Mary Oliver

The Summer Day   Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean-- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down, who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.   I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?     ~ Mary Oliver ~   (New and Selected Poems, Volume I)

Rumi

The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.   ~ Rumi ~  

Presence in times of turmoil: Radical Hope

It seems that we are living in times when nothing settles down. The stock market goes up and down; the political discourse goes from bad to worse; Arab spring turns in Syria into massacres; banks fail and make more money; the rich get richer; money buys democracy; friends get sick and die; relationships fail; jobs disappear; for many religions can no longer hold. How do we live in the midst of such turmoil; how do we find hope when it seems like the planet is dying.

Presence is like the eye at the center of the storm, a quiet stillness that mysteriously nourishes and offers hope in the face of fear, despair and helplessness. This is not the kind of hope that clings to things working out. Or the hope that comes from naive fantasy. Rather it is a radical hope that knows that presence is afoot in our lives, in our communities, nations even when we don't know it and we don't believe hope is possible. Presence cannot be destroyed. It is the "isness" of existence, the "beingness" of all of this life, this reality. It is the wild irrational that always says "yes". Always more, even in the face of defeat. It is patient, undying, faithful, goodness. This is radical hope.

By practicing presence we begin to align ourselves with the deeper, undying truths of existence; with unreasonable hope, unreasonable love, unreasonable goodness. In times of great fear, great despair we are all called, those of us who are fortunate enough to be open, to practice presence, to re-enter the life stream of the living now. This act of practicing is an alignment with radical hope.

Playlist

Last night's music: Deva Premal. incantation K.D Lang. Hallelujah Jan Garbarek. Officium

Movies

I recommend the movie The Way with Martin Sheen. This is the story of a grieving father walking a famous pilgrimage in Spain. On a lighter, more silly note, I enjoyed tge trip, about two English actors taking a foodie trip through tge glorious countryside of northern England. One of the greatest spiritual movies ever is The Matrix. I have seen it at least four times. In order to begin to understand this movie you have to watch it more than once. It helps to know the plot. It appears to be a sci movie, but it is really about the nature of the human mind and condition.

practice circle

Summer is a time to loose contact with our practice, especially on vacation. Do not loose heart. We all fall off the path, but sooner or later we get back on. Ever wonder what it is that takes us back to practice. Hope to see you at our weekly meditations on Monday evenings.

summer reading

I have just finished reading The Dark Night of the Soul: A psychiatrist explores the connection between darkness and spiritual growth.

I highly recommend this book. Don't let the Christian emphasis put you off. He is addressing an inevitable part of the spiritual journey. In my case this was a very long period of years with short, far too short, periods of grace and illumination. This darkness opened into an abiding grace a number of years ago. Oh sure I still deal with issues but it is all with so much ease, and the opening is only a breath away or a moment of self remembering. And the journey is not over, maybe it is never over, but I have been met by presence, by God. It would have helped me enormously to read this book. It would have given me hope when I had lost it, or so it seemed. He uses the poetry of St John of the Cross and St Teresa  of Avila. Easy read, contemporary. And he makes a clear distinction between depression and the dark night, and how they can overlap. I would also a distinction between clinical anxiety ( nervous system), and ego fear of losing control of the familiar.

Let me know what you think.