I circle around God, around the primordial tower. I‘ve been circling for a thousand years and I still don’t know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song? —Ranier Maria Rilke I find much comfort in and resonance with these words of the poet Ranier Maria Rilke. I too am one who has…
My spirituality has evolved over many years, as have the spiritual practices that embody it. It now centers on listening with reverence to mystery and practices that open the heart to pain and suffering. “Every being has its own interior, its self, its mystery, its numinous aspect. To deprive any being of this sacred quality…
I ask “What is NOT spirituality? Every breath, every moment, we are living with Spirit. With Divine breath, we are experiencing all of life. Rumi speaks “Oh human angel, your path is perfection in the divine sense—not in some artificial absence of struggle, but in the wrestling of darkness and light that ignites the fire within…
Spirituality in my life is best described as a journey. It is a path that has ebbed and flowed, weaved and twisted. It has been filled with joy and peace, resistance and angst. I have felt enlivened and renewed and downtrodden and deep despair. One of my favorite poets, Rainer Marie Rilke, writes, “The only…
When I think of spirituality, the image that comes to my mind most is that of a craft. The crafts I most often think of when I put it to this metaphor would be something like preparing a tea or seasoning blend. This is because, to me, spirituality is best defined as practices we use…
In early spring, when the snow reveals the sleepy black earth, my mother and I would take a short walk around my childhood home in northern Michigan. Behind the house, the yard dips lower to reveal a birch-filled marsh where deer have had a path since before I was born. My mother would take my…
As the earth cycle turns toward spring here in the middle lands, the claxon of Canada geese returning north fills my soul with a profound sense of belonging to the wildness of existence. Perhaps Mary Oliver says it best in one of her most well-known poems, “Wild Geese”: Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,…
May marks a 15-year anniversary for me: 15 years since hearing a diagnosis of bipolar type 2, 15 years of taking mood disorder medication, 15 years of trying different doses—and trying different times of day for taking those doses. 15 years of different therapists, different psychiatrists … May also marks my sixtieth birthday, so of…
“Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.’ Between the two, my life flows.” ―Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj As Charlotte Joko Beck explains in her book Ordinary Wonder, it was many years ago that I, without entirely understanding what was happening, pulled myself into a boat, but it had no oars or rudder. I…
On a retreat, one of the first things I did in my guest house room was open the shades all the way to the top. I wanted to be as close to the trees and the sky as I could. Surrounded by trees, there was no need for privacy shades. Books are another form of…