May Day… A Look at Its Origins And Its Meaning For Us Today

The Rev. Peter E. Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Throughout the progression of humanity’s religious quest, there has been either a desired dialogue or a dubious denial of the importance of nature to our religious practices and spiritual imaginations.

On one side, there have been the mystics, poets, philosophers, and artists whose source of inspiration was drawn directly from the natural world. In response to the mystery and majesty of nature, its balance and its beauty, we are given invaluable lessons that we need to take seriously. In the natural world, they observed, there is a visceral wisdom that requires our awareness and our respect. The cycles of weather definitely have an effect on our sense of health and well being and will lead us to acknowledge that nature cannot be divorced from our humanity and therefore deserves an important or central place in our religious understanding and expressions of worship. The variegated petals that unfold to us form around the truth that Nature is a pathway to God- and this pathway is as wide as Pagan festivals to medieval mysticism, from the Native Americans to the Transcendentalists. What they all share, from the flowery verse of Hindu Vedas to Whitman’s earthy leaves of grass, they speak of nature with respectful and reverent tones.

The contrasting viewpoint is that nature is our adversary, that it is something that we, as humans, need to conquer and control for our personal benefit. It declares that nature exists for our social and personal use. If it cannot be overcome, then it had to be dominated or domesticated, tamed or controlled. Often, this outlook falls into two primary camps- the ascetic and the opportunistic. In the first way of dealing with nature, we are to deny any connection to it… That somehow the physical being is bad, that nature is cruel, and life in the body is a harsh ordeal.

This point of view was most vividly championed by the Victorian celibate priesthood and earlier, in this country, it was well represented in Puritan times by Yankee Protestantism with all of its puritanical codes and its capitalistic ambitions. Under this approach to nature, we are to use, to plunder, exploit and harness nature to fit or fuel our desires for progress and for profit. Only then or in that way, does nature have any value for us!

As I have outlined it, it is obvious where I stand… And even though it is not an objective comparison, it is one that operates clearly in our culture today. It is historically factual and its influence on theology has contributed greatly to how religion can be used to support environmental deregulation and it has contributed to the ecological and spiritual crisis we now face.

As this relates to May day, we gain our first appreciation of its origins from the Roman revels of Flora, the goddess of the flowers, and most likely an earlier Pagan celebration that they adopted. Historically, the people of Southern Europe or more temperate climates observed that Spring could easily begin in March. However, if you lived in Northern Europe, or in the Northeastern and upper Midwestern parts of our country, a good claim could be that Spring really doesn’t arrive until May 1st!

But May… Ah, May… Well, we can always hold good thoughts about the weather in the month of May… It is after the cold winds of winter and before the harsh heat of summer…

It is the month of Camelot… the merry month of May when we can celebrate our delight in the flowers and in all greening and growing things…

And so it is, that we derive our best source for the origins of May Day from Merry Old England… Of course!

Many of you already know something about the Celts and Druids. They were famous for many things that later became infused into our modern culture. Among the more curious and phenomenal were the ideas associated with nature spirits, leprechauns spirits, fairies and the like… But we also have the marvels of Stonehenge, and we have the vivid scenes from Shakespeare’s plays that are filled with nature, alchemy and symbolism such as MacBeth’s witches with all their toil and trouble!

More importantly to our spiritual quest, there has been a revival of deep and earnest interest in the divine feminine and in the ideas and practices associated with the worship of the goddess. The classic text, that is almost required reading for those interested in this feminine spiritual outlook would be Margot Adler’s Drawing Down The Moon. What is on major importance for us is that these practices, images and symbols were pre-Christian ( and from what I have observed in the Low Country, they are post Christian) and the central teaching is that we cannot live our lives apart from nature or without a central correspondence to nature as a source of wisdom and understanding. We cannot or should I say, we dare not live hermetically sealed off from nature in our condos and skyscrapers, or training out nature by being constantly plugged in our MP3 players and our smart phones!

In fact, there is now a new malady making its appearance among our youth- a deficit of Nature that keeps them alienated and out of touch with how nature teaches us to live. They are removed from healthy food, exercise, exploration of the natural world, and are living in a largely artificial way! While technology can certainly be useful, it needs to serve our aesthetic and compassionate values, not create them!

The major obstacle to a more full and joyous celebration of  earth based holidays such as May Day, Midsummer’s, Equinox, even Halloween,

Comes from the suspicion associated with them being carnal, being visceral, being joyous… or in short, not being Christian, and therefore evil!

Furthermore, these revels associated with May poles, and bonfires might be demonic and could corrupt your orthodox and pious soul!

And yes, if these festivals are lived out as they are portrayed in Hollywood, they are certainly lascivious and “over the top” and could easily be seen as a corrupting influence on youth and society as a whole. However, most of these rituals and rites are respectful and celebrate the connection of our bodies with our souls, and that our lives are drawn from nature and to give thanks and to be exceedingly grateful that our existence depends on keeping a respectful balance and correspondence to the natural cycles and rhythms of the year…

Another objection to celebrating May day and the earth festivals is simply because… Well, Pagans do it! What is a Pagan? Is it someone like Aristotle, Plato, or Marcus Aurelius- someone who does not believe in a Christian understanding of God? In short, the word pagan has been drastically abused and when it has been employed it is often derogatory and dismissive. Its Latin origins simply meant to be a country dweller in contrast to someone living in walled cities…

The truth is that religion has always taken the ways and rituals for worship from its environment or natural surroundings. If you live among the animals, amidst the trees then these living things can take on a symbolic expression and have a spiritually significant meaning for you. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed … Almost all the great religious leaders of humankind did not draw their most enduring teaching stories from life in the “concrete jungle”

The parables are filled with natural symbolism… Similarly, the Native Americans looked to animals, birds, and tress, as did the Celts.

However, when the Christian missionaries arrived in Northern Germany, France, and the moved into the British Isles, they were… Appalled to see such displays of joy and celebration! It was so licentious and it was accompanied with heathen drumming, flute playing, and dancing- Horror!

