Last week, I was fortunate to see two excellent speakers: Father William Meninger, a Cistercian who was one of the original teachers to return contemplative prayer to the Church, and David Abram: a highly creative cultural ecologist. In some ways they represent two of the deepest aspects of my spiritual life.
David Abram told us about the pervasiveness of the association of the words and concepts by which we express mind, wind, spirit, psyche. Mind, like the earth, is something that we are in. As Paul preached to the Athenians: God is "the one in whom we live and move and have our being." He also told us of the Navajo concept of Nilche' the Divine Wind that surrounds us as well as is in us. The wind without is connected as the wind within. The wind is invisible but leaves spiral traces all over, including our own bodies: tips of fingers and toes, ears (where the children of the wind speak to us as thoughts), and the brain itself.
All of this talk of connection prompted me to rescue the most recent material that I have been working with as part of my order of druids (OBOD). A few years ago they revised the course and also created an audio version to honor the oral natural of the Celtic tradition. It will be good to warm the embers of that fire.
The other side of the spiral brought a wonderful workshop and lecture from Father Meninger on the practice of the contemplative life. He illuminated thoughts from the Cloud of Unknowing, from Julian of Norwich, and other medieval gems of mysticism brought back to light and practice in the past sixty years or so. A deep well from which to nourish the church and all those working towards the kingdom.
As Christianity spread in Britain and Ireland, plenty of Druids became Monks, imparting Celtic Christianity and Anglicanism its distinct cultural flavor. This blending of the natural and the spiritual (as if those are separate anyway) is a rich tradition with a long history. Navigating my place in the flow of those spirals is a pleasure.
May be blessings of the King of the Elements be with you this night!
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