Seeking after cure

I heard the wise Jesuit teacher Anthony De Mello say once on the topic of spiritual awakening, that what all people want is to feel better. They want to get relief. They want their lives to be better. They want their jobs back. They want their health back.  They want their spouse back. They want their money back. They want their loved ones back from the grave. But what very few people are interested in is a cure for their suffering, to wake up. The cure is perceived as loss, though Jesus is clear: For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (Matt. 16:25) This resonated with me immediately and I understood exactly what he meant. 

For some years I worked bi-vocationally as a holistic health and wellness coach. What I had realized was that in most cases, what people wanted was relief, but not necessarily the resolution at the root cause. They wanted their symptoms to go away. They wanted their blood pressure to return to normal. They wanted to get off their many prescription medications. They wanted their gout to go away. They wanted to lose all the weight they had gained, etc., etc. They wanted relief from their symptoms, but they weren't really interested going beyond a temporary fix. Many did enough to get temporary relief, but few had any interest in going further. But I was a holistic practitioner, I urged getting to the root cause - I urged doing the hard work of correcting the possible imbalances in diet and lifestyle that may have caused their gout, or their weight gain, or whatever is was they got them on on those meds to begin with (in coordination with their MD). But taking that route was a lot more work and there was a high cost; it meant committing to diet and lifestyle changes for the rest of their lives. In the end, most people settled for symptom relief, and of all the clients I worked with over the years, very few were willing to make changes long-term. It was too much time and effort in the kitchen and they had no energy and it took too much planning. The organic or local farm grown food was too expensive or too much effort to procure. The exercise and stress management recommendations took too much time, etc., etc. 

Religious life, for most people, does not require a lot of time or commitment. Church membership, the typical path of religious life, requires church attendance and a few quid in the plate now and again. At the next level, some who are very committed to religious life take up church leadership or worship or teaching roles, a bit of volunteer work now and again, and add a few more quid in the plate with some regularity. There are many who are quite devout and their work is important for keeping the church open, operating, and financially sound, as well as to provide beneficial, charitable acts to assist the local people of the parish's community. I do not mean to minimize religious life in any way.  But I do mean to make a clear distinction as to what it is and what it is not. Religious life is not the same thing as the spiritual life. Though the two may, and often do, co-exist.  

The spiritual life requires a very different kind of effort and commitment. It is not visible because it is not outward facing, but is rather an inward and individual journey. It's risky. It leads to change. It invariably leads to transformation. It requires time in the kitchen, as it were. It requires disciple. Once must procure the ingredients and learn how to cook with them; to make friends with the local farmer. That is, one must get to know a few spiritual teachers, read the contemplatives and the mystics, and follow their recipes, day in and day out. Sometimes it gets hot in the kitchen. The physical offerings of the church can provide temporary relief for our pain at a certain level, but the cure for human suffering is not found in the pew or in any meeting or on any balance sheet; it is found in the heart. There is a path there, a path to freedom, a path to the Kingdom, but it requires sitting at the knee of the Teacher. It requires living the lessons; it requires awareness and a desire to awaken. It requires learning God not just learning about God. It requires moving beyond the familiar territory of strongly held beliefs and swimming in the unknown waters of mystery (some call this faith), where nothing is known and there is no certainty. It requires lifestyle changes, effort. It requires a willingness to let go of old ways and learn new things, paradoxical idioms and strange ideas that somehow ring true. The spiritual life seeks after the cure, to know for oneself the inexpressible communion with Love, and cannot, will not, settle for the relief of symptoms alone.

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me, as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena +  

THREE THINGS.... Three Reflections on Awakening

 "Awakening" has become a very popular catch-word in recent years. Everybody seems to be talking about it. "Wake up!" is a more and more common mantra. But what is Awakening? and how can we know the difference between being awake and being "asleep", or being "in the dream." Here are but three of my humble reflections on a topic that fill many tomes written by many wise people and is spoken of in all world's great religions (some far more prominently than others). 

