Lightness and Moonwalk
Burnaby, British Columbia
My last day on the west coast came to a beautiful closure. Before embarking on a red-eye flight back to central Canada, a hefty turnout of devotees from the Vancouver area partook in a Nine Devotions workshop. When asked which of the nine was their favourite the consensus was 'befriending someone'. I guess in the current world of alienation when loneliness can attack even people who have some devotional connection, getting to know someone or 'making a new friend' (as we call it in the workshop) this ice breaking session is really popular.
A type of lightness pervaded the temple room. The session was treated with respectful casualness. Sometimes places of worship (temples included) can ride on a stigma of formality and breed a kind of frigidity. This is ironic since places or reverence are built for people. Sometimes we forget what people's needs are. Those needs are usually not just a list of rules.
Speaking about persons who have gone through the process of alienation, while waiting for the flight at the Vancouver airport, monitors were informing sleepy passengers about the death of Michael Jackson. He certainly meant different things to different people. He affected a generation of people and likely his signature 'moon-walk' is here to stay for a while until a new way of walking becomes gimmicky enough to substitute.
I dedicate some mantras to Michael who had it very hard in this life.
7 KM
No comments:
Post a Comment