Culture and Story

How do our stories get told? They might take the form of song, dances, word pictures, images, rituals, etc. If I am not doing this myself, then I am relying on others to do it. Because the United States is so danged big, however, it is unlikely that the most widely shared "stories" (mainstream or even independent film, television, magazines, radio, newspapers) are going to be "mine." Much of our "culture" happens at this national level, and it seems that less and less of it feels very direct or relevant. For that matter, it rarely has the specificity that will illuminate to me another "culture" that I might not be a part of.
"Culture" is, in my opinion, "story." If we aren't in this process (fairly regularly!) of telling our own stories (in lots of different forms) then the "culture" process is being left to others. Can we trust them?
An important value of InterPlay is to help us reclaim our ability to use a variety of forms to tell our stories. In InterPlay, we learn to not fear, and to actually love, telling our stories. And as we do this regularly, the cultural process remains lively and current. It may not seep into the "big" culture in the ways we might hope, but perhaps it is at this smaller community level that the most effective culture-making happens.

"well, war is obsolete you know"

"at the end of the talk someone from the audience asked the Dalai Lama, "Why didn't you fight back against the Chinese?" The Dalai Lama looked down, swung his feet just a bit, then looked back up at us and said with a gentle smile, "Well, war is obsolete, you know."   Then, after a few moments, his face grave, he said, "Of course the mind can rationalize fighting back but the heart, the heart would never understand. Then you would be divided in yourself, the heart and the mind, and the war would be inside you."

Sybil MacBeth sent me this quote. Don't know where its from. But, It goes right to the HEART!

I will be publishing some of my InterPlayesque writings here soon about renouncing my ordination as a form of protest and self care... sharing my journey of dancing with rage, love, joy, and those I meet along the way. Check back soon. Cynthia