FORMATION BEFORE TRANSFORMATION?

Formation before Transformation ?

Reflections on 2^nd Half of Life Spiritual Journey

Part 1 - Setting the Scene

There seems to be a ‘fashion’ for the recurring theme of ‘Transformation’. This has recently become more noticeable in many of the ‘ologies’ of academia. i.e. psychology, sociology, theology etc. The inference , and emphasis, can often seem to be that focusing on formation is not necessary and that there is a magic ‘trick’ or ‘pill’ that we can take to become transformed. Moreover, that there is something that can happen to cause a ‘quantum leap’ or a new paradigm. Now doubtlessly, these are possibilities but quantum leaps and new paradigms are relatively rare. Nonetheless, ‘transformation’ is the new buzzword and the new Nirvana. This emphasis can create difficulties for many. It hooks into the modern day urge for a quick fix or instantaneous results and instant gratification. In addition, deep and transforming change may best be both negotiated and maintained if based on some firm foundations and formation.

In Christianity, my own Faith Tradition, this growing surge towards transformation is becoming more and more prevalent. These reflections are written in the Christian Season of Lent, which is based on the experience of Jesus (the Christ) and his 40 days in the wilderness before beginning his Ministry. Traditionally, and arguably the majority opinion, most Christians consider Lent to be a time for ‘giving up things’. This can be a great error and is based on a very negative view of the Mystery, we call God, and fails to emphasise that the true purpose of our life is to grow in awareness of our unity with the Indwelling Presence of the Mystery. The word Lent comes from the word Lengthening and is a season based on the life of Jesus the Christ and his ‘wilderness experience’. What occurred for Jesus ( who for Christians is the Christ) was a period of aloneness which led to a ‘lengthening’ or ‘stretching’ of his awareness of his real self and his real purpose and union with the Mystery he referred to as ‘Abba’ ( Father).

So perhaps Lent is a time for us all to be ‘stretched and particularly in relation to our understanding of our essential self and our spiritual awareness and practice. Incidentally, it could be helpful for Christians to both remember and reflect on the traditional Christian belief Jesus was, and is , the Christ the Anointed One. This ‘Christ’ is the Cosmic Christ who existed before time began. In addition , Christians perhaps could benefit by reminding themselves that Christ is not a surname for Jesus.

As previously outlined, Lent is a Season for stretching us at all levels of our holistic being. It can play its part in our journey towards spiritual maturity. This is a journey that requires us to grow in awareness of self and our unity with the Mystery and as we grow we and thus become transformed. The reality is that for the majority of us transformation is a slow, gradual and growing awareness of self, be that at the psychological and/or spiritual levels. This short Blog aims to tease out some reflections and proposes that before we can be ‘transformed’ we might best aim our sights and reflections on our formation.

There are many areas that both modern psychology and spirituality can find agreement. It is a generally accepted agreement in psychology, that we are more than our simple view of ourselves. Our psyche possesses depth and breath and very often our perceived view of the self is distorted and, to some degree, false. The latter can be caused by the circumstances of upbringing, culture , environment etc. In Humanistic Psychology this is often referred to as the ‘Self Concept’ and our task is to find the Core or Real Self. In short, the task we face is to grow in awareness of the Real Self and to recognise the inherent distortions and falsities of the Self Concept. In other branches of Psychology and in Indian Spiritual Traditions, this is often referred to as the search for and breaking down of the False Ego.

So our lifelong journey is a growth is awareness that moves us from the Ego towards our ability to transcend the Ego and thus realise both our inter-dependency with others and the Cosmos and the non-duality of creation. This is not an easy task. However, it is an essential part of genuine growth. Although the task can seem daunting, thankfully we have access to the guidance and teachings of the Mystics of all Traditions. These emphasise our need to be open to the Mystery of Creation and to the ambivalence of the Spirit. In other words, there are very often no definitive answers to the most important and crucial questions and we need to develop the gift of ‘not knowing’. Many people refer to this as Faith.

