Readings week of September 29th.

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Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, September 29th

Reading: "One needs fire. Without fire, there will never be anything. This fire is suffering, voluntary suffering, without which it is impossible to create anything." – G.I. Gurdjieff, Transcripts of Gurdjieff's Meetings: 1941-1946, p. 4

"The ancient alchemists understood a universal truth about transformation: it requires both careful preparation and complete surrender. They could craft their crucibles with precision, tend their fires with skill, and choose their materials with wisdom, but they could never control what would emerge from the flames. This same principle governs our spiritual journey - we prepare the vessel of our lives through practice and attention, yet the actual work of transformation remains God's mystery to unfold.

"The first requirement for any alchemical work is a vessel strong enough to contain the process. In our spiritual lives, this container is built through our daily practice and sustained attention to our inner life. Like the alchemist who carefully prepared the crucible before beginning any experiment, we must ground ourselves in the spiritual disciplines that can hold us steady through the inevitable challenges of growth." – Church of Conscious Harmony weekly email

Chant: Speak through the earthquake the wind and the fire, oh still small voice of Love – Darlene Franz

Tuesday, September 30th

Reading: "The crucible offers us a practical image for this spiritual reality. Those ancient practitioners knew their vessel had to be strong enough to contain intense heat without cracking, yet humble enough to surrender control of the outcome. They could prepare everything carefully - but in the end, they had to trust the fire to do its work. The Hebrew scriptures describe this divine work: "For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Malachi 3:2-3). As we consent ever more deeply to our transformation, we trust that the Divine Alchemist knows exactly what needs burning away and what must be carefully preserved." – Church of Conscious Harmony weekly email 

Chant: Purify my heart, purify my heart, let me rest in you – Joy Hayter

Wednesday, October 1st

Reading: “The second requirement for alchemical transformation is the willingness to apply heat - the conscious acceptance of the discomfort that inevitably accompanies genuine change. This is what Gurdjieff called "intentional suffering" - not seeking out pain, but consciously engaging with the friction that arises when we stop avoiding what challenges us.

This heat comes in many forms: the discomfort of seeing our mechanical patterns clearly, the challenge of staying present when we want to escape, the humility of recognizing how little we understand ourselves. It appears whenever we choose consciousness over comfort, whenever we remain present to difficulty rather than immediately reacting or numbing ourselves…

"The ancient alchemists knew that the same fire could either purify gold or destroy base metals - the difference lay not in the intensity of the flame, but in the nature of what was placed within it. Similarly, the heat of spiritual transformation can either refine us into vessels capable of receiving and sharing divine love, or reduce us to ash and bitterness. The determining factor is not the circumstances we face, but our attitude and the quality of our response.” – Church of Conscious Harmony weekly email

Chant: O Mercy, I entrust myself to you, that I may be transformed – Suzanne Toolan RSM & Catherine Regan

Thursday, October 2nd with LeMel

Reading: 'Love Is' by Unknown author

what if the timelessness of this moment 

means that everything that's true in this moment 

still is 

even if it changes in the next

what if they loved me once and don't anymore

what if that moment of love stays true 

regardless of anything that happens after

what if every moment of love that's ever existed 

still does

is still a shining star I get to gaze at

how Illuminating is that

to believe the night sky is an endless 

growing brilliance

I love watching my notions of knowing 

dissolve

Love is not contingent on me knowing it

it simply is

and I choose to experience it or not

Chant: Love is, I breathe it in. Love is, I breathe it out by LeMel

Friday, October 3rd with LeMel

Reading: One Hundred Seventeen Autumn Wondering For E.L.L.

In colder winds, swirling, gusting

Leaves of muted hues, 

In colder winds, 

I call to You, O Eternal 

Strengthen my back, as raking into piles

I separate and contemplate,

These days and changes, 

Crackling and clinging against my heart.

Strengthen my arms as pulling and pulling

I drag this heaved tarpaulin of my dilemmas

To pile high and light with hope’s spark,

Burning away the turmoil of these days.

Not the pause before winter’s sleep

But a beginning; even as the dormant roots

Take up nourishment

So shall my resolve be nourished by the Eternal

There, a patch of red and gold still clinging

Guards against selflessness:

Your gift to me as I straighten from raking,

As I push the glowing embers together.

– Debbie Perlman, Flames to Heaven: New Psalms for Healing & Praise

Chant: I call to You, O Eternal One, So shall my resolve be nourished by You, Your gift to me the glowing embers of my heart, Brought to life by the Breath of Change. by LeMel

Saturday, October 4th with Lacey

Reading: "Contemplative prayer is not primarily about saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It’s a way of living in the Presence, living in awareness of the Presence, and even of enjoying the Presence. The contemplative is not just aware of the Presence but trusts, allows, and delights in it. All spiritual disciplines have one purpose: to get rid of illusions so we can be present. These disciplines exist so that we can see what is, see who we are, and see what is happening...Once you see, the rest follows. You don’t need to push the river, because you are in its flow. The life is lived within us, and we learn how to say yes to that life." — Richard Rohr

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

Sunday, October 5th

Chant: Draw us deeper into silence, draw us into you. Draw us deeper into stillness, draw us into you. – Henry Schoenfield

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