They saw it as their moral duty to root out this decay, and to train people to abandon their bodies in favor on their rational sensibilities…

In doing so, their aim was to break their spirit, and abolish their Myths and symbols. In other situations and circumstances, where the Myth and the cultural observances were deeply engrained, and the resistance was too great, they decided to “sanitize” their festivals and practices and gave them new, tame meanings… From those efforts we have the origins of the Christmas tree, the Easter egg, etc.

So all this review, brings me to May Day, a joyous Pagan Holiday!

Among the Celts and Druids, it was called Beltane, and it was celebrated as part of the wheel of life, one eighth that signals Summer’s impending arrival!

Of course, May day is the more tepid and tame version of Beltane…

Originally, Beltane was a holiday celebrating and encouraging fertility!

And the May Pole… well, its an upright symbol that it to be encircled by flowers. All who wished to be fructified, or to encourage their own fertility  were encouraged to use this time to seed the soil or the awaiting wombs so that there would be a joyful harvest in the coming seasons! Young women would dance around the large trunk trunk/pole and offer signs and songs for fruitfulness- in any way you wished to desire it! Other customs associated with May day were hobby horse riding, Morris dancing, and washing one’s body in the morning dew!

When I was preparing this topic, I purposely spent time in my home garden… While I am usually filled with the ideas of the tasks to be done, this time I stood, and walked mindfully through the rows… As it was, by the time and phase of the Moon, time to plant, I took some seeds and stooped over, make some rows with a hoe, and started to lay out what I hope would be an abundant summer harvest…

As I began the process, I became lost in thought… My mind flashed on how universal and timeless this act of seeding was! Most every year of my life has had a garden in it… Across the generations of my family life, up and

down the rows of humanity, people have planted… Humans have planted their seeds, their hopes and their desires for a million years, and I am but one of the recent ones and it is just my time in the unfolding centuries to take my place, make my effort to grow food for my life …

Suddenly, my reverie ended… And I stood up and was still … It was almost totally quiet …empty… Expectant…

Well, almost quiet until a defiant mockingbird decided to wake me up and bring me back to his particular form of celebration, his enthusiasm seemed to have no bounds! Yet, for a short precious while… I was one with the Chinese rice farmer, the Cherokee planting the early corn, my grandfather putting tomatoes deep into the soil…

Now I could begin to understand how the reverent Celt would have felt when he or she was confronted by the many mysteries of nature and how it enveloped life, and how deserving nature is of our care and dedication. It was a feeling that made me quietly content, serene, happy…

If this is a more enlightened form of what it means to be a Pagan… Then count me in! I am a Pagan, too!

Whether our concern is for ecological integrity or personal peace, try to take some time this May Day to offer someone a flower, a smile, some loving regard… Go for a walk, open up your senses to all the natural lessons, epiphanies and miracles there are to behold…

Take nature into your keeping, and place it near to your heart…

Amen; So Be It; Blessed Be….

A Prayer for May

From Julian of Norwich

There is a treasure in the earth.

Be a gardener. Dig a ditch. Toil and sweat.

Turn the earth upside down, and seek the deepness.

Continue in this labor, [then] take this food…

And carry it to God and to your neighbor as your true worship.

In God’s being is Nature; God is the true Father and Mother of Nature, and all are made to flow out of God to work the divine will.

Nature and God are in harmony with one another.

For Grace is God as Nature is God.

Neither Nature nor Grace works without the other.

Let us never forget our debts to both Nature and Grace.

Our Father/Mother/Spirit God;

You who are the Creator, Provider, Sustainer of Humanity and the Natural World, we offer our praise for the beauty of the earth, and all that is nature that surrounds us. We affirm that both Nature and Grace are our gifts from the Creation, and that we are to be the willing and grateful stewards.

As we respect our bodies, we respect the animals and all that lives alongside of us and that shares this planet with us.

May we never act in arrogance, but always seek to live in balance , in praise, and in peace. AMEN

April Fools Day: In Praise of Holy Fools

The Rev. Peter E. Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Good Morning! And if you have not already gotten the subtle message, it is April Fool’s Day! So I could not think about giving any sermon that did not include some humor, and to focus on how the Fool has an important role in religion and life.

As I quickly have discovered and long suspected, there is an important link between religion and humor, and that it is an ancient and a universal one.  While being almost ubiquitous, few, if any, religions have allowed humor to gain wide acceptance, with the least amount of acceptability in American Protestantism, which is probably the reason why there are so many religious jokes in our culture. There is no topic more receptive to humor, it seems, more enticing to laughter than piety, Puritanism, and an outlook that is joyless, strict, and self righteous.

Most clergy it appears, believe that religion is no laughing matter- that ultimate truths can only be known seriously or scientifically. They seem to disregard the fact that humor is a wonderful teaching tool, and that truth can be both funny and inspiring.

So today, of all days, we can ask: What’s so funny about religion? What are the elements in humor that teach us how to face life courageously? Why is it good to laugh, and what in our laughter, reveals reverently the mysteries and blessings of life and how we can care for enjoy one another?

Lets begin our look into “the whys and wherefore” of humor as it relates to religion, by first looking at how humor affects us as human beings.

Physiologically, the ability to laugh involves responses of 15 separate pairs of facial muscles that create a visible chance in complexion, posture, expression, and breathing.

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Next,  Anthropologists confirm that humor and laughter are found universally- and like music, it functions best as a bridge of connection and empathy from one human to another, overcoming differences in language, time, distance, or behavioral customs, religious beliefs.

A third consideration comes from research in holistic medicine. Physicians now conclude what the ancients have always known: “Laughter is good medicine; and that a merry heart does a soul much good.]”

Studies have shown laughter as being able to act as a curative agent- lowering cholesterol, increasing both red and white blood cell levels, strengthening immunity, producing pain killing endorphins, and last but not least, humor retards aging! You see, it reduces the creation of facial wrinkles, and who knows, maybe laughter makes a person more sexy and attractive, as having a good sense of humor always appears at the top of most desirable qualities one looks for in a potential mate.

