CROSS COUNTRY # 19 The Mission Position

Barry: The Carmel Mission. I spent an hour walking through this historic site.

Its full title is The Basilica of Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo.

About 250 years ago as the Spaniards moved up the California coast they established missions.

They did what was obviously right to them, converted the locals to Christianity and introduced civilization to the area. This mission was lovingly restored by a gentleman, Harry Downie, who spent 50 years of his life doing it. He was honored for his work and now we have this beautiful mission to give us insight into that time and a church for people to pray in as they did back then.

We see the ceremonial garb of its founder, Junipero Serra, his books, the room he died in restored to its original condition, even pieces of his coffin bundled up with gold ribbon. He is being treated as a hero. Some school children are being taken around.

I feel troubled by this and wonder why. I think back on my schooldays studying history - the Dutch that settled South Africa in the 17^th century. Being treated as heroes by the ruling Afrikaners and us kids studying history from their perspective. Obviously they had been the good guys doing the right thing.

I wonder what systems in our present lives we buy into. Like why do we accept that it is "normal" to work 90 % of our lives and only play 10%. Why do we wear neckties. Why are suburbs built without any thought to planning. Why are children taught boring facts and not relationship skills and how to use their imagination. Why do we accept these systems (and others) as normal. The Spaniards were wrong, the Afrikaners were wrong, and there is a lot in our present society that is wrong.

The second thought is why do we not have a plaque or memorial in the mission remembering those who suffered at the hands of the Spaniards.

I feel angry that in this day and age, these people are still being revered. Prayer goes on in the churches they established as if nothing had happened.

I want my $2 back.

Barry: Yesterday went awry. We suddenly found ourselves unexpectedly having to change our plans.

For a while our strengths clashed: Barry - specialist in organization and prevention of the unexpected in patients vs Goldie who specializes in coping with adversity and surprises by going with the flow.

Goldie: I think Barry means he likes preventive medicine versus handling a crisis.

We’re noticing so much about each other on the trip. I eat corn on the cob with gusto, Barry eats it daintily. I have a photographic memory and everything looks in order to me no matter where I’ve put it....Barry needs things put away in particular places...Barry relishes white space....I relish a profusion of cool objects......Barry likes to settle down at night with a nice WWII movie, I want to meditate and feel the cocoon of darkness.... 

Barry: Meanwhile, back in Carmel. Being we were frozen in disharmony, Rabbi Leah came to the rescue and suggested we hike the state park Point Lobos, which we did and found it as beautiful as any we had seen anywhere; provided us with a roof over our heads (we slept in her office), cooked us a delicious breakfast and directed us to the Kleins near Santa Cruz for the night.

Their home is an architectural delight. Designed by a former student of Frank Lloyd Wright it obviously bears his influence. Redwood walls, tile and hardwood floors, custom furniture, stained glass windows and set in the countryside near Santa Cruz.

This morning we spent a long time talking to a curator of a gallery about Zimbabwe sculpture. This evening I discussed architecture with our host. I am reminded that art and aesthetics are very important to me - almost a spiritual practice. The sensitivity of the artist, attention to detail, strive for perfection, emotions embodied in the work.

This morning we also visited the aquarium in Monterey. We have visited many including an outstanding one in Cape Town. This one blew us away with many forms of sea life we could never have imagined. In particular, the jelly fish - many different varieties were so graceful and beautiful - like ballet. Jellyfish are not only very functional, they are esthetically beautiful.

Goldie: The jelly fish provided a diaphanous ballet of light and illusion. So alien in appearance that Barry remarked how even sci-fi seems limited in envisioning what beings from other planets might look like.

Barry: If esthetics are integral to nature, why don’t we imitate nature in the way we design and build our homes and towns? I suspect Goldie will rebut me about art being a spiritual practice, but I rest my case.

Naturally, we had fish and chips for lunch.

Goldie: What defines a spiritual practice? Perhaps intention is one key element. Seems to me even a religious practice can be devoid of spirituality, depends on the intention. For sure, art can be a spiritual practice...it can also miss the mark, by exploiting its subject, for example.

Goldie: Teaching for Hadeish Yameinu, the Jewish renewal group in Santa Cruz was a wonderful experience. They requested a seminar on davenology - skills for leading spiritually powerful services. We looked at the sequence of prayers in morning services and what effect on the body, soul and mind each is intended to occasion, so that an integration of nutrients for the soul stream are delivered during the davenning. Sort of a spiritual multi-vitamin.

I was surprised to articulate a new thought. One person noted that their morning practice is to take a verse that strikes them and to chant it until they are in a meditative state. Sometimes practitioners of yoga mention that they don’t need to know the meaning of the Sanskrit chants, that their teachers say the sound of the words will have their effect any way. So why would one need to understand a Hebrew verse or to chant a particular verse established by the sages for a particular point in a service? Because, there is a real intentional order and synergy among the elements of the service. In my experience there is more benefit possible than that inherent in meditation without the liturgy.

For example, chanting "modah ani l’fanekhah" upon awakening brings gratitude as one’s earliest spiritual practice of the day....the ability to arise in praise rather than negativity. One might see "l’fanekhah" as either meaning "before God", or lately I like to think of it as "into the face of God." Once one has found the unique revelation of the verse for oneself at a given day in one’s life, then we can let go of the meaning and continue chanting without intellectualizing. The body is so designed as to retain and unconsciously integrate the revelation ....then the chanting becomes perhaps an awareness of our embeddedness within That Which Is Unfolding.....and we enter into a warm silence, a vessel for the next stage of davenning.

It was such a revelation to me that silence could be safe, holy, warm, loving. Growing up silence in the family often meant a cold break in intimacy, a lost emptiness. The silence after a chant in my experience is often so full of love, a nesting of oneself in The One. Through this I have learned to savor silence at home, sensing and radiating warmth and love.

Those attending the workshop in Santa Cruz looked deeply into each concept, tried on the notions, asked important questions.... felt we were like a great spiritual airplane taking off to a new place together. I am grateful for the time we shared.