Blog right on! Snakes lying round the path!

You win some, you lose some!

This is what I have decided to do;  to write a weekly blog, not a daily one; better for you, better for me! And I will do it at the end of each week so you can chew it over during the weekend.  It has been so so interesting blogging my way along, seeing and sharing the trip wires which come with being a human endeavorer, to see what progress may have been made and then from a clearer observation point, see those things which are less tractable, less amenable to change and to determine that never mind how obstinate the obstacles are to moving, they will go if there is a vision of a space without them.
Yesterday I saw just how quickly the gates of the heart can swing shut and there was nothing I could do about it, nothing at all and me a meditator!  The eye (or the I!) perceived the object of discomfort, the heart shut, speech retired, smile froze and all this in the twinkling of an eye, or the shake of a devil's tail.    No horrid speech, just frozen speech but there it was, as clear as putting up a label saying "I am upset, hurt, and unable to find any kind words to improve yours or my state of mind".  I expect I will get other chances but the unfortunate part is that it took place and will have consequences, the only good I can find is that I can see its source lying curled round my inner being and its source is me as a separate individual.  So, blogging forward to freedom from the horrid black thing round the heart, I wonder how long it will take for it to dissolve?  Any thoughts?

Blog on or Blog off?

One space

Another's space

I said I would just blog until the end of November but I am rather enjoying it so should I blog on or blog off?  I started with the idea of creating a record for my grandchildren so they would know that apart from fish fingers and Christmas trees, there is a deeply held belief that finding a way to be still is a lifeline.  It is a lifeline when emotions run high, it is a lifeline when emotions run dry.  It is a lifeline when you are successful because it keeps you grounded  The payback to not being over elated in success is that it is a lifeline when things go belly up.  And the really big one, death or whatever death is; that moment when you lose sight of someone you love for what appears to be the forever of your life, at that moment, you might just find your way to the space in your heart where there is no changeability.  This no-change place is as close to God as you can get, it is how I imagine God is, a non-changing, utterly benevolent, loving totality.  See the spaces people have used to find God, so blog on or blog off?

Yet another's space

An old space

Moved by Misery

I was sent this link to Ali's Song,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1sF-yhqIP8.  Please watch it because we should all do what we can to help those who can help those who need it.  
In the summer of 2013, singer and trumpeter Barbara Snow heard a BBC Radio 4 item on the work of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders in the Syrian civil war. In it, a boy called Ali was reported to have said ‘you won’t believe what I have seen’. These words inspired Snow to write and record a song with her band Chico Chica and donate the proceeds of the sales to the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders Syria Crisis Appeal. www.msf.org.uk/country-region/syria‎

Sitting here at my kitchen table with hens clucking outside, a big pot of coffee on its way, I wonder what is the best way to help.  And I wonder if meditation helps and if it does, how?  Possibly by just tuning us in to the idea that other people are not really other than us, they are our brothers, sisters and children.   They aren't any different to us, they just happen to be placed somewhere awful and we are placed wherever we are.                                             

Meditating might just help us become more human and a bit more aware of other people.  I am crossing my fingers  that it will do.

A History of Meditation and John Main

If you follow this link to the WCCM home page, and you wait until this video loads up, you can hear Father Laurence Freeman telling the story of John Main's adventure in discovering meditation and how the adventure was passed on ..and on and on.  It is a wonderful wonderful story and makes a compelling case for meditation in the Western world plus it is a superbly good tale.

Let them eat cake

This one is not made by Archie

you've seen this one before

Don't you feel for Marie-Antoinette, poor spoiled Queen who, when told that the people were hungry, said "let them eat cake".  She gets such a bad press, unfeeling, cruel and then of course the people said "off with her head".  And off it came……ouch!  But, people say things from where they are; she, being well fed and cared for, couldn't imagine the awfulness of the hungry people.  We often forget to look and see what is really happening, mostly we forget to say thank you or notice when people have done a marvellous thing.  Worse still, we forget to look and see how many things are showered on us daily, the light of the sun, the sweetness of the air and the growing power of the earth.  Just remembering that as a meditation would make us look more tenderly at the world and the people round us.  And sometimes a cake gets a conversation going.  It certainly started a conversation in my head.

Meditation, a new message

Abracadabra girl

friendly dog

The message taken from the meeting of people yesterday at St Martin-in-the-Fields was that the one thing meditation does is to show the innate indwelling spirit in each person.  To be spiritual doesn't mean just wearing the  outer clothing even though the outer clothing has a function and does send out a signal so we are able to recognise a vicar or a monk or an imam or a rabbi or a Brahma Kumaris.  To be spiritual is to recognise your own self as spirit and then to see that everyone and every jolly thing is spirit.  By pulling back for a length of time from the projected world, we find a space beyond time, the present and then when we open out again, everything seems more lovely.  And there are consequences, we may feel better about ourselves and more understanding of others, we may be just a bit more patient, a bit kinder, we may see Christmas lights in everyone.  And oh yes, the Christmas lights were at St Martin! they had camel coats on though but their smiles and greetings shone through the camel coats too.
So, be encouraged to find out about meditation from somewhere good, and if you meditate, keep going, it will help you and others you meet and make life sweeter.  Click below for what happened in Brisbane! where a philosophy school offers meditation and quiet time.

the smallest dog

https://soundcloud.com/612abcbrisbane/the-peace-found-in-a-few
Nice to be back at home though, fish pie bubbling in the oven, dogs walked, shopping done and a weekend ahead.

The King pin 

                               

tomorrow, today, Just this Day

Today is the day I said I would blog to, actually it is tomorrow because we will need to get up early early to get to St Martin-in-the-Fields to be there when the doors open.  The Church fills immediately with those poor homeless who haven't had anywhere to sleep the night before and who come in to the warm and lie along the back pews in the warm Church for a bit of a sleep.  Today, I was there doing a sound check with tomorrow's chanting Nikki and no matter how loud we turned up the register, they slept on.  But tomorrow, people, I don't know how many will come to hear Nikki and the speakers representing different strands of traditional meditation and meditation as it is offered today.  I will be there with the roving microphone with my fingers crossed that everything has been remembered and that people come and love hearing about meditation and go away really inspired.  Before that happens, I have munched my way through fish and chips and several chocolates and I am crossing my fingers for a good night's sleep.  Hope to see you there!