Highlights
Hanging on tightly to the rope, we jump up and swing into the air…
A new and deeper understanding of repentance is suggested.
We are introduced to the concepts of the Conscious Circle of Humanity and Second Body.
A deeper self is waiting to be set free and to do its work in the world.
Conscious Work and Conscious Suffering are introduced.
Guided Reflection
If possible, use headphones.
Cited Quotations
“You nest of vipers!” he shouted directly at them. “Who warned you to escape the swelling opposition? You must produce fruit commensurate with the renewing of your minds! Don’t be so presumptuous as to claim Abraham as your Father—I’m telling you here and now that God could bring the children of Abraham out of these river rocks! Even now the ax lies in wait at your roots. A tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and burned in the fire.”
Matthew 3:7-10
The human person is a field of energy and information rooted in the body but extending out from the body, interacting with the energy and information of others. None of us is a discreet, separate unity, but an integrated system of interactions connected to all…
We can become increasingly aware of who we are and how we influence our environment…we can and must make choices that are life-giving for all.
Cannato, Judy, “Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology Is Transforming Spiritual Life
Reflection Questions
Rather than encountering such realities as ideas Second Body, can you experience them in your body right now as sensation and vibration…?
Can you sense in your body the difference when your attention is poised and focused and when slips into the default mode of autopilot…?
When in the context of our discussion about the Conscious Circle of Humanity, is there something in you that you are continuing to recognize as a felt sense…? Can you sense that in a particular part of your body…?
When I mention the possibility that—beyond facing more squarely into our own pain and suffering—that we have the energetic capacity to help shoulder the burden of pain and suffering of others, is there a light of sense recognition that you can feel in your body…? A stirring…?
What if you were to link your own present pain and suffering with the similar pain and suffering that others might be currently enduring…? Can you feel and sense in your body what it might be like for you to consent to carry some of another’s burden along with your own…? How might that change your relationship with your own pain and suffering…?
To Go Deeper
If you have the time and inclination, this week’s work can be both deepened and facilitated by an additional practice - The heart of presence meditation.