The WCCM theme for 2025 is The Risk of Living Together. I thought to myself how appropriate a theme this is – given all the riots that have sadly erupted across parts of the UK during the summer, including in my home town of Middlesbrough!
In fact, I have never witnessed such anger and hatred spill out from so many people against a very vulnerable and terrified target group of locally dispersed Asylum Seekers and local Muslims. Most of them had even been born and bred in the town as had their parents!
This begs the question, how can we as a Contemplative Community play our part in helping to quell such unrest and maybe help to re-build fractured communities in our midst? Do we have a responsibility to even try, some would say?!
My answer would be informed by our own Community Logo of the Two Doves on the Chalice. One dove represents our own inner work of daily meditation practice which is vital if we are to begin the journey of finding peace within a fractured world. At the same time as we heal our own inner wounds and neuroses – so we stop projecting them out into the world. We then start to become part of the solution as Peacemakers. But we ALSO then need to find ways of sharing the fruits of our own practice within our own spheres of influence which will be different for us all…. This vital work is represented by the other dove on the chalice, so BOTH are necessary.
During 2025 there will be a greater push within our wonderful UK and Global Meditation Communities to find ways to get more involved with sharing the fruits of our practice through some sort of Community Outreach. So please watch this space if these ideas are of interest to you. In particular, you may wish to come to the Joy of Encounter Retreat scheduled for June 2 – 4 at Ampleforth Abbey near York.
I’ll be bringing up to 30 adults from very troubled and difficult backgrounds from the streets of Middlesbrough to meditate, sing, walk, talk and heal together. It would be wonderful if you could come in solidarity with people who ordinarily you may never get to meet, and to risk meditating together to use that word!
Let’s show these good people that we, as an inclusive and welcoming community, are indeed willing to risk living and meditating together, and maybe then be inspired to find ways of volunteering in our own local areas, sharing the gifts of our meditation practice as well as practical support to people who need our love and welcome.Â
Terry Doyle
Special Interest Coordinator for People on the MarginsÂ