Something Just Broke

I hadn’t been born on November 22, 1963. (Missed it by three years.) So I don’t have first-hand knowledge of what it must have been like to hear that dreadful news at about 2 pm EST. I heard much from my parents, grandparents, and older family friends. And my impression is that it is very similar to what September 11, 2001, was like. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing. Images are forever burned into our minds’ eyes. It’s not very hard to evoke the sadness, the hurt, the anger.

On the fiftieth anniversary of that infamous day, we have been through a stream of memorials and TV specials about Lee Harvey Oswald, all the conspiracy theories, and of course the tragic event itself—the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States. It was the end of Camelot, that “one brief shining moment” when America was on the verge of possibilities.

Kennedy had not had a glorious first term in office. The Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba was an unmitigated failure. And some of his foreign and economic policies were less than stellar. But things were really beginning to turn around. The administration deftly avoided World War III with its handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. And the first family’s hold on the American psyche was undeniable. It was the first Presidency that widely broadcast on television, giving the public an unprecedented look at this charismatic man and his charming family.

Much of America really took the assassination personally, as if a beloved family member were the victim rather than a President that few had actually seen in person. I tend to believe that Oswald indeed acted alone, although I don’t doubt at all that some kind of official cover-up was involved. There was more to the story than the Warren Commission or any other governmental arm has yet owned up to. Whether the full truth will ever come out is to be seen. At any rate, the assassination unleashed a flurry of upheaval unseen in American history—Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, Arthur Bremmer, John Hinckley, and unfortunately on and on.

Several of us had a unique perspective on all this through the production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center. The final scene of the show has Oswald at the Texas Schoolbook Depository being convinced to assassinate the President by John Wilkes Booth and all the other assassins (and would-be assassins) past and present. They overwhelm him with their pleas to be remembered and validated. After he pulls the trigger, several unnamed characters sing “Something Just Broke,” portraying quite vividly the impact of Kennedy’s assassination on America, and indeed the world. Yes, it brought people together—the way funerals and all other tragedies do. It also started to chip away at the innocence of the culture. Through this horror and those that would follow throughout the rest of the 60s, 70s, and beyond, we all grew more cynical and skeptical. Some would say more pragmatic.

But, oh, the cost.

Paradox II

Until recently (the last five years or so; when one is 47, that is recent!), I never had much time for the “Spiritual” or the “Mystical” things in life. Even when I became involved in church at age 15, it honestly wasn’t very spiritual. It was rather mundane and formulaic.

And maybe it’s a product of maturity (read: age). I think youth carries with it both an arrogance and an ignorance of what it is to be spiritual. Only through the ups and downs of many years on this earth can our third eye be opened. (Obviously, there are exceptions; some young people are very spiritually aware.) So over the past several years, these ideas that I had been taught to spurn as “new age”—but which in reality are ancient—started to intrigue me.

I suppose like so many others I had come to tire of the rigid confines of fundamentalism. More accurately, I suppose, I started to see its limitations. Jesus said that for new believers his truth was like milk; as we get older, the milk no longer does it for us, and we crave meat. That’s where I found myself.

Little did I realize that there was a world of truth and wisdom out there beyond what I had been presented. This is when I started getting into Celtic spirituality. (More about that in another post, perhaps.) And one of the other sources for seemingly simple yet deeply profound wisdom for me is Eckhart Tolle. He has introduced many people to the mystical way of being. I know, you may be thinking that this is just another in the long line of pop philosophy. And if taken on the surface, it can be. But if some of Tolle’s concepts can be truly considered, the results can be profound.

I have found myself going back again and again to some of Tolle’s quotes. They can be approached the same way that one might approach the Proverbs in the Bible or the sayings of Confucius. Superficially taken, they might appear to be platitudes. But if they are considered, weighed, grappled with, and held up to life’s experiences . . . the profound truth in them can be at once humbling and comforting. Here is one of my favorites:

The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.

