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Letter from FCNL on How You Can Help Shape the Budget

ByElizabeth

I just received this letter and wanted to pass it on to those who have senators and members of Congress (those of us in DC still do not):

Dear Elizabeth Goodman,One of our lobbyists just reported to me that some members of the supercommittee are telling us they are open to cutting Pentagon spending. “We need to hear what the folks back home in our state have to say about this,” we heard.The most important voice in this budget debate is your voices as constituents. As they make their decision, your members of Congress need to hear your side of this story. They need to hear about the consequences in your communities when money isn’t invested in schools, roads, jobs, and other local priorities.Today, will you write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper? Refer to your members of Congress by name and point out the needs in your local community.Communities around the country are being squeezed. More people are relying on food banks; local governments are copying with both the neighborhood and family stress of foreclosure; schools are increasing class sizes and shortening the school year; and critical maintenance on bridges and roadways. Police and firefighters are losing their jobs.  Yet, the Pentagon budget continues to grow.Congress will take action to reduce the deficit, which means budget cuts. But if Congress doesn’t act to cut at Pentagon spending by a significant amount — FCNL and others believe that number is $1 trillion over the next ten years — then the cuts to other programs will be much deeper. Cutting the Pentagon budget and potentially making more funds available to meet the needs of state and local communities.  There is an opportunity to make this change.Thank you for your action.Sincerely,Diane RandallExecutive Secretary  P.S. If you want to know more about how much Pentagon spending is slated to rise, or more on FCNL’s views on the debt, deficit and supercommittee, visit our website. 

Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Laying Down the William Penn House Practice (Last Practice May 15)

    ByElizabeth

    Perhaps because it has been hosted at a place that fosters the Quaker way of doing business, but when I first tried to describe why I thought it was time to leave off having a regularly scheduled practice at William Penn House, the first phrase that came to mind, was that the practice was being “laid down.”

    Very generally, much Quaker business is done by a committee consisting of members who are nominated by the meeting and willing and able to address whatever the issue that is the purpose of the committee. A committee may be formed to address a particular issue that a meeting is encountering or for general ongoing work for the life of the meeting. After a committee’s purpose is done–which may or may not be clear, depending on the nature of the issue–the meeting may choose to lay down the committee. Laying down a committee is not passing judgment. Sometimes, the committee has served its purpose well, but is no longer needed as much as the resources of the committee (it’s members) are needed elsewhere–either for the meeting or for their own personal lives.

    The William Penn House group practice started over 10 years ago. Its initial purpose was to keep going a class from a studio that closed for several months. Having the practice at William Penn House was also a good way to create neighborhood, Quaker, and yoga connections, provide support for the work of William Penn House, and provide an unconventional community donation practice space.

    In the years since the class was established, the whole tenor and climate of the world has changed. The neighborhood, too has changed. Among the changes, there are now several yoga studios on the Hill and there are lots of choices for a practice every night of the week without leaving the neighborhood. In the broad group that has participated in the practices, there have been graduations, marriages, births of children and grandchildren, illnesses, injuries, world travel, joys and sorrows, death, career changes, and it is time for those still in the habit of Tuesday night practice to reconfigure what and when we practice for our own good and for the great web, including together.

    I will always be grateful to all the practitioners/friends who joined with me in collective exploration of the practices and to William Penn House for being a welcoming and nonjudgmental host for a really long time.

    As a member of the Board of Directors and a neighbor, I will still be part of the life and practice at William Penn House. I am still offering small group and private classes in my lovely home studio. Send me a message, if you’d like to practice. I’m looking forward to scheduling practice on a more flexible basis.

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    Visiting Friends at the Freer and the Sackler Before They Close for Renovation

    ByElizabeth

    On the first day of my staycation, I slept late, joined a good friend for a big bowl of spicy noodle soup for lunch, went to the Freer and the Sackler, and then to see the Star Wars movie. I did read a work email or two. Now some restorative asana practice before bed.  I will miss these murtis when the galleries are closed for renovations.

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    Meditate Only for Its Own Sake

    ByElizabeth

    Last night I had the singular pleasure of hearing Gary Snyder read his poetry at the Folger Shakespeare Library.  At the end of the reading, Mr. Snyder answered a few questions.  In response to one question about advice he gives to aspiring poets, he said:  “Don’t be journalists.  Do hard physical labor that leaves y0ur mind open.”  This is not surprising advice, coming from one who has chosen a life requiring regular manual labor.  “Meditate only for its own sake,” he added, in an apparent non sequitur and without elaboration.

    Gary Snyder’s poetry is evidently influenced by his dedicated study and practice of Buddhism.  The insight and clarity of his poetry surely reflects not only his intellectual study, but the deep wisdom of a dedicated, long-standing, and steady meditation practice.  The advice to “meditate for its own sake” seemed almost the offering of a koan by the master (poet) to his pupils.  Meditation, in my experience, definitely  enhances clarity, insight, creativity, and health.  Meditation is not meditation, though, unless when engaging in meditation that is all one is doing and without any goal (like the “actionless action” of the Bhagavad Gita).  It is the deepest of practices to engage fully, but not be doing except for the sake of doing itself (and in alignment with the deepest truths).

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