Beautiful day, a Sunday, and I was ready to hear something inspirational, something to make me think. I'm in search of that lately. I'm an ex-Catholic (ran like hell the moment I could, at 18), but I miss going somewhere and listening to larger ideas. Larger than politics, etc., which is all you hear about these days. Annoying and stupid.
Oh, I should mention that the pagan group/runes-making event was a bust. By the time I checked the event over 40 people were going. The group clearly doesn't cap the number of people who can attend. I can get a crowd on Facebook. I want to be in a fairly small group where I can actually talk to everyone there if I want to. Plus the evening was to start with dinner. I couldn't imagine how long it would take for the waitstaff to get through taking and delivering the orders of 40 people. Hours I imagined. No thanks. Hopefully another opportunity will arise. I sent an email to the group moderator asking if this was the norm. If it is, I'll drop the group and go to another pagan group's events. Happily, there's more than one pagan group!
The Society's offices are in a cool old building downtown. Here's the front:
First, here's what I found out about the building because it's really beautiful and I knew must have an interesting history:
It used to be an iconic bar/concert venue known as “The Marble Bar” in Mount Vernon’s historic neighborhood. As the Congress Hotel it saw musical acts such as REM, Iggy Pop, Squeeze, Sonic Youth, and Huey Lewis and the News. Includes original 70 ft long original marble bar.
More importantly (here's info from the Baltimore Sun:), the hotel was built by philanthropist James Lawrence Kernan in 1903. He also constructed two theaters, the Maryland Theater on Franklin Street that hosted vaudeville, and the Auditorium theater on Howard Street. The hotel and theaters were interconnected. The complex had an art gallery, saloon, spa, billiard room and barber shop.
More importantly (here's info from the Baltimore Sun:), the hotel was built by philanthropist James Lawrence Kernan in 1903. He also constructed two theaters, the Maryland Theater on Franklin Street that hosted vaudeville, and the Auditorium theater on Howard Street. The hotel and theaters were interconnected. The complex had an art gallery, saloon, spa, billiard room and barber shop.
In the hotel's heyday, Al Jolson and the Marx Brothers entertained at the vaudeville house.
Two decades after Kernan's death, the Depression took its toll on the hotel and an insurance company foreclosed. The Auditorium was converted to the Mayfair Theater in 1940, and the Maryland Theater was torn down in 1951. The hotel deteriorated despite a new owner's efforts in the late 1930s to modernize it.
A Baltimore Sun article in December 1976 described the hotel as a "faded burlesque queen, filled with memories of a glittering, theatrical past and covered with embarrassing evidence of physical decay," with its 120 rooms mostly rented by transients.
It's all cleaned up now and an apartment building, with the Ethical Society on the ground floor. It's an example of French Renaissance Revival architecture, and of the type of buildings Baltimore used to be known for.
Back to our story: I was welcomed by the president of the Society, who is a poet I know. Surprise! She seemed excited I was there (everyone is excited to see a new person; they fairly pounce on you) and loaded me up with pamphlets and copies of the newsletter. There'd been a regular meeting at 10:30 am on urban food and buying local, etc., but I was there to attend a lecture on Benjamin Franklin - humanist and freethinker.
I like history. Benjamin Franklin was superhuman, I think. Just look at his accomplishments. How could that not be interesting?
How indeed? But it was. The talk was basically a list of his accomplishments in timeline format, with embellishment and questions thrown out to the audience. There were several people in their twenties who were clearly Intellectuals and they chimed in so regularly, also debating among themselves, that I began to have that familiar feeling of overwhelming inadequacy. What I felt throughout college, really. And I started to think about what I could add to the conversation before I reminded myself that I wasn't trying to earn a participation grade. Sheesh. Just imagine sitting with a bunch of PhD candidates as they talk about something. Anything. You might know how I felt.
I am not an intellectual or an academic. And I don't mind saying that at all. I am smart and creative and that's fine with me.
I just wanted to sit and listen and think. Mostly I looked at my phone, willing an emergency call from someone, anyone, that didn't come.
We did do one thing that seemed like it would be interesting, but was mostly lame.
The speaker had printed Ben Franklin sayings on paper, then cut them into strips. We were asked to get up, pick a strip, then find someone we didn't know (perfect, I didn't know anyone!) and read our saying to them. They would read theirs back and then we'd decide if we wanted to switch. Then move to the next person for a total of three or four rounds.
