WHEN I THINK OF HOME

Synchronicity is when a number of coincidental events take place in time.  Last week I decided I wanted to do a Matters of Spirit on the Wizard of Oz and I downloaded a couple of my favorite women singers with songs to help me out.  Then someone made a reference to the Wizard of Oz, then someone else, and on Friday I found out AP has been studying it!

So… as they say in Yiddish, it is beshert – it is meant to be – that I talk about the Wizard of Oz, the story of a young girl swept away from home to a magical land where everything is strange, and -- with the help of a scarecrow, a tin man and a cowardly lion – faces dangers, kills witches, and finally gets home understanding life quite differently than when she left.  It’s what Joseph Campbell called the Hero Cycle: the leaving home, having adventures, facing challenges and coming home with new wisdom.  

(2:47) Somewhere over the rainbow:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWeF5Zv_pzs

Human beings in different times and places often wish for something like Dorothy:  the longing for something beyond – and better – than what we have.  In religious terms it is the transcendant that which is above and beyond the everyday realities of life – call it enlightenment, or moksa, call it heaven, or the pure land, call it the call.  And like Dorothy, religious people, and spiritual seekers in general, have made pilgrimages, physical and spiritual  journeys that deeply change who they are.  Gilgamesh seeking immortality made such a journey, the Buddha leaving his father’s palace to seek an end to suffering made such a journey.  Jesus, Lao Tzu, Rama and Sita, Muhammed, all made such a journey.  Harry Potter, Stephen King books, Magic cards and even the last seaon of Lost recognize the hero cycle.  

But even us every day people can experience the journey of the hero cycle.  I don’t mean when we take a nice trip or a vacation, I mean when we embark on a journey where we leave our comfort zone, our known world and travel to the unknown.  Because there, in the words of the poet W.H. Auden:

“You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.”

Lions and tigers and bears – Oh my!  Sometimes it’s scary to be out of one’s comfort zone, to be away from everything that’s familiar.  To be alone, to be aware of one’s frailities and vulnerabilities.

(3:44) Janis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHJ_A8qnXw

It is the trial by fire that tempers the heart.  It is the pain that gives us understanding and compassion.  It transforms us, changes us radically in ways we don’t expect.   And while we ultimately face the challenges of our lives alone and the change takes place inside us, we also recognize the need for support, for community, for friends.

(2:39) Bette Midler: “Friends”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Iwmcs1hps

Finally, with new knowledge and quite a different view of ourselves, of others and the world, we do go home:

Itunes: (3:30)

WHEN I THINKOF HOME (from The Wiz)

                        by

          Charles Emanuel Smalls

When I think of home, I think of a place
where's there's love overflowing
I wish I was home, I wish I was back there
With the things I've been knowing

Wind that makes the tall grass bend into leaning
Suddenly the raindrops that fall they have a meaning
Sprinklin the scene
Makes it all clean

Maybe there's a chance for me to go back
Now that I have some direction
It sure would be nice to be back at home
Where there's love and affection

And just maybe I can convince time to slow up
Givin me enough time, in my life to grow up
Time be my friend
And let me start again

Suddenly my worlds gone and changed its fate
But I still know where I'm going
I have had my mind spun round in space
Yet I’ve watched it growing

And oh, if you're listening, God, please don't make it hard
To know if we should believe the things that we see
Tell us should we try to stay or should we run away
Or would it be better just to let things be,

Livin here in this brand new world
Might be a fantasy
But its taught me to love,
So its real, real, real to me

And I've learned that we must look
Inside our hearts to find
A world full of love
Like yours, like mine

Like home!