Voices in the Silence

In the weeks in which there were no prayer words for me, there were others whose words echoed in the empty space.  Some, like the morning news reports, were not particularly welcome.  I started replacing the morning radio with music.  It helped. 

A much more welcome voice was the powerful witness of blogger Laura Jean Truman, the brave wise loving heart behind In/Between, who describes herself intriguingly as a progressive evangelical.  Laura’s candor and deep theological grounding create a compelling narrative of a life, as Hopkins put it, ‘charged with the grandeur of God’ in ordinary, everyday ways. 

 

Another voice has been that of a new colleague in my religious community who is developing a way of living within her own home which is similar in many ways to the way I live here at the Wild Goose Hermitage.  The guidelines for her household, which she calls the Waystead, appear here.  It has been a blessing to talk via email about the various challenges and delights that are part of life in a place set apart for God.  I have been nourished by her words, and our correspondence has caused me to think in new ways about my own contemplative life.

But the voice that has really caught the ear of my heart of late is that of the Advaita teacher, Mooji.  Some have challenged his credentials, but as I have no competence to judge his Hindu bona fides, I will not comment on that.  What I hear, and test in my mind and heart, is the genuineness of his observations and the authenticity of his message.  In a nutshell, as best I can discern, Mooji has experienced a direct illumination of the foundational unity of all that is.  Divine and human are not separate, “you” are not separate from “me,”  life and death are not separate existences – indeed, that which is most genuinely your Self does not and cannot die.  

In the silence of a dark and wordless Lent, this inexpressible sense of union has been a glimmer of hope.  I will sit with this, and try to say more about this vision, in future posts.