Hestia
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
I had forgotten all about the book I had to read in high school until I heard this show about the Greek goddess Hestia (Vesta to the Romans). (BBC Audio | Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics | Hestia That book is long gone, but my memory synchs nicely with the classicist podcasters message: she was the most important deity in classical Greek society – so fundamentally known to everyone that she hardly ever gets talked about in literature (you know, Homer and all those guys).
Hestia’s story is “juicy,” not because she flaunted her obvious physical attractiveness but because she spurned romantic approaches from her more well-known brother, Poseidon and her nephew, Apollo, vowing to Zeus that she would not take a partner. She also stood up to other women, like Aphrodite, who Homer tells us had no power over Hestia.
Hestia is identified with fire and the hearth and the abstractions of community and domesticity, not the fire of metalworking or war. Every Greek city had a communal hearth where her fire was set and worshiped. In art, she is often depicted simply and modestly in a veil or holding a staff or by a large fire, or sitting on a plain wooden throne.
The Christian tradition brings the Greek gods down to earth in the form of saints or maybe angels, and the one that Hestia reminds me of is Martha, who busied herself about the kitchen (the hearth) and complained that her sister Mary was doing nothing, just sitting and listening to the words of Jesus. And she appears in the Gospel of John as the sister of Lazarus. “There they made him a supper; and Martha served.”
Hestia, a bit like Martha, is the patron saint of those who focus on community and domesticity, two bookends that are closely related. If we love and tend to the needs of our own family that will lead to love and service to the greater community, a value that all our faith traditions share.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
This Sunday morning while walking my son’s ever-curious dog along the well-lit, beautifully engineered Vesper St. trail, which connects Route 7 and the toney suburbs of Vienna, I was not surprised to see an “unhoused” man, who quickly turned off his flashlight as we ambled past the path that enters the Tysons Forest to the east. Frankly, though I had seen unhoused individuals in Tysons, principally around the entrances to our new Silver Line Metro stops, I was somewhat astonished that no one had found the beautiful natural areas of our neighborhood.
After walking around almost every part of the Tysons area, with and without the dog, I could draw a map of areas that are amenable to hosting the unhoused, particularly when the weather is warm. I do not know if this individual was pushed out of Washington, D.C. by the National Guard and federalized police now clearing the encampments downtown (I was not going to interview him, especially since he discreetly turned off his light).
The irony is that this man was camped out in the shadow of the Amazon-financed affordable housing high rise, a stone’s throw from the Porsche and Land Rover dealership, and in sniffing distance of my 20-dollar cigar. The new housing complex, while commendable, will never accommodate this individual, who I dare conjecture brings in nothing like the 60% of “average median income” needed to qualify for the new apartments.
Also of note, the Tysons Forest has been home to the unhoused since the Paleolithic Era. During a cleanup of this beautiful watershed, a Park Authority expert showed us where he had found the makings of flints by human beings who lived here long before the Native Americans, White Europeans and freed slaves inhabited it. Yes, Tysons as you will see in an earlier blog post, was home to a community of freed slaves – notably Alfred Odrick, whose White Virginian master freed him after purchasing him and bringing him here from Haiti. ( Odricks Corner, Virginia – Wikipedia)
We at Tysons Interfaith are working with the Tysons Community Alliance (TCA) and the county to find a site for a meditation garden, most likely in the Tysons Forest. It would be fitting to honor Odrick and his predecessors with a sign or some sculpture. It would be even better if we could find a way to house this newcomer.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Andra Baylus, Regional Director of the Meher Baba Spiritual Community
Carrying out protecting citizens and the many variations of being a citizen, which includes people of different faith traditions, cultures, the wealthy, the poor, the middle class, the homeless and the immigrants, should be done carefully and respectfully taking into consideration each individual’s circumstances, thus ~ judiciously.
This is what America is all about.
When issues are raised of crime being rampant in DC and people not feeling safe to attend their houses of worship at night or people “disappearing” who are citizens and have not committed any crime, then of course, it is an invitation for action of some kind to take place to remedy these valid concerns. The questions then would be, “What kind of action is needed?” and, “How best can these actions be fairly implemented?”.
