Month: June 2021

With gratitude to sister Tarana who posted this on her FB feed.

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All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I’ll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I’m like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry, I never know what I’m going to say.
I don’t plan it.
When I’m outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

~Rumi

Fr Richard Rohr’s blogs this week speak about the value of Spiritual Direction for anyone. As a newly certified Spiritual Director/Companion, I truly believe this service can be of great help to anyone regardless of your spiritual path, or even if you don’t consider yourself spiritual but know that you feel a connection to the earth or to physics, etc.

One of the most important skills of a good Spiritual Director/Companion is listening. And as this post suggests, practicing reflective listening where instead of always looking for the way to fix a problem, or find a quick answer, we listen to our inner guidance – what they call the Holy Spirit). Of course, this skill is important for anyone who wants to be of service to our fellow humans. So, this post felt important to share.

If you’re interested in knowing more about Spiritual Direction/Companionship or exploring the possibility of walking your spiritual path with me or other Spiritual Companions, please feel free to contact me at drmatthewsusa@gmail.com.

Reflective Listening

One of the most notable “gifts” of good spiritual directors is their ability to listen well. They aren’t afraid of silence. They listen compassionately and without judgment, and they speak from the heart (and when they are very good and disciplined, only as prompted by the Holy Spirit). While spiritual directors are trained in the act of generous and holy listening, it is a skill we can all develop. Interfaith minister and founder of The Listening Center Kay Lindahl offers these guidelines for reflective listening, which is a gift to both ourselves and those around us.

One of the goals that is emphasized in our culture is finding answers—solving problems, answering questions, removing doubt. We want to know who, what, when, where, and why—and we want to know now. When we listen, we are trained to listen for the answers. . . .

Reflective listening distinguishes a response from an answer. It is a practice to get to know your inner voice, and it takes time and patience.

First, take a few breaths before responding to a situation, question, or comment. In those few seconds, ask yourself what wants to happen next. Then wait for your inner voice to respond. Remember that you are not listening for the answer; you are listening for a response, for your true wisdom to reveal itself.

Most important, as you practice reflection, notice that what you want to say (the ego) matters less than what wants to be said (the soul). Reflective listening is a slowing down, waiting, practicing patience with yourself.

Reflective listening is also about listening for the questions. We are constantly pulled away from our innermost self and encouraged to look for answers instead of listening for the questions. Rainer Maria Rilke’s [1875–1926] advice to the young poet was “Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” [1]

The practice of listening for the questions—for what wants to be said next—deepens your relationship to your inner voice, your soul, and enhances full self-expression.

Experience a version of this practice through video and sound.

[1] Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, trans. M. D. Herter Norton, rev. ed. 
(W. W. Norton and Company: 1954), 35.

Kay Lindahl, The Sacred Art of Listening: Forty Reflections for Cultivating a Spiritual Practice (Skylight Paths Publishing: 2002), 110, 112. 

Explore further resources and watch Father Richard Rohr explain why more people are asking for—and benefiting from—spiritual direction.

To truly hold the many shadow elements of our world today in radical acceptance requires an ability and capacity for deep mercy toward ourselves and others.

In this post from Fr. Richard Rohr’s blog Zen Buddhist teacher Larry Ward reminds us how important that is and notes, “Mercy lies in our mindful actions of thinking, speech, and behaviors toward ourselves and one another.”

Deep Mercy

Over the last few years in the United States, we (especially those of us who are white) have been asked to examine the collective shadow of racism that has been a part of our nation since its founding. We wrestled with it during the Civil War and again during the civil rights era, but, as we do with so much shadow material, we allowed it to go “underground” and remain there. Part of the reason we do this is because it is so painful to face our shadow and all the destruction we have caused by ignoring it. As Zen Buddhist teacher Larry Ward writes, shadow work requires us to hold the tension of placing our collective shadow within a deeper well of mercy:

The bridge of mercy lies deep within us and among us, however well it is hidden by clouds of conflict, cruelty, and hatred. . . . [But] it seems that as a culture we take great pride in our capacity to be unmerciful. . . .

Look at the prison system in America if you want an example of our collective fragmentation: the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with 2.3 million people in prison, and of those people, one-third are people of color. This could not happen in a society of merciful people guided by justice and integrity. . . .

We need the experience of what I call deep mercy. Mercy lies in our mindful actions of thinking, speech, and behaviors toward ourselves and one another. We may not seem as if we are capable of collective deep mercy, as expressed in acts that restore a sense of shared humanity with one another. Yet these acts of mercy are not absent; in fact, they are the invisible web that sustains living connection and progress in human history. We have survived as a species by crossing its bridge again and again. . . .

Mercy’s bridge is kept alive by the energies of deep justice flowing back and forth, the truth of suffering beyond the constrictions of the law. It is the justice of our precious bodies being respected and loved concretely as divinely human.

I invite you to spend some time today contemplating a personal or collective shadow, perhaps even journaling about it or speaking with a trusted friend. Accessing the “deep mercy” that Ward describes only comes about when we have allowed our shadow to come to the surface, faced it fully, and chosen a path of healing and justice for all people.

Experience a version of this practice through video and sound.

Larry Ward, America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal (Parallax Press: 2020), 95, 96–97. 

My dear friend Yavash sent this out in an email. So incredibly beautiful and profound. Take time to totally immerse in this – for me it resonated very deeply.

