Presence - Nick

 November 24, 2021

Good morning Jim, Lee, Sally, John, Alice and Mary,
Thank you, Mary, for the gift of your lovely and heartfelt statement. I hope we can find a day and time that's convenient for you to fully participate in our meetings.
And thank you to Lee and Jim for welcoming me into this group. I feel I have a ways to go to encounter what Newell calls the "radical humility of the heart" and to "reconnect us to our nature, which is sacred." I often feel that I live in what he calls "soul-forgetfulness." I have an intensely rational mind, and I want to develop my spiritual side. I don't want to grow old without experiencing what it means to be fully alive.

I spent 40 years working on newspapers, a field that breeds cynicism and mistrust and negativity, and for the past five months I've been the co-coordinator of a blog that has returned me to the often-brutal world of Amherst politics. I have often felt that my work and my spiritual life are at odds with each other. I have faith that, to quote Newell again, "a combination of conscious awareness, inner strength and commitment to love is capable of bringing about radical change in our lives and the world."

As a boy, I spent nine years at a religious school, going to chapel every weekday and always taking a course called "Sacred Studies," and have been a church-goer as an adult. But I often wonder what the connection this formalized religion has with the experiences I regard as transcendent: staring at the ocean, trees losing their leaves in autumn, the miracle of the human body healing itself, following changes in the weather, growing vegetables. I more commonly see the connection in human interaction: expressions of kindness to strangers, the satisfaction I get from volunteering at the Survival Center, watching my 1-year-old granddaughter innocently absorb everything in her environment.

I feel truly blessed to have friends like Lee, John and Sally. I hope to get to know Jim, Alice and Mary better through this group. Here's to seeing life in a new way!

Nick


Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 3, 2021 at 4:40 PM

    Thank you, Nick! Wow! What a lovely life you have put together for yourself, and starting so so very young on a spiritual path. Wonder really comes out from your post, and that wonder sticks with me. I can be a bit grumbly! Mary

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