Reflections on Isness

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#339999" TEXT="#080000" background="01ed4c00ermwqr.png"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <B>Being</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id58_m.htm#isness" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Reflections on Isness"><U><B>Isness</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id58_m.htm#nothingness_and_isness_" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Reflections on Isness"><U><B>Nothingness and Isness</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFCCCC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="558" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#990000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#660066" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#339999 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="546"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="546" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 73 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0d14e490.png" border=0 width="78" height="73" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="Tempus Sans ITC" ><B>The Fourth Order of Francis and Clare </B></FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="home"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>       </B><A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dec 04"><U><B>site guide</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="Tempus Sans ITC" ><B> </B></FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <B>Section One - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Reflections on Being Present to God, self and others.</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> The following reflections are for those interested in deepening their own practice of presence. They can be used by individuals or in group settings.The reflective questions are designed for journal and sharing. Don't shy away from an artistic response if that is your way. </div> <bR> <div> <B>WARNING: </B>Although we may benefit and deepen our practice from reflective readings of the writings of the masters, in no way does intellectual reflection substitute for the experience of presence.  As a Companion of the Fourth Order I ask how may these readings assist me in my PRACTICE. If I knew all the writing of the masters and was incapable of practicing presence I would be poor indeed. The very knowledge might become a block to experience. We must hold this paradox in great humilty. </div> <bR> <div> The following quotes are from Miester Eckhart,  translation by Mathew Fox.</div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="isness"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Isness</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> “Now the moment I flowed out from the Creator</div> <div>  all creatures stood up and shouted:</div> <div> `Behold, here is God!'</div> <div> They were correct.</div> <div> For you ask me: Who is God?   What is God?</div> <div> I reply: Isness. Isness is God.</div> <bR> <div> Where there is isness, there God is.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="266" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 156 ><NOBR><bR> <div> <B>Apprehend God in all things,</B></div> <div> <B>for God is in all things.</B></div> <div> <B>Every single creature is full of God.</B></div> <div> <B>and is a book about God.</B></div> <div> <B>Every creature is a word of God.</B></div> <bR> <div> Miester Eckhart</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Creation is the giving of isness from God.</div> <div> And that is why</div> <div>  God becomes</div> <div> where any creature expresses God.</div> <bR> <div> Isness is so noble. No creature is so tiny that</div> <div> it lacks isness.</div> <div> If a caterpillar falls off a tree,</div> <div>      it climbs up a wall</div> <div>           in order to preserve its isness.</div> <div> So noble is isness.</div> <bR> <div> If you were able to deprive God of isness,</div> <div> a stone would be more noble than God, for a</div> <div> stone has isness.</div> <div> What is God?  God is!”</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Miester Eckhart</div> <bR> <div> <B>Suggestions for Thought</B></div> <bR> <div> Where am I most aware of God revealing himself in the isness of my life?</div> <bR> <div> Where is it most difficult to penetrate the apparent and find God there?</div> <bR> <div> Where in your life is God's isness hungering to be seen?</div> <bR> <div> Reflect on one of these as a requirement to awareness of God's isness.</div> <div> Humility - Acceptance - Forgiveness</div> <div> Trust  - Surrender to the present moment.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Reflect on This</B></div> <bR> <div> “Spirituality is not flight from the world, by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be. We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.”   </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Miester Eckhart</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="150c2040.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> <A NAME="nothingness_and_isness_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></FONT><B>Nothingness and</B> <B>Isness </B></div> <bR> <div> “What is my name?</div> <div> What is your name?</div> <div> What is God's name?</div> <div> Our name is:</div> <div> that we must be born.</div> <div> And the creator's name is:</div> <div> to bear.</div> <div> The soul alone </div> <div> among all creatures</div> <div> is generative</div> <div> like God is.</div> <div> We are all meant to be mothers of God.</div> <div> I once had a dream.</div> <div> I dreamt that I, even though a man, was pregnant,</div> <div> pregnant and full with nothingness like a woman who is with child.</div> <div> And out of this Nothingness</div> <div> God was born.”</div> <bR> <div> <B>Suggestions for Thought</B></div> <bR> <div> How is God giving birth to me in my daily life?</div> <bR> <div> How am I giving birth to God?</div> <bR> <div> Have you experienced this No-thing-ness out of which God is born? When?</div> <div> Can you describe this Nothingness by sharing what it is or what it is not in a koan or a riddle?</div> <bR> <div> What are thought patterns, feelings, manners of seeing that assist this birth?</div> <bR> <div> What are the old ways, thoughts, feelings, manners of seeing that prevent this birth?</div> <bR> <div> <B>Reflect on This</B></div> <bR> <div> “For remember this:</div> <div> The shell must be cracked open</div> <div> if what is inside is to come out.</div> <div> if you want the kernel,</div> <div> you must break the shell.</div> <div> we must learn to break the shell.</div> <div> We must learn to break through things</div> <div> if we are to grasp God in them.”</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sept 03"><U>Return to Site Guide</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>