|
|
|
Dear friends, More than 20 years ago, my friend Siobhán said something important to me. “You’re a bit screwed up,” she said, “I think you need help. In fact, I know you do.” First, I was embarrassed, because while I knew I wasn’t doing well, I thought I was hiding it well. But here it was, laid out for me in plain sight by a friend loving enough to say it. Remembering it now, the decision to take her advice — to face the things I didn’t want to face, to get support in making change — felt quick. But it wasn’t. I’d spent so much time surviving conflict and anger, and I’d always told myself I’d never be a person of conflict or anger. But here I was, fast becoming a man who couldn’t face his own conflict or anger. I made other people’s lives difficult by telling myself they were to blame, not me. Everybody needs friends who speak truth plainly. Siobhán faced me with stories of myself that I didn’t want to see. Getting help helped. I mean, it hurt too, of course; then it helped. Our episodes this week all — in their own way — echo the need to face realities. In a new On Being conversation, Krista talks with Rev. Otis Moss III about how the renowned theologian and mystic Howard Thurman influenced his work and witness. Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited was said to have always been by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s side. Addressing contemporary American Christianity, Moss calls for “A tradition of hope unafraid to face horror, a tradition of possibility unafraid to stare down pain.” And he alerts us all toward time, asking the question of when the someday of “We shall overcome, someday” will arrive? Naming Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, we know it’s not yet come. Many more facings are needed. From Poetry Unbound, too, we hear of Natalie Diaz speaking from the biblical story of Lot’s wife, who dared to face the burning city of Sodom and weep for it, even as she was punished for this action. And Molly McCully Brown faces a town that others may see as part of flyover country, a place to pass through on the way somewhere else. She sees love and wonder where others see a gas station. Why face reality? What is on the other side of such facings? Otis Moss III speaks of working inward in order to work outward. He quotes Howard Thurman, who urged people to take an inward journey in order to “find the sound of the genuine in you.” Finding a way to face up to past complicities, failures, prejudices and laments can provide a freedom to live from this genuine space. This isn’t just about individuals seeking therapy either: failures are both personal and political. Facing them, then, is both personal and political. And — in all hope we hope — the outworking of such brave facings is also both personal and political. For all.
This Week at The On Being ProjectOur Latest Episode
On Being with Krista
Tippett Listen on:
Poetry Unbound Monday The poet challenges the biblical story of Lot’s wife, inviting us to see her actions as a form of protest. Friday A poet considers how a place that others might pass through “looks like home.” Listen
on: Living the Questions: Live!
What questions are you holding in yourself and for the world right now? Bring what’s on your mind and heart to an hour of reflection — deep thinking out loud — with Krista Tippett and Lucas Johnson, our executive director of Civil Conversations and Social Healing. Join us for the free livestream event on Monday, Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. ET. Register in advance here. Recommended
Read | “Dangerous
Spirituality” by Vincent Harding Watch | Backs
Against The Wall: The Howard Thurman Story Listen | “Y’Outta
Praise Him” by Robert Glasper EventsKrista Tippett at Rural Assembly
Everywhere Krista will speak about the challenges and promise of this
extraordinary moment we inhabit at this event geared toward rural
allies, neighbors, and admirers. More
information.
|
SHARE THIS EMAIL
SHARE THIS EMAIL
|
|
|
|