Impressions From The Parliament – Day 1

Crappy picture of the opening procession. Peter Dybing took all of the good ones. I was too busy being emotional about it.

Religious observances all begin at 7am tomorrow at the Parliament of World Religions. Yes, 7am. That’s not a typo. Comments in the Pagan community here are along of the lines of “we are not sunrise worshipers” and “I have personal boundaries and 7am is outside of those boundaries”. I intend to peel myself out of bed in the dark, walk two blocks to a bike station before sunrise, and then bike the dark cold streets of Salt Lake City sometime after 6am. “Intend” is the operative word here, we’ll see if intention leads to manifestation.

In light of this I’ll throw out a few bullet point impressions in stream-of-consciousness order before getting as much sleep as I can during this short, short night.

* The Parliament is an extrovert’s heaven. Even still, I managed to get overwhelmed today. Compared to the Parliament, PantheaCon feels like a cozy coven gathering.

* Seeing the diversity in ages, races, colors, religious garb, formal and casual, continues to bring tears to my eyes. Literally. I’m not someone who cries easily, but I feel like I am about to blubber all over the place every few minutes.

The wisdom from the indigenous leaders is so very needed!

* When children from every nation carried their country’s flags during the opening ceremony followed by the indigenous leaders of this land, I came undone. So much power, so much symbolism, such hope. Crying in earnest now.

* Our Pagan umbrella term takes on a whole different meaning here. Argue against it all you want, when you’re in a place with thousands of people from countless religions, we all have a whole lot more in common than we generally give ourselves credit for. No, really.

* Celebrating Langar, that is, eating with hundreds or thousands of people on the floor in a ginormous conference hall is something else. I caused quite a bit of fascination with my folding camping dishes and bamboo silverware which I carry around with me to avoid causing waste. I should get a commission from the companies that make those.

* The inaugural women’s assembly needs to be the beginning of many more to come. So many woman and allies in one place advocating for women’s rights – powerful. The Maori women and their stories, songs, drums, and dances – more crying on my part.

* There are more female speakers at this Parliament than male. That’s awesome, but it is weird to have seven key speakers at the opening session be all men in suits. “Where are the women?” a group shouted when they took the stage. Good question. Apparently everywhere else at the Parliament, but why not in the opening session?

Bike shares. I am completely enamored with them.

* The two rabbis rocked the opening ritual. If it wasn’t for the 7am ritual tomorrow, I’d look up their names and bios right now, but alas. They spoke passionately of empowering woman, fighting for justice for refugees, for the poor, for the environment, for Palestinians, for peace work with Muslims. More tears from me and standing ovations from much of the audience.

* Bike shares are amazing. Really, really amazing. Why can’t we have public bike share programs in every city? They’re super easy to use, fast to learn, and I now zip around Salt Like City like a pro. Also, electrical bicycle rickshaws with sparkling lights and Indian music playing on built in speakers – am I really in Utah?