The photo above is from a part of the Camino de Santiago/The Way of St James, which I hope to walk in a little over a year, hopefully with a small group of friends. Since seeing a wonderful movie entitled "The Way," I have known that I will, indeed, walk it; I simply have to.
What's most important, however, is that I have been walking the way my whole life. Plugging into a contemplative awareness of life allows one's heart to open. By so doing, this expanding heartness, if you will, also exposes the shadow side, allowing it to be illuminated. This can be painful at times, for sure, but growth results nonetheless.
Like Jacob from the Hebrew scriptures, God and I have wrestled. Actually, it is I who have done the wrestling with a rather bemused God. When I stop, I realize that the Beloved wishes to dance with me!
Doctrine and dogma, regardless of the religious tradition, are based on a cosmology that does not reflect reality as we know it presently. We have far more knowledge of the cosmos than those during the time various scriptures were written. Maybe we need to ask the question: what is God saying to us today and how can we best express this through ritual and words in our traditions?
Until quite recently, I thought I would return to the Episcopal Church, which I love, but find that I simply cannot do so. Jesus speaks strongly to me, but he does so as a Jewish teacher to my Jewish heart. It is that simple.
I am Jewish; I am Sufi; but most of all, I am simply one who dances with God to an interspiritual melody. Truly I experience and see God in the beautifully ordinary. And I am deeply grateful.
At the end of this week comes Pesach/Passover, a time to celebrate liberation. Each and every one of us must do his or her part to make for compassion and justice in this world. We do so with this God who makes for salvation.
In other news: my Kindle book of poetry comes out this week, details to follow later. It is a dream come true and I am grateful to my publisher, Watermark Publishing, and its founder, my dear friend, Heather K. O'Hara. Expect to see more poetry, as well as prose, coming in the future. May the words that flow through me from such a powerful Source, make this a more beautiful and just world.