Paul Strickland Journal

From Paul

My passion for interfaith dialogue and service as a means to peace is an integral part of how I am choosing to show up in the world. I have been given an extraordinary opportunity to participate on a panel at the Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia from December 3-9, 2009.

I was inspired to submit a workshop proposal on interfaith dialogue and my experience in creating and leading the Center for Religious Inquiry at St. Mark’s Cathedral from 2005-2008 in Minneapolis. I am thrilled that I have been invited to present on a panel of six entitled, "Strangers Becoming Neighbors: Community Interfaith Responses to Interdependence.”

As a participant and a presenter, I am honored to be representing Heartland and the Art of Convening^TM at the Council.

The panel is scheduled for the afternoon of December 7. Click the link below "Continue reading"  for a full Program description of the panel. 

In Peace, Paul Strickland

Closing

The 2009 Council of Parliament of the World’s Religions closed this afternoon in Melbourne, Australia with presentations by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Uncle Bob Randall, an Aboriginal elder and a traditional owner of Uluru, Ayer’s Rock. Over 8,000 people from 80 countries and over 220 spiritual traditions gathered in a spirit of good will and unity. Past Councils were held in Chicago in1983, Chicago in 1993, Cape Town in 1999 and Barcelona in 2004.

Closing performers included Tibetan drummers, aboriginal dancers accompanied by a didgeridoo, Hindu dancers, an oud player, a solo cello player, the Australian Girls Choir all contributing to what one speaker called a banquet of visual and audio delights.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama said our world is facing a moral crisis. Peace of mind can only come through our mental state and the goal of all religions he said was to bring inner peace, love, compassion and forgiveness. He counseled delegates to respect all religions as well as non-believers. He said talk and dialogue were helpful but the world is calling out for action and he asked delegates to personally pledge themselves to taking action in their communities when they returned home.

Omie Baldwin a member of the Navajo Nation in the Unite States delivered the Indigenous Assembly Report. She asked delegates to support indigenous peoples by:

1.     Working to address climate change

2.     Developing policy that allows all indigenous peoples to exercise their spiritual beliefs

3.     Protecting sacred sites and spaces

4.     Promoting the support of native language and culture

5.     Returning ancestral remains and sacred objects

6.     Ratifying the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

7.     Repudiating the values of Christian discovery

Uncle Bob Randall spoke about aboriginal earth wisdom asserting that his culture in Australia was the oldest living culture in the world and had been in existence over 60,000 years predating all religions. He also spoke about Kanyini, the concept of unconditional love for all life.

 The outgoing Chair of the Board of Trustees Rev. Dr. William Lesher introduced the incoming Chair Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid from Chicago. Imam Mujahid took the occasion to announce a new social network for the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Peace Next.

Professor Joy Wandin Murphy, Kulin Nations-Wurrenjeri Senior Elder, who had opened the Parliament on December 3 delivered the final traditional blessing.

 For me personally, the past 6 days has been a time of reflection, learning, remembering and celebrating my presence in this beautiful world. Possibly the small part of me that is Native American causes me to resonate so with the indigenous people who have come to the Council. Regardless of the reasons, I identify with their message that is both hopeful and yet very cognizant of the damage we are all capable of if we forget that in the end we are all brothers and sisters and all of creation is our family. While we have been here in Melbourne, there has been a lot of discussion on television about DNA. People are researching their DNA and discovering that we can all trace our ancestry back to Africa.

My family and friends have occupied my thoughts during this journey. My dear friend and partner Sarah, my son Christopher and my daughters Kathleen, Kate and Claire have been very close even though thousands of miles away. I am a part of so many circles of friends who have supported me on this journey both spiritually and financially. I am so grateful for each of them. I loved what one indigenous speaker said this week in describing his people. He said, ”Our people have no bottom line, we have only circles and cycles.” Ho!

Stay tuned for more reflections and impressions to come and please send your prayers and positive thoughts and energy to Copenhagen for the  sake of all of us.

I live my life in ever growing orbits

that move out over all the things of the Earth.

Perhaps I shall never achieve the last, 

but that will be my attempt.

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower.

And I have been circling for a thousand years.

