Posted: January 2, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Prayer 2 Comments »
When we realize that intercession is an exercise in awarness it brings a great change to our understanding of it. When praying for others we allow ourselves to be caught in the current of communication which the Spirit gives between us and another, and most of all between us and God. … True intercession places another person more firmly in the arms of the divine love which will never infringe that person’s freedom, but which works through bestowals of awareness and recognition, through evocation and response, through the offer of choice and the glimpse of possibility. John Taylor, The Go-Between God
Folk spirits and love
Posted: December 2, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment »We have already begun to describe in our preceding studies what we might call the tissue, the network of love; and this web of love must be so woven, that the principal threads are woven into it by the normal Spirits of Form, that being their fundamental mission. Then the abnormal Spirits of Form, who are in reality Spirits of Motion, weave into it that which produces the races. Then the normal and abnormal Spirits of the Age weave into it the historical evolution, and the Archangels, both of normal and abnormal evolution, the several peoples and languages; and lastly those Beings who put man into his right place on the earth, the Angels, also co-operate in the weaving. In this way is spun this mighty fabric of Love.
From The Mission of the Folk-Souls, Lecture 5
This is a liberating lecture-cycle! It has the power to liberate us from thinking that we have to choose between being nationalistic and being world-citizens. We can learn to acknowledge how much of our being is given to us by our belonging to a particular ‘folk’, and yet to see that the fulfilment of the folk-spirits lies in their cooperating together to create a future humanity.
Arthur Zajonc’s book
Posted: June 17, 2011 Filed under: books, Inner life 1 Comment »Arthur (here’s his website) gave a talk in Stourbridge this week, so I finally got round to reading his book, which was a kind gift from people I stayed with on one of my journeys (rare to get given a gift by one’s hosts). Here’s the link to the book:
http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?id=9781584200628
Arthur’s gave a great introduction to some of his thoughts from the book. I am very interested in his ‘modern yoga’ idea, the breathing of attention, living in the oscillation between focussed and open attention. This seems to offer a very good way of making a contemplative mood in which to ‘hear’ a verse that one wants to work with. I would be very interested to hear any comments and experiences. I’ve also just discovered Arthur’s blog on Psychology Today, which has some really interesting-looking articles.
Wired to connect
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: theology | Tags: koinonia 2 Comments »Neuroscience has discovered that our brain’s very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person.
Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
The neural physiology of koinonia?
Deepest desire
Posted: May 11, 2011 Filed under: theology 5 Comments »It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness. For happiness is that perfect good which entirely satisfies one’s desire; otherwise it would not be the ultimate end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e., of man’s desire, is what is universally good; just as the object of the intellect is what is universally true. Hence it is evident that nothing can satisfy man’s will, except what is universally good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone, because every creature has only participated goodness. Therefore, God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of the Psalms (102:5): “Who alone satisfies your desire with good things.” Therefore, God alone constitutes man’s happiness.” (Summa Theologica Part 2. Q.1. Article )
Weekly Review in GTD
Posted: March 28, 2011 Filed under: GTD Leave a comment »Why is the weekly review so frightening? I know people who can’t bear to implement a full GTD system because of what the weekly review represents for them.
It’s frightening because it’s time out of life – resisting the pressure of events that carry us through the day.
More important, it’s a confrontation with promises I’ve made myself. If I my GTD system is watertight, then every initiative will have been noted as project. Every next action step will be in there. In the weekly review, I see my promises, and am confronted with what I’ve done with them. Why does this project have no next action? Maybe I didn’t really mean it, that I wanted that to happen. Why has this N.A. been on my list for 3 months? Is it not actually a single action but a multi-step project?Recently, I’ve started trying to integrate higher horizons. I haven’t even started on that audit yet – but I can feel it coming: why does this area of focus not have any projects… Why does this goal not have an area of focus?
Basically, the weekly review brings me into connection with my intentions. Writing a lovely purpose-statement can be just that – lovely. Noting things down on lists can just be displacement activity. Getting everything connected and being honest about my intentions means meeting myself. Just like the Guardian of the Threshold says: until I take responsibility for what I am, he will seem a monster. I suppose I’ll stop feeling frightened of the weekly review when I’m prepared to take full responsibility for every commitment I make to myself and to others. The moment when one has finished the Review always feels a bit like that.
