SpiritPathNow

Looking for Events?

2011-11-23T00:18:05-08:00

If you are looking for the online calendar listings of www.SpiritPathNow.com/Eugene, you are just a click away!

We serve the greater Eugene area with free event listings for spiritually progressive events to help you find the next step of your spiritual journey.

Click Here to see the next two week's worth of events.

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Blessings and Thanks,

Lisa Kaye

Five Pathways to ‘Listening’

2011-11-11T14:51:58-08:00

Below are some notes I took from a conversation with Rabbi Shefa Gold in preparation for my presentation "LISTEN! ...the path to Oneness" at the 11/13 Global Day of Jewish Learning at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, Oregon... Enjoy, Lisa Kaye

Five Pathways to ‘Listening’
a conversation with Rabbi Shefa Gold

The blessing that precedes the Sh'ma, the Ahava Rabbah, is chock-ful of delicious chants - each one of them a key to Listening and to the possibility of entering into the Oneness.
The important thing is to make the Sh'ma an Experience rather than a statement.
Chanting is a way of preparing for that experience.

______________________

The first pathway… Being receptive to love

Unending Love
אַהֲבָה רַבָּה אֲהַבְתָּנוּ
Ahava rabbah avtanu
With an unending love, you have loved us.

What are the prerequisites, the preparations, where do we want to STAND when we say the Shema?

If I do not feel, or cannot receive love, it’s very hard for me to listen because I am always trying to manipulate, trying to get that love that I need, focusing on that perceived lack.

In a sense you are becoming ‘receptive’ when you say Ahava rabbah ahvtahnu… you are opening up to this great love that is flowing into the world. According to this prayer, it is flowing into the world through Torah, through history, through nature, through different ways, but it’s ‘the Great Love’.

This is a different kind of love than the love that ‘I’ love with. It’s a pure flow of G-d energy that G-d is loving me with. It takes lots of different forms; it comes in the form of my ‘life’. That’s how G-d loves me - through this, and this, and this.

I want to become receptive to that force. This is the first step I need to do in order to come to a place of ‘listening’ when I’m in that relationship and I’m allowing that love to flow through me to you.

But when I do that, I find my resistance. If G-d doesn’t love me in the way I want to be loved then I just shut myself down and I don’t receive anything. And then I can’t listen either. There’s some kind of relationship between the feeling of accepting and feeling loved and the ability to ‘listen’. What I notice is that when I can really receive that love then something in me relaxes and then the listening can happen. When the ‘listening’ happens, then an experience of ‘Unity’ is possible.

______________________

The second pathway… Commitment at all levels

Manifesting Torah
לִלְמֹד וּלְלַמֵּד לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת וּלְקַיֵּם
Lilmod u’l’lamayd lishmor v’la’asot u’l’kayaym
To learn and to teach, to uphold and to practice and to manifest

When I chant this it is energizing me towards not ‘settling’. To learn, yes, but you can’tjust learn…. you have to teach. And you can’t just teach, you also have to guard and uphold. And not just that, but you also have to practice, to ‘do’ it. And then finally that brings you to, l’kayaym, to manifest Torah.

It’s almost like a ladder. You are upping the stakes with each word. It’s generating this kind of commitment. I have to reach that place of really being motivated and committed to enter that place of the Sh’ma.

There is this kind of paradox with the Sh’ma because part of it is accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. There’s a real surrender in it. But in order to get to that place of surrender I have to rev up my level of commitment to ‘show up’ for it.

______________________

The third pathway… Taking off the veils; Torah is everywhere

Eyes, Hearts and Hands
וְהָאֵר עֵינֵינוּ בְּתּוֹרָתֶךָ וְדַבֵּק לִבֵּנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ
V’Ha’ayr aynaynu b’toratecha, v’dabayk libaynu b’mitzvotecha
Enlighten our eyes with Your Torah, and connect our hearts to Your Mitzvot.

