Please enjoy this talk that was to be presented at an Interfaith Conference hosted by the Sri Ramanuja Mission Trust under the leadership of Professor Swami Chaturvedi in Pune, India, April 23- 25. Sadly, due to airport closures in Europe, Sally’s trip was cancelled and this presentation was not delivered.
It is a privilege and joy to be invited to this gathering hosted by the Sri Ramanuja Mission Trust. It is a delight to be among like-minded souls…learning together how to share the Sacred and offer service as citizens of humanity to help make a better world. I bring greetings from the URI worldwide community… from Bangladesh to Berlin…from Brazil to Bali – from Cairo to Kansas, URI is mobilizing like-hearted people. People from 72 countries and over 150 diverse religious, spiritual and indigenous orientations are joining together as a global community bonded in common purpose and shared values.
As URI enters its 10th year, there is focus on sustainability – what is needed in order for URI to grow beyond its early adolescence and into adulthood? As with young teenagers…who want to enthusiastically identify themselves... and also begin to learn how to take care of themselves, URI must do the same. We must understand and give voice to URI’s unique identity, value and purpose in the world and also look to see what is needed for URI as a global community to grow in strength, durability, integrity, and wisdom.
Rightly so, there is important work being done in the material plane on program evaluation, strategic use of resources, assessing CC impact in local communities, attention to prudent use of funds and diversifying fundraising capacity. While these areas for maturation are vital, I want to take this opportunity to talk about URI as a spiritual organization and ask us to participate in nurturing its spiritual qualities through these growing years. Why/how is URI spiritual? Here are a few anecdotal expressions of URI’s spiritual intent.
An early symbol for URI was a circle with an empty center…the reality was that in creating URI people sat together in circles discussing what kind of organization they wanted URI to be, and in the flow of the conversation, opening to one another’s unique gifts. The center was left empty - or flowers or a candle was placed in the center – to remind us to remember the Source - that gave us life and is greater than all of us…
Also, early on we got into the practice of starting all URI meetings, even long distance calls, with a time of silence and hearing expressions of prayer from colleagues. This sacred time reminded us to check our intentions internally and connect to God, to the Holy in our own way.
At the first Asia Assembly in Bali in 2001, when participants were sharing views of URI as a brand new organization, a gentleman from Manipur enthusiastically proclaimed URI was so needed because URI was spiritual! I marveled at his conviction, his zeal, and the hope he saw that URI could bring to people. Why did URI, seemingly just another high- minded USA based NGO, inspire his conviction?
In 2002, the first major Global Assembly in Rio de Janeiro was called, “Sharing the Sacred and Serving the World.” Over 300 members of URI Circles came together to meet each other, many for the first time, and to share their work in the field but also to share and celebrate expressions and relationships with the Sacred. We loved learning about each other’s work and there was something more… people from different religions opened plenary sessions by sharing and celebrating different expressions of prayer and meditation. I noticed spirituality in another way. I remember noticing that photos of this Assembly were of many many different kinds of people, each holding a microphone and speaking out, each face was filled with conviction and light. I saw a blossoming of the human spirit, a divine spark, in these many diverse faces of leadership.
After the Haiti earthquake a few months ago, a message came via the internet that one URI CC in Argentina made up of different tribes of indigenous people had gone to the oceanside. They danced to the waters and asked the holy spirit of the oceans and mother earth to carry the vital energy of life they offered through their joyous dance - to the people of Haiti to help regenerate their lives and their country in the face of this devastation. While groups were sending money and goods, URI was also offering spiritual vibration.
URI is a bridge building organization not a religion. However, URI was born to be a spiritual organization and provide a deepening spiritual experience for people who participate in it – URI seeks to be an organization that respects the diversity of faiths and provides a safe place for people to bring the best of their religious and spiritual qualities into relationship with each other in order to do cooperative action to serve humanity.
What are the spiritual building blocks in URI? What is needed to sustain people from different faith backgrounds joining together in common purpose? What are the key tools URI can use to unleash human spirit of increasing numbers of people?
I invite the reader to ask this question and explore answers in your hearts and minds. Here are some ideas for your consideration:
URI has continually upheld:
- Sharing the Sacred – inclusion – means inviting all people to come together in accord with the values and purpose of URI.
- Nurturing an Appreciative Culture – means people being valued for their diverse voices and being asked to bring forth their gifts and their dreams.
- Centering on Common Purpose and Principles – means all Cooperation Circlemembers uniting around a shared purpose and shared principles.
- Providing Freedom for Diverse Actions and Expressions – means that URI’s design to accomplish its mission is based on a belief in human creativity, ingenuity and generosity that give rise to aspirations; it means helping each other do the hard work needed. It is a based on a conviction that peacebuilding that endures is led at the local level – among the people who are most affected by the violence and unrest at hand.
- Building a web of connection – means that URI depends on supplying the golden threads of communication that connect people in trustworthy relationships - in soul, heart, great ideas and know how.
Everyone who lent a hand or an idea or their heart and soul to help give birth to URI is appreciated. Everyone who is joining now to sustain and help grow URI is appreciated. Finally, the spirituality in URI as an organization lives not in buildings or words of its Charter – but in the pure intentions and expressions of its people’s best efforts. It lives in the confluence of wisdom from many traditions and experiences. People acting in face of today’s crises by cooperating with one another – sharing the sacred to serve the world.
Eleanor Roosevelt offers a blessing apropos for URI at its 10th anniversary.
You are going to live in a dangerous world for quite awhile I guess…but it’s going to be an interesting and an adventurous one. I wish you the courage to face it. I wish you the courage to face yourselves and when you know what want to fight for, not in a war but in order to gain a peace, then I wish you imagination and understanding. God bless you. May you win!
