The River of Life Flows On

Russian River California

Reflection on Sitting By The River

' you canot step into the same river twice'

Our recent Satsang Day of Reflection on Our Sacred Environment, opened with the following Video Clip from Sr Ishpriya  . This video focused on the importance of focusing on the 'river of  life' that flows within and around each person. Before reflecting further on this theme ,it would be helpful to watch it by clicking  on the ARROW below. Further videos from Ishpriya can be found on You Tube and/or the Website of the International Satsang Association


As with all of Ishpriya's teaching and video clips, she gets to the essence of those practices and concepts that are central for life's journey. In this video, she focuses on the analogy of a river flowing back to its source ( the ocean) and how that mirrors our journey, We too come from and will return to the Source of all life.

At our Satsang Day of Reflection we focused on our wonderful planet and its sacred environment and how this impacts on, and influences, our own Journey. We are Co-Creators and thus we have an awesome, profound and sacred responsibility . We are charged with doing all we can to play our part in preserving and conserving our planet. In those wonderful and moving words of Gandhiji   , we each need  ' to be the change we wish to see'

Further and future posts will continue to reflect on our Satsang Meeting

Meanwhile, enjoy the video clip and comments are always welcome

The Human - Earth connection:- Some Quotes by Thomas Berry

The Earth is 4.6 billion years old

Humans have come into being through natural processes  of evolution in the time period known to scientists as the Cenozoic Era.

The Cenozoic period covers the last 65 million years. It’s the time when all the mammals evolved and the Earth has seen its greatest spendour of bio-diversity, complexity and beauty.

Reflecting upon our moment in time and the Earth Community these are a few of the many words written and spoken by Thomas Berry about the human-Earth relationship.

The following video clip from Caroline Webb contains a series of quotes from Thomas Berry a Catholic Priest ( 1914-2009) who was anoted Cultural Historian, Ecologist, Cosmologist and , in his words, an 'Earth Scholar'.

A transcript of his words, taken fby Caroline Webb,   follows this video  
( See below video link )

THE WISDOM OF THOMAS BERRY

Quotations from the video clip

‘ Of all the issues we are concerned with at present, the basic issue- in my estimation-is that of human-earth relations’

‘We are at the terminal phase of the Cenozoic era-the last 65 million years. We are not just passing into another historical period or another cultural modification.’

‘We are changing the chemistry of the planet. We are changing the bio-systems. We are changing the geo-systems of the planet on a scale of millions of years. But more specifically we are terminating the last 65 million years of life development.’

‘ Now a person would say- “ Well, where do we go from hers? “  To my mind we go from the terminal phase-if we survive it- into a really sustainable world.’

'a communion of subjects'

 We will be passing from the terminal Cenozoic into what I call the ‘Ecozoic’ and the primary principle of the Ecozoic is that the Universe – and particular planet Earth – is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects’ If we don’t know that, nothing is going to work’

‘ Whereas all this beauty of the universe that we see about us came into being without human consultation from here on the universe will never function that way again.’

‘ The present urgency is to begin thinking within the context of the whole planet the integral Earth community with all its human and other than  human components.’

‘ Of one thing we can be sure. Our own future is inseparable from the larger community that brought us into being and which sustains us in every expression of our human quality of life’. In our aesthetic and emotional sensitivities, our intellectual perceptions, our sense of the divine as well as in our physical nourishment and bodily healing’

‘ We see quite clearly that what happens to the non-human happens to the human.’

‘ What happens to the outer world, happens to the inner  world.’

‘ Without the soaring birds, 
     without the great forests, 
           the free flowing streams,

  the sight of the clouds by day and the stars by night, 

we become impoverished in all that makes us humans.’



Some further reflections on our recent Satsang Day which included quotes from Thomas Berry will appear in a future post



Co- Creators of Our Sacred Environment

SATSANG DAY OF REFLECTION

OUR SACRED ENVIRONMENT

Saturday 9th November 2013

Friends Meeting House

Wolverhampton

You have made us Co-Creators of the earth!

      Guardians of the planet!

       To care for all Your creatures,

       To tend the land, the sea

             And the air we breathe;

        All that You have made,

             You have placed in our hands.

Extract from Psalm 8 by Nan C Merrill

Our world and its Eco Systems is in crisis. We , as co-creators, has a responsibility and a duty to become more aware of how we can play our part in ensuring that our Planet and all its amazing diversity continues to flourish.

This Day of Reflection will focus on this topic and will provide us with an opportunity 'to sit by the wayside'  and reflect on our own spiritual journey.

The day will commence at 10.30 a.m. and finish at 4.30 p.m. All are welcome