I had a friend who was overwhelmed with the planning and organizing of retreats with various participants – planning food, getting money to the right places, making sure the place was warm, clean, etc. His spiritual teacher, Bernie Glassman, said “Don’t worry. Nothing depends on you.” I think this is a great and powerful teaching for our time, especially as we engage the theme of stillness. Often in our culture, including in our church we can fall into the trap of overemphasizing the power of our individuality. It is true that the world depends on us, on our personal choices, and the way we treat ourselves and each other. Our actions do have a genuine impact on everything and everyone around us. This is true. The paradox is at the same time, “nothing depends on you.”

            What I think this teaching means is that we can accept the numerous forces at work in any given moment, some of them known, most of them not. We can accept that we are ultimately part of an interplay of meetings that though we can participate in fully, do not have control over. With this perspective then, we can loosen up a bit, and appreciate our circumstances and our life more fully. We can literally allow and even welcome life’s surprises and mysteries rather than be continually threatened and anxious about them.

            Stillness, I think, allows us to live into both perspectives simultaneously: We are responsible toward the world (including ourselves), and nothing depends on us. Much of the stress during this time is that for most of us there are circumstances we don’t like. We’d prefer understandably to not be in the midst of Covid-19 still after nearly 9 months, and we’d prefer understandably to return to the way of life including the holiday rituals that buoyed us and offered joy. Can we find joy and offer encouragement within the circumstances we find ourselves in? Absolutely.

            Stillness gives us a reset: an opportunity to see and experience our life differently. We may not like the circumstances (and this is valid), but we can still cultivate joy and offer encouragement through others without feeling that everything depends on or needs to be fixed by us. The truth is that the circumstances we’re in can’t be fixed by a single individual. There are numerous decisions and choices that have led us to where we are, and it will take numerous decisions and choices to offer us a different lived experience. We can play our part in the path of health and well being for all, and yet it is not completely up to us. How do we live into these seemingly paradoxical truths with integrity, and yes, joy?

            That is our question for the month of December. I think the answer will come from us as a community, seeking ways we can respond to each other with tenderness, and even cheer that we are alive together during this time. I’m looking forward to offering a discussion with Linda Scharf, an experienced Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, on the benefits of stillness for us during this time. We will explore how conscious stillness can be an act of kindness for ourselves, rather than an interruption from our daily lives. We will explore how to bring stillness into our lives with our family, friends, and with ourselves as we care for our lives.

            Stillness, taking a pause to reorient our usual ways of thinking and living our lives, is of utmost importance. I think it is at the heart of real transformation: living our lives as they are with appreciation, joy, and wise purpose. I look forward to exploring what stillness can teach us as a community, as we reorient ourselves toward ways we can care for ourselves and each other during this holiday season. Another way of phrasing “nothing depends on you,” is “everything and everyone is supporting you.” Let us explore this, and test this out, through our monthly practice of stillness.

In faith,

Rev. Joseph