A Bit of Inspiration for Bringing in a New Year
Step into the White Room, Say Hello to Spinoza's God, and Saying Goodbye to Gramp
As the glorious Cold Moon begins to wane, the solstice has passed and the New Year approaches, one can’t help be reminded of the certainty of change and wonder how to best live the days to come. As I ease myself into 2024, I’m embracing one old idea - Step Into the White Room; and two new ones - A middle school's new credo: Let go and move on and Spinoza’s God.
Step Into the White Room
I wrote this post three years ago, and the exercise has stuck with me since, especially around New Year’s Day.
During a yoga class back early in January, 2020 while I lay on my mat breathing deep and loosening my stressed and achy joints, our young instructor suggested an intention for the evening that I’ve clung to all year:
“Imagine you are stepping into a white room. It’s bright and spotless and free of clutter. You get to come in but bring only what serves you. You can leave everything behind. What are you going to choose to bring with you, what will you walk away from?”
When you step into the White Room willing to abandon your fear, anger, heartache, and shame Love will light your way.
Let go and move on: A middle school's new credo
I heard this program produced by Judith Kogan a few weeks ago on NPR and have been thinking about it since. Much like the adage “everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten” this teaching is so relevant to dealing with the daily ups and downs of dealing with other humans. It’s been especially helpful with the stresses of the holidays (my kids are quick to remind me when I’m not letting go).
If only our global “leaders” could have gone to Brown Middle School.
Here’s a few excerpts from the interview; you can read or listen to the full story here.
JUDITH KOGAN, BYLINE: Every morning and afternoon at Brown Middle School in Newton, Mass., eighth graders commandeer the school's PA system.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Math team and flag football will meet today.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Girls soccer will be playing their final game of the season tomorrow...
KOGAN: Lots of schools have mottos and credos, and they let students voice them. Here at Brown Middle, the credo is deeply embraced.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Be here. Be safe and kind. Set goals. Be honest. Let go and move on.
KOGAN: Once upon a time, perseverance and grit were the coins of the realm in school. But at this school, let go and move on has been a sell for middle school wounds that can interfere with learning. Eighth graders Bessie Madden and Ethan Wright name some of them.
BESSIE MADDEN: If you made a mistake or you, like, got in a fight with someone.
ETHAN WRIGHT: Have an argument with a friend, maybe miss a homework assignment.
BESSIE: Someone else insulted you or something.
KOGAN: Middle school is often a challenging time. Social media, heightened academic pressure and emerging adolescence collide. Brown Middle School principal Kim Lysaght says bumps are inevitable. The students are leaving childhood and peering at adulthood.
KIM LYSAGHT: Middle school is a mistake factory. Like, let's face it.
KOGAN: She says the bigger problem is that students sometimes can't put mistakes in perspective.
LYSAGHT: Kids will hold on to something that went wrong in their day or week or year. And instead of forgiving or trying to give themselves or others a second chance, they hang on to that, which impacts their ability to move forward.
KOGAN: Beyond inclusion in the twice-daily announcements, let go and move on is painted on the gym wall, plastered on hallway posters and woven into classroom discussions.
LYSAGHT: Especially when kids have maybe done something wrong. We talk about how tomorrow's a new day. We learn from it, and then we let go and we move on. Nobody is defined by one action that they did.
RYANA NAIR: Holding a grudge is like holding hot coals and expecting the other person to be burned. It's pretty useless unless you just resolve the conflict. ….
RUBY: World leaders should let go and move on because it is important to focus on modern day. And as much as our past and our history is relevant, we are only focusing on trying to make the current world a better place.
KOGAN: From this eighth grader's lips to the ears of diplomats the world over.
Spinoza’s God
I love it when you come across something or someone you’ve never heard of and what they have written or said is exactly how you feel. I was unfamiliar with the radical philosopher Bento Spinoza,1 and am so excited to learn more.
This came from a FB Group called Love; people around the world post amazing ideas and inspirational photos. Imagine that.
When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the recurring question that students asked him most was:
- Do you believe in God?
And he always answered:
- I believe in the God of Spinoza.
Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.
(Spinoza) : God would say:
Stop praying.
What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you.
Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and there I express my love for you.
Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don't blame me for everything they made you believe.
Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes ... you will find me in no book!
Stop asking me "will you tell me how to do my job?" Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry, or bothered. I am pure love.
Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you... I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies... free will. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being the way you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?
Respect your peers and don't do what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that alertness is your guide.
My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, nor a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now and it is all you need.
I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create in your life. Heaven or hell.
I can't tell you if there's anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Live as if there is not. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist.
So, if there's nothing after, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved right or wrong, I'll ask. Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?...
Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.
Stop praising me, what kind of egomaniac God do you think I am?
I'm bored being praised. I'm tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That's the way to praise me.
Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what you've been taught about me.
What do you need more miracles for? So many explanations?
The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.
- Spinoza
Gramp’s Obituary
For those of you who have read the past few posts, you know that my father, Neil passed away on 11/11. The past 6 weeks (gulp!) have been a whirlwind of emotions moving into a white room, beginning to let go and move on, and being absolutely free to create in my life … Here’s a link our tribute to him.
In deepest gratitude for sticking with me, reading my work, and supporting me financially so I can continue. May you, your loved ones, and our collective world let go, move on, and embrace a wild ~ resilient ~ peaceful 2024.
Sue
“Bento (in Hebrew, Baruch; in Latin, Benedictus) Spinoza is one of the most important philosophers—and certainly the most radical—of the early modern period. His thought combines a commitment to a number of Cartesian metaphysical and epistemological principles with elements from ancient Stoicism, Hobbes, and medieval Jewish rationalism into a nonetheless highly original system. His extremely naturalistic views on God, the world, the human being and knowledge serve to ground a moral philosophy centered on the control of the passions leading to virtue and happiness. They also lay the foundations for a strongly democratic political thought and a deep critique of the pretensions of Scripture and sectarian religion. Of all the philosophers of the seventeenth century, Spinoza is among the most relevant today.”