“The basis of spiritual renewal is not the guilt feelings that frequently arise in sensitized individuals in rich industrial societies. Instead, it is a crazy mysticism of becoming empty that reduces the real misery of the poor and diminishes one’s own slavery. Becoming empty or ‘letting go’ of the ego, possession, and violence is the…
DetailsSecond in a series of reflections on the questions posed in The Web of Meaning by Jeremy Lent, Prairiewoods’ Spirituality in the 21st Century facilitator, April 28–29, 2023 Where am I? Literally—I am sitting in my family room, a comfortable place surrounded by the familiar. Double glass doors open to the back yard; a view…
Details“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed.” —Genesis 1:31 One of the unique things about the creation narrative is this depiction of Yahweh the creator surveying all that was made and in response exclaiming, “It is all very good.” From the stars in the universe, to the asteroids darting…
Details“I am the integrated product of my animate and conceptual consciousness—an ongoing process of ‘I’ and ‘self’ continually interacting.” Prairiewoods has always held a vision for me, a vision that includes understanding how I belong to this time and place. I have regularly attended Spirituality in the 21st Century, and this year is no exception.…
DetailsIn relationship there is no joining, no parting. It is the strengthening, the weakening. of the universal one, the divine, the strands of the web. We are all part, all part of each other, physically present, spiritually flowing. To be with this, is to be with that, to be with you. To feel as we part,…
DetailsWhen in 1963 Maurice Sendak conceived his now iconic illustrated (children’s) story Where the Wild Things Are, he had no idea how oft-quoted, thought-provoking, spiritually probing and controversial his creation would become. The son of Polish Jewish immigrants who called Maurice vilde chayes—Yiddish for “wild beast”—when he misbehaved, Maurice grew to love writing about and illustrating the experience…
DetailsTwo recent spiritual reads mirror back the invitation to “dwell” in contemplation. As this incredible home we call Earth accompanies us on yet another whirl around the sun, we may find ourselves spinning in “busyness” and asking, as author Ursula Le Guin does, How am I prioritizing time for prayer, meditation, reflection? Le Guin calls…
Details“We must seed a new consciousness … drawing its inspiration from perennial spiritual and moral insights, intuition, and experience. We call this new awareness interspiritual, implying not the homogenization of religion, but the recovering of the shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions.” —Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart The Fetzer Institute published What Does…
DetailsEach December, as one year winds down and another is just a glimmer of possibility, I try to encapsulate the outgoing year—and how I experienced it—in a single word or phrase. The year I regained my health by losing weight, went skydiving and took a pilgrimage to Italy with my mother, my word was Joy.…
DetailsHave you heard the phrase holding space? One person can hold space for another by just listening to what they have to say—without judging, without problem-solving, without comparing their experiences. It is a loving, compassionate act. Sometimes holding space can mean literally “holding space,” offering someone a place to be as they sort things out…
DetailsJeweled net There to see Passing overhead Glistening orange Setting sun Moving by grace Ancestral intimacy Threads unseen Over harvest corn Veiled in snow Sight spectacular Smiling heart Ephemeral appearance Permanent actuality Ever to remain Here with me Star-crossed lover At first sight Once in a lifetime Moment Savored eternally —Keith Knapp, friend of Prairiewoods…
DetailsWhat is Peace? What does it mean? It’s more than a cessation of war, of violence or fighting. It’s more than keeping up a façade of pleasantness, or “appropriate” behavior. It goes much deeper than appearances, pat phrases or pretense. Deep within, we are connected. Connected with everyone and everything, vibrating and oscillating, breathing with…
DetailsToday, gratitude remains one of my favorite spiritual practices. “Every day is gift.” I know it soul-deep. Daily I’m grateful for all that Earth offers us. As children, my sisters and brothers knew the blood, sweat and tears that nourished Garden. We ate most of the year from her harvest and while we weren’t, as…
DetailsI sought out Grandmother Oak today for some grand and motherly advice She showed me her scars and her broken parts And said “See how I still rise?” “I have wept many tears for my fallen friends, and for the creatures that didn’t survive. My tears wet the ground and nourished my roots. Now see…
DetailsToday I walked the labyrinth with a friend for the first time in quite a while. Little did I know that in that one simple act I would experience the fullness and the heart of all that is Prairiewoods. We walked through the woods on the way to the labyrinth, in golden light, and felt…
DetailsChristmas is less than two months away, and it’s time to get in the holiday spirit! Join us Saturday, Nov. 19, from 8 a.m.–1 p.m. at Prairiewoods for a day of shopping and holiday cheer. The Prairiewoods Holiday Bazaar features more than a dozen local artists creating handcrafted goods. Here’s a sampling of what you…
DetailsWhy does the willow weep? Why do pears grow in pairs? Do bees pray on their knees? How do Susans get black eyes? Who packs the parachutes the seeds of milkweed need? A face in the bark was looking back at me. Shards of ancient energy. When does old become ancient? —Diane Wheeler Dunn, friend…
DetailsThe prairie sings in late summer Trilling yellow in the sun Bees buzzing everywhere But I don’t think I’ve heard more Harmony rolling up from the land Than today, October rain turning everything Into a hundred shades of luminous honey From cinnamon to sienna to amber, the sweet hum Of late fall. —Carol Tyx, Prairiewoods…
DetailsThe best massage of my life came at the hands of a septuagenarian nun. Sister Nancy Hoffman, FSPA, is one of the founders of Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, a miraculous slice of reclaimed prairie and oak savannah sandwiched between the suburbs and a trailer court on the edge of Hiawatha, Iowa. Established over 25 years…
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