One Minute Blessings

Recently I was speaking with my 88 year old aunt, who resides in a quaint village located just outside of Ithaca, NY.  She mesmerized me that day as she spoke about the one minute vacation she had just taken.  My 90 year old uncle had just frustrated her.  This was not a particularly unusual occurrence as they have spent sixty-five years together.  She went outside to hang up clothes as a brief respite.  However, on her way to the clothesline she encountered a red-winged dragonfly that stopped her in her tracks. 

Aunt Betty then began to share.  “You know, Suzi, as I watched that dragonfly, time stood still.  I thought to myself, ‘Oh beautiful gift, I have never seen anything like you before!’  I watched in amazement as it hovered above our sunflowers, first visiting one; then another and finally resting upon a third.  Before I realized it half an hour had passed and I realized I had been one with that dragonfly.  I was no longer angry with your Uncle Don.  No, instead, I loved everything and everyone.  Have you ever experienced these one minute vacations?”

As I listened to my aunt, tears of gratitude flowed from my eyes.  Once more I knew that I had not come to ISIS, the International Seminary for Interfaith Studies, by chance.  I had been led there by my ancestors and spirit guides. You see, I have the capabilities to share the love expressed by my aunt to multitudes.  I have learned the lesson of loving myself by delving deep within my depths, visiting my inner demons, releasing them, and forgiving myself.  As I have risen anew, I have discovered an inner light within myself that acknowledges multiple one minute vacations, which I call one minute blessings.   

Now as I hit a tee shot across the fairway of a golf course, I also take time to acknowledge the squirrel running across with a nut in its mouth.  Have you ever taken a second to wonder how that squirrel came to be, or the nut for that matter?

Or as I watch a punt go high in the air at a football game, I find myself watching cloud formations that come rolling across the sky at that very second.  How did that cloud come to exist, or our sky with all its massiveness? 

If I go backward in time to when I used to work and remember the intensity of the pressure and stress that I often experienced; I can also recall hearing a bird chirp outside my window.  I would glance up to see the sun filtering between the leaves of the trees.  How did the birds, sun and trees come to be?

And finally when I rest at home within the warm embrace of my  four –legged companions, I feel a joy, peace and serenity that cannot be expressed in words.  At times like this I sit with the words of Lao Tzu,

“She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes without danger.  She perceives the universal harmony, even amid great pain, because she has found peace in her heart.”

               

This is the gift Aunt Betty gave me a few weeks ago.  I had never been as aware as I am now.  Just yesterday my one minute blessings included watching a hawk as it lit upon a fence post; watching a Great Blue Heron as it soared above me and landed in a field next to me; watching a small gray squirrel as it tried to camouflage itself as it sat in the crook of a grapevine; and listening to the babbling of the Haw River as it twisted and turned around the rocks that have emerged now that the water is lower with the arrival of fall and less rain. 

And so I awake each morning ever more grateful for being alive in this moment in time … as I start my day with the words,

“Mother, Goddess, Divine within Me, please expand my impact in such a way that I may touch more lives to share your light, joy and peace to the depths of my soul and theirs. And so it is.”

Author: Suze Robinson, ISIS Class of 2013

Suze Robinson is a 2^nd year Seminary Student with ISIS who resides with her two dogs, Logan and Tobi, in Pittsboro, NC.  She is a spiritual counselor, storyweaver and companion to the elderly.

               

The 5 Questions

I used to love Mad Magazine when I was a kid, and I especially liked the “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” department. I thought about that recently when I was waiting for the bus and a woman walked up and asked, “How long has it been since the last bus came?”  I refrained from saying, “About 15 minutes, and I didn’t get on it just so I could stay here and tell you”. Someone once said that the quality of our questions tends to determine the quality of our lives, so I had too much compassion for the woman to lay my sarcasm on her. Besides, I know from listening to my own questions and observing the results that I still often ask lousy ones, too.  Through the years I’ve consciously worked to improve the quality of my questions and this has served my spiritual unfolding well.

Every Passover, Jewish people ask the 4 Questions, but right now there are 5 general types of questions that are alive in me. So here they are, the 5 Questions, in order of value for me as a minister and as a human being (which, by the way, the great majority of ministers are):

“Why?” This is the ultimate; the biggie. “Why am I here?” represents my purpose, my mission, my vision for life. It becomes the GPS system behind my every choice. But I only get to ask it once. Once I clearly know my big “why” and have put it out into the universe, any additional “why” questions are counter-productive. I refer especially to those common “why” questions such as, “Why do these things always happen to me?”, “Why does he/she/they always act/think/talk that way?”, and “Why can’t I follow through on my intentions?” These questions tend to keep me in victim mode and usually stop me from focusing and acting on my big “why” as well as on the other quality questions that are listed below. They cloud my vision and they slow its manifestation. They interfere with the divine process of perfect unfolding that I am. They prevent me from being the change I wish to see in the world. Basically, they stink.