And i still don't know if I am a falcon or a storm or a great song.

~Rainer Maria Rilke~

In Peace, PaulStrickland

 

The Journey to Copenhagen

To journey without being changed

is to be a nomad

To change without journeying

is to be a chameleon

To journey and to be transformed

by the journey

is to be a pilgrim.

Mark Nepo in the Book of Awakening

The Council of the Parliament of the World's Religion's concludes today, December 9, here in Melbourne. Many of the dignitaries and delegates who have been attending the Council are leaving for the journey to Copenhagen. A banner with thousand's of signatures of Council delegates will be carried to Copenhagen as well. The lead article on the front page of the local newspaper The Age featured an article on the Council and showed people signing the banner.

Climate change is on everyone's mind and the 8,000 people at the Parliament's gathering are offering prayers daily for the success of the UN meeting in Copenhagen.Creating a sustainable healthy world is of paramount concern to religious and spiritual traditions and it is a major focus of the Parliament. For indigenous communities and many others, the natural world is more than home and shelter: it is the heart and essence of sacred spirituality. Caring for the environment is an essential expression of religious conviction. I won't attempt to list them all but the Parliament has offered over the course of a week dozens of keynote speakers, seminars, debates, workshops and discussions on topics including local farming, reducing energy consumption, mitigating climate change, the growth of green architecture and more. Fifty seven sessions on Healing the Earth were scheduled for convention delegates.The 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions has given us a forum to share our hopes, dreams and achievements in protecting, sustaining and repairing the Earth, the heart land. The Parliament is drafting a formal resolution that will be carried to Copenhagen by many of the dignitaries who will travel directly from Melbourne to Copenhagen. You can get a full description of the Parliament environmental offerings by visiting www.parliamentofreligions.org.

In the lead up to the film Kanyini, that depicts the sad history of Australian aborigines and the conquest of their lands by the colonizers, aboriginal elder Uncle Bob Randall, the executive producer of the film said, "The Earth is our Mother we are born from her. The purpose of life is to be part of all that is. The land, the people, the plants, the animals, the waters, the rocks is family and the proof of that is being alive. All creation is sacred."

Please join me in praying for the success of Copenhagen for the sake of all of us and our Mother and for the safe journey's of our friends Alec Neal, Katherine Ball, Paul Thompson and all those who are representing us and the Earth in Copenhagen. We pray that they and the thousands of other journeyers to Copenhagen will "be transformed by the journey." 

In Peace, Paul Strickland

The Art of Convening

The central mission of the Parliament of World Religions is to convene religious and civil leaders and people of faith, spirit and goodwill. My training in the principles and practices of the  Art of Convening through Heartland Inc. based in Minneapolis, Minnesota has given me a different lens for understanding the opportunities and challenges involved in convening. I am thoroughly convinced that done right convening is indeed an art.  The break out sessions I participated in at the Parliament were in the most part a flawed approach to convening. I am not being critical of the Parliament of the World’s Religions; the dynamic I observed is typical for most of conferences I have attended.  Rooms are set up with a table, chairs and podium in the front of the room faced by rows of chairs. The structure facilitates a download of information but is not conducive to conversation.  A “convener” introduces an “expert” panel or speaker and tells the audience that there will be time for questions after the presentation.  Inevitably the presentation takes longer than expected and the time for questions is limited. There is little or no opportunity for dialogue. At times, the speaker reads a paper with no eye contact with the audience.  Many people leave frustrated that they had no real opportunity to engage. They hurry to the next session and the whole process begins again.

I find it ironic that indigenous peoples had the wisdom to meet in circles where there is no head table, where people are able to see everyone in the circle and the structure recognizes that all have an equal opportunity to contribute. Certainly you can’t convene 8,000 people in a circle but smaller gatherings would be enhanced by structures that encourage vital conversation. In circle there is no hierarchy, and we have a greater likelihood of hearing and being heard.

There is a lot of talk today about convening, however, creative results-oriented gatherings and meetings require different methods from what most of us have learned and experienced. Convening is more than facilitation and more than merely issuing a call to gather.

