A Short Poem of Daily Surrender

Author: 

 Bridget Robinson

“Commit your life to the Lord,
Trust in Him and He will act,
So that your justice breaks forth like the light
Your cause like the noon day sun”
- Psalm 37 1-4

Open your mouth O little wild bird, captivating wildflower,

for your most delightful fare

Are you willing to taste the WHOLE?

Willing to bear the stark nakedness,

darkness and silence of dormancy

and rest in the presence of Your sleeping Beloved passively against your deep surface,

be pillow for His Head?

If yes,

Then, lift your chin little bird

Reach forth your petals little flower,

amid your chill and hunger

to remain in silent longing

OR

As one and the same

be nourished and satisfied

as part of the WHOLE delightful fare

 

New Testament Scriptural and Theological Inspirations

Centering Prayer

Author: 

 Father Thomas Keating

Contemplative Prayer is not a technique, although it makes use of methods as starting points to awaken spiritual attentiveness. Contemplative Prayer is a gift of the Holy Spirit. A basic tenet of the Christian Contemplative Tradition is that this gift cannot be earned, but it is freely given by God. Centering Prayer is not that gift, or even a way to make Contemplative Prayer happen. Rather, it is a means of preparing to receive it by opening to God’s presence and action within. The following texts from the Gospel of John are a New Testament scriptural and theological inspiration for the practice of Centering Prayer and Contemplative Outreach.

The relationship in the Trinity between the Father and the Son

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? I am not myself the Source of the words I speak to you: It is the Father who dwells in me doing his own work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else accept the evidence of the deeds themselves. In very truth I tell you, whoever has faith in me will do what I am doing, indeed he will do greater things still because I am going to the Father. Anything you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14: 10)

The invitation to share in the Trinitarian relationships

I will not leave you alone; I am coming back to you. In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me; because I live you too will live. When that day comes you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. (John 14: 18)

The presence and action of the Holy Spirit

I have told you these things while I am still with you; but the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name; will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you. (John 14: 18)

The necessity of union with Christ

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.... Dwell in me, as I in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, but only if it remains united with the vine; no more can you bear fruit, unless you remain united with me... (John 15:1)

I am the Vine and you are the branches. Anyone who dwells in me, as I dwell in him, bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4)

The movement of Union with Christ towards pure love

If you dwell in me, and my words dwell in you, ask whatever you want, and you shall have it. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.Dwell in my love. If you heed my commands, you will dwell in my love, as I have heeded my Father’s commands and dwell in his love. (John 15:7)

Christ’s prayer for the unity of all his followers

Protect them by the power of your name, the name you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:12)

May they all be one in us; as you, Father are in me, and I in you, so also may they be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you gave me I have given to them, that they may be one, as we are one. I in them and you in me, may they be perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me, and that you loved them as you loved me. (John 17:20)

• Centering Prayer

If you're not willing to take a risk for something you really care about, you might as well be dead.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't think you can measure life in terms of years. I think longevity doesn't necessarily have anything to do with happiness. I mean happiness comes from facing challenges and going out on a limb and taking risks. If you're not willing to take a risk for something you really care about, you might as well be dead.

Sponsors curse you have by definition lumbered yourself with a control freak.

 They may offer their number to you – that's up to them.

Again wait until you've got to know somebody before handing over this information.

You have the right to privacy.

If, having got a sponsor, you find that they are trying to control any aspect of

your life eg. relationships, medical treatment (including medication), therapy

(eg. counselling), finances, relationships (sexual or otherwise), employment,

dress code (No! We're not kidding here!), which meetings you attend, what

time you contact them etc then you have by definition lumbered yourself with

a control freak. This is not sponsorship. This is someone playing God! Again

… DON'T PANIC – unlumber yourself forthwith... and then it's back to the

drawing board! Don't blame yourself for the decision. Put it down to

experience and move on.

Spiritual enlightenment has been going on since the first life emerged on Earth

Spiritual enlightenment has been going on since the first life emerged on Earth, where all of us are in various stages of accomplishment. Successive generations of life forms, over all these eons have been increasing awareness, up to the present people of today. Our current structure of the brain and body gives us the capability to recognize our source as spirit and creator of ourselves. Then the next step for human beings is to become that spirit in the body. There is one more physical species of life form for human beings to become on Earth and it is happening now, we are growing bodies of light.

