Yesterday there were yellow Crocuses smiling at the sun and the scent of sarcophogi and phlox perfuming the air:
Celtic Spring is here!
Also, Chinese new year shares the weekend with St. Valentine's day.
Are we an interfaith world, or what?!
For info on my writings and a new tri-fold bold glossy flyer on "What is Spiritual Direction" go to this (or cut and paste in your browser!)
http://www.timmalone.org/tim_malone_bio.htm
COMING EVENTS:
1) A DAY of Reflection on the topic of DISCERNMENT
FEBRUARY 20th 9 am - 12 noon
A MINI-RETREAT: HOW DO WE LISTEN
For the Deepest Voice, the still small voice, even the voice of God?
Come for REFLECTION, PRAYER, CHANT & Spiritual Conversation.
St. stephen the Martyr in Renton, WA
See calendar on Coming events page on my website -- link above.
MARCH 1 "A Taste of the Spiritual Exercises"
March 1 thru May 24 -- 12 week series
For more info on both events contact (253) 631-1940 www.ststephens.us
Free will donation. All are welcome.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Brief Bio /Bioptic (So far...)
A BRIEF AUTO-BIO (So Far...) Written in third person):
Each day I sit in silence for 30 minutes, chant from multiple traditions and go to bed with an examination of my consciousness ( grateful and challenging moments from the day). From an early age Tim was known to be sensitive, especially to the movement of the Spirit, a felt a connection that defined his path. Though it was said he rocked and rolled on the scale so much they could not weigh him as a baby the gentle -spirit Tim has so far emerged strongest. Reared in the Catholic Christian Tradition in the Midwest Tim attended U of Notre Dame and was trained as prayer and retreat leader amidst his own period of initiation into the spiritual life, including serious illness and chronic fatigue. This struggle resulting in changing tracks from pursuing medical Doctor to the healing arts of counseling psychology. Tim served for a year internship with JVC in Seattle which led to seven years in the mental health profession, equipping him to be with people in searching and in suffering, “a light in the dark,” as one woman suffering deep depression called him.
In 1991 he took the first of his sabbaticals overseas, this one to Europe for four months. He experienced such an awakening from living at Taize monastery (France) and living like St. Francis in Assisi Italy that he returned to the states and entered the Franciscan order. Continued discernment of religious life resulted in clarity that though he exhibits the “priestly” archetype his style of living this charism out would not fit in Holy Orders as they exist now. Returning to the NW and a brief engagement to a fellow pilgrim he followed an inner call to live in intentional spiritual community with both men and women. While studying for his Masters of Divinity he co-founded a community in Seattle which lived, served and meditated together for five years. This community initiated him into many different spiritual traditions and expressions of faith. During this time Tim served as adult spirituality coordinator in a parish and then coordinated the CHANNEL leadership training program until 2000 when he embarked on a one year solo Pilgrimage in Asia. Before his departure he co-founded and facilitated two “World Religions” series, each attending five houses of worship in the community for the purpose of encountering and learning to dialogue with often unknown “others” such as Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist.
This jubilee year marked an intense exploration and growth period which still involves yearly pilgrimages to the East. Having attended events and dialogued with leaders such as the Dalai Lama in India, Nepali Hindu Priests, Thai Buddhist monks, Bali-nese healers and Japanese Zen practitioners Tim realized that truly until there is understanding between the people of the world’s religions there will always be war between nations. Returning from Asia three weeks before 9.11.01 Tim was called forth by the Stillpoint Spirituality Center to lead groups to the Mosque so as to build a bridge in the community. In the intervening years Tim has led over 15 groups from all over the county to over 20 houses of worship, connecting over 1000 persons.
