Such synchronicity. I’m currently engulfed in Cynthia Bourgeault’s books and teachings in the Wisdom Tradition, including the discovery of the pre-canonical gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene (Cynthia’s book on her is phenomenal!). A form of non-dual path seems quite possible within the broader confines of Christianity. A path that I had only considered passable through Easter wisdom traditions, including Advayta Vedanta. Your new name Vivekananda seems to point in that direction, I’m a big fan of Swami Sarvapriyananda’s teachings based on Swami Vivekananda.
I was in church on Ash Wednesday because I, too, want the ashes. I love the reminder: "Remember now that you are dust, and onto dust, you shall return." During the sermon, the priest wondered why Ash Wednesday, though not a Holy Day of Obligation, always fills each mass beyond capacity each year.
Singing with our Schola is praising the best way I know how. Our Schola calls, and I respond strongly and fully. I feel a communion with my fellow parishioners, all on different paths, all fumbling through as best we can. I likely wouldn't have been in those pews if it had not been for 15 years at Cynthia's Wisdom Schools, Thomas Keating, many poets, and Thomas Merton. And music- always. At a time when I felt most lost in my mid-30s, I danced freely and alone to Peter Gabriel's 'Secret World'- played loudly and immersed in his big wall of sound- when suddenly an epiphany moved through me like a flash of lightning.
This poem comes close to capturing that moment. May we all be 'loved like that'. (Click the 'Listen' button in the top right to hear the poet read it.) https://onbeing.org/poetry/annunciation/
Such a revelatory poem. Thank you Mary. For me, the closing lines capture the sense that the spiritual path takes you towards being fully yourself and not a self at all - which rings true to my experience. We think of them as conflicting ideas but it may be truer to say that they are mutually reinforcing.
“only able to endure it by being no one and so specifically myself I thought I’d die
Ah, so glad you know this poem now. Yes, those are the lines that grab me most too. Well the whole thing grabs me but those lines especially. You are very perceptive when you talk about your spiritual path. Cynthia writes about the ‘no self” that Thomas Keating came to experience for the last 5 years of his life’ He called it unity- rather than no self. Cynthia calls it the dark night of the self. She talks about it a bit- in this video that is 2 yrs old. There are likely newer ones on this now that she’s released this book. She does not talk about ‘mutually reinforcing- but somehow that feels resonant with me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O24xNWWjW2w
Not a direct quote, but I liked the way she describes “Beyond me, myself and I, there is just “I am” and then the I drops away and there is just Am… 🔥 (Wilber writes about “I amness” as something primordial we can directly apprehend, but doesn’t mention amness (!))
To sit still and not care leads us to the Holy Spirit's care which resides in the RH.
My experience of the presence and the analytics of the Holy Spirit mechanism.
Nothing mystic here, only reality. The reality of the two thought systems.
I sense this in your choice of references as well.
As Jesus also says somewhere: "Unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God," between death and birth, rebirth. For this to happen innocence and purity is also needed. Seek and you shall find and the truth will set you free. The RH dynamic deterministic Real systemic intelligence is also what can save the world from LH AI which would achieve AGI no doubt. But would that save the world? Once we understand the thought differences the answer must be NO.....
I find there is a voice that is louder than any other, that of proclamation.
It is allowed to speak louder and entirely off topic to the present facts.
It works in the fear of god, not in its presence of curiosity.
It’s rarely “how does that work”, it puts its clumsy face in the way of understanding anything of significance.
Yet as soon as it’s noticed, the OMG infective is like a rhyme in history, along for the ride, babbling and in constant trauma.
A box with a spike on top, was an adaption of containment, in truth, a lightning rod of hilarity to stick it to the man, later adjusted with science and observation.
Don’t look up, get back to work, keep polluting and praying simultaneously.
Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate your posts. One powerful way of experiencing Ashing that was new for me this year and brings Hindu and Christian threads together is via the tantric nyasa practice - you can invite the placement of the Christ symbol at head energy centre as the ‘installation’ of deity there. Consuming bread and wine can also be experienced as communion in the same, and even more embodied way. Mark x
Thank you so much for this reading of T S Elliot, myself my head was wetted at a christian church before a word of understanding could I speak. I also frequently briefly return on this day in remind to fast, and I will. My last year took me deep into the Philosophical enquiry into 'Godlessness' a very revealing spiritual practice, and challenging indeed.
