We are wrapping up our class, but I'm not one to let go of this circle just yet. We will continue to meet to knit, AND discuss Women Who Run With Wolves. Should be an enriching winter.
WEEK SIX
Today we had an impromptu visit from a reporter from the Longmont Daily Times Call. Magdalena wrote a nice piece on our Knitting As a Spiritual Practice class that you can read here. The ladies were really sweet. During her visit, everyone sat a little straighter and were just that much more animated. Kind of reminded me of when someone new comes around the hens. There's a little more chatter and fluffing of feathers.
AND we blessed our first completed prayer shawl!
May God's grace be upon this shawl . . .
warming, comforting,
enfolding and embracing.
May this mantle be a safe haven . . .
a sacred place of security and well-being . . .
sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones.
May the one who receives this shawl
be cradled in hope, kept in joy, grace with peace,
and wrapped in love.
Blessed Be!
WEEK FIVE
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness, and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. Aristotle
The devotional practice of trustful surrender
"Letting Go" or how to refrain from possessing the object of our delight.
From Awakening the Artist YogaInternational.com Summer 2011
The Art of Non-Attachment
The creative journey is one in which we expose our souls to the world. This can be a tremendously rewarding aspect of being and artist--to have the opportunity to connect with others on a deep yet subtle level. But it is also the reason why emotions like doubt, fear, and self-judgement--emotions that can cripple the creative impulse--are all too familiar to artists.
Knitting as a spiritual practice (or any contemplative practice) teaches us to cultivate dispassion and let go of expectations by diligently observing the mind without reacting to, clinging to, or rejecting anything. With regular practice we begin to recognize the our negative emotions are not permanent truths, and we can more easily allow them to dissolve when they come up in the creative process.
True non-attachment, of course, means resisting attachment, not only to failure and negative emotional states, but also to success and inflated feelings of accomplishment. "Whatever your art is, there are those moments of difficulty when it all just looks like gargage, and moments of delusion when it all looks great. You need to ride those ups and downs."
The devotional practice of trustful surrender, in which we offer the fruits of our efforts to a higher source, is one of the most profound ways for an artist to work with non-attachment. The better you get at letting go of the outcome, the more success you will experience.
From Knitting into the Mystery pg. 23-24
Contemplative presence cannot be possessed; it can only be appreciated. We can delight in it and celebrate it; be surprised and filled with joy by it. But we can't own it or create it or make it happen by willing it to be so. Contemplative presence is actually quite the opposite: it comes to us as surprise, to possess us gently, to capture us tenderly, to hold us dearly, revealing the One who is All.
Similarly, the shawls that we knit seem to be on loan from some higher place. I look at the shawl that a very dear friend knit for me as it drapes casually over a favorite chair in my living room. I know that she knit it for me, and that it is mine. And yet neither of those things expresses the whole truth. Something more is at work in the shawls that we knit, something more than knit three, purl three. The totality of the shawl is more than the sum of the knitter, the wearer, and the yarn, and is something that we can't possess. Mystery invites us simply to attend to it, to relish in it, to savor the flow and the feel of yarn over fingers, of shawl over shoulders.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
by Wendell Berry
WEEK FOUR
Thinking back on Tommy, he had his mantra as well:
See me.
Feel me
Touch me.
Heal me.
Exploring Sacred Trinity
From Knitting into Mystery pg. 42
The pattern of threes can be found in every religion and society. Human existence has three stages: birth, life, death. Time has three divisions: past, present, and future. The panorama of colors is based on three primary colors. Human "being" has three parts: body, mind, and spirit. The virtues frequently mentioned together are faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 12). The rythmn of the waltz 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3. The ability to compromise--to take two seemingly different (and oftentimes hotly disputed) points of view and create a third possibility--is another way the pattern of threes plays out in our world: not this or that, but this (w)holy other thing. Upon this ability to see the third, peace springs forth if we have eyes to see it.
Budhists say that enlightment may be achieved through the repetition of sutra, or prayer. Pattern also is formed by repitition; its beauty deepens and grows each time it is repeated." Susan Gordon Lydon
Tuning into and following this repetition feels an awful lot like "Flow."
"When we are truly alive, everything we do or touch is a miracle. To practice mindfulness is to return to life in the present moment." Thich Nhat Hanh
May I begin, O God, and merely begin again
To knit essential habits of the heart in this my life
. . . in this our community . . .
