Sikhs and Druids and Christians, Oh My!

A Call to Unity and Conscience (PART 1)

Imagine a stadium filled with six or seven thousand people, of every skin color, dressed in everything from business suits to flowing white gowns and turbans, animal skins and wizard hats, blue jeans and khaki pants. Adornments included priests’ collars, ministers’ stoles, boar tusk earrings, colorful bucket-shaped hats and curly-toed boots. The entire place aswirl with the buzz of a multitude of languages.

The crowd and the building both so large most of the beings there would never meet during the gathering. And every single one was there, from across the globe, holding intention for unity, peace, and healing in our world.

This was the Parliament of World Religions 2023, which took place last week in Chicago. I was pleased to have been selected to present a session titled, Sacred Economics – Creating an Economy that Works Better for All Beings. I’ve been presenting on economic system change for a couple decades but this was the first time doing so to a very varied, multi-faith audience. Going in, I was excited to deliver my message to this new group. Looking back, the whole event was much bigger than my small bit of work there. In fact, it had a profound influence on me, stretching me past some of my own prejudices and fears.

The first, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore” moment occurred night one before even reaching the convention center. I’d had a goof-up with my hotel reservation and didn’t have a room reserved for the first night. Fortunately, I was able to link up with a couple friends who were attending and crash on the couch in their rental.  I met one of them at the airport and shared a taxi to the apartment which was who knows where in the city. When we asked the taxi driver if there were any restaurants close enough to walk to, he advised us not to do so in that particular neighborhood. We had trouble getting the keypad to work on the gated apartment complex, so, when we headed out to find food, we left the apartment portion unlocked to make sure we could get back in. A little uncomfortable leaving the door unlocked, I grabbed my laptop and slid it into my bag.

My friend and I are both white, mostly country girls. We’d each travelled a lot but big cities are a little out of our element. There was not a restaurant, or other white person (I am not exaggerating or judging, just honestly observing) anywhere to be seen. It had been a long time since I’d been the minority and I noticed feeling conspicuous and, well, noticed. My friend kept saying, “This feels a bit sketchy.” Though I was actively working on releasing fear and “othering”, reminding myself I was likely quite safe, I became acutely aware of my laptop sticking out the top of my bag. We did eventually find a Subway sandwich shop, placed a quick to-go order, and promptly hustled back to the comfortable confines of our room.

Next morning, we made our way to the McCormick Place convention center, the largest convention center in North America, and stepped into the colorful, buzzing scene I described above. The event organizers had had tech challenges so the line to get through security and pick-up our name badges was looooong, circling the entire perimeter of the huge Hall D foyer and eventually snaking out and across the sky-bridge to the Hiatt hotel. We stood in line, bumping into and being jostled by people we didn’t know and whose language we couldn’t speak though it wasn’t hard to understand the various forms of grousing at the long line and inefficient process. But the grousing wasn’t too severe; everybody seemed to be at least somewhat enjoying just being there, immersed in the incredible energy, witnessing the swirl of diversity.

Six of us had travelled from Central Oregon and through the wonders of texting we found each other in line. The setting was prime people watching. Just in front of my little group, was a cluster of eight or nine people dressed mostly in white very nice suit-type robes, the men wearing white turbans. One of my friends noticed the small pins and pendants they were wearing and said she thought they were Zoroastrians. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a Zoroastrian before, but also wasn’t sure I hadn’t. As I watched, a photographer approached and the turbaned men lined up for a photo. Standing behind the photographer, one of the elder, dark-skinned women, got the tallest man’s attention and put her hands on her stomach sucked it in and stood up straight. The long gray-bearded man immediately did the same, sucking in his gut for the photo. It was such a sweet and funny human moment to witness. I don’t know much about Zoroastrians, but apparently some of them don’t want their pooch showing in pics – I can certainly relate to that!

