Doctor Who: Day of the Doctor A Parable of Personal-Communal Truth & Reconciliation

Why can’t there be a big red button?

-War Doctor

           Like any good science fiction questions around the essence of us (humanity) should be brought forward. This is at the bedrock of the Doctor Who 50^th anniversary movie (watch trailer here), Day of the Doctor.  It is the deepest plunging into the hardest thing to  comprehend for any person… ourselves.

As the regeneration who chose themselves undeserving of the name, but asks the question as in the clips above, the Warrior Doctor, “I am looking for the Doctor.” The one who is called to heal, to help to aid…or as Clara will note the thrum of the Tardis is a sound of hope. But this is about that corner of the mind of the Doctor, no, the heart where hope has gone out.

For it was in the 9^th regeneration that the fabled time war happened. When Daleks and Time Lords went to war to end all wars. Where the rest of the universes saw the Time Lords just as evil as the Daleks who view anything outside their race as need to be exterminated, which this mini-episode Night of the Doctor expertly portrays as the Doctor must make a choice to not be apart of the war or to be apart of the solution?

The haunting begins.

Much like we make choices within our own lives at any given moment with the information available. Whether it is good, bad, horrible or indifferent. It is what is possible and probably for us at that moment. Much like moments in human history (very hard to bring 21^st century morals onto situation 400 years old or 150 years old as we try to erase instead of critically teach history so the cycle can be fully broken. Just ask any abuse survivor, the story and triumph need to be spoken so that it will not be repeated, in all its darkness).

This literally becomes the story. As the device designed to end the Time War by the Doctor is AI with a conscience and brings the Doctor to begin interacting with his decision. The decision? At that moment and time in war as the Daleks are all gathered at Gallifrey—to end it all, Daleks and his people. The haunting ripples this will bring through time.

The decision driven by the motto burned into a wall by him “No More.” The war must end.

The journey forward form that choice showing the grief cycle. The short regeneration shortly after not even there. The true shock.

But the struggle between who are known as the Tenth (David Tenant) and Eleventh (Matt Smith) Doctor’s to forget this period in time. How it shapers personality. One who lives in pained regret and the other who lives to forget, to move forward.

The haunting question answered by 2.41 billion.

But with the Eleventh Doctor being 400 years out…is there another decision that can be seen?

What if that decision can be tried?

What if in your moment of darkness your future selves could stand with you and you would not have to be alone?

What if, you live in acceptance of the choice and find hope in spite of it to move forward in a better life for yourself and others?

This may seem like nothing more than a toss away sci-fi movie from the BBC. Apart of geek culture and nothing more.

Yet we live in a time of reconciliation.

A time when groups who have been oppressed and the former oppressors know that something needs to change.

But how do we get there?

Sometimes a science fiction story can show us the interior and exterior journey in a way that creates conversations that can create the space for critical discussion and active listening, that other venues cannot.

Just think of using this in a religious or political or classroom setting with the Time War as the metaphor for residential schools, Canadian Eugenic practices for those with disabilities, the destructive LGBTTQ2+ laws; the dying with dignity or abortion laws; slavery, the list can go on…

For what questions would haunt our journey where the answer 2.41 billion could just be as haunting.

But even more so.

What is the new life?

What is the regeneration that awaits each one of us?

Where does hope exist?

Do you hear the thrum of the TARDIS? Or are you blocking it out?

No Son you are not on Santa’s Naughty List or how the spiritual-not religious get to a Trump

I woke up the morning of December 19 for work with my shirt soaked with tears. It is not a normal occurrence, but my son had a rough night of emotional pain and crawled into bed and couldn’t stop crying. Why you ask?  Well that is an intriguing story that actually started a reminiscence for long time readers.

A few years back when I was editor of socialist paper, I had a column dubbed “View from the Pew” where I would ruminate on the crossroads of the spiritual and political. As those in Canada know (or may need to re-learn) that the progressive movements started over coffee and tea in church basements in trying to build our just society.

A society that a spiritual centre dubs in their Metro paper ads as “inclusive” and my son learned far to devastatingly that this was false on the morning of December 18, which led to the tears overnight.

It was a secondary response from a pulpit that was anything but inclusive, and sadly so different from what he, in his joy, was used to feeling/experiencing.  Our world is not comfortable with those blessed and experiencing the world differently abled, we like to sidebar or over see or exclude. As some may realize, my family is not like that, when we speak of an open door for anyone, and even to loss of spiritual homes we have lived this.

So a few years back, we were attending and about to join the Roman Catholic church (I know shocking with their conservative theology, but bear with me on this)…and my sons joyful noise was addressed from the pulpit during High Mass, and y’know what the Priest came back with?  Hallejuah that there is someone so alive with love and the Spirit here today, that is how we all should be in our faith and living of love.

