The Virgin Prayer

What if we are meant to live as if we were an empty slate...without judgment or expectation or agenda or identity or regrets???

The following prayer is written by Richard Rohr and can be found in his book "The Naked Now" (pp. 174-175).

 The Virgin Prayer

God regarded her in her lowliness.  Luke 1:48

You must seek to be a blank slate.
You must desire to remain unwritten on.
No choosing of this or that.
Not "I am good because."
Nor "I am not good because."
Neither excitement nor boredom.

Remaining Nothing,
An unchosen virgin,
And unchoosing too, just empty.
No story line by which to start the day.
No identity enhancers nor losses
To make yourself valuable or not.

Nothing interesting, nor uninteresting,
Neither against, nor for something.
Nothing to recall from yesterday.
Nothing to look forward to today.

Just me, naked, exposed,
No self to fix, change or find,
Nothing to judge right or wrong,
Important or unimportant,
Worthy or unworthy,
I stand and wait,
neither powerful nor powerless,

For You to name me,
For You to look upon my face,
For You to write my script,
For you to give the kiss,
In your time and your way.

You always do.
And it is always so much better.

"And she gave birth to her firstborn" (Luke2:7), who was the Christ.


We have a choice in each moment to attach to our dualistic thoughts or to become a blank slate upon which God will write something "so much better."

The question is do you want to give birth to something miraculous or do you want to stay stuck in the comfort of your mind?  Choose wisely and be free.

grounding in the body

Some tips for staying in the Now and transcending the egoic self:

"1. Try to stay beneath your thoughts, neither fighting them nor thinking them.
  2.  Hold yourself at a deeper level, perhaps in your chest, solar plexus, or breath, but stay in your body self somehow, and do not rise to the mind.  Everything you know long-term, you know in your body."

These are the first two steps in a Christian tantric "Welling Up" exercise as described by Richard Rohr in his book "The Naked Now: Learning to see as the Mystics see" (pp. 171-172).  Richard talks about grounding oneself in the body as a way to witness (as described by Adya and Michael Singer).

Staying grounded in the body helps me to notice what I am experiencing in the moment and breathing into my body helps me to open my heart, go deeper into the feelings, and release what I am experiencing.

Staying in my body keeps me from attaching to or feeding thoughts.  I have become increasingly aware of how the thoughts trap me.  They trap me into thinking that I am less than or better than.  They convince me that I need to change other people or arrange my life so that I can be happy.  Thoughts such as deciding whether I like or dislike something feed the ego.  Judging what we do and do not like, or, what we think is good or bad is how the ego defines itself.

Richard talks about emptying the self (of such thoughts as well as the related emotions) in order to be the blank slate that God writes Itself on.

Staying grounded in my body is a way to stay focused on what is really happening rather than attending to the ever-changing thoughts of the psyche.  Staying grounded in the body is like the ballast of a ship...it provides balance and stability as I glide through the waters of life.

"See if you can feel what it is to exist only now."

The above quote is from page 175 of Adyashanti's book Falling into Grace.

This is very hard to do.  When I try to stay present in the moment I sometimes feel a great sense of peace. However, I find that unless I really concentrate my efforts on staying with what is happening now my mind easily jumps into thinking about the future or the past.  For example, if we are feeling bad in the moment and we worry that this feeling will continue than we have left the present moment and gone into the future.

Reminding myself that 'I will only find God in this moment not in the future nor in the past' helps motivate me to stay in the now.

Adya says that time is a big block to our awakening.  He also says that letting go of time can free us from suffering.  However, our identity's are linked with our past and future and if we let go of these then we will also be letting go of our identity.

The question is do we want to be free of suffering enough that we are willing to give up our sense of self?
  
Please join me this week in trying to feel what it is to exist only now.  There is nothing to lose because the identity that we will be letting go of is nothing but an illusion (that we and others buy into).  Let's get back to what is Real.  This moment is all that is happening.

Do I dare to exist only in the Now?
 

  

know how to listen

This letter came from Ananda LA:

Dear Donna Mccullough, 

Receptivity is one of the most important qualities to develop on the spiritual path. When someone asked Paramhansa Yogananda how his foremost disciple, Rajarsi Janakananda, reached enlightenment so quickly, his simple response was:"He knows how to listen."

God tries to speak to us in many many ways, each and every day... through our intuition yes, but also, more simply through our daily interactions with others - friends, family, complete strangers. 

The tricky part about intuition is that until we've transcended the ego, it sometimes muddies the crystal clarity of our intuition and gets us into trouble.

If we think of our intuition as a muscle, as Swami Kriyananda has suggested, we need to be honest with ourselves. How often have we worked out our "intuition muscle" and how has it proven beneficial in our daily dealings with the world around us?

Those who lift weights, have a general idea of how much they can carry. They slowly build up to that amount and they know the importance of having a spotter; someone who can lift the weight off if the burden is too great. The spotter encourages the weight lifter to push his boundaries but also can see the reality of the situation and steps in when needed.

In the same way, spiritual community should encourage us to use our intuition and find the answers within, but it also acts as a great mirror for when we might be going astray. If we "know how to listen" as Yoganandaji said, we can be truly blessed by those who are walking the path with us!

Love,
dharmadevi & narayan

As I continue with my spiritual practices of meditation and living mindfully my intuition is developing and I find that I am listening more. Sometimes I notice the intuition after the fact, like when I failed to listen to the inner voice that said "move that vase" about 30 seconds before the cat jumped up onto the table and knocked it over.  There is a harmony and a flow to life and when we are willing to listen we will be guided. 

When the tsunami hit a few years ago there was a tribe of people who knew to get to higher ground before anyone else knew that a tsunami was coming.  These people lived close to nature and they noticed things like the tide flowing in an unusual way, the fish swimming in erratic patterns, the birds and other animals being restless, and the children in the village acting crazy. Because they were watching and listening to what was happening around them and within them they were able to avoid disaster. 

Noticing the still small voice within, listening to others, and noticing what is happening in our lives are all important ways of listening to God.  It has been said before "Stop telling God what to do and start listening to what God has to say to you."