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24432 |
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Date: August 28, 2023 at 08:34:03
From: Nevada, [DNS_Address]
Subject: ...awake in the dream: when negative becomes positive again |
URL: Center for Action and Contemplation |
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Waking up to Life
In a virtual retreat for Turning to the Mystics podcast
listeners, James Finley shares his wisdom on living a
contemplative way of life in the world:
The contemplative way of life is so called because it’s
the way of life devoted to the cultivation of
contemplative experience. That’s our starting place. To
contemplate means to observe carefully, to pay close
attention. Most of the things that we notice, we notice
in passing, on our way to something else; then, every
so often, something gives us reason to pause. Something
catches our eye or draws our attention, and we’re drawn
for a moment to ponder or to reflect on that which
awakened us in this way. [1]
Finley offers examples of moments in which we awaken to
God’s presence in “the cosmic dance”:
Without warning, we find ourselves falling into the
abyss of a star-strewn sky or find our heart impaled by
a child’s laughter or the unexpected appearance of the
beloved’s face. Without warning we lose our footing in
the silence broken and, in the breaking, deepened by
the splash of a frog we did not know was there.
What is so extraordinary about such moments is that
nothing beyond the ordinary is present. It is just a
starlit sky, a child at play. It is just the primal
stuff of life that has unexpectedly broken through the
mesh of opinions and concerns that all too often hold
us in their spell. It is just life in the immediacy of
the present moment before thought begins. Here, in this
unforeseen defenselessness, is granted the
contemplative experience, however obscure it might be,
that we are the cosmic dance of God, that the present
moment, just the way it is, is already, in its deepest
actuality, the fullness of union with God we seek. [2]
We choose a contemplative way of life when we recognize
and return to these moments of awakening:
These moments pass and the real question then for us
is, “What happens next?” All too often, unfortunately,
nothing happens next. The gate to Heaven opened and
your cell phone went off. You were already late to a
meeting. Nothing happened next.
But sometimes what happens is that although the moment
has passed, you reflect back upon it, and you realize
that the subtle moment was a kind of homecoming. You
settled, with a sense like “I belong here.” When you
start understanding your life in the light of these
moments, you realize this feeling that you’re skimming
over the surface of the depths of your own life. It’s
all the more unfortunate because God’s unexplainable
oneness with us is hidden in the depths over which
we’re skimming. Then there’s the gift of a holy
discontent. We say to ourselves “I don’t like living
this way.” I don’t like living exiled from this inner
richness that from time-to-time visits me and quickens
me from within.... I want to abide in the depths so
fleetingly glimpsed. [3]
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Responses:
[24433] [24434] [24451] [24452] [24457] |
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24433 |
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Date: August 28, 2023 at 17:11:17
From: Kat, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: ...awake in the dream: when negative becomes positive again |
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This is a good read. Meaningfully for those with open minds.
I read it twice!
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Responses:
[24434] [24451] [24452] [24457] |
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24434 |
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Date: August 28, 2023 at 17:56:10
From: Nevada, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: ...awake in the dream: when negative becomes positive again |
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The gate to Heaven opened and...
These moments pass and the real question then for us
is, “What happens next?” All too often, unfortunately,
nothing happens next. The gate to Heaven opened and
your cell phone went off. You were already late to a
meeting. Nothing happened next.
Thank you Kat for being the first "Bopper" to respond
to my new "incarnation" on Earth Boppin thanks both to
Bopp and to Charles for providing a new forum to
practice my continuing humanity on. In keeping with
the "spirit" of the message, it is interesting to note
that you currently live in a part of the world that was
very important to my own life some 50 years ago that
included virtually thousands of moments where the gates
of heaven opened just wide enough for me to go on to
the next step in life.
The secret I believe is to recognize those moments for
what they really are and be open to taking the next
steps they often present.
Opportunities in life are many, the option to act on
them is ours.
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Responses:
[24451] [24452] [24457] |
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24451 |
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Date: August 30, 2023 at 22:49:55
From: Kat, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: ...awake in the dream: when negative becomes positive again |
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My eyes may be playing tricks on me but my post ( full post) isn’t here.
Oh well. Life goes on. You obviously got to read it that’s all that matters.
Cheers Lee
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Responses:
[24452] [24457] |
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24452 |
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Date: August 30, 2023 at 23:30:38
From: Kat, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: ...awake in the dream: when negative becomes positive again |
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It made it! My post to you Lee. For whatever reason it’s one of those
moments you either chew on or forget it. Life… I have 2- very dear
friends that live in other states. We can pick up the phone, talk, laugh,
cry, & share like the last time we spoke was yesterday. I cherish these
moments! Seems the older I get the more I so appreciate every day God
gives to this soul here on earth.
At the age of 15 we were on a road trip we stopped in Boise, ID. Had my
picture taken at the capital building next to the bell. I KNEW and said
someday I’m going to live here. ‘74 my husband & I moved to Boise, ID
Lived there for 29- yrs. Why we moved back is another book ( stepping
stone) in life. We both had great jobs that we left- sold our home left CA
in the dust. Thank God we only had to come this far into the state. It’s
taken a while but we have learned to bloom where He has planted us for
the moment.
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Responses:
[24457] |
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24457 |
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Date: August 31, 2023 at 22:41:52
From: Kat, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: ...awake in the dream: when negative becomes positive again |
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BTW I printed your first post - it’s a keeper.
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Responses:
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