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[felicula]

The Minister at First Universalist gave out a packet of 40 meditations for Lent. I know dawnstar expressed interest in them. I figured it might be interesting to share them here.

Mystics Are We All
A Journey of Discovery

How to Use This Manual

This manual is designed to bring the reader on a personal and community journey of discovery. It is divided into forty meditations in a variety of formats, from poetry to prose and something-in-between. It is to be used during lent as a tool for discovery and reflection. Lent, for those unfamiliar with the tradition, is the forty days, less Sundays, prior to Easter. It commemorates the mythic journey of Jesus in the wilderness. More broadly, it is a time for introspection and self reflection in an intentional way.

Some meditations in this manual are considerations of theology or spirituality. Some are reflections on community. Still others are just for fun, some thought or idea I had I hope might be helpful or interesting for you. It is important to read one meditation each day. Try not to jump ahead. Each meditation should take but a few minutes to read. Then you may take a few minutes to write down some reflections if you wish. But don't worry if no reflections come. Allow the meditation to sit with you for the day. Return to it if you feel comfortable.

Some places in your journey deserve to be stopped at, others need only a passing look as you move on. Ultimately this is your journey to make of what you will. I hope that in working through this manual you may come to some deeper insights about yourself and how you understand our community. But this journey is not one with a final goal. This is only one part of the larger Journey we are each on in our lives and as a community.



1) Initiations

Into the wilderness we go.
Each alone to face our own temptations,
Each alone with our own fears.
Minds unsettled,
Each must enter the wilderness alone.
In search of each other we enter.
And we fear that we may find
what we are looking for.

The wilderness is a symbol of the unknown. It is a symbol of the dark and unexplored reaches of our own psyches. It can be explored only by one's self. No one else can delve into the wilderness to hear the calls of wild things and to feel the fog of uncertainty and see the darkness close in around them. This is what each of us must face, ultimately, by ourselves. For our thoughts can only be our own. Our minds can be fully known only by ourselves.

This is part of the lesson taught in the story of Lent and the journey taken in this manual. Yet in any search, what we find may be greater than what we are looking for. We enter our sole searches as a community. We take this journey into the depths and we hope and trust and pray that what we find will remind us we are not alone. Our individual searches may yield for us our common bonds. The faces we meet along the way may be strange, but they are not strangers. Our own faces are there as well.
The journey begins. Looking out across the expanse of openness a vast wilderness lies ahead. A path opens before you. A voice cries out from the darkness. Follow the voice. Hear its call. Where will this voice lead? Follow. Discovery awaits.