Silence is God's language, and it’s a very difficult language to learn. ~ Thomas Keating

Thomas Keating brings us truth...silence is God's language, and this language we call God's is difficult to learn. Its difficulty, though, is not in the language being tough to understand, but rather its difficulty is in the struggle we have in letting go of all those things that prevent our hearing. My greatest peace and even great joy come from my practice of silence, yet I too find myself having to work my way back again and again. I'm not sure why noise and distractions carry such appeal, but I find myself entangled in them again and again. Still, the silence awaits, and every moment I return I am at once embraced, held, restored. I am become whole.

photography by diana christine

A man is known by the silence he keeps.
~ Oliver Herford

The American ideal is not that we all agree with each other, or even like each other, every minute of the day. It is rather that we will respect each other's rights, especially the right to be different, and that, at the end of the day, we will understand that we are one people, one country, and one community, and that our well-being is inextricably bound up with the well-being of each and every one of our fellow citizens. ~ C. Everett Koop, former US surgeon general

art by permission
rassouli

Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence.
~ Deepak Chopra



photography by permission
marc goldring

"By listening to the Creator within, we are led to our right path." ~ Julia Cameron







photography by permission
cindy lee jones

July 19 Photo Album

Two of the guests at our July gathering captured the event on film, and I used some of the photographs to create a video album.

Thank you, Madalina, and thank you, Hector, for your beautiful gifts of photography!

thank you

I’ve started writing this post several times and every time I write a few lines, I scratch out what I have written and start again. I am trying to say thank you, but whatever I write feels small compared to how much I feel inside.

When I started Spirit First I wanted to begin by sharing my vision with friends and family, so I planned the formal announcement of the beginning of the organization to be a dinner party at my own home, which turned into our July 19 celebration. Many of my friends shared what they have to make our gathering a wonderful dinner and a musical gala. I cannot imagine a more beautiful way for the organization to commence than with the shared gifts of friends who embrace its vision.

Our celebration became more than just an announcement, as this event also became our first fundraiser. Spirit First raised several thousand dollars, and I am grateful to so many who gave such loving financial support. Everyone gave what he or she had—sometimes a big check and sometimes five or ten dollars—and all of it added up to a really nice beginning for Spirit First. To those who handed me five or ten dollars and apologized for their gift being so small, I want to say there is no such thing as a small gift when you give what you have. Besides, almost all the gifts were small gifts, but it is quite beautiful how several small gifts add up to something really big.

We often hear the expression “charity begins at home…” and Spirit First begins in just this way with its first funding coming from friends and family giving what they have to honor and support the beginning of this dream. Before we seek funding from outside sources, we begin by receiving from friends and loved ones who support our vision.

Friends not only donated money but offered what they could to contribute to the event, and those gifts are just as big. Miguel volunteered and helped me prepare the yard. Javier and Hector arrived early to help set up and several others helped with cleanup. Brigitte, a new friend I met just this year, brought plants and flowers from her garden to decorate. Glendora, an old friend I hadn’t seen in several years, offered kitchen duty and helped serve. Margarita, Etsegenet, Veronica, Azeb, Jonathan, and Basma cooked and donated incredible food. Madalina and Hector photographed the event. Treasure, Greg, Felicia, Jeremiah, Dan, Sassy, Karen, Joe, and Vicki sang and/or played music for us (all of our musicians and singers donated their time).

Everyone who gave time, gifts, or financial donations is now one of our founding contributors, our founding donors, and you are become part of Spirit First.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

July 19 launching of Spirit First

Spirit First was formally introduced to the world as beloved friends gathered with me on July 19 to celebrate the launching of the organization. In the same way friends come together to witness the union of a man and woman, or come together to celebrate the birth of a child, nearly 75 people gathered to honor and celebrate with me the beginning of Spirit First.

Music filled the air, as several friends donated performances for the launching ceremonies, and we enjoyed incredibly beautiful music.


Felicia Rose came to us from Pennsylvania and brought magic...one of our young guests commented that "when I close my eyes and listen to the music, I feel completely free."

Treasure and Greg were amazing. These two are friends of my son, and I had never heard them perform until the day of our gathering. Their music was wonderful (I think they don't know how good they are...).

Dan Mack played beautiful classical guitar followed by several popular numbers accompanied by vocalist (and wife) Sassy Wagner.

Primordia brought our day full circle closing with Native American poetry and music with Joe Sullivan on flute.

photography by Madalina Diacanu

photography by Hector Guevara

advisory board

I am honored to present to you the founding members of our Spirit First advisory board, a group of individuals who provide counsel and spiritual direction for Spirit First. From the beginning these advisors have been with me, supporting and assisting me. Spirit First would not be as beautiful as she is become had it not been for the counsel and leadership of these friends. I am most grateful…

Harkirat Singh

Harkirat Singh was born and raised in India in the religious tradition of Sikhism and moved to the U.S. to earn a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. Harkirat is an avid student of metaphysics and philosophy and believes in living every moment with spiritual awareness. A Reiki practitioner since 2001, Harkirat is a gifted healer and loves to share this gift with others.