Not to act would be an abdication of governmental responsibility to protect its citizens, however, rounding up people indiscriminately may not be the wisest way to go about protecting the citizens of DC.
Muhammad (May blessings and peace be upon him- bpbuh) often spoke about the ” middle path”. He also was thought to have said that, “One hour of reflection is worth 70 years of prayer.”.
Would it be possible to follow the ” middle path” suggested by Muhammad (bpbuh) and pause to reflect upon how best to proceed?
Speaking to people who have experience in these areas of concern to seek their guidance would tap their knowledge and experience and help guide and refine actions to be not only fair to all citizens, but also effective. The importance and value of knowledge is firmly rooted in Islamic teachings. There are authentic Hadith that emphasize the obligation of seeking knowledge, such as: ” Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim.”
“Seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China” is a widely known saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (bpbuh), however, its authenticity as a hadith is debated among scholars. Many Muslims interpret this as a figurative expression emphasizing the importance of seeking knowledge diligently even if it requires traveling to the ends of the Earth.
Why not then seek advice about the issues of crime from professionals and before stepping forward to do something, is it possible to pause, do “due diligence”, inquire, reflect and use discernment to gauge the proper course of action.
All of our many faith traditions have wisdom embedded in our respective holy books and writings, as referenced above regarding Islamic texts. In today’s world, surely this guidance is more important than ever before.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Rev. Dr. Trish Hall
We have, in plain sight, an opportunity to create a world that works – a world that supports itself by connecting and nurturing all aspects of creation. The common phrase “hidden in plain sight” applies to much of our human experience. Life in all its messy diversity is blatantly in front of and all around us. We are immersed in it. We can pretend that it is not, and such pretense will only cause greater and greater rifts.
The idiom “hidden in plain sight” used by Edgar Allen Poe in his short story, “The Purloined Letter,” demonstrates the limits of human perception and the importance of observation, suggesting that something can be both conspicuous and inconspicuous at the same time.
Buddhism addresses the concept of “hidden in plain sight” by suggesting that the path to awakening is not about seeking something external or extraordinary, but about recognizing the truth that is already present in our experience.
Christianity guides followers to see the “hidden things of God” that are hidden in plain sight for those who have opened their eyes to see and their ears to listen.
Similarly, we often miss opportunities, such as the possibility of changing the whole world, because we go through life so preoccupied with routine activities. We miss the richness that is constantly presented to us. The admonition, “slow down and smell the roses,” advises us to take respites from our busyness to appreciate what is right in front of us.
Within current times that are often described as “tumultuous,” some of us withdraw into our personal cocoons, isolating from others, resulting in loneliness. Alternatively, we join communities with which we have a lot in common, and which exclude people unlike ourselves. To insulate from perceived dangers, these groups can take on the nature of gangs clustering together against assumed enemies.
With either approach, barriers emerge that block our ability to connect with the richness of Creation. The sense of separation – separateness –arises as fear and loneliness. Loneliness has been labeled a pervasive epidemic. Whether individuals isolate or withdraw into the assumed safety of cultural/community bounds, a shared fixation on contrast and differences, causes “othering.” Hostility and aggression ensue, and the chasms between peoples grow.
The opportunity presenting itself “in plain sight” is to become cultural connectors – bridge builders.
Creation is immeasurably diverse. Whether you count insects, reptiles, birds or mammals including humans there are myriad individuations – each unique – each one-of-a-kind! When we hide among those with whom we have an affinity, a resemblance or cultural connection, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to experience the richness of the creation.
Cultural blindness refers to the lack of awareness and understanding of cultural differences, often leading to the imposition of one’s own cultural values on others. It’s a state of being unaware of, or actively ignoring, the diverse cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and practices present within a group or society.
The practices of ignoring and/or othering are, unfortunately, exceedingly common. If we ignore those who are different from us, not only are we denying them recognition, we deprive ourselves of opportunities to learn and connect. If we engage in othering – labeling – we are judging, devaluing and relegating them to something unacceptable. We are separating them from us. We are denigrating and discarding them. Who are we to judge others based on our assumptions?
