Dancing and wilderness seem to be opposite realities, but in this time of necessary social distancing which in itself is a paradoxical term, we need to discover once again that the human spirit is capable of continuing the Dance of life.
For Christians throughout the world, the Season of Lent has just begun and is a reminder of the journey into the wilderness to which all Christians are called.
Because of the Coronavirus, ALL of us, Christian or not have been drawn into a wilderness unprecedented in our lives. This can be a gift or a curse.
As a gift, it is providing an opportunity for us to go deeper and to take a “long loving look at the real” that is ours now. The “real” is a mixture of suffering, death, loss of freedoms once enjoyed, and on the other hand, a time for reading into the meaning of our lives, to discovering our passion for life, and how we are called to live that life to the full.
The invitation to the dance of life involves a long look at aging which involves considering:
entitlement: how deeply can we let go of it?
entitlement to work?
entitlement to status?
to being productive?
to body control?
to the movement of limbs?
to eating quietly and cleanly?
to controlling anger
to understanding my own responses
to drive a car
to walk long distances
to memory?
We know in our own lived experience that we are dealing with these realities and we also know that by living in the moment we can celebrate who and how we are. All we need to do is to choose to do just that. The Dance in the wilderness need not be a dance of doom but one of delight if we but choose the steps. It may be writing poetry, or journaling, or meaningful reading. It is the invitation to go into the wilderness in a way that we never have done before individually or as a society.... very mindfully.
The wilderness on the political scene we have witnessed in the last 4 years in the U.S. Silence was consent to all that was done or NOT done and as a result, core values of decency, honesty, respect, and truthfulness were thrown aside. Where has all the goodness gone?
We witness blatant racism, white supremacy in many countries, including Canada in its relationship with Indigenous peoples and in some cases with refugees.
We must face the massive climate change which threatens to bring the human species to extinction.
The list could go on and on, but in fact, we ARE in the wilderness and we need to talk about it. We need to dance a new step of openness, togetherness.
The Coronavirus and the variants are now facing the whole world. It is interesting how it is now on the front burner of government agendas. The time of silence or denial is over in a world crisis. We are in this together.
So, let’s begin a NEW Dance of LIFE together.
-Sister Kathleen Lichti, csj