Most of us were here a week ago tonight listening to Mark’s beautiful talk, a talk that gave us some perspective to better go home and face the end of this brutal election cycle. And now I am so grateful that I spent the evening here with Sangha instead of watching the whole gruesome thing on TV.

So, here we are again a week later.  I’m guessing that some of us may have come tonight just to get steeped in the warmth of Sangha.  Maybe still experiencing difficult emotions that have been building up throughout the contest and seemed to explode upon hearing the results.  

And I imagine that there are all sorts of feelings in this room.  Maybe we are feeling the deep loss of not having the outcome we expected or wanted.  Or perhaps feeling fear about what comes next.  Or perhaps feeling the pain of divisiveness in our country right now.  Worried about what all this could mean?  Or maybe feeling exhausted, disgusted with the whole mess, or just numbed out — kind of dead inside.

And we can hold all of that this evening, along with any other concerns we bring into the room. And no matter what you are experiencing right now, no matter who you voted for, or didn’t vote for, you are welcome here.  Let this Sangha be a container that can hold all of our fears, grievances, heartbreak, confusion, uncertainty, anger. And hold them in a way that we are not feeding what is being called “the divide.”

by Bradley Martin

As of this Tuesday November 8th (election day), PIM's website has a new face. But it could not have happened without the patient help of Monty Cook.
It was sad to see Monty's work disappear into the ether when the old site domain was transferred from Hostmonster. He put a LOT of work into that site, but was anxious to build a new one that was safer for our visitors to access.

So, to Monty, Carol, Mark and Doris (and the Weebly team), THANK YOU for all of your help in allowing me to create this beautiful space for others to explore the Dharma!