After two hours standing in line there was a commotion on the sky-bridge and people cleared space as the opening procession clanged and sang and banged toward the auditorium. Tall, undulating dragons with glowing red eyes, dancers, bag-pipes, and groups I couldn’t identify rolled past and we all forgot about long lines and just clapped, danced and snapped vids and photographs. Here is a two-minute vid of the dragons – so cool.

I have been to more conferences than I can count but always on either environmental or political topics. This was very different. There I was, a newly-minted minister, immersed in the largest multi-faith gathering on Earth, bringing the expertise and passion of my old career into the realm of my new one. It truly felt like Divine Order. I’d answered a wild call, made an unasked-for, and initially unwanted, midlife career shift and all of it was coming together in a beautiful way.

Over the next several days I attended lots of sessions, met countless new people, delivered my workshop, and bumped into a whole lot of wisdom. It would make this piece far too long to go into details so I’ll just hit on some of the highlight themes and events.

First, though many of the speakers did indeed seem to view “Creation” as only humans, most of them openly spoke of the need to recognize that all of Creation is sacred and protecting the Earth, and our fellow species, is our responsibility.

Related to the protection of Earth was a strong theme of “enough”. Several speakers addressed the harm being done by a “Getting Consciousness”, in which nature and other cultures are viewed as resources to be extracted. There was a surprisingly strong and repeated call to shift to plant-based diets to reduce the environmental devastation caused by our current meat-based food system. One rep from the United Nations Environmental Program pointed out that 80% of deforestation of the Amazon is caused by razing the forest to grow beef (often for fast-food chains in America). There was also a surprisingly strong and direct call-out to say enough to the torture that factory-farmed animals endure throughout their lives. It gave me hope to hear so many leaders from so many different faiths and parts of the world, openly extending compassion to non-human beings and nature itself.

Perhaps the most hopeful aspect for me was the general theme of having had enough with status quo systems that stem from and feed unhealthy states of consciousness. Just outside the main hall was a demonstration area with a large wooden ENOUGH sign and calls for an end to gun violence.

Along those lines, certainly one of the boldest, most direct, and energized addresses came from Marianne Williamson in a plenary called A Call to Conscience. Whatever people may think of her chances in the U.S. presidential election, her message is incredibly important. She is the only candidate, including the incumbent President, willing to openly speak about the absolute necessity of system-change and moving beyond incremental measures. She ended her comments with the call to live in a way that even on the last day of our life, we feel good knowing we have, “laid it all down.” I believe she is doing just that and I was more than happy to be part of the standing ovation.

A short time later I was in the hotel lobby heading to do a work-out and Marianne and a staffer were right beside me. Marianne was speaking with a woman and I asked the staffer if she had time to chat with me briefly. She said they were on their way to an interview so she was on a tight schedule. I told her I was the former First Lady of Oregon and I understood the intensity of campaign schedules and would not take much time. I told her I myself had been publicly annihilated by status quo political interests in no small part due to fiercely challenging that status quo. They both got interested and I offered to ride up the elevator with them to save time. Among my first words to Marianne were, “I just want you to know how much I respect what you’re doing and I know that very few people understand how fucking hard it is to step into that arena.” She let out a breath and offered a genuine, “Thank you for saying that.” Our short conversation up to her floor basically became a respectful pep-talk. I could see how tired she was, and also how determined. I told her her message was very important and many people appreciated what she was doing.

As the doors slid open, I shared that I too was a student and teacher of A Course in Miracles and also deeply appreciated her work in that arena. She said, “Thank you. Hold the consciousness. Ask others to hold the consciousness.” Now, I’ve been around a lot of candidates, even a number of presidential candidates, but I’ve never had one mention consciousness before.

In the end it felt good just to acknowledge her toughness and commitment, offer appreciation and support and not ask anything of her. You don’t get a lot of that on the campaign trail. I’ll be helping with her campaign a bit going forward. Here is a brief clip from her address.

