Aug22023
Words of WonderThe Shape of Love - Adyashanti

What we see is not the most important.
Could dust rise
without the invisible
hand of the wind?
Could a fan turn without any current?
Could lungs breathe without breath?
Tell me
What is the shape of Love?
How much does Joy weigh
when hold in the palm of your hand?
Can you catch the Spirit of Life in a jar?

All things seen depend
upon the Unseen.
All sounds depend upon Silence.
All things felt depend
upon what is not felt.

by Adyashanti

 

Here non-dual spiritual teacher Adyashanti helps us step beyond our rational, literal minded tendencies in a very common-sense way. Sometimes it’s hard to remain connected to the enigma of what he calls the Unseen. And of course for some this may not be part of their belief system at all. For me however, despite my conviction that there is an awesome ‘Unseen’, recently, with the demands of day-to-day life taking up a lot of air time, I often feel that I’ve somehow got myself unplugged from the wonder and power of what is beyond. It’s ungraspability, it’s mysterious ways, it’s ineffable nature can easily elude us. Adyashanti reminds us that we may always be in the company of a great mystery, of God if you prefer, of something powerful and beyond our limited perceptions.

Last week I heard about a near death experience which gave me a strong felt remembrance of the extraordinary awesome potential of what is beyond our usual human small-mindedness and I have had experiences which have left me in no doubt about this. Fortunately, there are ways to plug in again, to find our connection to a higher power. Poems have a special ability to bring this kind of remembrance, to connect us in a real way to something bigger than ourselves, to what some call the Mystical.

And if you feel the call to connect to the Mystical through poetry, come along to the upcoming Mindfulness Meets Mystical Poetry course beginning online in September!

Photo by NEOM on Unsplash

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Author: Fay Adams

Fay Adams trained to teach mindfulness under the guidance of well-known teacher Rob Nairn, whilst living on the Holy Isle retreat island off the west coast of Scotland. She now teaches courses and retreats in mindfulness, compassion, insight and engaged mindfulness around the UK with the Mindfulness Association and she is a tutor on the University of Aberdeen's Studies in Mindfulness MSc. Fay is a dedicated meditation practitioner of 15 years. Fay was originally drawn to mindfulness in her twenties because of her chronic pain. Throughout her 6 years of living on Holy Isle in a small meditation hut, she immersed herself in discovering what the pain was all about. In the process she began to find a new way to inhabit mind, body and community. Ultimately, as well as (mostly) freeing her from the pain, this has become a deeply rich basis for living life fully. Her practice was formed and matured within a Tibetan Buddhist context. More recently it has been influenced by Reggie Ray's somatic practice and is now also coached in a love of nature and the Earth and she finds that deep ecology, as taught by Joanna Macy and others, is a path towards wisdom. Fay now lives on the Staffordshire/Cheshire border with her partner and son.