Now what about the connection between humor and faith, or humor and spirituality? And what are some examples of how humor is used religiously to make a point? One hint: It isn’t the kind of humor that starts out: there once was a Nun from Nantucket, or Once a priest, a minister and a rabbi walked into a bar… Instead, my focus will be on how various forms of humor such as satire, wit, and hyperbole are used to teach self knowledge, self acceptance, humility, compassion and truth. Humor is best used religiously to point out the ironies of life; to address human foibles, and to teach us how to accept our human inconsistencies. Most often, with an attitude of love behind the remarks, laughter can be used to confound the ego, and to open a person to new insights about themselves. It results in moving the hearer from despair to hope, and can help to replace our tears of frustration with tears of joy.

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Humor can be found in almost every circumstance of life: Dr. Viktor Frankel, Holocaust survivor taught that “Humor is one of the soul’s weapons in the fight for self preservation. It helps us to rise above our feelings of helplessness and deprivation. We laugh religiously, to preserve our dignity, we laugh to stay sane and to remain humane.”] In his lectures, he would echo the author of Proverbs when he said, “a merry heat is like medicine, but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.” Proverbs, by the way, is worth reading- a very funny book!

As a quick summary, religious humor can be defined as the form of humor that is a benevolent, empathetic response to life’s inconsistencies, incongruities, mishaps and reversals. Humor that lets us laugh at ourselves and that gives us the gift of laughing with others is a gracious, healing, and redeeming gift.

Next, when looking at the various characters in Western literature and mythology that teach us about the value of humor we encounter three important figures: The Clown, The Jester, and the Fool … Each has an important place in the world’s mythological stories, and in teaching us how best to understand ourselves with humility. They teach us, through their stories, about life’s paradoxes and how to keep a healthy perspective about what our egos want, desire, or need. Their universal presence in Western literature, Scripture, and folk stories, attest that a person cannot possibly arrive at being a balanced and healthy adult without being able to laugh at yourself- and that you can be assured that life will always give us ample opportunities for appearing to be foolish, and for pointing where and how we need to become more aware, more wise!

These characters in literature, these psychological archetypes of the human condition, teach us that if we take our faith too seriously as to drain the joy and laughter from it, it becomes a perversion and you risk missing the full and complete message any spiritual path or any ethical teacher has for you.

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While similar in their message to humanity and society, we have been given three characters, and each one in this comic trio has their own distinct characteristics. The most familiar to us all is the Clown. Maybe earliest in our cultural development, the clown creates chaos and nonsense, and is seen as a figure who has descend from the ribald revels of earlier centuries into the slapstick and ridiculous antics of today. The next time you see a circus clown, remember that he or she is a vestige of ancient shamans, and medicine workers who, would juggle their way into prominence as mummers- or simply all those who wear a disguise to hid their true intent- using exaggeration to make a point! While it was true that sometimes a clown or a jester was kept around as a scapegoat, more often they were recognized as having a special relationship to the spirit, and they could function as a guide or as a counselor… in disguise. The Jester, usually attending to a king or queen was there to provide comic relief… And to advise the members of the court as to what the people are thinking about them… Sort of a comic spy… And informational network that would reveal the truth in public and by using amusing ways … Only the astute knew how to read between the lines of gesture, pantomime, and grin…. Jesters often were also considered to be “touched by God” or possessing special insights. Most notably in the Shakespearean plays such as Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and King Lear, the jester offers wise counsel to overcome problems and distress. From the clown, the jester, and the fool we are given many beloved characters from literature; Buffoon, Harlequin, Joker, Punch, Pulcinello; even Palliacci… Each instructing us on how appearances work to charm and to deceive. Each conveys messages that delve beyond the obvious, and that can be seen to instruct, inform, warn, or alarm….

Since it is April Fool’s, I will spend most of the time with the concept of the Fool. From the ancient Tarot to common psychological perceptions, the idea of a fool or being a fool has many varied meanings…

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What the Fool teaches us the about the balance point for serious thought, and analytical knowledge. The Fool acts in ways that would seem be superficially irrational, illogical… And yet, it proves to be heartfelt and is often comically true!

The origin of the Fool might even predate the clown and the jester, as it relates directly to displaying the human condition of folly, amusement, and the universal awareness of our human shortcomings. Folly as a word, comes to us from the French, and refers to someone as an inflated windbag- someone full of bluster, but empty of substance. (Hmm-Folly Road or Beach?

The Fool evolved, however, into a different direction from the clown or the jester as someone who shows us the place of the shadow side of life; someone who seems outwardly foolish and irresponsible, yet practices and possess a kind of sensual and crazy wisdom that proves to be more in line with a sustaining compassionate truth; showing us a different reality than what all the rigid codes of morality provides and more truth than the false security of adhering to polite manners fails to supply. Through seemingly foolish risks of openness and wonder, you can turn a problem upside down, and find answers that all your careful analysis might not ever find! Being so open, appears to our common sense to be, a fool’s errand, and we can ask without a willingness to extend ourselves into the very heart of life, do we ever arrive at our full and true selves? Remember on this day, and on every day that you can share a laugh with someone, you can be come silly- which originally meant to be blessed with laughter, and by being silly you gain the perspective that welcomes learning, and how best to accept and embrace all that our lives could contain. So you see, in a reverse analogy or its opposite actuality, the Fool is to being foolish as being child like is to be being childish. Wisdom, then, comes with an open heart and a willingness to suspend judgments and criticism which rarely contains joy or benevolence.

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By being open and empathetic, ones learns to honor the other person, to find those places in the heart where we truly touch, where we are beheld just as we are, and where we are found, even with our broken pieces, to be accepted, truly whole.

