February 20th 2008
Full Moon in Virgo
The 14th of Adar 1
The Blessing, the Spiritual Challenge and the Practice
Fellow Pilgrims,
This is the last full moon before our journey together. This year we receive a second Adar (a leap month to keep our lunar calendar in line with our solar rhythms) and since it’s Adar, a second chance at happiness. The next full moon after this one will culminate in the Festival of Purim, the moment in our year when the Divine laughter makes us all drunk and gives us a peek into Unity consciousness.
We will come together after Rosh Chodesh Adar 2 and make our pilgrimage with the waxing moon. We will leave our winter and journey to summer. And we will journey to the high places where the air is thin. The only thing that will distinguish each of us from being just plain tourists, is the depth of our journey within and our commitment to making our travel into a spiritual practice.
How do we do that?
When I was writing my book, Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land, I approached our sacred text by asking three questions as I read.
- What is the Blessing here?
- What is the Spiritual Challenge that I am being given?
- What is the practice that I must do in order to rise to the spiritual challenge and receive the blessing?
In the process of writing the book, I realized that I could ask these same questions of every moment of Life and that these were the questions that awakened me to the possibility of holiness in every circumstance.
These are also the questions that can guide us as we make our travel into a spiritual practice. Can we look for the blessing in each moment, each encounter, each new sight, sound, smell, taste and touch? How do we fully receive, be nourished and inspired by that blessing and perhaps find a way to share it?
When things don’t go the way we’ve planned or the way we’d like (and that’s the only thing certain about travel) can we receive each difficulty as a spiritual challenge that can call forth the best in us? Can we keep our sense of humor and perspective? Can we recognize the places in us that are triggered or upset, and use this self-awareness to cultivate compassion for ourselves and others? Can we keep from the habits of blame and instead take responsibility for our own state regardless of circumstance?
Can we look for the spiritual practice that will help us in each moment to rise to the challenge that is before us? That practice might involve a kind word, a deep breath, a remembrance of the wider perspective or just stopping to recover an inner stillness.
Martin Buber said, “All Journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” The secrets of our destination will unfold as we let go of preferences and expectations… and open to the surprise of each moment. And those secrets will unfold in the dynamic between us. We embark upon this pilgrimage in holy partnership with each other. I take it as a given that each of us has a blind spot, a particular habit of unconsciousness. My prayer is that as we journey together, we become each other’s awakeners. In some uncomfortable moment when I lose my self-awareness, I can be awakened by your compassionate presence. In our kindness and generosity towards each other, we invite the Presence of the Divine Mystery to dwell between us and accompany us on our journey.
In the story of our liberation, Exodus 34:9, Moses realizes that our journey will be useless and irrelevant unless the Presence of God resides within, among and between us. He pleads with God,
Yelach na Adonai b’kirbeynu.
Please let My Lord go among us.
May the Presence of God among us manifest as Awareness, Compassion, Kindness, the Stillness at the center of Movement, and the Silence at our core. May each of us be shown the secret destination that will reveal the blessing that was in us all along.
In grateful anticipation for our journey together,
Shefa
The pilgrim resolves that the one who returns will not be the same person as the one who set out. Pilgrimage is a passage for the reckless and subtle.
— Andrew Schelling
©2008 Shefa Gold. All rights reserved.