SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — I thought I had been in enough international conferences for one lifetime, and so initially resisted the idea of attending yet another one (and enduring a long flight.)
But duty to the cause of women‘s rights won out, and last week I flew to San Francisco, went south to the Monterey peninsula, and came to the conference center located in a California State Park.
A wonderful nature spot by the ocean, four hectares of gently rolling terrain where deer and squirrels moved among the pines, and where signs gave instructions on what to do should a mountain lion appear (Wave one‘s arms and shout to drive it away.)
Early one dry morning, for it was mostly wet and windy, I walked along the wooden boardwalk over white sand dunes where flowering vegetation provided resistance to the wind, and came to the shore where sandpipers, oystercatchers, and other shorebirds were busy feeding while the Pacific Ocean whipped up the surf. An energizing experience of nature before the start of the day‘s work.
The event was a convocation of some 300 women organized by what has to be the world‘s most progressive church (variously also referred to as congregations, fellowships, communities), without creed or dogma, but with deeply held values and moral guides framed as the Unitarian Universalist principles: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; the free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the goal of a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all; respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Not the experience of “church“ familiar to these parts, but an open embrace of the wisdom of all world religions and spiritual traditions, and of science, and the acceptance of diversity of beliefs and practices while adhering to the basic principles.
The goal being an ethical and spiritual life, the latter understood as a lived connection to the sacred.
Disclosure: I am myself not a member of these communities, but a more well-informed, politically- engaged and morally- committed population would be hard to find, and I am happy to work with them.
As most of the participants were American women, there was the chilling recognition by the convocation’s chair that “The time is out of joint…“ and that ominous changes already being rolled out by the Trump administration will greatly affect women in the United States, and in fact, everywhere.
The convocation‘s call was for social justice action for women along five streams: education, health and reproductive justice, economic opportunity, leadership development, and violence prevention (where I was a speaker and workshop participant.)
Over three and a half days, women from 14 countries started our day with meditation, yoga, tai chi or chant, before plenary inputs from speakers distinguished in their fields, followed by a series of workshops in our chosen streams to identify, analyze the issues, identify priorities, examine possible responses and solutions, before producing the stream action plan.
Very busy days dashing, often in the rain, to the different activity venues spread out over the grounds. But also, in the evenings, happy hour with wine and conversations, and music by award-winning activist musicians “Emma‘s Revolution“ named after the champion of radicalism and feminism Emma Goldman who famously said, “If I can‘t dance, I don‘t want to be part of your revolution.“
It wasn‘t hard to identify with their hilarious song I Earned this Gray about a woman refusing to dye her hair! Or to be moved to tears by We‘re Still Here where refugees speak to lost family members and to each other.
Also in the evenings, lovely “Compassionate Action“ reflections by a woman UU minister and Zen priest, Vipassana practitioner, dharma teacher, field botanist, environmental activist, essayist and editor. Also described as “An itinerant monk, Florence is generally found somewhere west of the Rockies in her biodiesel car…“
Now all that sounded exactly like what I‘d like to be doing in my next life…..
But first there was a PAL flight to catch back to the Philippines after four days of work for women.
______________________________
Author’s email: h.cecilia7@gmail.com
