The March... continued

There's more to this interesting event for sure!

The four of us that went to this event are part of a Home Church group. This evening the rest of the group graciously allowed us to take some time to share - in an informal, yet ritualized, setting, and thus process in a more holistic sense - this marathon event. For that I am grateful.

In many indigenous cultures, after some powerful, transformative event, the group would invite the participants to come and talk about their experiences - whether it was something as "simple" as a dream (you know, the significant one, the visions), or as complex as men returning from combat. This not only cemented their connections to their people; their family, clan, or tribe, but the act of speaking their piece allowed them to "get out" any lingering damaging effects. Today we would call this Critical Incident Stress Management (a science in its own right!). It also allowed the participants to ritually de-compress, to detoxify, and re-integrate into their people in a more whole way.

So this is what our Home Church group did for us tonight in allowing us to speak about this profoundly moving event. After our opening rituals, we started this portion of our evening together with some sharing. We took some time to share a few words about the event from our own personal perspectives. Each in turn - those who went, and those that stayed here - shared. Maybe it was a statement of the effect it had on us, or maybe it was a question. But each of us shared as we were moved to share. And we had some space (about 5-10 seconds) between each speaker to allow the words to sink in.

We are now almost exactly a week removed from the event; a week of time for us to make some personal sense of what that was like. A week of time removed to intellectually and emotionally make some meaning of this.

In community, we talked, used various descriptors, shared. Some good words were spoken then. And the descriptor that has more meaning to me than others is "Rite of Passage". That phrase seems so loaded with meaning. We, today, want meaning... badly! We search for it, perhaps often unbeknownst to ourselves even. We often think of them as events like graduations, like first jobs, like first homes, etc. Sometimes the places in our lives that are recognized as "rites of passage" are void of any healthy meaning - such as prison, or our "first" DWI, or our first kill (if we're in a gang)

Or if these rites of passage are religious in nature, they might be lacking real and meaningful significance - such as Confirmation or Bar/Bat Mitzvah. It's not that these rituals have NO meaning, but that these religious rituals perhaps don't seem to go far enough in their boldness or challenge, and are more intellectual or academic in nature.

What are some characteristics of "rites of passage"? Well, not having researched this, but going off my gut and brain, I'd say there are a few things that make for true or deep rites of passage:

Perhaps they involve a challenge of some kind - usually physical. A "test" - or maybe the "testing" is more what the young students might face in school. And school might not have the same sense of rite-of-passage as I'm talking about.

Perhaps they involve some sort of an experience that invites transformation. When you're done with a "rite of passage", like in the old days perhaps... you're changed. Now, granted, you're still the same person, but through the rite of passage, if done well, you've grown, you've become something more than you were... something to grow into as well.

Perhaps they are communal in nature - meaning they are done as individuals, but done in a communal context. You don't endure them just for yourself, but also for the benefit of, and inclusion of, the community. For good or for ill, you are a product of your people.

To me, this event, without the desire to over inflate it, was a rite of passage! It certainly was a physical challenge... one that tested us. And speaking of "us", it was certainly communal. I did it. But I did it with others. And it was transformative. We are all changed as a result of this. And I'm glad I did this.

Here I think I've over-done this stuff... blogging about this event over and over. But alas, it is my blog. And I can write about what I want, and use it to make sense of my own personal stuff... It's all about me! ha-ha. 'Course the other thing is- nobody wants to hear me talk anyway, and I'm probably the only one that reads this blog, so... allow me to work things out here! Cheaper than a shrink I guess! Wadda ya gonna do!?!?