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inSOUL is a regular email alert offering short inspirational meditations and reflections to people of all faiths, or none.  

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A contemporary prayer  (13 May 2012)  Recent inSOUL's have explored prayer as a means of listening to the Divine, with an attitude of selflessness, and seeking to change our perception of the world, rather than pleading a particular cause. How does this all come together in practice? Perhaps the most well-known prayer in the Christian tradition is the one used by Jesus in his teaching and often called the Lord's Prayer. Here is one contemporary interpretation of this prayer:

Beloved Mystery of Creation forming the eternal here-now that is beyond my understanding,
May I let go of my attempts at control and adopt Your Way in this life and all that is to come.
May I be given all that I need for today.
Help me move beyond my limited judgements of others and accommodate their mis-perceptions about me.
Help me to stay on the path of spiritual growth and keep me from the dangers of my own ego-mind
For You hold the only true and complete view of the One Universal Energy, now and always.
So may it be.

The purpose of prayer  (7 May 2012)  Rather than being concerned with pleading and petitioning, the purpose of prayer is all about right perception. We are asking to see the world - our situation, our way of living - as it truly is, and not as we want it to be, think it ought to be, or seek to change it. When we perceive what-is in the world, we are aligned with the creative engine of the universal Mystery.

There are three possible foci for our prayer. We can pray for ourselves, that we might perceive and accept our true situation just as it is. We can pray for others, particularly those in distress or suffering, that they find the strength to fully experience and accommodate the reality of their circumstances. And we can pray for the man-made structures and institutions of this world that they choose to re-align themselves with the natural energies of creative life (and not the individual human agendas of those in apparent power).

My prayer is for right perception to see and accept what-is at all levels.

The Form of Prayer  (30 April 2012)  When prayer takes the form of a remembrance of God, for what should we pray? Many peoples' prayer takes the form of petitioning or pleading. Since Jesus' teaching is that "God knows what you need before you ask" (Matthew 6:8) then such plea-bargaining is unnecessary. It is essentially self-ish. Rather, we can step into prayer that is self-less. All sacred teaching urges us to accept 'what-is' as the only path to peace. So instead of praying selfishly "help me to succeed in this ... [project]" we can shift into selflessness with "help me accept whatever the outcome of this ... [project] ... as part of the unfolding Mystery of Creation". This form of prayer is a surrendering of our little desires, goals and will to the greater and unknown Will of the Universe - which will transpire anyway.

The most common form of prayer in the New Testament is simply: 'Lord, help me' or 'Lord, save me'. This is not a selfish plea but a deep surrendered heart call that sums up the vulnerability of the human self. It can be the most effective form of prayer.

The Meaning of Prayer  (23 April 2012)  Prayer is a core aspect of most spiritual traditions but one that many misunderstand. Too often prayer is regarded as a request list or a petition. We have been brought up to see prayer as a time when we talk to God about our desires or our fears. It's far more helpful to turn this idea on its head: prayer is actually a time to listen to God.

The Islamic tradition invites men and women to prayer five times each day. It's a way of encouraging a continuous remembrance of God in all things and at all times. This remembrance is an acknowledgement, a re-membering, and a connecting with God in the busy-ness of our day-to-day lives. At its heart, prayer is simply 'time for God' - a pause, a reflection, and a re-connection. If these words 'God' and 'Prayer' don't resonate for you, just notice that this same pause occurs when you walk in the landscape and see a beautiful sight, when you are stopped in front of a creative artwork, when you are captivated by a lover, and when you look up into the celestial sky. Each such moment is a pause when the human heart receives nourishment from the connection to beauty, love, nature, creativity and the mystery of the universe.

Death and beyond  (16 April 2012)  As a species, we are perhaps alone on this planet in having the capacity to contemplate our own death - and yet most people either don't consider it, or view it solely with fear. Death is the great unknown: we know neither its timing nor its manner; we can know nothing of what lies beyond death. Nature demonstrates that death and life are cyclical. The laws of physics demonstrate that nothing is ever lost, just changed in form. Religions and spiritual initiations teach the value of "dying before you die" - in other words, learning to let go of what is impermanent in life in order to begin to know that which is permanent.

