Wake Up Stay Up

SO SO much since the last post here. Many apologies. An unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates?), but we are most certainly living. Now for some examination.

First, I have to say that Montreal is an incredible city, a blessing of a nest for this egg of a project. We have been to three festivals now, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, and the Francofolie French music festival. These excursions have been welcome breaks from our work together, as well as inspiration for our own creation and performance.

Every day, Kal-El Shore, Ofer Rivlin, and I gather in Ofer’s apartment on Aylmer Street in the McGill student ghetto. Hatha yoga, meditation, and breakfast kickstart our bodies and souls. Then we read and discuss a short passage from the Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers. It is a section of mishnah from the Talmud, and gets us thinking about spirit, about ethics, about our roots in Judaism, and about the ways we can translate and transport these messages to the wider audiences we hope to touch. It’s not always easy to reconcile ourselves with the words, especially when they draw a stark tribal boundary around Judaism. But this is in part the work we have set out to do.

After we have engaged our minds through this practice, we sit down to play music. The morning sessions have been primarily improvisation, in which one of us puts out a motif that comes to us and then we work to follow and synergize with each other. The words coming through Kal-El have been incredible, usually incorporating a strong narrative. Ofer’s grooves on the guitar draw from a wealth of different musical traditions and influences, although we seem to gravitate to a sound similar to U2. I follow and ground the music as best as I can with the cajon, a wooden box drum that gives me a decent range of sound. We have been making recordings on videotape and MiniDisc, which we review every few days. Kal-El works independently to transcribe the words that come through and develop them into structured songs that we can all learn together. It’s a wonderful process, and we have been gratefully blessed by our contact with the muse.

Of course, the evenings in Montreal help.

Around the music sessions (which happen three times a day), we take time for research, reading, and reflection about our intentions as teachers, as creators of Stay Up as well as Wake Up. Will we target a Jewish audience or a more interfaith crowd? Will we bring Jewish wisdom from Hasidut and Kaballah or more universal teachings (connecting Hasidism, Sufism, and Buddhism)? These are questions we do not intend to answer immediately, but in dialogue with our music, our life experiences, and the communities we call home.

I will say that there are two major trends in society (you might call them movements or paradigm shifts) that resonate with us and pull us to support their emergence. The first is tied to our common connection and root, which is Rabbi Zalman-Schachter Shalomi and Nataniel Miles-Yepez, the latter of whom is the project’s primary mentor. Zalman and Nataniel speak of a Fourth Hasidism, a new wave to follow the Desert Fathers, the teachings of Maimonides, and the European Hasidism of the Baal Shem Tov. It is a movement of renewal and energy within Judaism, emphasizing a deep, loving, and contemplative relationship with God. In this Fourth wave, however, there is explicit cross fertilization and permeability of religious boundaries. Jewish Renewal communities and people like Ofer, Kal, and me acknowledge the tremendous influence that Sufism, Buddhism, and Hinduism have had on our lives. We are also interested in sharing the wisdom and messages of Hasidut and the mystical Kaballah with people from other faith traditions. These are the gifts of Judaism, ways that we can be a light unto the nations as the Torah commands.

I should say that we are not interested in everyone’s living a New Age amalgam of traditions. Rather, we understand that a neighbor’s wisdom tradition can serve as a powerful mirror for both the challenges and beauty of our own roots. I’ve been reading Martin Buber of late, and would say that we are looking to foster an I-Thou relationship between the traditions, one that looks past each other to a unified Divine Source, but recognizes the distinctive beauty in each path.

The other major trend that we perceive is the support of what developmental psychologist Robert Kegan calls “self-authorship.” It is a developmental stage, one in which identity and sense of purpose move from a dependence on other people�s opinions to an internal compass. Paolo Coelho’s book The Alchemist calls it “finding one’s Personal Legend.” Martin Buber calls it the “unification of the soul, the pivotal moment of man.” My professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Hugh O’Doherty, called it finding purpose and taking responsibility.

There are a number of organizations and teachers out there whose aim is to help people through this process of self-authorship. There are seminars like the Landmark Forum that challenge people to find purpose and live their dreams. Books like Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People give structure and process for formulating and living with purpose and principle. We would look to fit into this landscape, providing people with contexts to visualize and write down their dreams, look inward to find what might be blocking their evolution, and engage in dialogue about ethics, principals, and the process of growth.

Of course, it would be hubris to say that we have mastered this process and have a tremendous amount to teach about it. We are all under 30 and if anything this project itself is a medium in which we are exploring our own visions, our own stories, our own ways of living our lives and helping others. That youth, however, is our strength. We are in the middle of the process ourselves. In reaching out to an audience of peers and younger people, we provide much more accessible role models than Stephen Covey, and we can authentically engage in dialogue about this process. Perhaps most importantly, we hope to bring a vibrant and youth-accessible music performance where our song lyrics, our storytelling, and our teaching challenge people to think about the direction and principals of their lives. The narratives in Kal’s lyrics often have this thread, telling stories of people breaking down the fences given to them so they can forge their own path, or struggling with a dream that defies people’s expectations of them.

How, then, do we integrate all this? How do we support people’s self-authorship through music and a Fourth Hasidic message? There are two syntheses that I’ve seen emerge, but they are not solid yet. The first is that we are looking to support a Wake Up both to the freedom of self-authorship and to the presence of Spirit as a support and guide in that process. In other words, part of self-authorship is developing a self-authored relationship with the Divine. This is a process very much supported and advocated in Hasidut. The second synthesis is that we are saying that the process of self-authorship should occur in dialogue and in community with other people. This is the essence of the openness of the Fourth Hasidism, and it is exactly a sense of community and connection that we aim to promote through musical concerts.

Are we thinking in too many directions, with too many disparate intentions? Or is their a unity to be found and crafted? Will we partner with an organization like Franklin-Covey or Jewish Renewal, or attempt to forge our own path? That will be our process of self authorship as a team and project. This blog continues to be a space where we hope to engage in dialogue about that process.