The Sacred

Is it feasible and indeed possible to live a life which is constantly infused with and in tune with the sacred?

I'd be interested to hear how you invite the sacred into your life...please write me...

I have begun to ask myself this question as I settle into my journey living here in Glastonbury. Having just got back in from singing bajans at Shekinashram, a b&b which also doubles up as an ashram, I noticed my inner world lifted by the sense of community, devotion, communion and joy present in the room. For the first time, I actually really enjoyed myself at one of these singalongs.

And I am wondering, how in my daily life, do I bring this sense of connection, joy and sacredness to my work, my interactions, my friendships, my lover, my hobbies. If what we focus on we tend to constellate, is it possible to entertain the divine in our lives in any given moment?

How would it be to live each day, in continuity, in awe and wonder at the absolute miracle that is life? To tred the earth in gratitude for this green planet we have inherited and whose fate rests delicately in our hands....I realise I rarely stop to consider or even feel grateful for the blessings that already are so present and abundant in my life, for my family, for my friends and for all those reach out to me in friendship.

Starting right now, as I sit here, what can I do differently to pay hommage to the divine? And then as tomorrow dawns - when I get up, and I take my first step, what will be different?

Suddenly I feel it lends a whole new perspective to how I may begin and approach my moment by moment existence. I am already sensing a stillness within me as I write this...I am noticing a space of quiet opening up ... a deepening where there is 'no mind'....where the Wu Wei within me can breathe and guide me.

Namaste

The Wu Wei

About 9 years ago, when I began to study the work of Fritz Perls, namely gestalt psychotherapy, I discovered something called the Wu Wei - which changed my life. I was sifting through a book shop in the Blue Mountains in Australia, called Brian's Books - run by an old academic scholarly man, called, funnily enough Brian who spoke, hebrew, aramaic, greek and around 8 other ancient lanuguages and we used to talk for hours. He used to teach the classics at a Queensland University but had retired to look after his then deeply ill wife. He taught me the power of sitting still and quiet - lieing prone on my back with my knees in the air and the soles of my feet on the ground - its called semi supine in back talk - and said that if I did this for 30 minutes a day all my problems would be solved. I could not beleive what he was talking about. He said - try it! He also claimed to have invented a cure to the common cold - which he showed me, for which I am sworn to secrecy, less the drugs companies come knocking on my door with men in dark suits - suffice to say, I have not had many colds since - anyway, getting back to Wu Wei - its actually a chinese word - for which our translation is ''the fertile / silent void'' from which all creation comes - Being silent is often merciless painful and difficult for most people I ask about meditation and being quiet - why is that? and why is it so overlooked as part of life? In our insanely busy, doing packed lives - my sense is that many people simply do not have any more time, to just 'be' - no more tools, assists, processes, cultural norms, techniques to focus inwards and allow our souls to breathe. With the abolition of the sabbath - time and the pause is sacred nomore. In Eastern countries it is still common to spend a day per month in silence at the monastery - and monks still perform this function for the general populace - that of quiet surrender to the Wu Wei I guess - they appear to hold this space - their homes - the monasteries, quiet places of peaceful introspection and a chance to top up on the energy and nourishment which appears so lacking in everyday existence.