The importance of taking a moment to “Pause” through a new program
For most people, our fast-paced world often creates the feeling that to be considered a valuable member of society, one must constantly be on the move, working endlessly to accomplish, achieve, or make ends meet. While work is an important part of everyday life, finding moments of pause within a busy day to focus inward should be just as much of a priority.
On-campus, those involved in the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) are offering the new program “Pause,” which was created by Bates Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf in collaboration with the Multifaith Fellows in her office.
Each Pause session at Colby will be held every Monday from 9:00 to 9:30 p.m. in the Lorimer Chapel, featuring a half-hour-long moment of silence in a calm space interspersed with student art.
In an interview with The Colby Echo, Abigail Carson `22, the ORSL assistant, discussed how the program is “about giving students a time of no commitment,” so they can come relax and think about their week.
ORSL designed the program to take place on Mondays so that students can start each academic week in a clear and rested headspace.
“We thought having it at the beginning of the week would be helpful for setting a mindset as you go forward,” Carson said.
Carson, along with Rachel Hatheway `24 and Madeleine Zullow `24, is helping to kickstart the program by setting up the event and coordinating with artists, poets, musicians, and other talents so that they can come in and share their work.
“Right now we’re kind of coming together from the different areas of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and the goal is in the future to have a lot of different students from each area of the Office like the multifaith liaison. But, at this point in time we’re just kind of trying to get the program underway,” Carson said.
As for the structure of the program, each artist has an allotted three-minute time slot to present their work before three minutes of silence and reflection from the audience. Each artist in the program is welcome to use their three minutes in any way they see fit.
“I think the great thing about Pause is that it’s so open to interpretation, so my vision is that going forward, each artist will really be able to cultivate whatever they want. So, there will be times of silence interspersed with a few minutes of art, and in those times, it’s the artists’ space to do whatever they want,” Carson said. “So if they’re a musician, they can sing a song. If they’re a poet, they can read their poetry. If they’re a visual artist, they can have their art on display and they can talk about it if they want.”
While meditating in the Lorimer Chapel weekly with a large group of students may appear to have religious connotations, the program does not come with any religious or spiritual pressures and encourages each individual to experience the art and silence in any way that is meaningful to them.
“This is really not supposed to be a designated religious event. If students want to bring their own experiences there, and if they want to take these moments of silence to pray or meditate, then they totally can, but we’re not prescribing any sort of religious connotations to the event,” Carson said. “It’s really about [having] this nice space the vision is to have darkness with candlelight and just silence.”
Many students at the College require a moment of pause. Carson discussed how the program has the best interest of the students in mind, knowing that there are so many who could benefit from taking a weekly break.
“It’s just been a nice experience to think about what students will benefit from having, which is the question that we’re really dealing with right now, and then seeing how the first time happens and then maybe readjusting depending on the reception that we get... the biggest thing right now is trying to figure out what students at Colby need, and what’s going to be most beneficial to them, and trying to put that into place,” she said.
Incorporating art into the program will also help those who struggle to stay grounded during meditation-type practices, and will provide artists the opportunity for their work to reach a wider audience.
“I think just having space for silence and for meditation can be a little intimidating. I know for myself personally it’s like ‘what do I even do with that time and that space, what do I even fill my thoughts with,’ so having the art, on the one hand, gives people something to center around or to meditate on, and on the other hand, it’s also a great way for students who are artists to show off their work with the community in a way that can cultivate this shared experience,” Carson said.
~ Jenna Boling `24
