Welcome to Season 4: Gratitude, Grief, and Navigating Uncertainty with Francisco Burgos

In this opening episode of Season 4, Dwight and Francisco discuss grief, gratitude, staying grounded amidst uncertainty and polarization, and the guiding queries and themes of the season.

Dwight Dunston is a West Philly-based facilitator, hip-hop artist, educator, and activist who has brought his creativity, care, and compassion to schools, community centers, retirement homes, festivals, and stadiums all over the country and internationally.

Francisco Burgos is the executive director at Pendle Hill and has facilitated spiritual retreats and lectio divina sessions for many audiences. Francisco was a De La Salle Christian Brother for almost ten years, serving in Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, and has been a Friend since 2004. He is a member of Harrisburg Friends Meeting and an attender of meetings including Monteverde Friends Meeting in Costa Rica and Adelphi Friends Meeting in Maryland.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/

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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

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This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Transcript

Francisco Burgos  0:03 
We are seeing so much violence today, breathing in the awareness of how I can be in the world. How I can be a witness of peace, a peace that is incarnated in justice.

Dwight Dunston  0:30 
You're listening to The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope. A Pendle Hill podcast where Quakers and other seekers come together to explore visions of the world that is growing up through the cracks of our broken systems. I'm your host, Dwight Dunston. This season, we're exploring what spiritual alignment means in this moment of escalating social and political upheaval and violence. How do we cultivate discernment to stay the course and stay connected to our leadings? How are we being called to transform ourselves and our communities to break down systems of oppression and embody new ways of being? We're opening this season in conversation with Fransisco Burgos. Francisco is the executive director at Pendle Hill and has facilitated spiritual retreats and Lectio Divina sessions for many audiences. Fransisco was a De LaSalle Christian brother for almost 10 years serving in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Costa Rica, and has been a Friend since 2004. He is a member of Harrisburg Friends Meeting and an attender of meetings including Monteverde Friends Meeting in Costa Rica and Adelphi Friends Meeting in Maryland.

Dwight Dunston  1:49  
Fransisco, we're back!

Francisco Burgos  1:51 
We are back sitting down in this recording studio from Pendle Hill.

Dwight Dunston  1:56 
And I want to talk to you about some of the things that have come up dreaming into Season Four some of the themes. And you know, I love to start where we start with our guests often, which is just, Fransisco, what's it like being you today, man, what's it like?

Francisco Burgos  2:10 
Since the last conversation that we had here, I know that I have experienced a lot of change in my life, and I have been reflecting on them and the impact the learnings that I, that I'm having. So being Francisco today is being open to the unknown, is being open to how is that I can respond to the uncertainty that are blooming everywhere. And at the same time, I try to, to hold to the things that ground me. So this is me today. Yeah. How are you?

Dwight Dunston  2:50 
Wow, today I feel more embodied. I got some body work this morning to really support me to feel grounded and feel connected to my to this physical, sacred vessel. That is my body through which I experience the world and experience spirit and experience creativity. And I get to love from this body, I get to show care, I get to dream and envision in this body and hold other's dreams and visions in this body. So I feel embodied. I feel grateful, because we're here again, and I am feeling hopeful. I'm feeling hopeful today.

Francisco Burgos  3:30 
So Dwight, we are entering into Season 4. And I know that you and the rest of the team has put a lot of energy and effort to come out with a set of interviews that will be nurturing our journey. Can you tell us how you have been dancing with those interviews?

Dwight Dunston  3:50 
Yeah, I'm so blessed to have a team that is so creative and flexible when it comes to collaboration. And I know one place that I often start is what's alive in my life at the time at the beginning of recording or as we prepare to record. This season, I've been thinking a lot about gratitude and grief, and how we hold gratitude and grief in ourselves in relationships and community. That is something that's going to come up in some of the conversations for me it's so important to not only look at my own relationship to those things, but to hear how other people move in relationship to them and how they support themselves in those feelings, emotions, states of being and also how they listen to callings and leadings in this time in their life as we hold on to things like our gratitudes and griefs. We also think some about accompaniment really walking side by side staying grounded in Spirit while we accompany one another. I'm curious how you would what you would share on some of these themes right off the bat, attuning, you know, on following your callings and leadings?