This inspires us to take off those veils and to really see that the Torah is everywhere. So as we chant this ‘V’Ha'ayer aynaynu’, we pause and see that “Oh, the veils are off and G-d’s Kingdom is everywhere. Everywhere we can point to, ‘Your Torah’, ‘b’toratecha’.” ‘V’dabayk libaynu b’mitzvotecha’ – we embody these words in all the actions of our hands in the world.

This is how we come to the Sh’ma… With our eyes completely open. With our hearts and our hands connected. It’s that sense that we’re not just doing things unconnected from our heart. This is the ‘unity’ of ‘eyes, hearts and hands’.

If we come to the Sh’ma from a place that is divided inside us then we won’t be able to be receptive. We won’t be able to hear. We won’t be able to experience Unity because we ourselves are divided.

We are the microcosm of the universe and so some of the path of spiritual practice is about experiencing that Truth through the world of ‘me’. The Sh’ma is a declaration of unity, but you have to start with yourself. And just realizing how divided you can be, how you can compartmentalize your own life, where you can ‘know’ something and not live it, or you can ‘see’ something and not take it into your heart… all of those places of division in us need to be healed. The healing of the world happens inside us. It’s really true.

I love looking at Torah and realizing that there is nothing in Torah that is not also in me. That Torah is ‘sending’ me to look at those places inside me.

______________________

The fourth pathway… Balancing awe and love

Unifying the Heart
וְיַחֵד לְבָבֵנוּ לְאַהֲבָה וּלְיִרְאָה אֶת שְׁמֶךָ
V’yachayd l’vavaynu l’ahavah u’l’yirah et sh’mecha.(from the liturgy)
Unify our hearts to love and to be in awe of Your Name/Essence.

There is a psalm that says “V’yachayd l’vavaynu l’yira et sh’mecha.” Which translates to ‘Unify our hearts to be in fear and awe of Your Name, of Your Essence.’ And the rabbis who wrote the liturgy looked at that psalm and said, ‘You know, I think we want to tweak this a little bit (and they added ‘l’ahavah’).

Whenever you see something like that in the liturgy where they want to edit or amend something that’s given, then it’s important. And what they are saying is that love is essential if we want to encounter G-d, which is what the Sh’ma is about. The Sh’ma is about a Divine Encounter but we must balance the place of love with all of that awe. You can’t come to the Sh’ma without that, without doing that work of unifying.

To come to the Sh’ma, we need ALL of ourselves. We need to be fully present to be able to really listen and perceive. The ‘listening’ is the listening of the heart so we have to do the healing of our own hearts.

When I think about what happens to my heart when I get hurt is that some place in it sort of goes numb. I can’t even feel that space in my heart anymore. I’m cut-off from the wholeness of my heart. And I think the Sh’ma is really about ‘whole-heartedness’.

______________________

The fifth pathway… One-pointed focus

Gathering In
וַהֲבִיאֵֽנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם מֵאַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת הָאָֽרֶץ
V’Haviayni l’shalom mayarba kanfor ha’aretz
(Bring us in peace from the 4 corners of the Earth.)
Uriel! Mi’cha’el! Rafa’el! Gavri’el!

This is the ‘gathering in’ moment. This is when we gather the four corners of the tallit that represent the four corners of the world.

Part of the preparation for the Sh’ma is the ‘gathering in’, is becoming one-pointed. It is the time in the liturgy that is considered the central time of focus. It’s o.k. for your mind to wander any other time in the liturgy, but for the six words of the Sh’ma we have to find a way to focus our attention.

So the ‘gathering up’ is also the gathering of our attention, gathering the parts of ourselves, of the world inside us, of all the energies that make up this universe in one place so that we can be in a state of focus. You are gathering up your energy that is scattered. It’s the same kind of microcosm, we have to gather ourselves together as a community also. And in a sense, with traditional daavening communities everyone is doing things at their own pace, but then they come together for the Sh’ma.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל, יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ, יְיָ אֶחָֽד

Celebrating Oneness

2011-11-07T13:05:52-08:00

11:11:11 EUGENE...

