INTRODUCTION
WE ARE ALL HERE NOW
SEVEN BILLION
DEDICATION
OUR GREAT AND GLORIOUS EARTH
THE EVERYONE MEDITATION
OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH YOU
IN REMEMBRANCE
IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO DIED TODAY
WELCOME TO THOSE BORN TODAY
THE GIFT OF LOVED ONES
ONE HAND
| INTRODUCTION |  |
The Daily Observance at The Salt Monument engages us in a series of thoughts and images, keyed by music, relating to the family of humanity. Accustomed as we are to our differences and distinctions, here we focus rather on that which unites us and is undeniably universal---not as conceptual ideas, but as actuality. The following text from the Daily Observance at the Salt Monument provides some starting points for contemplation at each of the passages we will visit in the stream of life.
| WE ARE ALL HERE NOW | |
If we were to take a drop of you---your blood or sweat or a tear---and let it evaporate, we would have a grain of salt which had come from your individual living body. If we could collect and evaporate such a drop from every person alive today and gather all those grains of salt together, we would have the mass of salt currently before us. The Salt Monument would then literally hold a bodily part of each member of humanity. Every day, when any person was born, we would need to take a drop from their newborn body to add their grain of salt to the Monument. Every day, when any person died, we would take that grain of salt which had come from their body and dissolve it in water. Of course, this is not only impractical but impossible; the Salt Monument therefore does this symbolically.
The Salt Monument is a place where everyone is included...where everyone counts...whoever and wherever we are, whatever the circumstances. No matter how glorified or forsaken, miserable or joyous, vile or useless we may feel---there is a place where we are included, we are accepted, we are honored. For every person at their birth, there is a greeting of welcome and hope. For every person as they die, there is a blessing of farewell and gratitude. Impossible as it may seem, the Salt Monument is ultimately dedicated to every individual human being who has ever lived, who is alive today, and who will live and die henceforth.
The dream...of peace, equality, freedom, and dignity for all...lives on within us.
| SEVEN BILLION | |
There really are nearly seven billion individual human lives being lived today, right this moment---every person with a name, a unique face, and their own heroic journey, navigating as best they can through life's joys and sorrows, trials and blessings. We are all living the same day, every day, one day at a time. For some, it is now morning. For others, midnight. Yet together we are all breathing, right now...in and out...in and out. The Observance at the Salt Monument is a journey of communion with the family of humanity.
| DEDICATION | |
Spoken in the universal first person
In joy, solemnity, and awe, I place myself here in the symbolic presence of all of humanity. Bringing my own concerns, I offer what is personal to me to be transfigured into what is universal to all. To do this, I need not expect or pressure myself to be suddenly pure and altruistic. With only the intent to think of others, I start wherever I am, right now---whether tired, angry, happy, self-absorbed, ill, reverent, overwhelmed...wherever I am at this moment. Here, at the Salt Monument, I will find millions---even hundreds of millions---of people who share a similar experience with me. Thus, and simply, from my own individual story, my personal self begins to expand in vivid awareness of so many others. Acknowledging it is unattainable, yet still, I offer myself in loving attention to honor and recognize every individual person alive today. I here open my heart and soul as wide and deeply as I am able, to dissolve myself in the sea of humanity.
| OUR GREAT AND GLORIOUS EARTH | |
Let us realize the reality of our magnificent planet. Huge, to us. Spherical. Suspended in blackness. Always exactly half lit. Majestically rolling us into day and night, turning us around to our seasons, ceaselessly traversing this tiny year-route in the vast darkness of space. Here is the home of every single human being, the home of countless living beings. Let us see ourselves in true perspective of the trillions of other creatures, the billions of Earth years, the untold light-years of our Universe. Let us contemplate the ineffable miracles and mysteries of Earth, and witness the water, the clouds, and the ever-so-thin, day-blue veil of our atmosphere. Let us visit the azure oceans and fiery deserts, the towering mountains and verdant forests, the steamy equator and frozen poles---one light, one dark; and everywhere, everywhere, the endless creativity of life. Let us ask ourselves, truly...Could it be more beautiful?
| THE EVERYONE MEDITATION | |
For this passage, we will choose something that every single person did or experienced at some time during the 24-hour period of a day. We will then focus intently on seeing or vividly witnessing as many of the seven billion individuals doing that as we possibly can. During this instrumental, which lasts only three minutes, we will each immerse ourselves in a veritable barrage of images, a torrential montage of split-second impressions. The objective is to see as many people as clearly as possible. Most important is the attempt to include at least one representative of every conceivable sector of humanity---spanning all ages, locations, possibilities. Be sure to include all actual experiences; not just what is pleasant and familiar, but also that which may be strange, heart-breaking, and even horrid. Without censure, let us look simply upon what is. The impossibility of this exercise is, of course, inherent: It would mean clearly visualizing over 39 million people each second! Yet, earnestly approaching this meditation will yield a profoundly expanded glimpse of humanity.
| OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH YOU | |
Here we will direct our thoughts to some of the people on this day who are suffering circumstances of great difficulty or common hardship. We might, for example, choose to focus on: those who are hopelessly hungry today, or the millions of homeless refugees; people surrounded by violent conflict or devastated by a recent tragedy...or those who are ill...mercilessly oppressed... alone...impoverished. During this passage, we will bring heartful, vivid awareness to the actual reality which these people are living---today, tomorrow, yesterday, perhaps even every day of their entire lives.
