I have leisure to paint my nails to complement my cat’s fur as I pet him.
I have leisure to solve jigsaw puzzles while contemplating the BBC Newshour.
I have the leisure to read The Danish Girl simultaneously flipping in and out of Saint Google to learn more about the real lives of these extraordinary women.
I have the leisure to stroll alongside Puget Sound shooting thought-provoking photos.
I have the leisure to write for uninterrupted hours dipping into soul depth only to emerge in the welcome reality of holy mundanity.
I have the leisure to listen to the spaces between words instead of riding on their persistent melody.
I have the leisure to listen to the subtle whispers of Spirit missed while caught in the throes of THE BRAND.
I make a case for leisure. I make a case for luxuriating in the leisure of 70. It is not given to me to pretend that it is the new 60. At last I can breathe. So I will.
Thank you for your presence here. Before you journey on this guided meditation you may want to immerse yourself in this lovely, brief video:
The lighthouse
It is dusk. You are walking on a path to a lighthouse (pause). You draw closer to the lighthouse and look up at
it. (pause). You enter it and begin to climb the stairs – up and up… and arrive at the top (pause). Outside, it is dark now… you see the beam of light, as it rotates (pause). Now it shines on a particular place (pause). You look, you see what it illuminates…’
~ Art Therapy Exercises: Inspirational and Practical Ideas to Stimulate the Imagination Kindle Edition by Liesl Silverstone
My Meditation
Off on a distant dune a lighthouse stands watch as if it waits for me. I pause expectantly at the stable siren hoping to hear a summons. The door is a seasoned wall of chinks that creaks its displeasure when I push it open. The draft from cracked windows at the top of a serpentine staircase sucks me upward, the sound a call uttered and echoed beyond time. I am home, harbored from the buffets of ego storms. Up, up, I wind retracing steps taken in spirit womb until the radiant beam at the crown makes its rounds catching me in a different light with each rotation.
Wind breaking through window cracks chills my body, while outside efferent clouds open an indigo space illumined fleetingly by the next rotation of the light. I hear a familiar voice with an invitation riding on its timbre, “Come through.” Trepidation ambushes exhilaration because I recognize the voice. I recognize the space. For now it is enough to contemplate the light; when I have become the light I shall come through.
My human spiritual guide is quite the cat’s meow, but my cat is also quite a guide. Sometimes Sherlock is a sleepy sleuth. Other times he attacks birds flitting across my tablet screen. He waits for me to stir In the spare morning hours then butts me with his head, the steam engine purring a clear message,”Feed me!” I hear the words of Jesus, “Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” Why do I hesitate to ask for what I need? My cat-guide teaches, “Don’t just ask, demand!”
Mr. Holmes rests peacefully on my lap as I muse, undisturbed by outside noise or inside angst. Vulnerable and trusting he accepts each stroke of my hand and the love which accompanies them. His simple, open spirit invites me to let go of constant activity and communication and to rest securely in my center. The ability to do that calls for a self-acceptance unfettered by the need to prove myself with frantic feats of competence. This feline companion is a cat of immense proportion who readily throws his weight around with the confidence of a majestic Leo. No “Snagglepuss” is he. Yet…he rests. He is vulnerable. He trusts.
Animals are mirrors for us. We will find spiritual guidance in them if we learn how to look for it.
Please enjoy the attached video in the context of the cat as spiritual director. A friend of a friend posted it on Facebook with the caption, “This cat could be my spiritual director.” I saved it and whenever I need a belly laugh, I pull it out of my bookmarks. Enjoy!
“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one loving.” Meister Eckhart
Some of you are aware of my love for this quote which has graced my posts more than once in an ongoing attempt to understand and live it.This is what it says to me today. It’s a bit cryptic. Plunge right in!
Photo Credit: Liberation Through Seeings – Alex Grey – www.alexgrey.com / Sacred Geometry ♥