Growing numbers of people have had spiritual awakenings and it is difficult to find commonalities in the reports. The variety in reports is partly because spiritual awakening is not widely accepted as a real phenomenon and has not been studied by scientists. Another reason is that many of the symptoms are internally experienced due to changes in the nervous system. Because these symptoms are not experienced externally, there exists no language for it. Variation in testimonials is normal because each of us is an individual with unique experiences and what we observe and report will be heavily influenced from our past. Thus, reports across testimonials seem different even when we are describing the same phenomena. Finally, kundalini awakening is a continuous process with key stages. There is currently no clear definition about those stages, so all stories are lumped together in one basket, under the common name of kundalini awakening, even if they are miles apart. As more people share their accounts of kundalini awakening, we will increase our knowledge about the transformation and help each other get through it.

What is common to all who have spiritually awakened is they understand the truth that they are NOT the thinker. They encounter the higher-self as spirit; they meet their true self that is the life-force behind the body, behind the mind, behind everything. Many people that spiritually awaken believe they are enlightened, which then stalls their evolution to reach higher steps. This can happen because this phenomenon is not widely known and understood by society and there is a prevalent societal belief that enlightenment can happen instantaneously. Today this is changing, as more people are experiencing kundalini awakening symptoms. I hope my testimonial can motivate people to keep going so they can reach further stages.

The reality is that awareness rises gradually and it happens each time that we drop a part of our conditioning. After we spiritually awaken, we are no longer fully identified with our personality, so we have better ability to observe ourselves and be acutely present at times. Our personality is complex, was built over many years and is held together by our programmed responses to life events. We cannot let go of all our programming instantaneously, nor can we change the energy in our system in one fell swoop. It would be too much to take.

We can only relate and respond to that which we have knowledge of and changes in consciousness happen in steps. We cannot be aware of what is hidden, and what is hidden is our conditioning. Conditioning is hidden because it feels to be integral to ourselves. We cannot change something we cannot see. We change a part of ourselves when we have the desire to change and ask the proper questions to discover our hidden programmed influences. If we are happy how we are, then we will not change. It is normal we want to be comfortable with how we are for a while and we cannot instantly jump into the stream of constant change. When we are comfortable with the known, we feel secure and are building energy to be used later. However, we should not stay comfortable for too long.

To transform ourselves, we only need to practice letting go of the old habit of chattering, which is the cause of animation of the personality.

We are not enlightened because we are identified with our personality, where when animated fools us into thinking we are alive. Because this is the problem, it means there is only one way to remedy it. To transform ourselves, we only need to practice letting go of the old habit of chattering, which is the cause of animation of the personality. Each time we are quiet, our brain is rewired to be more efficient, a program is removed, we are partly healed, our energetic vibration raises and we are more aware. Each time we raise our vibration level, we have more energy at our disposal to heal things in our body, which needs more energy to accomplish. When programmed tracts are removed, neuron growth expands and branches out in that space with numerous connections which is what increases our vibration. As we continue in the transformation, deeper and older problems are corrected, even to the point of correcting the structural alignment of the skull and skeletal frame. The truth is only we can transform ourselves. Only we can stop ‘pretending as the personality’, nobody can stop us from doing that.

My message is the practice of compassion, love and kindness.

“My message is the practice of compassion, love and kindness. These things are very useful in our daily life, and also for the whole of human society these practices can be very important.” - Dalai Lama

Take a few minutes before you go to bed to reflect upon your day.

Think about the people you met and talked to, and how you treated each other. Think about your goal that you stated this morning, to act with compassion towards others. How well did you do? What could you do better? What did you learn from your experiences today? And if you have time, try one of the above practices and exercises.

When we encounter someone who mistreats us, instead of acting in anger, withdraw.

 Later, when you are calm and more detached, reflect on that person who mistreated you. Try to imagine the background of that person. Try to imagine what that person was taught as a child. Try to imagine the day or week that person was going through, and what kind of bad things had happened to that person. Try to imagine the mood and state of mind that person was in — the suffering that person must have been going through to mistreat you that way. And understand that their action was not about you, but about what they were going through. Now think some more about the suffering of that poor person, and see if you can imagine trying to stop the suffering of that person. And then reflect that if you mistreated someone, and they acted with kindness and compassion toward you, whether that would make you less likely to mistreat that person the next time, and more likely to be kind to that person. Once you have mastered this practice of reflection, try acting with compassion and understanding the next time a person treats you. Do it in little doses, until you are good at it. Practice makes perfect.