Like I said, this seemed like a good idea, but once we each read our sayings there was nothing left to do. We each stared at the other, shrugging and smiling. "Do you want to keep yours?" I'd ask. "No, I'll take yours," or "Yes, I'll keep mine," they'd say and on to the next person. It was not a meaningful exchange by a long shot.
I did exchange with the first person, Anna, and here's the one she had that I liked:
All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.
Yep. This situation had its inconveniences. It reminded me of a bad date. One where you both know it's going nowhere but you're willing to sit for an hour and finish your tea before leaving. You could even pull out a book and start reading and the other person would totally understand.
We sat back down and were supposed to read our saying to the group when prompted by whatever topic the speaker was on. If he asked for quotes related to civic duty and we had one, speak up!
My quote was quite general, so each time he asked for them, mine didn't fit. Finally, after about an hour, I'd had my fill so I left. Unfortunately my president/poet friend saw me leave early. I waved my phone as I exited, as if the emergency call had come through.
Just not my crowd. Ah well.
So here are some fun facts I learned that prompted me to give the event a four:
BF liked to take "air baths." He would stand naked on his balcony to air out the body. Picture that.
He's in the swimmers Hall of Fame. Didn't know there was one, but he's in it. He invented paddles, wooden pieces one strapped to one's hands, that enabled a per son to cover more distance.
He invented the Armonica - spinning glass discs that were played with a wet finger and have an ethereal sound. Its use was stopped because it was rumored to drive a person insane.
Want to hear an Armonica? Here's an intern playing the one in the Benjamin Franklin House. How's that for authentic?
He created the Junto in Philadelphia (discussion group to debate morals, politics and natural philosophy.)
Here are the first four questions of the many you had to answer correctly in order to join. See if you'd make it:
1) Have you any particular disrespect to any present members? (Right answer: I have not.)
2) Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind in general, of what profession or religion soever? (Right answer: I do.)
(Here's where I fail. As Charles Schulz once said, "I love mankind. It's people I can't stand.")
3) Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name, or goods, for mere speculative opinions, or his external way of worship? (Right answer: No.)
4) Do you love truth for truth's sake, and will you endeavor impartially to find and receive it yourself, and communicate it to others? (Right answer: Yes.)
It's really too bad. I had high hopes for the Ethical Society. I might go back one more time and see if it was a fluke. I like their "Eight Commitments":
1) Ethics is a central human issue.
2) Ethics begins with choice.
3) We choose to treat each other as ends, not means, as unique individuals having intrinsic worth.
4) We seek to act with integrity: keep commitments, be honest, open, caring, responsive.
5) We are committed to educate ourselves, learning how to build ethical relationships and cultivate a humane community.
6) Self-reflection and our social nature require us to shape a more humane world - growth of the human spirit is rooted in self-reflection, but can only come to full flower in community.
7) Democratic process is essential to our task - respect for the worth of persons requires democratic process which elicits and allows a greater expression of human capacities.
8) Life itself inspires religious response - although awareness of impending death intensifies the human quest, the mystery of life itself, and the need to belong, are the primary factors motivating human religious response.
Don't these sound wonderful? They're like marriage vows or something. Keep them in mind if you're engaged.
These words were big and inspiring and I believed in them when I went to this meeting. But it's not the feeling I found there. I can't imagine it being there during a talk about urban food and organic farming, either.
There was an expansiveness missing, a - Oh, I know what is it - a DIVINITY. A feeling of the divine was missing. That's to be expected when anything supernatural is left out of the equation as it seems to be here.
I don't mind "God" being missing as that word will always ring hollowly of Christianity and Catholicism to me so it's not one I use or like, and never will, but a feeling of spirit or divinity is welcome. I think humans have an element of the divine. And whatever force out there in the Universe is a collective creation of everything's divinity - human, animal, vegetable, mineral, etc. So this experience fell flat without it.
The room, however, did have a super cool ceiling, with some sort of acoustic panels:
Next up: A full moon women's circle (via the other pagan group I joined as backup to the first with the too-large meetings). I am also going to another Meet Up of the hiking group as one of the points of this process is to form new friendships and/or a relationship. To do this I must go back to the groups I like. This means my life is going to quickly spin out of control with Meet Ups. I do pretty well when things spin out of control, so no matter. Let's spin away together, shall we?
WHEN: January 29, 2012WHERE: Their offices
PEOPLE: 17 (7 older, 4 forties/fifties, 6 in their twenties)
COST: $0
MILES: 8 miles RT
RATING: 4/10
THEME: Spiritual, intellectual, ethical
No comments:
Post a Comment