Individuation (3/12/15)

“Everything that is in the heavens, on earth, and under the earth
is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.”
-Hildegard of Bingen

John Sanford was an Episcopal priest, Jungian analyst, and author. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great great-grandfather were all ministers. I found all of this in An Almanac For The Soul by Marv and Nancy Hiles. These words of wisdom are from Healing and Wholeness by John Sanford. I invite you to read them slowly and aloud to yourself. Notice what comes up for you and whether these challenging words express a spiritual truth that you know to be true in your own experience of individuation.

“Individual is a work, a life opus, a task that calls upon us not to avoid life’s difficulties and dangers, but to perceive the meaning in the pattern of events that form our lives. Life’s supreme achievement may be to see the thread that connects together the events, dreams, and relationships that have made up the fabric of our existence. Individuation is a search for and discovery of meaning, not a meaning we consciously devise, but the meaning embedded in life itself. It will confront us with many demands, for the unconscious, as Jung once wrote: ‘Always tries to produce an impossible situation in order to force the individual to bring out his very best.'”

Our process of individuation is ongoing in life as we continue to grow, to unfold the mystery of Life/God that is within us all. New every day are the visions and insights and blessings that come to us. May our hearts be open that we may see aright. Two minutes of wise reflection by Cynthia Bourgeault.

“The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.” -Meister Eckhart

You are a daughter/son of God – May you walk the earth in gladness awakening to that of God in everyone and everything.

Ring The Bells That Still Can Ring (3/11/15)

I read these words five days ago on March 6th, and they have stayed with me. Please read them slowly and aloud to yourself.

“Sit down in your chair, lay your head back, take in the anguish of the planet, add the incomprehensible immensity of the universe, think of your own deepest questions, feel rage or love, touch the emptiness at your center, and what sound do you make? It is probably something like ‘gaaahad’ or as some say, ‘God’.”
-From All The Days of My Life by Marv and Nancy Hiles

Music for your prayer, meditation, and reflection. This Leonard Cohen music is gracious, forgiving, liberating, transforming. Let the music, words, and images flow through you – Notice the feeling within you.

“Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering,
there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”

“Bidden or not bidden, God is present.” -Carl Jung

Seek to live with an open heart – let your heart take courage. May this be a most amazing day for you.

Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly With God (3/3/15)

Good morning – Peace be with you!

Thoughtful words of wisdom from good friends Marv and Nancy Hiles:

“To be contemplative is not to deny the value of action as it is to make sitting, reflection, and quiet waiting the basis for action.”

May you gift yourself today with time for prayer, contemplation, and reflection. Time to be still and know.

Music to open inner spaces allowing you to go more deeply into the mystery of earth, air, fire, and water.

50th Anniversary of Selma

“This week marks the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. We honor our elders who courageously fought for civil rights, as we stand with the youth who are leading the movement for justice today.”
-The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, President of Union Seminary

Let us in the words of Micah 6:8 dare to: “Do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.”

We are all sparks of the Divine flame
Blessed Be
Compassionate Be
Boldly Be

Deep Peace Of Prayer Be With You (2/28/15)

Thinking about prayer. For me, prayer is simple thankfulness, gratitude for the gift of life. Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “Prayer is a practice – not a topic for discussion.”

Here is a prayer from Marv and Nancy Hiles that is used often on their Iona Retreats at Santa Sabina in California. It is inclusive, ecumenical, free and open. You may want to read the prayer slowly and aloud.

O God before me, O God behind me,
O God above me, O God beneath me.
Unnamable God in whom I live, move,
and have my being.

Guide me in the currents of the river
and in the twisting of the road.
Be thou the joy of my days,
the light of my nights.
Be the end of my beginning,
the beginning in my end.

Deep Peace of God be with you always.

We are all sparks of the Divine flame
Blessed Be
Compassionate Be
Boldly Be

Love One Another (1/30/15)

“Love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you are to love on another.”
-John 13:34 – The Mandate of Jesus

I cried when I first read the following – something to ponder in our hearts

“My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say, ‘That’s fucked up.’ Fix society. Please.”
-Written by Leelah Alcorn, 17 years old, a transgender teen, from an online suicide note. She was in despair over rejection by her Christian parents and others.

Here are some thoughtful words on prayer and meditation from Marv and Nancy Hiles: All The Days Of My Life: A Yearbook of Found Sentences for the Human Journey:

“We need to sit still, let our emptiness remain empty, and wait patiently. If we fill the foreground with busy questions, reasons, or proposed actions, we will miss God who is the silent, yet ever present horizon on the world. Let us stay in our chairs as long as we dare, breathing gently until the rhythm takes over. Let us risk inaction, become receptive, give our thoughts to the blank wall, let our layers be peeled back, accept our dreams as true even if we must wait and wait, trusting all human life is part of an intricate unfolding of the One Reality.”

Pope Francis said it well: “Who am I to judge?”

I hope you will listen to the following music – it is good for prayer and reflection

“On the wooden board outside of the meditation hall in Zen monasteries, there is a four-line inscription. The last line is “Don’t waste your life.” Our lives are made of days and hours, and each hour is precious. Have we wasted our hours and our days? Are we wasting our lives? These are important questions.”
-Taken from Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh

Please love everyone unconditionally including yourself.

