Hi guys!
Here we are: "Blue House" - oddly - was taken, so I found the name that most of the websites on St. Anne's Well referred to as the goal. I think we can all begin to know each other in so many diverse and unique ways on this journey, and to understand each other in writing is one of the most intruging way I know of to discover things about yourself and others. In the "old days," people had to write each other to communicate over even small distances, and when they did, and they were interesting people (as all of you are), a whole genre of literature arose from these writings. It is odd, but we tend to be able to say more through this medium, than we do face to face. Maybe it because no one is there to to interrupt!!! Seriously, it will be a very meaningful way especially for me, when the only link I will have with you will be this blog while I am in Japan.
So, let's begin with a interesting question to start us all off on this aspect of the journey. People aways speak of 'spirtuality' as though we all share this common understanding of what that term means. And recently, it has been used in such nefarious and sometimes nauseating ways to promote some creepy political or ideological agenda. So much so, that I personally get my guard up when someone uses the term in this way. I get suspicious of their motives. Yet, I think that the 'spiritual' moments I have had were some of the most memorable and key points in my life. OK, OK... So here is what I am asking, share - if you will - a moment of what you understand as spirituality that you have experienced.
I will start: this happened to me when I was in my twenties and working in theater. We would go skinny-dipping at night after the show was over in Lake Winnepasakee in New Hampshire, where we (Bob and I) were working in a summer stock theater. Becuase I am a chubby sort of person, I float. I mean, I can literally lay on top of the water. Bob, being skinny, sinks like a rock. Anyway, one night, it was a full moon and so bright that you could see way across the lake. I am laying "on" the water, buck-naked, and with my ears below the waterline. When that happens, you can hear only the sounds of your own body. Especially your breathing. So, I was laying there, alone, listening to myself breathe, looking up at the immense starry sky and suddenly felt as though I was breathing in the entire universe: and further, that I was literally exchanging breathe with the whole of creation. I can't explain really, how this felt, but I knew this to be a spiritual moment that I alone was experiencing. I stayed that way, breathing with the universe until I pruned up and my friends yelled at me to come in. But I still try to re-capture that eperience everytime I swim at night (but no longer naked - too old).
Now you...
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4 comments:
Hey. For me, I guess a "wow" moment would qualify as being spiritual, but with way less skin and floating than Frenchy's.
I was on a long walk this August with a bunch of people in some western suburb, and we were walking on biking trails. We all came out of a big dark woods into a HUUUUUGE meadow that had a little mini-mountain in the middle, with some gorgeous trees on the mini-mountain. And my jaw dropped.
Frenchy, I really appreciate all the work you put into this blog - it has the personal touch of someone offering a gift to an esteemed bunch of people, and I'm humbled and grateful to imagine myself a part of that group.
You ask us to share a moment of what we understand as spirituality that we have experienced. I'm so glad you ask us only to share a moment, and not an explanation. Those deep and deeper questions, i.e., what is it (spirituality) really, I imagine we'll get into that. But a spiritual moment, gosh, they almost always involve people. But the one I'll tell is about mountains, the Annapurna mountains in Nepal, when we were up to about 14,000 feet midway on our trek, and we paused to take a rest day on our way higher. For rest, we hiked up another 700 feet and parked our butts on a steep slope facing one of the "biggies" - what real climbers call the 26,000 foot peaks. This one was Annapurna II which weighs in at about 27,000 feet. We just lay down on that slope (at 14,000+ feet) and let our gaze go up and up and up towards the summit (which was invisible in the snow blow) of Annapurna II; our necks were so radically craned at such an angle and our gaze traveled so far away that it just took my breath away to reflect that we were laying at a point on a slope higher than anything in the US, and still the really big mountain was so much higher, so much more remote.
In that moment I was attuned spiritually in two ways, I think.
One was that I was so grateful that God had given this singular experience to me. I find that gratitude tends to sharpen my mind in a spiritual sense.
Two was the focus (the elimination of distractions) that was encouraged by the harsh and beautiful surroundings: there is no vocabulary, based on common everyday experience, to convey a Himalaya experience. My heart gets tight in my chest when I think about it, about how large the experience was for me, about how alive and vivid, about the heightened awareness that seemed to come to me as a result of my being so challenged by my environment, by the extremities of height and temperature and lack of air, the reality of poor food and increasingly harsh cold dirty conditions as we ascended, by being isolated socially due to language differences. Not surprisingly, hardship also tends to sharpen my mind in a spiritual sense. In harsh circumstances, when my usual supports (family, church, school, etc.) are absent or reduced, I'm better able to understand and acknowledge my dependence on God for all things.
The Celtic Service at Pilgrim Lutheran was an exercise in spirituality that was different and challenging for me in several ways (not a negative criticism). I look forward to the chance to talk about it with others who attended. I plan to go back for the next service which is on:
NOVEMBER 11
If more people go I have more people to talk with about it! Maybe we can get a larger group to go? Susan in a letter suggested several ways we could structure the Celtic Service into a larger activity:
* Meet at SC and walk to the service.
* Invite others to attend with us (parents? family? mentor?)
We can talk about this on Sunday.
As we learned last Sunday, there are a few performance-oriented things we could do:
* November 1-4, Mark G. is in a play at school.
* Oct 22: Andrew and Chris W. are in an improv at the Beat Coffee House in Minneapolis.
* Rebecca O will be appearing in "Under Milkwood" at Great River.
I'd like to attend at least one of these. Is anyone else interested?
BLOG MECHANICS - Frenchy I know you are SO busy. Thanks for your work with the blog so far. But I need help, and I hope someone else in our group can give it. How to create a new thread? How to upload pictures and music. Help! Thanks!
Hey, all. Bob Goepel says he'll be happy to be our "live" auctioneer, to auction off the services of the pilgrims.
Also, this has zip to do with anything covered in the blog so far, but I wanted to mention 2 of the things that klonked me in the head on the labyrinth.
1. It was easier being a follower than a leader.
2. It was hard to not reach out to the walkers who passed by on their own routes. Yes, we were walking together, but we were also completely solitary.
Go Wales!
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