Dear Spirit to Spirit friend,
At the last One Meditation Day of Practice, we (the One Med team)
presented a video from the One World Bearing Witness event that we
co-hosted in December 2020.
A teammate brought forth this quote from Bernie Glassman, Founder of Zen Peacemakers, a group that has offered inspiration for the yearly OWBW 24 hour healing vigil.
This quote beautifully adds to the piece I wrote for the newsletter two weeks ago on "Inner Service". It offers an understanding of how, from the embodied "inner", the natural right "outer" response and action will occur.
"When we bear witness, when we become the situation- homelessness, poverty, illness, violence, death- the right action arises by itself. We don’t have to worry about what to do. Once we listen with our entire body and mind, loving action arises.
Meditation trains you to bear witness by strengthening your awareness of thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise and pass.
As your awareness strengthens, you begin to experience spaciousness and stability and
see that you have a choice in your response to what is arising. Over time, you learn to
bear witness to all the elements that are arising with a curious and compassionate attitude."
Bernie points to... the way to open more awareness of the "outer" is to become
more conscious and aware of the "inner" through the practice of sitting in what is called meditation. Which is simply sitting and allowing everything that arises to simply
come and go.
Sitting on one's own is essential for deeper awareness to open. And, sitting with community offers a powerfully supportive field for the individual and can also exponentially increase collective awakening. One Meditation Day of Practice- a free, open to all, monthly time of sitting often with special guest teachers- offers just that. A place to sit in global community embracing the heart of stillness.
Please check out the One Med website, www.onemeditation.net, and sign up for monthly announcements. Experience with others from around the world a beautiful base of stability that can open a doorway into the deeper awareness that Bernie speaks of.
And, the next One World Bearing Witness 24 hour healing vigil will take place December 4-5, 2021. Everyone is welcome to join- for the entire 24 hour experience or for any part of the event. Gifted teachers from all over the world will offer rituals, talks, and guided meditations. Look for information in the newsletters as we get closer.
May sitting in stillness and allowing everything to arise and pass begin to open a deeper "inner" that leads to a more present and lovingly responsive "outer".
In Gratitude & Love, Joanna