Where Will You Be?
A Day of FREE Community Events "CELEBRATING ONENESS"
all happening at various times in various places
on Friday, November 11, 2011
Scroll down for the 11:11:11 details...
(At bottom see an additional Tues., 11-1 event,
"World-Wide Meditation for Oneness:
An Evolutionary Leap in Consciousness")

11:11:11 day of events visioned and promoted by
Star Gate Awareness Resources
      (541) 342-8348
      http://stargateeugene.com
      info(at)stargateeugene.com, and
www.SpiritPathNow.com/Eugene
      info(at)spiritpathnow.com
      ... your online calendar of progressive
      spiritual events in the Eugene area

If you can't attend one of the below events, we invite you to be a part of 11:11:11 and join with us energetically by creating a personal intention and action dedicated to honoring the shift in consciousness at this particular point in time.

Friday, November 11, 2011 Events...

"MOTHER EARTH ONENESS CEREMONY"
Opening Morning Ceremony for 11:11:11
Facilitators: Leia Hart and Alan Stein
10:30 am - 11:11 am - 11:30 am
meeting on top of Skinner's Butte
Honoring and Healing Ourselves and Our Planet
More info: stargate(at)stargateeugene.com
541-342-8348
~~~~~

"CREATE ONE LOVE!"
The interconnection of Love, Oneness and the ART of Conscious Creation
with Richard Blackstone at Imagine Gallery
5:00 - 6:00 pm
Imagine Gallery, 35 E. 8th Street, Eugene
     Richard Blackstone's powerful presentation reveals how to easily manifest Abundance, Health & Harmony into your everyday life through "3 Simple, Time-Tested Principles". Yes, you can apply them immediately and begin to creat your life consciously the way you really, really, really want it to be.
Get a FREE Life-Transforming Gift just for attending.
www.ConsciousLifeStyleSecrets.com
www.RichardBlackstone.com
richard(at)richardblackstone.com
"Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Gandhi
~~~~~

"GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT / GIFTS OF THE EARTH"
November 11, 2011 Interfaith Prayer Service
6:45 pm to 8 pm
Sponsored by the Interfaith Prayer Services International
Main Sanctuary, 1166 Oak Street, Eugene, Oregon
An evening of music, prayer, gratitude and celebration for everyone...
6:45 p.m. prelude
7:00 to 8:00 p.m. service
Followed by fellowship
Bring your family and friends!
FREE CHILDCARE is now available at all services!

Schedule details for Friday, NOVEMBER 11, 2011
“Giving Thanks: Gifts of the Spirit, Gifts of the Earth”

Prelude “Honor Her Name” Nasim Cosmos Worth
Opening Remarks “Prayer of Thanksgiving” Kathryn Anne & Kit Frisinger, First Christian Church
Temple Beth Israel “Earthsong: Without words or speech” Shevach Lambert
Wicca “The Fallow Time” Becca Perry, priestess
In Accord “We Are” & “Bonse Aba” Maureen Robertson, director
Padmacahaya “Open Heart Meditation” Lama Tsering
Unity of the Valley “Thankfulness” a member of the congregation
Eugene Sikh Dharma “Blessed, Blessed is Guru Ran Dass..." Gurumukh Khals
Interfaith Sangha “Gratitude for Gifts” Norma Burkett
Native Drumming “Songs of Gratitude” Jerry Hall and friends
Closing Remarks “Praise and Gratitude” Bahai/ letter from Bill Harris,
read by Gurumukh
Postlude: “Espiritu de Dios” In Accord Choir