1. Awakening does not mean coming around.  In some ways its easier to speak of awakening in terms of what it is not.  If two people are arguing and one party says: "Wake up! Can't you see what's going on? Can't you see the truth? (and the truth happens to be the way that person see things) you can be assured that this kind of awakening has little to nothing to do with enlightenment. If fact, it is the polar opposite of the experience of a spiritual awakening.  Awakening persons care less and less about proving oneself right about anything, or needing to take a side, because that is exactly the kind of dualist thinking that is falling away (as opposed to being artificially pushed away). Though it is important to recognize that the temptation is always there; the tendency to cling to ideals and righteous opinions does not go away because the outside world has not stopped functioning dualistically, but gradually it becomes easier to observe and to make different choices, as one's inner landscape takes on a new shape.  

2. Awakening provides choice. This is the single most important thing that one can say about awakening. Most of us spend the hours of our days being tossed about by the emotions of our brain chemistry and neurological pathways. The past replays as patterns of thought and behaviors and is generally, and almost completely unconscious. The primary practice for realizing the fullness of this reality is to cultivate the role of "I" as witness who observes, without judgment, "me."  "I" (the one who is my true self) can then watch "me" (the false self, the egocentric story of everything everybody has ever told me about who I am) going about the business of living. "I" might observe and reflect to "I-self": There is "me," talking to a friend; there is "me" feeling defense and anxious. All the while, "I" is aware that "I" is not affected by this drama taking place on the stage of life, and therefore, the defensiveness and anxiety are not "I" but belong only to the character named, "me." Having the objectivity of the witness or observer allows for the question: Where have I felt defensive and anxiety before? This feels familiar. Then we begin to see thought and behavior patterns as they show up, previously hidden. "I" can then say, Oh, it's you, my old friend defensiveness and anxiety." Knowing the different between "me" and "I" is the first step in awakening. We awaken to our true self, and without judgment, begin to realize that "me" need not be a slave to the false self story, but can now begin to make choices; to let go of old patterns of behavior that no longer serve us well, and to allow the true self to emerge, the loving self, that only sees the Christ in all things and responds accordingly (to include loving toughly with necessary boundaries as needed as expressions of true kindness, as opposed to the false self who is "nice" and doesn't want to rock the boat because it is controlled by fear). Additionally, the observation of anxiety in "me," releases the anxiety in the body because "me" is no longer caught up in it. Once observed, it dissipates. Without the observer, all we have is the egoic self who operates from a place of reaction, cause and effect, ignorant that emotions are defenses of the false self, suffering needlessly as we are caught up in the dramas of every day life. This is one way of expressing what it means to acquire awareness. Having a choice to not react, but rather to respond in love from the authentic self is to free oneself of the ego's continual need to prove itself, to protect itself, and to maintain the facade of the false self. This is what it means to have life (to be born again, to die to self) and have it abundantly. 

3. We do not awaken ourselves, we are awoken. It is not possible for us to force the experience of awakening upon ourselves. And most people do not experience awakening suddenly but rather as a process that unfolds over time and cannot be completed on this side of the pearly gates. Nor can the process of awakening be stopped or reversed. Once it begins, it continues. We cannot un-know what we now know. Once we know that "I" is not "me," we cannot not know that again. One cannot awaken by means of the intellect - it is not related to the brain - it is a heart-centered phenomenon. We cannot think our way into the kingdom, though that doesn't stop us from trying! I find much comfort in all the books and videos I read and watch relating to this subject. Somewhere along the line I moved from curious confusion to the feeling of being among old friends with whom I share something profound, though impossible to capture in words. One could know the Bible by heart and have never missed a Sunday worship service and yet have none of the self-awareness that is indicative of the process of awakening. While we cannot awaken ourselves, we can place ourselves in an open and inviting posture. The timeless spiritual practices of learning to be "the observer," the practice of meditation or Centering Prayer, repeated exposure to the work of the mystics, and the study of the teachers of awakening who proliferate the religious landscape and span the ages (including Jesus!), are four of the postures of invitation. We do not march willfully into the kingdom; we ask to be invited and the door opens. 

