Examine the Place Where You Stand

Examine the Place Where You Stand

Satsang Meeting Saturday 14th April 2012Friends Meeting House
Wolverhampton  1.30  - 4.30 p.m

' Learning is NOT the theory; when we learn , we learn from experience'

These words from + Sister Ishpriya introduce a talk from one of her talks during a Silent Retreat at Die Quelle the International Satsang Sadhana Ashram. The topic focuses on the wisdom of the Zen Buddhist saying ' Examine the Place Where You stand'

Ishpriya suggests that we live in a polluted atmosphere. This pollution is not just environmental but also impacts on both our social and spiritual lives.

Our meeting will use this Talk to focus on our need to STAY AWAKE on the spiritual Journey

A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS - A PARADIGM SHIFT

A SHIFT IN OUR EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY

SATSANG MEETING

Saturday March 10th

Wolverhampton

We live in an age of unprecedented change. In  so many areas of knowledge, the boundaries are expanding. We are learning at all levels , both interior and exterior. Modern Science and Ancient Mysticism share a remarkable similarity of views, both on the human condition and on the environment and cosmos. In Neuro-science we are expanding our knowledge of the mind, brain and consciousness. Cosmology, is reaching ever further into space and back into time, as we get nearer and nearer to the origins of the Universe.

All these advances in science, technology and human understanding face us with a great crisis which, as with all other crisis, in also an opportunity and challenge.. Many believe that one of the next stages  in our body-psyche-evolutionary journey is not physical but psychological. We face an evolution in psychological consciousness. However, we are at a crossroads and at a dangerous point in our history as a species. We live on a small Blue Planet that is set in the vast ocean of the Cosmos. It is a small fragile planet that is home to our species. Yet, we increasingly live at odds with,and in opposition, to our environment.

This is a crisis that has been growing for several Millenia, has increased in the past few centuries and is fast approaching a critical breakdown point in the past decades. Many feel that we can learn much from the wisdom of our ancestors, from the peoples and cultures that have lived in harmony with Mother Earth. In our next Satsang Meeting, we will watch a film from Mary Evelyn Tucker that explores this issue and we will reflect on how each of us can play our part ,in the spirit of the Satsang Logo, in :

Seeking Together - Helping to Create - A Planetary Vision and a Universal Heart of Compassion.

Mary Evelyn Tucker is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Scholar at Yale University. She is a world renowned Environmentalist and Lecturer in Divinity & Religious Studies.  She is a co-founder and co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology and a Member of the United Nations Environmental Forum. 

Join us on Saturday 10th March 1.30 - 4.30 p.m.

Friends Meeting House

Wolverhampton

POSTSCRIPT

The paradigm shift outlined above merely involves our Body - Psyche as it journeys in time and space. An even more vital and important paradigm shift in one that involves our SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS.

This will be the subject of a separate Blog Entry in the coming months

Anam Cairde- Soul Friend

        Celtic Spirituality


The importance of Pilgrimage


There are 4 important P words in Celtic Spirituality, one of these is life as  a Pilgrimage or Journey. Central to this is the need for each Spiritual Seeker  to find a 
Soul Friend or Anam Cairde ( in Gaelic)


The following is an 8th Century Poem that reflects this

As the hand is made for holding

And the eye for seeing

You have fashioned me for joy

Share with me the vision 

that shall find it everywhere

In the wild violet's beauty

In the lark's melody

In the face of a steadfast Anam Cairde

In a child's smile

In a mother's love

In the purity of Jesus

FRAGILE PLANET - A Spiritual Challenge

SATSANG MEETING 10th March 2012

The Crisis of Our Environment 

is a Spiritual Crisis

We met in Satsang on Sat 10th March in Wolverhampton to review our Satsang Commitment and to reflect on the current environmental crisis. The following Reflection opened our meeting

Our Fragile  Planet A special reflection composed for a Satsang Meeting March 2012

We live on a beautiful but fragile Planet,

which we call home.

It  has been our home for million of years

It is an ancient planet that has existed for Billions of years

And it is set in the vast ocean of our wonderful and seemingly endless Cosmos.

This Earth is Blessed .

It can sustain and nourish us all

But will do so, only if we respect it

As part of the vastness and wonder of Creation

May we become more aware of Earth’s beauty and fragility

May we become more open and aware

Of our responsibility to respect and protect  all of Creation.

May all our senses and heart be open to

The live-giving freshness of ocean and river.

The fragrance and fruits  of the forest  and tree,

The magnificence of mountain and vast plains

And the joy and beauty  of field and flower,

Make us yearn for a world where all may flourish.

Show us how to walk  gently on the earth

And to seek to hold all in trust for future generations.

Amen

REJOICING ALL THE WAY HOME

REFLECTIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

‘A time to sit by the wayside’ with  

 Sister Ishpriya

Thursday 22^nd  to  Sunday 25^th March  2012

NODDFA Spirituality Centre

Penmaenmawr – North Wales

We eagerly look forward to our days with Sr ishpriya and our Spiritual Guide . We meet next Thursday in the beautiful surroundings of NODDFA Spirituality Centre.   

