Readings week of June 8th.

Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, June 8th

Reading: I am an inhabitant of this body. 

I dwell within it, 

deeply rooted in its nature, 

so much so that it is easy to think that we are one thing, 

yet it is more difficult to sense it 

because my awareness always separates itself from my sensation 

to one degree or another. 

And this is the moment when I bring them together 

here in the same place with one another 

and I allow the very gentle and intelligent movement of the breathing 

to help bring in an energy that will bind them together 

in the single state that they actually inhabit together. 

It's useful to come to the bottom of the breath and begin there. 

To rest in stillness. 

And then to breathe in the revolution of substance 

that takes place as the air meets the blood. 

The involution of substance where substances are taken into the body, 

which are needed in every moment to support it. 

Every cell and the molecule alive 

with the energy that the breathing brings to them. 

Every muscle in the body participating by letting go a bit more 

so that it is more relaxed to receive this goodness. 

And each breath that I take in can help to remind me 

that in this life, which leads towards death

I have the opportunity to be a creature 

aligned with the forces of this planet 

and of life itself. 

Not a creature aligned with politics, 

or science, or religion, 

or the humanities, 

or business, or money. 

Not a being aligned with greed, or ownership, 

or despair, or exhilaration. 

A being aligned with being itself, 

which comes before all things, 

here and now, 

as the fundamental condition within my sensation. 

This fundamental condition of being within sensation 

grows countless roots within me. 

I find that every cell is touched by the tip of a rootlet 

that brings it what it needs to work for being here. 

And for now, dwelling in the gravity of this planet, 

I sense the tip of every rootlet as it reaches down. 

I begin to understand that in some mysterious way 

that cannot truly be explained

there is sorrow here in the atmosphere of the planet, 

and equally there is joy. 

And as I breathe in, 

they are part of the fundamental condition of this life, 

which is moving towards death. 

And that although they seem different, 

they are partners in life and being

that blend here in the body 

to bring a greater life than can be known with the mind or the body. 

So I become more sensitive to feeling now 

and without touching or manipulating any part of it,

I see how sensation and sorrow are the fundamental condition of being. 

And I see how being and joy are a fundamental condition of their own, 

equally present, equally needed here. 

— Lee Van Laer

Tuesday, June 9th

Reading: And now the energy, the feet and the hands, 

is more aligned with being. 

The solar plexus has reassumed its rightful role 

as the governor of the lower energies in the body 

and the connection to this planet Earth. 

And the heart begins to remind me of the way 

in which it governs the upper portion of the body. 

And the breath begins to remind me of the way 

it connects the heart and the solar plexus 

in order to help unify this being in sensation. 

I sense the wholeness of the body. 

I sense sorrow and joy here together in this life which leads towards death. 

And I very quietly celebrate the presence of glory 

in the stillness that gathers itself here. 

Dwelling in this fundamental condition for a moment, 

I see more clearly through the sensation itself 

the way in which it feeds the roots of being 

and deposits substances here 

which will be needed in this day 

to support the life and truth and being of other creatures 

to whom I have a sacred being duty 

Today I hope, by acting while rooted in this fundamental condition 

to bring real intelligence to my life 

to bring compassion 

to manifest the goodness that I have been given 

and to work to bring love into the world 

here where it belongs 

so that it can live more fully in all beings 

and in everything that takes place under the light, the sun 

and for this I need help 

therefore I say Lord have mercy 

In relationship to the fundamental condition of this being, 

here and now 

I say, Lord have mercy.

— Lee Van Laer

Wednesday, June 10th

Reading: “Here comes an incident in daily life. We set out, let us say, to do some service for somebody. Okay? We’re going to, you know, at a party among friends, or maybe for the homeless, to provide meals or something. And all of a sudden from nowhere, up comes this feeling of annoyance. Somebody has changed the pots that we had laid out from one place to another, and that mixes up our plan of serving the soup, and so on. And a feeling of anger. Well, sure enough, who did this? It was someone we didn’t like anyway. And so, the commentary goes off. “Surely, they could find somebody else better to serve the soup than this person. I think I’ll speak to the head honcho here and see if I can get this person fired. We no longer need your services.” So now this person is in a series of false-self feelings and commentaries and is gradually working herself into a binge. If one other thing happens that out of, off center here, she’ll probably going into a rage and stamp off and decide never to serve in this kitchen again. It could happen. Could be any incident like that, even in the best of charitable operations. Off goes an afflictive emotion. Now, the emotions are friends. They’re very valuable things and one of the things they teach us is what our value system really is. If we’re upset, it always means that something we believe has to be a certain way has been either challenged or stepped upon or rejected. And since with us, that is something very deeply personal, it doesn’t occur to us to ask the question, where is that feeling coming from? What is frustrated? These are the questions that arise with the sensitivity to our true self that is being engaged in Centering Prayer or any serious process of meditation.”

— Thomas Keating, Session 9: The Energy Centers: “Our Lives Had Become Unmanageable”

Chant: Blessed is the one who turns around and awakens, blessed is the one who opens blinded eyes  — Epiphany Today

Thursday, June 11th

Chant: “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea” (phrase from an Episcopal Hymn) 

Friday, June 12th with Chris

Reading: “Attention is an independent force which will not be manipulated by one’s parts. Cleared of all internal noise, conscious attention is an instrument which vibrates like a crystal at its own frequency. It is free to receive the signals broadcast at each moment from a creative universe in communication with all creatures. However, the attention is not “mine.” In a moment of its presence, one knows that it does not originate entirely with oneself. Its source surrounded by mystery, attention communicates energies of a quality the mind cannot represent. One needs to be at the service of conscious attention; one prepares for its advent through active stillness.

In quiet, tension free moments, man’s structure is open to energy flows which are ordinarily blocked. In turn, these energies blend with previously received materials, to serve the higher in a wordless, nameless exchange. Attention is not only mediating; it is transmitting. Giving and receiving, God speaks to man. Receiving and giving, man speaks to God.”

— William Segal, The Force of Attention

Chant: O Mercy, I entrust myself to you, that I may be transformed

— Suzanne Toolan RSM & Catherine Regan

Saturday, June 13th

Reading: “It isn’t about how far away we are from one another or whether we’re in the same room or not that determines whether or not we can share an energy together. What determines it is whether we are in the same moment together, because it is sharing the energy simultaneously that makes a difference.” — Lee van Laer

Chant: Be right here, in the Heart of God  — Henry Schoenfield

Sunday, June 14th

Chant: Don’t go away, come near. Come to the root of the root of your Self. 

— Joy Andrews Hayter

Chant: Deeply descend into I Am, deeply descend into One

—The Oriental Orthodox Order in the West

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