#15.3 crossing the bridge … - Communing -
A coming together in deep oneness, the sharing of intimate offerings, feelings, thoughts, experiences, an exchange of awe and reverence. This is what it is to commune with each other and nature.
Communing is the space of deep reverence and awe that holds us as one. It is the moment we recognise that I am you, and you me, and all of us this Life. It is regard for all that is one life, as all truth.
Truth belongs to all people from all perspectives. They are each valid, relational and relevant to the whole and hold no judgement, rather seen as an indication of the experiences that life has given.
Communion is experiencing and expressing from a space of reflection to both person and place, that within all I find myself.
This all sounds very heart based because it is. To commune is a time of intimate conversation and connection. It is a space that encourages fellowship, where community is not just coming together, but deeply resonating an act of commonship, where we hold open the possibilities and potentials for all things to be revealed. This means, whilst joyous and with celebration we are also embraced in silence.
Communion says; just be with me a while, be still, amongst the stillness we can find each other.
It then asks for us each to see the other, to know the essence we all hold, to know the fabric that we are together. More than wasteful empty conversation this is a holding of space that allows us each to weave into the other and find deep honest conversation and connection, find commonality somewhere amongst the skin, the earth, the seas.
It says regardless of all else, honour me, hold me, experience all that I am.
The gift of communion is laced with suspended judgement. We accept. We listen. We want to know another's joy and pain. In oneness there is no judgement, there is only recognition of oneness. Absolutely this asks for silent expansion and sacred beginnings, which scares the hell out of people. To be seen in this depth is a rarity most find uncomfortable to sit with. Whilst we long for this depth we fear it greatly. Well we did once before this moment of our conscious rising, our bridge crossing and our wanderings to become one with nature and all life again, we now rejoice with a hell yeah for this type of connection. For this is the way. This is how we entrain into all sentience.
Communion holds within it a few very important traits that help us to understand it more deeply and to learn to experience it at greater levels.
A how of bringing or returning it to the depths of our being…
Meditation and Prayer
Communion often comes with acts of prayer and meditation in order to connect at the depths we are seeking. This in truth is due to the silence they both allow, but also their willingness to reach from the depths of their being into everything else as possibility around us. Prayer and meditation are very different acts and connections for very different moments. Prayer is a definitive set of words asking, seeking, guiding energy towards our own life or anothers. Like Mantras and songs, words carry a most powerful verbal vibration of energy. It is a force of energy embodied with all that you are carried and given to another. It is shaped by our desire for it to come true. Prayer is pure intent driven with pure energy. Its purpose is to activate the sacred energy for a specific intention.
Meditation on the other hand is about silence. It is entrained stillness. Entrained in its purest form is that of the essence of the life force of energy. It is equally what you take to it as what you receive from it for they are one. Meditation is without seeking. It asks for what is; and what can be; to be so, for the greatest good without preconceived intent. It is opening to what Life seeks for us to experience and express. In meditation we connect to Life as one.
Both are fantastic tools for uniting within communion.
Ritual and Regard
Ritual is an act of presence. It holds pure intent and comes without need for outcome except that of being fully in that moment. Ritual calls us to stand in our truth and to be seen as all that we are. It is through tiny continuous accumulative acts of ritual that we allow ourselves in all ways to be a part of and fully present to the moment we are in and to the life that is lived in that moment. It is of course, within that deep connection to the moment that we are drawn again into All That Is. Ritual, unlike habits, are mindful and deliberate in their intention at any time, filled with purpose and meaning to both the act and the resonance that comes from it.
Regard is a thousand times the depth of respect. Respect is often attached to that which we know as a physical acknowledgement, whilst regard is in all ways applied to all that we know, yet deeply committed to that which we do not know but sense or feel. It belongs connected to the internal being. It holds strength in its belonging. In its place. It is in all ways not only a consideration of, but a resolute connection to, the possibilities of all life. Within the willingness to relate we find regard, and within communion opening to regard allows us to step in without judgement, without prejudice, without any limits that bind us to a preconceived idea or to ‘shoulds’.
Silent expansion
Being a part of the Sacred connections and threads of life, woven into its fabric, means we are asked to embody its essence, of stillness, silence and observation. In this the gifts of meditation and prayer allow us to commune with All That Is as a daily ritual. They allow us to be present and in deep awe of natural ways. To practise ritual and to hold deep regard opens us to continual moments of resonance, to feel, vibrate as one amongst the Living System of creation. This opens us to new connections. The mycelium is listening, the trees are calling, the animals singing, even the water with its gentle song. As well a deeper connection to our own being to the world around us, our skin receives so much information that at all times is talking to the forest or fungi, the environment all around us, all holding high level interaction that requires interconnectedness - life talking to us - lifes language that says express, feel, dream, become.
The economy of the Living System is to share, give, commune as one with life. It's an extraordinary concept but real regardless of our belief. It seems a far stretch from where we are today as our economic system is bound so tightly to growth and exploitation at any cost. Yet here it is, life holds an economy that is rich and abundant and we are a part of it, whether we choose to step into this will be our destiny.
Life is all things. It is both endless and timeless. It is expressed in so many ways, experienced in so many ways, it is unique and nuanced. It is expressive and expansive. It is colourful and gentle and silent. It is soft and nurturing. Inclusive and diverse, it is exquisite to taste and touch. It holds all things yet is weightless. It creates all things yet is formless. It is all things. It is without condition, without judgement, without limit. It loves all as it loves one, it sees all amongst itself.
This Living System will continue to thrive and flourish with or without humanity, this too is our choosing.
You can DOWNLOAD the complete book - One Living System, an exploration of Life’s sacred language and our collective journey -
Photo by Niklas Hamann on Unsplash
Such a beautiful and timely message. As so many in the US are feeling frustrated and even fearful, this message is so pertinent for community instead of continued polarization and division.