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me, as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS.... Three perspectives on the spring season for the spiritual life

The seasons have long served as metaphors for the seasons of our lives: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” (Albert Camus) This blog entry is the third on the influence of the seasons on the spiritual life. Here are the first two, reflections on the fall and winter seasons. 

https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/3610063027887203578/3997009121459356548

https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/3610063027887203578/4721971028410733208

Who doesn't love spring? It's great to come out of the shorter blustery, snowy days of winter and arrive at the longer, warmer, sunshine-filled, daffodil-laden days of spring. Spiritually speaking, "It’s time to lighten things up and shed the many aspects of our ‘Winter coat’, to allow new growth and abundance."* Here are three reflections on the spring season for the spiritual life.

1. A resurrection frame of reference. For Christians, spring is synonymous with resurrection. Easter is the annual celebratory focal point of a long, saving history of divine intervention. Its date is always set on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. Easter and the season of spring are permanently bound together. The Resurrection Event embedded in a season of rebirth, reminds us that God continually, perennially, calls us into right relationship with the divine; to live fully into our authentic spiritual nature. In the spring we long to be immersed in the magnificence of the created world after a long winter of being indoors; it is medicine for the soul. The natural world in the springtime reminds us of the eternal character of the relationship between creator and all that has been created; life continues, is born anew, as anticipated, and yet with a fresh enthusiasm, unique to this moment in time. 

2. Re-membering rebirth. We forget. We forget that rebirth is always happening. We need the season of spring to re-connect us to that reality. All things are connected - we, and all our relations, are members of the whole of creation. Spring re-connects us, re-members us, to that interconnectivity. The relationship is not static. In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. We die in winter only to be reborn in the spring; we will die again in Christ and rise up again in Christ. We forget and we need re-membering.

3. The significance of beauty. Zach Bush has given me a way to communicate Love in a way I had never been to do before. He speaks frankly about the difficulty of trying to force the feeling of love on difficult situations or people. We can manage it for few minutes, maybe, but we cannot sustain it. We have ideas about love, but it's very confusing, and even more conditional and unsustainable. But we can always find beauty, it's all around us if we have eyes to see it. And when we experience beauty, we experience Love. What does Love feel like? It feels like the experience of beauty. Even in the worst situation, beauty is present. Here are three examples.

During a recent ice story I found myself internally conflicted by the shear danger of the situation set against the sight of the spectacular beauty of the ice on the trees. The trees were falling all around me; the sound of their loud creaking and falling close by was unsettling. The electrical lines came down with ease resulting in the loss of power and water. And yet, I found I could not be angry or upset, or even worried, because the sheer beauty of the ice under the moonlight was all consuming. Surreal and indescribably beautiful, I could hardly take my eyes away from the sight of it. In the morning it took on new heights of perfection and the orchestral sounds of the ice melting off the trees in the sunshine was breath-taking. I will remember that for ever. I strain to recall that it was in the single digits with no heat or water.

When my father was near death, he suddenly sat up in bed and looked right at me as I was sitting at the foot of his bed, and said with perfect clarity and with urgent enthusiasm: "You are so beautiful!" It was as if he'd seen a stunning sunset or beautiful painting - something we could not see. Everyone in the room was stunned. Then he lay back down and never said another word. He died the next day. This event had been completely out of character for him. Our family had for years suffered the unpleasant personality changes that affected him adversely and quite negatively as a side effect of brain cancer. I had chalked up the remark to some final effect of the cancer, but now I believe I have understanding. Love broke through, experienced as beauty. The final "I see the beauty of you", was his final and most complete expression of the experience of authentic Love. 