Before I delve in a little deeper, and given that this has to be a short presentation, I will leave the rival archetype of The Trickster for another time… For you see, while the Trickster character in myth, story, and legend will employ humor, it can have a malicious or even a macabre twist to it. When one feel that life has played a mean trick on them, generally it doesn’t feel funny… Yet there may be irony, insight, and instigation that can awaken us to seeing the error in your ways…. The trickster is the metaphysical practical joker, and someone who intentionally upsets others in order to teach them valuable lessons…. So at another time and place, I will venture into stories about Native American Coyote, The Norse god Loki,  The holy fools of India, The vast array of Sufi stories, the path of Crazy Wisdom in Tibetan Buddhism, or the Zen koan and its humorous way. Each of these tricky ways has much to teach and tell us about life, the uses of mischief, the truths found in paradox, and the nature of enlightenment.

Focussing, however, back on our Western religious heritage, and what was so wonderfully sung and spoken of by our choir today, we can easily affirm that The Bible, of course, is a very funny book! When read it as historical literature, and stripped of pious pretense, devoid of its theological inconsistencies, which is the only way many U-U can and do read it with any appreciation, it is filled with sardonic sayings, witticisms, ribald scenes, and hyperbole that teaches and inspires us through the path of foolish wisdom. Frankly, all the humor in the Bible that keeps scholars chuckling- its comic stories, double meanings, and risqué events prove to be quite entertaining!

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From the Hebrew Testament, I recommend the stories of Isaac & Rebecca; Noah (without Bill Cosby) Moses & Zipporah; Esther, Bell, and the great book of Proverbs. But be careful about reading these stories out loud! Some of them would receive an R rating!

As for Jewish humor as a whole, our world is far richer because of its contributions.

… Wikipedia references….

The influence of the US Jewish community on American English, include teaching us Yiddish words that just are funny just to say: schmaltz, schlemiel, klutz, schmuck… Many non-Jewish Americans (though certainly not all) will recognize some of these words. Popular books (such as Joy of Yiddish and Born to Kvetch) explain these words to the general public. However, bear in mind that while many Americans from other regions and ethnic backgrounds may recognize Yiddish words such as those above, it is more likely that only those who are more educated, or widely read, or who have Jewish friends and acquaintances via their place of residence or profession, etc., would fall into this group.

There are a number of standard American phrases which originated from Yiddish, including: Get lost, What’s up, I should worry, I should live so long, I need it like a hole in the head, You don’t know from nothin’, Certain types of rhyming slang, especially those where deprecation is shown via partial reduplications, also originated in Yiddish — for example “Joe-schmo” or “Oedipus-schmedipus, so long as he loves his mother.”

In the Christian Scriptures, while Paul recommends that we become “fools for Christ”, it is Jesus, when stripped of his sanctimony and assumed propriety, who was a master of teaching through humor.

Yes, Jesus was a funny man! Who knew? When I was young, the way his teachings were related to me, it seemed to only foster greater guilt and deeper shame. All of a sudden, there was this comic and cosmic twist!

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His message became one of joy over sorrow, freedom from guilt, and he used humor to challenge his opponents starchy and rigid rule making,

and to overcome the moralistic, and often hypocritical teachings.

Honestly, now, how many of you ever thought of Jesus as being filled with joy and laughter? My conversion… So to speak… Happened one day when I was in my late teens, when my image of him moved from being my painful suffering savior, to being my happy, playful teacher… And guess what! I have Hugh Heffner to thank!

You see, I was avidly reading Playboy at the time… Just for the interesting articles, of course, … when I turned the page to see a picture of Jesus, and I was startled! There, in living color was this picture, in a Renaissance style, of a Jesus, who was laughing gleefully!

I quickly began to read this article by the noted Harvard theologian Harvey Cox, which was entitled, ” For Christ’s sake!”  Well, up to that time in my life, whenever I would whenever I heard those words, it usually did not refer to reverent outcry, but was spoken in great exasperation! Intriguing!

Cox’s premise was that we need to see Jesus as a man who enjoyed life; as someone who taught us about the meaning and purpose of life using stories, parables and humor to get his point across to us. Wow! To think that he was this robust, enthusiastic man who was in love with life, yet he was not simply a comedian, for he lived with moral courage, and he was foolish enough to believe everyone of us could really live by our values and ideals!

Just ponder for a moment, some of his best ironic humor, and how he used hyperbole to make ethical points and give us behavioral guidelines:

” It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into heaven.”  A comic statement about the value of trying to amass wealth and what ultimate good it would do for you… And this one,  “Don’t put your light under a bushel basket, but put it up on a candlestick”

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That is, do not hide your beauty, your purpose, your mission under some tight wraps of insecurity, but proclaim the miracle you are!… And he goes one giving us stories about how the self righteous seek to “strain out gnats but swallow camels” and when he warns the judgmental to “take the beam out of your own eye, before trying to take the speck from your neighbors”… and on throughout the various Gospel accounts…

Our own style of religion, as U-Us, has tried to keep the tradition of comedy and humor alive… Well, if you leave out our hymnal! Too serious!

We have advocates for liberal humor as widely diverse as P.T. Barnum and Mark Twain; James Thurber, e. e.cummings, Robert Frost, the cartoons and plays of Jules Phieffer, and one of my favorite theologians, Ogden Nash, will begin our liberal list… Maybe we will have to add Stan Goldberg, too!

In closing, I recommend reading the Bible for its humor, and  wholeheartedly endorse becoming more like a wise fool in your approach to life. Wherever true humor is found, a spiritual quality exists, and laughter as medicine and as friendship are indispensable parts of being alive and free. Without humor, life and religion would be a dry bone of contention, arid intellectual wrangling, irritating moral pronouncements.

The real truth, as I see it, is that religion needs to be fun, and that it is fundamental to gaining a healthy perspective on our lives. Try never to lose your sense of humor- and to appreciate how it leads us to a full heart, and how humor can lead us to a greater enjoyment of one another as an inclusive, hilariously diverse community!

So Be It!

Beware The Ides!

Looking at Predictions, Prognostications and Warnings!

March 15, 2012

The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Beware! Beware! Watch Out! Be Very Afraid!

