Ministry

I’m inspired today by the symbol 4: the four directions of native spirituality, the pagan symbols of earth, wind, fire, water, TS Eliot’s 4 Quartet. 4 aisles, 4 parts to my reflections for today.   The setting I’ve created reflects my intention to create a space for reflection and discovery:

 

          I’m ‘calling a circle’, Christina Baldwin’s term, that creates a sacred space where we reflect, engage with and explore our highest collective purpose. 

          Though song, story, silence, words and shared time, I hope that we may experience a space that connects us deeply. 

          I want to open up perspectives that give us a glimpse of the possibility of a transformed collective consciousness and an expanded world view. 

          I want to leave each of you touched, and impacted by a new thought, a new feeling, or a glimpse of the eternal/universal.

 

This is my invitation to you: suspend judgments and assumptions, listen with an open mind and heart, and ‘be’ here for this hour….letting go of the cynicism, cares and concerns outside of the here and now.

 

In the spirit of T.S. Eliot:: "Time past and time future / "Allow but a little consciousness"

 

and consciousness is required to catch the glimpses of eternity and possibility.

Everyone needs and has a worldview. Without a context for answering the basic questions of life, we can feel lost or disoriented. Context is the social, political, cultural and spiritual force that shapes our individual and collective perspectives. Our principles create the context of our Unitarian tradition.

 

At the interactive edge of self and society, context and worldview is constantly shifting, and creating new meaning. Today I want to share thoughts about an emerging collective consciousness in the world. The ‘quest’ for meaning is why I am here in a Unitarian sanctuary, and what this spiritual community makes possible for me.

 

"In my beginning is my end"/ "in my end is my beginning". T.S. Eliot

 

In my work, I’m immersed in the tenets of complexity thinking, chaos theory, the quantum world, neuroscience, dialogue, integral theory, as applied to human and social behaviour in organizations and communities. And I’ve struggled today to shape these thoughts to share with you. I ‘sourced’ my ideas from the many university lectures and seminars I’ve given, books from my library, and then I stopped. Here’s where I’ve ended up...clear in my intention to be a ‘spark’, have this morning be an experience that connects mind, heart and will as an inseparable whole. Forgive me if some of that intellectual perspective comes through…it is often my doorway in.

 

Let’s connect science and mysticism…not as dualities but as complementary threads from which we might transcend our differences, doubts and fears and tap into the inner source of intuition, inspiration and innovation. Let’s challenge ourselves to look at how we are engaging with the convergence of analytic and ‘noetic’ sources of knowledge. And where is our blind spot and where that might take us together as a living system.

Tapping our Collective Capacity

We live in a time of massive institutional failure, collectively creating results that nobody wants. Climate change. AIDS. Hunger. Poverty. Violence. Terrorism. Destruction of communities, living nature, the foundation of our social, economic, ecological and spiritual well-being. This time calls for a new consciousness and a new collective leadership capacity to meet challenges in a more conscious, intentional and strategic way.

As one worldview reaches the end of its usefulness, another is emerging, informed by science and the creative intersection of multiple fields of study/wisdom.   All of which suggest that we are remarkably resilient and possess greater potential than we’ve ever imagined, revealing the possibility of a more hopeful future. Let’s start here, now, in this community to live from that possibility… as expressed in John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’

Imagine there´s no Heaven, it´s easy if you try.

        No Hell below us, above us only sky.

        Imagine all the people living for today.

        Imagine there´s no countries, it isn´t hard to do

        nothing to kill or die for and no religion, too.

        Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can

        no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man...

        ...sharing all the world.

        You may say I´m a dreamer, but I´m not the only one

        I hope someday you´ll join us and the world will be this one...

 

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning. T. S. Eliot

 

I care deeply about this place, this spiritual community, and I love you. I appreciate and honor each of you - being in your presence - individuals and a community who act from a place of love and commitment gives me joy and profound hope. And I can’t always sense how it all fits together – I don’t often ‘presence’ the collective wisdom – the potential and the possibility. 

 

Here’s what I’m noticing. At one level, I feel proud about the diversity of choices this community makes possible for individuals. And yet I wonder how I choose between the spirituality, the dialogue, the chalice and the meditation group – all matter and I often don’t know where all of that fits into what happens on Sunday morning when I come to listen. I’m a socially responsible, active in the world kind of person, and yet I seem to need to join a committee to express that here…at least it seems so to me. Where’s the collective consciousness and intention? How do I touch that/engage with it? I don’t want to have to choose to be known as a mystic, a humanist, a new ager, or a pagan. I want to tap into a deeper ‘source’ …that which transcends and transforms us all and I see as universal.

 

It is through the cooperative, creative interplay of all of our viewpoints that the most powerful truths emerge. And that will call us all to take a deep dive - with open mind, open heart and open will. To be open and ‘present’ to what is emerging and calling us.  

 

I invite you now to be in this space with each other, in silence… to let go of the judgments, cynicism and doubts and fears you have, just to ‘be’.

 

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time. T. S. Eliot

 

What do we need to come home to, come back to? In this community? In the world?   I don’t know. I don’t have the answers. What I do know is that by embracing a more holistic perspective, some of the underlying systemic issues and value tensions become a focal point for transformational change.   We need to take that leap together. Be in silence, be in nature, be in conversation, be together.

 

Let’s foster the connections and relationships that are important. It is important to remain aware of the whole and to generate that creatively and intentionally. We can’t predict how living systems will emerge. We can focus on our collective intention, give ongoing attention to that, and ‘walk the talk’. We can be in circle, we can presence the sacred, take deep dive journeys to places of most potential, bring that into the world intentionally and actively. 

 

We must learn communication newly and build on our relationships. Power is the capacity generated by relationships. It cannot be stuck in one place, but must flow throughout, sharing responsibility and generating the future through profound affinity, trust, and respect…for each and every and the earth.

 

Now let us as we take a moment for silent meditation, following the sound into the silence.

 

I welcome your comments, feedback and conversation.

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