Sunday Satsang: At The Center with Michael Smith and Jim Nelson 10:00 a.m. – 12 Noon
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
The general theme in the Sunday Sessions in 2019 has been space-clearing (on all levels) — external objects, physical toxins (as with Ayurveda), emotional baggage, unhelpful thoughts, bad habits etc. – especially pertaining to taking Vanaprastha Vows.
A new phase of our studies begins this week as we delve within into the study of the mind.
Swami Rama said, “You are the architect of your life,” but new research on neuroplasticity tells us that we can be the architects of our minds.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This Sunday we will review what was covered on December 22nd and discuss
Ten Questions from FINDING MEANING IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE by James Hollis
Is the life you are living too small for your soul’s desire?
We all retain an intuitive tie to that great, immortal sea from whence we came – hence the re-cognition, the re-membrance. Additionally, there are moments in one’s life when things are meant to happen, when outer and inner are aligned. We have mastered the language of the outer world through physics and chemistry, but the principle of synchronicity acknowledges that there is an inner world of causality as well. When the moment is ripe for us to hear, then the word is spoken. Perhaps the word is always being spoken, but it takes our readiness to hear.
Why does the idea of the soul both trouble you and feel familiar, like a long-lost companion?
The soul (anima, alma, ame, Seele, psyche) is simply the word for our intuited sense of a presence that is other than the ego, larger than the ego, and sometime in conflict with the ego. The soul is the archetype of meaning and the agent of organic wholeness….
The idea of the soul…asks something of us; that is, it summons ego consciousness to an accounting. The soul asks for a larger frame of reference, to an eternal perspective amid our time-bound egos and their reductive, fear-driven agendas. Such a presence reminds us that we are never alone when alone, that is another that provides continuity to our fractured days, organic unity to our broken selves, and transcendence to our fallen condition. The soul is intuited in childhood, pushed aside by the adaptive choices of consciousness, and recovered in adulthood only when we are willing to open to it.
I was in my fourth year of analysis at Zurich…before it really hit home to me that there was an active place of wisdom, deeper than my conscious knowing, that had been speaking to me all the while. What an obvious recognition, yet how recalcitrant my consciousness had been. That trek from head to heart took four years.
When we ask the meaning of a mood, reflect upon our history, inquire into the dynamics of a physical symptom, ponder a dream, we are in dialogue with soul. When we are wrung by life, flung into dismal depths, then lifted higher than we thought possible, transformed from what we were to what we become, we are in the presence of soul.
In a poem titled “Autumn,” Rilke describes how not only the leaves are falling, but all things, this heavy earth, all falling through space, and we with it. Yet, he concludes:
“And still there is one who in his hands gently
Holds this falling endlessly.”
The poet does not name the one whose hands hold the cosmos, but he does intuit that all that fall are sustained nonetheless by something even larger. So the idea of the soul, the felt presence of the soul intimidates while is sustains, and the summons to the ego is to relinquish its fantasy of sovereignty and be held in that fall.
Consider these questions. Answer them honestly to yourself or they will prove of no value. If they hurt a bit, or intimidate a lot, then they are hitting home for you. Answer them honestly, and you are on the way to the insight that leads to wisdom, the wisdom that leads to change, and change that leads to a larger life, and the larger life that ultimately provides healing because it is the life the gods intended for you.
*****************************************************
Sunday Community Gathering (Satsang)
Sunday Satsang sessions are informal gatherings of people who are interested in refining their meditative practices and their lifestyles following the teachings of the Himalayan Yoga Tradition.
Senior Teachers Jim Nelson and Michael Smith host each session:
- Meet from 10:00 AM – 12 Noon
- 45-minute Guided Meditation
- Presentation and a Discussion
There are some Sundays when Sunday Satsang is not held or when other events and presentations replace the Sunday Satsang sessions. When that occurs, we try to notify all interested people in advance on The Meditation Center website.
To receive personal email announcements from Michael about the status of the Sunday Satsang sessions and/or the focus of the week’s offerings, please call The Meditation Center office at 612-379-2386.
