beauty is a light in the heart."
This week I’m in a ceremonial retreat in a cottage on the shores of Lake Superior with some dear friends and colleagues. We are engaged in an emergent endeavor that has brought us together several times over the last year to contemplate the sacred task of restoring wholeness in the world.
The first part of this task is of course to restore wholeness in
ourselves, and spending these days and nights cradled in the rhythm of
nature feels like a crucial step in that process for me. I’m reminded that waking each
morning to the sunrise is an amazing restorative, completely free and
available to all…
Each of us have work and lives that take us to the heart of restoring wholeness
in our own part of the world, and yet we realize that none of us can make the
difference we want to see alone. We feel that the crucial call of
our time is to come to consciousness about our relationship to each
other and to the earth. To recognize that we are individual parts of one
living organism, one body, and that all our actions, even our thoughts, effect
the other parts of this shimmering web. As a species we’ve wandered off that
path of knowing and our subsequent actions have effected the very air
we breathe and water we drink. It is imperative that we find our way back to consciousness, and to the love that is the very core of life, the motivation and reward and purpose of all. To the wholeness that is our true nature.
So we meet, and strengthen our bonds, and develop the microcosm of wholeness within and between ourselves and take the next step in doing what’s ours to do in manifesting wholeness in the macrocosm … I take an enormous amount of heart in knowing that we are not unique (and of course we ARE unique). All over the world there are others, too – gathering, restoring wholeness, repairing their part of the great web of life. I know many of you, and hear of more every day. One of my passions is shining a bright light on each of us so we can find each other and make common cause, because our time together here is precious and all too short, and there is much to do.
Once again I am finding myself utterly enchanted by the lights of this season … from the emblazoned houses and glittering trees to the reflected glory of tonight’s crescent moon.
I experienced something the other night I would have given a lot to have the skill to photograph – little white lights wound gracefully between the branches of a red maple and a tall wooden fence; all red and gold and brown – the shadow and light and shape of the leaves together making something completely transcendent, shimmering there in the evening’s cold still air.
Sometimes it’s even better when I can’t capture a moment in a photograph… it makes me hold it more gently, as a perfect memory… And then there are the perfect memories that become icons of themselves through the magic of representation.
We decorated our tree today, and here are two imperfect photos I took of its perfect light:
How cool! Heather Champ is posting photographs to Flickr as she lights the candle for each night of Hanukkah…
I think I’ll add them one by one to this post, ceremonially, offering that gesture as a collective lighting of each flame on our virtual menorah. In honor of life, and miracles.
Here’s the whole sequence:
First Night (12/15):
Second Night (12/16):
Third Night (12/17):
Fourth Night (12/18):
Fifth Night (12/19):
Sixth Night (12/20):
(tonight I had the blessing of sharing the prayers that accompany this night’s ritual lighting with my rebel rabbi friend Joel)
Seventh Night (12/21):
Last Night (12/22):
Welcome!