Love and worship. People so confuse the two. I love you, I worship you: very different. Many people are looking for someone who will worship them. That means they are looking for someone to objectify them. Love is not based on subject and object; worship is. In worship—and by worship I mean idealizing an object, not practicing sacred ritual—there is …
Characteristics of Mysticism….
From Mysticism, by Evelyn Underhill: 1. True mysticism is active and practical, not passive and theoretical. It is an organic life-process, a somthing which the whole self does; not something as to which its intellect holds an opinion. 2. Its aims are wholly transcendental and spiritual. It is in no way concerned with adding to, exploring, re-arranging, or improving anything …
Clarity of goals and definitions….
When we start a conversation we tend to look for common ground. This might be language, activities or anything that we feel will bridge us to the other person. In our desire to connect, we may miss what is actually going on. If what we share is a common language, then we need to check our definitions. Assuming shared definitions …
Warriors for peace and warriors for war….
It hit me that Tolstoy had it right: War and Peace. We are organized into two teams: warriors for war and warriors for peace. We are playing a big game. There are times when more players are on the warriors for war side and times when the warriors for peace are winning. As long as we remain separate from God …
Systems…
Everyone uses a system, whether consciously or not. Our family culture is a system of sorts, with jargon, rules, behaviors, judgements, and mannerisms both overt and covert. This being the case, when we meet someone new we unwittingly compare our system to theirs. We may not even be aware of it, but we are in fact assessing others based on …
Transformation…
So much language these days is about change, transformation, on all levels and in all sectors of our lives. The law of change is always working, but in what direction are we going? That depends on what we are doing now. So nothing is static, though we may think it is because it moves so slowly. The transformation I desire …
My Second Morning Reflection….
My second morning reflection at Caux on 24 July 2012: I want to share an experience that I had many years ago. This contributed to directing me to where I am now. During the monsoon of 1977, one of my tasks as head of security was to make sure mangy dogs didn’t get into the ashram. I blocked the ashram …
My First Morning Reflection….
My first morning reflection at Caux on 11 July 2012: “Let it be plainly understood that we cannot return to God unless we enter first into ourselves. God is everywhere but not everywhere to us. There is but one point in the universe where God communicates with us, and that is the centre of our own soul. There He waits …
My expertise is not….
My expertise is not because of my body’s plumbing and orientation. It has come from many years of discipline, discernment, nonattachment and Grace. Someone earns the right to be called an expert by devoting many hours, days and years to their subject. Expertise does not come lightly. To think that anyone can take a workshop and then be an expert …
First thoughts on Caux….
We came up the steep mountain on Sunday 8 July. Not sure what was ahead, I really did not care because the view was magnificent. Everything I imagined the Alps to look like–Ian had not deceived us. Our room has large French doors looking out over Lake Geneva, the towns below, the French and Swiss Alps, and a most classic …