Spiritual Reflections While Meditating

As we sit in an un-programmed Quaker worship meeting, we are supposed to be meditating. What a variety of thoughts and insights must be passing thorough the minds of all who are present! This last Sunday, this is what occupied my mind and spirit.

I sit here. I stare through the window looking up at the sky. It is so clear. It is so blue. Based on the evidence of my senses alone, I could honestly say that there is nothing there – just a vast expanse of blueness.

But we know that there are myriad mysteries out there, hidden from my naked eyes.

As I wander through life, I could decide that there is nothing beyond except what my senses and my limited mind can grasp. However, from time to time there are clear intimations that there is more than meets the eye. There are unexpected openings bursting in upon me. In our Quaker meetings as we worship, we try to be open to these revelations.

I have a friend who is captivated by herons. To her these majestic birds are endlessly fascinating. The fascination with these great birds is an opening to something more, something ethereal, to something beyond her ken. Earlier peoples fixated on specific animals in this extraordinary way. They were constantly in awe of their chosen totems. But they did not worship their totems. Instead they sensed that in the presence of these totems they could enter into another space – beyond their body and mind space – into a spiritual space.

There seems to be no one universal totem. Different peoples have different totems. But they all seem to be pointing towards a greater ground of being. It is a human trait to strive for that which is beyond our limits. There is a great creative force that is beyond us. When this reality is forcefully experienced within, massive changes in human behaviour are possible. This is when a new spiritual life begins and an exciting new quest starts.

This mystery is so vast and unintelligible that we need a link, a symbol, a door to show us the way to it. Totems are such. The great spiritual leaders who have touched this power can also show us the way. Is it too blasphemous to say that Jesus is the totem for Christians?  Jesus’ life, teachings and death are our openings to the ways of the great Spirit.

It is this kind of experience that has illumined mankind throughout the centuries. This inner illumination gives the impetus needed to challenge the world`s dominant structures. Three great harmful structures confront us today.

- the nuclear weapons threat

- the climate change threat

- the destabilizing inequality of the world`s resources among peoples

All of these threats are human caused. The third and last of these is the most pernicious. It makes the first two more virulent and dangerous.

It is the working of the Spirit that can aid us in these struggles.