We meet on the 11th of every month! Come join us!
www.InterfaithPrayer.org
~~~~~

NEWEST LISTING!
"JOURNEY TO WHOLEHEARTEDNESS"
with David Spinney and Peggy Petersen
11:11:11 - FREE EVENING
11/12-11/13 Workshop
Weekend Experiential Workshop
Friday, Nov. 11: 7pm - 9:30pm...
the first evening, 11:11, is free.... Bring Your Friends!
Saturday, Nov. 12 -8:45am -7pm
Sunday, Nov. 13 - 8:45am - 5pm
     Session times:
     • Friday 7 pm - 9:30 pm
     • Saturday 9 am - 7 pm
     • Sunday 9 am - 5 pm
**We will have several short recesses and a 1 hour lunch recess each day.
     Presenting the seminal work of Dr. Brené Brown in Michigan, California, and the Pacific Northwest.
     What inspires you? Do you feel ready to shift old patterns into your conscious, creative life? What would your life be like, living fully alive? Join us in experiencing the tools we've found for making our own profound shifts.
     Recognize how shame feels when it arises and how shame can be keeping you separate from those you love. Learn how you can transform shame into connection by recognizing and shifting how you interact with shame and with others.
     Our experiential Journey to Wholeheartedness workshops will increase your shame resilience - your ability to recognize when shame is working and responding consciously, creating new, deeper connections with your world.
      • $150 for one or $275 ($25 savings!) when you register with a friend. Register in advance through PayPal on our website at: http://JourneyToWholeheartedness.com/, or pay at the workshop. We have a limited number of partial scholarships/work-exchanges available. Please inquire directly to David(at)JourneyToWholeheartedness.com
     • 466 West 17th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97401 (map: http://g.co/maps/qfvaz)
     • To learn more about us, Journey To Wholeheartedness and Inspired Alive!, please visit: http://JourneyToWholeheartedness.com/ and http://www.inspiredalive.com/.
~~~~~

"AWAKENING OF ONE"
11:11:11 - Once in a lifetime / All One in Humanity
7:11 pm to 11:11 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church at 477 E. 40th and Donald
Free Community Event
(donations appreciated)
PLEASE JOIN US!
Bringing EveryONE Together
CEREMONY ~ SINGING ~ CHANTING ~ SUFI DANCING ~ & MORE
Featuring a TRANSFORMATIONAL HEALING CEREMONY with
Spiritual Elder and author, Nicki Scully...
"HEALING OURSELVES, OUR COMMUNITY, OUR PLANET"
Nicki Scully and her husband Mark Hallert, are authors of
Planetary Healing: Spirit Medicine for Global Transformation

New Schedule details...
7:11 pm Sabbath Candle Lighting
with Beth Miriam Rose

7:20 pm Community Sing Along
with local Eugene Talent

8:10 pm Devotional Singing/Chanting
with Shanti Shivani and Friends

8:30 pmTRANSFORMATIONAL HEALING CEREMONY
Healing Ourselves, Our Community, Our Planet
with SPIRITUAL ELDER NICKI SCULLY

9:30 pm Dances of Universal Peace
Bliss Out with Coconut Bliss(donated by Coconut Bliss)

10:40 pm 11.11.11 Honoring the Sacred in One
with Alan Stein and Rabbi Hanan Sills

