SEX AND THE SACRED, Ohio Experiences.
I have been meditating on the meaning of the workshop of that title that I offered Ohio psychologists at their Spirituality and Psychology 2nd annual retreat at Deer Lake Retreat and Conference Center near Columbus this past weekend, Feb 18-19.
My aim was to create new metaphors for The Sacred, the Holy, the Divine Other, as well as for Sexuality, a new frame for the two experiences that haunt most humans maybe the most. It was a tall and bold order for myself. The joy is that I think we did it. Evaluations yet to be seen, but if the demeanor of the participants and their active response was signficant, then the retreat was a success.
One integration that did not come to me until the processing and stretch of the event itself, was that sexuality calls us into Relational Aliveness with Otherness, but the deepest realization of the Mystery we call God, sacred, holy, divine Other is that this Presence is Relational Aliveness to others. So eroticism when it calls one out of oneself into relation is holy, sacred and divine in itself, already inside the mystery, the miracle of love and caring, joy and discovery.
Marks of a healthy spirituality then, are simply these: Relational Aliveness, to Otherness, particularly otherness of the outsiders, therefore a passion for justice, and finally a surrender to joy, hope, love and forgiveness in a life- and love-denying chaotic Barnum and Bailey world.
"If love is lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing? -hymn, wonderfully sung by Eva Cassidy.
Wow. Nice reward for the stretch that I gave myself. Thanks, Spirit, for that leading.
Paschal, Sunday evening, Feb. 20.
My aim was to create new metaphors for The Sacred, the Holy, the Divine Other, as well as for Sexuality, a new frame for the two experiences that haunt most humans maybe the most. It was a tall and bold order for myself. The joy is that I think we did it. Evaluations yet to be seen, but if the demeanor of the participants and their active response was signficant, then the retreat was a success.
One integration that did not come to me until the processing and stretch of the event itself, was that sexuality calls us into Relational Aliveness with Otherness, but the deepest realization of the Mystery we call God, sacred, holy, divine Other is that this Presence is Relational Aliveness to others. So eroticism when it calls one out of oneself into relation is holy, sacred and divine in itself, already inside the mystery, the miracle of love and caring, joy and discovery.
Marks of a healthy spirituality then, are simply these: Relational Aliveness, to Otherness, particularly otherness of the outsiders, therefore a passion for justice, and finally a surrender to joy, hope, love and forgiveness in a life- and love-denying chaotic Barnum and Bailey world.
"If love is lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing? -hymn, wonderfully sung by Eva Cassidy.
Wow. Nice reward for the stretch that I gave myself. Thanks, Spirit, for that leading.
Paschal, Sunday evening, Feb. 20.
posted by Paschal Baute | 9:15 PM
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