Taizi comes to Whistler "From the depths of the human condition a secret aspiration rises up. Caught up in the anonymous rhythms of schedules and timetables, people today are implicitly thirsting for an essential reality: an inner life and signs of the invisible. Nothing is more conducive to a oneness with the Creator than a meditative common prayer with, as its high point, singing that never ends and that continues in the silence of one's heart when one is alone again." This, Brother Roger of Taizi says, is what awakens us to joy. One thing I hear over and over again as I meet people in Whistler, is: "I am spiritual, but not religious." Perhaps that is what defines the modern malaise of the church — an over-abundance of religiosity and an under-abundance of spirituality. So the question is: "How can we as a community come together to deepen our spirituality for a richer inner life that will extend to a warmer sense of loving community in this valley?" Welcome to the world of Taizi. Begun in a small town in France as a response to people coming from all over the world, speaking many different languages, Taizi has become known around the world. It is a form that seeks to draw people together in a common search for a deeper spiritual life. It calls us to leave behind passivity, discouragement, and rivalries, to enter into a common creation. Singing short musical phrases with singable melodic units that are readily memorized by everybody, Taizi promotes a kind of inner unity of the person, allowing the spirit to be more open and more attentive to what is essential. Come and join members of a variety of Whistler communities and the Whistler Chamber Players in this experience of song and meditation, at the Whistler Skier`s Chapel opposite the Husky station at Creekside on Sunday, March 19th at 7 p.m. For more information, call Barbara Gilday at 932-5104.