In times of anxiety and worry, this one can be a lifesaver. Things are as they are. Circumstances happen and life goes on. But it is how we think about events that so often get us in trouble. It takes a kind of step back to be able to see with some objectivity these things that can so easily tie our minds in knots. If we can somehow step back and really see things, they lose their hold on us. It is so debilitating to go through life as a pawn of circumstances. And please understand, I say all this as one who still struggles with these ideas at times, and not as one who has mastered any of it! But when I am able to gain this detached perspective, it is very liberating and calming.

This next quote is related to the first:

Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?

Actually, it is probably the first step in that first quote. The judgmental, analytic mind always wants to weigh things and figure them out. People sometimes talk about “getting out of your head” in approaching life. It’s the same idea. When we can look at situations, people, even objects with this neutral, non-judgmental view, that is the only way we can truly know them. And for some of us, this is a difficult adjustment to make. Immediately our minds want to evaluate—good or bad, safe or dangerous, pleasant or painful. Once we don these glasses, we have a hard time seeing through any other lens. We make decisions without having all the knowledge.

Simple, yet profound. A thoughtful review of Tolle’s ideas—or many other mystical, contemplative insights will usually produce the same result. I think life is like this. It truly is a paradox. Only when we honestly and fully accept that can we have peace with it.

Redemption Sox

This space has historically been used for spiritual thoughts. But occasionally I will share some more personal things. And sometime the two dovetail, as when I opine about shows I am involved in at EPAC. (Just finished a run of Sondheim’s Assassins there.)

Well, another of my passions is the Boston Red Sox, who just completed a six-game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2013 World Series. Now, I am not a person who likes to over-spiritualize things. By that I mean I avoid the awkward imposition of pre-conceived spiritual (read: right-wing, fundamentalist Christian) patterns on ordinary life. That being said, I do believe that the tangible and spiritual worlds are connected. In fact, I would maintain that they are the same.

Anyway… the 2013 version of the Red Sox is a template of redemption—one of the greatest themes in life. Beginning with the historic collapse in September of 2011 (losing 13 of 20 games), the team was a mess. There was a controversy about players over-indulging in beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse; some whiny, detached, over-valued players; a manager who ended up being the goat of all the woes; and a general manager who seemed incapable of turning things around.  The 2012 season took the team from the proverbial frying pan and into the fire. They won only 69 games and finished last in their division. So there weren’t any lofty expectations on this year’s model. Sure, everyone agreed that they would be better, but NO ONE saw them making the playoffs, let alone winning it all.

Maybe more than any other sport, baseball is a microcosm of life. With a 162-game season, sometimes each one seems like a lifetime. There were questions aplenty. How good wood the pitchers be? Were some of the old veterans able to perform at the same high level? How would the low-risk, unsure value free agents do? Would the new manager really be able to right the ship? Well, obviously every issue resolved itself pretty well. As a fan, I could tell pretty early on that despite all the uncertainty, this would be a team that is fun to watch and easy to root for. And after the miserable aforementioned span, that was a lot. There was some promise of success, but even after a rather positive start, most fans and pundits had no inkling of October baseball in Boston.  In fact, many had written the team off. They were hopeless.

Here is where life can surprise you. It seemed like everyone in the organization—players, coaches, managers, and front office—took the business of baseball seriously yet had fun doing it. Commentators started talking about everyone approaching the game “the right way.” Players tried hard all the time. Ground balls were run out. Outfielders always went full-out after fly balls. And what’s more, they all seemed to get along. I don’t think that can be overrated. Perhaps it all culminated in the response to the Boston Marathon shootings. The team was in Cleveland when the tragedy occurred, but they held a rally of support on returning to Boston. It seemed that the whole organization took its city's pain personally. When a team, an organization becomes a true community, it takes on a life that truly is much more than the sum of its parts. That’s certainly true of the 2013 Sox. 

Hopefully, we find ourselves in those kinds of communities in life from time to time. And while we may never see World Series levels of success, we can certainly expect a life-giving experience. And there are only 166 days until Opening Day!