June Indoor Gathering
June Theme: Remembering Your Deepest Self
Every day, we drink water. It’s not something we think a lot about. We drink it because water is life. We have a deep knowing that we must continue to return to the well for water over and over again, many times a day, every day of our lives, if we want to sustain our life. The water provides for our life, it comes from deep within the Earth, and from the sky, offering itself to us, and to all of life.
If I really think about this, the number of times I have sipped water in my life is uncountable. I am totally devoted to this practice of hydration, hundreds of little sips a day, my brain is hard-wired to honor the call of the body to live.
This simple effort we make daily to live is overlooked, taken for granted, as the water flows freely and easily from the well or the faucets in our homes. Not all are so privileged as we are.
Many of you were drawn to this community because you have become aware of another call, or a longing to connect to your deepest Self. Universal wisdom tells us that all are called, and all of us hear the call throughout our lives. In the quiet moments, in nature, in times of change and transition, and in times of grief.
Some of us get curious about the call and follow where it leads us- not because we are special, but simply because we choose to. We make a conscious choice and create space somewhere in the midst of the busyness of modern life to explore the call further.
Some call this the spiritual journey, a journey of awakening to the true Self, the higher Self, of remembering our innate wholeness, our Essence at the deepest level.
Sometimes it first comes as a glimmer, appearing as a moment of grace in the midst of a challenging moment. Sometimes it comes as an epiphany – a paradigm-shifting experience, often in the midst of a life-changing event – and afterwards, we are never the same person we were before.
Maybe it comes in all those ways and more, but no matter how it comes, it is our choice to return to the glimmer, to the epiphany, and see what else is there for us to uncover.
This is the journey of our lives- to remember our deepest Selves – the Spirit/Soul/Essence having the human experience – and then do the often confusing, messy and sometimes terrifying work of learning how to let our deepest Self lead – to let our deepest Self – the one that is unattached to the ways we have made in this world, guide our lives. This is a universal message shared by the world’s traditions, and today we will explore some of these messages.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
Think back to a time when you had an experience of direct knowing about something in your life. A deep knowing that could not be shaken even though you could not prove it to be true. Describe how you knew, i.e., was there a sensation in the body, a divinely guided epiphany? What were the events preceding your experience of direct knowing?
SPIRITUAL INVITATION FOR JUNE:
The invitation is about continually returning to the well of knowing our deepest Self...again and again until it is no longer foreign..until it is as close as the breath..our inner and outer experiences are integrated. What does it look like for you to return to your deepest Self?
PERENNIAL WISDOM SOURCES:
INDIGENOUS
“Spirit Wheel” by Steven Charleston - an Indigenous Elder of the Choctaw Nation
Reading Selection – “Presence” p. 156
Order from a local Rock County bookstore here.
“The Celtic Way of Seeing” by Frank MacEowen
Reading Selection “Knowledge and Longing” p.95 – 97
Order from a local Rock County bookstore here.
HINDU
“The Bhagavad Gita” translated by Eknath Easwaran
Eternal Self: 2:20 (pg.90), 2:22 – 2:25 (p.91)
Beyond Senses: 5:8 (p.128)
Order from a local Rock County bookstore here.
CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
“A Course in Miracles” by the Foundation for Inner Peace
You are one Self, united and secure in light and joy, and peace. (Workbook-95.12:1)
You are one Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the truth about yourself. (Workbook-95.12:3)
You are one Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all that there will be. (Workbook-95.13:1)
Feel this one Self in you, and let it shine away all your illusions and your doubts. (Workbook-95.13:3)
Order from a local Rock County bookstore here.
DIVINE FEMININE
“The Prophetess” by Chelan Harkin
Reading selection: “Awakening” (p.7)
Order from a local Rock County bookstore here.
MUSICAL INSPIRATION:
Songs:
NEXT GATHERING:
Sunday, June 22nd, 10am-Noon
Location: Carver-Roehl Park
What to know/how to prepare: We will be walking the hiking trails at an observational pace, and stopping periodically. We will gather in circle before, during, and after. Bring water and comfortable shoes, and be sure to wear protective clothing and/or apply sunscreen and bug spray.
