Aligning with Grace

A week ago I was privileged to have experienced darshan with Mother Meera for the third time in my life.  It has taken me a week to write about it, because so much of the experience is truly ineffable and defies all attempts at articulation. At its essence is a transmission of love that is mystical and of a deeply personal and interior nature... It was a blessing to be accompanied by a dear soul companion and to meet very old and dear friends of hers at the temple, who have become mine as well - and to share this experience with each of them. I have written about my previous experiences with Mother Meera on this blog, and provide links to those entries at the end of this post. Each time, I have received exactly what I needed... The first time I saw her in the fall of 2008, I was in the midst of a deep depression. The second time, I had emerged from this time of darkness and difficulty following a period of intense healing, body work, and therapy. I received peace and e...

There are times when finding God - or experiencing God is more accessible - such moments arrive as unexpected gifts in our lives... There are times when writing is much more fluid - when thoughts come unbidden and the urge to record all of them before they evaporate into thin air is excruciating... There are moments when insights come to us at the speed of sound and break like waves against a cliff - scattering everywhere - escaping so rapidly we never really have a chance to grasp even a figment of the resulting spray or hold on to so much as a droplet... There are minutes that pile upon hours and days - irreversibly lost - they evade any attempt at the slightest retrieval - and we can only lament that they are gone forever... There are times when heaviness saturates everything and we explode from the sheer will to try to hold space for everything and every one and a million prayer requests, despite the fact that we are not meant to succeed... In those moments we do well to ...

The rain falls, gently and deliberately, and the ground soaks it up. It arrives many weeks after the parched environs sought whatever drops of moisture could be found and extracted from greater depths... The atmosphere is heavy with the political impasse of the moment. Most government employees are home, waiting out the outcome of this shutdown, unwilling pawns in a game - dare I say it? - of thrones... I feel the heaviness also - the gloom of an impending doom I cannot accept or even begin to visualize... For weeks I have wanted to write and speak, but a dying computer made it more difficult, and so instead, I journeyed inward... I wish I could say that I have profound insights and answers to share, but I have only lessons received that may be helpful to others... I am saddened to see so many displaced and hurting because of the intransigence and the inability of others to compromise, which in turn holds a nation hostage and so many souls captive. I feel powerless in the fac...