The world is a noisy place. One in which peace feels ever more elusive, either personal or communal. We, like the poet Yeats, while we “stand on…the pavements grey”, feel the draw to the quiet places of nature in our “deep hearts core.” We seek places of refuge where we can hear the small, still whisper of the voice of God, where our souls can rest, and our bodies be nourished by fresh air and fresh food.
Yet we cannot all be a Thoreau and escape to our Walden Pond to leave that noisy world behind. Some of us are needed to be voices for justice, against poverty, for the voiceless among us. Some of us are needed to be the laborers or the teachers or the prophets. But we all need rest, peace, quiet places.
And we need, it seems, to learn how to listen with our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls engaged to the pains and hurts of the world and to answer them with compassionate, just, merciful and measured words—and actions.
Fairlight Forum aims to bring people to that place of rest, Friendly Hall at Fairlight Farm, to seek peace, to find the quiet place in which to listen and to hear.
Even those of us who thrive in the midst of the concrete jungle, where the more people we see the more at ease we feel, sense a change inside when we allow ourselves to fully step into creation. When we put our feet on grass and smell damp earth and green, growing things instead of exhaust, pizza, and the hot steaminess of sun on cement and asphalt, we relax. Not everyone wants to rough it out in the woods, but we all lower our guard just a little when we breathe clean air and hear birds instead of taxis.
We connect to others in a different way when we leave the world behind us. When we remove the distractions of our daily lives, the noise of the news and the clamor of the world, we are better able to hear those who speak outside of our own experiences. Our senses are sharpened and we find ourselves listening in ways that are challenging in the everyday.
Fairlight is a special place, removed from the chaos that often surrounds us. Resting our eyes on beauty, being caressed by a breeze that bears the scent of river and mountain—these things ground us in the moment. We can be fully present with others to listen and to be free of the demands on our time and attention to ponder new ideas and contemplate the stories of others.
Working parents are all too aware, in this time of COVID quarantines, how difficult it is to attend to the concerns of our jobs when our children are nearby with their noise and their needs. But we also know how easy it is to be distracted by the simplest of things—the dirty dishes left in the sink, the plant that could use water, the laundry waiting to be folded. Our eyes see and catalogue the tasks around us and we struggle to attend to the person on the screen or the document waiting to be read.
Sometimes, in order to see something differently, to dig into an idea, or hear someone more clearly, we need to get away from the ordinary and the things that so easily claim our attention. Not everyone can come to Fairlight Farm or hold a meeting in a forest, but we can all find a new place to be that is beautiful, restful, serene, and takes us away from our usual.