“You understand so little of what is around you because you do not use what is within you.”
Hildegard of Bingen in her famous book Scivias
As I sit down to write, for the very first time, for our new website I do so with great awareness of what is happening in our world right now and yet very little understanding. These are such difficult times, it’s a challenge to keep the toxicity of the world from affecting us. Like many, if not all, of you, I have been trying to process what is happening in the world currently, most especially in the United States. We are six months into the COVID pandemic, its lockdowns and health crisis. In addition, we are witnessing what appear to be senseless shootings, the protests and riots connected to them, the government’s response to all of it and lastly, the raging wild fires in the west. One of these would be enough on their own, but the collective energy has been intense.
It is a time of great upheaval and change. Standing in it, I long to experience peace as Dr. Ernest Holmes defines it, “An inner calm so complete that nothing can disturb it.” This quote helps me stay centered in the truth, that I am to bear witness to what is taking place, yet not be swayed by the appearances. If I’m brutally honest with you, at times over the course of the last six months, I have felt completely unmoored, angry, powerless and overwhelmed.
At the beginning of the pandemic one of my clients asked me, “What I thought it was all about?” Before I really thought about it I heard myself say, “I think we are being given an opportunity to be with ourselves. I mean to really be with ourselves.” All these months later, I feel like we are witnessing how unsuccessful we have been, myself included.
I stumbled on the Hildegard of Bingen quote a few weeks ago and thought, “Wow, right there is the simple Truth!” It was followed a few days later by a quote I saw on the back of a tee shirt. On the back of the shirt was the outline of the Adirondack Park. Inside of the outline was this quote, “6 million acres of healing.” The Adirondack Park consists of 6 million acres of pristine mountains, lakes, streams, waterfalls, and hiking trails. Just for perspective, you can fit these five National Parks inside the Adirondacks: Glacier, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and the Great Smokies.
As I thought more deeply about the 6 million areas I was stuck by the realization of all the varying types of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, moss, ferns, lakes, stream, marshes, and multiple species of animals that live together in what appears to be a quiet delight. What do they know? What can they teach us? As I write I’m reminded of another great quote by John Muir “Into the forest I must go to lose my mind and find my soul.”
As I’ve contemplated all of it for several days now, I’m reminded that every time I’m pulled from my center of peace, I’m being give the extraordinary opportunity to go into the forest of my own consciousness, to lose my mind and find my soul. Having done that many times in the past on my spiritual journey, I can tell you that what is within is powerful! What is within understands, heals, creates and comforts. What is within is the Presence and Power of Love.
If we think about the Presence and Power of Love in the context of Hildegard of Bingen’s quote it might sound something like this, “When we use the love within we understand what is around us.” I invite you to shelter in love so that you may understand more clearly what is happening around you. I have faith in the power of our combined love and in the great promise, “Your faith has made thee whole.”
Richest Blessings,
Rev. Penny