Spirituality is such a difficult concept to explain. The word brings different meanings, feelings, and thoughts to every one of us. A huge influence on my spirituality is the Native American ideology that everything in nature is spiritual. From the rock to the eagle, to humans, we all have our parts to keep the balance…
As is perhaps true for each of us, my spirituality sounds in who I was as a child. I grew up on a small Eastern Iowa farm from 1950 through 1965. My mother, though loving, embraced and enforced a stringent Christian fundamentalism. My father, often absent, was kind when present. Serendipitously, we lived with my…
One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God. Recently my spiritual director shared the Hebrew translation of this scripture given by a theologian speaking at her Community meeting: “You have been holding onto something for far too long. Let it fall.” In our binary way of thinking,…
Song for Autumn In the deep fall don’t you imagine the leaves think how comfortable it will be to touch the earth instead of the nothingness of air and the endless freshets of wind? And don’t you think the trees themselves, especially those with mossy, warm caves, begin to think of the birds that will…
A recent trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains included two remarkable experiences with place and kinship—and together with two longtime, ongoing experiences led to a deepening awareness of kinship with place. Only recently learning of the ancient bristlecone pine forest, this trip offered a chance to meet these beings inhabiting parts of the Sierra Nevada…
These are difficult times. Events unfolding in the Middle East are unimaginably horrific. How do any of us imagine a way forward from the terrible violence we are witnessing now, and how do we find a new way that does not perpetuate more terror and pain? I have returned to a poem by Denise Levertov…
On a hot and humid day in early August, I placed my hand on the smooth, gray bark of a centuries-old beech tree in Pennsylvania. I did so both to honor this magnificent arbor elder and to share greetings from another standing a thousand miles away, our own Grandmother Oak at Prairiewoods. I was at…
In this time of turning may you be unafraid to turn inward, to quiet your mind and heart, to listen for the great turning circling around you, to know yourself as no more and no less than a part of all this turning. —Carol Tyx photo by Diane Wheeler Dunn
Recently the ongoingness of my life journey has become clearer. I have become aware of some wide patterns I seem to live, one in particular. Throughout my life I have enjoyed “moving on”—I start an adventure/experience, dig into the learning and practices, become knowledgeable and/or somewhat proficient; and then something new will catch my attention…
Recently I was treated to a late summer tour of Prairiewoods by Aaron Brewer, the Land Sustainability Coordinator. The weather was perfect, with clear skies and a lovely mix of late summer heat and autumn light. We rode in the “Mule,” the all-terrain vehicle that I’ve often watched Sister Nancy Hoffman drive fearlessly over the…