Mindfulness

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Benedictine, busy, consciousness, full, mindfulness, spiritual traditions, Sr. Joan Chittister, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wisdom

In March The Sophia Center for Spirituality will offer a five-session series on spiritual practices that foster mindfulness. Far reaching and from diverse spiritual traditions, we hope something in these presentations and exercises will catch the attention of each person who participates. Sister Joan Chittister, the prolific and highly esteemed author of spiritual books, many of which teach about Benedictine spirituality, reminded me this morning of how important it is to be consistently mindful as I go about my days. Here is what she says:

And so Benedict calls all of us to mindfulness. No life is to be so busy that there is no time to take stock of it. No day is to be so full of business that the gospel dare not intrude. No schedule is to be so tight that there is no room for reflection on whether what is being done is worth doing at all. No work should be so all-consuming that nothing else can ever get in: not my husband, not my wife, not my hobbies, not my friends, not nature, not reading, not prayer. How shall we ever put on the mind of Christ if we never take time to determine what the mind of Christ was then and is now, for me. (Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, p. 105)

That about covers everything, I’d say…no life, no day, no schedule, no work, no person or thing. I am fascinated with the way Sister Joan rolls out her sentences so that each slice of life is connected to a practice that – if we are not mindful – is ignored to our detriment. Each of her sentences, therefore, could be a subject for examination of consciousness. How busy am I? Of what is my day full? How tightly do I pack my schedule? What consumes me that hinders my attention to the important things/people in my life? How do I see my capacity for “putting on the mind of Christ?” Weighty questions, these. Perfect for a Saturday perhaps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many Rivers, One Ocean

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conciousness, contain, Cynthia Bourgeault, love, religions, spiritual traditions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, water

Thought for the day:

Last evening as Cynthia Bourgeault was reflecting on non-dual/unitive consciousness, she used the image of water as a prompt. “Water is water”, she said. A “mass noun,” I replied silently, (as opposed to a “count noun” that can be separated into parts). If we put water into differently colored containers, it looks like the water inside is itself colored. We need containers to help us understand things sometimes but need also to comprehend that the substance in the container is not the same as the container. So it is with religions or spiritual traditions. They present themselves differently, with rules, rituals and practices that often differ. If we delve deeply, however, we find at the heart a love that cannot be contained. Today I will reflect on this thought as I experience the people I am with, here in Maine, from different places and different faith practices. If the past few days are any indicator, I will find that the love flowing so beautifully among us is akin to the ocean at our doorstep, reminding us that the flow is the crux of all that is here for us – each of us and all of us together – in a palpable vibration of love.