An error we can make is to both think and believe that there can be a sudden flash of light that reveals all!. Perhaps, for Christians, this may be based on St Paul and his story. However, if we examine this from the viewpoint of two great traditions, Christianity and Buddhism, we can begin to see a possible flaw in our thinking. Both are based on a ‘mystical’ experience that leads to enlightenment or a totally different way of seeing.

St Paul, arguably the founding theologian of Christianity, is certainly one of the major sources of the Christian New Testament. His account of his ‘conversion’ is often quoted by Christians, and particularly Fundamental Christians, as the exemplar for all transformation. We have a story of a man bitterly opposed to the teachings of Jesus and his ( for Paul) heretical followers, an incident of blinding light and revelation , transformation and then the most ardent follower and proponent of the Way and of Jesus the Christ. So Paul’s conversion is held up as a miraculous and exemplary vision of transformation. It is so often referred to as ‘ the road to Damascus transformation’.

Now this is not only simplistic but can mistakenly put pressure on many to become instantly transformed and be ‘born again’ The reality and context of Paul’s transformation is often missed. Paul first had a solid ‘formation’. He was a pupil of a renowned Jewish Rabbi. He was steeped in the Law and the Prophets – the Jewish Scriptures. In short, Paul had a firm foundation and formation in his culture, tradition and spirituality. What occurred on the road to Damascus was certainly extraordinary. It was almost certainly a mystical experience and one which he tried to convey in his writings. He refers to ‘ a blinding light’. In Eastern terms Paul achieved enlightenment. This leads us on to the Buddha’s experience.  

Gautama , called the Buddha , was born in a country steeped in and blessed with a rich spiritual tradition. He too was well grounded and formed and was doubtlessly well acquainted with the spiritual riches of his time. However, having tried both ends of the spectrum – sheer wealth and luxury and poverty and deprivation, he sat under a Boddhi Tree and achieved enlightenment. Whatever happened is unsure. However, it led to a great change in him and to his many years of teaching about the Four Noble Truths , in which he too spoke about enlightenment.

Both examples speak of a deep and growing awareness or enlightenment that led to remarkable ability to both discern the Real from the Unreal ( in modern terms the False Ego from the Real Self), to avoid being Dualistic and  to grow in wisdom, discernment and love.

This opening set of reflections has focused on the potential pitfalls of ‘instant  transformation’ and suggest that  a failure to build on a firm foundation can lead to either a disaster or at best a quick falling away ( See the Parable of the Sower – in the teachings of Jesus the Christ.

Part 2 of these reflections will begin to explore our transformation as part of our spiritual journey into Self- Discovery.

To be continued ( click link below for Part 2 )

http://midlands-satsang.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/transformation-journey-of-self-discovery.html

Further Reflections on the 2nd Stage of the Spiritual Journey

RADICAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE REAL SELF

Some Reflections on our recent Satsang Meeting

Our local Satsang Group ( UK Midlands) met in  Satsang on Saturday 8th March for a Day of Reflection . Our topic or theme was ' Spiritual Maturity - the 2nd Half of Life' .  Our main input for this theme was a video of Richard Rohr addressing this theme and his book 'Falling Upward'

Richard Rohr talked about the main function of the first half of life. He emphasised that this was NOT a chronological journey but rather a journey of developing awareness and growing maturity. The main task of our first half of life was to 'build a container' safe a secure enough to permit us, as mature spiritual travellers, to handle the ambiguities and paradoxes of the mature spiritual traveller.

Now this image of a strong 'container'is in reality an image for building a strong and healthy ego. Spiritual Masters of all traditions stress the importance of a secure base that is founded on a strong and healthy ego. Sister Ishpriya, the spiritual guide of the International Satsang Association, has often spoken about and emphasised this in her many talks or pravachans. 

A strong and healthy ego is formed in our crucial developing early years if we has secure attachment figures who provide us with love, safety, trust, nurture and support. For most these 'attachment figures' are loving parents and relatives. However, for many of us this is not true and thus we either have to find it in others or develop our ego in later years.