The three common elements of life are body, mind and soul. In death, the body visibly breaks down and decays as its organic matter is recycled to nature or converted back to carbon. The neural and electrical impulses of the mind simply cease: the mental activity that has sought to dominate and control our life is finally shown to be entirely temporary and powerless in the reality of death. What is left, then, is the ethereal soul - an intangible essence without form, possession, quantifiable energy, or evident manifestation. Literally "something and nothing".

When we contemplate our own death, it is this sense of soul that remains.

The Pascal Mysteries 2 - Life and Death  (9 April 2012)  Perhaps the greatest paradox of all is to be contemplated throughout this Easter week. It is expressed in many different ways throughout the Christian Bible. To find life, you must first lose it. In the middle of life, you are in death. The seed must die for the plant to grow. Death is not the end.

Most human beings fear physical death and will do anything it avoid it, delay it, ignore it and deny it. We witness the constant cycle of life, death and re-birth that is present throughout all Nature, yet fail to see ourselves in this same inevitable cycle. This great Pascal Paradox teaches that holding onto 'life' involves pain and suffering; embracing 'death' is liberating and life-affirming. Such a paradoxical teaching has multiple depths.

The invitation: By allowing your-self to die, you discover what your life is.

The Pascal Mysteries - 1  (2 April 2012)  The Christian teachings of Jesus' final week illustrate some of the most profound paradoxes. Throughout this week we are invited to reflect on power, leadership/followership and humility. Jesus is acclaimed as the King, the Saviour, and the Son of God. Yet this man is shown to be living with friends outside the capital city; he rides on a small donkey; he talks openly of his own death; he washes feet; he eats in simple fellowship.

This man possesses nothing. He has neither wealth nor belongings, no home, no descendants, no writings, no symbols of authority, nothing. He teaches primarily about love. He is welcomed by the people. Yet he is so feared by the priests, the law-makers and the officials that they plot to kill him, by one means or another. What do they fear? What do they fear losing?

We see this still today [Think capitalism, communism, corruption, Burma, Syria, and so many more]. Power that is gained through the ego-mind lives in fear. True leadership is recognised and acclaimed as authentic when it derives from the humility of the soul.

Biblical paradox  (26 March 2012)  Whilst Biblical teaching is full of imagery, metaphor and parable, it is in the conscious use of paradox that the reader is often most challenged. The use of Biblical paradox is clearly deliberate. We are meant to grapple with the seeming contradictions until we begin to expand our view of the universe beyond what we comfortably know and include an awareness of all that is unknown.

"Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first" (Matthew 19:30). Perhaps a teaching in humility.

"I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19: 23-24). Another teaching on humility or on attachment.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). Perhaps a teaching on abundance and scarcity.

In these and other paradoxes, the deeper layers of insight that can come from sitting with them are often counter-posed to the earlier understandings. Try them!

The power of paradox  (19 March 2012)   The power of paradox lies in taking you beyond the mind. Paradox needs to be absorbed because it cannot be understood nor rationalised; instead, you can only intuit paradox through a greater awareness. As a result, the value of paradox is that it expands you. The restrictive view that something is either/or, is expanded in the contemplation that it can also be both/and. Try reflecting on some more paradoxes:

I am both in this world and beyond this world

I am Being and Doing at the same time

I am both male and female

I am filled with love and filled with fear

I am alive and I am dead

I am everything and I am nothing.

Living with paradox  (12 March 2012)  A metaphor usually draws you into the contemplation of a paradox. A paradox is a statement leading to a contradiction that defies mental logic or reason; it requires understanding at a deeper level than the mind is capable of knowing. Many mystic traditions use paradox to escape the limitations of the mind. The Zen tradition teaches koans. Jesus taught in parables. Whenever you encounter a paradox, you can be certain that some deeper inner wisdom is being revealed. Many paradoxes require the unitive form of both/and thinking (rather than the dualistic form of either/or thinking). Try to absorb and apply these paradoxes to your own self-awareness:

• I am simultaneously both right and wrong
• I am a part of that of which I am also the whole
• If creation is infinite, how did creation begin?
• Is there any end to me or any beginning to you?

