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ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the November 2, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from librarygeek. It also fills the "For Love" square in my 11-1-21 card for the NCIS Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series. It comes after "The Pursuit of Happiness."
"The Most Precious Thing We Have to Offer Each Other"
[1960s]
In 1961, Brook Farm
saw a surge of interest
beginning to rise among
the younger generation.
It had always been
a free love community,
and now more people were
getting interested in that.
Polyamory proved popular
among hippies who wanted
some sort of relationship.
The boys in their long hair and
the girls in their tie-dye dresses
brought new spiritual traditions
from the east to join the roots
of Quakers, Shakers, Mormons,
and other blithe spirits who
had founded the farm.
New music and food
rippled through the Brook
and inspired fresh ideas.
The community began
training interfaith chaplains
who would perform weddings
for any religion or configuration.
In 1962, Nashoba became known as
a center of the civil rights movement.
It had been a free-love community
for a century, beginning with a mix
of white people and freed blacks
who had created one of the first
fully integrated multicultural towns.
They also had quite a lot of
queer people of color now.
There were drag queens
and transsexuals, dykes and
punks, people who hadn't even
found names for themselves yet.
The youth movement brought in
new folks with African beats
and diaspora traditions.
So the community started
teaching interfaith chaplains
to officiate weddings between
two women, or two men, or
folks who weren't quite either.
People would do a lot for love.
They went to endless protests
and rallies, marches and sit-ins.
They spoke of how absoluteness
is a quality of the transcendent that
comes to expression in revelation,
but not necessarily of the symbols or
doctrines formulated to represent it.
They said the most precious thing
we have to offer to each other in
interfaith encounters is our honest,
nonpossessive sharing of what we take
to be the moments of absoluteness in
the particular faith traditions in which
we live as committed participants.
In these activities, the people
from Brook Farm and Nashoba
crossed paths and decided
that they had a lot in common.
They observed that some wars
were fought over land and resources,
but many over religious differences.
They recognized that a global movement
toward interfaith awareness was growing.
It helped to raise consciousness about
the need for tolerance and understanding
between different cultures and religions.
This highlighted the common goals that
most religions shared, like the Golden Rule
at the heart of nearly all spiritual traditions.
More people -- especially the youth --
were discovering a deep connection
to a greater purpose for humanity at
a time when the world needed it most.
What interfaith work sought to do
was capture that momentum so as
not to allow religion to fall back into
confrontational modes and crusades,
but to urge it onwards to a new level of
collective harmony and understanding.
So Brook Farm and Nashoba began
laying the groundwork to create
an actual seminary for training
interfaith chaplains, which was
hard given the distance between
Massachusetts and Tennessee.
They persevered, though, and
launched community projects
to improve the nearby cities.
When you had Jews, Christians,
Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists,
and atheists all removing graffiti from
buildings, or getting drug dealers off
the street, that side-by-side work
really made some changes.
They took the collaboration
from the very elevated level
of interfaith dialogue down to
the street level of neighbors.
Once you got them working
side by side, the people
tended to become friends.
Friendship often counted for
more than interfaith agreement
or understanding ever could.
Friendship was deeply human,
and once someone had seen
the humanity in whoever was
standing across an ideological line,
it was hard to unsee that and try
to dehumanize them again.
In the end, love was divine, in
all its glorious color and diversity,
and the message of the times was:
Love one another right now.
* * *
Notes:
". . . absoluteness is a quality of the transcendent that comes to expression in revelation, but not necessarily of the symbols, myths, propositions or doctrines formulated to represent or communicate it. . . . the most precious thing we have to offer each other in interfaith encounters is our honest, unexaggerated and nonpossessive sharing of what we take to be the moments of absoluteness in the particuilar faith traditions in which we live as committed participants."
— James W. Fowler
"Some of the wars and conflicts of the past and present were fought over land and resources, but many have been over religious differences. In this past century, a global interfaith movement has been growing, helping to raise consciousness about the need for tolerance and understanding between different cultures and religions. This movement has helped highlight the common goals that most religions share, such as the Golden Rule, which is at the heart of nearly all religious traditions. At the same time, many throughout the world are discovering that 'spirituality' -- a deep connection to a greater purpose for humanity -- is an important driving force in their lives, even if they aren't religious."
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
"What interfaith seeks to do is to not allow religion to fall back into confrontational modes, into contemporary crusades and jihads, rather to move onwards to a new level of interfaith harmony and understanding."
-- Dr. Karen Singh
"When you've got Jews and Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus removing graffiti from buildings, or getting drug dealers off the street, that's side by side. When you do that, you take it from the very elevated level of interfaith dialogue to the street level of neighbors. You get them working side by side, and they become friends. Friendship sometimes counts for more than interfaith agreement or understanding. Friendship is deeply human."
— Jonathan Sacks
Interfaith chaplains have training for Master of Divinity level.
Read the history of the hippie movement (c 1960s-1970s).
The civil rights movement (c 1954-1968) included many famous people.
"Get Together," also known as "Let's Get Together," is a song by American rock band The Youngbloods, originally included in their 1967 self-titled debut album The Youngbloods. It was written in the mid-1960s by American singer-songwriter Chet Powers (stage name Dino Valenti), from psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service.
