Meditations Return
Writers: Tania Rana, Athena Wang, Clark Wu, Andrew Yuan
Sunlight shone through the stained glass windows of Phillips Church to illuminate students and faculty gathered for the beginning of Meditations on Wednesday, October 6.
Scheduled for 9:50 a.m. on Wednesdays, Meditations are an Exeter tradition for the community to share their stories. Faculty and staff share in the fall and seniors selected by the English Department share in the winter and spring. The series featured Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Reverend Bonnie Jean Casey in a reception under the Art Gallery tent. This year, attendees have a limited capacity of around 90 people and mandated masking.
Hearon expressed his excitement for the coming weeks. “The return of in-person Meditations is like a long-awaited homecoming. They bring a sense of connection to others’ stories, reflections and connections - things direly needed in this period of isolation,” he said.
Senior Riley Valashinas also looked forward to in-person Meditations. “[It’s] so much more of a checkpoint of sorts. It really requires you to sit and focus for thirty straight minutes in a way that online meditations can’t, and in a place where it can often be hard to take that time to slow down and pay attention, this oasis of calm and presence is something I’m grateful for,” she said.
In Casey’s meditation, she discussed the community’s transition out of COVID. “I want to honor our resilience and focus on our ability to adapt to change. Change takes courage, it always has. We learn to map our course, but often we are thrown off course by something unexpected,” Casey said.
Casey spoke of a religious tale about a stream, a desert, and the wind. “The stream was convinced that it could not cross the desert, until the desert whispered that the wind crossed the stream. ‘If you continue to hurdle in your own way, you’ll disappear. You must trust the wind,’” she said.
“When the wind took up the water and carried it over the desert the stream understood. And there are several beautiful messages in this journey. It’s one of determination and the challenges in personal change,” Casey concluded.
Students in attendance on Wednesday expressed their appreciation for the reinstated event. “It was so peaceful to just have a space that was quiet and focused, and everyone was really respectful, so I’d say it was great. I loved having a dedicated time to just sit in this sanctuary of sorts and just listen,” Valashinas said.
Senior Emma Chen agreed. “Even though I’m not Christian, the church itself felt such a peaceful setting for a meditation,” she said, “the location itself gave additional significance to the meditation itself.”
Valashinas also looks forward to hearing classmates read their meditations. “I feel like it really helps you get to know people in a way you otherwise wouldn’t...I’ve also been reading some of them in my English class, since it’s senior fall and I’ll be starting my own soon, and it’s just so inspiring to read people’s stories, and to see what they choose to say when they’re given the space to do so.”
Hearon hoped that Meditations can strengthen connections between the community. “It’s a religious experience of sorts, and it’s what the root of the word ‘religion’ means: a bringing back together of what has become frayed or torn,” Hearon said.
“What I love most about Meditations are the generosity of spirit in the speakers, matched with a generosity of awareness in the listening audience. There’s no better place on the Exeter campus to witness goodness-in-action” Hearon said.
