Al-Dibillahi min ash-shaytan al-rajim.
Bismillah rahman al-rahim.
In the name of the One Most Compassionate,
Most Merciful,
Most Kind.
This is Mark Silver with Remembrance.
And I know something that is on my heart today is the tragic effects of ignoring climate change for so long.
Since 1978 when we first became aware of our addiction to petrochemicals and their effects on our environment.
And all of the people in Nepal and Pakistan and India and in Texas and in Florida and in Mexico.
There is a lot of pain and suffering in this world.
And there's a lot to grieve.
There's a lot to grieve just in witnessing.
And there's a lot to grieve in terms of how our actions contribute.
I've filled up the gas tank on my car recently and continue to do so.
We try to live sustainably but I'm far from having a zero footprint.
And grief can weigh heavily on us and it seems as if we want to get something done to fix something or change something when really all we have is our grief.
And on the other side of grief is a clean heart and inspiration and the ability to act.
So I just want to encourage each of us to take a nice gentle breath and to just notice the grief and the pain and that there is so much room in our beings for this.
So much room.
One of the things that we can sometimes tend to believe about grief is that it's never going to leave.
That we're going to drown in it and never escape.
And I believe that that is only half true.
My experience is that it is only half true that we do indeed drown in grief.
It washes over us and we sink down into it and it affects us in a very profound and total way.
But we don't stay there.
It is not a literal drowning in physical water like some people have faced.
We have to be so careful about equating our emotions with the physical reality.
Emotions are valid and they are so strong and they deserve to be honored and they are different than the physicality of the world around us.
Please hear that this is not a dismissing of emotional pain or treating it as less than physical pain.
In fact,
Little babies when they're very young and their nervous systems have not yet developed,
They cannot discern between physical pain and emotional pain.
Separation from the parent was emotionally stressful and feels exactly like physical pain because their nervous systems haven't developed yet.
And so there's an equivalence there that goes way back.
And at the same time we don't want to treat our physical dangers the same as our emotional stresses.
We want to face them differently so that we get what we need.
If the flood waters are rising,
In a literal sense,
You want to get out of the path of the water.
And when grief is rising up we want to wade into it.
Not to lose ourselves.
Not without proper anchoring.
Not without proper care.
Sometimes not without proper support,
Especially if we have trauma in our backgrounds.
But the emotions are there to be felt.
To whatever extent our nervous system can handle that.
Grief can heal us.
And so in facing all of this and wanting to be more effective,
Wise,
Resourced actors in this world,
We need to walk with our grief.
We need to swim in our grief.
Om.
And to never forget the presence of the Divine.
To continue to remember the larger reality that this takes place within.
To know what is available,
The infinite source of love and compassion and mercy and strength and life is still available to us.
Om.
Om.
And letting your head bow,
Letting your heart bow.
And letting that grief that your heart is swimming in be there without trying to change it or fix it.
And then calling through the depths of your heart,
Through the open doorway of your heart,
Through the open window of your heart,
Through the limitless,
Unbounded expanse of your heart as it faces the Divine,
As it faces Source.
Calling to the One from which we are not separate.
Yeah,
Allah.
Yeah,
Allah.
And what is it like to just be in the grief and grieve without trying to escape it?
Letting it carry you wherever it's going,
Knowing that you cannot leave the arms of the Beloved,
Cannot leave the arms of the One.
And so wherever you're being carried,
You're still safe.
There is still love available here,
As painful as it is in the heart.
Even if you cannot feel the love,
Sense the love,
Experience the love.
And yet,
Any ocean,
Any body of water that you're in,
There has to be a container for it.
There is a ground underneath it that is holding that water.
There are banks that it is built up against or it would not be there.
And it is the same with the arms of the Beloved.
I'm just noticing that in the grief there is a container around the grief.
And you may not be there yet,
But you may also be in a place where you notice that the water is not quite as deep.
Sometimes grief has to be there for quite some time and sometimes it can move quickly.
And if it's around for a while,
You've not done anything wrong.
And if it moves more quickly,
You have not done anything right.
It's just what was needed in the moment.
It's just being with it and when it's ready,
It moves.
And if you do notice at some point that the waters are receding and your feet can start to touch bottom again,
And you can start to stand up,
You may notice,
Taking the time to notice how your heart feels.
And even if the water doesn't recede entirely,
That you still may have more strength of being,
That your heart may feel washed and clearer.
I'm just noticing if there's any inspiration or movement or direction that your heart has,
Having been washed with grief.
And taking a nice gentle breath,
Noticing any authentic appreciation,
Whether or not the grief has moved.
Is there any appreciation in your heart?
And when the grief is present,
You may not feel any appreciation.
And you may.
And whatever your feeling is perfect.
And taking a nice gentle breath.
And if you can stay in remembrance,
If there's time and space for it and you wish to,
You can as long as you wish.
And if this is time for you to return to your day,
Taking a nice gentle breath and letting your attention return knowing that the remembrance is always available.
And sometimes you need only a moment or two to return.
Amen.
