Love this poem!

From this site:


Robert Frost (1874–1963)

Mountain Interval. 1920.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Who is a witness ...?

Recently, S and I had a conversation about her understanding of being a witness.

She asked me, "Who is a witness to your life?" Who witnesses who you are as a person and what you have done in your life?

I said I wasn't sure I understood what she was asking. "Are you speaking of 'witness' as in a legal sense?"

No, she said. There are lots of other kinds of witnesses. John the Baptist was a witness. He witnessed to (or foretold of ) Jesus' coming. He also witnessed to others while Jesus did his preaching and teaching.

S said the shepherds were witnesses in the story of Jesus' birth. The angels too.

Okay, I said. A little light was emerging in the darkness of my mind.

A witness can be a person outside the legal sense. You have witnesses at a wedding. Yes, I agreed. They are people who will 'testify' or 'certify' that yes, on this day, in this place, these two people committed their lives to one another. That is certainly acting as a witness.

S believes her purpose (at least one purpose) in her life is to act or serve as a witness.

And, as my partner, I asked, what do you witness about me? S replied that I am hard on myself. There is a part of myself, deep within she guesses, that almost loathes who I am. She said, "Allow yourself to have flaws." Because I strive for such perfection, she said, I don't let others get too close, so they can't see the flaws ... the flaws that I can't bear to see in myself.

Ahh, yes. Ooh, ouch, no! The truth can be painful to hear.

Quote

from Marcus Borg:

..."It shifts the focus of the Christian life from believing in Jesus [italics my emphasis] or believing in God to being in relationship to the same Spirit that Jesus knew ... that Christian life moves beyond believing in God to being in relationship with God."

- - - - - ### - - - ### - - - - -

And if you're unfamiliar with the author, here's a blurb about Marcus Borg:

Marcus Borg is an O[regon] S[tate] U[niversity] Distinguished Professor in Religion and Culture and the Hundere Endowed Chair in Religious Studies.

Known as one of the leading historical Jesus scholars of this generation, he recently organized and spoke at OSU’s nationally televised symposium, God at 2000, that included, among several internationally regarded scholars of religion, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu. Two of Borg’s nine books have become best-sellers — Jesus: A New Vision and Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. He has lectured at the Smithsonian and Chautauqua Institutions and in England, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Israel, and South Africa.

An outstanding teacher, Borg has received all of OSU’s major awards for teaching and has been recognized by the Oregon State Legislature. The first person in the OSU College of Liberal Arts to be designated as an OSU Distinguished Professor, Borg has twice been president of the CLA Faculty Council. His upper and lower-division courses include Great Ideas, World-Views and Values in the Bible, Philosophy and Religion, World-Views and Environmental Values, and Great Figures: The Historical Jesus.

Borg sees philosophy as primarily concerned with the role of ideas in our lives. “Ideas matter much more than we commonly think they do, especially our world-views and values, namely our ideas about what is real and how we are to live,” Borg says. “We receive such ideas from our culture as we grow up, and unless we examine them, we will not be free persons, but will to a large extent live out the agenda of our socialization.”

Being rather than doing?

From Oprah's website:

The one big question most of us ask ourselves is "What should I do with my life?" For most people, it's very difficult to answer. Use these simple suggestions from people who have successfully answered this question and are now living the life of their dreams. Be inspired to pursue your dreams and discover the impact you are meant to have on the world!

• Listen to your inner voice. It takes practice to hear your true desires. Your passion will often come as a whisper or serendipitous event that reminds you of what's important and what makes you happy.
  
  
• Recognize crisis. Does your job feel like a grind? Are you spending your free time on something you love? Take an opportunity to appraise your happiness. One of the keys to living a purposeful life is seeing that you feel unfulfilled.
  
  
• Dwell in possibilities. Your passions could lead you in a lot of different directions to find fulfillment. Explore your life and unearth all of the things that bring you joy.
  
  
• Tune out the voice of the world. Make the strongest voice in your life your own. Finding your purpose could mean going against the advice of close friends and family. Take a leap of faith and trust in your dreams.
  
  
• Decide what kind of person you want to be. Rather than concentrating on what you want to do, think in terms of what kind of person you want to be. Let that guide your choices.
  
  
• Bring your heart to your work. It takes passion and courage to find a profession that you love. Spending the time to discover that job is time well spent—it could make all the difference in your life!
  
  
• Trust transformation. Hard times are a natural part of life. Don't be afraid to change because of your experiences. Instead, let them shape and steer your course.
  
  
• Have no regrets. According to the experts, it's easy to regret the time you've spent being unhappy or unfulfilled. Realize that during that time, you developed the skills you need to succeed!
  
