Mysticism and Spirituality Circle

ACT GREAT

What is the key
To untie the knot of your mind’s suffering?

What
Is the esoteric secret
To slay the crazed one whom each of us
Did wed

And who can ruin
Our heart’s and eye’s exquisite tender
Landscape?

Hafiz has found
Two emerald words that
Restored
Me

That I now cling to as I would sacred
Tresses of my Beloved’s
Hair:

Act great.
My dear, always act great.

What is the key
To untie the knot of the mind’s suffering?

Benevolent thought, sound
And movement.

~ Hafiz ~
 (The Gift – versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

I took a walk to find some air and found, instead,
a chill that lives in the marrow.
The sky was colorless,
lifeless: no bird, no insect, no visible sun or moving cloud.
Even the Monarch slept.
The earth, the land, the hills, the path
all void of bloom, muddy and soggy from winter.

The lake was frozen
though the mallards seemed to find a path.
“Keep moving,” I whispered to them.
“Just keep moving.
All this is fleeting. Keep moving.
Despite it all, find the stream that flows.”

Then, suddenly, as if they heard my supplication,
they turned toward me. One after another in a line
following the leader, they came ashore.
I sat awhile and watched them do what ducks tend to do.

The wind picked up, the chill thickened, and I thought,
I must forgive what was. I simply have too much to lose:
dignity, trust, my dreams, a sense of self,
faith, love, imagination,
joy, confidence,
God.

Then just as quickly as they came ashore,
They returned to the pond.
“Keep moving,” I whispered to them.
“Just keep moving.
All this is fleeting. Keep moving.
Despite it all, find the stream that flows.”

Forgiveness is like a stream in a winter pond. It finds a path through the ice. Keep moving forward toward goodness and love. Keep moving away from hurt, keep moving toward wholeness, so you can regain what you have lost. Let the pain be as fleeting as the winter chill. Let love and wholeness abide. Find the path through the ice. — Rabbi Karyn Kedar, The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for finding God and Restoring Wholeness (2007), pgs. 21-22.

 All will come again into its strength:
the fields undivided, the waters undammed,
the trees towering and the walls built low.
And in the valleys, people as strong and varied as the land. 

And no churches where God
is imprisoned and lamented
like a trapped and wounded animal.
The houses welcoming all who knock
and a sense of boundless offering
in all relations, and in you and me. 

No yearning for an afterlife, no looking beyond,
no belittling of death,
but only longing for what belongs to us
and serving earth, lest we remain unused. 

~ Ranier Maria Rilke ~

This offering from the Creation Spirituality community looks like an excellent opportunity to find hope and resilience together.

“It’s not about being heroic, it’s about being REAL.”                  John Robinson

Join us for a monthly conversation on

CREATION IN CRISIS

Led by our CSC Elder Team:

Rev. Dr. Penny Andrews ’01, Facilitator, 

Work that Reconnects Rev. Dr. John Robinson ’06, Author, Mystical Activism

Rev. Dr. Gail Ransom,’10, Community Organizer

First Thursdays at 1pm PST     2pm MT     3pm CT     4pm EST 

Oct. 3   Nov. 7  Dec.5   Jan. 2   Feb. 6   Mar. 6   Apr. 2  May 7

To join us, save this notice and click on this sentence at the scheduled time.  It will take you to the conversation.

OR

Save the link below and paste it into your browser at the scheduled time.

https://zoom.us/j/976843367

Each of us is following a spiritual path in this unique and perilous time.  How are you weaving your Creation Spirituality with the constant news about climate change? What have you chosen as your spiritual service to Earth? Join us for a virtual wisdom circle and be inspired and supported by others in the CS community who are exploring the spirituality of service and are working to offset the effects of climate change. 

 Each person will have the opportunity to speak on topics like: 
What do you most cherish about Earth?

What wisdom have you gained from revering creation? 

What feelings does climate change bring up in you? 

What organizations have given you  a way to address our situation?

What art inspires you to keep going?

Where is your consciousness focused when you act on Earth’s behalf??

What are the young people doing in your region and what kind of support are they needing?

What keeps you going? What gives you hope? 

All Four Paths will be woven into our discussions.

Via Positiva How do you express your reverence for Earth? 
Via Negativa What are your fears? What are you having to let go?
Via Creativa What new ideas, images, and possibilities are welling up inside of you?
Via Transformativa What is your ministry? To where are you drawn to offer service to Earth in this unprecedented time of change?

Please plan to join us on the first Thursday of the month. 

Save this notice and click on this sentence OR  copy and paste this link into your browser to join the conversation

https://zoom.us/j/976843367

This gathering is supported by Creation Spirituality Communities. Please check out the CS Communities website to find out more about CSC. 
Become a member of Creation Spirituality Communities. 
Your donations help us continue our work. .  

Dear friends,

For the past several weeks, I have found myself moving, at times uncomfortably, into liminal space. This culminated and came to a particularly unique state in my most recent Master’s program class on “multi-religiosity amidst the blessings of our ancestors.”

This journey into the liminal began in early August with our yearly Northwest Sufi Camp, followed by a week of Spiritual Direction training at the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley. Then I had a moving evening of Shamanistic ritual, movement, and sound with Ecuadorian teachers Susannah and Adriana and finally a week in the Master’s class.

