Kardia Kaiomenē: Amplify Hope

Western Wyoming (10.24.2019)

Any adequate reply to the sufferings of our age will necessarily involve the strengthening of human collectives, the nurture and increase of soul, and the amplification of hope. These three efforts, all profound activities of care, are inseparable and entangled.
Bruce Rogers-Vaughn, Caring For Souls in a Neoliberal Age

This month took us to separate coasts to accompany beloved family and friends. To rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. There's plenty to celebrate. But also seemingly senseless tragedies, with accompanying unraveling of relationship and social cohesion. More than ever, we are feeling the isolation and alienation that comes with our forgotten craving for community. As we take inventory during morning journal times and as we dialogue with dear friends all over North America, it has hit home quite hard this month: we're not quite sure what "home" is. And so many in our network aren't quite sure either.

We miss family and collaborators and neighbors and colleagues in Southern California and Detroit. And, of course, we are meeting precious new friends here in Central Oregon. But there is a disjointed and fragmented nature to our lives that seems to intensify over time. It's exhausting and overwhelming to keep pivoting to different social spaces in different time zones with different cultures and rhythms. Our mentor Dr. James Perkinson has consistently pointed out what social scientists call "the rule of 150." It basically alludes to the capacity for humans on this planet to know and care for about 150 people in our lifetimes. That's it.

It's also easy to despair about what's hurtling down the turnpike in 2020 and beyond. What will our political and social and economic landscape look like in a year, after another blistering campaign season that brings awkward and angry conversations (or perhaps even worse: non-conversations where we must swallow the olive to keep the peace)? In addition, and definitely the scariest of trends, on the horizon, here comes climate catastrophe and a complete breakdown of systems and structures that organize our lives. When? Where? How? We simply do not know, but actual science keeps leveling up the consequences and drawing down the timelines.

In this context, we desperately need soul nurture, stronger collectives and amplified hope! This is what we yearn for and what we long for Kardia Kaiomene to be about in the coming weeks, months and years--wherever Spirit blows.

On October 8, Lindsay flew out to California to accompany and spend extended time with long-time bestie Tiffany Ashworth and her family (with newborn Reese Noelle in Pasadena), with added bonus of getting to spend time on the back end with her littlest besties and their Mommy (longest-time bestie since 1983)...

...meanwhile, Tom stayed on the East Coast to see friends and curate a few gatherings in Pennsylvania (Sunday morning preaching and a ~~Columbus Day~~ Indigenous Peoples Day teach-in) and Washington D.C. (a coalition of 22 white men co-convened with Civil Rights veteran Ruby Sales).

For the past two weeks, we've been back in Bend together. We are finding time to rest and read and run on the river trail and cook nutritious local food and babysit our nephew Milo and celebrate his first Halloween and watch/re-watch our favorite shows (This is Us, A Million Little Things, Big Little Lies, The Office, etc).

We are also finding a lot of fulfillment in our partnership with Story Dwelling, a unique faith experiment here in town. Many of us are asking similar questions about how spirituality might transcend the same old uncompelling fundamentalist and liberal brands. We're not going to settle for paper or plastic. We're bringing our own bags!