In any event, our task in life is to successfully develop a strong and healthy ego and then , as we reach maturity, begin to transcend the natural ego-centricity of our ego. So in early life as we develop our ego this leads to us internalising a strong picture or script of ourself. In psychology, this has many labels - in humanistic terms it is often referred to as either a 'False Self' or ' the Self- Concept'. In reality , although this view contains some truths it also contains 'distortions' and is definitely incomplete.  Our task, as we mature, is to begin to challenge our Self Concept, recognise its truths and its distortions and begin to broaden our awareness of our True Self.

However, in order to do this we must first develop our awareness of the Self - Concept, then lose it or drop it as we mature and broaden our awareness of self, others, our environment and of God or Ultimate Reality. This maturing requires that we develop the skill and ability of ' Not Knowing'. In  other words of sitting comfortably with the ambiguity and paradox of life and the knowledge that most of life's difficult issues are either a mystery or unsolvable. Richard Rohr, in his talk, returned again and again to this ambiguity and stressed that, for him, this ease with not knowing was another way of expressing Faith. !

Our world needs an increasing number of mature adults who are prepared to face both the challenges of developing their sense of self or ego in the first half of life and then, more importantly, moving with courage and faith into the 2nd half of life.  People who were prepared to do this are urgently needed as 'role models' , or in Rohr's term  ' Elders' , in order to show younger travellers some pathways through the 1st stage of life and assist and guide them as they approach the challenge of entering the 2nd half of life.

Our Satsang Group both enjoyed the day of reflection but also benefited from the mutuality of our sharing .

Falling Upward - The need for Radical Acceptance

Sat 8th March 

Falling Upward

We meet in Satsang for a Day of Reflection where our theme will be Falling Upwards - the Spiritual task for the Mature Traveller .Our day will focus around a video Falling Upwards.by Father Richard Rohr.  This addresses the many paradoxes on the Spiritual Journey.

Now many of the Faith Traditions and Mystics have focused on and reminded us of the importance of ‘Falling Upwards’ in the 2^nd half of life. A time when we mature spiritually and fix our aim on Ultimate Reality, the Spirit by whatever name or form we call it.

This 2^nd half is not about chronological age i.e. its not something for the over 40s ! Its about Spiritual Maturity, as the Christian Mystic St Paul says in 1 Cor 13 ‘ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways’ 

 This maturity can occur at any age. The Dalai Lama was 9 when he became the leader of Tibetan Buddhists. Many of the great Saints and Gurus of Hinduism and Sikhism were relatively young and Jesus' favourite disciple ( John) was a young man.

Our day will look at the Richard’s video in 2 parts. We will focus on the importance of the first half of life in building our sense of self but then our need to willingly let it go as we enter the 2^nd half , i.e. spiritual maturity.

We look forward to seeing you on Sat 8^th March 10.30 – 4.30

Prior to that the following reflections are designed to focus on several practices that can help develop our spiritual maturity. These focus on the need for Compassionate and Radical Acceptance of self. In other words, to lose one's self we must first find the real and true self.

'Programmed' in early life, most of us judge, view and accept ourselves through our relationships, job roles etc.  In other words we view our self by referring to the outside world. In some branches of Psychology this is  termed  as object or outer referral. The problem with this is that we can fail to look at our inner self.  To become more aware of or real or true self requires us to journey inwards and to find  the inner self. This requires us to develop the practice of self-referral.  There are several steps or stages or practices that could help us in this endeavour.

Compassionate  Awareness

The first practice is compassionate awareness in the present moment. This is often referred to as either Awareness in the Hindu  tradition or Right Mindfulness in Buddhism or the Practice of the Present Moment  in Christianity. . It requires us to become more awake and aware of what is happening in the here and now. Particularly within us.


Radical and Non-Judgemental Acceptance

The next practice is to take this growing awareness of the present into a practice of Radical and Non-Judgmental Acceptance.

