"My vision of religious experience has changed and expanded considerably. My path included relating daily to the presence of the Divine; it included a web of rituals and a community of women; it included various forms of prayer. There was the prayer at my altar when I lit a candle and asked for peace on earth and blessing for others, the prayer of turning ordinary moments into an experience of the holy, and the prayer of listening to the voice within, the voice of soul in the solar plexus that spins the threads of our own truth.
My path also encompassed sacred experiences in nature, relating to my inner life.... .
I had also begun to practice yoga in order to be aware of and honor my body, to practice Zen meditation and mindfulness in order to quiet my mind and awaken to my true nature.
Far from exile(she was speaking here of leaving traditional church), my journey offered me a rich, multitextured, feminine experience of the sacred that flowed so deep and full inside that could truly say,In my heart, I am home.
"My religion is kindness," says the Dalai Lama, and I think if I had to scrunch it all down into one word, I might say that too. ....
So I made my own path. My husband understood this. My children understood. But it was hard for some. When I tried to explain my spiritual path to those who asked about the changes in my life I was sometimes met with puzzled, skeptical and even alarmed looks. Because they could not imagine it for themselves, they told me it was not a valid option.
I understand this.
When we create paths that are new and outside sanctioned models, paths that are native to the female soul, our paths are often dismissed or overlooked.
"The new space," says Mary Daly "has a kind of invisibility to those who have not entered it." But, if a woman has entered this journey, down deep she sees and knows the rightness of it.
I kept thinking about that familiar Zen saying:
Before I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water.
After I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water. "
2 comments:
I understand the difficulty others having seeing/believing this path. I have just started on it and sometimes I can't see it either. I think it requires us to quiet ourselves and truly listen to our innermost being and the world around us. Unfortunantly we live in a world that is fast and loud making it very hard to listen.
Fortunatly for me, I am at a place in my life where I have a lot of peace and quiet.. maybe that is why so many women don't really find this path until they are older.
Post a Comment