Encounters with Pagans, Encounters with Self

After being almost overwhelmed at the end of the first day, unable to believe that it had been just one day, there are now only two days left of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

I’m drinking tea and listening to the birds at 6:30 in the morning. I awakened at 6 in order to be able to do my meditation and energy work practices, drink some tea, stretch, and get ready for an 8am Shinto observance. Awakening at 6 has been a bit startling some mornings, because from that point on the days are non-stop. But making the time for my practices has been one thing that has helped me immensely. Without them, I do not think my experiences would be so valuable, or my days so filled with interest and relative ease. Outside the windows are the sounds of birdsong, street cleaning, rainfall and early morning cars in the CBD (central business district).

My writings thus far have been filled with encounters of people of different faiths. These continue, with many people still approaching me about that first morning’s dance session and to talk about other things. I’ve spoken with the Lutheran minister from India more than once and remember that Independent Celtic Catholic priest from the first night? Turns out he is a whip-smart scholar, and queer. We have plans to get together once back in the Bay Area, and he’ll send out an article on textual analysis, which I look forward to. And next to me in the apostasy and homosexuality talk sat two friendly people in Salvation Army uniforms, one with a goatee and the other with a tattoo peeking from beneath her suit sleeve.

Today, I also want to write about my encounters with other Pagans. It has felt very good to get a little time with River Higginbotham, with David Garland and Gavin Andrew from the Pagan Awareness Network of Australia (whom I want to get on a podcast). I’ve met Donald and Ed from the Corellian Tradition, and Angie Buchanan, reconnected a bit with Phyllis Curott and Michelle Mueller, got to hear Grove Harris, whom I haven’t seen in over a year, speak on the Pagans and Religious Freedom panel along with Patrick… and then last night had a wonderful dinner with scholar Michael York and his partner. Turns out he and I are very simpatico. I feel as though I’ve made a valuable connection there, and a possible new friend.

In talking with the Pagans, particularly yesterday, I am shown the ways in which my Promethean tendencies have been present at this conference. While appreciative of the interchanges, ideas, and the effort that has gone into this conference, I was also aware of the amount of “Pagan 101” going on, and the relative isolation of Pagans in the broader mix of world ideas. During a radio interview with Donald Lewis and at dinner last night with Michael, I was reminded that sometimes we cannot push too far, too fast. I talked a bit of theology on the radio show and this came up. Then Michael put this Parliament in the context of the previous ones, and this came up. So, while I do not retract my wishes from yesterday’s post – to have a clearer space at the table of world ideas, and to not fight for scraps amongst ourselves which keeps us always beggars at the feast (as Donald said so eloquently yesterday) – I also have a deeper appreciation that there is still simply a huge amount of education to be done in places like these by people like ourselves. We are developing greater inter-religious understanding. Slowly. We are developing the ways to think more clearly theologically. Slowly.

This slowness is also part of my practice. It helps strengthen and stretch me, because my tendency – which is a valuable one, even if sometimes impractical – is to always rush ahead, saying, “See, we are standing on square two, but from here you can see square five! Let’s go!!!!” That push is part of why I do the work I do. It is why, when briefly speaking of prisons vs schools at the Global Financial Crisis round table yesterday, I made certain to introduce myself as a Pagan Minister. It is why I spoke against puerile theology on yesterdays’ radio-cast. It is why I am here. But I can hold the tension of my Promethean rush in tandem with this need to honor the slow unfolding of things in time. And so I learned something about myself, and about ourselves, here at the Parliament. For that I feel thankful.

I’ll continue to practice carrying these disparate energies, these Divine Twins, as I move through today.

Out of the cornucopia of today’s many offerings, plans are to attend:
Shinto Prayer Observance
The Zoroastrian Ethos of Compassion
Then I have to choose amongst Hindu Spiritual Leaders, Aboriginal Women or Understanding Voudon.
Next is:
Ainu Indigenous Spirituality of Japan
And then either the music of Hildegard of Bingen, a Hindu Interfaith Meeting, perhaps more gym time, or even a nap.

Signing off with blessings.

- T. Thorn Coyle

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