| IN REMEMBRANCE | |
Today is the anniversary of thousands upon thousands of years, and billions upon billions of births and deaths, tragedies and celebrations. The mandala formed in the turning bowl of dissolved salts represents those who have come and gone before us. Drawn into the dissolution of time and individual identity, we see: the distinctions by which we define ourselves...our accomplishments and struggles in which we are so absorbed...the treasures of life we cherish---all these dissolve with time. The once illustrious, the heinous, the anonymous, the unheralded billions---all are now, equally, gone. We turn our thoughts to our loved ones who have passed away, to the generations upon generations of our relatives, to the countless ancestors of humanity---all of whose contributions bring us here today. We now bear their dreams, their wounds, their burdens, their gifts. We here greet in gratitude and remembrance the unknown billions upon billions who have come and gone, come and gone...over thousands upon thousands of years... Passing through...We are all just passing through.
| IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO DIED TODAY | |
On the day each of us dies, we will be honored at the Salt Monument as one tiny grain of salt dissolving in water. Today it was not you or me---but for almost 151,000 people, this day was of the utmost significance as they each exhaled the last breath of their life. Some died in peace and with loved ones. Some died alone; some in agony. Many were aged and ready for death. Some died unexpectedly. Some were very young. Let us look with love and gratitude into the eyes of each of the multitude whose life ends today; and let us stand together in awe before the great mystery of death, which we each face.
For some of the many of us, now left here today without a loved one, this day is forever filled with grief and poignancy. During our lifetime, we shall each come to know the meaning of loss---we are joined here in mourning. If, for each person who died somewhere in the world today, a loved one came forward with a single grain of salt to place in this water, saying simply, "My father died today...It was my child...my mother...my beloved...my friend...my grandparent..." ---if just one of each of the grieved came to the Salt Monument to honor their loved one, we would see a line of humanity stretching from this doorway fully twenty-five miles. We extend our hearts to each of you.
The last mound of salt to be dissolved in the sacrament today represents the 25,000 to 32,000 children under the age of five who died today, as every day, due to causes related to poverty. Let us hold each of these children to our hearts as we join in their last breath.
| WELCOME TO THOSE BORN TODAY | |
On any given day, there are about 100 million people floating, nearly weightless, inside the watery darkness of another human being. The only world these people live and grow in for nine uninterrupted months is very different than the world they (and we) are born into. Let us visit the world of the floating people---the unborn. "I come forth from the dark, fluid, inner world of a rhythmic heart, to a world which you call the world."
On this day, nearly 370,000 of these people emerged through the great doorway of skin to inhale a breath of this air for the first time, as we all once did. They will now breathe in and out, again and again, as you and I do, for the rest of their lives, however long that may be. We here honor and bless our newborn children---their pilgrimage through the birth canal, their first breath, the first touch of love, their naming. We pause with these grains of salt for a flower blessing, that our newborns' first glimpse of our world may be of the beauty and miracle of this planet. Silently in love, we greet these people: Welcome to our world.
Again, if we were to imagine a line of people---this time each mother holding her newborn child of today---bringing a single grain of salt to add to the Salt Monument, that line would extend over sixty-five miles. Let us be realistic in our blessings and welcome to these, our newest children: Nearly every child born today (more than nine out of ten) lives in a less developed country, where they will face perilous conditions of poverty, malnutrition, disease, violence, and early mortality that most of us cannot even imagine.
If you ever meet a person anywhere in the world whose birthday is today's date, you can say, "I was thinking of you the day you were born. I am so glad to finally meet you."
What if, as a world family, we pledged ourselves as parents do, to every one of our newborn of today?
If you are hungry, we will feed you.
If you are cold, we will warm you.
If you are sick, we will care for you.
If you are in danger, we will protect you.
If you are happy, we will delight with you.
If you have a dream, we will help you.
If you are victorious, we will celebrate with you.
If you have something to say, we will listen.
If you call, we will answer.
| THE GIFT OF LOVED ONES | |
In the context of billions, we can see how exceptional our contact with others truly is. Even those who we merely pass once---unknown and in transit---are among the very few with whom we will ever have contact. Even fewer people we truly know. Our loved ones are a rare treasure in a world of unseen billions who we will never encounter. Let us visit with people around the world in the cherished circles of dear ones---the love and hope for our children; the blessing of grandparents, parents, and family members; the chance to share a lifetime with a beloved partner; the joy of close friends.
How precious and rare are those very few in life who we know as loved ones. We share this with each of the seven billion who are in turn blessed with their own loves. We are a gift to one another---within the eons of space and the silence of time, forever and always, we are a gift to one another.
| ONE HAND | |
Imagine if, every day at the same moment all around the world, we were to take a global roll call--- "Raise your hand if you are here today!"---and every one of nearly seven billion people, whoever and wherever they were, whatever their circumstances, each waved their hand into the air as an expression of their inclusion in the human family. "I am here!"
Let us reach through time and space to celebrate the unity of humanity. May we greet one another anew, in wonder---treasuring our contact, restoring our honor for one another. Reaching out together as one hand, we touch those who have gone before us, those who are breathing along with us today, and those who will come and go in the eons to come. May each and every one of us realize true joy and fulfillment.