OK… Everybody, get ready, get set, now panic! Its 2012! Fill yourself with endless sources of  apprehension, fear, dread, angst, and desperation! Doesn’t feel good to be anxious over so much in our lives? If not, Why worry?

Today is the Ides of March… The one day in the historical calendar considered to be even more fearsome, ominous, and nefarious than Halloween! Or January 2nd, or even tax day, April 15th!

Just when you were getting over your tristedecaphobia, along comes a fearful and loathsome day to be sure- with its only remedy known to the ancients were to cast spells of deliverance, or for the reversal of bad fortune, hexes, and other such dastardly sentences that foretold doom…

But back to the Ides… Why is it considered such a fearful day, one provoking dread, despair and danger? According to Plutarch, the great ancient Roman historian, Julius Caesar was assassinated on this day in 44 BCE.  It was the Roman New Year’s Day,  a time for holding public celebrations since calendar year began in March, with the Spring…

The Ides, in Latin, has a simple definition; It was the day that divided the month in half… And in the irregular calendar of Roman times, that dividing day could be anytime between the 13th to the 15th of any given month. This day of dubious significance was a simple way marker, and a well known passage of time that endured into and past the Renaissance, so we can be safely assured that Shakespeare knew this custom.

In his well known history, Juilus Caesar, often taught to us in high school without much comprehension or understanding, he takes the historical records of Plutarch, and adds his particular brand of genius, and dramatic imagery to the famous lines of prediction and prognostication of the sooth or truth sayer: “Beware the Ides of March!”

Caesar, on his way to the Senate, and then on to public festivals, listened to the insistent cry, but refused to heed this ominous advice. According to Plutarch, however, Caesar originally did take caution, but a friend named Decimus convinced him that he was “above” such nonsense… When out in the streets on that day, Caesar and the soothsayer meet again, and Caesar declares, ” See, the Ides have come!” And the soothsayer replies, ” yes, but they have not past! Then, according to Shakespeare’s rendition, we are horrified by the fact that one of his best and trusted friends becomes the first assassin, and Caesar cries out, ” Et Tu, Brute?” So the Ides are a day of betrayal, revolt, and social upheaval!

When looking sociologically, and politically over the centuries, we can look back in amazement to the importance of mistaken predictions and dire warnings, and how they have been taken seriously- so much so, that they could alter the course of possibilities and outcomes.

As time permits, I would like to hear about your reactions to predictions made by politicians, financial experts, etc.,and how our media will use these oftern sensational conclusions, often out of context, to rile and worry us, creating headlines that highlight the scare of the week!

Then in either a few days or a few years, they completely reverse themselves! It seems abundantly clear, that these warnings are like a casino game… They come true just enough times, usually much less as little as 5% of the time, yet people can react in an uproar about them… You know, like the hurricane prediction center, where the weather experts and climatologists will deliver us ominous warnings every Spring! And even if an earthquake or a hurricane has not happened for thirty, or one hundred and thirty years… You know… We are due! So you had better be fearful, and watch out!

I would like to relate two of the many times I have been asked to “deal with” dire predictions, warnings, and apprehensions that became public knowledge and that have served to increase cultural fears, worries, and anxieties… The first was the “scientific and computer scare of 2000, and the second was all the Biblical predictions of 2000 about how the earth will end and the Rapture and the Second coming will soon arrive! Beware!

Concerning the computer changeovers that were to happen… I can remember the cultural panic where everyone was anxiously told about the

possible computer glitch that could wipe out one’s hard drive or create social havoc with tons of lost information! What to do? Will the scientists and the geeks rescue us in time? You all can remember this one!

With all this concern about whether or not our computers would be YTK compliant, I have to readily admitting to be YTK complacent…

Maybe I trusted in technology too much, maybe since I am so unlike a an knowledgeable engineer in these fields, that I did not know better, but when we approached January 2000, I did not do anything… And when there was this collective sigh of relief over a problem that, in all likelihood, was never all that dramatic, there is a lesson, when confronted by something unsettling- out of your control- do nothing.. Listen! Sit with it, do not react! Gather information reliably… Then decide what you will do!

The second, was in my professional bailiwick… It was all the stress and fuss over the Biblical predictions of the End times… When Revelations comes true… The earth will end, and the pious dead will rise from their graves, and the Rapture will take the faithful to heaven! Beware! Be afraid!

Watch out! Jesus is Coming!

While I was at Penn State, as the interim minister at State College,

I was asked to participate in an interfaith panel that had, as its goal, how

best to respond to the nightmarish, even ghoulish expectations of Revelations, and how to answer questions about the Endtimes that seem to be now upon us! Some faculty and a few of the local clergy gathered for this large public forum on these disturbing questions- questions and anxieties made dramatic and forceful by all the media coverage that poorly trained conservative preachers received and whose stock and trade is alarm, fear, and repentance, all during the last, fateful year of 1999…

Without going into a Biblical exegesis, let me say that there are no dangerous books, only dangerous interpretations… And those who lack a metaphorical understanding of Scripture, those who take a modern literal  approach, seeking a direct answer are the one most prone to alarm, and are the people most likely to proclaim it or spread it to others…

As each of the Christian representatives offered their explanations, even their apologies for mistaken translations, erroneous doctrines, and the like, I found myself looking for a common ground that would give people there more of a sense of rationality, responsibility, and hope.

When it came to my turn, I thank the various clergy and scholars who held forth on complex Biblical and elaborate theological themes, and then I presented how I believe that an informed, responsible Humanism is the best benchmark or the most effective way to address all the unnecessary panic and concern.

Applying our best sources of critical thinking, understanding and insights from physical sciences, sociology, and psychology that emphasize our personal responsibilities for the world we have made, was for me, my best answer, and the one that will provide any degree of worldly rescue or ethical salvation we seek.