Many years ago, when I was doing social work, I often had to go into neighborhoods that were worn with decades of poverty. The families I visited were "in the system" because of child abuse or neglect. The conditions were the worst I'd ever seen and shocking to my privileged, socio-ethnic perspective. My heart would bleed and I'd be filled with such sorrow and heart-break for the children, the innocents, who suffered under those living conditions. In one of the neighborhoods there was a huge flowering bush, that in the sub-tropical climate of Florida, was in bloom throughout the protracted spring season, well into summer, year after year. It seemed to me to be like a single spot of color in an otherwise black and white photograph. Once I stopped my car and starred at it, at its audacious show of color and loveliness, and said out loud, I'm so glad you're here. It presented itself, day after day, with such staggering and strange beauty and in such sharp contrast to the human conditions in that place, I knew it could not have been there by accident. I believe now that the divine had placed it there intentionally, as a re-membering.  

Spring is filled with beauty - it is all around us. We are literally bathed in beauty. We are bathed in Love. 

*https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/practice/ayurvedic-springtime-routines

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me, as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS.... Three ways to invest in your Lenten observance

I rather enjoy Lent. I like the idea of setting aside a specific amount of time to dedicate oneself to something of importance with intentionality. New Year's resolutions are too big of a challenge - too final... "Beginning on New Year's Day I will or will no longer... forever! ... or not... as generally happens. These resolutions are not usually spiritually driven - instead they are typically diet or health related independent of religious convictions. But Lent is a specific religious observance and the goals are very different. Just the same, many a religious person has given up something for Lent that is diet or health related - like chocolate - in an effort of experience a sense of sacrifice designed to grow in a deeper relationship with Christ. It is not for me to judge, let me be clear. But the purpose of this blog is not to ask you to give up chocolate. Instead, I suggest three ways to invest yourself in your Lenten observance. 

1. Be intentional. There once was Buddhist monk who had studied at a temple for ten years. On the night before his departure his teacher asked him to stop by his room for a parting conversation. When the monk arrived it was raining and he closed his umbrella and put it by the door before entering. The monk and the teacher spoke for some time and enjoyed their conversation. As the monk was preparing to leave the teacher asked him, What side of the door did you put your umbrella, the left or the right? The monk did not know. The teacher noted the monk's lack of awareness and as a result of this lapse he continued his studies at the temple for another ten years. Most of us move through life as if sleepwalking, not fully awake or alert much less fully alive and available to the present moment or to the person in the room with us. "Where did I put my glasses?.... Oh, they're on my head!" We do this so well and so autonomically, we actually think we ARE fully present and awake. We can't imagine anything beyond that which we know now - how could there be more? But there is more, or less, depending on how you see it. Fr. Richard Rohr says that with increased awareness we don't ascend to a higher place as we might imagine, rather we descend, or fall, into a new understanding of living in Christ. To be intentional about living in the present moment is the first step to awakening to the Kingdom of God. This Lent pick something to give up and/or something to add to your life and plan for its inclusion or exclusion. It should be something that is not particularly easy for which you can make a quick adjustment. It should be something that requires effort and full engagement. 

As an example: I am taking a Lenten class offered by Amy Howton (former director of Becoming Beloved Community for DSO) around her newly released book, A 40 Day Journey to Remembering Soul and Spirit (co-authored by my leadership coach, Quanita Robertson). These women are entrepreneurs and activists, which are not areas of expertise for me, and in many ways challenge my perceptions of spirituality and personal expectations, or lack thereof. This work will require that I explore ideas and exercises in unfamiliar territory. Daily journal work as well as other exercises are required as is a zoom meeting every Saturday with the wider group.

Not everyone needs to take a class. But I do suggest that you set your intentions on something that requires your attention and is out of your routine. Maybe your intention is to sit on a park bench for one hour a day and focus on everything you see, training your mind to remain in the moment and not think about anything. This would be a difficult practice for most of us, but it would also be transformative. (Eckert Tolle's transformation was just this: He sat on a park bench all day, every day, for two years.) Explore The Work, by Byron Katie. Do the one page worksheet, exactly as she instructs (free on her website) every day. After 40 days, you will transformed - you will never blame or shame yourself or anyone else ever again, that's a promise (unless you stop doing the work). 

