Seven years ago this week I started writing this weekly blog. I had just come off of a three month sabbatical much of which was spent participating in and exploring several spiritual communities where people intentionally seek the Presence of God.
I experienced silent solitude in the natural mystery of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, where I also encountered a regional gathering of Quaker Friends who introduced me to the wonder of communal silence. A week with Zen Buddhist monks at Tasajara in the mountain wilderness of California, showed me how intention, ritual, and contemplation, both individual and communal, transcend time and space to reveal an eternal now. The isle of Iona in Scotland offered the experience of "thin places" where heaven and earth, divine and human, touch one another. Time with my family on the ocean cliffs and deep forests of Costa Rica provided exposure to exotic plants, animals, and tropical rains revealing the breathless diversity of creation.
These experiences led me to re-examine other experiences in my life, opening my mind and heart to truly know that IT is all connected and interconnected as One Eternal Presence in which we live. On a weekly basis I've tried to share some inspiration, imagination, and insight with you.
Seven years later, I continue the journey. Sometimes, especially the fractured times, I struggle to see and know the Presence that holds us all together. It's not easy to seek and see the Presence in greed, anger, deceit, hatred, violence, and suffering. There are times when only a past Presence offers comfort in a present Presence, and hope of a future Presence. In one word, Eternal.
Thank you to the faithful few who continue on this blogging journey with me. As we begin another year may you continue to seek, find and rest in the One Eternal Presence in our lives.
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