Between 2001 – 2008 Tim honed his skills as a Spiritual Director in both 1:1 and group settings through the Spiritual Exercises training program as well as learn to teach prayer and meditation both east and west. Six years in leadership of the non-profit Ignatian Spirituality Center birthed the popular “Spirituality on Tap” program across two counties. Tim explored other modalities and integrates these in his practice as Spiritual Director/Disciplines coach/Presider: Chanting, contemplative prayer ,Focusing, Enneagram, Healing Touch and Energy work/medicine, Mythology – modern and ancient, indigenous healing and shamanic practice. Recently, Tim presided at both the Interfaith Community Church and Swedenborg Community where a participant at each remarked, “you are a kind of “spiritualist:” you facilitate the Spirit to come into this space … into our hearts … with your deep, melodic speaking voice and simple song which opens up the soul …to grace.”
In Sept. 2009 Tim’s first Audio CD debut in the Philadelphia area, “Resting in God: Guided Meditations and Original Chants for Everyday Practice.” He is fresh off his third sabbatical (this lifetime) and living in a carriage house on a 3 acre estate in South King county which affords him ample time in solitude and nature to be “fully present” and energized to love and offer gifts of music, voice, meditation and healing presence. He enjoys writing poetry and songs in free time, many of which are available on this website or blog. Some day he may enter into the world of paper books, voice acting and lecture circuits yet at present he is content to just be. It is enough to dedicate oneself in offering spiritual direction, retreats and seminars, both in USA and in Costa Rica. If interested in having Tim facilitate an uplifting and contemplative spiritual experience contact him through this website ( left side panel.)
Influences over time: Family (Malones, Bott and Schmidts), Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Rumi, St Ignatius and Jesuits, Francis, and John of the Cross, Dom Bede Griffiths of South India monastery, Taize, Thich Nhat Hahn, Therese of Lixeiu,MLK, Ghandi, Jesus, Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna, George Harrison, Zen poets at Haiku
Mentors and Spiritual Directors: William Johnston SJ in Tokyo (Cloud of Unknowing), Bro Wayne Teasdale (Mystic Heart), Tibetan leader in Exile H.H. Dalai Lama, Andy Dufner SJ of Nestucca Sanctuary, Sr. Mary Walsh OSF, Many Jesuits at Seattle U., ND,JVC, and Katmandu Nepal; Sheik Sufi leader Jamal Rachman, Rabbi ____,Swami Bhaskarananda Vedanta Society, Crestone Colorado Community, Shantivanum (India) and New Camaldolesce (CA) Hermits,
Each day I sit in silence for 30 minutes, chant from multiple traditions and go to bed with an examination of my consciousness ( grateful and challenging moments from the day). From an early age Tim was known to be sensitive, especially to the movement of the Spirit, a felt a connection that defined his path. Though it was said he rocked and rolled on the scale so much they could not weigh him as a baby the gentle -spirit Tim has so far emerged strongest. Reared in the Catholic Christian Tradition in the Midwest Tim attended U of Notre Dame and was trained as prayer and retreat leader amidst his own period of initiation into the spiritual life, including serious illness and chronic fatigue. This struggle resulting in changing tracks from pursuing medical Doctor to the healing arts of counseling psychology. Tim served for a year internship with JVC in Seattle which led to seven years in the mental health profession, equipping him to be with people in searching and in suffering, “a light in the dark,” as one woman suffering deep depression called him.
In 1991 he took the first of his sabbaticals overseas, this one to Europe for four months. He experienced such an awakening from living at Taize monastery (France) and living like St. Francis in Assisi Italy that he returned to the states and entered the Franciscan order. Continued discernment of religious life resulted in clarity that though he exhibits the “priestly” archetype his style of living this charism out would not fit in Holy Orders as they exist now. Returning to the NW and a brief engagement to a fellow pilgrim he followed an inner call to live in intentional spiritual community with both men and women. While studying for his Masters of Divinity he co-founded a community in Seattle which lived, served and meditated together for five years. This community initiated him into many different spiritual traditions and expressions of faith. During this time Tim served as adult spirituality coordinator in a parish and then coordinated the CHANNEL leadership training program until 2000 when he embarked on a one year solo Pilgrimage in Asia. Before his departure he co-founded and facilitated two “World Religions” series, each attending five houses of worship in the community for the purpose of encountering and learning to dialogue with often unknown “others” such as Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist.
