08-Jul-2005
NATURAL ECSTASY
This Week's newsletter: The Kiss
If dawn promises to come through the windows quietly,
stealthily,
if dawn promises to surprise you,
don't turn away.
Listen to the bird, the light's beam
stalking the distant mountain and tree top with crimson
stealth.
It is coming to kiss you.
Subdue your heart.
Stop the pounding of fear, of remorse.
Go, go dainty-footed and freely, fly around the
mountain's girth,
skim its sheerness silently, joyfully, coast
its down-drafts stealthily.
Accepting, stalwart, unmoving, mountains will love you.
As birds love the trees, the mountains, the dew's girth
flashing diamond beaks as they coast,
so with stealth,
peace, compassion they're ceaselessly provoked by you.
- Jan Haag
WEBSITE: Check out Jan Haag's lovely website at www.janhaag.com. Nothing to purchase here; just beautiful poetry, a gallery of her artwork, essays and more.
HOWE'S HAPPENINGS
My first class at First Unitarian of Dallas, on the spirituality of Judaism, was so well-attended, we had to move to a bigger room! I hope to see more of you at the next two classes. I'll talk about some of the lesser-known Christian mystics at 7pm on July 13, and on July 20, I'll talk about Sufism. For more information, click on ‘events', and scan down the center of the page.
Sign up now!! Tuesday, August 17 - Saturday, August 20: WRITER'S RETREAT in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. If you want to spend time in guided self-reflection, or if you want to hone your writing for publication, this retreat is for you. Click on ‘classes' for details.
GET REAL
When I decided to convert to Judaism, I soon realized it involved learning an entirely new language - and I don't mean Hebrew or beginning to say "shlep" instead of "travel", or "chutzpah" for "audacity". All my life, for instance, I've used the word "ministry" (not a word Jews typically use) to refer to church work I was involved in, or to communicate that someone had "ministered" to me. That word remains on the tip of my tongue still, nearly a year after my decision to convert to Judaism, and I haven't found another word that quite replaces it.
Language shapes the way we think, and we think according to the language we've learned. Anyone who's tried to translate a concept from one language into another will readily understand this. I'm learning to "translate" myself from Christianity to Judaism. It's a challenge.
Transition into a new religion, of course, isn't only about language. It's about acquiring a new identity, becoming part of a people, even adjusting to a new culture, perhaps. Thank goodness I've always been comfortable laughing at myself, because I've certainly had to do it plenty of times during the ten years I've been involved with Judaism!
Last Hanukkah, for instance, at a party at Temple Emanu-el, Rabbi Debra Robbins had asked us to make a monetary contribution for the poor, placing the money in the tzedakah box on our table. I picked up the box in the center of our table and began to pull back the ribbons, looking for the slot in which to put the money. When I couldn't find it, I began gently pulling aside bits of decorative paper, but still no slot. I passed it around the table and everyone took a turn looking for the slot until the box appeared nearly destroyed.
Finally, I called Debra over and asked her, in frustration, where the money slot was. "Mary," she laughed, "that's a table decoration. There's no tzedakah box on your table."
At anther Hanukkah party, this time at an Orthodox synagogue, a woman mentioned that the jelly donuts, a traditional Hanukkah treat, should be eaten within a few hours. "Is that an Orthodox thing?" I asked her.
"No," she said, "they get stale after awhile."
My friend, Rabbi David Nelson, and I have now made this a private joke. When I ask him a question, I often say, "this isn't a jelly donut question, is it?" Or, "this isn't a tzedakah box question, is it?"
For people who feel a deep spiritual connection with one another, though, a language exists that's beyond culture and speech. It's the language of the heart. Often, when I'm with these people, they understand what I'm saying even though I haven't verbally communicated it well. These teachers and friends not only have insights into my wounds and personality, they instinctively know best how to nurture within me insights and growth.
This past year has brought a great deal of pain to my life in many ways, and my friends and teachers have literally held me in their arms while I wept, communicated their compassion through their eyes, and listened with their ears, hearts, touch, and body language. Their words have meant a great deal to me, but so has their unspoken communication. I've felt deeply loved and cared for. I've been offered the gift of the heart.
For me, this has been a learning experience, also, in prayer. I do voice prayers, but almost always I eventually come to a place where words fail me. A stillness and peace envelopes me so deeply that all I can do is sit and allow the rushes of joy and ecstasy to course through my soul. Or at other times, when I'm wounded or discouraged, I feel Divine consolation just from sitting and "tuning in" to that place within where nothing exists except for God. Does God hear the words of our prayers? It depends. Does God hear our hearts? Always.
THIS NEWSLETTER is (usually) sent every other Friday around noon, allowing you the leisure of the weekend to look it over. Please remember: readers of this newsletter consist of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Sufis, Buddhists, and others, and I'll try to represent the mystical/spiritual aspects of all of these.
IF THIS NEWSLETTER uplifted your heart and drew you
closer to the Divine, please forward it to others who
might enjoy it. Thank you!
Blessings,
Mary
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