A faith home, that also had leadership that essentially stated all were welcome, all ages were welcome, and those raising complaints would be dealt with by the leadership for not including all God’s children.

Fast forward a few years and we are a family in a spiritual centre that speaks of inclusion, that never raises any issue with my son’s joyful noise. One time, the av guy had to come speak with us, he was respectful needing us to move from the back to the front so the sounds did not overcome the recording microphone. We got it, and even though the stadium seating stair case at SAIT Orpheus Theatre are not easy for someone with Cerebral Palsy to move down, supported by me, that is not always the strongest of backs, we made it work.

Then as my son in his grief cycle of loss, got to the point he wanted to go back to “church” to hear music, and hear about Santa…we went.  The morning music was about Santa, he was rocking in joy, and excited with pics of his buddy (Santa) up on the screen…when it happened.

The Minister decided it was time to attack as he was taking a moment to gleefully calm down. Asking him to move to the back or not make a noise while she talked. My son said No. He knew there was no option to move to the back, and by asking he was being kicked out.  With the next noise he made in glee…my son and me left. It was a hard walk up, as he did not want to go, but I could not deal with any more spiritual assault from the pulpit to my little boy. Eyes were averted.

Of this great spiritual place that boasts 9 other “deeply trained” practitioners and ministers, none followed, no members of the congregation that always said how they enjoyed my son followed to see if we were okay…sorry check that…one loan lady came running out in tears pleading for us to go back in saying he wasn’t bad, but that’s all my son could repeat:

Santa thinks I’m naughty. I spent time calming him, soothing him, reminding him no he was not naughty, this is the ugliness of prejudice that he is far to young to experience.

A few members came out to use the washroom or get a drink, he would say hi, they would not make eye contact and hustle past completely ignoring him. We were waiting as I did not want my daughter to feel the pain of being cast out to by pulling her out of Funday early.

But as we waited,

I watched the sparkle leave my son’s eye. His joy fade to a pale facade, as each of these “holy” people ran away…

my little boy who a few years earlier when we became members thanked this place for loving him…looked at me and said, “Daddy they no love me.”

Was there an outreach for an apology? A feeble attempt of the, it was handled badly moments…made worse by the centre believing they could post the video unedited of the talk, so that I actually had to contact them to deal with it in a respectful way…because that act in itself tells me you saw nothing wrong with the actions as a community, and do not see him as a full person.

But it was the ringing silence that morning that struck me…one person whose heart is bigger than her, but no one else, and those that did averted like you think we had the plague. That is when it hit me. The progressive spiritual movements were in shock when someone like Trump road a wave of lowest common denominator to the presidency and in shock asked how?

Sunday Morning December 18 when my little boy was asked to leave a spiritual gathering over joy in Santa, and all but one person in a 100+ person gathering remained silent. Sat in silent solidarity with the most vulnerable being cast out…that is how a USA 2016 election result happens, you are now part of the tipping point to the opposite of love and inclusion.

This is my humble view from my pew (or in this case padded seat in an Orpheus Theatre to a wooden bench in the SAIT Student Centre).

-30-

 

Ode to Betsy

A blessing granted in a time of need

Opening up a world of accessibility for the lad

Yet it became a transport to a world of adventure

Many memories made on the roads of Alberta

Seeing Dinosaurs, canola and Vulcans Oh My!

Like a time warp to yester year journeys to Countess

Removing any barriers for the Lad to be a Lad

The Lass to explore and share love of animals

Old Family found,

Renewed Family

Finally the brakes

Not wanting to do what brakes need to do

A Mother’s blessing

Needing to head off to vehicle Valhalla

Loaded on a truck

Chained and strapped,

Driven off into the sunset

Like a gunslinger community builder of yore

O’ Betsy you will be missed,

But a new world awaits

In what the lass has dubbed as “James”

#Newadventuresawait

Belonging and Purpose a long and winding road

It is true, to find a place where you can truly be the true you, takes time, and effort. Sometimes one falls effortlessly into a spot, other times the journey builds up a lot of open wounds, bruises and scar tissue to truly find respite and belonging.

My journey has been an in between, sadly some placed we thought availed of spiritual belonging attacked the youngest of us (still a certain Lutheran Church sadly my son cannot go by the parking lot of without having a meltdown) or a certain non-denom cult that the humour of being kicked out for a bible study invite still stays with the wifey…yet there is a spiritual home for everyone….it is just about finding the right hole to fit your peg, the right puzzle piece that connects…

And yes even with diverse family units such as ours there is a puzzle that can fit all our pieces. Currently I feel we are in such a place. One where the kids can grow, we can grow, and it is not necessarily because of what happens with each Sunday, or even all the courses/workshops offered at the Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living, although they help the curious learners within…

Nope, it is the type of puzzle that allows your mosaic to thrive, so not just fitting into an ideology or dogma, but a place where you can think and grow as you are meant to within the Spirit and the Spirit within. A place that allows for questions, diversity and evolution of the self and the whole. A holistic communion if you will.

