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Resilience - to contemplate upon

 Richard Rohr--laid out a gem...maybe thematic for 2024-- 1-21-24-CSS   Faith and Resilience       Father Richard defines resilience in the context of the Christian faith: Resilience  is really a secular word for what religion was trying to say with the word  faith.  Even Jesus emphasized faith more than love. Without a certain ability to let go, to trust, to allow, we won’t get to any new place. If we stay with order too long and we’re not resilient enough to allow a certain degree of disorder, we don’t get smarter, we just get rigid. Unfortunately, this is what characterizes so many religious people. They’re not resilient at all. Then there’s another set of people who have settled down in disorder—believing there’s no pattern, there’s nothing always true. It’s a deep cynicism about reality, and that’s equally problematic. I think such faith in both good order and acceptable disorder—creating a new kind of creative reorder—is actually somewhat rare. [1] To have faith, to grow toward l
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The kahuna

The word kahuna , is a an indigenous Hawaiian, or Polynesian description of a being who evolves towards mastery, involving self-mastery.  No shaman or kahuna ever calls themselves a shaman or a kahuna.  It just isn't done.  It has to do with humility, and as we all know, the folks on the other side of the mirror who provide us with these special abilities and the energy with which to help others, they don't regard it highly when you go around calling yourself something. Humility is a key aspect of such a native wise man.
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A Metaphysics of Hope

Fr. Rohr spoke to us through the writing of Cynthia Bourgeault. Today is a day which must begin in hope. For as the heavens reach beyond earth and time, we swim in mercy as in an endless sea. —Psalm 103:11 Cynthia Bourgeault explores the idea that mystical hope is something that arises from within us, not as a result of our own effort, but as a fruit of our ability to consciously abide in what she calls “the Mercy” of God. Bourgeault writes: We ourselves are not the source of that [mystical] hope; we do not manufacture it. But the source dwells deep within us and flows to us with an unstinting abundance, so much so that in fact it might be more accurate to say we dwell within it. . . . The term I will use to describe this embodying fullness is “the Mercy.” It is the water in which we swim. Mercy is the length and breadth and height and depth of what we know of God—and the light by which we know it. You might even think of it as the Being of God insofar as we can possibly penetrate into
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A Sacramental Universe: We haven't kept up the Franciscan traditions

  A Sacramental Universe       Richard Rohr shares how Francis responded to the rising tide of “consumer” culture, which Francis’ father was fully engaged in as a wealthy merchant. Such a lesson for contemplatives today. This could be a definition of what it means to be a contemplative, which is to look at reality with much wider eyes than mere usability, functionality, or self-interest—with inherent enjoyment for a thing in itself as itself.                                                                     ____ Francis refused to be a “user” of reality—buyin
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Pleasure, or pain?

From Sri Easwaran: "When the senses contact sense objects, a person experiences cold or heat or pain. These experiences are fleeting; they come and go. Bear them patiently. "                      --------- BHAGAVAD GITA The Gita does not say that we should not go after pleasure. When I first heard this from my grandmother, I really took to the Gita immediately; but I wasn’t expecting what she said next: “The Gita doesn’t say not to go after pleasure; it says that when you go after pleasure you are also going after pain.” It is not possible for most of us to accept this. We are always cherishing the distant hope that while no other human being has ever succeeded in isolating pleasure, we are going to perform this miraculous operation and then live in a state of pleasure always. To enter a state of abiding joy we must sometimes say no to pleasure while accepting pain with a smile. Just as we should not pursue pleasure, we should not pursue pain, either. Pleasure and pain
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How to Embrace Your Sensitivity and See It as a Strength

 How to Embrace Your Sensitivity and See It as a Strength By Liv W .-- https://www.soulove.us/about Thanks to Liv whose insights struck a nerve with me. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Sensitive people feel so deeply they often have to retreat from the world, in order to dig beneath the layers of pain to find their faith and courage.” ~Shannon L. Alder Being a highly sensitive person can be rough in a world full of agendas, processes, rules, and numbers. Feelings and senses, being intangible and invisible, are often dismissed because not everyone experiences them in the same way. The intensity of those experiences varies, as well, depending on the individual, which makes it all the more confusing. Living in a society all about speed and efficiency, feelings can often be perceived as a hindrance to productivity. They are not seen as what they truly are—internal signs and guidance of what needs attention in the present mom
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Voluntary Attention: an excerpt from 'Living Presence'

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"Why study attention? What is the faculty of attention? It could almost be said that a human being is attention. Whatever occupies our attention-whether inwardly or outwardly, whether profound or trivial--is what we are at that moment.  Therefore, if we are attentive only to the outer world, we forfeit our inner life. On the other hand, if we are excessively introverted, we cut ourselves off from the impressions of the outer worlds that could enrich and enliven us. If we attend only to the material world, we sacrifice the spiritual. If we think we can focus exclusively on the spiritual, we might lose ourselves in a world of dreams that never connect with reality. We need not only attention, but balance - balance between the narrow and the wide, and the inner, the material and the spiritual.  Life requires so much of us that none of us can afford to be without our full attention. More often than we know, moments come that will make a difference to the quality of our lives. These
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