Zombie walk? Huh?

Say what?

It seems like a bizarre event to promote a spiritual community, we do realize. But Halloween is second only to Christmas in its marketing appeal; it captures the imagination in a way that few other holidays do -- and we're all about capturing the imagination. Besides, who doesn't love to don a fun/cool/crazy/scary/sexy/ disgusting costume and rub elbows with Count Dracula or Elvis or Richard Nixon?

Well, we do.

As for zombies, it's been suggested that they've become the most relevant "monster" in the cinematic pantheon, in this age of mindless consumerism, couch potato-ism and pandemic spiritual vacuity. The zombie was originally taken from legendary Voodoo Hoodoo and famously adapted in 1968 for George Romero's landmark film Night Of the Living Dead, in which the recently deceased inexplicably return to life to prey upon the living. Since that time zombies have headlined in countless sequels, spin-offs, rip-offs, adaptations, novels, comics, board games, role playing games and video games, and with each new cultural iteration it's clear that the theme of the "living dead" resonates in western culture at a frequency to which many of us are keenly attuned.

But what's a 'Zombie Walk?'

It's equal parts quiet riot, social movement, ironic parade, flash mob; a free-form traveling costume party in which dozens or hundreds or thousands of participants adopt the garb, makeup, expression and gait of the living dead, and collectively lurch along pre-arranged routes through metropolitan centers. According to Wikipedia's Zombie Walk entry, the practice was officially born in 2001 in Sacramento, as a gag to promote a local midnight film festival. Other accounts trace its origin to Toronto, but despite the where and when, since that time the cultural infection (to use the time-honored narrative parlance) has rapidly spread throughout the nation and the world: events in San Francisco and Toronto have drawn hundreds of participants, while this year's Brisbane lurch featured a staggering 1,500 (okay, pun intended) reanimated revelers. Kindly check out the YouTube link below, video from this year's event in Prague, and watch as hundreds of zombies stream by the camera in an uninterrupted flow that runs for nearly six minutes.

But really, a zombie walk to promote a spiritual community?

Again, yes, we think the metaphor is most apt. Few would disagree that we live in a zombifying age; throughout the world countless millions endure mind-numbing commutes to soul-crushing workplaces, wallow in insipid, sophomoric or frankly destructive entertainment and advertising, and blindly pursue indeterminate goals rooted in insatiable appetites for trifling desires. For such 'nouveau zombies,' true inspiration arrives on occasions that number too few and far between to construe the sort of flotation device that might serve to bear us up above the social and cultural detritus of this desperate age -- and as culture and society fail to support enlightenment, we're left with nowhere to turn but within.

Thus do we find the Zombie Walk to be very much within our mandate at VCSL. For most of us, the single greatest (or perhaps only) opportunity for vivification (or 'reanimation,' if you'll tolerate a last quip) is in and through spirit. Likewise, thus do we offer our invitation in the banner of this webpage, and with our event in general:

"Zombies, come to life!"

Our Reverend Bonnie Rose put it most aptly when she recently penned: "Spiritually speaking, the zombie provides a powerful metaphor. We begin to notice our inner zombie with humor and compassion. We reveal the living dead in us that tends to stagger through life seeking only to consume, hypnotized by base desires. As we become aware, we smile at the inner zombie and release it. Ultimately, the 'zombie comes to life', as we awaken to the spirit that seeks expression in all of us."

For our purposes, then, the Zombie Walk celebrates our limitless life potential, even as it pokes fun at our natural tendency toward entropy, and urges the uplifting of life and spirit and fellowship that we believe comprises the energetic center of us all.

We hope you'll join us in celebrating life, and the undead -- er, immortal -- spirit in all of us this October 25.