Category: Main blog

The breath practice below began the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Conspire conference this year and seems a good way to begin this new year.

As Richard Rohr noted in his earlier blogs this week, “If we trust the universal pattern, the wisdom of all times and all places, including the creation and evolution of the cosmos itself, we know that an ending is also the place for a new beginning. Death promises a new kind of life.”

And,
“Jesus came to teach us the way of wisdom. He brought us a message that offers to liberate us from both the lies of the world and the lies lodged in ourselves.”

Please enjoy this breath practice:

***********

Breathe with Us

As the 2021 Daily Meditations draw to a close and we enter the new year, we invite you to pray with the CAC staff and community with the words used to open our seventh and final CONSPIRE conference this past September:

In a world of fault lines and fractures,
we stand in a place where opposites come together,
awaiting the birth of what is to come.

If you are doubting, welcome.
If you are healing, welcome.
If you are angry at injustice, welcome.

We await a new genesis,
one more beginning in a series of starts,
trailing backwards in time to the very first day.

If you are afraid, welcome.
If you are joyful, welcome.
If you are longing to belong, welcome.

God’s generous rhythm of life, death, resurrection,
moving in and through all things,
the very breath and source of the cosmos itself.

Our pathways converge and continue,
each one of us a catalyst for loving action.
We, a community of saints. 
Conspire.
Breathe with us.

Experience a version of this practice through video and sound.

“Me, Us, the World: Living Inside God’s Great Story,” CONSPIRE 2021 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2021), video.

Ahh, yes. Thank you dear Hafiz for the reminder that we are created for joy…

I sometimes forget that
I was created for joy
My mind is too busy
My heart is too heavy
Heavy for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the sacred dance for life
I was created to smile
to love
to be lifted up
and lift others up
O sacred one
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares
Free my soul
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.

Hafiz

In these darkest of days, with faith in the light returning, these words ring true and bold:

“Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born…”

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

THE WINTER OF LISTENING

No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.

All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.

All this trying
to know
who we are
and all this
wanting to know
exactly
what we must do.

What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
to the lit angel
we desire.

What disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.

What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true
to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.

Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born…

…

From ‘The Winter of Listening’
David Whyte : Essentials
Many Rivers Press 2019
https://davidwhyte.com/collections/books/products/david-whyte-essentials
…

Winter Walk
Photo © David Whyte
Cassey Compton, Cotswolds.
Winter 2019

Where I Stand

From where I stand
Perched atop this 
pinnacle of privilege 

From where I stand
Mouth agape
Witnessing agape love

From where I stand 
These children of the One
Beautiful, painful, resilient 

From where I stand
I so undeserving 
They deserve so much more

From where I stand 
What can I give?
Can it ever be enough?

From where I stand 
Humbled, sad, despairing 
It can never be enough 

From where I stand 
Held as they are held
Surrendering as they surrender

From where I stand 
There is no hope
There is only hope.

******

Today we served beautiful, sad families at the Mexican border, witnessing their sweet, resilient hope in the face of insane policies and horrific conditions. Their shy smiles, genuine laughter, harmonic song, and deep gratitude for each tiny gift moved me to tears. 

The mural above (*information about the artist below) fills one wall of the dining hall of the Kino Border Initiative shelter and I stood in front of it for a long time. I recommend zooming in and spending some time with it. It is a much more compelling version of the last supper in my humble opinion. 

We were able to serve a Christmas meal and distribute lots of toys. This little poem is my attempt to capture my heart’s feelings, from where I stand.

*Beginning Art Mural by Wenceslao Quiroz https://m.facebook.com/WenzGallery/

This comes from the inimitable Adrienne Maree Brown (from an article in Yes! Magazine. It felt appropriate and needed on this eve of our Solstice holy day:

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

tucked into
stargazing wonder
we arrive so quickly to the
night of the longest moon

we too 
are rock moving water 
even when we feel adrift 
we are in orbit 
there is a force greater
than we can comprehend
we are enraptured
from the root
and never alone
even in shadow you hold us

and we sing a song
only the ocean can hear
sometimes it sounds like 
we are sorry
or 
we are dying
but sometimes 
we sing
we are of you, we are of you 
we are one*

we sing to the thumbprint of moon
ink on ink
shadow slipping through the cloudy cold
of winter
we sing 
of breaking the earth’s heart
and realizing it is our own

we sing forgiveness
we sing of the fire
between skin and dirt
the rivers within us
the storms we conjure
before we sleep