Imagine the suffering of someone you know or met recently.

 Imagine that you are that person, and are going through that suffering. Now imagine that another human being would like your suffering to end — perhaps your mother or another loved one. What would you like for that person to do to end your suffering? Now reverse roles: you are the person who desires for the other person’s suffering to end. Imagine that you do something to help ease the suffering, or end it completely. Once you get good at this stage, practice doing something small each day to help end the suffering of others, even in a tiny way. Even a smile, or a kind word, or doing an errand or chore, or just talking about a problem with another person. Practice doing something kind to help ease the suffering of others. When you are good at this, find a way to make it a daily practice, and eventually a throughout-the-day practice.

Open your heart to that human being and if you feel even a little that you’d want their suffering to end, reflect on that feeling.

Once you can empathize with another person, and understand his humanity and suffering, the next step is to want that person to be free from suffering. This is the heart of compassion — actually the definition of it. Try this exercise: Imagine the suffering of a human being you’ve met recently. Now imagine that you are the one going through that suffering. Reflect on how much you would like that suffering to end. Reflect on how happy you would be if another human being desired your suffering to end, and acted upon it. Open your heart to that human being and if you feel even a little that you’d want their suffering to end, reflect on that feeling. That’s the feeling that you want to develop. With constant practice, that feeling can be grown and nurtured.

Instead of recognizing the differences between yourself and others, try to recognize what you have in common.

At the root of it all, we are all human beings. We need food, and shelter, and love. We crave attention, and recognition, and affection, and above all, happiness. Reflect on these commonalities you have with every other human being, and ignore the differences. One of my favorite exercises comes from a great article from Ode Magazine — it’s a five-step exercise to try when you meet friends and strangers. Do it discreetly and try to do all the steps with the same person. With your attention geared to the other person, tell yourself:

1. Step 1: “Just like me, this person is seeking happiness in his/her life.”
2. Step 2: “Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life.”
3. Step 3: “Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness and despair.”
4. Step 4: “Just like me, this person is seeking to fill his/her needs.”
5. Step 5: “Just like me, this person is learning about life.”

The first step in cultivating compassion is to develop empathy for your fellow human beings.

 Many of us believe that we have empathy, and on some level nearly all of us do. But many times we are centered on ourselves (I’m no exception) and we let our sense of empathy get rusty. Try this practice: Imagine that a loved one is suffering. Something terrible has happened to him or her. Now try to imagine the pain they are going through. Imagine the suffering in as much detail as possible. After doing this practice for a couple of weeks, you should try moving on to imagining the suffering of others you know, not just those who are close to you.

Greet each morning with a ritual.

 Try this one, suggest by the Dalai Lama: “Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” Then, when you’ve done this, try one of the practices below.

Why develop compassion in your life?

Well, there are scientific studies that suggest there are physical benefits to practicing compassion — people who practice it produce 100 percent more DHEA, which is a hormone that counteracts the aging process, and 23 percent less cortisol — the “stress hormone.”

But there are other benefits as well, and these are emotional and spiritual. The main benefit is that it helps you to be more happy, and brings others around you to be more happy. If we agree that it is a common aim of each of us to strive to be happy, then compassion is one of the main tools for achieving that happiness. It is therefore of utmost importance that we cultivate compassion in our lives and practice compassion every day.

 

Compassion differs from other forms of helpful or humane behavior in that its focus is primarily on the alleviation of suffering.

Compassion is an emotion that is a sense of shared suffering, most often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another; to show special kindness to those who suffer. Compassion essentially arises through empathy, and is often characterized through actions, wherein a person acting with compassion will seek to aid those they feel compassionate for.

Compassionate acts are generally considered those which take into account the suffering of others and attempt to alleviate that suffering as if it were one’s own. In this sense, the various forms of the Golden Rule are clearly based on the concept of compassion.

 

The key to developing compassion in your life is to make it a daily practice.

Meditate upon it in the morning (you can do it while checking email), think about it when you interact with others, and reflect on it at night. In this way, it becomes a part of your life. Or as the Dalai Lama also said, “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”