COFFEE BREAK 255

+ With some trepidation (because I got shot down for my post on Monday) I posted again in the Spirituality and Practice course on InterSpiritual Meditation.  First, an excerpt from today's lesson and then my post:

Today we begin our reading, reflecting, journaling and meditating with a verse from Taoist teacher Lao Tzu, followed by an excerpt from InterSpiritual Wisdom (book by course teacher Ed Bastian).

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall
While the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish
And then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness,
Which is the way of nature.
— Tao Te Ching, Verse 16

The Subtle Breath

Even beyond the obvious importance of oxygen and controlled breathing for our physical and psychological health, there is also a subtler, spiritual aspect to breath. Indeed, many of the world's spiritual systems speak of this refined and subtle dimension of air and breath. For instance, the Indian systems refer to it as prana, while the Chinese systems call it qi. This is nothing less than the subtle "breath of life" that surrounds and permeates all living things. Sometimes it is described in terms of an inextricable connection between the subtlest elemental forms of both consciousness and air; the two "ride together," providing the foundation for all sentient life. Although science cannot yet confirm this most subtle connection, accomplished meditation practitioners often observe and experience the workings of this subtle "energy" in their meditations.

My post:
 
Breathing and The Sacred Word

Centering Prayer teaches us to keep coming back to a Sacred Word of our choice whenever we start thinking of anything else. I have been using a particular word for a decade or so and it seems to work for me not only in 20 minute Centering periods but also throughout the day. I definitely associate the word with breathing but I do believe the word is more important or at least as important. Breathing connects the word to my physical existence which is important. The sacred word goes beyond that to the stillness of the mystery of eternity.

The Tao Te Ching, it seems to me, teaches this wisdom extremely well. There is something beyond breathing, beyond the IN and OUT, beyond the Male and Female, the Hot and Cold, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, Emptiness and Fullness. There is a source which is unknowable and yet pervasive.

Stillness is one good word (not my chosen sacred word) to use to describe this eternal mystery. It is beyond breathing but yet intimately connected to breathing.

But I really don't know what to say and or what to believe or what to do. As today's S&P reading of the day says, it's always about STARTING OVER. It is a mystery and there are no words that adequately describe what's happening when we become centered in our breathing and stillness.

So ...

Breathe deeply. Breathe fully. Be still. Be silent. Be centered. Be grounded. Lighten up. Loosen up. Let go. Let God. Celebrate. Enjoy. Be glad all over!

I hope this connects with today's lesson. I don't tend to think in logical ways.

love,
john