Then it was time for my own presentation. The challenge at this event is that there are usually about twenty-five sessions running concurrently so people have a whole lot to choose from. Also, about an hour before the start of my session it was announced that indigenous elders from the Amazon had asked for an emergency address to explain what was happening to their homelands. Oh poop. Amazonian elders or the “dismal science” of economic system change that I was going to be speaking about. I mean, of course I am all about stopping the destruction of the Amazon and her species including humans, but I had to admit I was a little disappointed about the timing. I put it away and trusted.

In the end twenty-two folks attended my session (including all my local peeps and a couple other Unity friends bless them!) and we had a powerful discussion about the flaws in our current economic system and how it could only have been created through a consciousness of separation and getting rather than giving. Several people noted it was one of the best sessions they’d attended. The good feedback I received and knowing how much I’d chosen to leave out of the presentation gives me the idea that I need to break this info down into more bite-size components and I’m now planning to create an online course – more on that later.

Finally, for this part-one post, even though many of the sessions and speakers offered great stuff, I think the greater value was just being immersed in the experience of the whole affair and noticing what bubbled up. On day two, I attended the Langar meal, which was a free vegetarian lunch, provided each day of the parliament by the Sikh community. It’s an incredible undertaking and selfless service. It was also the first time I’d been served by men wearing turbans. Because of many knee surgeries, I cannot comfortably sit cross-legged and felt self-conscious with my legs poking out into the aisle. I tried to sort of explain but the guys were too busy serving the huge crowd to hear me and they just graciously stepped around while making sure I and everyone else had plenty of every dish.

On the morning of the day I was to fly home, I was hustling across the sky-bridge from the hotel to the opening session. A man to my left was doing the same. I said hello as I came abreast of him. He asked if the registration was still open, which seemed a little odd this far into the event. He explained he’d been mugged the night before and had lost his name badge and credentials. I slowed and walked with him as he told me the story. Two guys had grabbed him, thrown him to the ground into a mud puddle, yanked his bag off his shoulder and raced away. I just listened compassionately and told him I was so sorry that happened. He said it had really bruised his leg and elbow but he was grateful because the people in the house next to where it happened took him in, called police and even washed his clothes. Finally, he said, “At least they didn’t get my laptop because I took it out of my bag before I left.” Yikes! I didn’t mention my story of waltzing around rough looking and sounding streets with my laptop and wallet front and center. I walked with him to the registration desk and said goodbye. We never exchanged names – there was no need. The whole thing made me smile. In a sea of people we briefly meet and connect with certain ones and who ever knows the reason beyond just offering and receiving grace and sharing our human experience?

Sitting on the plane, eager to be home, I realized, being totally honest, that ever since 911 I’d felt a little wary when dark-skinned men in turbans got onto the plane. The message of fear had been very strong in my culture. Now, I felt I’d just be curious. That’s a shift in consciousness I’ll gladly accept.

P.S. I want to express a huge thank you to all my supporters who provided a bit of extra funding to help pay the substantial expenses of this trip. Thank you. Thank you!

---

Starting an Online Course in Miracles Group – Twice a Month Beginning September 13^th.

As I’ve noted before, A Course in Miracles has genuinely transformed my life because it gave me power tools for transforming my thinking and redesigning my default reactions to events, circumstances, and interactions. I have learned/ am learning a far more empowered and peaceful way to move through life.

I’ve been leading Course in Miracles study groups for many years because I find it so useful to dialogue and explore together. So, I have decided to start offering an online Miracles group each second and fourth Wednesday, 5:30 to 7pm Pacific Time, beginning Sept, 13^th.

To give you a little heads-up I approach the Course a little differently than most in that I intentionally make the language gender-neutral. I believe God/Source/Creator is way beyond gender and I find the Course resonates even more when the Divine and all of us aren’t labelled “He” (not that I’ve got anything at all against those of you who do go by “he!).

Here is a link to zoom for the first session.

Hope you’ll join and in the meantime, may the Force and/or the Course be with you!

Much Love,

Cylvia