Noddfa is set edge of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. It looks out onto the Irish Sea and provides an ideal setting for this event.

further details and a report on this Satsang Event will appear on this Blog in a few weeks

Our Search For Spiritual Depth Part 1

'The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated'

Mark Twain       

The above, well known , quote is both amusing and accurate. We live in a world where rumour and cynicism can spread like wildfire. In our modern world, with its 24/7 communication, we have drifted into a very consumer driven age where greed not need is often our first response and reaction. This is particularly true in the Western world and is growing in other parts of our human family. Many argue that Religion is dead and that human beings do not need the straitjacket of religion.  Many others, in reaction to this cling to a very fundamental and exclusive view of their religion. However, perhaps like Mark Twain, the reports of religions demise may be both premature and exaggerated. Now arguably, religion is in decline in the Western World but not necessarily so in other parts. Whether or not this is true is not as important as facing the question ' Is Spirituality Dead ? '

Our human family is relatively young compared with the age of our Cosmos. Everything we can see, feel, touch and know of , has come from one source. This is often  referred to as ' The Big Bang Theory' . What is this theory ?

Put simply , it proposes that  the universe started out as a ball of mass. The mass exploded and sent all things in the universe expanding outwards over 13.7 billion years (which is the estimated age of the universe in its expanding state). The theory further estimates that at some point the universe will either stop expanding and slowly collapse on itself until it is once again a giant mass, then explode again. Forever repeating this process. Or that it will not stop expanding and slowly die out as stars burnout and create more and more black holes.

Now all the above is merely theory but it is the best idea we have. Who, how and what started or created all this is a mystery. Those of us who believe that there is a  Source to this Mystery - propose that this Source is  God - called by many names - Ultimate Reality, Brahman Yahweh etc.  Others, do not believe in a Source and contend that the origins are unknown or a mystery. Whatever our beliefs or understanding , what we can all agree on is this ; the source of this wonderful and complex Cosmos is an awesome mystery.

If our Cosmos is almost 14 Billion years old , our Solar System 5 billion and human species measured in the millions of years; then our recorded history in a minute portion of this time. We have evidence of human development in the hundreds of thousands of  years and of spiritual practices for about 70, 000 years. Now organised religions are merely 5000 years old. So what can we deduce from all these massive numbers ?

*      Firstly , our recorded history is hardly measurable

*      Secondly , religions have been around for 5 millennia and have survived previous crisis 
*      That Spirituality is much older than religion

Even as fire without fuel

 finds peace in its resting-place,

when thoughts become silence 

the soul finds peace in its own source.

Maitri Upanishad

I have always found solace and depth in the above quotation from the Maitri Upanishad , a classic of the Hindu Vedas. It speaks the inner hunger and search of the human soul for solitude, meaning and relationship. The Mystical Traditions of all the Faith Traditions suggest that there is an inner fire or hunger within the heart of all . This hunger and fire seeks deep meaning.  


Regardless of our belief in the existence or otherwise of a SOURCE or MYSTERY at the heart of creation, a renewed interest in Spirituality is becoming ever more evident in this new millenium. People are living in a world where there is increasing dis-connection between their inner self and the world. Many believe that humanity, particularly in the Western and  ( so-called) Advanced world have become estranged from the Earth, their environment and each other. Yet within everyone is a hunger and natural drive to seek meaning. Modern psychology  names this 'drive' as ' SELF- ACTUALISATION ' Viktor Frankl, the father of Existential TheraTO py, goes one stage further and proposes that , not only  do people seek meaning but they have a drive towards SELF-TRANSCENDENCE. In other words we can only begin to find MEANING when we rediscover our true self. This , paradoxically, requires us to rise above our self-centred ego , to transcend our ego with its false self-image and thus become connected with our deeper self, our environment and each other.


The Mystics of all the great Traditions have left us 'signposts' that can help us on this Journey into Self-Transcendence. This is a journey without end and a journey of a lifetime. The received wisdom is that one of the main 'doorways' into self-transcendence is SILENCE. This brings me neatly back to the quote from the Upanishads.

Even as fire without fuel

 finds peace in its resting-place,

when thoughts become silence 

the soul finds peace in its own source.

Maitri Upanishad

Now I am by nature, personality and inclination a typically emotional, outgoing, and , at times, a noisy Celt. Therefore when I first started my own mature and serious attempt at journeying into greater self-awareness, I never thought that I would either value or belief in the importance of silence, and particularly inner silence, in true , deep and compassionate relating. Yet, my experience , both as a Member of the International Satsang and as a Counselling Therapist, has readily shown me the value of silence. For it is indeed only ' when thoughts become silence that the soul can find peace in its source. As one who intuitively believes that there is a SOURCE or MYSTERY at the heart of creation, I find that SILENCE allows :deep to speak unto DEEP and my source to speak unto the SOURCE.

These reflections will continue in Part 2.