This requires us to Notice but don't judge.  It demands that we become compassionate with our self and others and we also become patient. Strong emotions and thoughts are best understood and , if necessary, healed both by being heard and by the soothing balm of self compassion and non judgemental acceptance


Empathic Inner Listening

We can then integrate these two practices into our daily life by a third practice of Deep Empathy and inner listening allied to  self dialogue.

This involves a kind of inner focus an exercise that is similar to Gendlin' s Experiential Focusing. Here we listen to our inner self and begin to both here and understand our deepest emotions. These are often referred to as a Felt Sense and are normally part of our intuitive and/ gut feelings. 

Some Final Thoughts

Finally, as we develop and deepen these 3 practices we begin to develop our awareness of  our self., others and our world. Then we step out and begin to meet others and share our growing awareness  of the underlying unity in our unique and varied diversity.

This last point can be assisted by regularly meeting with fellow spiritual travellers in Satsang and sharing of our self and our journey.

Satsang Day of Reflection Sat 8th March

The Satsang Association

Reading the Signs of times

 

FALLING UPWARDS

  

A Day of Reflection & Experience on the 2^nd half of life’s  Spiritual Journey

Saturday 8^th   March 2014     (10.30 – 4.30)

FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE

Summerfield Road, Wolverhampton

Our task as Spiritual Travellers and Seekers is to stay ‘wide awake and open to reading the signs of our times’ and to learn the spiritual lessons of the first half of life and apply these to the 2^nd half. The great Faith Traditions and ancient Spiritual Wisdom all advise us on this.

Our main input will be a two part video by Richard Rohr ( a Franciscan Monk)  on the theme Falling Upward. This day will provide an opportunity to ‘sit by the wayside’ and reflect on this importance of the 2^nd half of our life. It will provide the opportunity for Personal Reflection, times of Silence and Mutual Sharing.

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

SATSANG MEETING January - Kiss of God

Saturday January 18th

Satsang Meeting

1.30 - 4.30 p.m.

Friends Meeting House, Wolverhampton

KISS OF GOD

A video clip of an Inter-Faith Dialogue between  Father Thomas Keating and Rabbi Schacther

Exploring the contemplative tradition and the need for spiritual seekers to focus less on dogma and more on the Mystery. Wide ranging dialogue between two Spiritual Masters that covers the riches of both Eastern and Western Traditions

Christmas Reflection - Time for Change

The Christian season of Advent is the beginning of the Christian year and it leads us up to Christmas. This is really like a New Year’s season for Christians which then leads on to the time of New Year.   It is customary for people to resolve to make ‘new year resolutions’.  These normally involve changes at the personal and relationship levels. For many, and I normally count myself in this number, the making of resolutions is undertaken with sincerity and some confidence, which very often ‘melts away’ as the New Year turns into spring. I am reminded of a paraphrase by the Christian Author Anthony De Mello. He was commenting on the tenuous nature of many resolutions. He remarked

 I can make my  New Year resolutions ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’ but as time goes on these lapse and my life returns to ‘ ‘As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen’ 

So to return to Advent and to Christmas and  its  possible meaning both for myself and others, regardless of their Faith Tradition. What bearing could this have on my spiritual relationship with God and others?  For Christians, Advent is an important Season. It is  a time of preparation and reflection for Christmas, the Christian celebration of the birth (as a human) of Jesus the Christ. What could this mean for and how could  this help me on my spiritual journey and in all my relationships? Relationships are encounters between the ‘other’ and ‘me’, or as Martin Buber, the Jewish Philosopher , suggests  between the I  and the Thou. Therefore any reflection on my relationship with God (by whatever name I call She, He or It) involves my reflecting on my understanding of the I and the Thou. If, as I believe, that one of the main outcomes of His life was to set an example of  how to relate to others and to the God he called Abba , then how could this assist me in my relationships ?  How could it assist me in my relationship with God?