Self-responsibility
Posted: March 26, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment »Yet my Threshold is fashioned out of all the timidity that remains in thee, out of all the dread of the strength needed to take full responsibility for all thy thoughts and actions. As long as there remains in thee a trace of fear of becoming thyself the guide of thine own destiny, just so long will this Threshold lack what still remains to be built into it. And as long as a single stone is found missing, just so long must thou remain standing as though transfixed; or else stumble. Seek not, then, to cross this Threshold until thou dost feel thyself entirely free from fear and ready for the highest responsibility. Hitherto I only emerged from thy personality when death recalled thee from an earthly life; but even then my form was veiled from thee. Only the powers of destiny who watched over thee beheld me and could thus, in the intervals between death and a new birth, build in thee, in accordance with my appearance, that power and capacity thanks to which thou couldst labor in a new earth life at the beautifying of my form, for thy welfare and progress. It was I, too, whose imperfection ever and again constrained the powers of destiny to lead thee back to a new incarnation upon earth. I was present at the hour of thy death, and it was on my account that the Lords of Karma ordained thy reincarnation. And it is only by thus unconsciously transforming me to complete perfection in ever recurring earthly lives that thou couldst have escaped the powers of death and passed over into immortality united with me.
http://wn.rsarchive.org/Books/GA010/English/AP1947/GA010_c10.html
I find it simply amazing that this is what the Guardian wants to tell us – nothing more and nothing less than that we will be able to advance once we take full responsibility for ourselves. I am reminded of a wise man telling us of his amazement at his capacity to find the person, the family, the organisation, or the world that was responsible for his experience of reality being how it was; and his even deeper wonder at the liberation that comes when he manages to realise that he and only he is responsible for his experience of reality.
Desire
Posted: February 9, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: desire 1 Comment »There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth. * * * To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation. All things are one. And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, A Fable About Following Your Dream
So – getting in touch with our real desire means getting in touch with the universe. This is one of the hardest things to get our minds round: doing the good, when we are doing it out of our true being, is not unpleasant. In Theosophy, Steiner describes the transition from the Consciousness-Soul, which beholds the good and the true from without, to the Spirit-Self, which brings them forth from themselves. It’s part of the heritage of the battle between Augustine and Pelagius that we in the West are so suspicious of our desire. Of course if we think the only desire is plant-like or animal drive, we’re going to fall short of our potential. Augustine himself says, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” What can this mean except that our deepest desire is for oneness, for communion with God himself?
Quotation on Freedom
Posted: February 8, 2011 Filed under: group relations | Tags: freedom 1 Comment »[The words of the Guardian of the threshold]
Yet my Threshold is fashioned out of all the timidity that remains in thee, out of all the dread of the strength needed to take full responsibility for all thy thoughts and actions. As long as there remains in thee a trace of fear of becoming thyself the guide of thine own destiny, just so long will this Threshold lack what still remains to be built into it. And as long as a single stone is found missing, just so long must thou remain standing as though transfixed; or else stumble. Seek not, then, to cross this Threshold until thou dost feel thyself entirely free from fear and ready for the highest responsibility.
From Knowledge of Higher Worlds, The Guardian of the Threshold
I am amazed how clearly Steiner sees the Guardian being connected to our freedom. I am reminded of Bruce Irvine speaking of our profound longing to find something outside of us that is responsible for our experiencing reality as we do; and of the terrifying liberation that comes when we realise that we ourselves are responsible for our experience.
Free from Dogma
Posted: January 29, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments »I just got the report from Floris about sales of Free from Dogma. To date it’s sold 423 copies. This is very gratifying, but I also wonder whether everyone’s read it who needs to. Here’s the table of contents:
Prologue: The Journey from Unity to Community
Introduction: Did Not Our Hearts Burn Within Us?
Theology in becoming ; The modern world
Part 1. The Experience of God
1.Where is Your God Now?
Faith in God after the ‘death of God’ ; God, the ground of
being ; What difference does it make if God created the world?
