You only get to community through trust, and you only get to trust through integrity. This picture speaks to me on so many levels, and not just because I am a MKE Bucks fan.
There is the obvious:
I also realize there are 17,000 fans in the arena and 25,000 fans outside in the Deer District, and millions of fans across the world cheering for their team each time a basket is scored. If you are a fan, the price tag of the player or the arena is meaningless. If you are a fan, its about projecting your desires and spirit into the success of the team. It is about “your” team representing you or “your” city. It’s about community. I admit that I am a sports fan, especially football, basketball and hockey. I don’t know if that is very Quakerly or not, but I’ve watched the best part of sports bring out the best part of people; both players and fans. For our two youngest children, sports was a big part of their growing up, and in their personal and emotional development. I used to tease that our youngest daughter never saw a sport that she didn’t like. She played soccer, baseball, fast pitch softball, volleyball, basketball (which was her first love) and she ran cross-country track. She grew up in a neighborhood of all boys, so if she wanted to play – she had to come ready to play hard and to play her best. I coached her soccer team which was co-ed. In our final season, we were 7-1 wins over losses. And we got there because we had a “secret weapon” which was a core of four girls who all had older brothers. These four girls learned – from competing with their brothers – how to give as good as they got; how to not back down; how to give your personal best each and every game. When done right, sports is about building community: the community of the team and the support of the geographic region which the team represents. But perhaps even more importantly, sports is about becoming the best person one can possibly be. That’s how I justify being a Quaker who is a sports fan. From my perspective as a fan, as a coach, and as a competitor, sports is about community, and trust, and integrity. If each player’s goal is to reach his/her personal best and to give that best each and every time they step into the arena, then they will win the trust of their fellow team mates and they will contribute to a strong sense of team or of community. You only get to community through trust, and you only get to trust through integrity. That’s what I see in this picture: Community, trust, and integrity. Go Bucks!
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Is it enough to simply say: Now that I have finally, fully, firmly retired – I want to change my website. The current website, mikesoika.com, was designed to support my consulting business. But now that I am no longer seeking work, it seems appropriate to make changes.
But the act of mulling over website changes fostered unexpected spiritual questions. My initial instinct was to define my new website by the roles I play: husband, father, grandfather, brother, sailor, friend, Quaker and so on. But in thinking about these roles, I realized that they are all variations of saying: me….me….me. It seemed both egotistical and spiritually counterproductive. Is it enough to simply say: I am a child of God? Or, that I am a spiritual seeker? Or, that I am an agent of God on earth? How do I define “me” without acknowledging the light of God – or “that of God” as the eternal core of my being? Catholic Monk, Thomas Keating taught that “Our basic core of goodness is our true self. Our center of gravity is God……God and our true Self are not separate. Though we are not God, God and our true Self are the same thing.” I am comfortable living with the paradox of knowing that the light of God emanates from me; that I am a unique expression of God, but that I am not the Divine. The best illustration of this – from my perspective – is the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, As Kingfishers Catch Fire in which the author writes “Each mortal thing does one thing and the same….what I do is me: for that I came.” The struggle for me is a common one: how to get out of the way and simply allow the light of the Spirit to shine through. Much easier said than done. For me, the greatest unknown is how active God is in the world. I used to find comfort in the idea that there was a reason for everything that happens in the cosmos and that the Spirit was somehow making things all come together according to a divine plan. And a corollary to this belief was the concept that all I had to do was pray – earnestly – and God would provide an answer to my desires and quell my fears. It is difficult to describe the existential fear that consumed me when I let go of these comforting concepts about the divine as a supreme being who is active in our individual lives and in the world and who is constantly making things happen according to plan. I used to believe that God was like a lifeguard, who if you got into trouble and prayed for help, divine assistance would appear. What I now believe is that God’s work in the world only happens through us; that we are all being called upon – constantly – to hear the word of the Divine and to act on it. Unfortunately, many people don’t take the necessary time to listen deeply to the voice within, and thus – evil, neglect, greed, and hate are a very real presence among us. It is not that God is impotent, but rather, the Divine is eternally patient and willing to whisper into the ear of many in order to find the few who will hear that still small voice and bring it forth into the world. I strive to listen for the voice of God, and pray that I will be humble enough and brave enough to act on it. Never Too Far From Shore A solitary seeker standing on shore, listening for the divine, dives in and swims with a strong, meditative stroke. |
AuthorMike Soika has been a community activist for more than 30 years working on issues of social and economic justice. His work for justice is anchored by his spiritual formation first as a Catholic and now as a Quaker. Pre 2018 Archives
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