Members of the NSP chapter in Mystic, Connecticut, gather for their monthly meeting. Credit: Glenn Hardy.
I’ve just renewed my Network of Spiritual Progressives membership, and I’d like to tell you a little about myself. Five years ago a friend and I started an NSP chapter in Mystic, CT. At first, we were a group of women, but gradually men joined us, and we now have an average attendance of twelve, and sometimes as many as fifteen people at our meetings. We meet once a month, and each meeting is facilitated by either a member of our group or an invited outside member of our community. Some of the topics we have discussed include Meditation East and West; Israel and Palestine; Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Non-violence, Domestic Violence; Are the Spiritual Paths of Men and Women Different? and The Changing Concept of a Supreme Being.
I am, I suppose, an old Berkeley activist, but I am also a wife and mother and member of the Mystic community. I worked professionally in arts and education. I was director of a program called Creative Arts and Education at the Eugene O’Neill Theater center, which sent artists of all types (visual artists, dancers, writers, musicians, etc.) into public school classrooms. I have taught in classrooms myself — from 2nd grade through high school — and led creative writing workshops in a variety of venues, including senior centers.
I consider myself a writer, and I do write, both poetry and prose, although I have not really made an effort to get my work published. That might be changing now. I was arrested in the FSM sit-in, and as December, 2014 is going to be — believe it or not — the 50th anniversary of that event, I have thought about writing a series of articles on that experience, and perhaps submitting them to Tikkun. (I was arrested under my maiden name, Margaret Irving. My father’s family name was Israel, but at a time of greater anti-Semitism, he and his siblings changed it to Irving. When I got married I changed it back.)
I always have, and continue to be, interested in the intersection of spirituality, politics, and in my case, the arts. I’m grateful that there is an organization and a publication which shares that interest. I feel at home in NSP, probably more than I have ever felt at home in any organization. Thank you for what you’re doing.
Sincerely,
Maggie Israel Hardy
To learn more about the Network of Spiritual Progressives, explore the NSP website, and read our Core Vision and Spiritual Covenant With America. If you like what you see, please do become a member of the Network of Spiritual Progressives or, if you’ve already joined, consider giving someone an NSP membership!
Sincerely,
Maggie Israel Hardy
To learn more about the Network of Spiritual Progressives, explore the NSP website, and read our Core Vision and Spiritual Covenant With America. If you like what you see, please do become a member of the Network of Spiritual Progressives or, if you’ve already joined, consider giving someone an NSP membership!
Dear Maggie, You feel like a sister as my calling has been to ‘find the spiritual in art in our time.’ Sometimes I have been able to bring in the politics with the spiritual through the arts, like my performance Tears of the World in 2001 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gulf War, other times it’s more environmental (which definitely has political ramifications) as my current collaboration, Rivers Run Through Us. Do keep in touch. Our voices as artists or heartists are more needed now than ever.
Dominique
http://www.earthheartist.com
http://www.riversrunthroughus.net
Thank you, Dominique. Blessings to you in your work and in your life!
– Maggie
Dear Maggie
i just happened to open this and saw that you were in Mystic. I am a peace and environmental activist who lives in the Hudson Valley in the winter and Westerly RI in the summer with my family. I have been searching for a connection to people with similar interests in the area for some time. I am usually there most of June, July and August and sometime part of Sept. I would love to connect with you and your group. Is there any way that I can do that? I see that the email is not published so not sure how else we might connect.
We seem to have many things in common and I Look forward to making this connection. Isn’t it wonderful the many ways the universe calls us together?
peace and all goodness,
Madeline