2. Focus on shifts. Whatever form your Lenten observance takes this year, focus on it each day. Every morning consider the work of your intentional observance that day. Before you go to sleep consider how you lived into your observance over the preceding hours. What has changed for you? Where did your mind go? What is rising up in you? This will likely be very subtle, but don't discount the micro-shift(s). It would be very rare to experience something profound; generally with new practices we experience nearly imperceptible shifts in ways of thinking about things or a subtle realization that a letting go of particular things or people. Focus on the shifts, the letting go's, and explore them - thereby growing them by giving them attention. Just training ourselves to focus and to do that with consistency is a big shift for most people. What side of the door did I put the umbrella?

3. Invite change. You might be saying: But change is the LAST thing I want! There is too much change in life and I'm sick of change and I don't want any more of it!  Rant. Go ahead. You're allowed. When you're done, consider that not all change is terrible, or involves loss and grief, or pandemics or war. 

In a Kingdom-minded way, expect that whatever change you experience as a result of your intentional Lenten observation will be positive and add to your happiness in immeasurable ways. In a Kingdom-minded way, accept that God wants you to be happy and is providing you with everything you need to realize happiness. In a Kingdom-minded way ponder the possibility that it is our thinking, our perceptions and biases that prevent us from experiencing joy and optimism even in the midst of difficult conditions here on planet earth. God's invitation to return and Jesus's teachings push us in the direction of continual growth and evolution; they anticipate shifts from inaction to action; from fear to courage; from despair to joy; from sickness to health, from enslavement to freedom. This is the kind of change I'm encouraging you to invite into your life. 

THREE THINGS.... Our Lizard, Monkey, and Thinking brains

At their root, all long-standing religious traditions are concerned, first and foremost, with the "awakening" of its adherents. What does this mean for Christians? I refer to Franciscan Richard Rohr:

In our regular contemplative “sit” (time of silent prayer) we are actually practicing being awake. Religious teachers, including Jesus, the Buddha, as well as many Hindu sages, are always telling us to wake up—to be alert, alive, awake, attentive, or aware. You might call it the AAAAA recovery program! But how can you do that? What does being awake actually mean?

Being conscious or aware means:

• I drop to a level deeper than the passing show.
• I become the calm seer of my dramas.
• I watch myself compassionately from a little distance, almost as if “myself” is someone else.
• I dis-identify with my own emotional noise and no longer let it pull me here and there, up and down.
• I stop thinking about this or that and collapse into pure or “objectless awareness” of nothing in particular. I don’t get there; I fall

At first, it does not feel like “me.” It is unfamiliar territory because up to now I thought that my thinking was “me,” yet now my thinking has ceased. I believe this is the meaning of Jesus’ teaching on “losing oneself to find oneself” (see Luke 9:24).

This new and broader sense of “me” gradually, over time, begins to feel like my deepest and truest self; it seems solid and unchanging. At this point, God, consciousness, I, silent emptiness, and fullness all start to feel like the same wonderful thing! This is what spiritual teachers mean by growth in holiness.*

Another way of understanding "awakening" is the gradually increasing realization of "thy Kingdom come." We say this familiar phrase in the Lord's Prayer time and time again, glossing over the odd use of the present-tense "come." It means that the Kingdom is now, here in this moment. How can we know this? We know it, when we are aroused from our sleep-state; when then we have eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus quips. The process begins with awareness, of which Rohr refers. If there was an Awareness 101 class it would begin with an understanding of the three "brains" of the human experience: Lizard, Monkey and Thinking. We are not awake in the Lizard and Monkey states, which are the places from which we operate, most of the time. Cultivating a practice of constant awareness moves us from reacting continuously to responding. Within our responses lie our freedom and our awakening. (There happens to be such a class! See below.)

