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Ritual Takes Us To Deeper Learning and Presence

A bow to Shawna Lemay’s blog, Transactions With Beauty.

I enjoy Shawna’s writing. She’s much more of a curator than I will ever be. Her words are quite beautiful. And informative. Her photography is really moving, I find.

I’ve learned and known rituals primarily in two contexts.

One, with Soultime Men’s Group, where on our weekend retreats one key aspect is creating ritual. It’s saved for our last full day. Sometimes it takes us the better part of a day to discover what the ritual will be. Soultime ritual is journey to the non-linear. It is resonance, so often with the unseen. I find it moves my heart and belly in ways that last. We rely on things like a drum, sometimes stones, sometimes notes to be given to a fire. Sometimes song. Sometimes sage. Sometimes silence.

Two, I’ve learned and known ritual in Circle, which has meant bringing objects to the center, to the hearth. And sometimes, to a fire. Christina Baldwin embodied this at a time when I was really ready to learn. She was offering advice — “Become a ceremonialist.” It was instruction for the heart, to go to ritual. Light a candle. Carry a stone. Wash hands in the ocean or the pond. Release something to the ground. I’ve done quite a bit of this over the last 25 years. Speak an intention. Let go of a wound. Invite a new birth.

Ritual dislocates us from the linear, rational mind. Ritual relocates us to the heart, to the flow and resonance of a much bigger story. Ritual alchemizes. Ritual opens. Ritual reminds us that we are not alone.

And, and…

Back to Shawna’s blog. She wrote recently, some of her learning from reading a book by Byung Chul Han. Her words move me. In mind, and in heart. In the great story that is timeless. And in the day to day that requires commitment and navigation.

From Shawna…

— I’ve been reading The Disappearance of Rituals by Byung-Chul Han. Rituals stabilize life, he says, and he quotes Antoine de Saint-Exupéry who says rituals are “temporal techniques of making oneself at home in the world.” He talks about how things can be stabilizing points, a table, a chair. But today, things are consumed, taking away the mode of lingering. He talks about how smartphones are not things because “lingering” is “impossible.” There is a “restlessness inherent in the apparatus [that] makes it a non-thing.” We are compelled compulsively by our phones. “They consume us.” 

— “Ritual practices ensure that we treat not only other people but also things in beautiful ways, that there is an affinity between us and other people as well as things…” (Byung-Chul Han). 

— “Digital communication is extensive communication; it does not establish relationships, only connections.” (BCH) Digital communication is disembodied, but “rituals are processes of embodiment.”

Growing Insight, Information, and Intuition

What I tell people in Pick A Card (Becoming & Belonging Series) is that it is a format for getting insight, information, and intuition. Three “i’s” that I want to pattern back to common epistemology — ways of knowing that guide ways of being.

What I tell people, and myself, is that there is a much bigger story to guide how we learn, how we live, and how we lead.

The cards above are the ones that a group of us drew this week. Exploring respective circumstances for which we wanted insight, intuition, and information.

The process is simple. Yet the depth that arises is rich and full. I’m glad. These particular cards above are from the Spirited Leadership Values Cards, created by Leela Kirloskar. We will grow ourselves into other decks too.

Jump in. The next Pick A Card online sessions are May 7th and May 8th. All of my other B & B offerings too. Come to grow these i’s. I think of them as patterns and practices of selfcare and resonance.

When Spring is Springing

Spring is springing in Utah. Where Dana and I often walk, these trees are bursting with buds and blossoms, all so near flowering. Much is abuzz.

I am a person that quite regularly looks for operating systems of life. The kind of orientations that align with life flowing. And with mystery. And with beauty. And with calling.

I appreciate words that offer buds and blossoms for how to live and be. I wrote a version of this recently, a few of those reminders and invocations.

Today, I’m appreciating the Irish writer and theologian, John O’Donohue. His opening words in his book Eternal Echoes, offer such sweet operating system for humans springing.

Enjoy.

Matins

I.
Somewhere, out at the edges, the night
Is turning and the waves of darkness
Begin to brighten the shore of dawn.

The heavy dark falls back to earth
And the freed air goes wild with light,
The heart fills with fresh, bright breath
And thoughts stir to give birth to colour.

II.
I arise today

In the name of Silence
Womb of the Word,
In the name of Stillness
Home of Belonging,
In the name of the Solitude
Of the Soul and the Earth.

I arise today

Blessed by all things,
Wings of breath,
Delight of eyes,
Wonder of whisper,
Intimacy of touch,
Eternity of soul,
Urgency of thought,
Miracle of health,
Embrace of God.

May I live this day

Compassionate of heart,
Gentle in word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love.

Fresh Bread Today

It’s fun. And tasty.

Today I experimented with a bit of Italian Seasoning mixed into the dough.

My bread recipe is here. Give it a go.

I’m also remembering this poem today, from Most Mornings. Because, the inner quiet feels more needed that ever.

For me. Perhaps for you too.

And because I wrote about it previously when I was writing about bread.

Enjoy.

In Clarity

I wish
departure
most mornings.

From all the imposed noise
that distorts my inner.

I wish
to remain
most mornings.

In clarity
of freed heart.

Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature
is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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