neighbour as yourself Dr. Sara Bhattacharji Page

[We are very grateful to Dr. Sara Bhattacharji for allowing us to share her thoughts from her Wednesday mediation. She is blessed in having a deep love for poetry, which she uses in her meditations together with her biblical scholarship. What the American Poet Robert Frost said is true with these meditations, “Poetry is a fresh look and fresh listen.” We also thank God for the life and ministry of Fr. Richard Rohr, Sister Jan Chittisste and Thomas Merton. For the Editorial Board]

In our weekly, Wednesday Meditations, we looked at what I called the 'golden rule’: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Actually, the golden rule is 'Do to others what you wish them to do for you'. Are they saying the same thing?

Like it or not, we have been placed in this world, not in splendid isolation, but with many others with whom we are called to live. The golden rule calls out to our actions, "Do" or sometimes, "Do not do". It is something we could act on even if we do not have the "feeling". Loving our neighbour and loving ourselves, perhaps takes us into a deeper level in ourselves. For example, I could be angry/hurt with a friend about something she/he may have said or done, but I could still bring myself to give her/him a cup of coffee or a meal. It is something I can "Do", (may be ungraciously, but still can do). But getting rid of the anger and hurt calls, I think, for something more that is deeper within me. This, it seems to me, is the loving me and my neighbour bit. Often, the 'doing' is of course the way to come to the 'loving', or the 'being'. It certainly does not come easy, but I think it is definitely in the realm of the possible. It is as with all of life about living with paradox of Doing or Being. We like to have clear answers in life, 'this or that', but life is messy and complex just as each one of us is; full of harmony, contradictions and difficulties!

There are days when I am happy to have people around, to interact and grow relationships. Then, there are other times when I wish everyone would disappear and leave me alone! ("lurking within every human act is the gnawing need to be independent, to think of ourselves as independent from the rest of life.”) Finding both spaces, the time, the energy, the love means doing some hard work with myself before I can relate to others. Extending this relationship beyond humanity to all of creation is the next step.

For this week, I want to share two passages that bring some insights for this way of living. Sister Joan Chittister and Thomas Merton are both familiar to us. Both contemplatives, who became 'activist' from their contemplation. Both holding the 'doing' and the 'being' in tension in their lives. (I have these excerpts from Father Richard Rohr's daily meditation)

This week, may we find our 'salvation', our 'wholeness' as we embrace the contradictions and paradoxes of our complex but beautiful lives, our world and our universe, where the morning stars are still singing their song of praise and unity.

Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister1 writes of humanity’s inherent attraction to both community and individuality:

“Life, we learn young, is one long, unending game of push and pull. One part of us pushes us always toward wholeness, toward a sense of connection with the universe, which, in the very act of engagement with the human community, brings us a sense of peace. We are not here as isolates, we realize. We are here to become community. We are on an odyssey with potentiality, and we know it. We have been foreordained to make humanity more humane.

1Joan Chittister, We Are All One: Reflections on Unity, Community and Commitment to Each Other (New London, CT: TwentyThird Publications, 2018), 1–2