Heidi Hanna explains the three brains:

When we find ourselves slipping into survival mode, it can feel pretty chaotic. Consider what happens when you’ve gone too long without eating, haven’t had a good night sleep in a while, or haven’t seen the sun in days – you might not feel quite like yourself. This is when I like to remind myself that my “monkey brain” has taken over. The first reason it’s helpful for me personally, is I happen to be a huge monkey fan, so I instantly get big smile on my face. Monkeys always seem to be in a pretty good mood, and are usually playing around, acting silly. So the initial reaction to thinking about something called our “monkey brain” just makes me laugh (and we’ll talk about how important laughter is to staying healthy in an upcoming chapter). But there is another reason to consider how the monkey brain responds differently than other parts of our brain, and when it can be detrimental to us.

Our brain can be separated into three sections – our lizard brain, our monkey brain, and our human brain. The “lizard brain” is found at the base of the brain, and contains the cerebellum and brain stem. Lizards only have these elements of the brain, which controls our most basic instincts. The next part of the brain, the “monkey brain” includes the majority of our tissue, and controls more complex tasks as well as emotions. Most mammals lead with their “monkey brain”, which is fueled by our most basic responses to fear and desire.

The most advanced part of the brain is the “human brain”, which consists of the outer layer, surrounding the “monkey brain”. This area allows for logical, emotionless thought, as well as delayed gratification. It is by using our “human brain” that we are able to think through our responses, rather than just reacting. But, when we are faced with threats to our system, we don’t have time to stop and analyze what’s going on. During these times we are glad to have our “lizard” and “monkey” brains to get us to safety, through our fight or flight response.

Because we have so many things going on at one time, when we multitask we can easily find ourselves using our “monkey brain”, making mindless decisions that may end up causing serious problems with important tasks, or even worse, with important relationships.  Next time you find yourself trying to do a million things at once and getting irritable or grumpy with someone you care about, remind yourself that you’re using your “monkey brain”, and work on acting more like a human. 

Please consider joining my upcoming class, Awakening! 40 days of Self-care and Self-knowledge, a weekly offering held on Zoom at 7pm every Wednesday night during Lent: March 9, 16, 23, 30 and April 6. During this class you will be exposed to a variety of authors and encouraged in choosing and being supported in Lenten disciplines that encourage your awakening. Learning to move from the Lizard or Monkey brain into conscious awareness will be included in this offering. Email revrmacgregor02@gmail.com for the Zoom link. Drop in when you can or take the whole series. There is no charge for this class.

*Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (The Crossroad Publishing Company: 2009), 134-136.

THREE THINGS..... Diversity, Adaptation, and Ojas

In parish life, there is a myth that persists that money determines the success or failure of a church. I have know several parishes that were either spiritually or physically dead with lots of money stored up in investments or endowments. Money is a tool. It is a resource. It should never be understood in terms of the lifeblood of congregational life. It is true that congregations who run out of money are in peril of closure. But it is equally true that there are hundreds of very poor parishes who thrive:  They live within their means, conduct weekly worship, do the work of mission in their communities and care for one another's pastoral concerns. Resources don't determine viability. There are two things that do determine viability: A parish's ability to diversify in all parts of its system, and, adapt to changing internal and external conditions. The energy that is required to both diversify and to adapt is called Ojas. Let's look at these three things more closely.

1. Diversity.  When we hear this word, we might first think of cultural diversity. It is a part of diversity, an important part, but only one part. Diverse systems are those in which nearly all members of the body are actively participating in the life of the parish, apart from attending worship. It also means that committees and lay ministries are diverse; that is, the same people are not doing most of the work. It means that there are ecumenical relationships that encourage dialogue and shared projects - adding diversity to the work of mission and to worship - not as a special occasion but as a part of the congregational culture. Another area of diversity is in Christian education: instead of one educational offering but a menu of ways in which people can continue to learn and grow spiritually - and in a variety of ways as are done currently at St. Mark's: a weekly a blog encouraging independent study and a variety of resources; art work relating to the gospel lesson on the cover of each week's bulletin that provokes curiosity and reflection; sermons that include an element of biblical teaching; encouragement to look up the lessons during the week with the next week's lessons listing in the bulletin; a book study shared with another parish; and educational material about the Lesser Feast and Fast of the day in each week's bulletin. Diversity includes not leaving pastoral concerns solely to the priest or a prayer chain of a handful of the faithful, but encouraging the whole parish to pray together for those in need. Outreach projects require diversity - diversity of ideas, and theological, cultural and social experiences, as well as diversity among volunteers - cross generational, cross gender, cross cultural, cross neighborhoods, cross economic and social standings.  A diverse outreach program understand that the parish (a word that means "community") includes the entire neighborhood and not just the members of the parish. There is a theological aspect to diversity as well. Richard Rohr explains: https://cac.org/divine-diversity-and-oneness-2022-02-10/