Harkirat’s vision can be summed up in these words from Vedic literature, “Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu”: "May all beings in all the worlds be happy."

Marc Goldring

Marc Goldring is an Associate Principal at WolfBrown in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he provides strategic planning and conducts economic and financial research for arts organizations. Marc also offers community cultural planning, helping areas develop and sustain their community’s cultural life and the lives of their cultural institutions.
Marc is a Fulbright award-winning craftsperson and has had sculptural craft work displayed in galleries and museums nationwide. He founded and directed an international organization of artists working in leather, curated exhibits of contemporary art and craft leather, and organized national and international conferences. He went on to become Executive Director of the National Crafts Planning Board, which served craftspeople in all media.

Today Marc Goldring is a fine art photographer and author of Discovering the Familiar (2008), a merging of profound images and reflective poetic prose that inspires mindfulness in the reader. His images are presented on his website at www.marcoclicks.com.

Sedarius Tekara Perotta

Sedarius Tekara Perotta is a graduate of Georgetown University and has been an entrepreneur since his school days when he founded J&J Georgetown, a college t-shirt reseller. He became president of American Original Designs, an orthopedic back-saving carrying device company, and he founded Nihooka, an online environmentally-friendly product reseller. Sedarius later founded and now serves as president of Neuron Global, a company providing on-demand global intelligence, with offices in the Philippines, the District of Columbia, and New York City.

Sedarius conducts training on leadership and business development and provides consulting services on four continents. He served in the United States Peace Corps in Romania and participated in a United Nations leadership development program.

Rise early
when summer darkness
still enwraps the trees.
Walk into the dark forest
with only your attentive heart.
Gaze toward the east,
take a deep breath, and wait.

After a short while you will see God
carrying a lantern through the forest,
bits of light bobbing up and down
in and out, higher and higher
the light climbs, spilling over
into the spaces between the leaves
and on into the world
beyond the forest.

Then the beautiful darkness
hands you over to the light.
It slips away reverently
into the bark of the tree trunks
into the black earth
into all those other countries
that wait for its return.

Lift your face to the day-star now.
Experience the coming of dawn.
Bathed in morning light, pray
that the lantern of your life
move gently this day
into all those places
where light is needed.

posted on Spirit First with the permission of the poem's author
© Macrina Wiederkehr
All rights reserved
from The Circle of Life published March 2005, by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr

The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament. ~Brother Lawrence in The Practice of the Presence of God

photography by permission
graham jeffery

mindfulness exercise serving tea

Prepare a pot of tea to serve to a guest or to drink by yourself. Do each movement slowly, in mindfulness. Do not let one detail of your movements go by without being mindful of it. Know that your hand lifts the pot by its handle. Know that you are pouring the fragrant warm tea into the cup. Follow each step in mindfulness. Breathe gently and more deeply than usual. Take hold of your breath if your mind strays. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

mindfulness exercise washing dishes

While washing dishes, wash each piece relaxingly, as though each bowl is an object of contemplation. Consider each plate as sacred. Follow your breath to prevent your mind from straying. Do not try to hurry to get the job over with. Consider washing the dishes the most important thing in life. Washing the dishes is meditation. If you cannot wash the dishes in mindfulness, neither can you meditate while sitting in silence. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

June 23, 2008

As of this date…June 23, 2008…Spirit First is now incorporated as an inter-faith nonprofit organization in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

I am so happy…I am overjoyed. Our State Corporation Commission certificate is matted, framed, and hanging on the wall, and Spirit First has gone from being a vision in my heart to having an existence in the physical world. My work now is to help it grow.

I feel less like I am giving birth to my own creation and more like I am supporting something that already “is.” Spirit First has its own life; I am simply helping it come into being. I have been given stewardship.

All the same, this is a day of wonderful celebration. And I am very happy…

board of directors

art by permission
rassouli

I am pleased...and honored...to announce the founding board of directors for Spirit First. Each member of this board is a gift to my life and a gift to the organization I seek to create. Each one is become a gracious part in the birthing of a place of peace and healing, a sanctuary called Spirit First. I am grateful for so beautiful a gift as these whom I call friends:

Carol Thornton

Carol Thornton has a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University. She received clinical training at Valley Community Clinic in Southern California and led substance abuse recovery programs for four years. She has been a student of metaphysics and various spiritual disciplines for 20 years and is a mindfulness practitioner in the tradition of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh and Buddhist nun Pema Chodron.

Steve Caplan

Steve Caplan is a freelance writer in the Washington, D.C., area. The former publisher of Natural Awakenings Magazine, Mr. Caplan has a background that includes many years in media advertising sales. His spiritual beliefs have been informed by a cultural awareness of Judaism and a personal interest in Eastern thought and religion, which began for him as a teenager in the 1960s. His private practices include Buddhist studies, meditation, and sojourns to sites of contemplation such as Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper, New York. Mr. Caplan believes tolerance and respect for all people regardless of race, religion, spirituality, gender, sexuality, and age are vital to human harmony and peace.

Stefan Popescu

Stefan Popescu is IT Director at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. Prior to technological work, he served as advisor and speechwriter in the political world. Mr. Popescu has a Bachelor of Science in technological engineering and a Masters Degree in political science.

