Light on the Path, Seventh Mindfulness Training

Light on the Path

(Remember to begin with the Opening Meditation and the recitation of the Three Jewels as in Mindfulness Trainings One through Five -- scroll down in theburninghandblog for this).

We begin:

"In the Name of the Holy One, Boundlessly Compassionate, Boundlessly Merciful... Beauty within Beauty within Beauty..."

Seventh Mindfulness Training:

Aware that life can only be lived in the present moment, in the here and now, we are committed to cultivating the mind of the child and living deeply each moment in wonder and in awe.

Reflection:

"In the beginning was the Image." -- Fritz Eichenberg

"The world will be saved by Beauty." -- Fyodor Dostoevsky


     moon climbing
the black sky ---
     what is one breath?

yet knowing that she waits,
is my strength and contentment.


When sitting in rapt wonder at the beauty of the moon climbing the sky, huddled beside a lover and a campfire, the earth, the Universe and all that She holds within Her can seem overwhelming and so filled with grandeur that one is "reduced" to awe and a kind of emptiness -- maybe a sort of "pregnant pause"... a pause that can suddenly awaken one to the power of one breath... One Love...

"One breath" is every breath, or our last breath. Every breath is the Holy One, our Beloved Friend, breathing the gift of life into us and into every living creature... every breath and every life presents us with an astounding opportunity to revere and adore... Dorothy Day wrote that "The saints are those who know how to love, whose lives were transformed by love. The desire deep in the heart of every one of us is to love, to love in such a way that all things become new, that there is a new song in our hearts."

In the ineffable silent space between the incoming and the outgoing breath is where the Heart may enter the Light of the Holy One -- almost as if from the inside out, the upside down, from the smallest or most fragile, and only then on into the grandeur of the Infinte One, the Holy, the Beautiful One. In this ineffable silent space, in this Place, one may hear the Heartbeats and feel the Breath of the Holy One on the nape of one's neck and see all creation shining with an almost unbearable Light... "I belong to the soul of the Beloved. I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one; One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call." -- Rumi

"For I created your soul with a capacity for loving -- so much so, that you cannot live without love. Indeed, love is your food." -- St. Catherine of Siena

We pause here to remember one whom we had the pleasure and joy of working with for a few years... at first she seemed "just a bookkeeper"... her head always before the computer screen, focused, and determined... after awhile a daughter started volunteering, always with a radiant smile, but shy... then a USC Immersion Group showed up for a week... both Debra and Mary showed up for our USC vs. Dorothy's Place softball game... after much coaxing, Mary finally picked up a bat... one slow pitch later, the ball was sailing into the deep outfield and Mary was charging around the bases... and steadily after, Debra and her family were "charging" into our hearts. Stories of a constant practice of kindness abound, and a business office became the beating heart of a Soup Kitchen... Irene walked up the stairs for a good word to inspire hope... Raul came for inspiration to enter a recovery program... Kalei dropped by for a listening ear... Maurice would drop in because it was the one place where he could escape judgment... And then it came time for Camp St. Francis... would Debra's daughters, Mary, Savanah, and Carmen each like to be group leaders? Enthusiastic Mary was ready, but Savanah and Carmen were beleagured with doubt... nevertheless, they all showed up... Carmen just had to go home... but Savanah stuck it out -- and day-by-day, she blossomed into a caring and self-confident leader... then she began babysitting for Robert and I to actually go on dates -- what a luxurious gift! Needless to say, she fell in love with Donovan, Devin, and our wild Rose of Sharon, and became part of our family... then the Holidays rolled around and Debra had to take on a second job to provide the Christmas gifts she wanted for her family and friends -- while at the same time securing the donations and volunteers to offer a Christmas Celebration for hundreds and hundreds of children at Dorothy's... all done without fanfare, simply because she was "aware of suffering" and her heart had been opened by Love... and to top everything off, months ago she took a homeless woman home with her to be part of her family (and she's still sleeping on her couch)...

We continue our reflection with another thought of the importance of opening and surrendering to Love -- and how very "different" the prophets, saints, rabble-rousing radicals, and world scriptures read when seen from the "vantage point" of the "disadvantaged": all those persons who have been marginalized by others with power! The luxury of "faith" meets head-on its complicity with injustice! The luxury of "faith" meets head-on the struggle that is solidarity and the Living Presence of the Holy One still alive among us!

We realize that there are no easy answers -- just as there is no "guarantee of success". But there is a way as there is a task: scattering the little seeds of paradise as you / we go about our daily lives. Here in this moment (read Be Here Now, by Ram Das) we can choose to be fully present and alive with our possibilities a blessing and a gift for all those persons we will encounter.  To "cultivate the mind of the child" means, before all else, to live without either the need or desire to judge another being. What a blessed relief! We don't need to judge! We don't need to manipulate reality to suit our ends (wow, what an exhausting use of energy)! We can choose to be free -- talk about "wonder and awe"!

If we wish to become "companions of this Way", we must quiet down our scaliwag minds, and practice kindness and compassion -- we must live "target free" from now on (that one hurts: does that necessarily include Rush Limbaugh?) The deepening dimensions of this practice opens the heart to visions of Beauty everywhere, and Justice is then known to be our personal responsibility... the Beloved Community relates everyone and everything to this conscious commitment. "The end is the creation of the Beloved Community." -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Genius is childhood captured at will. --Baudelaire

Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe? --Emerson

Unless from us the future takes place, we are death only. -- D.H. Lawrence

My teacher told me one thing: Live in the soul. When that was so, I began to go naked, and dance. --Lalla

The soul is kissed by God in its innermost regions. With interior yearning, grace and blessing are bestowed. It is a yearning to take on God's gentle yoke, it is a yearning to give one's self to God's way. --Hildegard of Bingen


An Alternative Seventh Mindfulness Training:

Aware of being here now, I am choosing to live with an everyday consciousness of having surrendered my mind, heart, and life over to the Beauty that is Love.
I will make the actions that flow from this surrendering the story of my life.

Question of the Week:

How can we cultivate a culture of compassion and kindness in our homes, schools, workplaces, and all about us in the world?

Practice of the Week:

On this website, read "A Lesson in Meditation". Consciously and deliberately, for at least one hour during the course of the upcoming week, practice the One Love Blessing.

Recommended Reading:

Be Here Now, by Ram Das
Be Love Now, by Ram Das
The Illuminated Rumi, by Coleman Barks and Michael Green
Naked Song, poems by Lalla, Translated by Coleman Barks


With Love and Blessings,
Michelle and Robert

"In the Name of the Holy One, Boundlessly Compassionate, Boundlessly Merciful... Beauty within Beauty within Beauty..."

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