And what of today’s spinning theories, predictions, excuses, and dire warnings? From the ominous Mayan calendar coming to its end, to resurrecting the obtuse Nostradamus predictions of famines and wars, to the financial blunders of CNBC, to the ever changing rules about health and nutrition, stress and wellness, what is there that one can safely or securely believe? Is our whole culture immersed in political spin? Or preoccupied in the reading of  economic entrails?

It seems to me that our 24 hour news cycle capitalizes on either outrage or disaster, crisis or fear mongering… And for relief, they give us tabloid morality, while quickly reporting every conflicting story, and feeding us with a steady diet of stress and alarm… In fact, I feel that it can be said that our elevated level of national fear from the events of 9/11 and the constant harping on these devastating pictures and dire warmnings is what made the Iraq fiasco possible!  To me, its no wonder that among the leading prescriptions for Americans, are anti-anxiety drugs…

While I do take the threat of nuclear proliferation seriously, and I do give great credence to global warming, I am finding myself refraining from watching the media, keeping up with headlines, and actively abstaining from too many politcal and economic discussions…

Where I would prefer to place my thoughts and direct my actions are towards some collective or shared actions that support both realism and idealism, truth and hope which I would call a Compassionate Humanism.

While guarding against any Pollyanna escapism, no matter how enticing it might be, and without realistically dismissing the difficulties our culture faces or the challenges inherent in economic renewal, I do find myself constantly asking myself how does the mass media help or harm my awareness or contribute to my personal knowledge and responsible actions? How does the scandalous headlines contribute to any creativity, motivation, hope, or sense of renewal? Maybe we all should fast from the Media , or skip the news for Lent!

What are some of the predictions you have heard about our world, and by listening and believing in them, how has your life changed?

In way ways does doom and gloom affect you? In my book on spirituality and time, Spirit, Time and The Future  by Outskirts press, I take on the Mayan and other predictions about the end of the world, and I emphasize how to live a spirit centered life with courage and hope. Whether you read this or stay infromed from other sources, it is imperative to us not to lose eoither our objective and compassionate perspective or our wiollingness to work for personal change and social transformation. Since we are connected to one another by cultuire and climate, by breath and business, it only makes sense to work of overcoming our fears and work together for a sustaining sanse of hope and living in a sacred world.

Pastoral reflection: “Prepare for the worst, and expect the best”

One of my favorite end times story relates to a small but devout group called the Millerites. Their belief that the world was going to end when we reached the year 1834; so they gathered up all their members, and climbed a high peak in New York (presumably so they would be closer to God and therefore among the first to be taken in the rapture) and there they waited…

The first day and into the night was filled with anticipation… Wow we are all going to be saved: Glory Halleluia! However, when the dawn of the next day came… and nothing happened… They were increasingly distraught, disillusioned and amazed that their predictions could be wrong! Many people left muttering to themselves… What gives here?  Others, the remaining faithful decided to recalculate, and keep believing… Spinning out another theory, and then another to make sense of what they had said, and to make what they are now saying more plausible and believable…

One of the best pieces of advice, is ultimately a pragmatic one, one that is often recommended, but generally speaking, falls short of common practice: Prepare for the worst, and expect the best!

The practical people in our society really get that first part, and we are thankful for their stability, reserve, and ability to build a secure future. The Idealists among us really get the second part- to keep oneself open, willing, and expectant of all the possibilities our lives can hold… The trick as they say, is to be practical and open to change, to be spiritual and realistic, to be relaxed and responsible… The healthy prescription of balance seems to be the necessary strategy to keep fears at bay, and responsible potentials more available to us all!

Pastoral Reflection: How Nature Reveals Problem-Solving

When I was a child, back in cold damp, New England, there was an expression the Old Yankees would use concerning this day on the calendar, and it went something like this: “ March… comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb…”

March would be, under normal conditions, the last month of winter weather. If all went well, from the Groundhog’s prediction to The Farmer’s Almanac (I guess they didn’t know about El Nino… Or global warming in those days) they could count on Spring starting sometime in March… . As it was explained to me, the weather can progress from being fierce to being more gentle, and that this pattern of Nature was capable of happening in a short period of time… one month.

It was a common sight for me, to see snow still piled up at the beginning of March, and it was truly a wondrous and hopeful sight to see, once we past the Ides, that, in a few bare spots, those brave and courageous little crocuses were trying to push their way through the  thawed ground announcing the coming of the long awaited Spring.

This weather phenomenon points to lessons in our apprehension and anticipation- to how we can begin to dread the beginning of a project, a responsibility, or a change in one’s life, and then with greater openness to possibilities, a d a shift in our perceptions, be able to warm up to it and reach its completion with a sense of peace and joy. Like the first of March, our problems and challenges can appear fierce and lion-sized. We can imagine ourselves bracing for the worst, instead of expecting the best from ourselves, our society, our situations in life- we dread, we worry, we are fearful, instead of looking optimistically at our potentials…

Like the stormy chill of the late winter, we can effectively act like wet snow blankets or at least pour down freezing rain on our best efforts. Hope is what renews us. Only as we allow ourselves to emphasize our possibilities and potentials does Spring truly arrive; When Spring is in the air, our willingness to hold fast to our purposes, helps us to endure until the greening of the year, until the color and warmth returns to our lives, and optimism and courage takes its rightful place in our hearts.

From a certain metaphorical perspective, weather is the energetic result of our collective thoughts… and those thoughts, if not directly affecting our world, truly can control the emotional climate of our lives. Based on that outlook, I will confidently predict that it is our reactions and our ability to expect what is good, and rehearse those ideals, versus dreading what might never be, and rehearsing those desperate empty scenes, that could control the warmth we feel and share among us.

Similarly, it could be the “whether or not” patterns in our own thinking that will set the range of temperature in our caring, in our openness that we have toward love and life. If life is currently like March 1st, an old bellowing lion, not happy with his portion and dissastified with his lack of attention, take heart… become encouraged… for the peace, warmth, affirmation you seek is not far away. Spring is almost here!

