July & August 2009
In the Beginning…
Remember the line from the Sound of Music song “Do Re Me”? “Let’s begin at the very beginning, a very good place to start…”
Or perhaps, if you are an artsy film buff like me, you will recall the scene from A Thousand Clowns (can’t recommend this one too highly!) in which Murray, brilliant but unemployed societal gadfly, joins in the confetti throwing festivities at the embarkation of a cruise ship, shouting joyful well-wishes to the total strangers on board, simply because it provides “a genuine feeling of the beginning of things.”
And, of course, you will have recognized in the title of this month’s Newsletter words from the opening of the Book of Genesis.
In fact, every one of the world’s wisdom traditions has a creation story of some kind, and every culture marks beginnings in ritual ways: birthdays, anniversaries, New Year celebrations, the start of a new school or church year. Not to mention all the new ventures of every kind that we all embark on – sometimes simply to have the experience of a fresh start.
The point here is that clearly there is an archetypal power in these markers of New Beginnings or we wouldn’t have so many of them. And they are often, if not inevitably, accompanied by specific hopes for what the New Beginning will mean.
New Year’s resolutions are the most obvious example in our culture of such a practice, but many religious/spiritual traditions from Judaism to Catholicism to Twleve Step Programs recognize in ritualized ways the importance naming the intentions of a fresh start.
Today, I begin the venture of a monthly Newsletter – so beginnings are on my mind as well.
How can we use the power of New Beginnings effectively to make the most of the sense of freshness, hope and renewed strength and energy they provide?
I think it helps to ask enough of New Beginnings to activate their power. We need to be clear what is it that we hope the New Beginning will set in motion in our lives. So clarity and intentionality help.
I find writing my intentions down helps me gain the clarity I need – and also gives me a kind of mantra of affirmation. I know I’ll need that when the going gets rough because the patterns I already have in place are run by well worn pathways in my brain and won’t yield easily to change.
And I need more than the “what” – I need to remember the “why.” How is it I want my life and/or the lives of others to be made better through putting the change that a New Beginning offers in place. So I write that down too.
On that note, here’s what I hope this monthly Newsletter will provide:
- An ongoing, wide-reaching venue for my ministry of spiritual direction; a way for me to reach out to you even if this is the only place we ever meet
- An actually useful psycho/spiritual lens for looking at some facet of living and its conundrums
- An opportunity for connection – a way for you to gain a greater a sense who I am and what I offer
- The fun of writing itself – an outlet for creativity I (usually) enjoy!
It also helps not to ask so much of a New Beginning that it sinks under its own weight. There are two kinds of “too much” that I want to avoid asking. First is that it be easy. If the change I’m trying to put in place has any real power to impact my life, I’m pretty sure “easy” will only come with time.
Secondly, I don’t want to bite off more than I can reasonably chew in one mouthful of change. That’s a surefire way to let myself down – and maybe let myself off the hook of doing the necessary work – when I can’t live up to all the goals I’ve set at once.
And I need companions on the path. Sometimes I seek out others who are making similar commitments and create or join a support network to see me through. Also I meet with my own spiritual director. Even the Pope has a confessor, and I can’t do inner work all alone anymore than anybody else.
Finally, I need specific spiritual practices – such as a ritual, journaling, meditation or prayer that will, in the words of Howard Thurman, “Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.”
In the Beginning is not a one time metaphor for world creation. It’s an image for creating – and recreating – our own world again and again.
May it be so.
- Yours in the Spirit