2. The Experience of God
The Trinity — a doctrine born of experience ; The fourth
century ; The image of God ; The image as archetype
3. The Wounded Healer
Superhero ; Christ the hero ; The hope of the Messiah
4. Truly God and Truly Man
Understanding the extremes ; Son of Man ; … you are still
asleep …
5. The Holy Spirit
Grasping the Spirit ; Human and holy ; Koinonia ; The
Spirit of evolution
6. Evil Cries Out for Its Redemption
‘Evil evil’ ; Rebellion and redemption
Part 2: The New Community
7. The Icon of the New Community
The Christian Community ; The community of the second
coming
8. The Way into the New Community
The way into the self ; The journey home ; Life as a
journey ; The Sacramental Consultation ; Forgiveness ;
The divine pedagogy
9. The Act of Consecration of Man — the Celebration of theNew Community
The meal ; Letting go and letting come ; The sun amongst
the seven sacraments
10. The Biographical Path in the Community of Christ
Baptism ; Confirmation ; Membership ; Taking leave of
the earthly community ; Celebrating community of life
11. The Structuring of the Community
Community and congregation
Epilogue: The Future Hope
Endnotes
Sources and References
And here’s a taster, the Prologue:
The beginning is one — single — a unity. Everything is infolded. The whole multitude of things — animals and atoms, stars and galaxies, all the experiences and thoughts of human beings and angels — exist as pure potential within God. Time is not yet. Space is infolded. Then God’s fullness overflows in a free deed of pure, creative love.
The world around us with all its abundance, its fullness and variety of separate, individual things — it all springs forth from this ground. Stones and plants; animals; human beings; angels and other heavenly powers — all pour forth from God in overflowing generosity. Science tells the story of the simplest atoms that condensed to become the elements, nebulae, stars; that seeded galaxies. All the glory of the night sky issues forth from this vast outpouring of energy. And that is only a story about the outside of what happens. The inside is pure, self-bestowing love.
Every human soul, every feeling, every breath — all of it is inside God as potential before it pours out into existence. Unimaginable variety comes from this single origin. So great is God’s love that it allows what has been created to stretch so far from God that it becomes other than God. World exists over against God, separate from God, even opposed to God — and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not grasped it. Ranks of spiritual beings — God’s hands and feet, his limbs, eyes and ears — work on the world, shining down their thoughts, drawing the world to evolve towards higher perfection.
A creature made in God’s image walks on the earth, a creator in becoming, bearing the seed of God’s word, godlike already in naming and understanding, in finding and giving meaning.
In the beginning human beings worship the multitude of spiritual beings that they experience within and behind all that is — the hands and feet, eyes and ears of God. The ancient Jewish people are the forerunners with the hard task of understanding that there is one central being at the heart of everything; one unifying principle that underlies all of creation with all its manifold details and glories. The worship of this God allows human beings to become unitary beings themselves. I believe in one God — one almighty divine being.
With the coming of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit, God reveals himself as one in three and three in one. At Whitsun, many tongues of flame emerge from the one central flame. Each individual human being can become a bearer of Holy Spirit. The splitting and splintering of humanity that started at the Tower of Babel, symbol of human beings’ growing separation on their journey, is overcome. At Whitsun, the apostles’ words resonate in the souls of those who hear them, regardless of whether they understand them with their minds. The very beings of those who hear them vibrate in unison as the words recall their common origin in the spirit.
A new unity is born — not a simple oneness, but community, the place of common life, of common work and striving. This is ekklesia, the assembly of those called out to perform a service for the world. They overcome the great divisions that splinter humanity — in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, man nor woman, slave nor free, says Saint Paul (Galatians 3:28). In their celebration they rejoice in a new joining of heaven and earth, a foreshadowing of the fulfilment when God will be ‘all in all’ (1 Corinthians 15:28). They celebrate their vocation as human beings: to join together in a new community with creation — with all human beings — with the divine world.
This human community is neither uniform nor exclusive. It is not regimented, ‘churchy’ in any old sense. It celebrates all creativity that is in tune with the abundance of the life and love which is ultimate reality. It seeks for the truth about the journey that we are on, not to prescribe a dogma but to help human beings on their journey. At the heart of the community is celebration and rejoicing. When the prodigal son of the parable returns, the father rejoices. This my son, he says, was lost and is found. He was dead and has come back to life. When human beings find their true vocation in the celebration of community they find themselves again, and pass from death to life.