Craig Neal, the co-founder of Heartland and the principal designer of the Art of Convening, says “Convening is different from facilitation. By definition, facilitation is "the process of making things easy or easier." Conveners invite participants to co-create the highest possible outcome for a meeting or gathering.”

I have no doubt that the principles of the Art of Convening would increase the level and quality of interfaith dialogue that is so necessary today for a peaceful world.

In Peace Paul Strickland

Differences Make the World Go Round

Over 200 faith traditions are participating in the Parliament of the World’s Religion’s meeting in Melbourne December 3-9. It is hard to describe what that looks like and sounds like: different names for the divine, different rituals, different forms of dress, different dietary habits, different languages etc. etc. I find it invigorating and challenging at the same time. I like to think that I am very accepting and broad-minded but I have to admit that at times differences can make me uncomfortable. It is an excellent lesson that all of us are operating off our own programming. At times, the Parliament gathering makes me feel like I have been invited to someone else’s home for a holiday meal. I have an idea in my mind’s eye as to how certain foods are supposed to taste and look and even what foods should be served. For example I have never had fish at a Thanksgiving dinner. I like fish but you just don’t have fish at Thanksgiving, at least in my tradition. And there's the key, in my tradition. It is humbling to learn that I may not be quite as open as I think I am.

Interfaith or interreligious dialogue is grounded in experiencing differences. Diverse traditions convene to develop mutual respect and sharing. Learning about and experiencing another’s religious or spiritual beliefs can lead us to a greater understanding of our own. Dialogue is not debate. In dialogue, we try to listen to the other personas deeply and openly as we can. Listening, as the Sufis say, with the heart rather than the ears in an attempt to understand the other’s position as precisely as possible.

Dialogue means entering into relationship that respects the other person’s identity. True relationship is based on integrity and authenticity, we must remain true to who we are. In interfaith dialogue, we do not ask others to betray their religious commitments nor do we betray our commitment to our own beliefs. Our inter-religious work doesn’t require us to submerge our differences or to sacrifice what we have seen or experienced of ultimate truth or ultimate reality.

If as they say, differences make the world go round then the Parliament of the World’s Religions is a fantastic machine that every five years causes the world to accelerate n its axis. Every five years we embrace our differences and celebrate as Rumi said, that “there are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” 

In Peace, Paul Strickland

Opening

The Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions opened last night with sitars, didgeridoo, dance and song. Delegates were blessed by Zoroastrians, Jains, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Baha’is, Aborigines and Shintos. The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra provided music and song. More than 200 faith traditions were represented at the opening clothed in a multitude of ritual vestments. There were white robes, brilliant golds, blues and scarlet’s, vibrant African patterns, the black hats of Orthodox Rabbis and the purple of Anglican and Catholic bishops. A sand animation artist drew sand paintings of religious signs and symbols as the various clergy and religious representatives prayed and performed.

Parliament Chairman William Lesher said the world faced daunting problems, but the solution was spiritual. He spoke of a tidal wave of compassion sweeping the world. “We are becoming an interfaith community. Martin Luther King Jr. and others envisioned a gathering like this where people gather to build a new, just, peaceful and sustainable world, “ he said. 

Keynote speaker, Rabbi David Saperstein, nominated by Newsweek magazine this year as America’s most influential rabbi, spoke passionately of living in extraordinary times.

“We are the first generation that grows enough food to feed every human on earth. Our failure to do so is a failure of  moral vision and political will,” Rabbi Saperstein said.

“We are the first generation that can educate every child, that can speed freedom across the globe. Our failure to do so is a failure of moral vision and political will. But we are not prisoners of a bitter and unremitting past.”

Other speakers included Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, an Afghan woman who founded 80 underground schools for girls and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Hindu spiritual leader whose Art of Living Foundation is active in 140 countries.

