The Buddha taught meditation primarily as a means of understanding the transience of all things. Buddhism does not posit a Divine Being, but is a philosophy for life.
However, meditation can sometimes also lead to an awareness of a Divine Being. St Augustine wrote, ‘Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.’ And the Psalmist says, ‘ I strove to fathom this problem – too hard for my mind – until I pierced the mysteries of God’.
In order to re-connect with the inner core of our being we have to descend into our own depths. It is in those depths that some, like Etty Hillesum, encounter that which they call God.
Once, teaching a course on ritual at the University of Colorado I set my students the task of writing a prayer to the known or unknown God. The most moving of these was this one, written by Dickson Musslewhite:
With the unsecuring sea stretching
Before me,
To mystery
I make my pledge.
To search
To swim
To dive as deep as I can.
With the unsecuring sea stretching
Before me,
To mystery
I give my thanks.
For you I am thankful
With you I am,
Without you I am not.
I like the word play.
As a child a stick could become a wand; a mat – a raft; my friend – a dolphin; the garden – a desert island. What fun!
Play needs imagination, feeds imagination.
Play with friends requires social skills of give and take, rules and rituals, drama and caring.
Does play stop as we grow – no!
I see play everywhere.
The artist plays with colour and illusion. The scientist plays with evolving ideas. Poets play with words. What fun!
Philosophers and divines play with wonders and mysteries giving us a bigger game to play.
I like playing different games!
Best wishes for this years game.
Laurence
James,
Was Colorado with Ron Grimes?