Peace, stillness, dying

Blessed are all who create peace, for they shall be called offspring of God. Matthew 5:9

Dear friends,

Last Monday we honored the darkness, beauty and mystery of this holy season by sharing our practice together. Can you begin to understand how your practice, your work, is a gift to the circle? Each drop of practice adds to the shared presence. It's like a pearl which grows, layer upon layer,  as a reaction to the irritant of the grain of sand caught in the oyster shell. Our practice, our struggle with practice, builds presence. On Monday night as we grappled with our resistance to darkness, our fears of dying and getting lost in this blackness, the collective presence grew into  a peacefulness and stillness that is so near during these halcyon days of solstice time. We shared the lighting of candles and the singing of Silent Night -- thank you Janet-- and the glory of Holy Night (performed by Holly Near). A silence dropped in and over our circle. Such a blessing. These are the fruits of your hard work, your sincerity, and your practice. 

Monday night's questions:

Tell me a way that blackness evokes fear or dread. 

Tell me a way darkness invites you into the stillness

Explore your feeling of peace. Explore your distance from this peace. 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. Stay warm and safe. Hope to see you all on January 5th for our first session of practice of presence in the new year.

Disconnection and Opening

Dear Friends, Next Monday, December 8th, we will hold our contemplative worship service. On Monday December 15th will hold our last practice of presence session for 2014. We will resume our practice of presence on Monday January 5th. Please be sure to check your email before each session to see if  we need to cancel because of poor weather.

On Monday we focused on Matthew 5:3.

Those who are lowly of spirit live in a state of blessedness, for out of their very Being the Reign of Heaven arrives. ( Traditional translation: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven)

Our session focused on what it means to lowly of spirit. There are differing meanings and they all have their place. Lowly of spirit means a state of humility, that of the beggar begging. It can also mean a state in which ego is absent, or the state of hitting bottom or the state of disconnection.

We spent some time exploring the place of disconnection. The place of a rock bottom emptiness, dullness, despair, hopelessness. A place we all run from. This is the place where ego developed and arose over the course of our development. And it was necessary. It is the root of the sense of separation; of the "gap" (we used this expression earlier this fall); of the existential sense of meaninglessness, helplessness, powerlessness. If we allow ourselves to surrender, be with, hold, allow, be present with this sense of nothingness, an alchemy can happen and does happen. What arises is a sense of an exhale, a relaxation and sense of inner spaciousness and mysteriously the sense of connection returns. We are back from the sense of exile into a world where life seems possible once again. This alchemy happens all the time. We often feel better and then we jump back into the maelstrom of life! If we stay in this subtle opening patiently and expectantly, more treasures will arise. Out of the mystery of this spaciousness come the flavors and faces of presence. Sometime we feel love, or clarity, or joy, or peace, or strength.... This is what the turning means, what metanoia means. We turn towards the disconnection-- the lowly state of spirit-- instead of running away, distracting ourselves, and going to sleep one way or another.

This is difficult and tender work. So don't let the superego attack you. Don't loose heart or courage. This is a practice, not a one shot deal! We deepen drop by drop-- sometimes with splurges-- but mostly drop by drop. Each time we taste the opening our trust can grow.

Exercises:

Tell me a way you avoid inner emptying.

Tell me a way you experience the inner state of emptying or inner poverty.

Explore your relationship to inner emptying. What happens if you allow yourself to feel this emptiness in your body, in your belly.

Hope to see next Monday.

In peace, Alison