“Where?”  So much depends on where I am in my consciousness. So the most important question I can ask myself in any particular moment is “where am I?” Am I in my heart or in my head? Am I right here in this place and present moment, or am I elsewhere?  Am I going with the flow or trying to swim upstream? Am I in a space of serving God or serving me? Am I present and connected to my experience, or am I running away or hiding my head in the sand? I find that things unfold much better and faster in my life when I’m present, especially when I’m in my heart.  When I’m not where I choose to be, by asking this question I can change my “location.”

“What?”  “What do I choose to do right now that will bring me closer to my “why”?” This question is vital, and equally vital is following through on the answers that come, especially if I’m in my heart when I ask. My brain provides all kinds of answers, mostly limited and based on old ego patterns; my heart gives me the one that is aligned with my divine Self and that brings peace, even when it seems impossible to my little head. So another wonderful and intimately related question is, “What can I do to clear out all this brain fog and tap more into my heart?” And another, perhaps easier one for me to remember is, “What am I grateful for?”, because when I remember to be grateful my heart automatically opens and the universe opens to me. This “what” question helps me to be in the right “where”.

“When?”  This one falls far behind the others. The only valuable “when” question for me is, “When should I do the ‘what’?” The answer to that one, of course, is always, “As close to ‘now’ as possible.” “When is it (love, money, whatever) coming?” is a weak question because the time frame for things to manifest is not my responsibility. It also reinforces the idea that I don’t already have it and therefore my illusions of lack and separateness. “When will I start thinking, speaking and acting in accordance with my highest truth” is a decent question, as long as I allow it to motivate me and don’t use it to beat myself up for having to ask it. 

“How?” is last and least. As one of my teachers says, “When the ‘why’ is big enough the ‘hows’ take care of themselves.” So I don’t have to spend a lot of time asking this. The universe works perfectly, and I let it do its thing. How can my body do 600 octillion things in each second? I don’t know, but it does.  How does an entire universe remain in balance, even with all the absurdly arrogant and interferential contributions from mankind? I don’t know, but it does. How do intention and love inevitably lead to creation and manifestation? I don’t know, but they do. So I needn’t concern myself with how. I’ve noticed that when I focus on my big “why” (and continue to ask the “wheres” and the “whats”), the “hows” come to me in the form of teachers, books, people, circumstances and inner guidance at just the right times.

Well, there you have it, and I realize now that I left out “who.”  Oh well, put it in there somewhere with the top 3, especially if I’m asking “Who am I?” or at least, “Who do I intend being in this moment” and not, “Who’s to blame?”

          

           My wish is for us all to ask the most empowering questions and to find the most joyous and fulfilling answers to them. These questions will help vivify and beautify our own lives as well as the lives of those we serve, and at the same time contribute to the ongoing global awakening.

And if someone asks you how long it’s been since the last bus, be compassionate!

Author: Stew Bittman, ISIS Class of 2013

With his wife Hillary, Stew is the Spiritual Leader at Unity at The Lake in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Their blog and full bios can be found here: http://bittmanbliss.com/wordpress/

What is "The Shift" All About?

What is “The Shift” All About?
By Joan Kistler
ISIS Class of 2013

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As the end of the Mayan calendar – December 21, 2012 – draws near, more and more people are asking, “What is going to happen?” There are many predictions: increased solar activity, a polar shift, an automatic human DNA upgrade, and the cataclysmic end of the world. Of course, there are also those who say that nothing extraordinary is going to happen: The end of the Mayan calendar is just a superbly opportune date for End Times enthusiasts to launch yet another Doomsday campaign.  

On the other hand, there are those who say that something is going to happen – something that has been slated to occur since the beginning of time: the evolution of human consciousness from Ego-Centered to Cosmic-Centered consciousness. This higher level of consciousness is also known as Christ-Consciousness, Buddha Mind, Higher-Consciousness, and Self-Actualization. Rather than focusing on what is going to happen “out there” in the world, these predictions focus on what is going to happen in our inner world that shall then be reflected in our outer world.

Perhaps these outer world predictions are just the reflections of our predicted inner world transformation: increased “Son” activity, a total change of direction, a total transformation in the human species, and the destruction of the ego-centered systems which for thousands of years have inflicted untold suffering upon humanity. 

