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This week: Like Trying to Catch Water in a Net Edited by: Sophy  
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Hi, I'm Sophy ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. Over the years I've discovered that my attempts to claim, name, or describe the Sacred merely end up "boxing" the Divine into a deity created in my own image -- whereas immersing myself in and opening myself up to the experience and presence of the Holy is much more profound and spiritually meaningful.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Like Trying to Catch Water in a Net
The title for my letter this week comes from the similar title of a book, Catching Water in a Net by Val Web, who equates the futility of our trying to describe the Divine with trying to catch water with a net. I love that analogy because we finite, limited creatures will never even come close to describing or naming the infinite, limitless Divine - and when we try, we usually end up squelching our spiritual experience at the least, or harming others in the name of our beliefs at the worst. I much prefer the experience of Brahmin priests in India during the 10th Century, who, as the story goes, engaged in a spiritual exercise called a Brahmodya Competition. Its aim was to find a verbal formula that could define the Brahman, which was understood, as well as the human mind could comprehend it, as the ultimate reality that lies beyond the gods and is the inmost essence of all things. In other words, Brahman is similar to and more than what Westerners may call "God."
"Brahman was the unseen principle that enabled all things to grow and flourish. It was a power that was higher, deeper, and more fundamental than the gods. Because it transcended the limitations of personality, it would be entirely inappropriate to pray to Brahman or expect it to answer your prayers. Brahman was the sacred energy that held all the disparate elements of the world together and prevented it from falling apart. Brahman had an infinitely greater degree of reality than mortal creatures, whose lives were limited by ignorance, sickness, pain, and death." (Karen Armstrong, A Case for God) The irony of this contest was that the competitors knew that one could never truly define Brahman, because language refers only to individual beings and Brahman was "the All" - everything that existed, as well as the inner meaning of all existence. Still, that appeared, at least initially, to be the point of the Brahmodya competitions - to define Brahman.
The contestants began by going on a retreat in the forest, where they performed spiritual exercises. They'd fast, and practice certain breathing exercises, early forms of yoga, which concentrated their minds and induced a different type of consciousness, putting them into a receptive frame of mind similar to the way we listen to music or poetry. Then the contest could begin. And the challenger would try to define the Brahman - the ultimate reality in Hinduism, something that lies beyond the gods, that is way beyond anything we can know and yet is within us all. The challenger asked an enigmatic question, and his opponent had to reply in a way that was pertinent but equally inscrutable. And he had to do this definition in a poetic and mysterious way. And his opponents would listen to him very carefully, and then they would respond, moving on from what he had said and make their own definition of what Brahman is. What is most fascinating about this contest is that the winner was the contestant who reduced his opponent to silence - and in that moment of silence, when language revealed its inadequacy, the Brahman was present; it became manifest only in the stunning realization of the impotence of speech. The Brahman was not present in the wordy definitions of the divine. It was present in the realization of the absolute powerlessness of language and speech to describe it. (Summary of information from Karen Armstrong, A Case for God)
I love this story, and can't help juxtaposing it against current theological debates all over the world, between and within religions, as adherents argue about which religion is the one TRUE religion, while the role of women, gays, and politics are debated within religious traditions. It's all just noise that takes us away from the true Sacred, and none of today's religious discourse can hold a candle to these ancient words from the Upanishads, which are so much more powerful than any church confession or theological debate:
What cannot be spoken with words, but that whereby words are spoken: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; and not what people here adore.
What cannot be thought with the mind, but that whereby the mind can think: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; and not what people here adore.
What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the eye can see: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; and not what people here adore.
What cannot be heard with the ear, but that whereby the ear can hear: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; and not what people here adore.
What cannot be indrawn with breath, but that whereby breath is in-drawn: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit; and not what people here adore.
Part of the beauty of these verses is that they were never meant to be read quietly to oneself. They were meant to be read out loud, chanted, maybe even sung, as the sound and repetition was as important as the words - which point to the ultimate truth that our words and thoughts and eyes and ears and even our breaths are not what Brahman, the Spirit, is. But that by which we speak and think and hear and see and breathe - they alone are the Spirit, not the idols and images and theologies and dogmas and confessions we adore and to which we cling so steadfastly. Even with our scientific advances and post-modern intelligence, or more to the point, because of them, pre-modern humanity seems to have had a more authentic understanding of the nature of and experience with the Sacred than most of us can ever hope to grasp. For as I compare the reading from the Upanishads and the experience of finding Brahman in the silence during the Brahmodya competitions with what happens in most modern theological discussions, I am certainly much more inclined toward the practice of the ancients.
In my spiritual community, we tend to acknowledge that speaking about "God" with our limited language and even more limited understanding is usually futile, and so rather than trying to name or box "God" we use terms like Sacred Mystery or The More to indicate our belief in something more to life than that which we simply perceive. But even using those terms still doesn't come close, and we know that and are okay with it. On most days we acknowledge that there is likely something More than the immediate reality in which we live and move and have our being, and we further accept that we will never fully understand or know it. This leads to the realization that our language and comprehension are limited and any attempt we make to string words together to describe our experience with the Sacred is feeble. So in that sense we are on the right track, I think, acknowledging the limited value of dogma and doctrine, and rejecting any attempts to lay claim to ultimate truth or only one right and true way to experience the Sacred.
But even knowing that, our human nature and post-modern proclivities still prompt many of us to seek answers to questions that we know, deep down, are unanswerable, or to argue theology with someone with whom we disagree. And even though we know that kind of babble is what keeps us from an authentic experience with the Sacred, for the filling of space with our theological debates and need to be right rather than quietly aligning ourselves with a reality that transcends human language and thoughts is what moves us furthest away from Sacred reality - we still often find ourselves getting drawn into it. That is where the wisdom of the ancients, from most spiritual traditions including Christianity, can remind us that dwelling in the silence of our own impotence is what draws us closer to a more meaningful relationship with the Sacred Reality. |
Below you'll find some spiritual offerings from other WDC members. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
| |  | Do I know (E)
A Journey from I know nothing to nothing is required to know
#1742958 by mdb  |
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#1837308 by Not Available. |
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musings from the small hours of the morning - of life with all its sadness and joys.
#1837051 by oh my |
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#1837379 by Not Available. |
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Here is a response to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (December 13, 2011)" about finding light in the darkness:
From embe
My poem symbolizing spirituality of light, overcoming darkness when you are blind.
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embe in appreciation your newsletter.
Thanks for sharing this lovely poem!
  
From monty31802
Enjoyed your newsletter very much, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it. 
From MagicMoneyMike
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#1833300 by Not Available. |
Is free will just an illusion that the all knowing gives us to overcome? If God is omnipotent, then the decisions have already been made and life is just the ride?
Good questions, thanks for sharing your items.
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming! Until next time! Sophy |
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Spiritual: January 11, 2012 Issue [#4813]
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