28 April, 2012

The Risk of the Mystery




Returning to Our Centre

‘Return within to the place where there is nothing and make sure that nothing comes in with you. Penetrate to the depths of your self. To the place where thoughts no longer exist and make sure that no thought raises its head. For there where there is nothing is fullness, there where nothing is seen is the vision of being, there where nothing appears any longer is the sudden appearing  of the self (the spirit?)  Dyan (meditation) it is this’


In our quietest moments and at our deepest centre, human beings have always been aware of and attracted to that sense of mystery that lies at the heart of creation. This awareness and attraction to mystery is all around and within us. We are each faced, at our deepest depth, with the essential questions ‘Who am I’ ? , What is my ‘true’ self ? and How am I connected to the Ultimate Source, the Self that is the Mystery at the heart of creation?  These are existential questions and, although we often deny or suppress them, they bubble beneath the surface of our awareness and if ignored can lie at the heart of our inner restlessness and angst.

All the Spiritual and Faith Traditions have struggled with these questions and the mystics, sages and teachers of the past have provided some pointers and possible answers. There is a wonderful story from the Zen Buddhist traditions that attempts to provide an answer or, response, to the questions

The Candle & the Mirror

A Chinese Empress once asked a Buddhist Master about the relationship between the ONE ( Mystery) and the Many. The Master sat for a moment and then has a series of mirrors placed all around the room – to form a complete circle.

He then placed a candle in the middle and lit it. The Empress was both moved and delighted by the wonder and splendour of the reflected light.

The Master explained that the light from the candle was the ONE and the reflections were the Many


This story provides us with a useful metaphor that is a typical of the many attempts that can be found in all the Traditions. They can provide us with a view of the Mystery at the heart of our being. This Mystery reaches out to all and invites us to enter into a deeper on inner relationship of Self to self. This is an invitation to an encounter with the Mystery .  This is an example of the I : Thou relationship outlined by the famous  Philosopher +Martin Buber. Now, encounter is a central concept for Buber and for his theory of relating. For Buber, this encounter   occurs with ‘God’  or Mystery  ( by whatever name you call It) who is the eternal Thou and who sustains the I/Thou relationship.

This spiritual relationship is one of total encounter and can be equated to that of the Jewish Scriptures and the Hindu Upanishads.  It also has echoes from Celtic Spirituality, where ‘presence’ is such an important part of encounter (See the Resources page of the Satsang Website http://www.satsang-companionship.org.uk/ ‘Echoes of Creation )     In this ‘encounter, this ‘Presence’, this I/Thou relationship between the person, others , the environment  and Mystery, there is a unity of being, a sense of ‘indwelling presence’ one to the other. Thus there is no barrier of other relationships which separate the individual from Mystery , and thus there is direct communication. All is seen as ‘Presence’, be it Mystery, nature, the environment or people.

However, for the vast majority of us, there is  deep seated the reluctance or fear  of this total encounter that causes us to draw back and resist this I:Thou relationship. What is it that causes us to resist this invitation to encounter by the Mystery ?. What Sadhana ( spiritual practices) could assist us to enter more fully and deeply into this encounter with Mystery ?   Some answers or , more properly, responses to these questions have been the focus of Sister Ishpriya’s teaching over the past few decades. Ishpriya, like many other Teachers,  has focused her teaching on reflecting on these questions and encouraging her listeners to explore their own responses to this invitation from the Mystery. She encourages all to fearlessly and honestly take the risk to engage in the ‘inner relationship’ with the Mystery we call God. or  Ultimate Reality.

Ishpriya often reminds us that all the Traditions stress that Silent Prayer or Meditation is one of the surest and effective ways of developing and deepening our relationship with the Mystery. She also regularly advises us to beware of the barriers caused by our projections of the ‘Me’. We need to be aware that life and culture conditions us to avoid intimacy personally and spiritually. This conditioning can also play its part in our tendency to erect barriers or defences between ourselves, others, the environment and the Mystery. These barriers include areas such as culture, religion, caste, class, race and ethnicity. It is precisely barriers such as these that the Satsang Commitment encourages each one of us to resist, diminish and demolish. Satsang Members strive to eliminate these barriers , the emphasise is on ‘striving’ .

To return to our common human tendency is to focus on the ‘Me’. We live in a transitory body – psyche. It is our ‘home’ for the short while we exist in this world. We need to remain awake and aware of  the transient nature of the world and resist  getting  drawn into focusing on our ego self.  Focusing on our ‘ego self’ is always at the expense of developing our awareness of the ‘I’ , our real self. 

It is this I  that can more truly relate with the ‘Self’ ,the Atman  of Hinduism, the Mystery.  It is in silence that we can enter and find ‘the silent desert places’ where we can truly meet the Mystery in that I : Thou relationship that Martin Buber reflects on. This journey within, this journey of silence, is truly a a return to the centre.

16 April, 2012

Developing a Listening & Compassionate Heart


Our Beautiful and Naturally Borderless Planet 

The Satsang Association

( UK Midlands & North)


A Day of Reflection & Experience



Developing a
Listening & Compassionate Heart

Saturday 12th   May 2012     (10.30 – 4.30 )

FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE
Summerfield Road, Wolverhampton

Our world , which long ago was borderless, is now home to a wonderful diversity of peoples, who live on a Planet with many borders and barriers. .  It faces many challenges, dangers and opportunities.  As a species , if we are to live more harmoniously with our environment, each other and ourselves , we desperately need to develop our innate capacity to develop an Holistic  Listening and Compassionate Heart.