HOSTED BY STAR GATE AWARENESS RESOURCES
more info 541-342-8348 stargate(at)stargateeugene.com
~~~~~

Is Chanting Jewish?

2011-06-07T05:19:02-07:00

Some thoughts from Abraham Joshua Heschel...

"Words of prayer are repositories of the spirit. It is only after we kindle a light in the words that we are able to behold the riches they contain."

~ ~ ~

"To be able to pray is to know how to stand still and dwell on a word. This is how some worshippers of that past would act: 'They would repeat the same word many times, because they loved and cherished it so much that they could not part from it.' (R.Tzvi Elimelekh of Dynov)"

____________________________________________________

Looking for our Eugene Chanting event info?

Click here: www.spiritpathnow.com/shabbat

Affirm the presence, not the absence, of God

2011-04-03T01:56:48-07:00

In preparation for the monthly chant group I lead on the second Saturdays I was reading what one of my favorite authors, Mindy Ribner wrote about the Hebrew month of Nissan and one of her statements struck me in a new way.

"Affirm the presence, not the absence, of God."

How much of my life am I unconsciously 'affirming the absence'?

I'm aware of the time I am consciously 'affirming the presence'. I spend defined chunks of time each day in deep connection with God. It is a sweet devakut (cleaving or attachment to the Divine) that I can taste with all my senses. My meditation time is like diving into a deep and refreshing sea after a long parched and dry journey.

I mark the transition time of my spiritual practice from profane to sacred in many ways; by lighting a candle, by wrapping myself in my tallis, by sitting on my meditation bench, by settling into my breath. It is a conscious crossing over, a clear entering into the gateway of prayer. I thought that was enough since my prayer life feels very rich and deep and real but the statement "Affirm the presence, not the absence, of God" got me thinking about the flip-side of my practice.

Maybe the important part is not how, or how often we ENTER into prayer but how we come OUT of it. Do we step out of it like a finite thing that we can shed before we go into the world of our day? Do we complete a targeted time, a set reading, a specific ritual so that we feel we are adequately inoculated before we step into the real world? Do we treat our daily prayers and meditations as a sort of spiritual vitamin regimen to boost our spiritual immune system?

"Affirm the presence, not the absence, of God."

By the very way I approach entering my spiritual practice am I affirming the absence of God in the mundane daily goings on of work, traffic, to do lists...?

Of course that is not my intent, but subtly, if I feel I have to step 'into' prayer, doesn't that mean that at some point I have stepped 'out' of it?

So, for this month I'm going to pay attention to how I shift from the sacred time of prayer back into my everyday time instead of how I shift into my prayer time. I'm going to stop short at the close of my meditations and prayers. I am not going to shed the cloak of prayer but instead I'm going to blur the lines between ending prayer and I'm going to consciously invite that sacred space and time to come along with me into the rest of my day.

I want my prayerfulness to leak into my everyday doings. I want the membrane between sacred and profane time to be more and more permeable.

I don't want to carve out more time to spend in prayer. I want there to be more prayer and meditation in ALL of my time.

Prayer is not a subset of my life actions. My life actions are a subset of prayer. My daily actions come out of it, they are not separate from it.

"Affirm the presence, not the absence, of God."

How might that look in your life this month?

The Energy of Inner Renewal

2011-01-01T23:05:42-08:00

Entering the Hebrew month of Shevat we enter a time of inner renewal. The outward appearance is of dormancy and hibernation but the sap within us is still flowing, unseen, preparing for the new buds of spring still months away. Within the dormancy is the seed of the coming growth.

"There has to be an emptying
so inspiration can be received
and something new
can be brought into being."
Melinda Ribner

Jewish kabbalistic meditation teaches that the very name for the Divine, YHVH (yud-hay-vav-hay), is a Divine map of the individuated cycle of cosmic energy, the same energy that breathes life into us every moment. These Hebrew letters, yud-hay-vav-hay, are aspirate consonants which - since they are not paired with vowels - can only be 'pronounced' by breathing.

Imagine... the very name of the Divine Being is the sound of our breathing!

YUD - Empty of breath.
    The smallest Hebrew letter, curled up and small like us as we expend our breath.
