For Sunday August 4th, 2019

Hello to everyone, self-awareness is a difficult and often painful path. Our inner conflicts can be embarrassing to discover, to uncover, and to share. One way of avoiding this inner and seemingly torment filled route is to follow some image of authority, by relinquishing our necessary and challenging inner work to follow preset rules we trade true happiness for temporary comfort.

But authority creates power which corrupts the leader and blinds the follower. It leads us away from the matter of our inner issues and gives a balm which fades over time.

May we sit this Sunday for the courage to dig in. May we see ourselves clearly and lovingly. May such love fully 'be' on this Earth.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday July 28th, 2019

Hello to everyone, many generations ago a Chinese sage named Chaung Chou dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes fully a butterfly. He was conscious only of his happiness as a butterfly, unaware that he was Chou. After awakening there he was, fully himself again. At that point he did not know whether he was then a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly, or whether he was then a butterfly dreaming of being a man.

In this life we often find it difficult to understand the thinking and opinions of other people. Yet here is anecdotal evidence of fully becoming a completely different species. Perhaps this indicates the level of connection which actually exists in the our world, but we typically fail to attain.

May we sit this evening with awareness of a grand underlying connection. May we see how we block ourselves in, holding ourselves away from each other. May we open ourselves to the foundation of our universe.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday July 21st, 2019

Hello everyone, 'the overview effect' is NASA's name to describe the cognitive awareness change that many astronauts have experienced. 

"It is the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes both obvious and imperative."

"It's hard to explain how amazing and magical this experience is. First of all, there's the astounding beauty and diversity of the planet itself, scrolling across your view at what appears to be a smooth, stately pace... I'm happy to report that no amount of prior study or training can fully prepare anybody for the awe and wonder this inspires." ~Kathryn D, NASA Astronaut (cited in Robinson et al., 2013, p.81)

"The thing that really surprised me was that it [Earth] projected an air of fragility. And why, I don't know. I don't know to this day. I had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, it's beautiful, it's home, and it's fragile."
— Michael Collins, Apollo 11

"If somebody'd said before the flight, 'Are you going to get carried away looking at the earth from the moon?' I would have say [sic], 'No, no way.' But yet when I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the moon, I cried." ~Alan Shepard, NASA Astronaut (cited in Nardo, 2014, p. 46)

Let us sit this Sunday for the beauty we all can experience when we are open.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday July 14th, 2019

Hello to everyone, the truth of unconditional love lives within us – we have covered it over with self-based biases, judgements, and attachments – but it is the unmistakable core of our being.

Returning to that core is essential, the Earth and humanity depend upon it.

May we sit this evening for even a glimpse of our cores. May we share the good we find. May we be a benefit to all by our very existence.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 7th, 2019

Hello to all, Loreena McKennitt's version of the ancient song Bonny Portmore is a cry for ecological wisdom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hleg0nrh4x8
It tells of the selling off of all the trees on the 'bonny' isle of Portmore to England's shipping industry, and the deep sadness of that choice. 

As we can see in our own time, the headlong rush toward money and commerce can have irreversible effects.

May we sit for wisdom on Sunday night. May we find the strength and the courage to act with compassion. May the greater 'we' learn this lesson well.

Thank you all,

Richard