What if the truth got out?

I better sound smart once in a while,
in case someone is spying.

What if the truth got out
that I really prefer silliness and silence
to offering fancy clues to the universe?

- Hafiz

I love this! And yes he does say "silliness" not "stillness" as I first thought!

It's all about letting go.

I am convinced that a healthy spiritual journey is primarily about letting go. I could say a lot more about that but for now a few quotes from the latest issue of Parabola, a journal we receive regularly. The theme of this issue is Liberation and Letting Go. (You can see more content from this issue on line.)

Where is God
 - Mark Nepo

It's as if what is unbreakable -
the very pulse of life - waits for
everything else to be torn away,
and then in the bareness that
only silence and suffering and
great love can expose, it dares
to speak through us and to us.

It seems to say, if you want to last,
hold on to nothing. If you want
to know love, let in everything.
If you want to feel the presence
of everything, stop counting
the things that break along the way.

(Like most poetry this repays a repeated reading in a reflective, open-hearted way.)

"Death is not extinguishing the light, 

it is only putting out the lamp because dawn has come."

- Rabindranath Tagore

Praying the News

On my recent holiday, in the midst of so much freedom and beauty ...

(Jacarandas in Adelaide)

… I was very aware of the contrast for the people of the Philippines -

It is hard to comprehend - and respond - to tragedy of such magnitude. Giving financial support is one way and all the aid agencies are appropriately asking us to do that. I was encouraged to learn that Campbell Live (TV3) promoted an appeal to donate just $3 via a text. This raised more than half a million dollars! This shows that "every little bit" does make a difference.

Praying is another response. But this too can be difficult. How to pray? What to pray? Does it really make any difference? The website Spirituality and Practice has a Blog that specifically focusses on "praying the news". I found their prayer for the people of the Philippines very helpful. You can read it (and pray with them) here.

Internet withdrawal symptoms!

On a recent holiday I stayed for a week at a house where Wi-fi internet was not available. Ouch!
Surely I can't be that addicted to "having the world at my fingertips"! After all I don't even have a Smart phone… But my trusty iPad was supposed to connect me to emails, Blogs, weather forecasts, timetables for transport, "what's on" in a strange city… etc etc

I have to admit I was frustrated! 

But it got me thinking. 

Like most things, there are pros and cons to being constantly "connected". 

Used wisely the World Wide Web (www) is an amazing tool that demonstrates an even deeper reality that both scientists and mystics have known for some time - 

we really are all connected at levels far beyond the internet. There is much food for thought here. I might have lacked Wi-Fi connection but at deeper levels connection is never lost. Unfortunately though, we are often completely unaware of it.

Synchronistically (!) I'm currently reading a book by Ilia Delio called The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love.

Delio is a Catholic Sister who is the winner of a Templeton Course Award in Science and Religion. I haven't read very much of the book so far but as the title and sub-title suggest she is delving into the spiritual and scientific depths of our connectedness. She will be in Auckland and Christchurch later this month and I am looking forward to attending a series of lectures she will give. (If you are interested email Joan Roberts for a brochure and registration: jroberts@somauck.org.nz )

Legs - long, short - or none!

Sitting on a seat above the beach on my morning walk I watched a couple walking with two dogs… I didn't have my camera but one was like this:

And one was like this:

As they walked the man threw long fast balls for the long-legged dog to chase while the woman kept looking behind, encouraging the Dachshund and waiting for him if he was too far behind.

It was a lovely picture of taking care of others whatever pace they can go. It's true (and can be challenging) for all relationships. I was especially thinking of spiritual direction where the "Anam Cara" (Soul Friend) role is to stretch and extend those who are ready to move forward in great strides, and to walk slowly and encouragingly with those whose pace is slower.

And then as a PS - Last night (27th Oct) the TVNZ Sunday programme featured a story of incredible courage, love and optimism for a family where the husband and father had to have all four limbs amputated. So even if your "legs" seem short and your pace slow, be grateful that you have legs of any kind! (If you missed the program me it will be available on TV on Demand but wasn't yet posted when I wrote this.)

Wisdom

"Wisdom consists in

doing the next thing

that you have to do;

doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing it. And in this is

the sense of the sacred.” 


- Helen Luke

Floating in Grace

The Avowal

As swimmers dare

to lie face to the sky

and water bears them,

as hawks rest upon air

and air sustains them,

so would I learn to attain

freefall, and float

into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,

knowing no effort earns

that all-surrounding grace.

                                    -- Denise Levertov

Aging

What more can I say!!

Suffering and power

A recent daily meditation from Richard Rohr:

"The spirituality behind the Twelve-Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous is a "low Church" approach to evangelization and healing that is probably our only hope in a pluralistic world of over seven billion people. Most of those people are not going to "become Christian" or join our church, which even the Vatican now admits.

Our suffering in developed countries is primarily psychological, relational and addictive: the suffering of people who are comfortable on the outside but oppressed and empty within. It is a crisis of meaninglessness, which leads us to try to find meaning in possessions, perks, prestige and power, which are always outside the self. It doesn't finally work. So we turn to ingesting food, drink or drugs, and we become addictive consumers to fill the empty hole within us.

The Twelve-Step program walks us back out of our addictive society. Like all steps toward truth and Spirit, they also lead downward, which they call sobriety. Bill Wilson and his A.A. movement have shown us that the real power is when we no longer seek, need or abuse our outer power because we have found real power within. They rightly call it our "Higher Power". "

It is the second paragraph that strikes me: "Our suffering... is primarily psychological, relational and addictive: the suffering of people who are comfortable on the outside but oppressed and empty within."
Of course there are other kinds of suffering in "developed countries". But his point is well made. To put the "psychological, relational, addictive" checklist alongside our own suffering may be a wake up call. I was motivated to refresh my memory about what the Twelve Steps are. Click here if you'd like to do the same! I knew that Bill Wilson framed these steps from his Christian perspective and this shines through. And as Rohr says - these steps are now a world-wide guide to a Higher Power available to anyone - whether they call that Power "God" or not. My final thought, having re-read the 12 Steps, is that, if courageously followed, they represent something much more rigorous than many "Christian discipleship" programs!

Reactions to Atheism

I attended the book launch for this book earlier in the week. I was prompted by the fact that three of the authors are members of the church I also belong to and another three are people I know. It certainly seemed like a book I should read! (It is a collection of essays.)

The description on Book Depository is:

"How can one believe in an age of doubt? How can we name the mystery of God in human words? Does nature speak of the glory of God? Does science undermine faith? Is the problem of evil unanswerable? In this volume scientists, theologians, philosophers, as well as a historian and social scientist, take seriously the challenge of knowing and speaking about God in an age of doubt and challenge."

The book launch was a delight! Nine of the essayists were present and each took a couple of minutes to introduce their chapter. They did so with considerable skill and humor. I was definitely intrigued and inspired to read.