Whether you consider yourself a humanist, deeply religious or somewhere in the middle, it makes sense to interact with everyone and everything for the betterment of all. Inclinations to divide stem from fear based on biases, preconceived notions, or a lack of critical thinking.
I am inviting you to consider enhancing how you see the world. Even if you already embrace the concept of oneness (not to be confused with “sameness”), hidden biases probably are lurking within you. The way we humans learn is to observe, compare and store all our experiences. The moment we compare we are filtering our observations. That filtering function is the imposition of unconscious biases. Unless such biases are addressed at the conscious level, they alter perceptions like bugs in software that can cripple our operating systems. Although people often assert, “I’m not biased,” their internal controller adds: “provided people live their lives within my comfort zone.”
Does your heart yearn for a world composed of individuals, families, neighborhoods, cultures and communities living together in peace? Mine does. John Lennon’s song, “Imagine,” immediately comes to mind.
Wayne Dyer taught, “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” Life is composed of myriad cultures so cultural differences are ubiquitous. You may encounter communication disconnects within your own family, neighbors, religions, partisan perspectives, ethnicities or internationally. It’s important to acknowledge that gaps exist everywhere and all too often within our closest relationships. Many disconnects have taken on proportions that seem wider than the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.
When we shift how we see our world, we shift the world – we radically change relationships: interpersonal, interfaith, intercultural and international.
A Colleague stated, “How you see them is how you serve them.” How we see each person in our lives impacts how we relate to/with them!!
The opportunity to change the whole world by shifting how we relate to our fellow humans and all creation, is right in front of us, in plain sight.
Cultural diversity abounds around us. We get to be trail blazers changing the world by starting conversations even when we feel scared and especially when we feel unsure about whether our presence will be welcomed. Actually, our internal dialogue is a bold indicator that a situation is the perfect one to enter.
To foster and strengthen healthy intercultural connections requires that we step out of our own comfort zone to offer new ways of connecting. Such an approach requires sensitivity to bridge the gaps.
It doesn’t matter what your color, geography, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, age, station, economic/community, or any other way in which you identify yourself, everyone is different!
Bridging such divides requires that we enter our pursuit with compassion, gently gleaning a sense of how it is to be someone. The task is huge and complex.
It requires commitment, determination, kindness and compassionate perseverance. The process requires delicacy and loving boldness.
The components are surprisingly simple. The application of those components can be challenging. The arena in which we need to apply those components is fragile. The essential element is trust undergirded by Love. Trying to reassemble trust, if broken, is much like trying to put Humpty-Dumpty together again, so let’s avoid breaking trust.
To build a bridge, we must assess the current situation:
- What are we moving from? Feeling discontent
- What are we spanning? Perceived differences/separation
- What is our desired outcome? Supportive interconnection
Peace and equity will only come to pass when we learn from and with people of other perspectives.
Together, we get to be bridge builders – to be initiators. Now is the perfect time to establish new patterns and new ways of relating – to embrace oneness boldly so that an observer would never doubt our belief in it nor our commitment to create a world that works for all.
Like love, our embrace of oneness cannot be conditional. It cannot depend on our comfort. Knowing that, as cultural connectors, we are facilitating the emergence of a world that works – a world that supports itself by connecting and nurturing all aspects of creation.
Engage in “witness consciousness” – observe yourself and others without forming opinions and jumping to conclusions. Not easy yet incredibly rewarding!
Embrace “beginner mind” and open to how it is to be someone of another culture or perception. Be flexible and adaptable. Identify shared values and common concerns. Open to possibility.
Encourage others to join you by creating a tsunami of connections. Barge out of your comfort zone. Accept that any stories you are carrying about other cultures are rooted beneath your conscious awareness, so you need to consciously release the hold they may have on you.