This jubilee year marked an intense exploration and growth period which still involves yearly pilgrimages to the East. Having attended events and dialogued with leaders such as the Dalai Lama in India, Nepali Hindu Priests, Thai Buddhist monks, Bali-nese healers and Japanese Zen practitioners Tim realized that truly until there is understanding between the people of the world’s religions there will always be war between nations. Returning from Asia three weeks before 9.11.01 Tim was called forth by the Stillpoint Spirituality Center to lead groups to the Mosque so as to build a bridge in the community. In the intervening years Tim has led over 15 groups from all over the county to over 20 houses of worship, connecting over 1000 persons.
Between 2001 – 2008 Tim honed his skills as a Spiritual Director in both 1:1 and group settings through the Spiritual Exercises training program as well as learn to teach prayer and meditation both east and west. Six years in leadership of the non-profit Ignatian Spirituality Center birthed the popular “Spirituality on Tap” program across two counties. Tim explored other modalities and integrates these in his practice as Spiritual Director/Disciplines coach/Presider: Chanting, contemplative prayer ,Focusing, Enneagram, Healing Touch and Energy work/medicine, Mythology – modern and ancient, indigenous healing and shamanic practice. Recently, Tim presided at both the Interfaith Community Church and Swedenborg Community where a participant at each remarked, “you are a kind of “spiritualist:” you facilitate the Spirit to come into this space … into our hearts … with your deep, melodic speaking voice and simple song which opens up the soul …to grace.”
In Sept. 2009 Tim’s first Audio CD debut in the Philadelphia area, “Resting in God: Guided Meditations and Original Chants for Everyday Practice.” He is fresh off his third sabbatical (this lifetime) and living in a carriage house on a 3 acre estate in South King county which affords him ample time in solitude and nature to be “fully present” and energized to love and offer gifts of music, voice, meditation and healing presence. He enjoys writing poetry and songs in free time, many of which are available on this website or blog. Some day he may enter into the world of paper books, voice acting and lecture circuits yet at present he is content to just be. It is enough to dedicate oneself in offering spiritual direction, retreats and seminars, both in USA and in Costa Rica. If interested in having Tim facilitate an uplifting and contemplative spiritual experience contact him through this website ( left side panel.)
Influences over time: Family (Malones, Bott and Schmidts), Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Rumi, St Ignatius and Jesuits, Francis, and John of the Cross, Dom Bede Griffiths of South India monastery, Taize, Thich Nhat Hahn, Therese of Lixeiu,MLK, Ghandi, Jesus, Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna, George Harrison, Zen poets at Haiku
Mentors and Spiritual Directors: William Johnston SJ in Tokyo (Cloud of Unknowing), Bro Wayne Teasdale (Mystic Heart), Tibetan leader in Exile H.H. Dalai Lama, Andy Dufner SJ of Nestucca Sanctuary, Sr. Mary Walsh OSF, Many Jesuits at Seattle U., ND,JVC, and Katmandu Nepal; Sheik Sufi leader Jamal Rachman, Rabbi ____,Swami Bhaskarananda Vedanta Society, Crestone Colorado Community, Shantivanum (India) and New Camaldolesce (CA) Hermits,
Monday, January 11, 2010
Taking Time for just Being: An Interfaith Way of practicing SABBATH
Excerpts from my presentation tonight
for Cabrini "Continuing Education" program:
TAKING “SABBATH” as a way of RESTING IN GOD
SABBATH ORIGINS:
JEWISH: Out of Genesis 2: SABBATH in over 25 passages in Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy: The 10 Commandments
CHRISTIAN: Jesus, the Gospels & the Sabbath: His Practice of Going away to rest & pray ;
Practicing Compassion; Love your neighbor as you love yourself
ISLAM ... Koran enjoins the sabbath in over six passages
HINDU ... From the Upanishads ; festivals in India and Bali call for a day to turn off all power.