The Youngbloods - Get Together
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
librarygeek. It also fills the "For Love" square in my 11-1-21 card for the NCIS Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series. It comes after "The Pursuit of Happiness.""The Most Precious Thing We Have to Offer Each Other"
[1960s]
In 1961, Brook Farm
saw a surge of interest
beginning to rise among
the younger generation.
It had always been
a free love community,
and now more people were
getting interested in that.
Polyamory proved popular
among hippies who wanted
some sort of relationship.
The boys in their long hair and
the girls in their tie-dye dresses
brought new spiritual traditions
from the east to join the roots
of Quakers, Shakers, Mormons,
and other blithe spirits who
had founded the farm.
New music and food
rippled through the Brook
and inspired fresh ideas.
The community began
training interfaith chaplains
who would perform weddings
for any religion or configuration.
In 1962, Nashoba became known as
a center of the civil rights movement.
It had been a free-love community
for a century, beginning with a mix
of white people and freed blacks
who had created one of the first
fully integrated multicultural towns.
They also had quite a lot of
queer people of color now.
There were drag queens
and transsexuals, dykes and
punks, people who hadn't even
found names for themselves yet.
The youth movement brought in
new folks with African beats
and diaspora traditions.
So the community started
teaching interfaith chaplains
to officiate weddings between
two women, or two men, or
folks who weren't quite either.
People would do a lot for love.
They went to endless protests
and rallies, marches and sit-ins.
They spoke of how absoluteness
is a quality of the transcendent that
comes to expression in revelation,
but not necessarily of the symbols or
doctrines formulated to represent it.
They said the most precious thing
we have to offer to each other in
interfaith encounters is our honest,
nonpossessive sharing of what we take
to be the moments of absoluteness in
the particular faith traditions in which
we live as committed participants.
In these activities, the people
from Brook Farm and Nashoba
crossed paths and decided
that they had a lot in common.
They observed that some wars
were fought over land and resources,
but many over religious differences.
They recognized that a global movement
toward interfaith awareness was growing.
It helped to raise consciousness about
the need for tolerance and understanding
between different cultures and religions.
This highlighted the common goals that
most religions shared, like the Golden Rule
at the heart of nearly all spiritual traditions.
More people -- especially the youth --
were discovering a deep connection
to a greater purpose for humanity at
a time when the world needed it most.
What interfaith work sought to do
was capture that momentum so as
not to allow religion to fall back into
confrontational modes and crusades,
but to urge it onwards to a new level of
collective harmony and understanding.
So Brook Farm and Nashoba began
laying the groundwork to create
an actual seminary for training
interfaith chaplains, which was
hard given the distance between
Massachusetts and Tennessee.
They persevered, though, and
launched community projects
to improve the nearby cities.
When you had Jews, Christians,
Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists,
and atheists all removing graffiti from
buildings, or getting drug dealers off
the street, that side-by-side work
really made some changes.
They took the collaboration
from the very elevated level
of interfaith dialogue down to
the street level of neighbors.
Once you got them working
side by side, the people
tended to become friends.
Friendship often counted for
more than interfaith agreement
or understanding ever could.
Friendship was deeply human,
and once someone had seen
the humanity in whoever was
standing across an ideological line,
it was hard to unsee that and try
to dehumanize them again.
In the end, love was divine, in
all its glorious color and diversity,
and the message of the times was:
Love one another right now.
* * *
Notes:
". . . absoluteness is a quality of the transcendent that comes to expression in revelation, but not necessarily of the symbols, myths, propositions or doctrines formulated to represent or communicate it. . . . the most precious thing we have to offer each other in interfaith encounters is our honest, unexaggerated and nonpossessive sharing of what we take to be the moments of absoluteness in the particuilar faith traditions in which we live as committed participants."
— James W. Fowler
"Some of the wars and conflicts of the past and present were fought over land and resources, but many have been over religious differences. In this past century, a global interfaith movement has been growing, helping to raise consciousness about the need for tolerance and understanding between different cultures and religions. This movement has helped highlight the common goals that most religions share, such as the Golden Rule, which is at the heart of nearly all religious traditions. At the same time, many throughout the world are discovering that 'spirituality' -- a deep connection to a greater purpose for humanity -- is an important driving force in their lives, even if they aren't religious."
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
"What interfaith seeks to do is to not allow religion to fall back into confrontational modes, into contemporary crusades and jihads, rather to move onwards to a new level of interfaith harmony and understanding."
-- Dr. Karen Singh
"When you've got Jews and Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus removing graffiti from buildings, or getting drug dealers off the street, that's side by side. When you do that, you take it from the very elevated level of interfaith dialogue to the street level of neighbors. You get them working side by side, and they become friends. Friendship sometimes counts for more than interfaith agreement or understanding. Friendship is deeply human."
— Jonathan Sacks
Interfaith chaplains have training for Master of Divinity level.
Read the history of the hippie movement (c 1960s-1970s).
The civil rights movement (c 1954-1968) included many famous people.
"Get Together," also known as "Let's Get Together," is a song by American rock band The Youngbloods, originally included in their 1967 self-titled debut album The Youngbloods. It was written in the mid-1960s by American singer-songwriter Chet Powers (stage name Dino Valenti), from psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service.
The Youngbloods - Get Together
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
(no subject)
Date: 2021-11-24 11:05 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2021-11-24 11:17 pm (UTC)