REFLECTIONS ON OUR SATSANG MEETING
HELD ON SATURDAY 12th January 2013
How poor you will remain until you discover
HELD ON SATURDAY 12th January 2013
SATSANG - Seeking Together - Helping to Create
A Planetary Vision and a Universal Heart of Compassion
Our local Satsang Meetings provide us with the opportunity to share, with other Spiritual Seekers, about our Journey back to the Source or Mystery that lies behind Creation.
On Saturday 12th January we met in Satsang at the Friends Meeting House in Wolverhampton for our first meeting of the new year.
Details of, our meetings and other information on the Satsang, its spirituality and its ethos, can be accessed via our local Website Our theme for the meeting on Saturday was :-
On Saturday 12th January we met in Satsang at the Friends Meeting House in Wolverhampton for our first meeting of the new year.
Details of, our meetings and other information on the Satsang, its spirituality and its ethos, can be accessed via our local Website Our theme for the meeting on Saturday was :-
Silence and Stillness on the Journey.
The following notes are meant to convey something of the spirit and events of our meeting
SHARING
All Spiritual Seekers are aware that there is a Mystery or Source behind Creation. It is this Mystery that has drawn, and continues to draw, seekers throughout time and from all Spiritual Traditions, Cultures and Faiths. This is the Mystery to which we are inherently attracted. This Mystery is well known to sages, saints, mystics and scientists. The opening sentence some of the following quotation from Einstein introduced our time together. Einstein, reflecting on the mysterious has this to say ...
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead — his eyes are closed.
The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”
+Albert Einstein
The Prophets, Sages and Mystics throughout the ages have advised Seekers that it is in Stillness and Silence that we can meet the Mystery we call God by many names. One of our modern prophets was +Dom Heldar Camara often referred to as ' The Archbishop to the Poor' He was a Christian Teacher and Leader in South America and is widely recognised as a modern mystic. Camara wrote widely on guidelines that could assist us to access the Mystery. The following extract from his writings preceded our short Video Clip that explored the Mystery and our Theme on Stillness and Silence.
How poor you will remain until you discover
that you do not see best with open eyes.
How naive you will remain until you discover
that when your lips are closed,
there are silences richer than a torrent of words.
How clumsy you will remain until you understand
that joined hands can do far more than restless hands
which may inflict the unintended wound.
The 2nd Video clip was a conversation between Fr Keating and +Ken Wilber with the title Spiritual not Religious This was a wide ranging discussion from two Spiritual Masters or Teachers. Father Keating is a Christian Trappist Monk with more than 50 years experience of the Contemplative Life and Ken Wilber is a renowned psychologist, philosopher and Integral Spiritual Teacher.
Their sharing focused on the paradox of the Mystery and how we can only catch 'glimses' of this unknowable Source, we so readily refer to as 'God'. Keating emphasised the struggle that we humans have to reject our 'false self' or ego and find our true self. He challenged the notion of 'sin' as so often portrayed in fundamental branches of religion. He suggested that what we called sin was merely times when we 'failed to reach the mark'. This 'missing the mark' was an all too familiar human experience. This was caused by the fact that we all live life with false and distorted self-images and thus fail to realise or recognise who we really are.
Our task was to enter the door of silence and stillness in order to find our true center. Over time, periods of silent prayer could assist us in releasing the false images and feelings caused by experiences and traumas in our past. In Christian terms, Thomas Keating seems to me to be focusing on St Paul's advise that we try to seek our center and begin to see the Mystery with 'the eye of our heart'. For me this seems somewhat similar to the Hindu concept of 'The Cave of the Heart'
Ken Wilber highlighted the various levels of spirituality and focused on recent research that indicated the difficulty. These levels' or 'Altitudes' range from Lawless - a very primitive stage, through Faith level, then a Rational Level and finally the Mystical Levels. These could be roughly equated to our levels of psychological development, from 'Its all about ME!' through some concern for others, then a Faith where ' Only my God is Right' through more rational levels until we reached the Mystical Level and began to both recognise the inter - connectedness of all and realise that there were no definite answers. Wilber also focused on how difficult it was to move Adults up through the stages and how much easier it was to change when we are younger. This is connected with the urgent need in all our Faith Traditions for people to develop an Adult Faith. We will return to this in a later Blog.
Heldar Camara
SILENCE & PRAYER
There are many ways of accessing Silence and Stillness and many ways of meditation. The two important things to realise are ; first that no one way is any better than another and second, we must not confuse the PRACTICE e.g Meditation Practice , with the actual real experience of Meditation which is ultimately 'gift'. With this in mind we began to look at one form of Silent Prayer which is called Centering Prayer. This form of Silent Prayer has been taught and championed by +Father Thomas Keating a Trappist Christian Monk.