BUDDHIST ... meditation, communally and individually, discplines the mind and renews body
SABBATH TOOLS:
· Commit weekly to a time of 1-3 hours, a half day or full day – outside of Mass -
· In solitude or shared with a loved one
· Try “fasting” from electronics of any kind
· Feast on what else there is that is life-giving around you
· Begin by Lighting a Candle(s) … to connect with Tradition
· Place keys, phone, TV controller, etc. and petitions in a Sabbath box
· Bell or Gong (or alarm, if you must) to begin and end your sacred time
· Sacred Space or Altar with icons, images, mementos lead you into Sabbath rest
· Book of reflections or prayers which leads you to your Inner Sanctuary
· Walking stick or binoculars … to encounter Nature out your front door
· Favorite prayer practice or Scripture/Poem – for centering, grounding in rel. with God
· Musical instrument (or favorite quiet background music /guided meditation CD)
· Silence is your friend and can be a companion … leading you to deep self and to God with you.
** Whatever sensations or emotions arise in the time for Being, once attended to, will grow you, like a garden, winter into spring.
SABBATH RESOURCES & BOOKS:
Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Susannah Heschel
Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr;
Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton
Out of Solitude: Three Meditations by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Resting in God: Guided Meditations for Everyday Life (Audio CD) by Tim Malone
FOR MORE INFO ON SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
AND UPCOMING RETREATS/ SEMINARS:
www.Ignatiancenter.org ; www.TimMalone.org
for Cabrini "Continuing Education" program:
TAKING “SABBATH” as a way of RESTING IN GOD
SABBATH ORIGINS:
JEWISH: Out of Genesis 2: SABBATH in over 25 passages in Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy: The 10 Commandments
CHRISTIAN: Jesus, the Gospels & the Sabbath: His Practice of Going away to rest & pray ;
Practicing Compassion; Love your neighbor as you love yourself
ISLAM ... Koran enjoins the sabbath in over six passages
HINDU ... From the Upanishads ; festivals in India and Bali call for a day to turn off all power.
BUDDHIST ... meditation, communally and individually, discplines the mind and renews body
SABBATH TOOLS:
· Commit weekly to a time of 1-3 hours, a half day or full day – outside of Mass -
· In solitude or shared with a loved one
· Try “fasting” from electronics of any kind
· Feast on what else there is that is life-giving around you
· Begin by Lighting a Candle(s) … to connect with Tradition
· Place keys, phone, TV controller, etc. and petitions in a Sabbath box
· Bell or Gong (or alarm, if you must) to begin and end your sacred time
· Sacred Space or Altar with icons, images, mementos lead you into Sabbath rest
· Book of reflections or prayers which leads you to your Inner Sanctuary
· Walking stick or binoculars … to encounter Nature out your front door
· Favorite prayer practice or Scripture/Poem – for centering, grounding in rel. with God
· Musical instrument (or favorite quiet background music /guided meditation CD)
· Silence is your friend and can be a companion … leading you to deep self and to God with you.
** Whatever sensations or emotions arise in the time for Being, once attended to, will grow you, like a garden, winter into spring.
SABBATH RESOURCES & BOOKS:
Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Susannah Heschel
Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr;
Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton
Out of Solitude: Three Meditations by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Resting in God: Guided Meditations for Everyday Life (Audio CD) by Tim Malone
FOR MORE INFO ON SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
AND UPCOMING RETREATS/ SEMINARS:
www.Ignatiancenter.org ; www.TimMalone.org
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Two Benevolent Encounters (and upcoming 4 week Series on Meditation!)
