Category Archives: peace

Jan 16 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

1 Reply

Today we honor the American prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy dedicated to building and maintaining a Beloved Community.

Today’s senryu: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

The highest honor

is continuation of

the wisdom received.

A big part of MLK’s legacy are his children, especially his daughter, Dr. Bernice A. King who serves as CEO of The King Center. As her mother Coretta Scott King has said, “if you receive a blessing, you have a duty to share it with others.”

Dr. Bernice A. King – Chief Executive Officer, The King Center @ https://berniceking.com/

“Dr. King is a global thought leader, strategist, solutionist, orator, peace advocate, and the CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center)”

Be A King – Our Time for Change Is Now

Jan 7 – “Nothingness is Infinite Possibilities”

Leave a reply

One last post on the excellent book by Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004.

Centering Prayer (CP) might better be called the “path to your most interior self” or the “abiding prayer of silence.” The name itself is not important it is the practice of meditation that makes a difference.

CP is the creation of inter-religious and interspiritual dialogue. Based on Hindu, Zen Buddhism, Jain, Christian (Catholic, Protestant, Quaker), 12 Step Program for Recovery to Addiction, Transcendental Meditation and Ken Wilbur’s 9-Level Fallacy.

Ultimately, committed daily sitting in silence will encourage you to:

  1. Renew your own tradition (e.g., Buddhist meditation)
  2. Be of service to others in the community
  3. Engage in and appreciate interspiritual dialogue

I highly recommend reading or listening to the audiobook for Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and/or watching the 1hr/17-minute YouTube video linked above with special attention on the last 17 minutes.

As Thomas Keating said, the nothingness (of sitting in silence) leads to infinite possibilities.

Jan 5 – Imagine a River of Consciousness

Leave a reply

“In one of his most colorful teachings Thomas Keating describes (the Centering Prayer contemplation) process using the metaphor of boats on a river. The river, as he depicts it, is your consciousness – which is in fact a constantly moving “stream.” Down it floats boats, i.e., your thoughts …. on and on they float, down the river of your consciousness.” Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004 Cynthia Bourgeault, p.36

The metaphor continues by describing 5 types of boats or thoughts that will traverse your mind as you seek to reach deeper levels of awareness in your meditation practice. Thoughts will come and go “like clouds on a windy day”, Thich Nhat Hanh would say. That’s okay, just let them gently go.

Bourgeault continues, “The Art of Letting Go – the goal in Centering Prayer is not to stop the thoughts, but simply to develop a detached attitude toward them. As long as they are coming and going of their own accord …. this gentle, laissez-faire attitude toward the thoughts is reinforced through a simple formula called “The Four Rs“:

  • Resist no thought
  • Retain no thought
  • React to no thought
  • Return to (your) sacred word

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, (c) 2004 Cynthia Bourgeault, p.39-40

Ultimately, contemplation, meditation, mindfulness is more about going with the flow of “stream of consciousness” rather than fighting with our ordinary awareness level.

Today’s senryu: Imagine a River of Consciousness

particle and wave,

matter and spirit, flowing

gently down the stream

Jan 4 – The Art of Awakening

2 Replies

In my quest to learn more about mindfulness from an inter-spiritual perspective, I’m now reading Cynthia Bourgeault’s book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (c) 2004 via Cowley Publications with a foreword by Thomas Keating. In this book, Bourgeault describes in chapter 2: “Virtually every spiritual tradition that holds a vision of human transformation at its heart also claims that a practice of intentional silence is a non-negotiable. Period. You just have to do it. Whether it be the meditation of the yogic and Buddhist traditions, the zikr of the Sufis, the devkut of mystical Judaism, or the contemplative prayer of Christians, there is a universal affirmation that this form of spiritual practice is essential to spiritual awakening.” p.9

Also, as an appreciator of simple visuals, I enjoy the three-circle display of the levels of Awareness:

There is so much to mine in this treasure trove of a book that it will take multiple posts to share.

So, to begin, here is today’s senryu: The Art of Awakening

release the ego

getting out of our own way

silence is golden

Jan 3 – Contemplation – Mindfulness by Another Name

1 Reply

This week I am focusing on mindfulness aka contemplation or meditation. Today, I focus on Richard Rohr‘s 90-minute video offering a Christian perspective of contemplation. Here are the top 10 key highlights for me:

  1. the quicker we let go of ego and move beyond a positive self-image, the quicker we realize that we are spiritual beings learning how to be fully human
  2. religion is both the best and worst thing in the world if we never transform beyond our ego
  3. Christianity is simply learning how to lose graciously; a Christian is someone who has met one
  4. We shouldn’t say prayers; rather we should be one
  5. it’s right relationship over correct performance
  6. move beyond limousine liberal imaging
  7. how you do anything (in the present moment) is how you do everything
  8. the first half of any contemplative sit is seeing our own “garbage” and hopefully the second half is letting it go to reconnect with present moment awareness
  9. to observe is far more effective than attacking
  10. the most radical thing we can do is contemplation

Finally, I especially appreciated Rohr’s summation that we should not confuse meeting attendance or group membership with transformation. The bigger picture of contemplation is not to get hung up on posture, process or programs. Contemplation is about reconnecting with our higher power and recognizing our relationship with everyone and everything.