HAY - Inflow of breath.
    The sound of inspiration and filling as the air rushes through our nostrils and into our lungs.
VAV - Full of breath.
    At the point of fullness of breath our spine straightens and resembles the tall, straight letter VAV.
HAY - Out flow of breath.
    The sound of exhaling and release as we relax our breath and let it flow out in a sigh.

In every breath we affirm the Name of God and the ultimate Cycle of Life: empty, inflow, full, outflow. Nothing is ever statically dormant. Nature may pause, but the sap of life, the breath of life is always waiting to flow back into that pause.

Shevat is a time of hidden spiritual newness. A time of private inward meditations and of letting go and releasing that which is not nurturing you, that which is tired and dried and brittle as old wood. This is the outflow and emptiness of the cycle. And as the Torah portions for this month from the Book of Exodus reflect, it's about leaving the Egypt, the "narrow places", of our lives empty-handed and stripped to the bare essentials. But open-handed, we walk into our lives ready to receive newness.

The winter forest looks empty of life compared to the bounty of spring but it is this emptying that creates the openness that allows us to be filled with fresh inspiration and miracles of transformation.

__________________________________________________

Come welcome the energy of your inner renewal with us at our next Shabbat Chant Circle, Saturday, January 8, 2011 from 10:30 to noon. We meet at the Center for Spiritual Living, 390 Vernal Street, Eugene, Oregon.
Everyone is welcome!

Lisa Kaye offers a metaphysically oriented, Jewish Renewal-style Shabbat meditation and chant circle once a month, usually on the second Saturday of the month. The dates for the next three months in 2011 are:
January 8, 2011
February 12, 2011
In March we will be meeting on the third Saturday, March 19, 2011

For more information visit:
WWW.SPIRITPATHNOW.COM/SHABBAT

The Heart is a Holy Hunter

2010-11-19T03:01:45-08:00

The following contribution is from guest author Shevach Lambert. These were Shevach's words on the Jewish perspective of the theme "Living The Spiritual Heart" at the Interfaith Prayer Service of Eugene on August 11, 2010.

In Hebrew, the word for ‘heart’ is a two-letter word, lev, spelled 'lamed beit', or "L B". These two letters also begin and end the Torah, which is why we say that the Torah is a song of the heart; it is meant to help us find where our true heart lies.

The Torah is the foundation text of the Jewish religion. It consists of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Genesis begins with the second letter of the word heart, "B". Deuteronomy ends with the first letter, "L". Which means that in the very beginning and at the very end of the Torah text is the word ‘heart,’ spelled backwards. The rabbis explain that this reverse spelling means that the heart itself is inverted. It is turned inward instead of outward; closed instead of open. The Torah was given so that with its guidance we can correct that misspelling, and align our hearts with our divine purpose. All the commandments and teachings of the Torah are for the purpose of rectifying the heart.

Like many spiritual traditions, Judaism teaches that we are not bodies with souls; we are embodied souls. And yet our souls are not our own. They are the means with which G-d seeks to complete Herself. To put it more simply, if G-d is all there is, then G-d, so to speak, is incomplete. G-d lacks an Other, a not-G-d, a partner with which to engage. To provide this otherness, and thus complete the Divine, we are created in all our finitude, with all our limitations and lacks. We are the means by which the Infinite is expressed within the finite.

The Jewish mystical tradition teaches that our souls extend out beyond the boundaries of the body, spinning out soul threads that permeate and infuse people and things all around us. Slivers of our soul may be found inside people, creatures, or objects far away. A strange thought: our physical bodies are born more or less intact in one package; but our spiritual being arrives scattered all about creation, with vital parts missing which we need to recover in order for us to complete the mission for which we were created. You might say that our mission is in fact to recover the parts of the soul that are missing.

Where are these missing soul parts? Judaism teaches that they can be found in whatever challenges us the most; whatever requires us to grow beyond our comfort zone. That which frustrates, angers, humiliates, or intrigues us is a "malach", a messenger, or, as more commonly translated, an angel offering us an opportunity to recover a bit of our soul. The bully on the playground, the jerk at the office, the blind bozo who just cut you off in traffic, all those aggravating individuals are all telling us where our souls need the most work. They point to the holes within us in need of fulfillment.

