My spiritual director keeps after me to set aside all practical considerations and lay out my vision for this elder phase of my life. So, for the record, here it is: To be in Africa, to write, and be with family.
There is probably something else. Continue reading
On this Fourth of July I would have been traveling home from Congo. I have emerged from the sharp grief over the trip that didn’t happen but I am still stuck in a limbo of boredom and puzzlement because I have no idea what I am going to do next. Continue reading
Photo by ABC 7 News, NY
We read the news of the Orlando massacre on our smartphones as we were driving back to the Midwest from a week of profound spiritual teaching and encounter in Maine. It brought the four of us in the car crashing down to earth-reality after a mountaintop experience. What happens when you come home is always a test of the validity of the spiritual experience you get in a retreat setting. Continue reading
I am so much less interested in writing these days. I squeezed out another blog post last weekend because I felt like I should keep trying to connect with my readers. But it was a struggle and I think I invented some “wisdom” in the process rather than trying to report something as accurately as I could, which is what the blog has been best for. Continue reading
It’s been a long blooming season for my daffodils but a tough one. They’ve survived at least three snowfalls in the last week plus wind and rain. After each battering I go out and rescue the ones that are absolutely facedown in the snow or dirt, put them in vases, and enjoy them inside by the woodstove–that is, if I get around to building a fire. Continue reading
A friend who recently moved to Portland, Oregon, posts pictures of Lenten roses blooming right on cue, at the beginning of Lent. Shall I post pictures of yet another Southwest Michigan lake-effect snow? I am tired of snow pictures, mine and everybody else’s.
At mid-February I envy anyone who is seeing signs of spring or living or traveling in warm sunshine. I love the upper Midwest three-quarters of the year but in late winter, get me outta here. Continue reading
“Those deeply attracted by the ideas [undergirding spiritual transformation] but unable even to admit their own inability to face themselves as they are, often seem prone to settle for the comfortable anesthetic of teaching others.” From Ouspensky’s Fourth Way by Gerald de Symons Beckwith
This was posted recently on a private group page as the “unsettling quote for the day.” It drew a lot of comments, some affirming, some pushing against it or reacting to what seems like a sweeping criticism of spiritual teachers. Many members of this group are themselves spiritual teachers, in one way or another. Continue reading
My phone burbles with an incoming text. I know what the message is because it comes at the same time every day, five days a week. “Sending chi.”
I stop in my pre-Christmas housecleaning tracks, brew a mug of green peach tea and sit in an easy chair. Soon I am zoned out in a pleasant haze, getting my chi fix for the day. Chi and tea, a perfect combination.
In the next room my husband sits in front of his computer, eyes closed, hands spread. He, too, is receiving the energy flow but he is probably giving as much as he is getting. He is a powerful chi generator himself. If I need an extra dose, I often ask him to direct the flow my way.
We subscribe to a remote “chi clinic,” five days a week, a service of the Sun Shen center in Ann Arbor Michigan. An hour a day several healers send energy to participants, both at the center and in any remote location. I don’t know how this remote stuff works but it does, at least for us. It provides instant relaxation, sometimes relief from discomfort or sensations in the body, a meditative mood if you want that, or a burst of energy if you continue your tasks in a conscious way. The healers say the more recipients there are, the stronger the flow among us all.
A side benefit is that it creates a decisive break in the day, a stop, like Muslim prayers or Benedictine offices. I find it best to use it that way whenever I can, rather than continuing my work. It is a signal to shift attention, to connect with the energy of Creation, to receive and pass on this mysterious essence of life. Sometimes I pray and pass the energy to specific people. I often think about the connection of chi, intention, and prayer. Sun Shen combines Christian and Taoist traditions.
Feeling and working with chi–the basis of Chinese medicine and many other ancient spiritual and healing traditions–may take some practice. We have been beneficiaries of Sun Shen’s unique therapies for several years and find that our responses and awareness increase over time.
The Chi Clinic is a good way to start. Imagine taking a whole hour to relax every day in this busy time of year! Or using it for a fresh start in the new year.You can try it for a week, free. If you feel some benefit, you can subscribe to the service by the month. If you’re like us you may find it addictive.
Another text burble, an hour later. “That’s all for today.” Back to cleaning, laundry, and stacking gifts to wrap.
I reported a dream image yesterday to my friend Nina, who had been with me at Wisdom School. I did not understand the image at all.
I had a collection of small stones like the ones we have gathered from the beaches of the Great Lakes. I was supposed to eat them.
Nina immediately made the link to Logion 77 of the Gospel of Thomas, which was a main text for the Wisdom School: Continue reading
A few months ago my husband was diagnosed with a non-aggressive form of prostate cancer. The doctors assure him this “little bit of cancer” is nothing to worry about; it just needs to be monitored for now. “My advice to you,” his primary care physician told him, “is to forget you have cancer. Live your life. At this rate you won’t die from prostate cancer for at least 15 or 20 years and something else could get you first.” Continue reading
the practical mystic 