We viewed two video clips. In the first Thomas Keating outlined the 4 main stages or steps in Centering Prayer. Now Centering Prayer is rooted in Christianity but its essential stages can readily be adapted by adherents of other Faith Traditions. It centres around the person finding a ' Sacred Word or Phrase' . In essence it is a form of Silent Prayer that encourages the practitioner to focus into the centre of their being , to what the Hindu Sages refer to as ' The Cave of the Heart'. There we can meet the Unknown Mystery and as will happen, if thoughts and emotions distract, we return to a Sacred Word in order to retain our focus.
A set of GUIDELINES FOR CENTERING PRAYER are available to download from the Resources Page of our Website.
A set of GUIDELINES FOR CENTERING PRAYER are available to download from the Resources Page of our Website.
The 2nd Video clip was a conversation between Fr Keating and +Ken Wilber with the title Spiritual not Religious This was a wide ranging discussion from two Spiritual Masters or Teachers. Father Keating is a Christian Trappist Monk with more than 50 years experience of the Contemplative Life and Ken Wilber is a renowned psychologist, philosopher and Integral Spiritual Teacher.
Their sharing focused on the paradox of the Mystery and how we can only catch 'glimses' of this unknowable Source, we so readily refer to as 'God'. Keating emphasised the struggle that we humans have to reject our 'false self' or ego and find our true self. He challenged the notion of 'sin' as so often portrayed in fundamental branches of religion. He suggested that what we called sin was merely times when we 'failed to reach the mark'. This 'missing the mark' was an all too familiar human experience. This was caused by the fact that we all live life with false and distorted self-images and thus fail to realise or recognise who we really are.
Our task was to enter the door of silence and stillness in order to find our true center. Over time, periods of silent prayer could assist us in releasing the false images and feelings caused by experiences and traumas in our past. In Christian terms, Thomas Keating seems to me to be focusing on St Paul's advise that we try to seek our center and begin to see the Mystery with 'the eye of our heart'. For me this seems somewhat similar to the Hindu concept of 'The Cave of the Heart'
Ken Wilber highlighted the various levels of spirituality and focused on recent research that indicated the difficulty. These levels' or 'Altitudes' range from Lawless - a very primitive stage, through Faith level, then a Rational Level and finally the Mystical Levels. These could be roughly equated to our levels of psychological development, from 'Its all about ME!' through some concern for others, then a Faith where ' Only my God is Right' through more rational levels until we reached the Mystical Level and began to both recognise the inter - connectedness of all and realise that there were no definite answers. Wilber also focused on how difficult it was to move Adults up through the stages and how much easier it was to change when we are younger. This is connected with the urgent need in all our Faith Traditions for people to develop an Adult Faith. We will return to this in a later Blog.
At all of our Satsang Meetings there is time for personal reflection , silence and sharing but this sharing is only for those who attend. It was wide ranging and informed by the two video clips and by our unique spiritual experiences.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Walk the Walk ' We then had a Practice of time of Silent Prayer and the opportunity to enter the silence and stillness by whatever door each of us used, whether that be Centering Prayer or another method. To enter our time of silence , and also to end it, we used the following poem by that great Hindu Mystic - +Rabindranath Tagore
 |
| silent footsteps |
HAVE you not heard his silent, steps?
He comes, comes, ever comes.
Every moment and every age, every day and every night
he comes, comes, ever comes,
Many a song have I sung in many a mood of mind,
but all their notes have always proclaimed,
"He comes, comes, ever comes."
In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path
He comes, comes, ever comes.
In the rainy gloom of July nights
on the thundering chariot of clouds
He comes, comes, ever comes.
In sorrow after sorrow.
It is his steps that press upon my heart,
and it is the golden touch of his feet
It is his steps that press upon my heart,
and it is the golden touch of his feet
that makes my joy to shine.
In silent steps
"He comes, comes, ever comes."
Gitanjali: Spiritual Poems of Rabindranath Tagore
As always, we ended our meeting with a time of Sacred Circled Dancing led by Angela Creagh. This centred on a theme of Sacred and Vital Light.
OUR NEXT MEETING IS A DAY OF REFLECTION
on Saturday 9th March 2013 10.30 - 4.30 in Wolverhampton
on Saturday 9th March 2013 10.30 - 4.30 in Wolverhampton
Further details will be published shortly and also on our website
www.satsang-companionship.org.uk
www.satsang-companionship.org.uk
ADVANCE NOTICE
Over the next few weeks a series of Blog Posts will explore the whole area of Mysticism. These will be informed by the Teachings of + Ishpriya Mataji - the founder and Spiritual Guide of the International Satsang Association. THey will be based mainly around her talks on ONLY THE MYSTICS WILL SURVIVE.
No comments:
Post a Comment