We are all sparks of the Divine flame
Blessed Be
Compassionate Be
Boldly Be

Body Prayer Exercise (1/16/15)

First some words of deep wisdom from Albert Schweitzer:

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

Here is a simple body prayer exercise that you can do to connect with all the folks in the balcony of your life. Lying down on the floor on your back, or sitting up in a chair, gently close your eyes and pay attention to your breath.

Do this slowly. As Marv Hiles says: “Slowly is like holy”.

As you breath in, bring to mind a person who has birthed, formed and informed, touched your life and is a part of the fabric of your life. Allow an image to come and as you exhale slowly silently say: “Thank You”. And continue moving through your life, allowing yourself to remember folks who blessed your being, and always end with: “Thank You”.

You may be astounded as your memory brings to consciousness folks you had long forgotten who live in the balcony of your life forever.

You were blessed by their being.

Close your eyes and prayerfully, with deep gratitude, remember all those people, places, institutions that have been the “wind beneath your wings.”

“As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.”
-Maya Angelou

With you in awakening to who God is in us and to who we are in God.

We are all sparks of the Divine flame
Blessed Be
Compassionate Be
Boldly Be

Prayer and Playful (1/2/15)

May you be prayerful and playful today
May you be peaceful and at ease
May you be unselfish and generous

One sentence for your morning prayer and reflection:

“To be contemplative does not mean to be curious about the world or to collect information, but to be quiet before the world and recollect oneself.”
-Marv and Nancy Hiles

Like many of you, I am a blood donor. I invite you to seek out the Red Cross and give blood. By clicking on the link and providing your zip code, you will find a blood drive in your local area. Folks need blood. Blood donors are unselfish and generous. They pass on the gift of life. Be one!

Know in your heart.

Courage, Freedom, Authenticity (1/1/15)

Happy New Year 2015!

I woke up wondering: How do we find the courage to continue to individuate? How do we continue to be free, authentic, vulnerable? True to ourselves? Please give your attention to these words of raw truth from e.e. cummings:

“To be nobody but yourself in a world that’s doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting. It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

This call to courage, to freedom, and authenticity, to live out our truth passionately with compassion, to shout out our equivalent of Hallelujah, is something we each long to do. At every age, it takes courage to continue growing and becoming who you really are. Think about your life – about your courage, freedom, authenticity, vulnerability – about your commitment to continue to grow and to bring forth all that is within you, about your commitment to give others the freedom to be themselves.

Think about your life shout out as “Hallelujah”.

I have played it before and it still moves me now as it did then. K.D. Lang sang the music by Leonard Cohen who is in the audience and the two of them come together at the end. My wife and I heard this performance at The Chautauqua Institution and it was the longest standing ovation we have ever seen.

“To the end of our days we never quite forget that we carry within us all there is of beauty and terror, of frailty and eternity, of the cosmos in a fleeting pinpoint of awareness, and of the seed of a divine child born in our own soul.”
-Marv and Nancy Hiles

Take courage – dare to be free and fully alive, and offering this to all others.

Sure On This Shining Night (12/28)

Creation – Incarnation: We are at one with God – not identical, but not separate. The divine mystery of our life is beyond our comprehension. St. Augustine wrote: “My mind is too narrow to contain itself.” The gifts of life flood us with awe, wonder, radical astonishment. Life is all too wonderful for us to comprehend. I agree with Wendell Berry: “The mind that is not baffled, is not employed.”

For many of us, music opens a path awakening us to the great mystery. My wife and I first heard this music on a Santa Sabina Center and Retreat with Marv and Nancy Hiles. A friend brought the music back to the choir at Naomi Makemie Presbyterian Church and they sang it so well.

Two comments were made upon hearing this piece of music:

• “I weep for wonder”
• “Such peace and beauty in a world of fear and insanity”

Let the music flow through you – opening inner spaces, new depths of your own being. Give your full attention to the music – be focused, awake and aware. Try listening prayerfully with your eyes closed so that nothing distracts you.

“When you know yourself, you know God.” -St. Clement

“The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw and knew I saw all things in God and God in all things.”
-Mechthild of Magdeburg

With you in awakening to the mystery of our life in God and of God’s life in us now. This awakening can come at any moment. You are uniquely blessed and your life is a blessing to others.

We are all sparks of the Divine flame
Blessed Be
Compassionate Be
Boldly Be

Spirit Of Life (12/20)

About the word “friends” – My friend, Sylvia, has written me asking for prayers for her friend who is in the midst of a lung transplant with rejection issues. They met in boarding school in 1968 and all these years later, friends are gathered around to be with her and support her. One friend even quit her job to devote care and attention. The swelling up of a loving community manifesting is miraculous. These are “holy” moments of real life.

The words below come from good friends, Marv and Nancy Hiles, to whom we also send love and good energy today. May you read this prayerfully, slowly and aloud to yourself.

“To live ‘holy’ is not a reach beyond the natural to some ‘otherness’, but to penetrate deeply into the ‘thisness’ of hours, days and seasons. To experience God, as much as that is possible, is to plunge into life itself. When we do, light shines even from the dark side.”

Let the music flow through you – opening you to life and compassion for all.

To worship rightly is to love each other, each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.

Live passionately with compassion for all.

We are all sparks of the Divine flame
Blessed Be
Compassionate Be
Boldly Be