This day will provide an opportunity to ‘sit by the wayside’ and reflect on this important topic. Our day will have DVD input from Sister Ishpriya and Karen Armstrong. It will provide opportunities:


                        To Listen at the levels of Body-Mind and Spirit.


                        For Personal Reflection & Meditation


                        To share with others

This is an OPEN EVENT and ALL are welcome

To cover the cost of hiring the Hall and drinks we ask all who can afford it  make a suggested donation of £5    ( this is voluntary and all  donations are welcome)

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN PACKED LUNCH

10 April, 2012

Life's Unique Patterns


Borderless World

Updating our Cosmology
Updates our Theology

Life’s Unique Patterns


The Way Life Works

16 Things You should know about life

We need to see life and creation as a whole. Although every living thing is unique, there is 
a pattern throughout creation. Our recent discoveries concerning DNA confirm this. 
The DNA structure is immensely complex, with countless millions of components, 
yet, each is merely a pattern of 4 parts.  

Somehow, in this simple concept there are billions of patterns and these form the 
building blocks of evolutionary creation.

So, to look at life, creation and its patterns we need to look , not only at uniqueness but 
also at the underlying unity. 

This is reflected in the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads of Hinduism.

‘ The one who merely recognises the diversity but fails to see the underlying 
unity, wanders on from death to death’   

Later on , in the same passage is the opposite. 

‘ The one who merely recognises the underlying unity but fails to see the diversity, 
they too, wander on from death to death’

So in the spirit of this let us remember 16 essential unifying patterns of all life. These are adapted from a book  by + Mahlon B. Hoagland, Bert Dodson with the title The Way Things Work,


1.                  Life builds from the bottom up.
2.                  Life assembles itself in chains. ( e.g. DNA)
3.                  Life needs an inside and an outside. ( look after both)
4.                  Life uses a few themes to generate many variations
5.                  Life organises with information
6.                  Life encourages variety by reshuffling information.
7.                  Life creates with mistakes. ( We all make them! )
8.                  Life occurs in water.
9.                  Life runs on sugar.  (Remember that next time you want a biscuit)
10.             Life works in cycles.
11.             Life recycles everything it uses.
12.             Life maintains itself by turnover.
13.             Life tends to optimise rather than maximise 
( its not the biggest or strongest that survive, but those that adapt to change 
:- Darwin)
14.             Life is opportunistic. ( see 13)
15.             Life competes within a cooperative framework.
16.             Life is interconnected and interdependent.

Happy reflecting!

02 April, 2012

PASSION :- Courage to Suffer



Reflections on
Easter Week

Compassion & Courage



The week leading up to Easter Sunday begins on Palm Sunday. It is an important part of the Christian story. It starts with the triumph and joy of Palm Sunday, includes the torment and disappointment of Good Friday and ends with the Jubilation and Joy of Easter Sunday. The week tells the story  of 'the Passion of Jesus' . But what do we really mean by passion ?  Is it merely about suffering , death and despair or could it also have a deeper meaning ?  What could we learn from the example of Jesus' Passion ?  

Well obviously there are many answers to these questions. The Christian Story has been explored and reflected on for 2000 years and thousands of books, azrticles  and videos have been made. What I would like to do is to outline some recent reflections of mine that were instigated or ignited by recent events in Burma.

Aung San Kuu Kyi
Burmese Pro-Democracy Leader
I was listening to BBC Radio today ( Palm Sunday 1st April)  as it reported on the Burmese Elections.  The story of the pro-democracy movement in Burma is dominated by the courage and tenacity of a remarkable woman  Aung San Kuu Kyi. She is the inspirational leader of the movement that has been struggling for liberty and freedom for several decades.


She delivered the BBC Reith Lectures in 2011. In these she commented upon the Burmese people's struggle for liberty. During her talk she noted that the word  Passion  had connections with suffering. However, she remarked that this was not a pointless, painful event but rather a choice both she, and the Burmese people were willing to make for their liberty and freedom. This was  not only an inspirational speech,  but also one that shone a light on the meaning of the word passion.


Passion, has an element of energy, focus and momentum about it. It is also linked to the word 
com-passion. Compassion means to be with and is a word strongly associated with many spiritual traditions not least Buddhism and Christianity.These two Faith Traditions share a lot. Both are founded on the teaching and example of a Great Teacher and both emphasise the importance of compassion.

Now Passion suggests energy and deep involvement. We can reflect on the things in life we are passionate about. Ultimately, to be passionate requires involvement. It requires that we enter into a relationship with the person or thing we feel passionate about. In that sense we give something of ourselves to it and in doing this we open ourselves up to the possibility of suffrering.


For Christians, as we move into the time of Passion-Tide, it is a timely reminder of the Life, Teaching and Example of Jesus the Christ. He came so that all could have Life and Freedom.His compassion ,  oneness with all of humanity, fuelled His life and sustained Him through the Passion of Easter. Therefore His  'suffering'  was freely undertaken. It is suffering rooted in real passion.

Suffering because of Passion  is a choice. It requires that the person making the choice does so with freedom. To be truly free and to exercise the liberty of choice can require loss and suffering but ultimately to be passionate is to be human. Whether we are reflecting on the struggle of the Burmese people for freedom or liberty, or on our own life - the example of Jesus anf His Passion has a message that can both guide and assist us as we travel throgh life