… and work to bring it into being. As author and activist Arundhati Roi writes, "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing."
This issue of the newsletter features a sampling of our creative feast from Transformative Visions. Please visit the "virtual" installation on our website, with separate pages for ART, WORD, and MUSIC -- including photos, audio, video, and links to the websites of our artists and performers (where available). (Web documentation for Transformative Visions 2007 is also available.)
HOWARD THURMAN CLASSES
I find great hope in the steady demand for classes on Howard Thurman. This magnificent teacher, writer, and mystic has much to say to today’s concerns; much to offer each of us on the inward journey of our spiritual development, and in our commitment to creating a better world for all.
Several classes and workshops are coming up this spring and summer. I will be teaching a weekend intensive, specifically dealing with Thurman’s work on mysticism and social change, Friday evening, May 1st, and Saturday May 2nd, at Inner Light Ministries in the Santa Cruz area. On July 11th, I will be in Los Angeles for a one-day introductory workshop on Thurman at Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Religion and Spirituality. Finally, I am putting together another full length Oakland class. Please contact us ASAP if you are interested. You can e-mail classes@onelifeinstitute.org or leave a message at 510.595.5598. All of these offerings are open to the public, and more information can be found on the classes and events page of our website.
SPIRIT, SOUND & SILENCE
On Saturday, April 25th we will be back at Holy Redeemer Center for our next 'Spirit, Sound & Silence' retreat. Come enjoy a day of healing and renewal. In addition to our sliding scale admission policy, we now have full scholarships available for those in need. Please click HERE for retreat details.
VOLUNTEER BRUNCH
OneLife Institute operates on volunteer power. Every year, on Memorial Day, we host a special appreciation brunch honoring the beautiful souls who share their time and talents with us in so many ways. This year the celebration will be held on May 25th at 10:00 AM, and will be immediately followed by our quarterly visioning session. Past, present, and future volunteers are welcome! This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about OneLife and find out how you can get involved in our work. We hope to see some of you there. (RSVP appreciated.) Special thanks to the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living for providing use of their facility at 5000 Clarewood Dr., Oakland.
For more information about volunteering with OneLife, please visit our Volunteers Welcome page.
PREACHING AT INNER LIGHT
Join us on Sunday, April 19th in the Santa Cruz area when I will bring the message as guest speaker at Inner Light Ministries. Musical inspiration will be the spirit-filled Inner Light Choir. Meditation begins at 10:15AM, with Celebration Worship Service at 10:45 AM. Inner Light is located at 5630 Soquel Dr., Soquel, CA 95073, and is pastored by the Rev. Deborah L. Johnson. For more information and directions, visit www.innerlightministries.com.
ONELIFE ON YOUTUBE
OneLife Institute is slowly entering the world of Web 2.0! We have just created a YouTube Channel with video clips from Transformative Visions 09 and a small collection of "favorites." Please visit us to watch for new additions, and send your recommendations for thoughtful and inspiring videos we should know about. Click www.youtube.com/user/onelifeinstitute to visit us on YouTube.
In peace and gratitude,
Liza
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| Transformative Visions '09
You should have been there. This year’s Transformative Visions was simply outstanding. Twenty dynamic visual artists. Six powerful spoken word performers. Jazz legends, the Richard Howell Quintet, featuring our beloved Harpist from the Hood, Sister Destiny Muhammad. And a standing room only crowd.
Transformative Visions centers on the power of the arts as ministry and activism, lifting up a message of peace, justice, and possibility. It is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, and the annual observance of A Season for Nonviolence – the 64-day period between the memorial anniversaries of Mohandas Gandhi (Jan. 30) and Martin Luther King Jr (April 4). Founded in 1998 by Rev. Michael Beckwith, Arun Gandhi (the grandson of the Mahatma), and others, Season is a grassroots campaign of education, action, and community-building observed each year in a growing number of cities worldwide.
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| "I Am Oscar Grant"
by Liza J. Rankow, PhD
Note: Oscar Grant III, an unarmed 22 year old African American man was shot and killed by public transit police in Oakland, just hours into the new year. He was being held face down on the platform, and under restraint. The incident was captured on cell phone video by people on the train and circulated widely on the internet, sparking local and national mobilizations for justice in this case, and an end to rampant police violence. The investigation is ongoing, as is community activism. (See links below.)
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"I am Oscar Grant!" chanted the crowd. "I am Oscar Grant." It was a rallying cry, a statement of solidarity, and a simple acknowledgment that any young person of color in this city could easily have been the one shot this time. Or next time.
I am Oscar Grant. And I am Andrew Moppin. I am Jody Woodfox. I am Anita Gay. I am Adolph Grimes. I am Sean Bell. I am the children bombed in Gaza. I am the women widowed in Iraq. I am the families slaughtered in Darfur.
I am Oscar Grant. A rallying cry, but also a profound mystical truth.
I am Oscar Grant. And I am also Johannes Meserle, the BART officer who shot and killed Oscar. And I am Oakland police officer Hector Jimenez, who shot and killed both Andrew and Jody. And I am the New Orleans officers who killed Adolph, and the Berkeley police who killed Anita, and the NYPD officers who killed Sean. I am the Israeli military pilot who dropped the bomb on Gaza, and the US tax-payer who financed it. I am the Israeli mother afraid for her own children. And I am the shiministim, teenaged Israeli conscientious objectors, imprisoned for refusing to support the occupation.
I am all these and more. The victims and the perpetrators. The murdered and the survivors. The imprisoned and the guards. The activists and the bystanders. Thich Nhat Hanh coined the term "interbeing" to describe this fundamental oneness of all life. "[W]e belong to each other," he said, "we cannot cut reality into pieces. The well-being of 'this' is the well-being of 'that.'" Transformation requires something beyond retribution for individual acts of violence (whether the perpetrator is in a uniform or not). Healing, and the creation of a just and compassionate society, demands a shift in the way we view the world, the way we view one another, and the way we view ourselves. Whatever our position in the equation, we are part of the fabric of the whole. And because of this we have the capacity to make a difference.
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This is the piece as I started to write it a couple of weeks ago. Since then Oakland made national news again with the March 21st deaths of four police officers and the young man who shot them. (There have been others killed in the interval, although without making headlines.) Rage, grief, and fear are palpable in the city, and the risk of polarization is high, with many on both sides of the issue quick to valorize or demonize in a simple calculus of "us" and "them." (Although who is "us" and who is "them" varies depending on who you talk with.)
Also this past week, President Obama outlined his plans for the escalation of troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan, suggesting that with a greater military presence "we" can root out and "destroy" the "enemy." And then somehow "we" will be safe. The same way more police and more prisons would make Oakland safe... Over two thousand years ago the Buddha taught: "Violence never ceases through hatred. It is only through love that it ceases." Dr. King said something very similar, "Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, in fact violence merely increases hate.... Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Guides from many faith traditions have said the same. Yet how do we operationalize this; how does a city or a nation make the paradigmatic shift in attitude, policy, infrastructure...?
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... No doubt you can see this is a much larger set of questions than a brief article can address. And it is a profoundly complex matrix of questions. I plan to continue this writing and wrestling, posting some of it on the OneLife Institute website, and I want to invite you to wrestle, think, and reflect with me. As Dr. Howard Thurman would say, "Let’s work on this together a while... Let’s brood over it." Send your reflections (prose, poetry, or otherwise) to us at newsletter@onelifeinstitute.org, and let’s see what might emerge.
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All articles copyright to individual author, remaining newsletter content
(c) 2009 OneLife Institute.
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