Each of the speakers honored the Aboriginal peoples who had been custodians of this land for thousands of years before the “white fella” showed up. It made me wonder if we don’t have an opportunity in the US and in Minnesota in particular to recognize those people whose blood, tears and ashes are in the soil we walk on every day. Indigenous people don’t see themselves as separate from the Earth and other beings. In their eyes, they are one and the same. I believe the Earth-wisdom that native people carry is something we all knew at some point but have since forgotten. They have much to teach us in remembering who we are and where we come from.  Yesterday I attended a presentation by three Aboriginal healers. Through an interpreter, they said that to be truly healthy we had to be spiritual and to be truly spiritual we had to be healthy. They sang healing songs for us that transported the audience to an ancient time, to dream time. They said to lead a good life we needed to do two things: follow the medicine of the ancestors and to listen to the elders.

As I watched the pageantry of the evening, I was profoundly moved that the people on the stage and the people in the audience were my brothers and sisters.  And I reflected on the words of Theresa of Avila: 

What are these insane borders that we protect?

What are all these differences for the same shrine of love

we all kneel in together? For it is true, together we live; and only

at that place where all are welcome will God sing loud enough to be heard.

In Peace, Paul Strickland

 

 

 

 

 

Healing the Earth

The theme of the 2009 Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions  meeting in Melbourne, Australia December 3-9 is  Make a World of Difference: Hearing each other, Healing the Earth.

One of the key note speakers at the Council is Mary Evelyn  Tucker  with her husband, John Grim she directed a series of 12 conferences on “Religions of the World and Ecology”  at Harvard’s Center for the Study of  World  Religions. Contact crel@aol.com for a brief summary.

 

I am struck by the fact that while people of the world’s religions are gathering in Melbourne environmentalists from around the world are gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark for the UN Convention on Climate Change December 7-18. Both groups are being challenged to accept our roles as citizens of the universe. Mary Evelyn Tucker comments: “ If science gives us an understanding of the origins and unfolding of the universe, the story of cosmology gives us a sense of our places in the universe. And if we are so radically affecting the Earth by extinguishing other life forms, and destroying our own nest, what does this imply about our religious sensibilities or our sense of the sacred? As science is revealing to us the particular intricacy of the web of life, we realize we are unraveling it.” I am reminded that my dear brother, Tom Crane, used to speak of cosmology and many of us would make light of it and skeptically say he must be talking about “cosmetology”. I wonder who is laughing now.

My good friends Paul Thompson http://ptfydisc-onecoolplanet.blogspot.com from Minneapolis and Alec Neal seachangegallery.org from Portland are attending the Copenhagen gathering and will be reporting back on reflections, activities and outcomes on their blogs.

 

As a country, Australia is experiencing the full affects of climate change in the form of terrible droughts and all the ramifications of water shortage including terrible bush fires, major sources of water drying up, and the devastating effects on wild life. On the flight over to Melbourne, I read about the possible destruction of thousands of wild camels in Western Australia that are becoming a threat to communities because they have become crazed in their thirst.

 

Professor Joy Murphy Wandin, Senior Aboriginal Woman of the Wurundjeri People, Australia will welcome Parliament delegates to Melbourne. This welcome by an indigenous person highlights the sacred wisdom of indigenous traditions that have sustained the earth and their peoples for some 150,000 years. Their traditional environmental knowledge and their sense of awe in the presence of nature contributes to our experience of the sacred and the holy and offers guide posts as we seek to heal and restore of the earth.

I awoke this morning in Melbourne to an email message from Joe Riley at Panhala who sent on this beautifully inspiring and comforting  poem by Wendell Berry

The Peace of Wild Things 

When despair grows in me

And I awake in the middle of the

Night at the least sound

In fear of what my life and my

Children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

Rests in his beauty on the water,

And the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

Who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

Waiting for their light.

For a time I rest in the grace of the world,

And I am free.

 

In Peace, Paul Strickland

 

 

 

Making a World of Difference: Hearing Each Other, Healing the Earth

Hearing each other is one of the key goals of the Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Seems fairly straight forward doesn’t it. However, my experience says that truly deeply listening to each other is a very difficult task. Most of us, including myself, don’t do a very good job of listening. Maybe we can do it for a few moments but sustained intentional listening takes practice. This is true whether we are listening to a long-time partner or a friend or someone we just met.  Hearing each other is at the core of interfaith or inter-religious dialogue.

