Learning to live wisely and well for the sake of the Earth and the common good

The climate emergency, at its heart, is a spiritual emergency. Unless we learn to fall in love with the wonder and beauty of the Earth, and no longer see it simply as a resource to be exploited, then the outlook seems bleak. As the world’s Indigenous peoples and wisdom traditions have also known for millennia, recognising the deep interconnectedness and mutual dependence of all life is also critical to our future. UK author and long-time meditator Jim Green has developed a new online course, ‘Contemplating Earth’,* which argues that it is in opening to the contemplative consciousness that unites each of us with one another and with the Earth itself that we will learn, in the depths of our shared being, how to act wisely and to live well for the good of all. The following is the introduction to the course.

Climate emergency demands a ‘courageous love’

The COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (31 October – 12 November) is widely regarded as humanity’s last chance to prevent catastrophic global warming. Australia has been described as the ‘canary in the coal mine’. In 2020, devastating bushfires swept through many parts of the country, including along the Eastern seaboard of New South Wales and Victoria, where Anglican priest Linda Chapman* lives. Here she reflects on her experience of the mega-fire that was powerfully symbolised by the image of an iron cross burnt into the ground, the only remains of a wooden church in Cadgee in New South Wales (see picture). The earth is undergoing a crucifixion, she says, and humanity needs to undergo a transfiguration through a contemplative consciousness that leads to a courageous love for the common good.

Meditation – discovering a flame of love at the ground of our being

In meditation we discover that we are loved, and that this love is the source and ground of our being, writes long-time meditator, educator and author *Dr Noel Keating. This is Part II of his article expounding the teaching of Benedictine monk John Main, by reflecting on the prayer he wrote for meditators to pray before meditating: ‘Heavenly Father, Open our hearts to the silent Presence of the Spirit of your Son. Lead us into that mysterious Silence where Your Love is revealed to all who call.’ It was John Main’s life and teaching which inspired the formation of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) in 1991. See Part I of Dr Keating’s article here: https://www.thelivingwater.com.au/blog/meditation-like-sunlight-unfolding-a-flower

Meditation – like sunlight unfolding a flower

Meditation opens the human heart as naturally as sunlight gives rise to the unfolding of a flower. So believed Benedictine monk John Main, whose life and teaching inspired the formation of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) in 1991. Long-time meditator, educator and author Dr Noel Keating* here expounds John Main’s teaching through reflecting on the prayer he wrote for meditators to pray before meditating.

The Home Monastery

I’m writing from the midst of another lockdown in Melbourne Australia, in response to COVID19. What we’re going through has been compared to prisoners and asylum-seekers’ experiences, and often we and those in Sydney and New South Wales have been encouraged to empathise with their plight. Our time shut away, especially for those of us who live with others, has also been compared to life as a monk or nun.

‘Beholding’ – when ‘deep calls unto deep’ and joy leaps in the heart

Behold, I bring you good tidings! (Luke 2:10)

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God.” So said St Irenaeus in the second century.

While the first part of the quotation, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive” is often quoted, the second part, which makes clear that being alive is conditional upon beholding God, is often ignored. Perhaps because it is not understood.

Getting the ‘old white man’ out of our hearts

Our image of what or who ‘God’ is can so often be merely human projection, severely limiting our understanding of the Divine. This can prevent us from being open to experiencing Divine reality, and what it truly is, which in turn means we are unlikely to plumb the depths of our full humanity. For writer and author Clare Boyd-Macrae this question reached a crisis point when prayer began to feel ‘like a waste of time’.

Sport - our most common form of spiritual practice

Biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake, a former Fellow of Clare College Cambridge, believes that being completely present in sport is to enter the joy, energy and flow of the Holy Spirit. Once an atheist, Dr Sheldrake returned to the Christian faith after living in a Christian ashram in India. The following is an edited extract from a talk* he gave on 20 May about his most recent books: ‘Science and Spiritual Practices’ and ‘Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work’.

Finding God by attending to the miracle of creation

American poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019), who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, found God through being truly present, particularly to the natural world, and in the compassion, love, wonder and gratitude she experienced as a result. *Dr Cath Connelly celebrates one of the great poets of our time, who challenges us with the question: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?”

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