Last Tuesday at Living Vision, we reflected on Celtic theologian, philosopher, and poet John O'Donohue's contention that "the way we look at things is the single most important thing of all." Our expectations combined with our perceptions do, in many ways, create our reality and the quality of our experience in the world. Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, seemed to affirm this same teaching when he said, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If you eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness."
We used our shared silence together, by the light of a single candle, to examine our expectations, our perspectives, our ways of looking at the people and events in our lives. We considered the ways in which our "eyes" or vision might be "unhealthy" or filled with darkness. For, as O'Donohue said, "if our thoughts are impaired and negative, we will never be able to see the beauty within ourselves or all around us." We see everything through the lens of our own thoughts and interpretations.
At the close of our meditation time, we shared ideas of how we might learn to look at ourselves and the world with gentleness, creativity, and a sense of adventure.
This coming Tuesday, February 20, we'll hear another segment from O'Donohue's Anam Cara lectures. This one focuses on the power and beauty of silence and silent contemplative practice. O'Donohue believes that our inner lives are actually being assaulted or evicted by contemporary technological culture. If, as he claims, silence is "the sister of the Divine," or as Meister Eckhart wrote, "there is nothing in the world that resembles God as much as silence, then it is certainly worth considering how we might befriend it.
Join us this Tuesday and every Tuesday at Yoga Roots from 7:30-8:30 pm, 444 E. Mitchell St. in Petoskey. (Enter by the back alley entrance and be sure to be on time, as the door is relocked at 7:30 in keeping with Yoga Roots' policy.) For more information, email tobyjones48@gmail.com.
