The One World

 Yesterday afternoon, I was walking my dog in North Ponds Park, feeling invigorated by the cold, early spring wind. I watched a Blue Heron take off across the pond and fly through the slate colored sky toward the shaft of sunlight shining through the clouds. The sight was so beautiful it took my breath away and I imagined myself flying through the same sky, "free as a bird", letting all my cares and worries go.  I thought of a favorite poem by Mary Oliver called "Poem of the One World":

 

This morning
the beautiful white heron
was floating above the water 

and then into the sky of this
the one world
we all belong to

where everything
sooner or later
is a part of everything else

which thought made me feel
for a little while
quite beautiful myself.

Oh, this one world we all belong to.. where there is beauty and joy, pain and sorrow, all interwoven.  If we are going to allow ourselves to feel, we have to experience it all.  We cannot ignore the horrors of war in Ukraine, the rising cost of food, or the threats of Covid, gun violence and climate change, because once we enter into the grace of unity, we must embrace it all.  

But what can we do about it all, really?  We can pray, certainly and I have faith that this does really help. But I ask myself, "are there tangible ways I can help"?

I had an interesting story in my inbox this morning from "Daily Om", called "Stone Soup". You may be familiar with the children's story, which is about a weary traveler going door to door in a village in search of help:

"There are many variations on the story of stone soup, but they all involve a traveler coming into a town beset by famine. The inhabitants try to discourage the traveler from staying, fearing he wants them to give him food. They tell him in no uncertain terms that there's no food anywhere to be found. The traveler explains that he doesn't need any food and that, in fact, he was planning to make a soup to share with all of them. The villagers watch suspiciously as he builds a fire and fills a cauldron with water. With great ceremony, he pulls a stone from a bag, dropping the stone into the pot of water. He sniffs the brew extravagantly and exclaims how delicious stone soup is. As the villagers begin to show interest, he mentions how good the soup would be with just a little cabbage in it. A villager brings out a cabbage to share. This episode repeats itself until the soup has cabbage, carrots, onions, and beets -- indeed, a substantial soup that feeds everyone in the village. 

This story addresses the human tendency to hoard in times of deprivation. When resources are scarce, we pull back and put all of our energy into self-preservation. We isolate ourselves and shut out others. As the story of stone soup reveals, in doing so, we often deprive ourselves and everyone else of a feast. This metaphor plays out beyond the realm of food. We hoard ideas, love, and energy, thinking we will be richer if we keep them to ourselves, when in truth we make the world, and ourselves, poorer whenever we greedily stockpile our reserves. The traveler was able to see that the villagers were holding back, and he had the genius to draw them out and inspire them to give, thus creating a spread that none of them could have created alone".

We may feel that our small contributions can't possibly make a difference, but, as in the story of Stone Soup, when we let go of our fear and open our hearts to give whatever we can, sharing the gifts that God has given us, together we can create a feast.