Mr. Popescu is a member of the Christian Orthodox Church. Within the Orthodox Church he is discovering a truth his grandfather gave him when he was a child, that “once you have tasted the richness of spiritual life, nothing else will satisfy.”

Ervin C. Owens

Ervin Owens is founder and chief executive of the Cabel Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping underserved youth achieve financial literacy. After pursuing a career offering financial advice to businesses and individuals, Mr. Owens began his current work with inner-city youth. By teaching fiscal awareness and financial strategies, he empowers students to invest in their futures, set higher goals for themselves, promote social change, and improve their communities. Ervin Owens is financial advisor for Spirit First.

Heather Woods

Heather Woods earned her Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude from McDaniel College and her J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a member of the D.C. Bar. Ms. Woods is legal advisor for Spirit First.

Thomas Maxwell

Tom Maxwell serves as a Eucharistic Minister for the Catholic Church; has been a Sufi Initiate engaged in contemplative practice for over 20 years; and has lived, studied, and practiced with Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Sufis, and Christians. He leads interfaith contemplative spiritual dance groups (Dances of Universal Peace) and contemplative prayer groups for Christians.

Since receiving his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland in 1988, Mr. Maxwell has been engaged in interdisciplinary research focusing on facilitating understanding and wise stewardship of complex evolving earth systems. This program fosters transcendence of disciplinary and cultural boundaries, as well as an integration of scientific and spiritual modes of viewing, understanding, and valuing the world. His technical writings include publications on systems theories of evolution and collaborative modeling of complex ecological economic systems. His philosophical publications focus on interfacing science and spirituality to foster the emergence of an integral worldview that transcends the cultural and religious differences that breed conflict and division. Mr. Maxwell is currently working on his first book publication focusing on integral spirituality as a path to transcending the apparent doctrinal conflicts that divide the world’s great religions.

Macrina Wiederkehr

I love the treasure of Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB, author and spiritual guide. The sweetness of her life enhances the taste of what I drink from my own cup. Her gift is far too much to be captured in a short posting, but she sums up some of the jewels of her experience in a single paragraph....

These Things I Have Learned:

• All work (even menial tasks) can become a joy rather than a burden.
  
  
• “Practice” is one of the most important words in the spiritual life.
  
  
• It is harmful to my soul to judge others.
  
  
• All moments of waiting can become moments of keeping vigil.
  
  
• The book of the earth is as holy as the book of scripture.
  
  
• I am happiest when I am able to surrender my own will.
  
  
• If I am not happy with what I have, I probably won’t be happier with more.
  
  
• Even if I don’t agree with someone I can learn much by listening to them.
• 

"We live in a world of theophanies. Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, but this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary by staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure."

~Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B
A Tree Full of Angels










Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB, author and spiritual guide, is a Benedictine monastic of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She is well known for her books: Seasons of Your Heart, A Tree Full of Angels, The Song of the Seed, Gold in Your Memories, and Behold Your Life.

Dan Mack

With much appreciation and admiration, I would like to introduce to you another musician who will join our Spirit First celebration on July 19.

What do you get when you combine a folk musician, classical guitarist, rock’n’roller, and songwriter into one? Well, you just might get Dan Mack! Dan has been a performing musician since grade school, when he performed in talent shows. Now, 45 years and thousands of performances later, he enjoys playing music more than ever. In addition to his early training, Dan also studied at Shenandoah Conservatory of Music, graduating with a major in classical guitar and double minor in piano and voice.

Of his Conservatory training Dan notes, “I try not to let the rigors of the classical style get in the way of what I like to play or listen to. There is an amazing wealth of music of all styles, and I can’t limit myself to just one. I started playing clarinet in the elementary school band and then fell in love with the guitar when my sister gave me one in the 60’s. I started learning songs by Dylan and the Beatles and started playing in bands. Playing classical may be the most challenging for me personally, but there’s plenty of effort that goes into mastering a great bluegrass flatpicking solo or high-test electric guitar licks. The word ‘eclectic’ may be overused, but I think it truly does describe my style.”

Dan is also an accomplished songwriter, and has written dozens of songs. He says, “I wrote my first song at age 16, and have been writing ever since. Sometimes I’ll start writing a song and finish it in a few hours, and sometimes I get stuck and it will lie dormant for years. Then I’ll get inspired and finish it 20 years later.” His songs run the gamut from straight folk and rock songs to old-time ballads to jazzy pop tunes. “I never know what’s going to come out,” Dan says. “It’s always a surprise.”

After his Conservatory years Dan played with several rock bands, performed as a solo folk and classical artist, and taught guitar lessons. In addition to solo performances, Dan now performs with The Druthers, a folk-rock band in the DC area (www.druthers.net). He also accompanies vocalist Sassy Wagner in duet performances. In addition to guitar and voice, Dan also plays mandolin, piano, harmonica, and ukulele.

If you are interested in booking Dan, you are welcome to email dmack@iname.com.

There are many fine things that you mean to do some day,
under what you think will be more favorable circumstances.
But the only time that is yours is the present.
~Grenville Kleiser

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Who is it that can make muddy water clear? No one. But left to stand, it will gradually clear of itself.