Now is the perfect time to embrace that YOU are a Cultural Connector – a transformative force in the universe creating a world that works for all.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
When you travel this great country by car – and yes, IMHO, it’s already great – and stay in motels, getting up in the middle of the night to view the deer and the tall cornfields and meet others who are nocturnally inclined, you realize just how wonderful, inquisitive, diverse, and caring are your fellow Americans and other fellow creatures. And when you are retired in a sort of semi-permanent “staycation,” it’s invigorating to get out of town like we did last week, when I ferried my wife and Brooklyn-resident daughter to my sister-in-law’s place just outside of Asheville, NC in Weaverville. They went on to the John Campbell Folk School JCCFS | John C. Campbell Folk School while I, having nothing better to do, spent a week at the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College for “Old Time Week,” their most popular event. Old-Time Week – Swannanoa Gathering They studied respectively, tapestry making, yarn dying, and making animals out of found objects. I sang, learning shape-note singing, unaccompanied Appalachian ballads, and singing in tight Southern harmony.
My shape-note teacher, a fellow “Whiskeypalian,” as he liked to dub our Christian denomination, was a walking, talking encyclopedia from Kentucky. And I have never seen so many fiddlers gathered in one place, along with guitarists, banjo players, dulcimer hammerers, mandolinists, bassists, cloggers, square dancers, concertina artists, and folks who played instruments I’d never seen before. The guest artists who guided us in the pavilion after lunch included a young Cherokee flautist from Cherokee, North Carolina. A banker by day, he spent his leisure hours keeping alive a musical tradition born on this sacred ground long before the settlers came. (When he played, he said it was okay to fall asleep, since he sometimes did while he was performing!) Their dance traditions, which mimicked the native animals they cherished, influenced the dance moves of the incoming settlers. Even as almost all of the Cherokee were “removed” to Oklahoma, the remaining natives somehow kept their traditions alive.
And there was the best fiddler I have ever heard, who hailed from Galax in Southwest Virginia, where country music was born, and where my son spent one high school Summer in the eye-popping Virginia Conservation Corps. Without getting too political, it is interesting to note that Galax is the only “blue” area in a sea of “red.” (There must be an interesting story there.)
Warren Wilson never set foot in North Carolina, but he was the most productive and progressive Presbyterian you could ever imagine. The college named after him started as a farm school for boys over a hundred years ago, and the 800 or so students who attend there still work the same farm as they study the arts, sciences, and humanities.
Needless to say, I came back to McLean “revived.” The highlight was on Saturday, when a local shape-note club that piggy-backs on the annual gathering brought their covered dishes to the pavilion and serenaded the bear that roam freely on campus. Our leader told us that one year a large bear emerged from the trees to sniff the dishes laid out on a table in the pavilion only to turn and walk up the steps to the dorms. He apparently respected the singing.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
In 2003, Robert Waldinger, a psychoanalyst who would later become an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and who had always been preoccupied by questions “with an existential flavor” accepted an offer from Harvard (I know) to take on one of its most prized possessions, the longest-running wellness study in American history. A dozen years later he reported his findings in a TED Talk. “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” Not achievement, not fortune nor fame, but strong, long-term relationships with spouses, family and friends built on deep trust — that’s the best predictor of well-being. Waldinger had worried that this big “news” was so intuitive he would be laughed off the stage; instead, the talk is one of TED’s most watched to date, having over 27 million views.
In 2001, when the men in the long-term study were in their late 70s and early 80s, Waldinger’s predecessor had found one of the best predictors of the men’s overall well-being in their old age was how happily married they had been at age 50. When women were added to the study, the results were the same. One 80-year-old woman told an interviewer she wished she had spent less time getting upset about “silly things” and had spent more “time with my children, husband, mother, father.” For those who reported being in happy marriages, socializing with others in the spouse’s circle also contributed to their happiness. But if one spouse fell into pain or ill health, time spent together alone seemed to protect them from the psychological effects of the physical suffering. He also found that the people who scored highest on measures of attachment to their spouses were also the ones who reported the highest levels of happiness.
Well, so much for modern science, and Harvard! All the religions of the world have been preaching this forever, though few of our ancient forebears reached their 70s or 80s!
