Sorry I missed you all, and my practice yesterday. I did spend twice as long meditating today and it was very nice. I found myself meditating on the idea of being a container. I have recently found a fascination with the Buddhist begging bowl. We trust that it will be filled by our friends and neighbors, or by the universe, so that we are sustained, and then can pour out our offering for the world around us.
Sometimes our bowls are full to brimming over with spirit, sometimes only a couple of drops rest at the bottom, but so much of faith and spiritual practice is a trust in the flow. Just as I offer myself and my intentions to the world, so will my container, my spirit be refilled by the universe. After a big day a church, that flow is about all I can get my mind and heart around, but it's certainly there.
I also had an interesting experience in this meditation. As some point I drifted into an old and comfortable style of prayer, most likely because I was tired. It was more conversational prayer with God, mostly prayer of gratitude. But I caught myself very quickly for two different reasons. One being that that is sort of the antithesis of the style of meditation that I hope to engage. But also, this simple meditation of being a conduit for the goodness of creation is much more in line with my intellectual theology than that older conversational style. It was a really pleasant moment of recognizing my practice as both spiritually fulfilling and having intellectual integrity.
It has been a lovely day for meditation for me.
Had a nice hike yesterday at Alta Laguna. The view, spectacular. Meditated on it and reflected in my journal. I am normally too self conscious but I even did my Chinese stretching exercises overlooking the view of Saddleback Mountain and Mission Viejo. As most of the hikers and mountain bikers are health oriented, no one seemed to mind.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I did an ab workout, Chinese stretching exercises, light cardio workout and a fifteen minute unguided seated breath meditation. No thoughts but I alternated between periods of calm and brief periods of dizziness. Couldn't get at what lay beneath the dizziness. A memory, no doubt.