|
Transforming September 11th and Ourselves
It was amid the noisy bustle of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, where Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and author, had his grand epiphany about the interconnectedness of all beings. It was there that he realized his 17 years as a monastic made him no more or less holy than anyone else and that living separate from the world did not free him from his responsibilities in the world. Merton’s experience propelled him to become a bold prophetic voice in the social movements of his day. In this spirit of transformation Executive Director of Interfaith Paths to Peace, Terry Taylor, and his spiritual advisor, Joe Grant, conceived the idea of the first Gandhi-Merton Pilgrimage for Peace and Nonviolence. On September 8th, 2006, at the Abbey of Gethsemani, I along with fifty others from across North America began a sixty mile walk from Thomas Merton’s hermitage to the corner of Fourth and Muhammad Ali (formerly Walnut, renamed to honor Louisville’s most famous son). For four days we walked the Kentucky countryside, greeted in turn by drivers, passersby, and even horses that ran the length of their fenced-in farms and whinnied as if to say, “Can we come too?” Their unbridled enthusiasm gave the walkers an emotional lift and spurred us on. Local churches, schools, fire companies, meeting houses, and temples opened their doors to the walkers for food and shelter. In the evenings pilgrimage leaders Phil Cousineau (author, filmmaker, and close friend of Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith) and Father John Dear (Jesuit priest, author, and activist) would give talks in the communities hosting us. On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, both recalled their connection to New York City that day and how their lives were forever changed in the aftermath. John went on to remind us that the 11th of September 2006 also marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s first nonviolent campaign. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, “satyagraha” (pursuit of truth) was Gandhi’s nonviolent response to the racial injustice of the culture he lived in. Phil spoke of the “art of pilgrimage” saying that “All our journeys are rhapsodies on the theme of discovery.” Not just this peace walk, but our entire lives can be sacred journeys of the soul. The next day on the final rain-filled 16-mile leg of our journey we kept the examples of Merton and Gandhi in our hearts and meditated on how to incorporate their philosophies and practice into our own lives. As we went from a rural setting to an urban one I’d discovered myself swept into a quiet reflection on this symbolic journey that nourished the contemplative within and inspired the outside activist. It was a literal physical test that produced many blisters and sore muscles, but as Sister Pollard said with such ungrammatical profundity after the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott, “My feets is tired but my soul is rested.” For the last mile we were joined by 300 supporters who welcomed us to Louisville’s Central Park with a standing ovation and loud applause. Within view of the place of Merton’s epiphany I recalled where I first received the “peculiar gift” Merton so eloquently wrote of. Amidst the crush of sweating bodies in the mosh pit of an Iggy Pop concert I became conscious of my connection to all life. Deafening music churning the crowd, I found myself engaged in a struggle to simply stay standing. In the fight not to fall I discovered that I wasn’t alone, that we were all in this together, and that the only thing truly separating us from one another is the prison of this physical world. We are all pilgrims, we are all seekers. We all struggle, suffer, joy, and die. Heavy revelations and light euphoria at a punk rock concert years ago. Perhaps an unlikely place for a “religious experience,” perhaps not. If Merton can “get it” at the intersection of an urban shopping district why not I at a rock ‘n’ roll show? In the shadow of a historic marker denoting the location where Thomas Merton’s transforming vision revealed itself, some 350 individuals gathered and collectively took a vow of nonviolence. Our ambitious goal was to transform September 11th from a day of horror to a day of hope. In the process we found that we transformed ourselves. Pledging to continue the struggle towards a world of justice and peace, we pray that our long walk in Kentucky be a sure, steady step in that direction. Robert Daniels II
|