Today’s senryu: A Rose Is a Rose …

no navel-gazing

let your ego go and then

reconnect with love

Dec 25 – Merry Inclusive Christmas

2 Replies

With all the different holidays being celebrated this time of year, I wanted to find something to share that might appeal to the beautiful and diverse group of people who read this blog. Below is something I read earlier this week written by Rabbi Rami Shapiro that appealed to me. I sincerely hope it offers something to you as well.

Spirituality & Christmas from the most recent issue of Spirituality & Health (https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/blogs/roadside-musings/2020/12/21/spirituality-and-christmas)

“I love Christmas. My neighbors love Christ. This is not the same thing.

To me Christmas heralds the Very Good News that if a first century rabbi could realize the Truth at the mystic heart of his and every religion—“I and the Divine are one” (John 10:30)—then so can we. This is the same Very Good News taught by sages before and after Jesus:

  • I am you and you are I; wherever you are, there I am … And in whatever place you wish, you may gather Me, but when you gather Me, you gather yourself. (Gospel of Eve)
  • My Me is God, nor do I recognize any other Me except God. (St. Catherine of Genoa)
  • Beyond the senses is the brain. Beyond the brain is the intellect. Beyond the intellect is the Great Atman. Beyond the Great Atman is the Unmanifest Brahman. Beyond the Unmanifest Brahman is the I, all–pervading Subject impossible to objectify. (Katha Upanishad 2.3 7–8)
  • The awakened one is no longer separated from God, and behold you are God, and God is you. So, know that I, even I, am God. God is I and I am God. (Rabbi Abraham Abulafia)
  • I am Truth. There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God. There is nothing in my cloak but God. (Mansur al–Hallaj)

To me Christmas is hopeful: a time to celebrate the potential for God-Realization in all of us. To my neighbors Christmas seems fearful: a time to circle the wagons and bemoan how besieged Christians are—not in countries where they are actually persecuted such as the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia but in the most Christian friendly country on earth: the United States of America.

As I walk through my neighborhood and exchange friendly shouts of “Merry Christmas” with my neighbors, I take pleasure in seeing houses draped with Christmas lights and lawns taken over by manger scenes. So, you might forgive my confusion when my neighbors tell me that their right to openly affirm their religion is being denied them, and that they are shunned for saying “Merry Christmas,” and that this War on Christmas gets stronger every year.

To me the War on Christmas is an odd but understandable response to the success of Christianity in the United States. Christians aren’t meant to be successful: Blessed are the poor, the meek, the hungry, the thirsty “who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:10). The problem for my neighbors is that they aren’t poor, meek, hungry, thirsty, or persecuted. Indeed, they are often seen as the persecutors. And because they aren’t persecuted, they fear their place in the Kingdom of Heaven is iffy at best.

The obvious solution—obvious to me at any rate—is for them to take up the causes for which Jesus died: the cessation of othering, injustice, and oppression, and doing right by “the least” among us (Matthew 25). As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. showed us, it doesn’t take long before this Christian message threatens the Powers That Be in America and one becomes “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Sadly, it is easier to imagine a War on Christmas instead.

I refuse to engage with the War on Christmas. I choose instead to celebrate the Very Good News that You are God (Tat Tvam Asi and Alles iz Gott as we say in Sanskrit and Yiddish). And when I wish you “Merry Christmas” know that what I am wishing you is this: May your celebration of the birth of Jesus birth your own awakening to the joyous fact that you and God are one.

Merry Christmas.”

Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award-winning author, essayist, poet, and teacher. In the print version of our magazine, he has an advice column, “Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler,” addressing reader questions https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/authors/rabbi-rami-shapiro

May peace be with all of us this holiday season _/\_

Dec 3 – How to Live When a Loved One Dies

Leave a reply

https://www.parallax.org/authors/thich-nhat-hanh/

“Our loved ones are in us and we are in them. When a loved one dies, a part of us also dies.” p.2

“We are in the habit of identifying ourselves with our bodies. The idea that we are this body is deeply entrenched in us. But your loved one is not just their body; they are much more than that …. The idea that “This body is me and I am this body” is a belief we must let go of. If we do not, we will suffer a great deal. We are life, and life is far vaster than this body, this concept, this mind …. We are not limited to our physical body, even when we are alive. We inter-are with our ancestors, our descendants, and the whole of the cosmos. We do not have a separate self; we are interconnected with all of life, and we, and everything, are always in transformation.” p.100-101

I miss Lexie.

I’m grateful for the reminders Thich Nhat Hanh offers us.

May we all have a peaceful weekend.