We can see it happening now: the crumbling of economic systems based on greed, the destruction of political systems based on the absolute power of a single individual or an elite group, and the collapse of religious, educational, and social institutions based on hypocrisy, deception, and injustice. We are now yearning for a world where love, peace, and prosperity for all living beings can be realized, and a New Age is riding upon the wind of our yearnings. 

If you are here now, experiencing these turbulent times, then your Spirit volunteered to help usher in this New Age. Everyone who is here now has a part to play in this great evolutionary drama, and it is by being here now – by being Present – that we realize our True Selves. We are the observing Presence that is watching everyone play their roles – both the heroes and the villains – without judgment. There are those playing roles designed to show us our True Self, and those playing roles designed to show us our false self. Now, it is time to choose again. 

We have chosen to live out of our false self for thousands of years. As our human consciousness developed, we became increasingly impressed by the perceptions of our five senses and our ability to use our logical minds to evaluate and judge our experiences. In our ignorance, we began to believe that only what is “out there” – what we can perceive with our five senses – is real. As a result, we shut down our “sixth sense,” our conscious connection to our True Self as Life itself, and we became trapped in form identification. In the Bible, this process is symbolized as Adam and Eve listening to the lies of the serpent and eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (Genesis chapter 3).

When we became aware of our physical bodies, we saw ourselves as these tiny, miniscule bodies all alone in this big world. Thus, we lost our sense of oneness with our Mother, the Earth.  She became “the other.” We saw “other” bodies out there too. Thus, we lost our sense of oneness with all Living Beings. But the greatest threat of all was this almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent power – our Source. This was the insurmountable “other” against whom we were powerless. Genesis 3 tells what happened as a result of our fear: Adam and Eve hid from God, and they were cast of Eden. This symbolizes the loss of our experience of Oneness with our Creator and the illusion of separation taking its place.

Ego-centered consciousness was born. This was the “Original Sin” that was really nothing more than a mistake in perception and a fearful reaction. The loss of our natural sense of Power as One with All That Is led to our striving for a false sense of power through competition with the “others.” Our will was usurped by the illusion of separation, and we began to seek power through the dominance, exploitation, and/or destruction of all the “others,” who became our enemies. In reality, there are no “others.”

We are fighting ourselves – Life Itself.

This was the first layer in the veil of separation – the first layer of the onion. As we went through life experiencing ourselves as separate entities, and our sense of “I” became stronger, numerous other layers were added as our human, cultural, family, and personal “issues.” As we perceive with our five very limited senses, we make evaluations and judgments based on a very narrow – and therefore ignorant – view of reality. How can “you” do “this” to “me?” We ask this question and others like it because we are groping around in the darkness of our limited perceptions. Our logical mind tears reality into pieces like “you and me,” “this and that,” and “good and bad.” Because of this, we cannot see the unified fabric of reality – the interdependent web of existence.

How do we return to the awareness of our Oneness with All That Is? How do we shift to Cosmic-Centered Consciousness? Carl Jung was the first psychoanalyst to recognize the existence of both a personal unconscious and the Collective Unconscious in all humans. The Collective Unconscious is the impersonal unconscious force that is both the guide through and the goal of the entire individuation (or self-actualization) process. This impersonal unconscious force is our True Self, and it is this that holds the memory of our Oneness with All That Is. 

Our Ego, or personal self, can never integrate our True Self because of its unconscious, transpersonal nature. However, the ego can learn to surrender to the True Self’s guidance by recognizing its superior wisdom. According to Jung, there are four steps in the individuation process: the integration of the shadow, the integration of the anima or animus, the integration of the Wise Old Man or Great Mother, and finally, surrendering to the True Self. If enough of us complete this process by December 21, then on December 25, we can all celebrate the birth of the Christ-Consciousness into this world, which is the true gift of Christmas. 

Next blog by Joan Kistler: Step One – Integrating the Shadow

*A full-sized poster of the Mayan Calendar image above may be purchased at the following web link: http://www.zazzle.com/mayan_calendar_poster-228361897397970126

Guided Meditation for Chakra Balancing

Here is a guided meditation I wrote one year ago, just after the start of the school year.  This is a great time of year to re-energize your spiritual practice, so I hope you find this helpful! Namaste. -Michelle Garrison Hough, ISIS Class 2013.

Now that preschool has started for my boys, I am able to carve out a bit of time alone for meditation.  This practice gets me centered and grounded, setting an intention to carry me through the day.  Today I focused on the energy of love, connecting with that energy and allowing love to flow in through my crown chakra to energize each chakra up and down the spine, and the whole of my being: mind, body and spirit. 