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
I love songs, and the BBC (yes, again) has a neat show called “Inheritance Tracks” that invites celebrities to tell us about one song passed down to them from their parents and one song they want to pass on to future generations. Today Jared Harris – who does look a bit like his more famous father, Richard, and who played General Ulysses S. Grant in “Lincoln” shared that his father had handed down “Fly Me to the Moon” and that Jared wanted to pass on Monty Python’s “Galaxy Song.”
BBC Radio 4 Extra – Inheritance Tracks, Jared Harris
His father sang the Frank Sinatra version all the time, and then Jared’s drama teacher at Duke University said, “Well, you have to listen to Bennett’s version. It’s sublime.” Jared remembers being transported by the “romantic longing.”
Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what’s spring is like
on a Jupiter and Mars
In other words
hold my hand
In other words
baby, kiss me
Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
all I worship and I adore
In other words
Please, be true
In other words
I love you
Fill my heart with song
let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
all I worship and adore
In other words
Please, be true
In other words
In other words
I love you
Songwriters: Paul David Hewson, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans, Attrell Stephen Jr. Cordes.
And now for something completely different. (That’s and inside joke for Python fans like me. I grew up watching them on Canadian TV before they aired here.)
At Catholic boarding school, Jared said: “I had that whole doctrine hammered into my head, and I was trying to shake it off me.” But listening to the song as an adult he gained a different perspective: “And you know, you understand that religion and all those things are just early attempts to try and answer the same question, which is that, who are we? Why are we here? How did we get here? Where are we going? There’s never, ever been anybody like you that’s ever been born, and at the same time, we’re just a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny planet, this incredible thing that’s exploding at the speed of light. It’s amazing. So, remember when you’re feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth!”
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you’ve had quite enough
Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
It’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It’s a hundred thousand light years side to side
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us, it’s just three thousand light years wide
We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go – the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that’s the fastest speed there is
So remember when you’re feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on earth
Songwriters: John Du Prez, Eric Idle
For non-commercial use only.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by: Rev Dr Trish Hall, Centers for Spiritual Living
Maria Popova declared some time ago, “These days I am less certain I will see the rosy outcome I would like, but I am more determined to meet the future with the best version of myself.”
What if each of us released our attachment to how we want others to be and how we think they ought to be, and consciously showed up as our very best version of ourselves? If all of us were to do that, there would be enough of us that our behavior would “go viral” – be highly contagious – and all manner of challenges would disappear.
In 365 Science of Mind, Dr Holmes is quoted as having said, “New arts, new sciences, new philosophies, better government, and a higher civilization wait on our thoughts. The infinite energy of Life, and the possibility of our future evolution, work through our imagination and will. The time is ready, the place is where we are now, and it is done unto all as they really believe and act.”
Affirming that we really believe Dr Holmes’ statement, and are willing to act on our belief, I pray …
There is only One Indescribable Infinite creating all that is from Its own Divine self. It is the One Life Common to all creation. It is simultaneously the Absolute Creator and Itself as Creation – truly the All-in-All, the All-AS-All. All Creation is sacred. All of us are expressions of the Divine.
It is from this inseparable state of being that I speak my word today. I know this is the time that every person leans-in and expresses their very best version of themselves in every moment. I see all pre-judgments (prejudices) left behind. What remains is all people seeing only God expressing as one another compassionately inviting others to express their best version of themselves. Everyone is now recognizing interconnectedness and interdependence. All relationships are consciously grounded upon loving-kindness and generosity. Peace prevails.
Boundless gratitude arises within me as I embrace the transformative power of prayer.
And so, It is!
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
We had finished rehearsing the anthem for Palm Sunday, “Love Bade Me Welcome,” when the diminutive and pleasant soprano sitting next to me turned and whispered: “I really hate this piece.” I said: “Not the music, right? It’s great. You must not like George Herbert.” She nodded.
