Aligning with Grace

I still am moving slowly, seemingly stuck between dimensions and planes of existence, and even time... I had every intention of making several entries about my trip, but have not managed to do so... In my last entry I spoke of how my journey to Jerusalem transpired from one Sabbath to another, and this seems fitting, because the notion of keeping the Sabbath has come to dominate many of my conversations of late. Recently, in my prayer group, we discussed a need and longing for keeping the Sabbath. For the rector of the Church and her assistant, keeping the Sabbath means they must block out their Mondays, and shelter this time from a lot of the distractions that life offers us. We reminisced over a time in this country when on the Sabbath - that is to say Sunday for most of us - stores were closed, and most of us went to Church, read the paper, and enjoyed family time, punctuated by a lovely meal. As we enter into the celebrations of both Thanksgiving and the begin...

I move slowly, quietly, mindfully, and deliberately - after returning from the trip of a lifetime. I journeyed far and wide to Jerusalem, the Holy City, arriving on the Sabbath, and leaving it on the Sabbath, to return to my own city, on a long and lonely journey home... I arrive at a city that has shut down for the night. It is unusually quiet, but I do not know that it will not remain that way for very long... I travel to this city that somehow remains in suspended animation - out of place and and out of time - a city of contradictions - sacred to three faiths, all known as the People of the Book, all three quarreling with each other, like siblings and cousins that cannot get along... In the morning after our arrival, my two traveling companions and I make haste to the Old City, arriving at Jaffa Gate, passing the occasional Orthodox male in his kipa, a skullcap and Tallit, or prayer shawl - on his way to prayer. The city draws me in and devours me - it feels so fami...

As I pack for my first trip to Israel, I try to pack as lightly and as consciously as possible, especially in a day and age when you are charged for every little thing!  Traveling makes me anxious, and it is nothing like it was back in the '50's and '60's, for those of you who can still recall that time... Travel in our current day and age makes me feel like an animal hauled and caged in a cattle car. Traveling truly deprives those but the very rich of any dignity at all. Still, it is a necessary evil to be endured if one is to go anywhere and see anything... And while I may fret about what to take and what to leave behind - often leaving behind what I most needed, and taking what was truly not necessary - there is one thing I never lose any sleep over and that is what to wear on my feet. I have a pair of Merrell's that I have taken everywhere for nearly the entire past decade - or, at least some incarnation of that pair. I have walked Paris, and London - and ...

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...

Sometimes we are meant to be placeholders in time or in space...   Some of us are here to anchor energy and/or to send and shine light wherever it is needed...   It implies that one must constantly practice non-attachment and let go of expectations and we constantly receive invitations to do so through various life experiences.   When I visited the river early one morning this week, a dense fog blanketed the water's surface. As I prayed and meditated - bit by bit - the fog lightened and released it's essence into the sky. It was only then that the brilliant blue sky revealed itself in all its magnifence, occasionally punctuated by powdery white clouds.   There is much I could share about this week. It has been full and rich and not without its blessings and challenges. And throughout all of my experiences, I was granted profound insights... For example, I realized that often when we give of ourselves, our time, and resources, we do...