~Lao-Tzu,
Tao Te Ching

photography by permission
marc goldring

Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.
~ Hans Margolius















photography by permission
cindy lee jones

bless me and enlarge my territory

Starting tonight I will be praying for you so that God will shine His face on you and grant you your wishes, and most of all so that He may bless you indeed and enlarge your territory.

My friend Etsegenet sent these words to me several days ago, and I cried when I received her blessing. She expressed her encouragement and her faith in what I seek to create in Spirit First, and she included this tremendous blessing (this is a big prayer).

As I went about my weekend’s chores, her words lingered with me, and I whispered them again and again, “Bless me and enlarge my territory….”

I think it is pretty scary for any of us to become enlarged--there’s something fearful about becoming bigger or more powerful or more knowledgeable or simply more, so we make a lot of effort to remain small.

Spirit First calls me to make something big, which calls for me to enlarge my territory. Enlarge my wisdom. Enlarge my understanding. Enlarge my giving. Enlarge my being. Enlarge my doing. Enlarge my capacity to love….

Primordia

When peace is captured in a sound, one of its most poignant expressions is that of the enchanting tones of a Native American flute with its haunting melodies that pull the listener ever deeper into the mysterious journey into the soul.

I am very happy, and so very honored, to let you know Primordia will be performing for us in the launching of Spirit First on July 19. Joe Sullivan creates magic with the flute while Karen Marshall brings Native sounds with deer toes, seed rattles, and a Native small frame drum. Karen also adds mystical sounds through world percussion using rainsticks, bodhran (Irish frame drum), chimes, and dumbeks (Middle Eastern drums).

It’s the song of healing…the echo of the earth…the call of the Spirit…and it is brought to us in the gift of Primordia.

photo by Alan Kelso

today's treasure

Every day she presents a new offering, a marvel of beauty and tenderness. Yesterday’s gift is vanished and today’s offering will fade with the day’s passing, and I have only today, only this moment, to take pleasure in her gift.

My hibiscus tree was a present from my son 2 ½ weeks ago and every day she has offered a new treasure. Each flower that blooms remains for one day only, each coral-colored flower as exquisite and fragile as a butterfly’s wings. Every morning when I wake up I run to her to see what she has brought forth. I touch her tender petals and witness her splendor. I linger with her and return to her throughout the day, knowing today’s flower lives only for today. She has become my lesson in mindfulness.

Life takes on a sense of permanence with us, and even though we know a thing is temporary, we tend to regard it as though it is always with us. It is not. Whatever a thing is, it is with us only for today, and it will pass.

If I could give you any lesson, it would be this…be with what is with you right now. Feel the floor underneath your feet, or the ridges of your socks pressed against your shoes as you stand on the floor. Feel that same floor as you walk. Smell the scent of fresh earth after the morning rain (as there are those who complain about another rainy day and miss entirely the fragrance of wet earth). Hear, really hear, the sizzle of your eggs in the skillet and fully taste those same eggs in your mouth. Hear how many sounds are around you…the bird outside the window, the tick-tock of the clock, the whirr of the refrigerator at home or the copier in the office. Breathe deeply. Feel your own heartbeat. Taste this moment.

The human experience is not in what you accomplish. The human experience is in your being here, really being here in this moment.

And today exists only in this moment.

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

It has been said that God is everywhere and in all things, but God can be more fully perceived in the spaces between things and in a place of silence. ~ diana christine

the sound of silence

I seek silence. I seek to create a place that encourages and honors quiet and stillness. Among the beautiful sanctuaries of Spirit First, however, is a music meditation sanctuary. One might ask why I have a space devoted to sound in the middle of grounds set apart for promoting silence, and my answer is this…it is the beauty of sound that has brought me the gift of silence.

Today I practice going to a place of silence. Some people think of silence as the absence of sound but I find silence to be so much more. Imagine for a moment how you might describe music to someone who has never heard any sound…I have an equally profound challenge in describing the richness of silence. Silence is no more a singular place than music is a single note. I find silence to have layers and directions just as we find in the world of sound. Silence is full and rich. And it was the beauty of sound that became my portal to discovering silence.

In the beginning I found a place of meditation in music. Sacred music. Classical music. New age music. Contemporary Christian music. Softly and gently a perfect melody would soothe me and quiet me, melt me. Music became a resting place, a place to pause from my thinking mind and the troubles of the day. I had two worlds…the cacophony of noise in the world (which is in my head) and my reprieve of music. I did not know silence.

I began to use music as a meditation. Alone in my room I danced with it. I sat with it. I lay on the floor and melted into it. Music became for me a place of sanctuary. One day as I reached for the stereo dial, my hand stopped just before turning on the music, I paused to listen to nothing, and that moment became the beginning of my stepping into silence. I “listened” to silence. I found a clear difference between being in a place absent of sound and being in a place of listening to silence (silence is to be “listened” to). It lasted for just a moment, but it was the beginning of my understanding. I returned again and again to listen to music and then to listen to silence when the music stopped. In that beginning I found music to be a beautiful place of transition, a place for me to begin to remove the noise of the day and prepare myself for a place of silence, similar to a place of removing soiled clothing and bathing one’s self in preparation for entering holy ground.