For our family, it is that place to belong, for we can still be curious, we can still journey outside of the metaphoric four walls of the Centre and sample other things, grow in other ways (Nods to you Unity of Calgary and UCM Alberta)…and know that no judgment is held when we come home with new ideas to banter about.

It is through authentic belonging, that then authentic purpose can be realized for all within the family and community for there is no falsity in fitting in, or trying to be something or one you are not. Regardless of life lived, or being lived, or who you love, or what path you are one, or ability/differently abled there is always a way to realize where Spirit calls and a community to walk with in realizing that call.

Just thoughts that percolate in the work I do in aiding others in building home and coming to peace in my own self as I truly am at a place of Thy own self be true if you will.

Reflecting on Rising Roots

This Sunday was a contemplative time, it started out as any ride to the Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living. My daughter off to Funday School, sipping my coffee with wifey and son in the service. Great music and meditation as usual. It has been a reflective time entering into a Foundations course and looking back on our spiritual journey, one ponders what ifs periodically, what if…

Well for someone who has journeyed through many ways of discovering the Holy Mystery that is in everything and everything dwells within, sampled many of the wells from the one river, the talk on agriculture struck a chord.

 Weaker trees grafted onto a strong root. Think of our own lives, your own life…what is the roots that you grew from, that you grafted on your new beliefs that continued to grow.

This was the metaphor that spurred Dr. Pat Campbell’s talk on Sunday. Yet the talk resonated deeper in myself as I thought about my spiritual journey and what truly was my root. Family heritage would scream Christendom in the vein of Anglican or United Church of Canada…personal Christendom journey would run the gambit of evangelical to mainline…monastic to cleric…to stints in learning within Judaism, Bahai, Islam, Earth and Indigenous spiritualities….Druidery…Wicca…some occult…Eastern Philosophies…Ancient Philosophies…Conspiracy Theories…Paleo-SETI…and the list goes on to universalist…energy healing…Unitarian…New Thought…New Age…Paranormal…Ancient Mythologies…

And then it struck me, as I went deeper down the rabbit hole…foundation beliefs found in ancient stories that still resonate in Fables and Fairy Tales, but there was more. For current legends and stories resonate with truth for me.

Like walking out of a fog to claim what I have always stated is true to me. The story. It is what I hold onto, it is how lessons and truth are communicated, it is how I learn, grow, change and work towards transformation.

All other things had been grafted onto this great driving belief in me. The vocation of story teller…or as the Munay-Ki called it for me, Wisdom Keeper.

My root is the story of the cosmic oneness, my rising is how all is grafted onto the one, and that is how all my beliefs–stories sync into the one root.

Simplicity 21st Century Style

It is highly entertaining that many spiritual tomes throughout history have been written in regards to simplicity. One of my spiritual roots that allowed me to rise, was the Franciscan ideal of “mendicant”-the open hand, used as a slur, but empowered through the idea that it is all God’s…so let it flow.

Yet how often does one take the idea of flow and the new, releasing the old, into their on-line presence?

How often do you enter mindfulness and truly look at who you are following on Twitter? Who you are a friend with on Facebook? What groups or likes you have on Facebook? Or as I did this last week updated my blog to better reflect where I am now in life.

So as a spiritual practice of simplicity within this new reality, take time to reflect on your social media presence and does it still truly reflect you? Go back through like you would the closet and basement with the clean up idea?

Are you ready for 21st century simplicity practice?

 

Living simply or simplicity of living

It has been a unique staycation. It started with 3 days on my Dad’s farm, which actually allowed for a complete decompression before returning to the city to move forward into a new reality. Yes the art of relaxation is to create that space of release and renewal.

But what continues that? Part of it is the Shadow/Soul/Self-work to release the energy sludge that holds us back, and letting our Chakra’s renew and burn it away as it leaves our system. This renews the spiritual self.

But what of our physical world? We live in a world that tells us we desperately need the newest, best, brightest! That our drive is the accumulation of belongings, money and wealth in such away. Yet what is wealth?

It begins with wholeness of character, that starts with passion, and knowing what you are meant to do in life. Then from there it is looking at our physical surroundings, yes these things have been useful in our life up to this point. But what is being kept simply out of duty? Out of tradition? Out of not knowing what that space would be like without that there?

For the release of the physical of things creates space and peace in our physical environments that becomes contagious to our own being. The question though is are we willing to peel the onion of our own homes, briefcases, purses, to see what can be found when that we simply have because that is what has already existed is released whether it is garbage, recycled, given to a non-profit or a thrift store…what does the face feel like now? what is new space saying about whom you are and how to use it? How comfortable are you to release the old? To allow the space to sit empty when it hasn’t been before?

What does how we keep our homes say about our inner self?

