The greatest reassurance--and I admit, frankly, surprise--came for me in our times of spiritual practice and in a Sunday morning Eucharist which palpably exploded with the presence of the risen Christ...While the courses of action that emerge from each one of us may differ, what was eminently clear to each of us was that this protective field of tenderness and responsive concern to our planetary anguish is alive and well, and that we can and MUST turn to it...daily, hourly, with our very best. In the best of Wisdom fashion, our hope shifted away from outcome and back to source.
...it is not the thing itself...that is the problem; but it is our clinging to the thing even
when it causes us, ourselves, and others mental or physical pain, which blinds us to a
bigger view and snowballs into more suffering. Ultimately, the challenge of letting go
becomes a spiritual act in some way: in many
spiritual traditions, surrender is the backbone, as
Mohammed says in the Qur'an, "True religion is
surrender." And so as we grasp at the beautiful red
leaf, we just might let it spin again in the autumn
wind, delighting in that tiny leaf-filled and empty
moment.
~ from HAIKU MIND: 108 POEMS TO CULTIVATE AWARENESS & OPEN YOUR HEART by Patricia Donegan
I remember years ago in Korea in the Peace Corps, how I felt the first time I partook of the daily culture of "just sitting" together with friends in informal tearooms in Seoul, without saying a word; at first I felt quite nervous and bored, but when I was able to relax my mind and just be, it was a refreshing communion... each moment's meeting of a person or even a flower is precious and fleeting, it is to be savored completely, perhaps best in silence.