Today I step into silence much more easily and no longer need sound to lead me there. I still love music, though, and it still melts me and opens me. The perfect sound of a flute playing Ave Maria or a single tone in the voice of Felicia Rose moves me to tears.

Silence is not created by sound but rather it is sound that comes forth out of silence. Silence is the source. Be that as it may be, it is the contrast of sound that distinguishes for us the place of silence. Sound becomes our road marker. And I shall be forever grateful for the gift of sound that has led me to silence.

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

"The water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is dark. The small truth has words that are clear; the great truth has great silence."

~Rabindranath Tagore

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

I imagine the gardens and sanctuaries of Spirit First with joy and wonder but also with compassion and sorrow in equal measures. I grieve for the pain I see in the faces of others and my heart seeks to share a place of peace and a place of healing. Business is aggressive, expectations are cruel, demands are relentless, and noise and distraction are the music that feeds the world. Even families can be unkind and comfort is hardly to be found.

I am flourishing as my life goes further inward but at the same time my compassion deepens. I am witness to daily commutes of those trapped on hot pavements and I see weary eyes. Jostling, everybody crowding and pushing to get ahead or to stay ahead, unhealthy habits that lead to despair in our most honorable temple. Agitation reigns. But we shall create a safe place. We shall bring forth a land with quiet hills, fragrant breezes, peaceful chimes, and breathtaking beauty. We shall hold a space for silence that all who come here may touch that which is within and begin to know the truth of who they are. Peace is the language spoken here, and acceptance is its voice.

The earth offers her succor and we shall drink of her consolation.

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

art by permission

rassouli

commitment

For three years I dreamed of creating a meditation retreat center called Spirit First. For three years nothing happened. From the moment I took my first step toward creating this place of peace, people started donating money, started offering free services in everything from cleaning my yard to cooking for our fundraiser, started making reservations to come from afar to our event in July...the Universe has been supportive in unexpected, astonishing ways. I am in awe.

Today I ran across a quotation that beautifully explains what is now happening in my world. The quotation is by William H. Murray, who is also quoting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

…This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, Providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!

~ William H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951

If you have a dream, or a desire of your heart, your commitment to move forward with it is the force that will give it birth.

jonathan

I have wonderful news to share with you. Jonathan is coming, coming from New Zealand to be with us on July 19. Jonathan is a contemporary yogi, a mystic, a writer, and a lovely friend. His first book is just now going to press, a book called Peace, Power, and Presence, which is Volume 1 in his Wisdom for a Life of Freedom series.

Jonathan finds solitude in the most profound places and will be spending the month of June living in the trees in the Amazon jungle. It is not often we have the opportunity to meet someone like Jonathan, and it brings me great joy that he will join us, break bread with us, and offer a blessing for Spirit First.

To those of you attending our fundraiser celebration, please feel invited to take a few moments to say hello to Jonathan, ask him about his book or his travels, and enjoy his presence.

"We could say that meditation doesn't have a reason or doesn't have a purpose. In this respect it's unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment." ~Alan Watts

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

Felicia Rose

The first time I heard her sing, I cried. I sat on the floor in the quiet of my living room, a single candle burning next to me, and I listened to her music as tears ran down my face. The sound of her voice was a sweet fragrance that slowly filled the room and broke my heart.

She is the sound of the earth. I have heard her voice compared to the voice of Sarah McLachlan but far more, she is to be compared to the sound of the earth. She is the sound of a dune that rises and shapes itself in the desert, the sound of an open field that blossoms under spring sun, the sound of moonlight that falls on a wooded path that drinks her in.

Her name is Felicia Rose, and I cried again when I learned she will come to us and sing on July 19.

You can hear Felicia Rose and buy her music on I-tunes or on her website at www.FeliciaRose.com. And, of course, you can hear her at the launching of Spirit First this summer.

do it afraid

Spirit First may be the bravest thing I ever do. It was three years ago on a Saturday afternoon in March that Spirit First Meditation Retreat Center came to me. In the course of my day’s chores I happened to run across an image of a labyrinth, a simple image of the outline of a single labyrinth, and in an instant I “saw” the labyrinth life sized in beautiful grasses and blooming shrubs with a meditation sanctuary nearby. I imagined walking trails and fragrant gardens and various sanctuaries for quiet and contemplation, a place where Buddhists and Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Jews find solace and healing. It was an immediate image and I knew if I ever created such a place, it would be a place that attends the needs of the spirit first.

That same day, just a few hours later, I read an expression for the first time that has become forever linked to the inspiration of building a meditation retreat center. The words I read were these: Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light. Somehow I knew there would be days of questioning what to do with my Spirit First inspiration and at the same time I was given my answer. Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light.

An idea is a gift from the Universe, a treasure not to be neglected or taken lightly. An idea, even if chosen not to be pursued, deserves our greatest consideration and respect whether our response to it is yes or no. But Spirit First…could it be possible?