Anyone could practice the following meditation exercise to circulate love through the chakras.  There is no particular time requirement.  I set a timer for 24 minutes, exactly the amount of time I could meditate without distraction.  So that you can get quiet and focused, and still have time remaining to pay attention to each chakra, I would recommend a minimum of ten minutes. 

1. Begin by sitting comfortably and closing the eyes.  I sit in sukhasana, a fancy term for criss-cross applesauce with a straight spine and the hands resting comfortably on the thighs.  Many people prefer to sit with their feet on the floor in a comfortable chair.  
2. Bring ease to your breath by taking several soothing inhalations and exhalations.  You may breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, or if you prefer to keep the mouth closed, breathe in and out through the nose making sure to relax the jaw.  
3. Clear your mind of habitual thoughts and restlessness by repeating the following mantra to yourself.  First, as you breathe in and out, “I am clear. I am clear. I am clear…” Then, simply, “Clear. Clear. Clear. Clear.”  Visualize the surface of a clear pond or pool, with no waves and no ripples, or envision a perfectly clear sky.
4. Begin at your root chakra, located at the base of your spine.  As you inhale, focus on being rooted, or grounded, right where you are.  Sense your connection to the Earth, to the ground.  To light up this chakra, repeat this internal mantra, breathing in, “I am rooted,” breathing out, “I am here.” Do this several times.  This practice grounds your energy and focus for the rest of your practice.
5. Next, connect with the energy of love that is always available to us from Source (God, the Universe).  Envision the following: in the space directly above you is an orb of golden light.  It is the light of love, flowing to you from your Higher Self, the divine within you.  You are opening up your being, from the top of your head down to the base of your spine, so that you can bring this loving energy into the whole of you. 
6. Bring the attention back to the breath, as you will use each remaining inhalation and exhalation to circulate the energy of love through your chakras, up, and then down, continuing in a seamless cycle.  You are pulling love in and moving it up and down your chakras. 
7. Breathing in and out, as you envision each chakra, speak the following mantras in your mind:

·         1^st, or Root chakra: I am rooted in love.

·         2^nd, or Sacral chakra: I connect with love.

·         3rd chakra, or Solar Plexus: I act with love.

·         4^th, or Heart chakra: I feel love.

·         5^th, or Throat chakra: I speak love.

·         6^th chakra, or Third Eye: I know love.

·         7^th, or Crown chakra: I understand love.

For additional pranayama practice (control of the breath in meditation), try to extend each inhalation so that you can go through all seven mantras and envision the chakras, so that at the beginning of your inhalation you say, “I am rooted in love,” and at the top of your breath, you finish, “I understand love.” As you exhale, you envision the golden light energy of love moving back down your spine, from the crown chakra to the root chakra, repeating each mantra in reverse order.  If you do this, the time of each complete breath cycle is 15-20 seconds. 

This practice brought me such sweetness, joy and comfort…in under half an hour.  

The Interfaith Journey

Welcome to the ISIS Interfaith blog, the creation of a group of souls whose greatest wish is to encourage, uplift and inspire spiritual seekers everywhere.

ISIS is the acronym for the International Seminary for Interfaith Studies http://isis-edu.org/, founded and directed by Reverend Deborah Steen Ross.  Her husband Rabbi Roger Ross heads the Board of Directors as the CEO.  ISIS students and faculty will share our personal and collective journeys here.  We will initiate discussions and invite contributions from fellow seekers.  We will make this blog a place where minds and hearts can be opened to spiritual exploration and practitioners from all faith traditions can deepen their understanding of the Divine.  Through devotional readings, guided meditations, book reviews, essays and poetry, we will share the fruits of our rich and varied religious backgrounds and spiritual practices. 

The father of Interfaith, Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman (of blessed memory) taught us “Never Instead Of…Always in Addition To.”  At ISIS, we hold all traditions to be sacred and share a deep respect for those who remain rooted in one faith while growing spiritually through the study of the world's many belief systems.  The Interfaith journey is a path to awareness of the interconnectedness of all humanity; our ministry is shaped and informed when we tap into that Oneness.

Many religious people fear exposure to other beliefs and philosophies; still others lack the educational opportunity to learn about or experience other faiths.  We believe that faith grows stronger and more authentic through exposure to the Interfaith journey.  We feel indescribably blessed to be walking this path together and we want to reach out through our writing to share the blessings.  If we can bring even one person to experience the wholeness and connection that come from releasing fear and expanding the notion of God to a being who embraces all creation and all humanity regardless of religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or class, then we will achieve our goal for this blog.

Thank you for reading us, and please watch this space for all future posts! Namaste, Blessed Ones.  

-Michelle Garrison Hough, M.A., J.D. (ISIS Class 2013)