tonight we dream our longest dream 
of the farthest future 
we look in those children’s faces 
without regret 
without shame 
whispering: we will change everything for you

it is because of these dreams 
that we will remember 
to hibernate 
to slow down to the pace of snow
to feed on the memories
of a year we call good
because we survived it

we place our mouths to the sky
and cast this spell

may we all have a warm place
may we all have a soft blanket
may we all hold a steaming cup in our hands
may we all know a sated belly
may we all have a shoulder for our grief
may we all set down what we cannot bear
may we all be unhunted 

may we all remember we are sacred
may we all touch our bodies in worship
may we all have room enough to stumble
as we dance to the moonlight’s subtle music

we dose this enchantment
with our holy intentions

and in this taste of eternal darkness
may we honor all that is black, and shadow
in ourselves, and in the world
may we crawl into the cave
carved especially for this season
and hear nothing but the quiet of stone
may we know, without question
that there is time for our rest
may we remember surrender
touching the dirt that holds our ancestors 
and our futures
with reverence

and in this way
may we all know the love of earth

*This line comes from the whales of Bahia, via Michaela Harrison.

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

ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN is a writer, editor, activist, social justice facilitator, coach, speaker, and doula. Her books include Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, which she wrote and edited, and Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements, which she co-edited. 

The Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute, one of the seminaries I attended put together this moving service.

May you find comfort in the blanket of darkness as we approach the Solstice and if it’s a hard time, please know that you are not alone. 

During these days of Rumi’s URS (the celebration of his Marriage to the Divine when he passed from this sphere), and with a deep bow of thanks to sister Amina who shared this as part of her wonderful Love, Harmony, and Beauty blog post today.

Please enjoy this lovely Rumi poem in song:

One of my favorite blog sites is Fr Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations. The final message this week was from Dr. Alane Daugherty. This quote deeply resonated:

” [Heartful awareness] is the momentary choice, moment after moment, to let our truest sense emerge into our lived reality and intersect with the outside world. It allows us to be the best that we can be, in whatever we do. . . . “

Mindfulness to Heartfulness

Devotional practices have opened believers’ hearts for millennia, and we now understand the mind-body-heart connection within us in a deeper way. Researcher and therapist Dr. Alane Daugherty suggests a body-based practice to create a sense of heartfelt awareness:

The force of deep love, compassion and other heartfelt emotions can literally unite our brain, our heart, and all of the cells in our body. By experiencing what these heartfelt states are like inside of us we can then activate the dormant impulses, cultivate them, and embody them in an integrated way of being. This union feels harmonious and expansive; like we are all at once in touch with the depths of our being, and connected to a much larger way of living. Done intentionally and routinely they form an even greater union, become our primary way of operating, and profoundly change our world and
us. . . .

[Heartful awareness] is the momentary choice, moment after moment, to let our truest sense emerge into our lived reality and intersect with the outside world. It allows us to be the best that we can be, in whatever we do. . . .

We invite you to try these practices from Daugherty:

The following are suggestions for specific tangible ways you might implement heartful awareness into your everyday life. . . .

• Pay attention to attention. Stop and pause several moments during the day and just notice where your attention is. Make an overt intention, when you are authentically capable, to become heartfully engaged with yourself, your surroundings, or others. . . .
   
• Savor what you already have. The ‘spiral of becoming’ shows us that we physiologically change to any state we are routinely in. When we are already in states of heartful engagement, focused attention and awareness to ‘cement’ these states further imprints them in our cellular memory.
   
• Micro-moments add up! Momentary choices of engagement make profound shifts. They re-wire our neural nets and habitual ways of being, create oxytocin-rich changes in our blood chemistry, as well as dopamine and serotonin the hopeful outlook neurotransmitters, and foundationally change our perception to one of expansiveness and possibility. . . .
   
• Continually tap into the deepest sense of who you are and let that lead. The more moments we spend resting in our deepest potential or connected to our Inner Being, the more they become our primary ‘operating system.’ Pay attention, and shift when you can. When you cannot, hold yourself in a place of loving-kindness and awareness, and promise those ‘parts’ healing attention when you are able. Offer the love and support to yourself, as you would a best friend.

Experience a version of this practice through video and sound.

Alane Daugherty, From Mindfulness to Heartfulness: A Journey of Transformation through the Science of Embodiment (Balboa Press: 2014), 111, 112, 149, 150. 