May I begin by listening
. . .yes listening to the rapid beating within my heart
. . .to the slow rythmn of my breathing
. . .to the clatter and pain of the world
. . to a still small voice that says,
Peace
Today we explore Mstery
From Knitting into the Mystery pg. 7-8
The word "mystery" comes from the Greek word myein, which literally means "to shut the eyes." Knitting As A Spiritual Practice invites us to "shut our eyes" in order that we can be open to seeing what happens within ourselves and within the context of an encounter with "other." They mystery that unfolds silently in the rythmn of our knitting asks us to risk seeing new things, to experience the divine in ways that may feel unconventional or unfamiliar.
The strange and paradoxical thing that happens, however, as we allow ourselves to fall into this unseen Mystery, is that we then being to see Mystery manifest itself visually: the invisible is made visible by the labor of our own hands. After casting on and knitting the first few rows, suddenly the rows begin to form something. Always the moment arrives when this odd jumble of stitches and rows emerges from its own unique chrysalis to reveal a beautiful pattern of color and texture. Out of a single strand of yarn, a flowing fabric emerges that will eventually wrap itself around shoulders and speak love into a heart, a visual expression of Mystery.
All these things work together to express the inexpressable Mystery that is a steadfast presence in our lives - God, Sophia, Allah, Yahweh, Wisdom, Abba, Amma.
This past weekend I had the good fortune to experience "Tommy - A Rock Opera." Pete Townsend composed this body of musical genius in attempt to explain a mystical journey. By illustrating the life of Tommy, a deaf dumb and blind boy who goes onto become a pinball wizard and a messiah figure, we are able to experience his mystical transformation. Tommy is an exageration of "shutting the eyes" to the world as a means to enlightenment. His inward journey allows him to discover the light inside him, allowing him to abide in intuition. Tommy instructs his followers to blind, deafen and mute themselves in order to truly reach enlightenment. They eventually reject his methods and ideology after finding that his enlightenment is not reached by a miracle cure, but by discovering a state of awareness while blind, deaf and mute.
Think on performances where you felt that you were witnessing someone who is "in flow." How did they get that way? Was it from practice? Was it from enlightenment? At some point did "something" else take over?
Let your worship and your service be a fresh miracle every day to you. Baal Shem Tov
WEEK TWO
O God,
Give me, I pray Thee,
Light on my right hand
And light on my left hand
And light above me
And light beneath me,
Give me, I pray Thee,
Light on my right hand
And light on my left hand
And light above me
And light beneath me,
O Lord,
Increase light within me
And give me light
And illuminate me.
Increase light within me
And give me light
And illuminate me.
~Ascribed to Muhammad
Today we discuss what it means to be mindful. For me being mindful is being awake to the present moment. Being aware enough to know that at any given moment I have a choice. I get to choose how I experience life as it presents itself to me. It helps me to feel my way through any given situation instead of react to it. Practicing mindfulness acts as a filter for my ego, inviting me to get out of the way of myself. Not by choosing what is allowed to come in and what is not allowed to come in, but by accepting all that comes in.
From Knitting Into The Mystery pg. 83
Mindfulness is being aware of what we are doing in the present moment. To be mindful is to be attentive to who we are. There is no limit to mindfulness. Mindfulness leads us to self-knowledge. When we discover ourselves as the amazing beings that we truly are, something shifts in us. We become more able to appropriate the truth of who we are at a cellular level. Mindfulness is saying "I am" to ourselves. "I am" that flows quietly from us out of humble awe for God's generous gift of this part of creation-ourselves. It is this "I am" that we knit into our shawls.
"When we are truly alive, everything we do or touch is a miracle. To practice mindfulness is to return to life in the present moment."
Thich Nhat Hanh
WEEK ONE
And you? When will you begin your long journey into yourself?
Rumi
Today we cast on! There is something a little nerve wracking about starting a new endeavor. Teaching is no different. Who will come to class? What will they bring? How can I best meet them? On the same hand, this is a very exciting time. The culmination of a life's journey. I well know that students get the jitters too. Especially when starting something new. But, you've got to do a thing to learn it, so let's jump in!
The key thing about a Knitting as a Spiritual Practice is just that, practice, and that takes discipline. The discipline to pick it up everyday with intention and say, "Ok, here it goes again. It may not be pretty, I may not even like what I see/hear/experience. But I'm committed." Learning to knit as an Adult can be awkward. The fumbling of fingers, yarn, and needles may make one feel as though he/she never learned to tie shoe laces. But somehow we all did, even if it was a long time ago.
It is my hope and intention that over time, each student will come to view knitting as a time to focus the mind on the present moment, allowing all other distractions to fade into the background. It's an interesting thing that while cultivating this physical discipline we will cultivate mental discipline as well.
We'll be sharing what brought us to class today, and what experience(s), of the knitting and spiritual practice variety, we have had. All while we pick our yarn color for our prayer shawls and cast on!
"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."
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