Sunday, May 3, 2008

Call to Silence & Opening Meditation – Theme: “Exploring Belonging”.

Music: We All Belong ©2008 Ann S. Bugh

Where do I belong?... What do I belong to?... What belongs to me?
When the rhythm’s wrong, what can I do to bring back harmony?
Open your eyes. Open your mind, with a grateful heart.
You will see the web of life and how to play your part.

There’s a place where we all belong--we were called to life by LOVE.
There’s a point where the picture forms if we step back far enough.
Like a million threads in a tapestry of interwoven destinies—
You… and you… and you…and me—we all belong.
You… and you… and you…and me—we all belong.
You… and you… and you…and me—we all belong.


Ripples from a stone, spread across a pool to reach the farthest shore.
Every single thought, every single word--actions even more—
Leave their tiny marks (be they light or dark); no one walks alone.
Each of us must make his way, but we walk each other home.

There’s a truth that includes us all when judgment fades away.
There’s a love deep in every heart nothing can betray.
Like a million notes in a symphony that’s echoed since eternity—
You… and you… and you…and me—we all belong.
You…and you…and you…and me—part of everything we see--
You…and you…and you…and me—we all belong…we all belong…we all belong.


Readings:

MYSTIC BELONGINGS

“The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose;
Do not like, do not dislike, then all will be clear.
Make a hairbreadth difference—and heaven and earth are set apart.”
–Seng-ts’an (600AD, Chinese Buddhist)


“Jesus struck the ground with his hand and took up some of it and spread it out and behold, he had gold in one of his hands and clay in the other. Then he said to his companions, ‘Which is sweeter to our hearts?’ They said, ‘The gold.’ He said, ‘They are both alike to me.’ “
--Christ in Islam by James Robson (citations in Muslim literature)

”’Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’ he replied. And stretching out his hand toward his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister and mother.’”
- Matthew 12:46-50

The “Divine Love” in every person lives not as a part, but in the whole—as a universal spirit of love, a spirit of the whole. Thus, divine love—though indivisible--shares its life in each person. In the unity of the whole, that spirit comprehends all things and, with strictest tenderness embraces each self as itself, as one self.
–paraphrased from Peter Sterry, Platonist (1613-1672)

“To whom God is dearer in one thing than another, that man is still a child. He to whom God is the same in everything has come to man’s estate…Every creature has a stake in the eternal….We love ‘God’ with his own love…Awareness of that deifies us.”
–Eckhart (German Dominican theologian & contemplative of Christian Gnosis)


TRIBAL BELONGINGS

Humans are programmed with a deep need to belong. It drives us to form and join groups. While some species live alone, humans have learned that if we form a tribe, we can share work and live more safely. Living in a tribe has its costs. We have to abide by shared rules and cannot do whatever we want; however, evolution has shown that survival benefits outweigh the costs.
–summarized from Changingminds.org

SOCIAL BELONGINGS

Abraham Maslow outlined 5 fundamental, hierarchical human needs: survival; safety; belonging; esteem; and self-actualization. Belonging is one of the more basic, just above health and safety. Humans are social creatures. We crave connection with others. Once our survival needs are met, we become aware of a need for love, affection, and belonging. In the absence of other humans, we feel loneliness. We long for a partner or children. We strive for acceptance among groups we value. Our “love” need requires both giving and receiving in order to be fulfilled. Our “esteem” needs are also tied to others. We require a healthy degree of self-confidence and self-esteem, but we are also emotionally nurtured by respect and recognition from others.
--summarized from Lifescript.com

PSYCHOLOGICAL BELONGINGS

In the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung, the “collective unconscious” belongs to us all. It is present in and accessible to each of us. It contains symbols for the shared experiences of mankind, the content of “archetype”. Archetypes are like frames that remain constant, while the image that appears inside the frame depends on the individual in which the archetype is triggered. Archetypes by themselves are neutral, without value judgments attached to them, but they can be interpreted positive, negative or neutral ways.

Jung’s concept of “Individuation” describes a process of self realization during which each of us must integrate the contents of our own psyches as we become conscious. While the process is universal, each man’s journey is a unique search for the totality of Self. Yet the person who accepts the contents of his unconsciousness and reaches the goal of the individuation process, becomes conscious of his relationship with everything that lives, with the entire cosmos.

Individuation is a natural, inherent process in man that grows from the inside. The first step is integration of all aspects of the personality; the second phase--what Jung called the transcendental function—involves realizing the unity of the archetype of the Self. The process of individuation is not easy for Westerners because we have difficulty with paradoxes. It requires us to accept both the superior and the inferior, the rational and the irrational, order and chaos, light and darkness, yin and yang. The Self, according to Jung, is not “universal consciousness”. It is rather an awareness of our unique nature and our intimate connection with all life--not only human but also animal, plant, mineral, and the entire cosmos. Completing this process gives us a sense of ‘unity’ and acceptance of life as it is.
--Summarized from www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/individuationprocess

EXPLORING BELONGING

Most people spend much time and energy balancing the various “external” groups to which they belong. They may put a family group first, then a work group, then a larger community, then a country, then the human race, the planet earth, etc. This external balancing act is never simple. Many belongings “overlap”;others “conflict”. Inherent in 99% of “external belongings” is a degree of separation—i.e. each group includes something while excluding something (or someone) else.

In synchronicity with all these external belongings, each of us is continuously challenged to balance and rebalance on our inner journey toward “where we belong”. This inner search for integration happens at a deep level, ever flowing and changing like the energy of an underground stream. What is important on the inner search for belonging is conscious presence and awareness. Caroline Myss, in The Anatomy of the Spirit traces spiritual growth as a series of spirals. She describes how we evolve, level by level, physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually as we realize the potential, the full power of who and what we are. Energetically we expand like an intuitive blue print that unfolds as it directs what we manifest and feel connected to. This inner journey is often reflected in the external belongings that support or challenge us along our way. Exploring belonging teaches us lessons about control, surrender, attachment, connection, harmony. Ultimately, the belonging of “coming home to ourSelves” brings us full circle to the certain knowledge that “there’s a place for us here”. It comes with the recognition that we belong wherever we are in every moment (in the words of Anita Kruse and Sandy Stewart) in the “peace that passes all human understanding” and the “love that holds us all.”

Call to Conversation

Closing Meditation & Music:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour. --William Blake



There’s a Peace © 2006 by Anita Kruse & Sandy Stewart , from the CD The Magdalene Mystique

there’s a peace that passes all human understanding
there’s a hope that offers a hand in the dark
there’s a light that’s shining with grace inside me
and I think it’s riding the wings of my heart

there’s a love that leads me
there’s a love that frees me
there’s a love that heals me when I fall


there’s a peace that passes all human understanding
there’s a love that holds us all

when the world seems shattered and faith unraveled
when the ground is shaking and lives torn apart
there’s a light still shining with grace inside me
and I know it’s riding the wings of my heart

there’s a love that leads me
there’s a love that frees me
there’s a love that heals me when I fall

there’s a peace that passes all human understanding
there’s a love that holds us all