Haiku: “Swirl”
11.28.09
Pine needles
Swirl
In pond
Revealing patterns:
What Being
Traces
11.28.09
Pine needles
Swirl
In pond
Revealing patterns:
What Being
Traces
Zen
(-fully)?
© TJM 2010
“Greeting Wild Robin”
12.3.09
Each morn'
Before sunrise
Outside my window in a holly tree
Waits
A plump, orange-breasted Robin.
Upon opening shutters
We greet
With our eyes,
head tilted in curiosity.
Benevolent Glances.
Together we watch the dawn rising
Over frosted rooftops
Until she begins to sing,
And poop and eat red berry,
Eyes meeting mine now and again;
Until one of us must needs
Travel on our way
Into the sunlit day
Perchance, full,
With Wild Communion,
We, two,
Companioned Souls.
© TJM 2010, www.timmalone.org
Are you looking ways to deepen your meditation and prayer life?
Do you desire a closer walk with the Divine each and every day?
Would you like to “try on” different styles of praying?
(-fully)?
© TJM 2010
“Greeting Wild Robin”
12.3.09
Each morn'
Before sunrise
Outside my window in a holly tree
Waits
A plump, orange-breasted Robin.
Upon opening shutters
We greet
With our eyes,
head tilted in curiosity.
Benevolent Glances.
Together we watch the dawn rising
Over frosted rooftops
Until she begins to sing,
And poop and eat red berry,
Eyes meeting mine now and again;
Until one of us must needs
Travel on our way
Into the sunlit day
Perchance, full,
With Wild Communion,
We, two,
Companioned Souls.
© TJM 2010, www.timmalone.org
Are you looking ways to deepen your meditation and prayer life?
Do you desire a closer walk with the Divine each and every day?
Would you like to “try on” different styles of praying?
Ways of Praying
A Four-week Introductory series
Exploring Spiritual Disciplines
including sitting in Silence.
A Four-week Introductory series
Exploring Spiritual Disciplines
including sitting in Silence.
Begins Tuesday January 12th.
Each evening will include teaching and a guided prayer experience (including prayer with scripture, prayer in the tradition of Saints Benedict and Ignatius, and prayer with silence). Later in the evening, participants may choose to take part in silent reflection or small group faith sharing.
Facilitators: Tim Malone, MDiv, and Rosanne Michaels, MATS
Tim and Rosanne are both spiritual directors and retreat leaders in the Puget Sound area. Both have facilitated prayer experiences at the Ignatian Spirituality Center, and are directors of the Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life.
Dates: Tuesdays, January 12, 19, 26, February 2nd
Facilitators: Tim Malone, MDiv, and Rosanne Michaels, MATS
Tim and Rosanne are both spiritual directors and retreat leaders in the Puget Sound area. Both have facilitated prayer experiences at the Ignatian Spirituality Center, and are directors of the Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life.
Dates: Tuesdays, January 12, 19, 26, February 2nd
Time: 7:00 -9:00 pm
Place: “Cathedral Place” behind St. James, Downtown Seattle
Directions: www.st.james-cathedral.org
Place: “Cathedral Place” behind St. James, Downtown Seattle
Directions: www.st.james-cathedral.org
Register: email hoesterle@stjames-cathedral.org
Questions? Call Helen Oesterle at 206-382-4514
“The light within us and within all things
needs to be enkindled
by our acts of love,
our emptiness,
our reaching out.”
Patrick Twohy, SJ
Monday, December 28, 2009
Winter as time for Being
The light is returning yet our energy may seem sapped or drained out of us. Many of us feel pretty tuckered out by this point in the season and some of us crash, physically (sickness, sugar) or emotionally. This season can be a time of harvesting the fruits of the year by simple spending time "doing" nothing, that is, by "being" for a day or two. Do you notice the body calling you to just rest, to lean into the winter "blanket"?