Francisco Burgos  5:00 
You know that for me, this is very alive these days. Just three months ago, I lost my mom. And I felt so much gratitude for the way how she was able to transition from from this life. My mom was a very simple woman, and someone who was dedicated to a lot of service, gratitude for her was very alive. And I have been reflecting on that, recognizing that the way how I greet that transition is important for me in order to really embrace the hope that we have been talking about. And I do think that this this combo of gratitude and grief has to be, again, to be lived at different level is the personal level is the communal level, because there is a lot of things going on that need these two ingredients. I can tell you that in the most intimate level, for me, being able to notice what is important for me to keep going on, generate a lot of gratitude. Gratitude for the people that accompany me. And for the stuff that we take for granted. We take for granted that we will wake up every day. And it is a real blessing to, oh, wake up and say "I am breathing." "I am alive." "How thankful I am for that." And at the same time how I am coping with the different realities that are painful. And doing that in a way that is healthy. Good grief. I think that this is something that we should be teaching. It is true that many of us don't know how to grieve, yeah. And to grieve well.

Dwight Dunston  6:54 
And to grieve well. I, one, want to just offer condolences to the loss, you know, such a big loss like a parent. And I also feel so grateful I got to meet your mom here on campus.

Francisco Burgos  7:06 
Yeah.

Dwight Dunston  7:06  
And, you know, I'm grateful for how she helped to raise you and that I in this place, Pendle Hill, gets to just be in the presence of the gifts that you bring, and the love that you bring. You talked about her not being on this plane, and her presence is still felt through you. I'm so grateful for that.

Francisco Burgos  7:26 
Thank you.

Dwight Dunston  7:39 
We're at a different place all of us than we were at the beginning of Season 3 or even Season 1. You mentioned this. I'm curious, just in terms of your own spiritual grounding, spiritual alignment, your own spiritual path, your understanding of what you're being called to do in this time in this season.

Francisco Burgos  8:00 
So this is a simple and heavy question. I, I do believe that our call is to evolve. And change is is always within us. So not embracing change can be dangerous, not for the sake of change, but change that has meaning. And when we started this project, I remember in our first recording, that we were so excited to see where this will take us. For me, this project has evolved. I do think that we are exploring a way of seeing how the faith and practice of the Friends community is being embraced in everyday life, while talking about things that are affecting our realities. It's for me, living a, the testimonies in a way that is very unique. Notice that I say the testimonies, because I don't think that there is just five or 10 testimonies, I think that our life is called to be a testimony. So knowing that these conversations help us to navigate also and to understand what this institution that we named Pendle Hill is also evolving into this great, great blessing. And I feel that without The Seed, I will have a very slow process to embrace this exploration. So what has changed for me is that The Seed has suddenly widened my view in regards to how is that we are exploring the critical things that are affecting our communities this day. Have you experienced any change like that for yourself, too?

Dwight Dunston  9:50 
Yeah, I both feel like it's a straightforward and a heavy question, you know, in terms of life shifts in the ways that connects with what I'm being called to do in this time. Between last season in this season, you might know this, I've been exploring a theatrical self. I got really into clowning and one of the things I feel called to do with exploring just my whole artful self is, yeah, how art and creativity can support us to imagine the world that is growing up through the cracks of our broken system, you know, to make it tangible to really feel into it, to touch it to give it life in a way that without an imagination, it's hard to do. And that's another thing we talked with some of our guests about is how their imagination and creativity supports them to build a new world before it's even made possible made tangible, how they also get to practice being in that new world through relationships through their communities.