With gratitude to Sister Arifa for this post on FB in the Soup and Sufi Sunday group. I so needed to hear this today. I hope it resonates with you all as well.

I’m so sorry to wake you up
but there is something
that I have to tell you
before the dawn arrives

I need you to believe something

~the sadness that lays
heavy on your chest like a
century old cannonball
isn’t who you are

~the ghost that lives
in your inner ear and
lies to you about your beauty
isn’t who you are

~the swarm of regret wasps
that have turned your
heart into a dripping hive of guilt

isn’t who you are

~the burning itch under your
sweet skin that begs for you to
tear into so you’ll finally feel something
isn’t who you are

~the thick knot in your
stomach that has been
there since your first memory
isn’t who you are

oh, my love,

you aren’t any of
the terrors
that have made a home
inside of you

they are squatters
who believe that
just because they
left their dirty socks
under your bed that
they have a say in
who you are

they don’t

can I finally tell you
the truth of why
you were created?

~ well, I’m going to anyway

the truth is
you were created
to be the moonlight on
an unmoving lake

reflecting the mystery
of our never ending universe
in your eyes

I swear I can
see a nebula
just inside of
left your pupil

you are the burning
fire in the sky

you are moonlight on the water

and by simply being alive
you are silently inviting the
rest of us to sit by your
shore so that we can bathe
our scars in the shimmer of
your sweet celestial smile

~ you. are. moonlight. on. the. water.

that’s why you were created
~ I promise

don’t believe the interlopers

you are the delicate light
of heaven’s eternal gaze

do you believe that yet?

I know you don’t see it yet
~ but you will

you have let these
devils live inside of
you for too long

you’ve become
used to them

~ but it’s time for them to go

the moonlight on the water
doesn’t need to be obscured

you shine best when the clouds
are invited to leave

we need you to be
at your brightest

I know it sounds selfish
but I need your light
to keep me alive

for the both of us,
it’s time to let all of
the interlopers go
~ every single one of them

~the cannonball
~the ghost
~the wasp
~the burning itch
~the thick knot

it’s time for them to go

open the door
unzip the tent
break the windows
unlock the gate
bulldoze the fence

I don’t care how you do it
but don’t let them stay inside
of you any more

those things aren’t who you are,
remember?

you are the moonlight
on the water

remember?

everything you want
is waiting for you
on the other side
of what you are currently
suffering through

you aren’t what is
happening to you

you aren’t the pain
you aren’t the anxiety
you aren’t the regret

you are the moonlight on the water

oh my love,
the horizon is yawning
here comes the new day

do you believe me, yet?

~ john roedel (johnroedel.com)

from Azima Lila Forest. Copied with permission.

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Most will recognize the figure within the figure as her image. But what is the outer figure? It is a representation of Tonantzin, the great Mother Goddess of the Aztec people, venerated for eons before the coming of Europeans to what is now Mexico. It turns out that the site where Juan Diego saw the vision of Guadalupe was the site of a temple to Tonantzin which the Spaniards tore down. There is much wisdom that indicates that Guadalupe is much more than a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary; she is a merging of the power and beauty of Aztec spirituality with Christianity.

In her image imprinted on the cloak of Juan Diego, still extant in Mexico City, one can clearly see that she is brown-skinned; she is a mestiza, a blend of Indian and Christian European religion and culture. She is the Lady of the new family of people conceived by the violent rape of Indian culture by European culture. One of her titles is Empress of the Americas, as can be attested to by the number of us North Americans who venerate and call upon her as a powerful and beautiful manifestation of the Divine Feminine.

You can go to my website at www.azimalilaforest.com to see the poem I wrote in her honor.

Here is a poem I wrote in her honor 15 years ago:

O Guadalupe
Tonantzin
Queen of the Americas
Today we remember you
Celebrate you
Give thanks for your love

Looking
Upon us all
With such compassion

Pequeños y pequeñas
The little ones
The forgotten ones
The ones in need
The ones with secret desires
The ones with broken hearts

The thousands and millions
Who have knelt
Before your image
Fingering their beads
Pouring out their fervent prayers

“O Mother,
Heal him, heal her, heal me
Help me to forgive
Bring me my heart’s desire
Take this pain from me
Bless and protect us all”

While you silently bless
Silently affirm
“The power to heal
To bless
To forgive
To manifest
Is yours—
Come into the fullness
Of who you truly are!”

O Queen of Roses
O Empress of the Americas
Full of Grace
Thank you
For your love