"The right art," cried the Master, "is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen."
"What must I do, then?" I asked thoughtfully."You must learn to wait patiently."
"And how does one learn that?"
"By letting go of yourself, leaving yourself and everything yours behind you so decisively that nothing more is left of you..."
Eugen Herrigel's "Zen in the Art of Archery" (c. 1953)
body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}Contemplative Outreach of Metropolitan Washington (DC) holds it 2nd fall Saturday morning retreat on November 6th. It will include three 30 minute sits and viewing Fr. Thomas's reflections in the Heartfulness interviews on the meaning of sin as a radical sense of separation from Ultimate Reality - to "miss the mark".
Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold,
Death's great black wing scrapes the air,
Misery gnaws to the bone.
Why then do we not despair?
Death's great black wing scrapes the air,
Misery gnaws to the bone.
Why then do we not despair?
By day, from the surrounding woods,
cherries blow summer into town;
at night the deep transparent skies
glitter with new galaxies.
cherries blow summer into town;
at night the deep transparent skies
glitter with new galaxies.
And the miraculous comes so close
to the ruined, dirty houses --
something not known to anyone at all,
but wild in our breast for centuries.
to the ruined, dirty houses --
something not known to anyone at all,
but wild in our breast for centuries.
~ Anna Akhmatova ~
These snaps were taken at a recent 12 day retreat I attended at St. Benedict's Monastery Retreat Center near Snowmass CO. Great setting, spiritual companions, veggie food, staff, beauty, silence, stillness and space (geophysical and otherwise).
So people learned from the angels of God how to build bridges, and therefore, after fountains, the greatest blessing is to build a bridge and the greatest sin is to interfere with one. – Ivo Andric
This snap is of the Chesapeake Bay bridge near Annapolis MD - 4.3 miles in length.
I took these snaps during a break at a 3-day Contemplative Outreach Circle of Service meeting in New Jersey. Snaps 1-3 are of the memorial given to the U.S. by Russia after 9/11 - it sits in Bayonne NJ; snap 4 is of several Circle members looking at the memorial - very sobering (l-r Carl Arico, Susan Rush, Marie Howard, Padre Jaime Carujo, Mark Nowak, Susan Komis, and Bonnie Schimizu, Mary Anne Best [guest] backrow); snap 5 captures a surprise moment for Carl Arico in celebration of his 50th year as a priest; snap 6 is a gift, long-held and cherished by Fr. Thomas Keating, that Fr. Thomas gave to Carl on his 50th year as a priest including relics (clockwise) from St. Bernard, St. Anthony and St. Benedict; and snaps 7-8 were taken at Carl's church in Bayonne NJ..
Today was held the second of three Saturday morning, mini Heartfulness retreats with centering prayer at St. John the Baptist Catholic Community in White Oak, MD. These snaps are from the morning.
The original meaning of the word sin in the Christian tradition is to "miss the mark." Thomas Keating speaks of the root of sin being the psychological experience of a separate-self sense (from Ultimate Reality). And when learning Zen in the art of archery one learns to release not only the arrow but also the "seperate-self sense." When such arrives hitting the "mark" ("bullseye") happens without effort.
"What must I do then?" I asked thoughtfully.
"You must learn to wait properly."
"And how does one learn that?"
"By letting go of yourself, by leaving yourself
and everything yours behind you..."
Zen in the Art of Archery - Eugen Herrigel
Sent from Ron's iPhone