Rumi Reflection Group, 25th June

 

Here we are in this hidden corner, drunk.

O friend!  These companions merged

into a single soul, drunk,

detached from the self and the world,

with mouths closed like pistachios,

breathing lightly

with the secret You gave them.

Rumi

Street Zen Training, 23rd June

We met together on a windy sunday afternoon, and watched the Midsummer Watch parade go by with huge puppets of elephants and dragons and pirate ships and demons!  Then we sat by the big cross in Abbey Square outside the Cathedral and discussed the Norwegian ecological philosopher Arne Naess.  Jennie, who comes from Norway, spoke about how well known he is there, and how creatively crazy.  We explored the idea that humans are not any more important or valuable than other forms of life, only we have more responsibility because of our intelligence and self-awareness.  We spoke about interconnectedness and human action, and also a little about the idea of the Zen Peacemaker Circles themselves in an ecological light - that they are intended to embody the traditional role of a "Zen Teacher" in a more varied way, within the Circle itself rather than authority and wisdom being seen as resting in a single person.

Eric's First Mindfulness Session!

 

Eric today started fortnightly mindfulness and metta sessions, to be held the weeks in between the street training in Chester.  The venue is the Harvest Moon cafe, opposite the library.  Sunday was the first meeting, and lots of people turned up to be led gently by Eric in the traditional Buddhist meditation practice known as the MIndfulness of Breathing...

Rumi Reflection Group, 12th June

 

The work of love is to create

a window in the heart,

for the breast is illumined

by the beauty of the beloved

Rumi

Street Training Circle, 9th June

 

We met at the roman amphitheatre, a wonderfully warm and sunny day.  After meditating for a while we read a story from B Glassman's book .  The story was about the amount of/lack of religious scripture during a meditation retreat.  Opinions were many, varied and shared. I interpreted the story was trying to convey the importance of rejoicing in our differences, rather than searching for our similarities.  For it is our differences that make us unique, and it is our differences that make us common.  The fact that we are different is something we all share.

After discussing what the story meant, we left the amphitheatre and each of us found our place to sit.  Here we witnessed people, nature, and general life in the city.  We all met at the amphitheatre, to discuss what we had we had observed, many of us seemed to have had similar experiences of witnessing people and their relationships.  We were then led in meditation by wonderful young Tasha, followed by a shared meal, kind company and good discussion.

by Jennie

Rumi Reflection Group, 29th May

 

She is not that kind of beloved most imagine;

she is a ray of God.

She is not just created,

she is creative.

Rumi

This afternoon we met in the garden at Sally's again and read from Love's Ripening.  We're up to the chapter on 'Feminine and Divine', and we couldn't decide which poem to read... so we read all four of them!  We had a great discussion on the union of opposites, on Hegel's dialectics, on hope and despair.  We also talked about possibilities for future activities - art and study and clowning!

The painting above is by Clara Stella from the Circle, who's leaving this week to go back to Italy...

Street Training, Sun 26th May

 

We met in the ampitheatre again then walked to the ruins of the Norman cathedral, where we did a little relaxation, checked-in wth each other, and read the chapter on Oneness from Bernie Glassman's book "Bearing Witness".  We had a good discussion about our own barriers that we erect between ourselves and other people, and how they sometimes come down.  Then we headed out for some bearing witness practice on the streets, this week wandering aimlessly (andare a Zonzo as it's called in Italian) and just mingling with the place and the people.

We came back together to discuss the practice, sat in silence for a little while, and then shared a meal together. The squirrel you can maybe just make out in middle of the photo is eating a breadstick from the meal!

Let our heart, our hand, and our table be open to everyone...

Chris