May 5th 2024 : Coming home again
Coming Home Again:
Regrounding ourselves in difficult times
The word "buffeted" has several shades of meaning, both of which lead into our topic for consideration this Sunday. One meaning refers to a force, especially wind or waves, repeatedly and forcefully battering something such as a coastline, or somebody, such as someone who happens to be walking along that particular coast at that time. The other meaning, related to it, refers to a strong force, again, such as wind or waves, knocking someone off course, say in a little boat caught in that storm that is buffetting the coastline and the one walking along it. Blending both, we'll be looking at the idea of regrounding ourselves, recentering after something stressful or upsetting, finding a way back on course after or even during some buffeting, regaining the solidness of being home within ourselves and within the world. No magic answers, and no naivety about the reality of huge stressors and hard facts; rather, a shared understanding and encouragement.
his is simply an invitation to participate if you wish to do so.
Readings
Ask the tech team for the first slide in the Readings section:
Neal Shusterman is a writer of novels, short stories, non-fiction, science fiction, and scripts for video games. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, an avid reader since he was very young, he majored in psychology and theatre at the University of California. He often writes for teens and young adults, stating that he can relate to the sense teens often have when they feel on the outside of things. This is from his novel Challenger Deep:
“Centering, however, is easier said than done. This I learned from a ceramics class I once took. The teacher made throwing a pot look easy, but the thing is, it takes lots of precision and skill. You slam the ball of clay down in the absolute center of the pottery wheel, and with steady hands you push your thumb into the middle of it, spreading it wider a fraction of an inch at a time. But every single time I tried to do it, I only got so far before my pot warped out of balance, and every attempt to fix it just made it worse, until the lip shredded, the sides collapsed, and I was left with what the teacher called “a mystery ashtray,” which got hurled back into the clay bucket.
So what happens when your universe begins to get off balance, and you don’t have any experience with bringing it back to center? All you can do is fight a losing battle, waiting for those walls to collapse, and your life to become one huge mystery ashtray.”
Cole Arthur Riley is a writer and poet, the creator of Black Liturgies, a space where she curates Black words of dignity, lament, rage, and rest, and integrates them with a liberating spirituality. This quotation is from her book: This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us
“Did you know that birds do not land because they're tired? It is a “remembrance”. They know and have always known that their liberation depends on their ability to recall the ground.”
The speaker, consultant, coach, and author, Prem Jagyasi offers another natural metaphor:
“The fruits of life can only grow when your roots are implanted well. Being grounded is the key to being fruitful.”