2016 Parish Assembly

Click on the picture to see the photos taken during the 2016 Parish Assembly

Spirit and Ego

Henri Nouwen tells a story of faith and hope. It is a story about birth and life outside the womb.

It can be an invitation for us to think about death in a new way?  We can live as if this life were all we had, coming to an end with death. Or we can choose to believe our divine childhood and trust that death is the painful but graceful passage that will bring us face-to-face with God (“Our Mother”).

Spirit and Ego

Imagine this scene if you will. Two babies are in utero confined to the wall of their mother's womb, and they are having a conversation. For the sake of clarity we will call these twins Ego and Spirit.

Spirit says to Ego, I know you are going to find this difficult to accept, but I truly believe there is life after birth. Ego responds, don't be ridiculous. Look around you, this is all there is. Why must you always be thinking about something beyond this reality? Accept your lot in life. Make yourself comfortable and forget about all of this life-after-birth nonsense.

Spirit quiets down after a while, but her inner voice won't allow her to remain silent any longer. 'Ego, now don't get mad, but I have something else to say. I also believe that there is a mother.'

'A Mother!' Ego guffaws. 'How can you be so absurd? You've never seen a mother, why can't you accept that this is all there is? The idea of a mother is crazy. You are here alone with me. This is your reality. Now grab hold of that cord. Go into your corner and stop being so silly. Trust me, there is no mother.'

Spirit reluctantly stops her conversation with ego. But her restlessness soon gets the better of her. 'Ego' she implores, 'please listen without rejecting my idea. Somehow I think that those constant pressures we both feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes, that continual repositioning and all of that closing in that seems to be taking place as we keep growing, is getting us ready for a place of glowing light and we will experience it very soon.'

'Now I know you are absolutely insane' replies ego. 'All you've ever known is darkness. You've never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? Those movements and pressures you feel are your reality. You are a distinct separate being. This is your journey. Darkness and pressures and a closed in feeling are what life is all about. You'll have to fight it as long as you live. Now grab your cord and please stay still.'

Spirit relaxes for a while, but finally she contains herself no longer. 'Ego, I have only one more thing to say and then I'll never bother you again.' 'Go ahead' Ego responds impatiently.

'I believe all of these pressures and all of this discomfort is not only going to bring us to a new celestial light, but when we experience it we are going to meet Mother face-to-face and know an ecstasy that is beyond anything we have ever experienced up until now.'

'You really are crazy Spirit. Now I'm truly convinced of it.'

What Is Wu Wei (无为)?

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

  

One of Taoism’s most important concepts is wu wei (无为), which is sometimes translated as “non-doing” or “non-action.” A better way to think of it, however, is as a paradoxical “Action of non-action.” Wu wei refers to the cultivation of a state of being in which our actions are quite effortlessly in alignment with the ebb and flow of the elemental cycles of the natural world. It is a kind of “going with the flow” that is characterized by great ease and awake-ness, in which - without even trying - we’re able to respond perfectly to whatever situations arise.

By Elizabeth Reninger

  

But “go with the flow” can all too easily become an excuse for apathy and indifference.