2. Adaptation. Evolution is always in play. Nothing stays the same. The only constant is change. Adapt or die. These are the familiar cliches. Adaptation supposes change, intentional change; an intentional response to an internal or external source(s) of pressure. It is why evolution occurs. Evolution is always occurring in nature; it is the way of things. But for the church, generally speaking, change is very difficult. The church's traditions and culture are experienced as a safe and familiar harbor for those wearied by the rapid changes beyond the walls of the parish. The irony is that all the changes occurring in society and in culture and in business and industry around the church, are themselves,  adaptations enabling long-term survival and profitability (in the case of industry) in direct response to shifts in culture and social environments. The biggest adaptation the church has made in the last two years has been the move to hybrid worship. This would not have happened without the outside pressure of a pandemic forcing change. Although, admittedly, some evangelical churches were way ahead of the curve on this one because technology has for some time been key to their ability to connect with the masses.  Technology is a large budget item for those churches. Now, however, the playing field is a bit more leveled as everyone is wondering how to utilize the technology that most everyone is practicing in order to be a hybrid church in a sustained way and move from surviving to thriving. Adaptation continues. Creativity flows. Curiosity is peaked as many wonder, what can we do next? What can we do better?  But there are other areas of adaptation that need attention. Music. Liturgy. In the discussion on diversity I named the example of moving away from a single educational offering to a menu of smaller offerings requiring various levels of energy and effort - something for everyone. That is also an example of adaptation because it recognizes that the energy and attention span of most people today is very short. Why? First, we are hammered and peppered every minute with small bits of information on the internet or in TV, Radio and Youtube commercials that can be easily assimilated. Advertisers know that they have the first two seconds to grab our attention and get their message across. Nobody does 30 min informercials anymore. Even the 30 second radio spot has moved to 10 seconds. Most of us have moved from emails to text messages as a primary way of communicating. Facebook and Snapchat use photos, memes, and video clips to tell a story, TikTok and Twitter have limits of three minutes and 280 characters, respectfully. We have the attention span of a gnat. We have adapted. Second, our ojas is depleted. Many people simply don't have the energy or bandwidth to participate in things that take a great deal of time or commitment. We suffer not just from a bit of fatigue, but rather a deep sense of exhaustion, depletion.

3. Ojas. Ojas (OH-JUS) is the sanskrit word for "vigor." It is one of the three subtle forces in the body. It influences everything from our immunity, digestion, physical strength, and the health of our skin to our spiritual inclination, sleep, and mood. It is the ultimate energy reserve of the body and mind; the force that enables us to sustain change over time. Think of it as your psychophysical container or shield. The more ojas we have, the more impervious we are to the negativity of others and the day to day stresses of life, as our own spirit has a good, strong container. Ojas gives us an overall sense of satisfaction with life. Western culture is chronically low in Ojas. In the West most have never heard of ojas and those who have often don’t value it highly enough. Being an ultrafine, subtle essence, ojas is affected by almost every aspect of our lives and can become diminished and dried up when we are overly effortful, stressed, or contracted. On the other hand, when tended to mindfully, our ojas becomes a reserve of robust vitality and the key to resilience, creativity, and vitality.*  Ojas is intricately linked to rejuvenation. In our stressed-out, overly busy modern world, we often don’t give ourselves ample time for rest, nourishment, and self-care. The practice of rejuvenation, the building up of ojas, is all about bringing our body, mind, and spirit back into a state of harmonious balance. Think about the qualities of a person who is healthy. They are strong yet supple, easy to smile, generous with their time and energy, resilient and most of all, they glow. Ojas describes this glow. It is our vitality, which is often described as radiance similar to the light of the moon. Abundant ojas is the vital essence that promotes health, immunity, happiness and spiritual strength.**  Communities of individuals with depleted ojas simply don't have the energetic reserves or creativity to do the intentional work of diversification and adaptation. The good news is that it doesn't take heroic measures to build ojas. It does take some discipline and a willingness to make life-style changes.