Ash Wednesday? What is Wednesday? Can I hope to turn again, without realizing that cosmically, l am always turning? Turning with mother earth, within the darkness of space, my eyes missing the colors of day-time and the light of the father each night-time. Is the idea of an earth-turning period of time, named Wednesday, simply a socially constructed linguistic convention, out of touch with the earth-turning reality of being-in-time?
Is the 'term' Wednesday, simply a cognitive illusion paralleling the optical illusion that the sun moves in an arc across the sky? And are the cognitive illusions of our socially conditioned minds what Jesus called out with his stated reason for teaching parables? And why did men like Socrates say, "the definition of terms is the beginning of wisdom?"
Time? What is time? Can music, with salient lyrics take us back to a time in human history when the heart, not the head, was understood, to be our center of being? Consider: "And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking. Racing around to come up behind you again." — Time, Pink Floyd.
Are you shorter of breath and one day closer to death, Johnathan? Like the majority of humanity, do you tend to let sentimentality, distort your sense of reality? Like McGilchrist's "Who are We?" When a proper response to the reality of Creation, might be, "What are We?"
Nice sidestep:)) Very rational, in a non-conscious need to feel good, self-affecting way? While I'm guessing you haven't read a book like Affect Regulation & the Origins of the Self, or other works that give the lie to all those superficial language 'labels' associated with the surface impressions of reality our eyes see? Or pondered Einstein's "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. An optical delusion of consciousness, a kind of prison for us?"
Such synchronicity. I’m currently engulfed in Cynthia Bourgeault’s books and teachings in the Wisdom Tradition, including the discovery of the pre-canonical gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene (Cynthia’s book on her is phenomenal!). A form of non-dual path seems quite possible within the broader confines of Christianity. A path that I had only considered passable through Easter wisdom traditions, including Advayta Vedanta. Your new name Vivekananda seems to point in that direction, I’m a big fan of Swami Sarvapriyananda’s teachings based on Swami Vivekananda.
Thank you for reading Eliot. That was wonderful
Really enjoyed your vulnerability and honesty Jonathan.
Same!
I was in church on Ash Wednesday because I, too, want the ashes. I love the reminder: "Remember now that you are dust, and onto dust, you shall return." During the sermon, the priest wondered why Ash Wednesday, though not a Holy Day of Obligation, always fills each mass beyond capacity each year.
Singing with our Schola is praising the best way I know how. Our Schola calls, and I respond strongly and fully. I feel a communion with my fellow parishioners, all on different paths, all fumbling through as best we can. I likely wouldn't have been in those pews if it had not been for 15 years at Cynthia's Wisdom Schools, Thomas Keating, many poets, and Thomas Merton. And music- always. At a time when I felt most lost in my mid-30s, I danced freely and alone to Peter Gabriel's 'Secret World'- played loudly and immersed in his big wall of sound- when suddenly an epiphany moved through me like a flash of lightning.
This poem comes close to capturing that moment. May we all be 'loved like that'. (Click the 'Listen' button in the top right to hear the poet read it.) https://onbeing.org/poetry/annunciation/
Such a revelatory poem. Thank you Mary. For me, the closing lines capture the sense that the spiritual path takes you towards being fully yourself and not a self at all - which rings true to my experience. We think of them as conflicting ideas but it may be truer to say that they are mutually reinforcing.
