{"id":2897,"date":"2017-10-11T13:45:10","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T17:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kevinrayarcher.com\/WordPress\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2020-11-12T22:25:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T03:25:57","slug":"pmsc17-5-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kevinrayarcher.com\/WordPress\/pmsc17-5-sanctuary\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Meal Supper Club™ #17.5: Sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Landing<\/a>
Landing of John Alden and Mary Chilton, Plymouth Rock, 1620<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peace Meal Supper Club™ #17.5: Sanctuary is an exploration of identity and definition. From our privileged vantage point, how does the present-day struggle of Syrian refugees<\/a> look? Do we see a reflection of Central American refugees<\/a>, who fled civil war in the 1980s? When we remember the Underground Railroad<\/a> of the 1800s, which carried over 100,000 US slaves to freedom, can we project its success forward, envisioning sanctuary for all? And most importantly, how do we see ourselves in the midst of such unrest?<\/p>\n

\"Nov.<\/a>
Nov. 16, 2015. Migrants arrive by a Turkish boat near the village of Skala, on the Greek island of Lesbos. Photo by Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do we see ourselves as human, beyond all limited identifiers? Or do national, religious, social, political, philosophical, and racial definitions fragment our humanity?<\/p>\n

In a recently discovered recording<\/a> from December 7, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., declares: \u201cThe basic thing about a man is not his specificity, but his fundamentum<\/em>, not the texture of his hair or the color of his skin, but his eternal dignity and worth\u2026Fleecy locks, and black complexion cannot forfeit nature\u2019s claim; Skin may differ, but affection dwells in black and white the same\u2026were I so tall as to reach the pole, or to grasp the ocean at a span, I must be measured by my soul; the mind is the standard of the man.”<\/p>\n

This transcendence of externalities is the living heart of human progress. It\u2019s a golden cord which not only binds us spiritually, but leads us along the arc of the moral universe. It is firmly knotted in Utopia.<\/p>\n

Our sublimely human identity has given us Eden\u2019s Garden, Paradise, the Peach Blossom Spring, Shambhala, Avalon, and dreams of the Peaceable Kingdom. This unified pursuit of utopia persistently offers us the most beautiful position: peace, freedom of expression and person, and expansion of humaneness to always include others. But fragmented identities, by nature, are insecure. They fight aggressively for dominance under the banners of superiority, manifest destiny, and imperialism.<\/p>\n