  
• Take the first step. Destiny can't help you until you are willing to step out of your comfort zone. Get prepared to make changes in your life…and start making them!
  
  
• Be patient. Finding your life purpose won't happen overnight. In every life, there's a fast road and a slow road. Most of us take the slow road! Keep your commitment and take small steps to make it happen.

Reflections

S and I had a far-ranging, rather spiritual conversation yesterday morning, over breakfast, that I want to try to capture here for posting.

We were talking about our friend, Jeanne. Jeanne and S have always felt this 'connection' that defies rational explanation. They met only about ten years ago. Within a short time after their meeting, S said to me that she felt like she 'knew' Jeanne in ways she couldn't explain. When Jeanne speaks, S feels like she can finish her sentences for her. S has actually said that she believes (hard as it may seem) that she and Jeanne knew one another intimately in another lifetime. (Soul intimacy? Probably a more common expression is "soul mates.") She has spoken about this before, so it was not a surprise for me. She thinks other people probably experience these kinds of feelings or beliefs as well. What is unusual is to meet or know someone who can validate the feelings. That is what Jeanne can do. She validates S's sense of 'connection' in the same way that S validates hers.

From that unexplainable, spiritual 'soul connection,' we talked about how each of us is feeling, about our lives and our relationship with one another.

S said it this way: "I am where I'm supposed to be." Silence.

"Where is that relative to our relationship?"

A jabbing finger pointed at me. "I'm with YOU."

I chuckled. "Yes, you are."

She went on to say that she believes we may have known one another in another life. The 'sense' she has of me is as a young, rather insecure, little girl. She believes she was an adult (rather than a child), who felt protective of me. Beyond that, she doesn't know.

And for me? What does this mean?

I don't have any knowledge or prescience or sense about other or previous lives. I do feel that I'm supposed to be with S. I used to check my feelings about her and I always wanted to be with her. It felt right. But, honestly, our relationship is not an easy one; it requires a lot of hard work and determination to be together. When I consider leaving, moving on, seeking elsewhere, seeking out someone else, there is this very clear (repeat, very clear) sense that that would be a huge mistake. I am meant to be here, in this relationship, with S, easy or not. There are things I am meant to learn from her. She is the mentor, I am the student. I will learn from her, I will benefit by her. Part of my task is to be patient, to be still and listen, to observe, to learn. That is what is very clear in my purpose in this relationship, in this life.

S, too, says having this sense of being where she is supposed to be, creates a sense of comfort. But, beyond that comfort, there is a feeling of peace knowing that she is where is supposed to be.

I suppose, that in the large scheme of things, being where one is supposed to be is a reason to be thankful.

Weaving webs and tapestries

While I posted this on my other blog, I think I want to repost at least part of it here at Merry Dragon.

Vicki, a woman who teaches people about labyrinths writes about meditation with a reference to spiders as weavers. I have long been fascinated with the idea of webs as a metaphor for the connections we all "weave" as we create -- many times, completely unaware -- the "tapestries" of our lives. It's a rich, deep imagery that holds a lot of meaning for me. Here's part of Vicki's thoughts:

Spiders are weavers... their webs can become quite large and intricate. And so very beautiful, especially when they capture the morning dew...

The human part of us sometimes has difficulty quieting the chatter in our mind long enough to hear what our soul is trying to tell us. Meditation is the art of paying attention, of listening to your heart and learning to be present in the moment. Sometimes without being fully conscious of it, we withdraw from the present and live in the past or the future.

We stay in the past by holding on to learned negative behaviors and patterns that no longer serve us. Perhaps we are angry or unhappy about our current circumstances, not realizing that we can untangle ourselves from this web of our own making. Our soul continually creates circumstances so we can learn life lessons, whatever they may be. Until we learn these lessons, we stay caught in the web with only the circumstances changing... more than likely looming larger as the need to learn the lessons grows. Meditation brings us into the present and teaches us to accept the past and let go of these old behaviors.

Some of us are fearful of the future. The human part of us doubts whether we are capable of making correct decisions on our life path. By releasing this tangled web we learn to be in the “now,” transforming these fears and learning to trust our intuition or soul voice. Faith is born of this trust and our lives become more simplified. Meditation can help us live more fully, more effectively, and more peacefully.

Catch some Brain Rain in your life?

I subscribe to BlogLines and get an RSS feed from 43 folders. Here's an article from six weeks ago that I liked.

