World Pain

In today’s episode, we’re talking about responding to the pain in our hearts and around the world when we turn on the news and see yet another horrific tragedy, like the recent shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. How do we keep our hearts open? How do we allow ourselves to lament, and meet our grief and rage, all while continuing to tend to the mundane tasks of our daily lives? How do we know whether we are doing enough to show up for the world in all its pain? 

We bring the words and lessons of many teachers into today’s episode to help guide us as we wrestle with these questions alongside you: teachers in the form of rabbis and civil rights activists, Buddhists and climate justice writers, mindful skaters and hospital chaplains. We are grateful for their guidance and contributions, and we are grateful for you. 

 

References:

• Words from Martin Luther King Jr: “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” “I must confess, I am tired.”; Letter from a Birmingham Jail 
• Jewish wisdom: "You are not obligated to finish the work of perfecting the world, but neither are you free to desist from it."
• On Being episode: "The Opposite of Good is Indifference," featuring Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel quote: "We must learn how to be surprised, not to adjust ourselves. I am the most maladjusted person in society."
• Season 4, Episode 2 of the No Place Like Home podcast, featuring Mary Anne Hitt, Anna Jane Joyner, and Mary Annaïse Heglar 
• The 50th Gate: Tracking Our Growth through the Counting of the Omer, by Rabbi Gavriel Goldfelder 
• Shelly Tygielski, @mindfulskatergirl
• Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown 
• Lama Rod Owens and his recent talk with Action for Happiness
• JS Park