Advent Pilgrimage

Posted on December 16, 2019 by rita kowats

Incarnation happens where it happens: East, West, North and South, Inside, Outside, In Isaiah and in Rumi too. May this new week bring us Incarnation.

A Spiritual Camino de Santiago

Posted on December 12, 2019December 12, 2019 by rita kowats

I am reminded of these earlier musings as I feast on the book, Walking in Wonder, a gathering of Johm O’Donohue’s poetry and philosophising by his friend John Quinn. It is O’Donohue’s discussion of Meister Eckhart that brought me to this place again.

I first coined the phrase “genes of our souls” in this poem I wrote in 1989 after experiencing the deaths of my parents. It brought me some comfort.

At 75 I am coming closer to understanding and accepting the import of the phrase. O’Donohue relates Meister Eckhart’s conviction that there is “a lonely edge to our lives” that can only be filled by God, and that if we want to come into God’s presence, we must let go of all images to make that journey. And it is the journey, the process that matters. For me the journey entails a stripping down to the very genes of my soul where Presence lives unfettered by the images I have created. In those moments of nothingness I experience fullness.

This has become my Advent meditation. My journey is less toward a babe in a manger and more toward an expansive divine presence gestating within my spirit. As I move along the path I throw out all the clutter that blocks my way. It comforts me to be companioned by you on this sacred camino de santiago.

An Advent Practice

Posted on December 10, 2019 by rita kowats

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Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.”

Isaiah 40:4

Greetings to you all in this spare time of dark days and great expectation. This morning I lightened my day with a meditation on simple abundance brought to us by Ardine Martinelli at https://listeningtomylife.blog/2019/12/08/simple-abundance/

I thought you might also be nourished by Ardine’s reflection. She relates a spiritual practice offered by Sarah Ban Breathnach, in her book Simple Abundance: A Day Book of Comfort and Joy. The practice involves meditation on the place of gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty, and joy in our lives.

Enjoy! I hold you all in my heart today, sending peace.

Rita

Photo Credit: https://binged.it/2PuZHNz. @ pexels.com

Spiritual Backwalking

Posted on December 6, 2019January 17, 2020 by rita kowats

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I have recently been gifted with a profound metaphor that I will share with you, but first

TWO STORIES. A treasured member of my faith community lives with early on-set Parkinson’s Disease. When his brain stops moving him forwad, he walks backward. Healthline.com says, “It’s a simple way for you to challenge different muscles and force your mind to focus and operate differently.” Rather than stopping, my friend lets go and imagines another way to move. Backwards becomes frontwards.

In the 1960’s war novel, Catch-22, Yosarian walks backwards, “…because he was continually spinning around as he walked to make certain no one was sneaking up on him from behind.” Yosarian was experiencing the reality of war, not paranoia. The enemy was sneaking up behind him with intent to kill. His fixation on fear had taken possession of him, so he walked backwards to be safe. And now

THE METAPHOR. What if we trained our souls to stop the unhealthy ego-spin by walking backwards? This spiritual practice necessitates a profound letting-go, just as it does when our bodies attempt to walk backwards. We are awkward and afraid of falling, so we rely on a friend’s arm or trekking poles, and our progress is slow. Spiritual backwalking requires us to rely on the movements of the Spirit instead of relying solely on an out-of-control ego. We find the courage to walk inside the dangerous fissures of constant change and uncertaintly. We take on a holy vulnerability when we risk this spiritual backwalking.

Our society doesn’t endorse walking backwards. It’s motto is forward-thrust with great gusto, a speed which supports all manner of unhealthy ego-patterns, the worst of them being an inordinate drive to control self and others at all cost. This is the war zone we find ourselves in at this moment and like Yosarian, we have to walk backwards to be safe. We have to let go and trust Spirit to companion us through the change and uncertainty that bombards us. And now

A POEM

Backwalking (1)