For the most part I expect my responses to the questions I was able to play with on Sunday to be very similar to what I said them. (Although I reserve the right to have changed my mind in the meantime!) There are also several questions that were asked more than once (in slightly different ways). I'll group them together here. (And I'd remind readers that these are only my responses, and my responses today, at that.)
You love superheroes. What is a superhero with a particularly spiritual lesson?
I've just started reading what promises to be a fascinating book, The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, by Glenn Weldon. (Simon & Schuster, 2017). I heard about the book when an article appeared on my newsfeed titled, "Meet the Professor Who's Going to Teach a College Course All About Batman." In that interview, the professor, Steven Levya of the University of Baltimore, talked about how Weldon's book had really inspired him to develop the course. Part of Weldon's premise is that, besides being a human with no extraordinary super power, the Batman is also different from his heroic colleagues in at least one other way -- over the years he has changed.
Superman, for instance, over his more than 70 year run has always been basically Superman, "the Big Blue Schoolboy." His personality, his way of being in the world has been pretty constant. So too, let;s say, Spider Man, who has been almost invariably angst-ridden. Batman, on the other hand, has been depicted in numerous ways, from the campy portrayal of Adam West in the TV show of the 1960s, to the quasi-fascist of Frank Miller's seminal (and truly awesome) The Dark Night Returns. He has been unshakably self-assured, and neurotic as all get out. And to a large extent, the various version of the Caped Crusader can be seen as reflecting the zeitgeist of the times.
Yet the many moods of the Batman can also be viewed as a mirror we can hold up to ourselves, for we're also filled with more than one version of ourselves. As Whitman famously wrote, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes." So the Batman shows us a hero with no special powers (except, perhaps, his fortune), who is able to overcome virtually any obstacle placed in this path, even while expressing a panoply of possible selves, a person who, like us, "contains multitudes."
How do we prepare for August 12th?
This is a hard one, because each of us had our own experiences of last August 12th which we'll be bringing to this August 12th. And none of us know exactly what is going to happen -- there are no planned events like the "Unite the Right" rally, yet it is virtually certain that there will be some kind of hate-fueled presence. It is likely that there'll be more than one "spontaneous" action popping up without (at least much) warning. So ... how do we prepare when we're not really sure what we're preparing for?
I'd say that one think we can do is double down on whatever it is that connects us to "that inner place of peace" and that outer experience of connection to others and to all that is. Call it Love, call it Community, call it The Interconnected Web of All Existence -- call it God, if you wish -- yet what we call it is not as important as being intentional about feeding ourselves with it. For love to conquer hate we must do all that we can to be in touch ourselves with that Love ("known by many names yet by no name fully known").
It's also really important to remember that we are always stronger together than we are alone. There a whole lot of people throughout Charlottesville who are also trying to figure out how best to prepare for this date -- both the way it will bring up memories of the past, and whatever may happen this year. The Charlottesville Clergy Collective is offering a number of events leading up to, and on, August 12th. (We have them listed on our website.) There's also the #resilientcville website, the city's effort to inform people of the constructive things being planned. Congregate Charlottesville, a group that began as a subset of the Clergy Collective membership and which favors nonviolent direct action, has also been making plans for the 12th of August. Each of these, all of these resources offer ways to connect with, and be with, others both as that anniversary approaches, and on the day(s) itself.
Our congregation is going to be proactively organized than we knew to be last year. We will be asking people who plan to participate in one or more of the events to let our leadership know so that we can spread the word -- "There'll be a group of UUs meeting at such-and-such a time, in such-and-such a place. Contact so-and-so for more information." This way folks can know that they do not participate alone, even in the midst of a crowd.
One last thought -- it may take a long time, it may not seem as though it is true, but love is always stronger than hate. Always.
Pax tecum,
RevWik
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