We are surrounded by paradoxes and yet so many of us seek to deny this radical uncertainty by exercising judgement and control in our separate either/or mini-worlds.

The power of story-telling  (5 March 2012)  Why is so much sacred writing presented in the form of stories, metaphors, parables and anecdotes? Any modern guidebook would be full of 'How To' instructions and bullet-lists in order to make the teaching as clear and direct as possible. The authors of the Tao Te Ching, the Dhammapada, the Hebrew scriptures, the Christian scriptures and the Koran were not interested in offering quick-fixes; they knew that true inner awareness took a lifetime of searching. Douglas Adams' supercomputer took 7.5 million years to deduce "The answer to the ultimate question of life .. is 42" by which time the question was forgotten.

A good story or parable works by being absorbed over time, often unconsciously. If you strive to understand the meaning at the first hearing, you see only something that is simplistic and moralistic - and usually entirely contrary to the deeper levels of meaning that are also embodied within the story. Literal story-telling lead to fundamentalist right/wrong thinking. Metaphoric story-telling can draw you into the mystical world of expanded thinking and awareness.

Contemplation: Take any simple sacred story and sit with it for 15 minutes to allow possible new insights to emerge.

The literal and metaphoric child  (27 February 2012)  The images of childhood and of the little child are found throughout all sacred teaching texts. Are they to be taken literally (- that only young children experience grace) or metaphorically (- that we should strive for some quality of the childhood mind and heart). I invite you to contemplate for a time and discern your sense of the God-Child.

We each begin this life as dependent children; and most of us will end it in another helpless child-like state. In-between, does the child ever go away? In growing-up, most of us cover, hide or bury the inner-child; at worst, we disown him or her, choosing to show only this professional mask. Yet the vulnerable child can become visible again - in love, in loss and bereavement, in anger, in intimacy. I suggest that it is these little-children, the ones we keep hidden within us, that are the Children of God, and to which the sacred stories about children are guiding us metaphorically.

Beginner's language  (20 February 2012)  'Beginner's mind' is the Zen practice of experiencing everything as if for the very first time - like a child - and without any pre-conceptions or evaluative judgements. It is accompanied by something we might call 'beginner's language'. The child knows this language well: it is the language of the heart. The heart recognises, knows and appreciates things through love, nurture, mystery, uncertainty, enquiry, generosity, unknowing and paradox. Yet as we grow from childhood into so-called maturity and adulthood, this wonderful heart language is overtaken by the voracious language of the mind. The mind's primary concern in all situations is control. Its language is fear, anxiety, understanding, rationality, independence, preservation, possession and scarcity.

The whole human being needs both aspects to be in proportion; all too often we have substituted the language of the mind for that of the heart.

Reflection: Where do I still use the beginner's language of the heart?

Beginner's Mind  (13 February 2012)  You cannot reach the level of the soul through the mind. Mindfulness is not about using the mind, but about emptying the mind, in order to discover what lies beyond the mind. You can't think your way to God; which is why God cannot be explained in words. We have become so accustomed in the West to graphic depictions of God in human form that we assign human rationality and understanding. Other paths do not fall into this trap. Islam forbids any attempt to depict Allah. Mystic traditions use words such as Mystery, Creator and Unknowing to refer to the Divine around us. Buddhism refers to Right Mind.

We need to cultivate the Zen practice of 'beginner's mind' in which we seek to experience everything that happens to us in each moment as if for the very first time. This is the same instruction as Jesus used when referring to children and saying "unless you become like one of these children, you cannot enter the mystery / heaven".

Reflection: Let me start to see with Beginner's Mind.

