Our UU ecofeminist minister
was verbally accosted one Sunday morning
after celebrating multicultural peace
and respect
and integrity
sufficient to restore private ego- and public eco-justice.
This was far too much to take in,
to peacefully and holistically rake in,
for a visiting,
perhaps stalking,
apartheid anti-socialist
Whose most engaging
personable mentors and teachers
had already shared the correct win/lose answers,
either true or false,
either sacred or secular,
either spiritual strength or natural relativistic evil
of right-brain’s both/and integral tolerance-stretching levels,
Which his left-brain never over-indulges
much less dances
or sings with,
in multicultural head and heart voice.
So he angrily confronted
our UU minister
with “You must not tolerate such eclectic multicultural celebration!
These and those deviants are too wounded by original sin
for God to authoritatively save
from your universally wrong uniting perdition.
We need non-partitioned apartheid to sever us best
from those others, too wildly sensual and sinful worst
misbegotten creatures of Satan!”
“I cannot tolerate such radical integrity
or even, maybe odd, tolerance
to sing and dance,
to sit and pray,
to stand and march
polypathically and polyphonically together.
Especially on a sacred Sunday morning
when you should be worshiping God of time’s revolutionary creation,
polyculturally completed in seven 24-hour days
and monotheistic nights.”
“You should be on your knees
to the One true jealous and punishing win/lose Father!”
Our ordained covenant-keeper of universal resonance
and unitarian resilience,
concerned about whether Father MonoGod might be left-brain armed,
informed her avowed antagonist,
a clear and way too present threat
to building interdependent win/win webs
where all his win/lose walled-off answers
somberly declared ‘don’t even think about feeling deviantly
about anything!’
“Like you
I do not tolerate intolerance
when it is shouted against me,
but perhaps when morally appropriate boundaries for tolerance are asked
and invited for discussion
while actually hoping for some response
that could include all of us
if willing to change enough
to tolerate compassionate criticism
for not beginning with questions “Why?”
before providing answers to What
you and I must not find
appropriate to tolerate.”
Then she asked me to drum our drums
and sing a healing song
while she danced and shook a consecrated rattle
in smoky incensed circles
like any witch doctor might think to sternly do,
Whether tongue in cheek
or not
I could not say,
as I was singing
and beating her rhythms
with integrity of tolerance,
in mutual celebration
of great transitional nudging questions
And not not knotted paradox
of not tolerating double-bound intolerance
within as not without
And hating haters
which seems difficult for consistent self-esteem
and win-me/win-you co-integration,
or even win-left/win-right ego/eco-transubstantiation.
Our mono-supreme nationalist,
hater of radical sabbath love,
did not speak of his surprise
but effectively and affectively acted
with discomforted exit
and discomforting alarm.
I’m sure with many questions
but probably not better ones
than his pre-existing either/or condition
would allow in tolerable responses.
Which seems sad.
A lost opportunity,
for our ego/ecofeminist minister
and music me,
to nudge and stretch and grow
our tolerant co-integrity
To tolerate violating answers
to win/win questions
he, then we,
forgot to ask
about this paradox of hating haters
and only loving privileged lovers
Reminding me of several songs
about growing in love with love’s mankind,
but not sabbath people
in heat against hate,
sad about despair,
glad about integrity of wealthy mental health.
gdill52 