Spirit First grew inside me, like a baby growing bigger and stronger until it is healthy enough for birth. During the past year I had much contemplation and sifted through many questions. Can I do this? Am I smart enough? Am I strong enough? Even if I am smart enough or strong enough, am I supposed to create this? Why was such an incredibly beautiful inspiration given to me and not to someone else? I would be happy to see someone else build this.

I sought answers to the question “What if I fail?” and it pulled me deeper into questions about failure. I wondered and I pondered. I began to realize failure is a human judgment. I came to understand that if an athlete spends his life training to become a gold medalist in the Olympics and never gets the gold (or even silver or bronze), he is not a failure—his realized success simply doesn’t fit the picture of success in his head. And Spirit First—she will become what she will become and I will consider my best attempts to be success. I will breathe life into her and help her grow.

Somehow for me building a sanctuary felt like an impossible task and from time to time I would go to a temple or sanctuary and sit next to it. I would sit and ponder the simplicity of building a thing...brick by brick. Don't create it in my head harder than it has to be. A thing is built brick by brick.

What I am doing is wonderful and rich and exciting but it also feels huge and scary. My beautiful friend Lora taught me an important lesson—as she raised her children and they faced seemingly impossible challenges, she would tell them, “Do it afraid.” She reminded me if we never do anything frightening, if we only ever do those things that feel safe and sure, we never grow and we limit our accomplishment. Courage is not defined by being without fear but rather by "doing it anyway."

And so, as I begin this wonderful journey of the creation of Spirit First, every step is an act of faith.

And I am willing to "do it afraid."

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day.
Kent Nerburn

photography by permission

graham jeffery

in the beginning...

Spirit First is coming into her birthing, and on July 19, 2008, she will begin to be.

I have imagined an inclusive sanctuary that supports a place of meditation, a retreat for contemplation. I have dreamed of a place of peace and a place of healing with brilliant gardens and quiet walking trails, and I have envisioned in this same place a coming together of disciplines in shared refuge. When a Buddhist comes to Spirit First, she is at home. When a Hindu priest or a Christian minister is here, he is at home. Jewish music, Islamic poetry, Native American art...are at home here. Sufis dance. Yogis practice. A visitor walks the labyrinth.

It has become my vision to build such a place and I am now founding Spirit First Incorporated, a nonprofit organization in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The official launching of Spirit First is set for July 19, 2008. On that same day I will be hosting a fundraising celebration in Silver Spring, Maryland. Opening ceremonies will include prayers and blessings from several disciplines—monks and priests and nuns who are Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Native American. Throughout the day we will have musicians playing and singing in classical, new-age, and spiritual genres. We will be serving Indian, Caribbean, Ethiopian, and American cuisines, which will also include vegetarian and vegan fare. Friends are beginning to plan to attend this event and we have guests coming from Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and, of course, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

You are welcome to join us. Please contact me for more information.

In the coming days and weeks I will keep you posted on the progress of our plans and the becoming of Spirit First.

art by permission
rassouli

moses and the shepherd

Moses heard a shepherd on the road praying,
"God, Where are you? I want to help you,
to fix your shoes and comb your hair.
I want to wash your clothes and pick the lice off.
I want to bring you milk,
to kiss your little hands and feet when it's time
for you to go to bed. I want to sweep your room
and keep it neat.
God, my sheep and goats
are yours. All I can say, remembering you,
is ayyyy and ahhhhhhhh."

Moses could stand it no longer.
"Who are you talking to?"

"The one who made us,
and made the earth and the sky."

"Don't talk about shoes
and socks with God! And what's this with your little hands
and feet? Such blasphemous familiarity sounds like
you're chatting with your uncles.
Only something that grows
needs milk. Only someone with feet needs shoes. Not God!
Even if you meant God's human representatives,
as when God said, 'I was sick and you did not visit me,'
even then this tone would be foolish and irreverent.
Use appropriate terms. Fatima is a fine name
for a woman, but if you call a man Fatima,
it's an insult. Body-and-birth language
are right for us on this side of the river,
but not for addressing the origin,
not for Allah."

The shepherd repented and tore his clothes and sighed
and wandered into the desert.

A sudden revelation came then to Moses.
God's voice:
You have separated
me from one of my own. Did you come as a Prophet to unite,
or to sever?
I have given each being a separate and unique way
of seeing and knowing and saying that knowledge.
What seems wrong for you is right for him.
What is poisonous to one is honey to someone else.
Purity and impurity, sloth and diligence in worship,
these mean nothing to me.
I am apart from all that.
Ways of worshipping are not to be ranked as better
or worse than one another.
Hindus do Hindu things.
the Dravidian Muslims in India do what they do.

It's all praise, and it's all right.
It's not me that's glorified in acts of worship.
It's the worshipers! I don't hear the words
they say. I look inside at the humility.
That broken-open lowliness is the reality,
not the language! Forget phraseology.
I want burning, burning.
Be friends with your burning.
Burn up your thinking and your forms of expression!

Moses, those who pay attention to ways of behaving
and speaking are one sort.
Lovers who burn are another.
Don't impose a property tax
on a burned-out village. Don't scold the Lover.
The "wrong" way he talks is better than a hundred
"right" ways of others.