I have very much wanted to somehow relay the sense of these weeks yet find it hard to put into words cogently.

So, I share the following two poems with you. The first expresses the feeling of oneness and divinity as I stepped into the liminal spaces of Sufi camp. The second describes the entire journey with the allegory of entering and dwelling in a liminal mansion.

Enjoy!
*********

The Veils Unraveled

Each radiant face,
Each majestic tree,
Each trembling leaf,
Each soft breeze,
Each watery whisper,

Each drum beat,
Each moving tone,
Each loving touch,
Each squealing laugh,
Each sorrowful lament,

Each whispered prayer,
Each rooted connection,
Each touch on my heart,
Each tingling energy,
Each pulsing warmth:

The veils unraveled
and unraveled until
I stood naked, weeping
resplendent, redeemed
No longer separate.

Divine
*********

Dwelling in the Liminal Mansion

From the world of ticking, insistent time
From the world of sirens, buses, restaurants
From the world of hurry, worry, scurry

Appears the mysterious, glowing, throbbing door
Into the in between spaces – do I enter?

Trembling
With fear,
Excitement,
Apprehension,
Doubt… I answer:

Of course! Hineni! Here I am Divine One!
I turn the golden, resplendent, knob –
Stumble over the threshold with a bow.
What’s up? Where are we? Which way from here?

I’m in a grand ballroom
Bedecked with prayer flags,
Sufi heart and wing symbols,
My dear friend and guide, Ganesha,
And goddesses and gods of every stripe
Both embodied and illustrated.

We dance,
We sing,
We move together,
We pray.
We spin.

And spinning, I find myself at a new doorway
Smaller, but pulsing, warm, cracking open as I fall through.

In this library room
We sit in circle
Blessing one another
Sharing joy
Sharing sorrow
Sharing love
Sharing fear
Finding hope
Finding light
Finding beloved community.

As we embrace in remembrance and farewell
With promises of companionship and compassion
I dissolve into tears and fall into dreams of sound and movement.

When I open my tear blurred eyes
And wipe my wet cheeks
Yet another door stands before me.

It is round and open
Warm light streams from within.
With a deep bow – I step over this new threshold.

In a cave-like, dome-shaped chamber,
encrusted and sparkling with jewels,
beloveds alive and dead await.
There is a space in the circle
The size and shape of my soul
Into which I slither and slip
Like a wisp of smoke
The keystone that completes the arch.

In this place of soft prayer
And sweet, chanting song
And deep, loving sharing,
In the spirals of spirit and mystery
We expand to include all
We contract to become the original singularity
We explode to create worlds and worlds
We dissolve into One.

And finally,
I fall through the center
Into the Holy of Holies
The pulsing,
Divine,
Inclusive,
Mystery of the Mystery of the Mystery.

I am that I am
Hallelujah!

Huuuuuuu

Painting: Leap of Faith ~ Acrylic on Wood 2004 by Shiloh Sophia

This isn’t a test. There are no check boxes that you missed. No arbitrary line that you have already crossed. No way to fail this. This isn’t based on who is smarter and who has more value. This idea is a dangerous illusion. This isn’t a race. There isn’t a starting gate. There isn’t a finish line. There isn’t a prize for going faster, better, longer. There is no where to get to. Exiting the race may mean you enjoy this day a whole lot more. This isn’t a game. There are no other competitors that you need to beat. No made up rules by someone who didn’t have your best interest at heart. No way to lose. Even not showing up doesn’t mean you lose. This isn’t a game at all. This isn’t a dress rehearsal. You don’t need to spend your time looking good and acting normal. You don’t need to look like you are the best one for the position. Just being who you are, isn’t easy, but it guarantees this isn’t a dress rehearsal that you can fail. You already got the gig, the one for which you are perfect, your own life. This isn’t a fight. There is no one to beat up. There is no referee calling the shots. There is nothing to win. That doesn’t mean there aren’t causes to defend. Don’t enter the battlefield with bravado and promises of doom and dread. It has never turned out well for us in the end. Start singing with your whole heart about this. There is no winner if anyone loses. We know this. The alternative is inherent in releasing the sword wielding mentality. Reclaim your consciousness from the over-culture. Today would not be too soon. Stop trying to get ahead since it is costing you everything. Is it time for a leap of faith, without an objective to get ahead? Who would you be being without objectives and goals to define your invented reality? Maybe an even better idea would arise. You never know. Yes, we will die anyway. Turns out that isn’t the point. We might end up living instead of racing, pretending, fighting. That sounds lovely, doesn’t it. Where is that freedom…we know it exists. We never stop looking, yet it is closer than we thought. Don’t make a bucket list. There is no list. There is loving what you love and in that, everything. What if we missed the point? Is there a point? We keep making up new stories to justify the cruelty. Yet as cruel as we are to ourselves, we should start right. here. This isn’t what we once thought. Changing the contextual metaphors may be one of the most important decisions of our lives. Shiloh Sophia The word overculture is from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes: “I coined the word Overculture many years ago to speak about the grid that the overculture slams down or sometimes subversively dreams down over the spirits and souls of human beings… in order to diminish them, set them into matchboxes, exhort them to behave, or else.” “If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” ~ Joseph Campbell