What happens when both are brought into a healthy vibration with one another?

Are you up for the challenge?

This week off has been quite productive in continuing a renewed life of simplicity and watching things that no longer serve us in the now go forward into the flow to bless others.

Are you ready to renew?

Sangha

Slide from Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living on April 10, 2016

It was new member Sunday at the Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living and as such it was centered on what the quote above speaks to—Belonging. It was only last year that the family joined, and I still remember my son, through his spastic speech speaking clearly into the microphone after quite a few tumultuous and judgmental spiritual homes for him say, “Thank you for loving me.”

This is the heart of the Sanskrit word that title’s this post, belonging; it speaks Anthropologically to the idea of Tribe, and for the type of work I do, the concept of H-O-M-E.

So as one travels through life, there are a few things that shape us.

1. Purpose-that is vocation something that adds meaning to our lives.
2. Belonging-that place or places where we know we fit and are loved.

That is what spiritual centres, political parties, sports teams, book clubs, the list goes on and on in the area of face to face gatherings are about. It truly is like the Cheers’ theme song from the 1980’s to go to a place where everyone knows your name.

For our walk as a species though, do we create barriers for others that halt them being able to find belonging? Being able to find Home? Purpose? just because we would rather label? Or do we open up our communities for all, and see how the jigsaw pieces fit together for a true Sangha to be created…for it takes all types to flourish as a society.

Let’s be honest, it also takes many types of tribes together to build a healthy nation.

 

Move the Body, Move the Mind or Shift the Heart

Reverberate the soul?

It is a staple in life coaching, that if you get the client to move their body they can shift their mind. It is a tactile use of oneself to move into the new reality. This can be done for rolling with resistance, shifting perspectives, or learning new realities.

Yet it is not some new age wonder, na, it is as ancient as well the ancients (aliens or otherwise). Within my monastic teachings and learning this is a reality. Think of the holy pilgrimage where you wander into new realities to discover a new vocation or call; same as the vision quest, or the labyrinth.

The Labyrinth is the most microcosmic look at this concept, one way in and one way out. As you walk towards the centre you hold onto your old reality; and in the centre sit with the grief of the release of the old, and welcoming in the new, then holding onto the new as you walk out and allow it to take root into your being.

So from the wisdom of the ancients to the knowledge of today, if you want to discover the true you…get moving 🙂

 

 

Why Do I do what I do?

It is a funny question, and usually how we identify ourselves in new social settings. “What do you do?” It is not some deep existential question looking for validation of vocational calling, rather it is the question of what one does for work to earn money, and then based on occupation and how many spaces on the pay cheque before the decimal point one can assess if you “fit” their societal grouping.

Also along the lines if you mention an impressive job title are questions around your education.

Then there is the abnormality. I pride myself on being the abnormality, when folks here what I do, and the education I have they get the deer caught in the headlights, evil robot short circuiting eye glaze. It is one of the little joys of life. But isn’t bragging about oneself the point of Linkedin and not conversation of getting to know one another at beyond a superficial level?

My kids tell people I give people homes. Many believe I am in real estate, no that is buying and selling housing. An admirable role, but not mine. I believe in homes for everyone, and that is what I do. I walk alongside and aid my neighbours in becoming part of community and growing themselves a home.

I should say this is something I stumbled into, but really it was a path laid out that I chose from a young age. My parents taught me to speak out for what I believed in, to question and critically analyze societal issues, and to be welcoming to the other. I mean c’mon I grew up a child of `78 and was part of a peace march in elementary school to get Gorbachev’s attention to speak out on ending the Cold War.

I was a teenage journalist and activist challenging politicians and world leaders to understand that policy decisions were not just words on paper but affected people as a whole and individually. Yes I was one of those pains in the butt and even ran for office. I lived what the Creator laid on my soul by building communities of welcome for those we like to segregate by labels: homeless; youth; seniors; young adults; differently abled; mentally ill… think of a few more can you? The drive was a label-less world.

Follow your heart

-My Daughter, Justina, age 8, Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living

Some may read these words and say with a drive like that your home life growing up must have been perfect hell. That’s a nugatory. I had an amazing childhood with loving family, that encouraged my dreams and passions. Let us as children to develop into the adult’s we were meant to be, and to shape beliefs that resonated beyond the surface level. They showed us what a home was, and this is what everyone deserves regardless of situation and with proper supports it can be achieved.

See that is why I do what  I do…because it is part of my created being. I have answered J.S. Woodsworth’s over 100 year old question, who is my neighbour? It is each and every person I connect with in this world.

Discover your passion, then figure out a way to make a living at it.

-My Dad, Wayne Ragan, to me 16 years old in a Marketing Research Project at Lester B. Pearson High School.

So why do I do what I do?

Four little letter everyone desires, deserves, and I have been blessed to know deeply.

H-O-M-E.