Inside the Kaaba
it doesn't matter which direction you point
your prayer rug!
The ocean diver doesn't need snowshoes!
The love-religion has not code or doctrine.
Only God.
So the ruby has nothing engraved on it!
It doesn't need markings."

God began speaking
deeper mysteries to Moses. Vision and words,
which cannot be recorded here, poured into
and through him. He left himself and came back.
He went to eternity and came back here.
Many times this happened.
It's foolish of me
to try and say this. If I did say it,
it would uproot human intelligences.
It would shatter all writing pens.

Moses ran after the shepherd.
He followed the bewildered footprints,
in one place moving straight like a castle
across a chessboard. In another, sideways,
like a bishop.
Now surging like a wave cresting,
now sliding down like a fish,
with always his feet
making geomancy symbols in the sand,
recording
his wandering state.

Moses finally caught up with him.
"I was wrong. God has revealed to me
that there are no rules for worship.
Say whatever and however your loving tells you to.
Your sweet blasphemy
is the truest devotion.
Through you a whole world is freed.
Loosen your tongue and don't worry what comes out,
It's all the light of the spirit."

The shepherd replied, "Moses, Moses,
I've gone beyond even that.
You applied the whip and my horse shied and jumped
on itself. The divine nature of my human nature
came together.
Bless your scolding hand and your arm.
I can't say what has happened.
What I'm saying now
is not my real condition. It can't be said."

The shepherd grew quiet.
When you look in a mirror,
you see yourself, not the state of the mirror.
The flute player puts breath into the flute,
and who makes the music? Not the flute,
The flute player!
Whenever you speak praise
or thanksgiving to God, it's always like
this dear shepherd's simplicity.
When you eventually see
through the veils to how things really are,
you will keep saying again and again,
"This is certanly not like we thought it was!"

~ Rumi

no gain in haste...

A couple of weeks ago I was scheduled to present a seminar in Arlington, Virginia, to a location new to me. I had set my alarm the night before for 6 a.m. to ensure my waking early enough to allow for this unfamiliar commute.

At two minutes before 7 I awakened and quickly realized the time, finding I had just lost the hour of insurance I had planned for arriving at class early, or at least on time.

I did not panic at this sudden interruption in my plans. I did not stress. Instead, I breathed deeply. I breathed deeply and simply stayed with what I was doing. When I ate my breakfast, I simply ate my breakfast, and didn't try to eat while also trying to "get there on time." I enjoyed my food. When I brushed my teeth, I simply brushed my teeth, and didn't try to brush my teeth while at the same time trying to "get there." I stayed fully with what I was doing. I realized that I would get to class when I get to class and everything is okay (mind you, I didn't waste any of the time I had...I was brisk about my business...but I did not fret). I took one step at a time and fully accepted that everything is okay, even if I should arrive late for class.

My trip had a few starts and stops in finding parking, changing trains twice, walking several blocks, and such. I moved purposively and briskly but I had little expectation of making it to class on time. I have never been late to my own seminar before but I accepted this state of affairs deeply and peacefully.

I wish I could write of this experience as profoundly as I seemed to experience it. I stayed "in the moment" in every moment, and in the end I arrived at my classroom ten minutes before time to begin. I held peace in every moment even when I was sure I would be late. I later found it interesting that I did not say to myself "everything is okay and I will get there on time" but rather I felt "everything is okay even though I am going to be late." I felt complete acceptance. It's kind of hard to explain, but the acceptace was from the inside out, not from the outside in.

I think it would hold true for any situation that our peace is in fully accepting the worst of what can happen. Acceptance of (no resistance to) whatever is happening and whatever may come, and mindfulness in the present moment, seem to provide my greatest peace. As I continue this path my world continues to become open and abundant.

Later that same week I discovered two lines in a prayer by Swami Premananda that read like this:

There is no loss of time in waiting
Nor is there any gain in haste

My gosh, I love these lines. If I am stuck in traffic, caught in a long line at the supermarket, or obligated to a delay in any situation, there is no loss of time in waiting and my peace comes in acceptance. And, of course, there is no gain in haste. Herein I find harmony between myself and the situation around me.

(Oh, and the reason my alarm failed me was that I had set my alarm to the one clock in the house that had not adjusted to the transition to Daylight Savings Time....)

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

moments of peace

Some have asked me how do I bring quiet, stillness, calm into my world. How does one find sanctuary in a noisy, demanding life?

Sometimes peace comes in a moment, in the quiet flutter of a bird taking flight just as I step out of my home and walk toward my car, and I pause for a moment and watch. I smile; I sigh; I breathe deeply and continue on my way. Sometimes stillness comes in the glimpse of a full moon on a cold, starless night...in the smell of a soft fragrance...in the pure tone of a solitary chime. If we are attentive to these single moments, more moments come to us and life turns toward peace.