When I'm asked if I think a parish can survive, I don't necessarily look first at the bottom line, I look for ojas: depleted or robust? There is a lot of depletion now in most every parish after two years of pandemic stress. This Lenten season I will be offering a class on building up ojas. There will be things to give up and things to add to move toward rejuvenation. We will lean on each other for encouragement and support and celebrate the little changes in energy and vitality that begin to flow back into our bodies and minds over time. While the benefits to the individual are life-changing, the benefits to the church could be prove immeasurable. 

*Adapted from: https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/blog-the-banyan-insight/details/all-about-ojas-meaning-sustainable-energy/

**https://seattleyoganews.com/5-simple-acts-self-love-nourish-ojas/

THREE THINGS.... Three perspectives on the winter season for the spiritual life

Winter is not most people's favorite season. When asked, most people would tell you that they prefer Spring or Fall over Winter, or even Summer. Winter and Summer are months of extremes. Winter is generally associated with endings; dying, end of life, withdrawal, cold, darkness, lifelessness, end of a cycle, etc. But it is also a season of gifts, of things necessary, of wisdom. 

1. The necessity of darkness. Many years ago I had a spiritual teacher who introduced me to the idea of darkness as the most significant spiritual tool to awakening. He believed it to be a great teacher; far more powerful than light actually. In the West we have been trained to be afraid of the dark and to associate it with things that are dangerous, spooky, evil, harmful, unknown and threatening. It is not a big stretch then to associate wintertime, in which we experience the shortest days of the year, with darkness and all the false associations with it. Here's a mini spiritual retreat for you to do at home around the theme of darkness - winter is the perfect time to do this: 

https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/features/view/28374/mini-retreat-spiritual-work-with-darkness

2. Winter sits at the doorstep of spring. Always. The seasons are not linear. There is no endpoint. There is no end of a cycle. The seasons, cycles, and all of life, are cyclical. In winter, the plants of summer die, and then, with eagerness, break forth in a new expression of life from deep in the mother's soil in spring. Winter offers us a right understanding of endings that lead to beginnings. Winter offers us a new way to understand death. The Book of Common Prayer says about the loss of one we have loved but see no longer: "Life has changed, not ended." Death is never an ending for the person who dies - it is a transition - a returning to things eternal. For the living however, we experience what we perceive as the ending, or at the very least, the pausing of a relationship. But there is no final, permanent winter. As winter sits at the doorstep of spring, so too, does death sit on the doorstep of rebirth.

3. The gift of hibernation. Creation has been arranged in such a way as to meet all our needs. One of the gifts of winter is hibernation. When I lived in upstate PA everyone hibernated during the most brutal months of the year - January through March. Sunny days were rare and travel was often hazardous. We stayed home and burned the wood we'd cut and stacked all year. We went to bed early and we slept in - following the cycle of the shorter days. We ate hearty, heavier meals - stews and rich soups, lots of roasted root vegetables instead of cooling salads - to warm the body. We spent more time indoors with family and close friends. Winter is a good time to spend time with God. Wrap up in a blanket and sit in dark and ask the Spirit, blowing in with the winter winds, to instruct you, to comfort you, to prepare you for the coming of spring. 

Some months ago I wrote a blog on the fall season and invite you to review it. I am writing reflections on all the seasons of the year as they appear over this year. 

https://perfectionundone.blogspot.com/2021/11/three-things-three-perspectives-of-fall.html

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena +