In the lead article in this Fall 2022 issue of Parabola, journalist Lisa Teasley writes of being “the only Black person in the room” and how for years that undermined her sense of belonging. To be denied this basic human need, an incomparable source of meaning, can be devastating—as evidenced also in Linda A. Curtis’s remembrance here of being shunned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“What is the solution?’ asks Teasley. Many paths to belonging surface within these pages. There is a celebration by author Gilbert Friend-Jones of the spiritual companions he has found in a Benedictine monastery. Author and poet Mark Nepo inspires us to renew mind, heart, and body in order to “reconnect to the miracle of life.” Professor of dance Holly Lau explains how she found belonging in a most surprising place, at Memphis Grizzlies basketball games.
There is a universal understanding among our contributors that we all belong somewhere. As philosopher Glenn Aparicio Parry illuminates in his interview here, the earth itself embraces us and vibrates through us. Locked in a prison cell, Oscar Wilde yearns for Nature, “whose sweet rains fall on just and unjust unlike.” Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev explores biblical covenant to show that God and humanity belong to one another, while Parabola’s digital editor, Surnaí Molloy, demonstrates how she, and thus we, can make any place our own through attention and heart.
An ultimate odyssey of belonging is that of Issan Dorsey, remembered here in a compelling excerpt from David Schneider’s book Street Zen. Once a drag queen, gay prostitute, junkie, and commune leader, Issan took LSD, found Buddhism, and rose to the abbotship of San Francisco’s Hartford Street Zen Center. Rather than reject his past, he accepted it with compassion, founding a major AIDS hospice at the center.
Issan belonged. So do we all. May this issue help you find and sustain your place in our world.
—Jeff Zaleski
