Monday, 20 June 2011

a Moment for Wisdom…

DAILY WISDOM:

“Spirituality is not something that happens at a retreat or in a church.  It happens where your emotions are most heated, where your needs are most pronounced, where your doubt is most severe.”

Phil Catalfo

Personal Wisdom:

What have been your significant “spiritual” moments that are separable from your “religious” moments?

Do you see a pattern? What is it?

Societal Wisdom:

a Moment with Sharif…

Greetings;

I have seen people wait to be spiritual.  Wait until they were in the right building, wearing the right robes, burning the right incense, surrounded by the right people. Well that is a form of spirituality. But, it’s a form that has little to do with our day to day lives…

There was a powerful shaman who would visit North Carolina from Mexico once a year. During one of his visits, he told us about holding meditation classes in Mexico City. His “temple” was a crowded bus stop! He said, “Why learn how to meditate in a beautiful retreat? How much time do you spend there? How much time do you spend waiting for the bus?”

Too many of us have a “spiritual” practice that has nothing to do with how we actually
live our lives. It’s all about incense and flowers and rituals, and not nearly enough about how to live our lives.

Most of our “religions” take our current toxic, dysfunctional society as a given, as
“normal”. The fundamentalists go after people who deviate from the norm of society. Our challenge is to recognize that it is the BREAKER SOCIETY ITSELF that is deviant – from the Sacred Pattern of the Earth, from the Sacred Pattern locked into each of our hearts. Reciting stories written 2,000 years ago does little to prepare us for the realities of living in the 21^st Century.

We must develop a “spiritual” expression that helps us deal with heated emotions, great need, and severe doubt. We must develop a spirituality that will get us from where we are
to where we need to be.

And that’s going to take… practice!

Peace,

Sharif

Acknowledgments:

All photos by Sharif Abdullah, unless otherwise noted.