We'll begin our journey through the elements with a song I wrote about reconnecting to the earth.
a cousin in a firefly or shell.
but often I forget what I knew well.
before the walls of winter closed around me.
to have my senses stirred until I'd found me.
the purple sky a feast for tired eyes.
with every day's adventure or surprise.
It was the kiss of the coatimundi.
The touch of the shaman's palm.
It was the tamarind fruit that fell.
The heat of a fresh tortilla, the altar in the stone pile.
The taste of the guacamole, skinny-dip in full moon.
A thousand miles from Maine, I have come home.
If someone were to view us from outer space, we would not be distinguished as individuals. We would be seen as the earth. We are made of the fabric of the earth. Our bodies will become the earth when we leave them.
The Hindus realized the sacredness of our environment. They developed yoga by observing nature. Yoga means union, not just of body mind and spirit, but with all that is. The yogis learned to find the qualities they observed in nature within themselves.
The mountain is a fundamental yogic posture. Imagine all the qualities that go into being a mountain, and feel them in yourself. Plant your feet firmly on the ground, drawing strength up from the earth. Breathing the earth breath, in and out the nose. On the inhale, feel the strength, stability, durability and beauty of the mountain, the constancy, the patience, the generosity, the power to restore and rejuvenate.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of the Divine Wisdom.
The element of water makes up between 60 and 70 per cent of our bodies. From Masaru Emoto's book the Hidden Messages in Water, we learn that the quality of our thoughts affects the clarity and composition of water. We see photographic proof of the impact of our attitude on water, and implicitly, on our own bodies, as well as upon others we encounter. We can't hide from ourselves, nor can others escape our impact. We are all one fluid being, united in liquid resonance.
Let's do the water breath, inhaling through the nose, and exhaling through the mouth. On the inhale, feel your receptivity, your empathy, and your compassion. Feel your fluid nature, the pumping of the heart, the pulse at the wrists. Feel your capacity to adapt to situations as water adjusts to the shape of its container.
There may be some qualities of water that you wish to release on the exhale. You may be too sensitive, and feel overwhelmed by what happens around you. Give those qualities back to the element of water.
The Buddhists teach us how to detach from our thoughts in meditation. Imagine the mind as a river. Let each thought flow downstream, letting it go, not engaging with the thought. If it is important, it will return.
If there is only one universal mind, then our thoughts were never our exclusive province, anyway. They drifted through the cosmic consciousness into our awareness, and need to be released back into the cosmic consciousness. They simply float through us for a while. For this reason, there is no reason to judge our thoughts. It is not our fault that they have arisen, only our obligation to release them when they no longer serve us.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of the Divine Compassion.
Everything's going to be all right, all right.
I've been dreaming in the sun. Won't you wake me up someone?
I need a little peace of mind.
That I have dreamed so many times.
O I need a little peace of mind.
All things come spilling in on you.
Spill some over, over all.
Filling up and spilling over, over all.
Like the rain falling all around.
The Zoroastrians see all of nature as sentient, shepherded by hierarchies of angels, or beings of light. Your guardian angel knows only light, and therefore sees only your potential for good, steering you in that direction.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of the divine purity.
Let's work with fire by doing the fire breath, in the mouth, out the nose. We are in a constant state of combustion, burning the calories we consume in our meals. Before the earth cooled off, it was a miniature sun. We have fire in our blood. We may experience our fire as radiance, illuminated thoughts, enthusiasm, and passion. Inhale the qualities of fire that would help you now. On the exhale, release the more destructive aspects of fire like anger, frustration, rage, or resentment. Let them go up in smoke.
Feel your heart as a sun, brightening in the light of your awareness, and radiating your essence to the world. The sun animates us, and is necessary to our survival. But we also have an inner light. It might be considered the light of the soul. The soul has been described as a ray of the sun, the unique expression of the divine that you carry within you. Feel your brilliance.
Like a phoenix from the ashes, wings across the blue.
Like a lily from the shadows, glistening and perfumed.
All the detours taken never lead you home.
What a maze you find yourself in and still alone.
Oh you thought it would be easy, so the truth eluded you.
Like a great bell resurrected, ringing loud and true.
Contemplating air, consider the atomic model. Electrons spin far away from the solid nucleus. It is an illusion to think we are solid. There is more space between our cells and within our cells than there is solid matter. We are porous. Some would say that it is only the breath that animates us. So if we are the breath rather than our bodies, our existence is diffused into outer space.
Let's do the air breath, inhaling and exhaling from the mouth. Contemplate the qualities of air, spaciousness, spontaneity, freedom, and infinite possibility, inspiration. Release the qualities of air that you don't need, like distraction, feeling pulled in too many directions, fragmentation.
