Indra’s Net

Tags

connected, Indra's Net, Meg Wheatley, Rig Veda, sculpture galleries, Spiritual Center, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, threads, Turning To One Another, universe

Yesterday we had an uncharacteristically full day here at the Spiritual Center in Windsor, New York. Not a day just full of activity, we hosted three different groups of people including a faith formation work team, a leadership training group of students from a NY state university and a group of individuals, not related except by their desire to experience the sculpture galleries housed on the property. I was thinking this morning as I settled down to write that in a deeper way these people were/are all connected. One of the faith formation members told me that in the midst of their prayer the exuberance of the college students doing an icebreaker on the lawn outside was not a distraction but flowed seamlessly into their prayer. (Imagine a great sigh of relief on my part!) From that and many other snippets of conversation and observation I now realize the connection as an organic energy of spiritual seeking that was present throughout the day and into the evening.

It seemed natural for me, then, to pull Meg Wheatley’s book, Turning To One Another, for something more to say. On the page I opened to, I saw on the left the title, Indra’s Net from the Rig Veda as described by Anne Adams and, on the right, this brief description:

There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe…At every crossing of the threads there is an individual. And every individual is a crystal bead. And every crystal bead reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.

That is a wonderful beginning image. I would encourage you if you are unfamiliar with the concept to go to internet descriptions and images which expand and deepen this wonderful story. For me, it describes what happens when people come here to our center and encounter a sense of peace and/or deeper meaning in their life or work or a connection with the earth so beautifully present on this land. We do not see the whole universe of stars even on the clearest nights but the light show we watch every day from here teaches us to stay awake (as today’s gospel urges us) for the beauty that will surely pass our way.

May your day include recognition of at least one new crystal bead that lets you know the divine light that is everywhere at all times.