Today I found such a moment in a bath. I could have said there was no time for a bath, that a quick shower was far more sensible, but setting aside time for peace is part of our work. The waters were hot and as I stepped into them I was filled with the scent of the oils poured into them, lavender oils. A profound fragrance is a moment of peace, don't you think? I settled into the waters and I was in sanctuary. A single candle burned nearby, and the sound of an Indian flute along with the sound of piano and birds softly surrounded me. My head rested on a thick rolled towel and I did nothing but breathe. The world around me was peaceful and I became quieted on the inside. I meditated. I drifted between this world and that one. The time came to get out of the tub, put on my clothes, and go back to class, and though I had to leave my sanctuary, I carried my peace with me.

This day I wish for you more ways to touch peace in your own life.

art by permission
rassouli

Whoever does not see God in every place
does not see God in any place.
~ Rabbi Elimelech

photography by permission
marc goldring

this step

is

the journey

~ diana christine

We so often think a step is to take us somewhere, particularly to take us somewhere else, and we consider a journey to comprise many steps. The journey, however, is this one step. The destination is always right where I am.

snowshoer on paradise ridge

photography by permission

wendy cristina willis

The trees, the flowers, the plants grow in silence.
The stars, the sun, the moon move in silence.
Silence gives us a new perspective.

~Mother Teresa



winter on the palouse
photography by permission
wendy cristina willis

learning to pray

When I was a little girl, I prayed, and my prayers went something like this: please don’t let it rain on my birthday party tomorrow, or please let me pass my history test, or maybe even please let my friend’s mother get well. Somehow in my little-girl mind the presence of God was a place of petition, a place of supplication.

As I grew, so too my prayers, and instead of a place of supplication, my place of prayer became a place of gratitude. In my prayers I gave thanks, thanks for the beauty that surrounds me, for the strength that fills me, for the gifts in my world. I became a place of gratitude.

My prayers, though, continued to change even as my perception of God and the Universe continued to amend. Now instead of supplication or thanks, my prayers were a place of worship, and the presence of God had become for me a place of adoration. I poured out praise, devotion, and honor; I was in a place of great light.

My prayers, ever changing and ever refining, continued to move until now my favorite place to be is a place of meditation…a place without supplication, a place without the giving of thanks, a place without worship or reverence…I am in a place without words and without thoughts, a place of silence with that same Presence I had so often addressed. My favorite place today is a place of simply being with the Quiet, the Empty, the Void (a word spoken, or even thought, is an interruption to our meeting). I am become more fully who I am when I am in this place.

I am not suggesting that I don’t from time to time breathe a prayer for a friend’s healing, that I don’t sometimes offer a prayer of thanks, that I don’t on occasion express love and reverence, but I am to say my greatest place of prayer is a place of complete silence.

I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer
~rumi

art by permission
rassouli

Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon. ~Ikkyu, Zen-monk poet, 1394-1481

music sanctuary

I talk of silence, of Spirit First being a place of quiet. It is true; Spirit First is a place to come for quiet, for peace, for the journey within. But silence is not our only meditation. In fact, before I learned how to listen to the silence, I first learned how to quiet myself with music meditation. Music became my place of transition, a space between the noise of the world and the silence of the Universe. I could move from one to the other through the space in between, and for me that was music. A little more practiced now, I can step into silence without the help of music as a transition, but I still have favorite pieces of melody that I enjoy from time to time for inspiration or even meditation.

It shall come to be that Spirit First has a music sanctuary tucked away in one of its gardens, a beautiful small sanctuary with soft light pouring through stained glass windows, a place to sit with music meditation. One can always step into and be surrounded by music in this stained-glass sanctuary.

One is always welcome to slip quietly into the music sanctuary and settle into a comfortable position, perhaps nestled on pillows, or upright in a chair, or cross-legged on the floor. Sometimes it will be simple meditation music that is playing. Other times one might hear a boys’ choir singing an old song such as “Be Still My Soul” or “Panis Angelicus” (two of my favorites). Or it may be a single voice like Josh Groban singing one of those same songs.

At another time it may be Gregorian chants or perhaps a Buddhist chant that fills the music sanctuary. The music might be Jewish or Muslim or Christian or Zen, but Spirit First will always have a place for you to be calmed and soothed by the graceful sounds of meditative music.

all at the same time

A friend of mine called a couple of days ago, a builder in Tennessee whom I have not seen in quite several years. We chatted a bit, he told me about the grand new house he is building for himself and his wife, and he asked me what I am up to. I talked to him about my work and then explained to him what I want to create in Spirit First. He seemed fascinated that I have taken on such a big creative idea. The next day he called back, wanted to talk about hiring the best accountants and designers and architects to create my beautiful sanctuaries and gardens (I listened but explained I am not yet ready for this conversation until I build funds). He asked me to explain to him again about having a place of sanctuary, a place of prayer, that welcomes Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish people who meditate. Even atheists and agnostics. He, thinking I would create a retreat center that would invite a Buddhist group on one weekend and a Muslim group on another weekend, asked me then the strangest question. “You don’t possibly intend to have them there at the same time, do you?”

To me it seems so natural a thing to have a place of sanctuary with monks and nuns from every discipline sharing and tending the same land…seems so natural a thing to me that I do not yet have words prepared to make my case.

I’m going to have to get a lot better at explaining what this all means.