Prayer

Today began late. The heavens keep sending sun. The temperature is 50 degrees fahrenheit, and not a single cloud in the sky. Today is Sunday.

It all happened as a prayer. The gathering of strangers - 40 of them - who were invited to have an experience of sacred hospitality. The unique thing was that without saying it, everyone was a part of creating this space by simply being present.

The hosting was done by the co-creators of Gratitude Blooming and the space was the old Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. It was the site where about 37,000 families of Japanese ancestry were ordered to report before they were sent to America's internment/concentration camps during WWII.

The energy of the spot where we sat, invited prayer and gratitude. Prayer that we never again allow a democracy to betray its people. Gratitude for the truth of our history to be preserved so carefully and beautifully in this space that links the new building to the original sacred space.

We entered along the internal pathway that was lined with rose petals and where there was a sign that extended an invitation to enter in silence. The table was for 40 guests. The menu offered tea, onigiri, and mochi - 3 courses to invite the experience of feeling into the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch. As the hosts shared their intention, people took in the tea and all that it had to offer.

Sacred hospitality emerged as the 40 enjoyed the beauty and the conversation that centered on the topic of the day, Empathy and Democracy. We were guided into a dimension of our existence that is rarely visited - we combined realities of self and systems. What is empathy? What does it feel like to receive it? Who holds space for it when democracy is at work? But first, we had to look at ourselves.

We looked at what it means to "hold space" for many different things: people, causes, places. And then, to look at what it feels like to be a "space holder" for so much in life. Another question of the day was, "And who holds space for you?"

Beautifully, the conversation was held so that answers began to flow. By the end, the sharing was its own inspiration. The one who came with questioning about empathy and democracy realized there was, in fact, common understanding among 40 strangers. The one who was feeling moved by the conversation shared a poem spontaneously created. The one who needed to be gently held shared a realization that maybe it was not necessary to run into "burning buildings" and save everyone. The one who was reminded what empathy "feels" like discovered that her body felt warmth and they would take this experience with them into the world.

All of it was part of a prayer. The intention to share a space dedicated to gratitude, love, compassion for anyone who might accept the invitation. The preparation of a sacred and kind space to engage. And finally, the sincerity with which all preparations were made led to this prayer.

And the prayer was answered.