Hawking AND Turing

While the films, The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game, each tell an important and inspiring story about Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing respectively, I found neither to be as great alone as they were together. Juxtaposed as a single experience — which happened because I saw them less than a day apart, brought a certain poignancy into view. Let me explain.
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Light on Wonder’s Shadow (2 of 2)

UnknownWhile reading Wonder, I wondered: Why did the author, R.J. Palacio, exclude the perspective of Julian, the boy who “bullies” the main character Auggie Pullman? Auggie narrates his story of starting school for the first time, as a fifth grader, with a severe craniofacial abnormality. We also hear his story from the perspective of other young characters (friends, sibling, sibling’s friends) who care about him. Told in chapters of their own, their perspectives add sensitivity and movement. Why don’t we hear from the bully? Is there a backstory that explains his behavior without condoning it?  Continue reading Light on Wonder’s Shadow (2 of 2)

“Minefields & Miracles” Reviewed

“You don’t really know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”

MMFnlcoversmallTo read Minefields and Miracles: Why God and Allah Need to Talk by Ruth Broyde Sharone is to walk in the shoes of a serious and accomplished interfaith activist. Readers will see the difference that one person can and is making in this world. I happen to know Ruth and I can tell you that conversations with her are as inspiring as her memoir, if not more. Continue reading “Minefields & Miracles” Reviewed

WONDER, The Book (1/2)

121009_DX_WonderBook.jpg.CROP.article250-mediumWonder, the New York Times #1 bestseller by R.J. Palacio, engages readers in the world of August Pullman, a fifth grader whose appearance tests the limits of “othering,” turning someone who is different into an “other.” Having home-schooled his whole life, Auggie enters school for his first time while his classmates face his craniofacial abnormality for their first time. Layers of bullying ravel and unravel revealing the potential within each of us for either escalating ill-will or good-will. Each layer ups the ante.

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Poly-rhythm, Inter-spiritual

Image of musical notes with a circle around some of them on top and bottom.Given my perhaps naive belief that interfaith orientations and integral  philosophies are part of humanity’s next evolutionary step in spiritual development, I wondered what kind of music would show up in our culture to reflect this transition in consciousness? Then I turned on the radio and, Voila! 

NPR was doing a story on polyrhythms or many rhythms happening at the same time “creating a different shape in the sound”. One example of a polyrhythm is Fake Empire which played during an Obama 2008 election campaign ad. It has two simultaneous beats, 3 and 4. There are plenty of songs with polyrhythms and while it’s not something totally new, we might ask: How can polyrhythms help us develop spiritually?

“The point of [polyrhythm] is to make listening to two rhythms at once feel natural, as easy as talking while you walk. LaFrae Sci says, that’s a life skill.”

Here’s my analogy:  If we can learn to hear two or more rhythms simultaneously in music, we can learn to empathize with two or more belief systems simultaneously. Doing so might help us to hear the many sides of a story, appreciate the different points of views in a conflict, and even feel comfortable with learning about and from more than one religion. We might even develop the social equivalent of harmony –  justice. In other words, polyrhythms could very well accompany an expansion of consciousness.

You can read here how I teach youth to hold and harmonize multiple ideas about faith, identity, and community so that they will have the life skills to solve practical, global problems with peers from many faiths and cultures for the benefit of all humanity. That may be a tall order. But at the very least, polyrhythms ask us to change the way we listen to music. In the process, they might help us to change the way we listen to each other.

Explore the Resources my this website to learn more about interspiritual ideas and programs.

Passover’s Process

Artwork of by Ari Katz showing a sphere that looks like the earth only made of matzah with a starry universe in the background.
Artwork by Avi Katz

Seder means Order. Passover Seders follow an order of 14 Steps. I won’t list them all here but I will ask you to notice the relationship between Step 4,Yachatz, and Step 11, Tzafun. 

Yachatz is about being broken; the bitterness of slavery, the Red Sea splitting. It is symbolized during the Seder by breaking matzah (the unrisen bread) and then hiding the bigger half. Tzafun is about healing the brokenness; bringing the broken-off part out from hiding. It’s about healing into something new; coming into wholeness. At the Seder, it is symbolized by the search for the broken half which, once found, is broken into smaller pieces so that all who are at the table may eat of it.

Why does Yachatz/the broken become Tzafun/the whole? How does this happen?  In addition to Passover telling a story about transformation from yachatz/the brokenness of slavery to tzafun/the wholeness of freedom, here are two more examples from Jewish history. Continue reading Passover’s Process