Humming in Tune with the Universe

a night sky- mountains in the far distance with an orange sky that fades into deep blue. In the sky are dashed circles of light.

Dear friends,

People often say about Louisville weather that if you don't like it, just wait a few minutes and it will change. This is also true of our internal weather patterns, emotions moving through like clouds, storms, wind, sunshine, and rainbows. I am happy to report that my internal weather has gotten much sunnier since I last wrote. But I don't want to focus on that so much today. 

Today is the United States' Independence Day, a day to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Often on this day my reflections take me to interdependence and interconnection more than independence. This year is no different and I've been particularly inspired by an article recently published in The Atlantic. It seems that scientists have found ripples in space and time. Not being a scientist I don't feel equipped to explain this (check out the linked article above to learn more), but I do want to share some of the beautiful ways Adam Frank describes this: 

The whole universe is humming. Actually, the whole universe is Mongolian throat singing. Every star, every planet, every continent, every building, every person is vibrating along to the slow cosmic beat.

Putting all [their research] together, the NANOGrav (North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves) scientists could see that these ripples were not from one discrete source but from a din, a hum, the overlapping echoes of disturbances scattered across the universe.

Every gravitational wave in that background the NANOGrav team found is humming through the very constitution of the space you inhabit right now. Every proton and neutron in every atom from the tip of your toes to the top of your head is shifting, shuttling, and vibrating in a collective purr within which the entire history of the universe is implicated. And if you put your hand down on a chair or table or anything else nearby, that object, too, is dancing that slow waltz.

...moments like these can and should change how each of us sees our world. All of a sudden, we know that we are humming in tune with the entire universe, that each of us contains the signature of everything that has ever been. It’s all within us, around us, pushing us to and fro as we hurtle through the cosmos.

The universe is an impossibly vast symphony of cause and effect. The endless comings and goings of galaxies, stars, and planets create a melding of songs that you are part of too. The NANOGrav discovery exposes the intricacy and gracefulness of that melding. It’s a reminder that the world always has been, and always will be, worthy of wonder. But of course, you already knew that. You always have.

I think about the dance between the individual expression of each of us and the fact that our individual expressions, our energies, are literally and intimately intertwined with ALL. Can I claim independence? Do I even want to? I think not. 

What about the United States' independence? I'm not sure we can claim that either. Certainly the U.S. has a unique identity within the global context, an instrument in the world's symphony, and I believe there is value in recognizing that. I love my country, even with all its complexities and ways we aren't yet living up to the aspirations we name. But in an ever-globalized world, this country's bonds to other countries; our people's ties with other peoples; this land's, waters', plants', animals', weather's connection to other lands, waters, plants, animals, and weather are becoming more and more obviously woven together in ways that both heal and harm. Sometimes we hum in tune; sometimes there is dissonance. 
  
Does that mean we shouldn't celebrate this day? I'm not saying that. There is value in humming in tune with our loved ones as we commemorate significant events. AND on other days let us also make space to tend to the dissonance, to the people and places within our country that aren't held in wonder and care, to the people and places outside our country that aren't held with curiosity and conscious connection. 

Where and how do you notice the hum of the universe?