As lion and lamb, may the days of our lives not be spent in worrying whether or not you will receive a fleecing by life, or that you might be devoured by any of life’s challenges and changes. Instead, we can follow nature’s rhythms and give ourselves the gift of time, of patience, acceptance, and a little endurance, and within a few Sundays, your problems can melt, and you, too can bravely bloom with greater optimism and hope for the year… Happy March 1st!

Getting Through The Day”

    A personal and spiritual approach to daily living

     The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Ever since learning about how Thoreau cared about the quality of each day, it has been a reoccurring guiding theme for me- one that I often revisit as a part of my assessment of goals, values, and ideals to hold, and to try to carry into each day.

When I or when anyone engages in self- scutiny, trying to appraise and evaluate directions, motives, and goals there is an ongoing need to avoid harsh judgment, and the willingness to be compassionate and conciliatory towards the direction one seeks, or tries to master. Since accepting the ministry as my primary vocation, this issue has called to me and confronted me acutely- I have searched continually for a vital, involved approaches that allow for a more comprehensive outlook, and an ongoing opportunity to express my decisions, choices, and responses in a positive, affirmative, theological and ethical ways.

Yet, the larger sense of ministry that claims me now asks me to heed the ever-present call to reach for and to try to find my sense of God, grace, benevolence, and blessings that can be found in each person and all the circumstances that inhabit my world.

It is an unending challenge, and yet accepting that unending reality does not make it hopeless, it always provides me with a “growing edge,” and it is an ever-present ideal to reach for, and to accept that if even if it cannot be reached, I am still better off for trying to attain it. For me, there is a particular joy when I can assist others in finding more of whatever is worthwhile, whatever is holy, healing, inspiring, and beautiful in themselves or in their lives. 

One way of remembering my essential task is to ask myself some pointed questions that serve to check and direct my responses, my motives, and results. I have to ask myself: “Where is God or what good is there to be found in this attitude, action, thought or feeling? Am I putting the greater good first, or am I being selfish? Not that I always remember to ask these questions, but most often, these questions retain a relevance and a heartfelt resonance that can direct my words and steps. My lifelong task is to learn how to use various holy or spiritual ideas and ethical principles and try to apply them diligently to every facet of my life.

A helpful way of reminding me what daily life is all about is to remember 

P A G L — Peace, Assurance, Gratitude and Love.

These ideals were given to me over 25 years ago at the start of my ministry by an unlikely mentor. They were given to me by friends who had studies with a New York psychiatrist named Thomas Hora. Dr. Hora, a European, is a classically trained therapist who created a system of counseling based on walking through psychiatry… Instead, he offered his patients relevant philosophical and spiritually timeless attitudes and outlooks from the world religions in insightful ways that served healing and wholeness.

He called his system, ”Existential Meta-Psychiatry,” to show that it was based in ideas and ideals that went beyond the diagnostic medical model, and that its emphasis on present truth incorporates symbolic metaphors. He advised that the best thing we can do is avoid futile questions such as : Why? Or Why Me? In that way, one’s practice and one’s world view can become a more philosophical and mythological one- ones based on placing oneself in parables, stories, dreams, that regard the whole person and one’s interior life.

Dr. Hora is among a long list of alternative thinkers, healers, and physicians that have crossed my life’s path and left their deep impressions on me. The psychiatrists have been Vicktor Frankel, John Lilly, Richard Moss; Brugh Joy, Stanislov Grof, and Jerry May- all brave explorers who left traditional approaches  for a more inclusive, cross cultural view of mental health, emotional balance, creativity, and each proposed new strategies for wellness that drew from diverse sources. When I add Carl Jung, Rollo May, and Abraham Maslow to the list of just the mental health related teachers, and, for now, leaving out the list of theologians, mystics, shamans, gurus and social reformers… You can easily see that my outlook on life has taken some interesting twists and turns away from the cultural norm for most ministers and priests, and particularly away from the acceptance of religion and medicine as being somehow separate and aloof- They have taught me the value of myth and metaphor, how our personal stories and beliefs we have about ourselves affect our health; They also emphasized that learning about oneself, and then taking more personal responsibility for the myths and stories we live in or live by can be a cooperative and synergistic approach to healing… Ways that will compliment any psychotherapy and will supplement any drug use we find necessary.

From her research, I have learned that Dr. Joan Borysenko, discovered that approximately 16% of our American population is now classified as

being depressed, 1 in 8 people! ( and that was before the financial crisis!) And she went on to say, that drug therapy only works in approximately 65% of the people, and there is a full 35% who seek out help where drugs have little or no benefit… So looking into non-medical alternatives, to me, has much merit!  

Now it would be somewhat impossible to try to encapsulate Hora’s Existential Meta-Psychiatry, his links to Heiddegger, Kierkegaard, and the modern influences of theologians like Paul Tillich in any short sermon, but I think I will try…

Dr. Hora, when quoting the wisdom found in Proverbs, would say to his students: As thou seeest, so thou be-est” and as a “Man thinketh, so in his heart, is he.” What is the meaning of what appears to be?”

He taught that how we look at ourselves and our world, and how we allow or permit our experiences to define us, is what or who we often do become.

Dr. Hora advises we have to be very careful about how we look at ourselves, and how we view others, what we allow to program or influence us, for our perceptions, whether they are fearful and insecure or hopeful and optimistic, can influence our picture of reality… And consequently, those ways of seeing and perceiving can have either an adverse or a beneficial effects on our mental and emotional health! So taking his four qualities of soul, or his four values and virtues that he taught me that are essential for living a life of purpose and meaning, I will share with you a summary of my understanding. These four words or ideals are: P A G L… Peace, Assurance, Gratitude, and Love…

PEACE: I value a sustained sense of peace in my life. I prize serenity over sensation, preferring quiet over too much stimulus. My task in this area begins by acknowledging my tensions as my teachers; Like Jacob at Jabbock, or what blinds Paul at Damascus, what can bind me or blind me can also free me or bring me new vision. All it s takes is knowing the story, and allowing its wisdom to teach me. My own life story might contain valuable clues and keys that could eventually bless or free me. Whatever I want to see in my world begins in my own heart, and then I have to become aware how those motives needs to be carried forward into my responses and reactions that maintain harmony, and that will foster the inner peace and quiet I seek.