I'm re-posting it here (among other places) as a gentle reminder to myself:

Keys to catching the brain rain:

• set aside 10 minutes, each and every day
• have pen and paper handy
• allow yourself the freedom to think crazy thoughts
• don’t worry if nothing really productive springs to mind right away
• periodically scan over your notes from these sessions as things may pop into your mind after they have “marinated” for a while
• if no ideas pop into your head pick a fun topic and doodle a bit
• use word association to get things rolling if you feel stuck e.g. thinking -> thoughts -> mind -> brainstorm -> brain rain

The original posting was entitled "Warm, Partly Cloudy, 100% Chance of Brain Rain."

Questions to ponder

So ....

I met with my good friend of twenty-plus years, Carol, last night, somewhat unexpectedly. She lives in another state and was visiting here. We dined at a fashionable, family-friendly restaurant in Royal Oak.

Here's some questions she asked me in the course of our conversation (probably not exactly as she phrased them, but as I remembered them):

-- What are your dreams?

-- Why not take this time for some travel? Open yourself up to other possibilities?

-- Have you thought about searching out a progressive, spiritual community?

-- What makes your heart sing? (Carol was actually speaking of what made her heart sing, but I internalized the question!)

-- Would you consider going to therapy again?

Because of our longstanding friendship and some of the strengths and skills Carol possesses, I value beyond words her listening and questioning and counseling of me.

What are my dreams, indeed?

"...Faced with the ineffable and the indescribable..."

Today, I read an article in Salon called "Going Beyond God" interviewing the author, Karen Armstrong. Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

...You're saying these ancient sages really didn't care about big metaphysical systems. They didn't care about theology.

No, none of them did. And neither did Jesus. Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate. In the Quran, metaphysical speculation is regarded as self-indulgent guesswork. And it makes people, the Quran says, quarrelsome and stupidly sectarian. You can't prove these things one way or the other, so why quarrel about it? The Taoists said this kind of speculation where people pompously hold forth about their opinions was egotism. And when you're faced with the ineffable and the indescribable, they would say it's belittling to cut it down to size. Sometimes, I think the way monotheists talk about God is unreligious.

Unreligious? Like talk about a personal God?

Yes, people very often talk about him as a kind of acquaintance, whom they can second-guess. People will say God loves that, God wills that, and God despises the other. And very often, the opinions of the deity are made to coincide exactly with those of the speaker.

Well, it seems to me you're also saying that to be religious -- truly religious -- is tremendously hard work. It's far harder than just ...

... singing a few hymns.

... or just reading the scriptures literally. You can't live that way.

Religion is hard work. It's an art form. It's a way of finding meaning, like art, like painting, like poetry, in a world that is violent and cruel and often seems meaningless. And art is hard work. You don't just dash off a painting. It takes years of study. I think we expect religious knowledge to be instant. But religious knowledge comes incrementally and slowly. And religion is like any other activity. It's like cooking or sex or science. You have good art, sex and science, and bad art, sex and science. It's not easy to do it well.

So how should we approach the sacred texts? How should we read them?

Sacred texts have traditionally been a bridge to the divine. They're all difficult. They're not a simple manual -- a how-to book that will tell you how to gain enlightenment by next week, like how to lose weight on the Atkins diet. This is a slow process. I think the best image for reading scripture occurs in the story of Jacob, who wrestles with a stranger all night long. And in the morning, the stranger seems to have been his God. That's when Jacob is given the name Israel -- "one who fights with God." And he goes away limping as he walks into the sunrise. Scriptures are a struggle.

What about an afterlife?

It's a red herring as far as I'm concerned.

But you must have thought about that question. Does everything end once we die?

I don't know. I prefer to be agnostic on that matter, as do most of the world's religions. It's really only Christianity and Islam that are obsessed with afterlife in this way. It was not a concern in the Axial Age, not for any of them. I think the old scenarios of heaven and hell can be unreligious. People can perform their good deeds in the spirit of putting their installments in their retirement annuities. And there's nothing religious about that. Religion is supposed to be about the loss of the ego, not about its eternal survival.

And is there an endpoint? From the cosmological perspective, was the universe designed specifically for life? Are those important questions?

Yeah, I think they can be wonderful questions. But they don't occupy me very much. I believe that what we have is now. The religions say you can experience eternity in this life, here and now, by getting those moments of ecstasy where time ceases to be a constraint. And you do it by the exercise of the Golden Rule and by compassion. And just endless speculation about the next world is depriving you of a great experience in this one.

an email prayer

I get these occasionally in the mail. Usually I don't read them, send them on or spend enough energy to delete them.

But this one touched me. I'm wondering if there really was a Saint Theresa?

Saint Theresa is known as the Saint of the Little Ways . . . meaning she believed in doing the little things in life well and with great love. She is also the patron Saint of flower growers and florists. She is represented by roses.

St. Theresa's Prayer:
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you . . .
May you be content knowing you are a child of God . . .
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.