The three modes of knowing  (7 February 2012)  We each live in one of three 'states'. Far and away the most common is the 'non-conscious mode'. This is the state of existence, sleep-walking, and survival. It's where most people live. Its most common characteristics are blindness and ignorance with a constant focus on knowing and understanding.

The second mode begins when you start to awaken. It is the 'conscious mode'. Here you start to develop awareness and mindfulness. It is characterised by periodic insights and (excessive) thinking. You begin to know that there is a very large unknown.

And the third mode begins when awakening shifts into internal and external contemplation or prayer. This is the 'unconscious mode' and is characterised by inner wisdom and trusted intuition. It has no character: it is simply being, in which the mystery of unknowing is always present and welcomed.

Reflection: May I become more un-knowing.

What is presence?  (30 January 2012)  The word has attracted several meanings deriving from 'the state of being present', often shortened in a spiritual context to simply 'being'. It is that state in which you are consciously aware of what is happening here and now in this moment and which is often different from the last moment or the next moment. That awareness encompasses sounds, body sensations, sights, emotions, thoughts, intuition, external circumstances and more. It is the awareness of all senses and all events currently affecting you. All forms of prayer, meditation and contemplation invite you simply to notice - without changing, judging, disregarding, omitting, holding, justifying or denying. So simple, and yet so apparently hard.

Reflection: Let be what already is.

Being noticed or Being present  (23 January 2012)  There is a world of difference between being noticed and being present. To be noticed is to attract attention to oneself in the external world. To be present is to pay attention to one's Self in the internal world. All great spiritual traditions teach the importance of being present. Whether you call it prayer, meditation, contemplation, awareness, stillness, inward-looking, mantra, observing or yoga, being present is the recurring practice.  Each Biblical reference to 'awaken', 'eyes to see', 'wake up', 'be vigilant', 'see here' is this reminder.

Reflection: Can I be present, here, now?

Being un-noticed  (16 January 2012)  Most responses to the question 'Who Am I?' tend to draw attention to some aspect of our physicality, status, achievements, character or behaviour. This contrasts sharply with the simplicity of presence in the Divine name 'I AM'. In our cultures, we invest value and merit in all the busy doings; and we give little attention to the underlying being. We are so invested in doing that we try to record, capture and publish all the details in words, pictures, films, blogs, and other media. We clamour for attention and historical legacy.

Yet notice how the most influential people who have walked this planet - those who are most able to answer the 'Who Am I?' question - have had no need or desire to draw attention to themselves or record their life story for posterity. Lord Buddha did not need a Twitter feed to bring inner peace to countless millions. Jesus never arranged for any of his teachings to be written down. Ghandi disdained physical effects. The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi are not maintaining personal Facebook profiles.

Reflection: Am I more authentic when I am noticed less?

Who are you?  (9 January 2012)  Any resolution to 'simply be me' inevitably invites the question: So, who am I? This is one of the fundamental and recurring questions in life. We answer it at the physical level (I am this body), and we answer it at the intellectual level (I am this age, this job, this status, this characteristic) yet such responses provide a transient answer usually about ephemeral aspects of the persona. Who are you at the soul level?

When Moses first asked this question of God, the reply came: "I am that I am". Moses is told to tell his followers: "I AM has sent me". It is a profound name, a name and a description without qualification. Whilst we add an object to every description, this is a sentence without an object. It is used by Jesus at crucial points in his teaching, including, most tellingly: "Who do you say that I am?"

This is a soul question inviting deep reflection: Who are you?

Resolving to simply be  (2 January 2012)  At this time when people are making resolutions and stating intentions, what is it that we should work for? The wish for a peaceful year establishes a context for our lives. The desire for improvements in prosperity or status or health or romance is attractive yet self-centred and often materialistic. If we are not to be selfish, what is the resolution that others would most welcome by our adoption? It is simple: to give up our 'acts'. To let go of the striving and pretence to be other than we truly are. To cease those actions and behaviours designed to satisfy others. To stop the self-defences and self-justifications.

This resolution is to return to authenticity and integrity; to rediscover who I am; to be just the person I already am.

Reflection: This year, can you simply be you?

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