Alone-ing: Gethsemani days X

Alone-ing: Gethsemani days X

by | Dec 28, 2021 | OPENstudio

The radical step is to let ourselves alone. David Whyte A person I think needs to get a little bit drunk to be here a full week. I am not short changing silence and solitude by any means, in suggesting this. But after two days of no real, or rather habituated contact...
Simplicity-ing: Gethsemani days IX

Simplicity-ing: Gethsemani days IX

by | Dec 27, 2021 | OPENstudio

Aloneness always leads to rawness and vulnerability; to a fearful simplicity, to not recognizing and not knowing, to the wish to find any company other than that not knowing, unknown self, looking back at us in the silent mirror.David Whyte This has been the best day...
Silencing: Gethsemani days VIII

Silencing: Gethsemani days VIII

by | Dec 26, 2021 | OPENstudio

To inhabit silence in our aloneness is to stop telling the story altogether. david whyte I peer around the corner of the bank of windows, hanging a bit precariously out the ledge, wondering if anyone else has flung the window wide. The mower is going full tilt, mowing...
Familiar faces: Gethsemani days VII

Familiar faces: Gethsemani days VII

by | Dec 25, 2021 | OPENstudio

I don’t know why it has surprised me to see familiar faces. Where else would these monks have gone? Did I think an entirely new community had replaced that which was here my last visit in 2018?! It’s more though than the monks. Sure several faces down in the chapel...
The teariness has passed: Gethsemani days VI

The teariness has passed: Gethsemani days VI

by | Dec 24, 2021 | OPENstudio

I almost wrote ‘at least’. But alas, I don’t feel that way. I welcomed the teariness because the sensation had me securely tied to the wonder. I realize that is unsustainable so I let them go just fine, but I do long for the wonder to linger. I’ve just awoken from a...
Disruption and disturbance: Gethsemani days V

Disruption and disturbance: Gethsemani days V

by | Dec 23, 2021 | OPENstudio

Otherings. Peopling. and I add to it; liturgying. I woke with a disgruntled-ness in me. This is fine, I know what I can do to move it on and through to a higher, kinder mental state.  I woke at 1am. This isn’t altogether odd, albeit early even for me, but I was...