For the past three years, I have participated in a practice that is taught by Heartland Circle,  the Art of Convening™ . This practice involves, among other things, creating a safe space in which a person can truly be heard. As the author and spiritual teacher, Parker Palmer, says, we create a space where the “shy soul can show up.” Or as we say in the Art of Convening, “we listen each other into being.”

We are encouraged to listen to the music of people and not just their lyrics; to listen with our hearts, as the Sufis teach, and our souls as well as our ears. The first word of the prologue of the Benedictine Rule that was codified by St. Benedict almost fifteen centuries ago admonishes us to “Listen!” The more I listen, the more I learn to listen. As I become more adept at listening, I learn that some of the most profound listening is done in silence. When we learn how to listen more deeply to others, we can listen more deeply to ourselves. In this process, we give the inner teacher a chance to teach us.

Listening is  magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. You can see that when you think how the friends that really listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius as though it did us good, like ultraviolet rays.~Brenda Ueland (Strength to Your Sword Arm)

In Peace, Paul Strickland

 

Thanksgiving

 

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything God has given us — and God has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from God. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, and is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”
    ~ Thomas Merton ~

I leave for the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions on Monday November 30.  At the moment, I am visiting with my mother-in-law in Ohio, and preparing to celebrate our American holiday of Thanksgiving on Thursday with family and friends. The holiday and my upcoming trip bring the concepts of gratitude and generosity to the front of my mind. I am so grateful to be making this trip that is possible due to the generosity of others. Sarah, Tom, Roxann, Ginny, Kay, Georgia, Bill, Marilyn, Pele, Firehawk, Craig, Patricia, John, Betsy, the people of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Minneapolis and many others have given freely and generously to make this trip a realty. I am so grateful and so blessed. 

Gratitude is recognizing the underlying goodness and support that is part of our lives. Everything we have or own ultimately came from God. It is on loan to us for a finite period of time. My Australian Uncle Lawrence, who has now passed away, used to say that he had never seen a hearse pulling a safe. There is a Buddhist ritual that encourages people at the beginning of a new year to go from room to room in their homes and to reflect that someday someone else is going to have to get rid of all this stuff.

I think it’s important to stress that gratitude is really a choice. God calls us to gratitude, but we choose to listen or not, to be aware or not. It doesn’t depend upon circumstances or genetic wiring or something that we don’t have control over. It is an attitude that we can choose that makes life better for ourselves and for other people. When things go well gratitude enables us to savor things going well. When things go poorly gratitude enables us to get through those situations and to realize that circumstances do eventually change.

Strangers Becoming Neighbors

My panel presentation in Melbourne is entitled, Strangers Becoming Neighbors: Community Interfaith Responses to Interdependence. As I reflect on the title in preparation for the panel, I recall a poem by the Irish poet John O'Donohue who died suddenly in January 2008 at the age of 52. 

On Meeting a Stranger

With respect    

And reverence

That the unknown

Between us

Might flower

Into discovery

And lead us 

Beyond

The familiar field

Blind with the weed

Of weariness

And the old walls

Of habit.

My sincere wish for the 10,000 participants in the Parliament of the World Religions, December 3-9, is that we are able to move beyond "the old walls of habit" and to recognize that in the end we are all neighbors on this small planet.

Heartland Member to Represent Heartland at Global Spiritual Gathering in Australia

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“There can be no peace among nations without peace among religions and no peace among religions without dialogue.”  ~Hans Kung~

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Heartland member Paul Strickland from Minneapolis will represent Heartland at the Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia December 3-9, 2009. The Council is the world’s largest inter-religious gathering with over 10,000 participants from more than 80 countries. The first Parliament was held in Chicago in 1893. Since 1993, a Parliament has been held every five years: 1993-Chicago, 1999-Cape Town, 2004-Barcelona.

This blog will report Paul’s reflections on Council activities and his trip. As an emissary for Heartland, he will be making global contacts and raising awareness of the Art of Convening™ and Heartland’s vision of convening and supporting evolutionary leaders who are committed to creating a world that serves the well being of all. Paul is a Thought Leader Gathering™ member, a graduate of the core and advanced Art of Convening™ training, and a Heartland Mens Wilderness Journey™ participant .