Where do you notice dissonance? 

~~~
Our energies are ever intermingling. If you want to consciously participate in a Louisville-focused hum, I hope you'll join me in the Resonant Peaceful Cities Project from July 22 to July 30. Hart Communication is one of the community partners. This is the second year Louisville is taking part in a study testing whether synchronized meditation has a measurable effect on a city's crime rate. Last year Louisville showed a 13% reduction in crime during the meditation week. Isn't that incredible? It is free to participate in this project and we are hoping to have robust participation in the study. Click on the link above or check out the graphic in the events below and share with others! You can also join us for a Kickoff event on July 19!

Speaking of free, I am also excited to have added a number of short Reframe documents on my Buy Me a Coffee page; 5 of the 6 are free (the sixth is $2). Topics include: Reframing Deserving; Reframing Needs and Strategies; Reframing Finitude, Scarcity, and Abudance; Reframing Self-talk, and more. If these topics interest you, I'd love for you to claim them, as I hope they add notes of harmony in you and in the greater universal hum. 

I hope you are relishing this day in whatever way you spend it. 

With love, 
Cory

Declaration of Interdependence

I originally wrote this piece for JustFaith Ministries in 2018. Find the original post here.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. – 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

Around the time of Independence Day each year, I can’t help but lament the fact that many people in my country, the United States of America, have taken the idea of independence to a great extreme. Many in this country have lost, forgotten, or actively deny our interdependence, locally, nationally, globally.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as [God] wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. – 1 Corinthians 12:15-20

Both when our lens zooms in and pans out, one thing remains consistent-we are in this together- whether we were born in the U.S. or outside of it, whether we are in the U.S. or outside of it, whether we are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, atheist, or of another belief system, whether we are human, other creature, plant, stone.  We’re all in this together. Each of us belongs. Each of us has something to contribute so that our national body and our global body function well. “If [we] all were [the same], where would the body be?”

Last week I worked at a children’s day camp. My job was to share community- and peace-building activities. On the first day, we built a web of connection together. We sat in a circle and I began the process: with a ball of string in my hand, I said my name and something cool about myself (“I can sing!”). I invited anyone who shared that trait to raise their hands. Then, holding onto the string, I rolled the string ball to a child who then introduced herself (“I like ice cream!”), more hands raised, and more string ball-passing. After everyone had introduced themselves, we had a beautiful web of connection. I asked one child to pull on the string and anyone who felt their own string getting tighter to raise their hands.  Almost always, more than the 2 children directly connected to the puller raised their hands.  After illustrating this phenomenon a few times, I asked all the children to pull on the string at once.  It broke, sometimes in several places. We talked about how we are all connected, even if we don’t readily see the connections, about how the stress of one person affects many people, and about how multiple points of tension (or one really fierce point of tension) can break connections. I urged the kids to take care of each other during their camp week, to be gentle with each other so as to avoid broken connections. Throughout the week, we played cooperative games and I introduced them to elements of nonviolent communication.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. – 1 Corinthians 12:21-24

Perhaps we adults would benefit from playing cooperative games. Perhaps we adults should create a visual and tactile web to remind ourselves that we are in this together, we need each other, and that those who “seem to be weaker are indispensable, and [those] that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.” So many of us seem awfully eager to distance ourselves from this person or that one, this group or another, as we try to distance ourselves, tension in the web increases. We blame some people who “seem to be weaker” for their weakness and deny them the care they need, forgetting that they are “indispensable.” We shut down conversations because we know we are right and “they” are wrong (we are honorable and they are less honorable). The more we pull away, denying our interdependence and our need for each other, the more tension we create. We’ve already broken our web in many places—separating undocumented children from their parents being only the most recent and obvious example. Police shootings of unarmed persons of color. Mass school shootings. Removing some environmental protections. Members of Congress using strongarm tactics, rather than compromise that honors the needs of all. Limiting our friendships to those we agree with.

But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. – 1 Corinthians 12:24-26

How can we honor the places that seem to lack it? How can we find unity in our diversity, allowing all to play our unique and important roles? How can we reduce our own and others’ suffering? What can we honor in each other and rejoice in our interdependence?

Moving Toward Wholeness

A couple of weeks ago I started telling a story, How I Got My Wings. I later posted Part 2 and Part 3. This story, which begins when I found a dead cardinal in November 2020, isn't finished yet, but the part I felt most hesitant to share beyond a select group of people is out in the world now. A friend who has encouraged me to share the story has also been lovingly teasing me, "Now when people see dead birds, they're going to think of you" or "Now when people think of you, they're going to think, 'Oh, yeah, that's the dead bird lady!'" Both thoughts make me giggle.

Since I put the story out there, two people have told me their dead bird stories, and one of those also talked about putting a dead bird in the freezer. She told me that revealing that in a particular group of people led to multiple other backyard-bird-in-the-freezer stories.

I am reading Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and one of the many things I appreciate is how she weaves together the stories that come from her Potawatomi Nation heritage and the stories that come from her scientific training. Some might say these ways of knowing are in conflict with each other because the first way is made up of “stories” and the second of “facts,” not to be confused with one another. Kimmerer shows how each perspective, as well her perspectives as a mother and professor, can support one another, how an embodied and connected relationship with Creation balances the "neutral" or "objective" disconnected lens that science aims for (even though none of us can actually be neutral or objective).

As I write, I am wondering if we can recognize that science is simply a form of story-telling told from a particular worldview and that its facts are not necessarily the full, or even actual, picture of reality. I am not denying its value, but questioning the strong dominant cultural bias toward it (though in recent years, that's been less true). I wonder how much valuing scientific story-telling and disregarding or devaluing other interpretations, other stories of our interbeing, has limited for too long the potential of our understanding.

Like Kimmerer moves between indigenous and scientific understandings, over the last several years I've been wading into waters that some may believe are in conflict with one another. I am active in a Catholic church community (which I joyfully share with some of you who are reading). I have worked in Catholic schools and with Christian organizations. I hope to continue to do so.

I am also certified in and practice Reiki. I have been learning about and using intuitive gifts that I discovered because of Reiki; that's how Heart Portraits were born. More recently I have been studying shamanic practices. For me these practices outside of the Christian realm expand, deepen, and enrich my understanding of and beyond my mother tradition of Catholicism. They help me to imagine with greater creativity and imagination what loving God and loving neighbor mean, and who the word "neighbor" includes.

Studying the mystics, Christian and otherwise, bring a similar sense of wonder, expansion, and creativity. All of these explorations open me to the Mystery that lives in our interconnection. All of these explorations help me discover pieces of myself, bringing me closer to wholeness, bringing our world closer to wholeness because I am a part of the world.

Telling the story of how I got my wings is one step in claiming who I am, both as an individual and as a thread woven into the tapestry of interconnection. As I weave closer to other threads of Creation, we tighten the weave. We strengthen the tapestry. We move toward wholeness.

I suspect there will be people who read my dead cardinal story who will form negative judgments. I recently told a friend the story and she listened with furrowed brows and squinting eyes. It was uncomfortable. But if I am to honor who I am now and allow myself to continue becoming, I must be willing to face discomfort, my own and others', even when it means facing the skepticism or lack of understanding from a loved one. Being in the discomfort is a practice.

Self-acceptance is a practice. The more embodied the practice, the easier it is to practice accepting others. Moving toward wholeness is a practice. Will you join me?

If you'd like to explore these themes further, I invite you into these questions:

Have you ever been afraid to reveal a part of yourself to another? Did you choose to hide or to reveal? How was it to do so?

Do you feel like there are parts of you that feel aligned and in harmony that others might think are in contradiction?

How have you or would you like to move toward a greater sense of wholeness?

I'd love to know your answers, to offer witness to who you are. Please feel free to share.