Here’s what Yavash wrote:
“This is one of the most powerful songs I have ever heard about the healing process. I find it utterly inspiring. It hints at a world that we have almost completely forgotten and a relationship with nature and with the One that is still deep inside us but crusted over with so much machinery and electronic dots.

“Here are lyrics and the translation: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/lyfjaberg-healing-mountain.html“

“The language is probably Old Norse or Icelandic. 

“The band is overtly bringing back the pagan beliefs of the Old Norse religion and they seek to be as authentic as possible in their music and quoting of the ballads and ancient poems. They also endeavor to use the ancient pronunciations, but they also use modern Norse dialect in some of their songs.”

With a deep bow of gratitude for my dear friend Amira Sara who posted this on her Facebook and Instagram feeds and gave permission to share it here.

Reflections from the past couple of weeks:

1. It is never an inappropriate time to work in liberation theory and look for ways for it to be grounded in reality.
2. Just because things have been a certain way, doesn’t mean it can’t change into something that is more reflective of the current space and time.
3. People’s trepidation about where you are coming from, or your end game, is oftentimes not about you. That’s when #1, above, becomes handy.
4. It is ok to allow yourself to take up your space, even if it is uncomfortable. Your liberation is valuable and working towards that is what makes it possible to work for others.
5. Community work is sticky, messy, and complicated. Walk tenderly but be like an oak tree; deep roots and a strong trunk. Let your peeps rest against your trunks and give them shade in the hot cultural sun. Sink into your roots and let them nourish you.
6. No matter where you came from, or where you have gone, you belong to this grand creation. It is ok to walk from there.
7. Change is our only constant. Our babies are gonna grow up & our elders are gonna leave. That shit’s hard and deeply beautiful.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. We live in a culture that shames us if we don’t have the body of an athlete in their 20’s. This is something that I truly believe is one of our most difficult and important “norms” to be overcome as we work to live in gratitude for the incredible beauty that is all around us and is us!

Each of us is so incredibly beautiful, magnificent, miraculous, no matter the shape, size, capabilities, or features of the body we are gifted with in this life. This prayer from Fr Richard Rohr’s blog really spoke to this.

Prayer of Thanks for Our Bodies

When we remember to pray for our physical bodies, it is usually because something has gone wrong. We are reminded of our human frailty by an ache, an accident, or a diagnosis. But I hope this week has stirred within us a greater sense of gratitude for our bodies and for the desires that hum through them. This poem and prayer is a psalm of praise for the miraculous nature of our physical existence, in relationship with ourselves, others, and the cosmos.

Thank you for the body that loves me.

My own body:
it tingles me with pleasure
and sends me pain as a warning;
it takes in food and air
and transforms them to life;
it reaches orgasmic bliss
and reveals depths of peace.

Thank you for the body that loves me.

My lover’s body:
it surrounds me with safe arms,
and senses my needs and joys;
it allows me vulnerability,
and enables my ecstasy;
it teaches me how to love
and touches me with love.

Thank you for the body that loves me.

My spiritual community’s body:
it embodies your presence
by embracing mine;
it incarnates your hope
by empowering prophets;
it inspires me with stories
and enchants me with mystery.

Thank you for the body that loves me.

The cosmic and mystical body:  
it calls me to communion
with creatures and creation;
it manifests your glory
and mine as its child;
it upholds my feet
and heals my body.

Thank you for the body that loves me.

Experience a version of this practice through video and sound.

From Coming Out to God: Prayers for Lesbians and Gay Men, Their Families and Friends. ©1991 Chris R. Glaser. Used by permission of Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved.

This is posted with permission from my dear friend, Viviana:

The Great Invocation

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the center where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men –

The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the center which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

~ Viviana Delaney ~

I’m back after a hiatus for travel and khilvat (silent meditation). During khilvat this time, I fasted and prayed alone on the mountain (with daily silent visits from beloveds who brought water and one check in with my teacher) for 5 days. It was a remarkable and profound experience. I’ll share one poem that arose from that time and another that came from meditation at my sit spot yesterday on a rainy afternoon.

But first, with a bow to Amina Janet Berketa, who puts out a wonderful blog weekly, this poem from Wendell Berry that she posted recently (a great introduction to a post about poetry!):

How to Be a Poet – Wendell Berry  (1934 – )

  (To remind myself)

i
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill — more of each
than you have — inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

ii
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

iii
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

**************

Stillness

by Wakil David Matthews (6/2/2021)

I asked
for a sign…

What do I need?
Please show me!

The trees just stood there…

Well? I inquired…

The trees just stood.

I waited…

The trees continued to stand.

I slept, meditated, prayed…

When I searched for the sign
Listening, watching

The trees still stood
Solid, patient, rooted.

The trees stood…
Still
Still
Still

Stillness like the trees.

Aah… yes.

That’s it.
Thank you.

*************

Remembrance (Zikr)

by Wakil David Matthews (6/13/2021)

Raindrops twitch the bright salal leaves and dark fir needles.
Reminding me as I sit, sheltered beneath fir boughs to be grateful.
El arroyo fluye, the creek flows,
reminding me to flow with joy.
The crow scolds from a perch directly overhead,
reminding me I am seen.
The branch beneath me is solid and still,
reminding me I am held.