That is why the word for heart is spelled backwards at the beginning and end of the Torah. You might think to find your missing soul part in whatever is most pleasing or gratifying to your sense of self; whatever which is comfortable, familiar, recognizable, spelled correctly. But that kind of simple gratification resonates with the ego, not the soul. To serve as a partner for G-d, to be an Other for the Divine, we need to confront and accept that which is other to ourselves. We need those aggravating individuals, those maddening circumstances that shatter our complacency and irritate our insularity. They are performing a service by bringing to our attention a missing spark of soul.

Our hearts are complete when we include the other within them, when we accept as part of who we are the reverse of what we thought we were. The more challenging the situation, the more likely it is to contain a vital part of our soul-work. We are called to "p’tach levi", to open our hearts to embrace our enemy, for within them we find the rest of our soul.

(The letter 'beit' is pronounced either as a hard "B" sound, or a soft "V" sound but both are written with the same root letter 'beit'.)

"'Hell' is an invention of the church..." Bishop Spong in Eugene 11/13-14

2010-11-12T02:59:05-08:00

In this below video clip John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal bishop from Newark, N.J., talks about why Christianity must change its view of hell. Spong is one of the leading spokepersons for liberal Christianity and has published books with such provocative titles as "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture", "Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes", and "Jesus for the Non-Religious".

If this video intrigues you, Bishop Spong will be in Eugene at the Hilton on November 13 and at Unity of the Valley on November 14. See details at bottom from the www.SpiritPathNow.com/Eugene calendar.

If you can't see the video player below, here is the direct link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF6I5VSZVqc

11/13-14
Unity of the Valley in Eugene presents
"A Weekend to Remember"
with Bishop John Shelby Spong
Saturday and Sunday, November 13 & 14.
See below for schedule, locations and event rates.

The weekend schedule is as follows:

Sat. Nov. 13 - Hilton Eugene   (66 East 6th Ave., Downtown Eugene)
    9:30 - 11:00 a.m. - "Walking Into the Mystery of Our Humanity"
    1:30 - 4:00 p.m. - "The Call To Witness in the 21st Century"
            Both morning and afternoon sessions will include Q&A time.

Sun. Nov. 14 - Unity of the Valley   (39th and Hilyard, Eugene)
    11:00 a.m. service features Bishop Spong
Afternoon presentation:
    1:30 - 4:00 p.m. - "Eternal LIfe: Beyond Religion, Beyond Heaven and Hell"
            Afternoon session will include Q&A time.

Over the past four decades, Bishop John Shelby Spong has become an illuminating and definitive voice for a New Reformation in religious and spiritual movements around the world. He is acclaimed as the "Champion of Inclusive Faith" with his far-reaching message that is accessible to everyone of all faiths, traditions and world religions. He has authored many best selling books, and his speaking events are routinely sold out.

Book signings, and drinks and light snacks provided both Saturday and Sunday.

Event rates:
Sat. Nov.. 13 only - both events together = $49 (students $40);
Sun. Nov. 14 - afternoon = $30 (students $23)
To register or for more info. go to http://www.unityofthevalley.org/
or email Gena at unityval(at)riousa.com.

Lodging:
The Hilton Eugene is offering rooms at a discout rate.
Call 1-800-937-6660 and use the Code "L-uve".

For more info visit Unity of the Valley, http://www.unityofthevalley.org/, or call 541-345-9913.

Taking a Spiritual Accounting... An Invitation to Elul....

2010-08-03T03:16:49-07:00

We are entering into a very special time of year as we prepare to enter the Jewish month of Elul. This is the month before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, the days of at-one-ment, the time of the setting and sealing of the divine intention for the year to come.

How do we prepare for that? Elul marks the beginning of a 40 day period until Yom Kippur. During those 40 days we go into a spiritual training routine - like preparing for a marathon. We refocus our priorities. We clarify our relationships. We return to a deeper and more rooted awareness of God.