“only able to endure it by being no one and so specifically myself I thought I’d die
from being loved like that.” ❤️
Ah, so glad you know this poem now. Yes, those are the lines that grab me most too. Well the whole thing grabs me but those lines especially. You are very perceptive when you talk about your spiritual path. Cynthia writes about the ‘no self” that Thomas Keating came to experience for the last 5 years of his life’ He called it unity- rather than no self. Cynthia calls it the dark night of the self. She talks about it a bit- in this video that is 2 yrs old. There are likely newer ones on this now that she’s released this book. She does not talk about ‘mutually reinforcing- but somehow that feels resonant with me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O24xNWWjW2w
Not a direct quote, but I liked the way she describes “Beyond me, myself and I, there is just “I am” and then the I drops away and there is just Am… 🔥 (Wilber writes about “I amness” as something primordial we can directly apprehend, but doesn’t mention amness (!))
thank you jonathon
Teach us to care and not care, to sit still.
To sit still and not care leads us to the Holy Spirit's care which resides in the RH.
My experience of the presence and the analytics of the Holy Spirit mechanism.
Nothing mystic here, only reality. The reality of the two thought systems.
I sense this in your choice of references as well.
As Jesus also says somewhere: "Unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God," between death and birth, rebirth. For this to happen innocence and purity is also needed. Seek and you shall find and the truth will set you free. The RH dynamic deterministic Real systemic intelligence is also what can save the world from LH AI which would achieve AGI no doubt. But would that save the world? Once we understand the thought differences the answer must be NO.....
Ah what beauty. Falling in love with the way this poetry continues to fold around itself and Elude me.
I am all here for your wrestling with Christianity & imagining in the space between religion dying and being born.
I find there is a voice that is louder than any other, that of proclamation.
It is allowed to speak louder and entirely off topic to the present facts.
It works in the fear of god, not in its presence of curiosity.
It’s rarely “how does that work”, it puts its clumsy face in the way of understanding anything of significance.
Yet as soon as it’s noticed, the OMG infective is like a rhyme in history, along for the ride, babbling and in constant trauma.
A box with a spike on top, was an adaption of containment, in truth, a lightning rod of hilarity to stick it to the man, later adjusted with science and observation.
Don’t look up, get back to work, keep polluting and praying simultaneously.
Prayer is because we fuck up everything.
Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate your posts. One powerful way of experiencing Ashing that was new for me this year and brings Hindu and Christian threads together is via the tantric nyasa practice - you can invite the placement of the Christ symbol at head energy centre as the ‘installation’ of deity there. Consuming bread and wine can also be experienced as communion in the same, and even more embodied way. Mark x
Perhaps it would be a useful exercise to check out the origins of Wednesday or Wodins- tag
Thank you so much for this reading of T S Elliot, myself my head was wetted at a christian church before a word of understanding could I speak. I also frequently briefly return on this day in remind to fast, and I will. My last year took me deep into the Philosophical enquiry into 'Godlessness' a very revealing spiritual practice, and challenging indeed.
Ash Wednesday? What is Wednesday? Can I hope to turn again, without realizing that cosmically, l am always turning? Turning with mother earth, within the darkness of space, my eyes missing the colors of day-time and the light of the father each night-time. Is the idea of an earth-turning period of time, named Wednesday, simply a socially constructed linguistic convention, out of touch with the earth-turning reality of being-in-time?
Is the 'term' Wednesday, simply a cognitive illusion paralleling the optical illusion that the sun moves in an arc across the sky? And are the cognitive illusions of our socially conditioned minds what Jesus called out with his stated reason for teaching parables? And why did men like Socrates say, "the definition of terms is the beginning of wisdom?"
Time? What is time? Can music, with salient lyrics take us back to a time in human history when the heart, not the head, was understood, to be our center of being? Consider: "And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking. Racing around to come up behind you again." — Time, Pink Floyd.
Are you shorter of breath and one day closer to death, Johnathan? Like the majority of humanity, do you tend to let sentimentality, distort your sense of reality? Like McGilchrist's "Who are We?" When a proper response to the reality of Creation, might be, "What are We?"
Or you could expand the questioning to What, Where, When, How, Why, and Who we are.
Nice sidestep:)) Very rational, in a non-conscious need to feel good, self-affecting way? While I'm guessing you haven't read a book like Affect Regulation & the Origins of the Self, or other works that give the lie to all those superficial language 'labels' associated with the surface impressions of reality our eyes see? Or pondered Einstein's "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. An optical delusion of consciousness, a kind of prison for us?"