On the most personal level, peace has to flow from an inner security and a sense of acceptance. I cannot be peaceful if I am restlessly wanting, or striving, or when I am battling with my insecurities. Whenever there is a sharp word, a tense feeling, or some other form of discontent, I have to recall a sense of peace that not just a docile acceptance, avoidance, or quick surrender. It is an alert, yet serene. It comes from my ability to be mindful; observe my innermost thoughts and feelings, and then consciously decide on which thoughts and feelings I want to invest with meaning, with purpose and with reality.

Peace requires me to be aware of the justice and equanimity within all my motives, and to choose which actions can preserve it.

While it is true that “Blessed are the peacemakers,” I know that my tendency toward making prophetic statements, and truth-telling, does not assure me that I will easily maintain much peace or tranquillity, or that I will be free from agitation or restlessness. As Emerson states it, you can have truth or you can have repose… But you cannot have both! People wish to be settled; but only as far as they are unsettled, is there any hope for them!” Being restless in the pursuit of one’s own answers is a lifelong activity…

Because I fully realize that I cannot accomplish any sense of lasting peace exclusively on my own, I hold that part of my sense of peace is participatory, and interconnected to my work and my community. Peace comes to me fully as being a shared value, and I believe that peace multiplies its good when it is shared, and then made manifest to the outside world.

ASSURANCE: Assurance takes the feelings and motives of peace and moves me toward an inner stillness, toward an abiding sense of faith and trust. While I know that this is often a hard quality for religious liberals to accept, I define assurance as being attentive- paying attention  to my inner voice of conscience and faithful to my intimacy and ongoing relationship with God which I define as the Source of inspiration and intelligence, wisdom and compassion that is both beyond each of us, and importantly, it is a source to those qualities that is within each of us. For you who are former Methodists, there  is an old Weslyan hymn that begins with the phrase, “Blessed Assurance,” and whether you follow its words literally or not, I know that it is truly a blessing to feel secure in one’s heart, content in one’s life. With a sufficient sense of assurance, trust or faith, whatever events or circumstances come to us can be processed and experienced in a growing and positive way that makes “our extremities into God’s opportunities,” for insight and wisdom. Assurance also strengthens our persistence, and gives us the requisite amount of conscience and courage to choose the best course that meets our human needs, and that preserves our souls, or what we call the center of our awareness. Assurance, for me, gives a sense of security and comes from a feeling I am cared for and valued, that I can maintain a sense of trust for what my life direction seems to be.

GRATITUDE: Gratitude has always been a demand for the spiritual life. Gratitude is often best expressed through little acts of remembrance; remembering to say or do little things, such as a table grace before a meal, or to say thank you when someone offers to help. I try to wake up each morning with a thankful attitude; thankful for the day, thankful for what good the day has in store for me. Not that I always succeed at screening out my worries, doubts, or fears, but I do attempt to see that the day as containing opportunities and blessings for me. What breaks up my anticipatory anxieties is to recall all the gratitude I have for the gifts of love and care  I’ve received; whether that is a warm hug, a loaf of homemade bread, friendly pet, or an invitation to lunch, even on a day like today, some unexpected sunshine! As monk and mystic Miester Eckhart put it” If there no other prayer you can say except “thank you”, it is enough.”   

Gratitude, for me, is also expressed in my respect for nature. As a personal example, I experience gardening as a healing activity for myself and for the earth; I feed the birds, because they gave up their land for my home. I gratefully pay attention to what I eat and drink, how I exercise, and take care of my body, as ways that I can give thanks for the gift of life…

Gratitude means beholding the good, being thankful for all good that I can see. It helps the prophet in me to be a little less strident, a little more hopeful, and it gives my mystical side some support and solace. Gratitude for my daily life can have enormous and wondrous results!

LOVE: Of course, without a sense of love in one’s life, few of us would get up for work, or see that life itself would be worth the effort. One of the few things I agree with Freud on is this: The two great motives or sources of meaning in a man’s life are work and love. If he has one or the other, then he can survive, he can endure most any of life’s trials. It is when you are stressed by both, that is when his troubles can truly begin.

At its very core, in its very essence, love is a gift, and through its three expressions, qualities or kinds we can freely bestow it on others. However, the opposite is also true: I cannot give or offer to anyone else, what I am not willing to give or accept for myself. Love completes our sense of peace, assurance, and gratitude with an affectionate affirmation of what is truly of value in our lives.

Love affirms and uplifts; that even though there may be the experience of stress, and responsibility in our lives, Love is what fills me with hope to affirm and believe that whatever is broken can be mended, whatever has been wounded can be healed, whatever has been devalued, can be restored to its dignity and truth.

Love, acts as a vigilant daily guide, it is not just a warm and sentimental feeling; It is a deep and enduring, persistent and persevering investment. It includes respect, equality, and dignity for others as its starting point.

Church work and spiritually based work in general requires a certain loving attitude that is accepting and nonjudgmental… It is not naive, but it is idealistic. Love does not ignore egotism, but ask us to live out one’s faith in a way that tries to affirm by both eye and action, that this person or that this community deserves my attention, and my empathetic support.

Since by metaphor and by sacred affirmation, we are all God’s children, we can declare that all people are worthy of love and respect., Though I might personally feel pressed and pressured by life’s demands, I can still remind myself of that larger sense of divine companionship, and the Universalism that declares that I am never outside of God’s love and care…. That blessing or that grace is always with me, no matter my circumstances, no matter where the road of life happens to lead me…

Well, that is the beginning of my unfinished answer to how I survive and try to thrive, getting through each day…. I hope that what I have related to you can prove to be useful in your lives, and that it provided you with a deeper look into who I am, and how I approach interfaith ministry and my daily life.

AMEN, So Be It , Blessed Be…