Francisco Burgos  10:57 
So Dwight know that you have been interacting with our guests and dancing with a few queries that are important for us as we advance into this season. Are any of those queries, calling your attention in a more particular and challenging way?

Dwight Dunston  11:12 
One of the things I've been thinking a lot about knowing that here in the US, we have an election coming up in November. I know I feel anxious about the polarization that we've already seen, political upheaval, and in some cases, violence. Some of the queries that we are bringing to our guests are around how they stay steadfast to this belief of that of God and everyone, while we see an increase an amplification of polarization of of strife, confusion, misinformation, separation, or the myth of separation, as Niyonu Spann talks about in her work, and Martin Luther King and others during that time talked about self commitment as a way to prepare themselves to usher in Beloved Community. So really being intentional about the work the self work that you need to do before we go and turn and tell everybody else what they need to do to get right.

Francisco Burgos  12:11 
Yeah,

Dwight Dunston  12:11  
What's the work that we need to do in ourselves? How do we prep our hearts, our minds, our spirits to be and stay invested in that struggle that fight for a new world that ushering in of a new world? That's one of the things I'm curious how our guests ready themselves, the self commitment work that they do. And it's a query that we bring to the guests that's really ground in our season, Season 4, and it feels connected to some other programs and things happening here. You know, we have Quaker Institute coming up in May, and Continuing Revolution. And, you know, I think these queries are grounding our podcast, but are swirling around Pendle Hill this entire year, it feels like.

Francisco Burgos  12:50 
It's interesting that you talk about the presence of non violence and how our commitment to it is lived. Not only in the US, but around the globe, we are seeing so much violence today and bringing the awareness of how I can be in the world, how I can be a witness of peace, a peace that is incarnated in justice. How I can do that at the micro and at the macro level, because everything is connected. I imagine that asking ourselves those questions every day, and as you said, those queries that invite us to, to really deepen our thought, and our reflections and our action are so important for us to keep moving to keep walking. The famous phrase is that "we make the road by walking it." So what is the type of road that we want to build today? How do we remain faithful to walking together? Despite our differences, whatever those differences are, how can we remain committed to keep working and walking together for the transformation that these will need? I think that this is this is the task in front of us, not just, this year is a very special year, because we are holding so many things, the things going in the Middle East and things going in Ukraine, Latin America is full of stuff right now, you know, and here in the US also, as we prepare for this, as you call it, election day--year, how is that we are putting our you know, little candle to illuminate the path toward a most more peaceful process that allow us to recognize the humanity among us beyond the things that really put us apart from one another?

Dwight Dunston  14:40  
Well we get to see how the podcast supports that. And I'm just so excited that we get to be in conversation with another round of just brilliant loving, heart open individuals. My hope is that our listeners will listen and be inspired to do the work they're called to do from these conversations. So I feel from this conversation ready to ready to dive in and do some work. So thank you, Francisco for taking time. Always appreciate just getting to sit with you, good brother.

Francisco Burgos  15:10  
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much Dwight. And I know that you know, again, this is a collective dream. And I am so grateful for for every single person behind the scenes that may The Seed: Conversation for Radical Hope, a possibility. And for Pendle Hill and the people that has believed in this project, I do think that we are with it, you know, carrying the light to places where it is much needed. So, thank you, and thank you for our listeners.

Dwight Dunston  15:42 
Thank ya'll so much. Stay tuned!

Dwight Dunston  16:04 
The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit led learning retreat and community. We're located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni Lenape people. Visit us at PendleHill.org. This episode was produced and edited by Anna Hill. Our theme music is the I Rise Project by Reverend Rhetta Morgan and Bennett Kuhn produced by Astronautical Records. This project was made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund. If you're finding these conversations meaningful, inspiring and energizing, you can support our work financially by heading to PendleHill.org/donate. And you could subscribe rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. And make sure to follow us @PendleHillSeed on all social media platforms. It helps us to continue planting these seeds.