For me, this is when naps and creativity take more front and center. These seemingly "unproductive" activities can mean loads of space for something new to grow in the next season or at least a chance to let the soil take a much needed breather!
Suggestions:
Go take a walk and see what nature is doing, (or being!).
Write a journal entry or a poem about where you at this time of year.
Sing or paint, create a meal which is nourishing.
What else might fit into "being" activity for you?
What if you saw your life as largely un -charted territory…
For me, this is when naps and creativity take more front and center. These seemingly "unproductive" activities can mean loads of space for something new to grow in the next season or at least a chance to let the soil take a much needed breather!
Suggestions:
Go take a walk and see what nature is doing, (or being!).
Write a journal entry or a poem about where you at this time of year.
Sing or paint, create a meal which is nourishing.
What else might fit into "being" activity for you?
Question for meditating upon this season of New Light, new beginnings:
What if you saw your life as largely un -charted territory…
with infinite choices
that could each be lived "in the light," with divine inspiration at your back?
Monday, December 21, 2009
For my ally is ... (May the light be with you!)
Today is the Solstice: the first day of winter yet marks the beginning of light returning and longer days a burning.
Isn't that just like life?
The first day of the (often) most dreaded season and yet a new beginning for the Light, that fiery glow on the horizon which makes life possible here on earth. "Light," by the way, is the most prominant positive image of the Divine which is shared in spiritual traditions worldwide.
I offer a snippet of conversation heard on the street in NW: "Isn't it great the sun came out today - I need that light -vitamin D -bring it on! "so tell me, HOW ARE YOU??"
What if we said when people asked this common question: "Ah, I am glad you asked. the Light is my ally. When I am feeling myself IN the light, connected to the light (Divine, God, etc.) my whole being is well. I am well, right here and now, thank you."
The ancient Yule, welcoming the light, was a communal practice in the British Isles, a community celebrating for days in just this kind of spirit! Maybe you are like me: I sure like to fill myself with food and glittery trees and presents for the holidays. Yet I wonder: what if I focused my gaze each morning before all this holydays/holi-daze on answering this question:
Who is my ally?
What if we thought not of a person, or an image (of God), nor a concept only (Love) but a felt experience...
Another way to ask this might be: What is the primary ally which gives life, (and is not the sun or the earth) but the force behind the light, the Source and essence behind all of life? What might that be, for you?
Any one of us might answer this with a million different responses or descriptions. Today, my answer would be: "the Light or the Force." This, for me, draws and sustains my essence, even when I am not aware. This is my primary relationship, winter and summer, pain of loss or joy of just being alive in a forest. This is what is behind a mass of people across the planet feel moved by films and stories such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter: "The Force," "and magic are just other images for this all-pervading, life-sustaining energy which comes from ... that which made us. "The Force be with you" was director George Lucas just slipping in a different word for the first greeting the catholic priest gives at Mass: "The Lord be with You." It is curious that when the census asks for "religion practiced" hundreds of thousands say "Jedi/the Force." As a teacher of comparative religion this is essentialy the same as saying, in the East, the Tao (Ying Yang), and the West, the (Holy) Spirit. Thus, its not just a silly movie or a new moder myth, its pointing to something people have experienced as real for ten thousand years.
Yoda, the little Jedi master/teacher in Star Wars 6 movies, says it like this :
"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes."
There will always be this movement toward balance: light and dark, emergence and shadow, life and death, ending and new beginning. This is happening to us all, individually and collectively. This is happening to me at present, if I take a moment to sit, settle and notice the movements in my life. Or stop in a church or sacred temple for five minutes. Or "treat" myself to a massage, other treatment such acupuncture/cranial sacred/alternative medicine. All of these "alternative" modalities are about balance; and compliment western medicine beautifully because of this primary focus. Opening myself to these many ways of finding balance have also opened up my image of God -- and allowed the Light -- to show me how the real God works...