In fact, during the month of Elul the shofar ~ the ram's horn whose blast is usually associated with the High Holiday prayers ~ is sounded each weekday after morning prayers. The rough, brash sound of the shofar shakes us and says "WAKE UP", "PAY ATTENTION", "BE MINDFUL".

Wake up to what? Pay attention to what? Be mindful of what?

The task set before us in Elul is to return to our relationship with God. Teshuvah ~ to return. Where are the gaps between our 'business as usual' lives and our lives as lived in direct connection with the divine? What needs to be healed? What needs to be forgiven?

We can't just walk into High Holiday services and expect an instantaneous realignment. Elul is the practice of spiritual preparedness that tills the soil and makes us ready. It is a time for getting in touch with our brokenness, the 'contrast' of our lives. Fun? No. Productive? Yes.

If we use the month of Elul to turn within each day and come to an honest accounting of ourselves and take it to the next step by doing the work of teshuvah to 're-turn', or 'turn around' those areas of our lives that need it, then when Yom Kippur arrives we will have already initiated the transformation of saying 'yes' to a fuller, more connected spiritual life.

It is not just 'God's job' to make us holy as an external thing that is done 'to' us. It takes our initiation and our participation to create 'whole-ness' in our lives. It is for us to start the process and to revisit it each year during Elul. That is how we prepare for Yom Kippur.

So, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to reflect on where you are. Where was the 'contrast' in your life this past year? What has your responsibility been in creating that? What compensation are you willing to offer to make the situation whole? To make your heart whole. To make your relationships whole. To make your life whole.

Elul is about 'getting real' with ourselves but it is not about beating ourselves up. As we walk this path of Elul, let us remember to balance the 'accounting' of our spiritual life this past year with as much gentlenss and forgiveness for ourselves as we are called upon to give to others.

Rabbi Hanan Sills teaches that keeping Shabbat - the Sabbath - is the way we heal the world. During Elul pay special attention to the spiritual practice of Shabbat. As our Shabbat prayers say, there is in each of us an 'elohai neshama', a pure soul, filled with divine potential.

On Saturday, August 7, 2010, you are invited to come celebrate Shabbat, with us. We will be bringing in the energy of chant to open up a spaciousness in those areas to untie the tangles and to return light, life and reconnection into those deepest corners.

Come join us in a space of oneness, wholy-ness, and sabbath peace! Everyone is welcome!

Contemplative, Meditative Shabbat Chant Circle
August 7th at 10:30 a.m.

at the Center for Spiritual Living

390 Vernal Street, Eugene

(Cross streets Coburg Rd and Rustic Pl.

Turn east at Blockbuster and go one block.)

If you can't come, we invite you to join your intention with ours at this time however you are able.

For more infomation on our monthly Shabbat Chant Circle visit www.SpiritPathNow.com/Shabbat.

Dr. Masaru Emoto's Healing Prayer for the Gulf

2010-06-19T12:12:44-07:00

Focusing our energies in response to the Gulf tragedy and for healing the waters and its inhabitants ...

Water, the principal of all things, is also a mirror of our mind. So says Dr. Masaru Emoto who many of you will recognize as the scientist from Japan who has done all the research and publications about the characteristics of water. Among other things, his research revealed that water physically responds to emotions.

Right now, most of us have the predominantly angry emotion when we consider what is happening in the Gulf. And while certainly we are justified in that emotion, we may be of greater assistance to our planet and its life forms, if we sincerely, powerfully and humbly pray the prayer that Dr Emoto, himself, has proposed.

I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures
in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings.

To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, planktons,
corals, algae, and all living creatures. . .
I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

Let us set an intention of love and healing that is so large, so overwhelming that we can perform a miracle in the Gulf of Mexico.

We are not powerless. We are powerful. Our united energy, speaking this prayer daily...multiple times daily....can literally shift the balance of destruction that is happening.

We don't have to know how......we just have to recognize that the power of love is greater than any power active in the Universe today.

(Thank you to Dr. Masaru Emoto, Ginny Ruder and Judith Dack who passed this message on to me.)