George does not fit everyone’s taste. As the Poetry Foundation tells it (George Herbert | The Poetry Foundation) the Anglican clergyman is “nestled” squarely (or maybe roundly) in the age of Shakespeare and Milton, though his poetry would have later influence on the likes of Coleridge, Emerson, Dickinson, Hopkins, Eliot, Auden, Bishop, Anthony Hecht, and, “perhaps Robert Frost—although these later poets are more abstract in their devotion to Herbert than were his 17th-century followers.” They attribute much of Herbert’s early popularity—there were at least 11 editions of his major work, published ironically, after he died—to the carefully crafted persona of “holy Mr. Herbert” put forth by his custodians.
The most famous musical setting of this poem — the last in the compilation known as The Temple — is by Ralph Vaugh Williams (https://youtu.be/JcmkXuZyRz8). We sang an even more modern setting last Sunday, and I don’t know about you, but in this Passover/Easter/Ramadan season, the last line packs a wallop, especially for Episcopalians like me. It is so difficult for modern folks to understand, that the Poetry Foundation has even included a guide! Love (III) | The Poetry Foundation. Here is the poem.
LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.
‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’
Love said, ‘You shall be he.’
‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.’
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
‘Who made the eyes but I?’
‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.’
‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’
‘My dear, then I will serve.’
‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’
So I did sit and eat.
Here’s some of what the “guide” says about it, ending with one of my favorite words, “ambivalence.”
The poem’s last line, “So I did sit and eat,” seems unequivocal: Herbert has found his place at God’s table. Herbert’s almost interchangeable use of “Love” for “Lord” in this poem is worth noticing: “Love (III)” is the ultimate poem in a triptych on the subject. The earlier poems attempt to reclaim the term “love,” which has been sullied by secular usage. “Love (I)” opens by praising “Immortal Love, author of this great frame,” and mourning that “mortal love doth all the title gain”; “Love (II)” also addresses itself to “Love,” distinguishing between God’s “Immortal Heat” and the “usurping lust” we mortal humans mistakenly call love. As the culminating poem in the series, “Love (III)” seems to firmly settle which kind of “Love” Herbert intends to celebrate. But the poem also purports to show how God is Love—through its emphasis on God’s role as host.
Herbert’s portrait of God-as-Love has long been admired as the crowning achievement of The Temple. The philosopher Simone Weil famously had a religious experience as she recited “Love (III): “Often, at the culminating point of a violent headache,” she wrote in her Spiritual Autobiography. “I make myself say it over, concentrating all my attention upon it and clinging with all my soul to the tenderness it enshrines… It was during one of these recitations that, as I told you, Christ himself came down and took possession of me.” Yet despite the “tenderness” Weil noted, much of the poem remains equivocal, even stubbornly so. A reader looking for a tidy—or happy—ending to Herbert’s project might end up troubled by the poem’s surprising and insistent ambivalences.
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.
Contributed by Stephen Wickman, St. Thomas Episcopal, McLean
Just in time for Passover and Holy Week, after Ramadan, and just as we face earth-shattering tariff and other wars, the 2025 World Happiness Report reminds us what we already know from our various faith traditions: money isn’t everything WHR Dashboard.
While there is a strong correlation between GDP and happiness, Finland, number 15 in the GDP per capita parade, is once again the world’s happiest country for seven years in a row.
The United States (number 4 in income per capita) has fallen out of the top twenty, behind Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico (ole!), Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania (!), Austria, Canada (maybe we should become the eleventh province or even a territory), Slovenia, Czechia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, and even our ex-colonial master, the UK.
The snarky “Economist” magazine admits that gender equality, trust in national institutions and fellow citizens, and low corruption are all important factors in Finland’s happiness rating, and it is fitting that in Finland became the first country in the world to give women both the full right to vote and to run in parliamentary elections. And when Reader’s Digest “lost” 12 wallets containing cash and contact details to test the honesty of citizens in 16 cities around the world, Helsinki was tops.
Oh, and Finland has excellent free education, universal health care and family-friendly policies. Health services are not totally free, but they are affordable.
The authors find that caring and sharing, especially socializing with others, maintaining connections, sharing meals, living with others, stressing family bonds, supporting others through prosocial behavior, trusting others, and giving to others, all lead to greater happiness. Unhappiness and social distrust, however, lead to a destructive form of “populism.”
This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.