The Labyrinth of it All!

"THE INDWELLING PRESENCE
The essential religious experience is that you are being “known through” more than knowing anything in particular yourself. Despite this difference, it will feel like a true kind of knowing. But it is also a freedom not to have to know!We call this new way of knowing contemplation, non-dualistic thinking, or “third-eye” seeing. Such prayer, such seeing, takes away your anxiety about figuring it all out fully for yourself, or needing to be right about your formulations.At this point, God becomes more a verb than a noun, more a process than a conclusion, more an experience than a dogma, more a personal relationship than an idea. There is Someone dancing with you now, and you are not afraid of making mistakes."Adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See, Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations. I see the labyrinth form as being an artistic representation of what Richard is relating above.

As I enter this post out here in cyberspace I'm preparing to go for the second time to be an assistant teacher in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We'll be returning Thanksgiving week. I pray that I will be of some help to the teachers(indigenous) and the students down there. It is a very poor country and certainly has a troubled past. Over 98% are direct descendants of the slave trade of the 18th century. If they can truly live "One Love" and forgive the colonial powers then it certainly would be a good example for the rest of us to model. Here's to a month of Thanksgiving! One Love! RV

Welcome! Luther Michael Ward 10/06/11

This past week I have moved into my 67th year and my daughter Veronica presented me with a great gift to celebrate. At 0302 Thursday morning She and Adam gave birth to my new grandson. In the birth of my kids I was always in the delivery room so this was the first time I was limited to the "hallway, pacing mode". Alexandria gave me a birthday card which partly said that "wasn't it cool that I now had a "New Grasshopper" to share wisdom with". I appreciated the compliment and do look forward to being a great grandfather ..But.. I mean to share with her that isn't it also cool that Luther has a wise Aunt to share thoughts with her "Grasshopper" nephew! This has been a Great week! Surrounded with Wisdom and Love and New Life! All testaments to a great and transforming future. I don't know the outcome of 2012 but I do know that I'm ready for it. So what is the meaning of the picture on this post? I chose this huge cypress (I think) because it shows the link between all of creation. The roots are the nutrition for the rest of the organism and symbolizes the link between our past and the new birth (green foliage) which also is a necessary link in survival. The great circle of Life. Years ago I used to travel up to Mt Ashland several times a week during the winter. Sometimes with the window open I would reflect on how the evergreens gracing that mountain reminded me of "the Trinity". As a foundational precept of Christianity it is an important one to theologians trying to find examples of "three in one" in nature. One of the most common is envisioning water in its three stages of gas, solid, and liquid. An evergreen tree with its deep roots (The Father) and its above ground visible existence (The Son) and the scent of evergreen boughs in the gentle breeze (The Spirit) was another example of the precept to me. I suppose that a deciduous tree with its seemingly death and Resurrection would also be an appropriate symbol of our path through life (and beyond). Anyhow, Welcome to the world, Luther! Pax Christi! RV