The book of Exodus describes the flight from Egypt, led by Moses. For years, they searched for the Promised Land. Moses lived to see it but never set foot upon it. What motivated his people to continue? I would venture that, beyond God's proclamations, it was hope, expanded possibility, a broader perspective. These are qualities of air. We have a dream and it propels us forward.
"Jacob lay down to sleep, and dreamed that a staircase reached from earth to heaven, and he saw the angels of God going up and down upon it. At the top of the stirs stood the Lord, "I am Jehovah, " he said, "the God of Abraham, and of your father Isaac. The ground you are lying on is yours. I will give it to you and to your descendants. For you will have descendants as many as dust. They will cover the land from east to west and from north to south, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What's more, I am with you, and will protect you wherever you go.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence our homage and our gratitude for the light of the Divine Covenant.
Please join me in this song by Bob Dylan.
The element of ether is the ground from which the other elements spring. It is the mysterious essence of all things, the divine spark that enlivens us.
We may think we are a body, but the body is useless without breath. And if we are really the breath, then where do we come from, and what is the extent of our being? What is this life force that is contained on the breath?
Let's do the ether breath. Instead of consciously inhaling and exhaling, imagine some force exhaling into you. It is that force that causes your inhale. Then imagine some force outside you is inhaling, drawing the exhale out of your body. Instead of feeling yourself as the breather, feel you are being breathed. So then the question becomes, who is breathing?
Jesus knew he was the son of God, that the divine dwelled in him. He did not claim exclusive rights to the divine inheritance. He knew perfection lay latent within us all.
We offer to the Omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of the divine self-sacrifice.
As you inhale remember the core of your being that remains pure and untarnished regardless of what has happened in your life. With the exhale, give back to ether any feeling of being spaced out, out of touch, living on a cloud.
Please join me in singing Spirit of Life by Carolyn McDade.
"Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Blow in the wind. Rise in the sea.
Move in the hand giving life the shape of justice.
The Muslims have a practice called zikr that draws us beyond ourselves. Zikr literally means remembrance. We will do the bowing zikr, whose words are illa 'lla hu.
On illa, we bow our heads, releasing our limitations, giving up our sense of separateness. On 'lla, we raise our heads and we open to the infinite possibility, the Divine Perfection. As we say hu, we incline the head toward the heart, and breathe the Divine Presence through us and back into the world.
As we repeat this zikr, let's see our earthly existence as a vehicle for the unfoldment of the universe, for the Divine Being's self discovery within us.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the light of the Divine Unity.
In the Native American tradition, there is a Lakota expression, mitakuye oyasin. It means all my relations. We are encouraged to see our relations not only as our blood relatives or even our fellow humans, but even finding grandfathers in the rocks, the earth as our mother, the sky as our father. If we relate to the elements as our kin, we will be responsible to them in a different way than we might be if we merely seek to exploit them. Let's take a moment in silence to thank these relatives for their support.
Gratitude to the great sky who holds billions of stars and goes yet beyond that, beyond all powers and thoughts, and yet is within us, Grandfather space.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of the Divine Dignity.
In the tradition of the Goddess, let us contemplate a flower, and how the elements come together in such perfection, the roots feeding from earth, the water flowing through the stem, the sun that coaxed it out of the earth, the air that it breathes. And now feel yourself as another beautiful coalescence of these same elements.
This prayer is by Kathryn Hellerstein.
Don't let me fall as a stone falls upon the hard ground.
And don't let my hands become dry as the twigs of a tree when the wind beats down the last leaves.
And when the storm raises dust from the earth with anger and howling don't let me become the last fly trembling terrified on a windowpane.
Don't let me fall. I have asked for so much, but as a blade of your grass in a distant wild field lets drop a seed in the lap of the earth and dies away, sow in me your living breath, as you sow a seed in the earth.
We offer to the Omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of Mother Earth.
We offer to the omniscient God our reverence, our homage and our gratitude for the light of the Divine Truth.
In lieu of a sermon, I'm wondering whether any of you might want to share your experience of the elements or of nature. The floor is open.
I've had just a few special times where I felt totally connected to the environment rather than an observer. I remember one instance where the sun peeked out of a cloud after a storm. I was left without any words or thoughts to constrain the experience. There was no feeling of separation between my self and the sun. I just felt awe at being there.
I believe delight, and creative ecstasy are inherent in our nature. Nature is longing for us to put our self consciousness and concerns aside so this joy may burst forth.
Didn't know I had it in me.
I thought just getting by was good enough.
A broken heart still knows how to love.
The sun danced on the water and it sparkled in your eyes.
But I knew that we'd uncovered sacred ground.
Never saw you in the plan.
But you made me remember who I am.
You dusted off the mirror to my soul.