 But who or what is this ‘God’ that I claim to profess? Thomas Aquinas, arguably one of the greatest Christian Theologians, wrestled with this question when reflecting on the nature of the Trinity. This is an important Christian understanding  on the nature of the God and of relationship. Aquinas suggests three ways of ‘knowing’ God; God in Creation, God in the history of peoples and God as Unknowable or as Mystery.  The first two of these, creation and God in history, are open to our time-space understanding and the last of these, God as “mystery’ we can only get fleeting glimpses of. 

Now, we live in time and space and a dynamic cosmos, where everything is subject to change. Therefore, the ‘knowledge’ I have of God is mainly in this sphere and my relationship with this ‘God’ is subject to dynamic change. This is the first of many paradoxes. My relationship with the ‘Unchanging Reality’ is changing and therefore so is my relationship with Jesus the Christ.  Yet, when growing up, I was taught that this is an unchanging relationship and that the ‘truths’ of Advent and of the story of Jesus are unchanging. At one level this may be so but at another level this did not help me to grow in my understanding of my ever changing relationship with God. Anyway, scripture is merely a record of peoples experience and understanding of God but it is not God and each generation is challenged to understand scripture in the context of their understanding of God in Creation and in their history as well as their personal experience of the Unknowable Mystery. To relate to ‘God’ as Mystery requires each of us to get in touch with our inherent ability to find our own Inner Mystic.

Over a period of decades Satsang Member have listened to many  talks by  Sister Ishpriya on this topic . Her teaching and talks often address the mystic inside all of us and how the recent changes in our understanding of creation, the cosmos and ourselves require us to re-assess our understanding of God. We live in unprecedented times, with exponential growth in our knowledge at both the macro and micro levels of creation and the cosmos. Our ideas and understanding of God are influenced by our knowledge of creation and our experience of God in our times. For example, when human beings understood their world to be a flat plate, then it may have made sense to believe in a God above in the heavens and an evil power below. However, in the light of our current understanding of an ever expanding cosmos and  the on-going creation at both macro and micro levels, then how could this change our understanding of God?

So this brings me back to Advent  and Christmas and my understanding of Jesus, whose birthday it asks us to prepare for. But this is not just a commemoration of something that happened 2000 years ago. No, for me, it must surely mean a reflection each year on what ‘re-birthing’ may occur in me as I re-assess my understanding of God and how that changes my understanding of Jesus the Christ and the meaning of his message for me in my life. So many of the Christmas Carols and hymns that we sing are based on an older understanding of God and Creation and , for me, fail to convey the dynamic nature of my relationship with God. Surely, we need to face Jesus as a Cosmic Christ and our part in God’s on-going co-creative plan and to  enable this ‘truth’ to be reflected in our communal worship ?  In addition, I feel that the message of Jesus needs to be regularly re-birthed in my heart. I am reminded of the following lines from a more modern Christian Hymn

‘This is our God, the Servant King.

He calls us now to follow Him.

To bring our lives as a daily offering.

NOTE I have highlighted the word ‘ Servant’ as  I feel the word King, with its imperialistic connotations, is in direct contradiction to the essence of the life and example of Jesus

However, notwithstanding the word ‘King’ , these words convey part of what, for me, is one of the ‘demands’ that Jesus the Christ makes of his followers and one that better reflects my understanding of God in Creation and in the current history of peoples. We are to be a servant people, to place loving, compassionate service (Seva) at the heart of our lives.

So Advent is a timely reminder of the need to re-assess our understanding of God and, for Christians, of the birth of Jesus and the message and example of his life and his relationship with God – The Mystery. It is a time to reflect on how that re-assessment might lead to ‘new year resolutions’ in our lives and on our spiritual journey. May the love and peace of Jesus fill our hearts and our home with true Christmas Joy this year and every year?

SATSANG MEETING - January 2014

SATSANG MEETING Sat 18th Jan 2014

CHANGE OF DATE

Our next Satsang Meeting will NOW take place on Sat 18th January at 

The Friends Meeting House

8b Summerfield Road 

Wolverhmpton

1.30 - 4.30 p.m

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