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Questions of the Hour

Questions of the Hour

Last updated on: June 29, 2018 at 12:30 pm by Maggie Beaumont

Questions of the Hour 2018-06-29T12:30:27+00:00 Maggie Beaumont

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the light of the Full Moon, I look to my defenses.

These are strange times. I have so many questions.

What tools do I possess? Which of them may be used as weapons if needed?

What wards have I set around my home – the walls, windows, floors, ceilings? What wards must I set around the whole apartment building? What protections can I offer my neighbors? How much can I do without their explicit permission?

What agreements have I made with the people I live among? the people I live with? worship with? What agreements have I made explicitly within my family? What agreements are unspoken – and which of them do I think ‘everyone’ follows?

What compassion have I expressed and received?

What offense have I (needlessly) taken? What offense have I (thoughtlessly) given? What amends are appropriate? necessary? possible?

What in my community requires my attention? Have I given my attention? done the work?

What do I imagine and predict? What do I anticipate? What preparation have I made?

What are my obligations as a Unitarian Universalist? as a Pagan? as a Witch?

What are my obligations as an American citizen?

What are my choices and obligations as a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent?

What are my obligations as a person with the particular privileges I possess?

Tonight I attended my first Tenants’ Association meeting, though I’ve lived here nearly five years. Somehow I hadn’t realized that I need to participate in community here even more than I did in my old neighborhood. With higher density comes more obligation for participation, not less. Suddenly it seems that anonymity might be a vice, not a virtue.

Tonight I heard about racial harassment occurring in the lobbies, corridors and parking lots of my building. I hadn’t known about that before. But now that I know, what will I do about it? As a White person who lives here, how can I best use my voice to shut it down?

What am I afraid of?

If I speak up to defend my Black and Brown neighbors, what’s the worst that may happen? Am I willing to accept that?

It feels good to confront that question, to acknowledge my fears. Because the truth is that I am willing to accept, for the greater good, any personal consequence that is likely. If I speak up from a place of compassion, with adequate defenses, any personal consequence is likely to be less. But the fact is that if I fail to speak up, that failure will not make me safer. It is good to recognize that. My failure to speak up might even endanger me, and all of us, further – another thing good to know.

Full Moon

The moon is full tonight. In the light of the Full Moon I invite the cleansing light of Peace to fill and open each of my chakras:

Above my head, the transpersonal chakra of my connection to the divine

The crown chakra of receiving

The third-eye chakra of knowing

The throat chakra of communication

The heart chakra of loving

The solar plexus chakra of choice and will

The belly chakra of desire

The root chakra of survival

Below my feet, the ancestral chakra of my lineage

In the light of the Full Moon I seek clarity, truth, intuition, and wisdom. I seek, as always, awareness of Spirit.

—

I’ve deleted nearly a dozen paragraphs tonight about the United States in its present situation. I’m mindful that my words have weight, if only to add to the stream of what is out there already. I’ve rejected Pollyanna, I’ve rejected Doom-and-Gloom, I’ve rejected Despair, I’ve rejected Exhortation.

Perhaps this is a time of waiting for clarity. Or perhaps this is a time to keep my own counsel before taking action.

May the gods be watching. May the angels of our better natures prevail.

Blessed Be

–Maggie Beaumont, a few days after the Summer Solstice

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