A student at the Seattle Institute for Oriental medicine looked at my website and wrote, it seems you are "Forging a new path in relatively unaddressed field …" Whatever that field might be called, for me, it must always come back to the source -- experience and relationship to deepest connection in life. When i write haiku I notice "the Force" meditates me, that is, flows through me into words on a page. Experience becomes form. Life speaks, through me, as it were. On Christmas day I will post a few of these peaches (or mangoes?). Scroll down to earlier posts for to taste poems ripened on my tree -- from last year in Thailand and this year in the Northwest.
MAY THE LIGHT BE WITH YOU!
Isn't that just like life?
The first day of the (often) most dreaded season and yet a new beginning for the Light, that fiery glow on the horizon which makes life possible here on earth. "Light," by the way, is the most prominant positive image of the Divine which is shared in spiritual traditions worldwide.
I offer a snippet of conversation heard on the street in NW: "Isn't it great the sun came out today - I need that light -vitamin D -bring it on! "so tell me, HOW ARE YOU??"
What if we said when people asked this common question: "Ah, I am glad you asked. the Light is my ally. When I am feeling myself IN the light, connected to the light (Divine, God, etc.) my whole being is well. I am well, right here and now, thank you."
The ancient Yule, welcoming the light, was a communal practice in the British Isles, a community celebrating for days in just this kind of spirit! Maybe you are like me: I sure like to fill myself with food and glittery trees and presents for the holidays. Yet I wonder: what if I focused my gaze each morning before all this holydays/holi-daze on answering this question:
Who is my ally?
What if we thought not of a person, or an image (of God), nor a concept only (Love) but a felt experience...
Another way to ask this might be: What is the primary ally which gives life, (and is not the sun or the earth) but the force behind the light, the Source and essence behind all of life? What might that be, for you?
Any one of us might answer this with a million different responses or descriptions. Today, my answer would be: "the Light or the Force." This, for me, draws and sustains my essence, even when I am not aware. This is my primary relationship, winter and summer, pain of loss or joy of just being alive in a forest. This is what is behind a mass of people across the planet feel moved by films and stories such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter: "The Force," "and magic are just other images for this all-pervading, life-sustaining energy which comes from ... that which made us. "The Force be with you" was director George Lucas just slipping in a different word for the first greeting the catholic priest gives at Mass: "The Lord be with You." It is curious that when the census asks for "religion practiced" hundreds of thousands say "Jedi/the Force." As a teacher of comparative religion this is essentialy the same as saying, in the East, the Tao (Ying Yang), and the West, the (Holy) Spirit. Thus, its not just a silly movie or a new moder myth, its pointing to something people have experienced as real for ten thousand years.
Yoda, the little Jedi master/teacher in Star Wars 6 movies, says it like this :
"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes."
There will always be this movement toward balance: light and dark, emergence and shadow, life and death, ending and new beginning. This is happening to us all, individually and collectively. This is happening to me at present, if I take a moment to sit, settle and notice the movements in my life. Or stop in a church or sacred temple for five minutes. Or "treat" myself to a massage, other treatment such acupuncture/cranial sacred/alternative medicine. All of these "alternative" modalities are about balance; and compliment western medicine beautifully because of this primary focus. Opening myself to these many ways of finding balance have also opened up my image of God -- and allowed the Light -- to show me how the real God works...
A student at the Seattle Institute for Oriental medicine looked at my website and wrote, it seems you are "Forging a new path in relatively unaddressed field …" Whatever that field might be called, for me, it must always come back to the source -- experience and relationship to deepest connection in life. When i write haiku I notice "the Force" meditates me, that is, flows through me into words on a page. Experience becomes form. Life speaks, through me, as it were. On Christmas day I will post a few of these peaches (or mangoes?). Scroll down to earlier posts for to taste poems ripened on my tree -- from last year in Thailand and this year in the Northwest.
MAY THE LIGHT BE WITH YOU!
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