As I listened to our interview from a 3rd person space, a number of things came to mind. What DO women want? The question itself elicits memories of a sea of faces who have been through my groups and I am feeling as if their voices need to be presenced.
The first thing that comes to mind is a healing of the mind/body split. We are the one tradition who celebrates an incarnate divine, yet we are the most disconnected with our bodies. No longer do we want the tired polarities of virgin or whore for we are far more complex. What about a remembrance of our sensuality? So many "nice" Christian women shut down the fullness of sensuality. The shadow projections of sexuality in this tradition is nothing short of disastrous as it limits a deep embodiment of our incarnation.
Another thing that comes to mind is women long for the sacred feminine to be explored more deeply; what does it mean? What does it call forth? What does it require as relates to our power and our unique expression of the Sacred Heart of love?
I've debated this notion of masculine/feminine with friends whose center of gravity is anchored in second tier and they long to do away with the dualities of masculine/feminine as non-duality/unity have no such categories.
Yet, if we are truly holding an Integral vision, we cannot fast forward through such crucial shadow components that call for integration. Women from the Christian lineage (particularly traditional women) have minimal experience and almost no container for encounters with the feminine divine.
When I give them "Dance of the Dissident Daughter" by Sue Monk Kidd many of them weep for the recognize a voice deep inside of themselves. They begin to realize: I am That.
When we explore the cult and mythology around Mary of Magdala and re-imagine her story, they experience a sense of empowerment. Anger often follows as the shadow elements of the tradition are illuminated in their awareness. Why did a sensual woman who loved the Master become an object of derision and ridicule? Such a simple example identifies the cost of the silencing of a women's voice.
Which invites the final consideration: Dance with the notion that the sacred texts of been exegeted and sermonized only by men, most likely at red/amber altitude, for its entire history. What might be lost? What insights are buried?
I often am surprised the tradition has found any traction with any young people who see the massive blindspots; it speaks to the power of the myth which continues to capture the hearts of so many people.
My teacher often says that the contemplative arm of the tradition must be dusted off and brought to light. I couldn't agree more and make contemplative practice an integral part of any group I teach. If there is no contemplative practice, it is almost impossible to move past mythical Christianity with any grace. Many leave with no real awareness that direct experience of Being is at the tradition's core.
Yet, Integral is an AQAL affair and we must have an encounter with the entire map if we are going to explore a truly Integral Christianity. We cannot do away with reflecting on the tradition through the masculine/feminine typological lens because it is already one of the elephants in the living room of the Christianity.
It has done damage amongst both its practitioners and the angry ones who have left and carry its woundedness inside of themselves and inside of every WE space they encounter. One need look no further than the body politic to see the imperative of healing this wound.
Fr. Keating told David Riordan to look for the women. They are in hamlets throughout the world, moving under the radar and sometimes upsetting the applecart and from what I can see out here in the Midwest and in the campos in El Salvador, there are powerful rumblings of awakened voices who will be silent no more.
My vision is one in which we no longer wait for the behemoth of the structural churches to catch up; in their own way, they are doing their job and holding a container for traditional Christians. An embodied Christian recognizes the Christ within and begins to manifest that encounter in self, culture and nature by stepping into our own capacity to create LL and LR containers in the space of the unknown.
Most crucially, we explore our interiors, our shadow resistances and have the courage to not only climb the swaying ladder of evolution but also to plunge ourselves into the mysterious unknown that lies in the Ground of our Being.
My friend, Dan Crump, from the Integral Theory program sang this song at one of our JFKU student intensives which elegantly articulates this venture into the unknown. The first step is in the letting go of the illusory structures/reality we thought were our ground in order to truly encounter and embody the trinitarian Christ.
DUST
It’s like stepping off a hundred foot pole it’s like holding your breath, holding your breath then letting go.
It’s like giving in to the bottom giving out it’s like giving up, giving up precious doubt.
How does it feel skipping rope with your fears laughing as you fall can you see it all intertwined, tangled vines twisted lines?
We are handfuls of dust. We are pieces of sky We are thundering silence answering why we are.
We are zeros we are ones we’re everything, everything and everyone We are silence we are storms We die and we are born we’re emptiness we are form
We are handfuls of dust. We are pieces of sky We are thundering silence answering why we’re gods in ruins, gods in the making, we are…
We are handfuls of dust. We are pieces of sky We are thundering silence answering why we’re gods in ruins, gods in the making, we are…
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An Encounter with the Body
Posted September 17th, 2009 by Leslie HershbergerAs I listened to our interview from a 3rd person space, a number of things came to mind. What DO women want? The question itself elicits memories of a sea of faces who have been through my groups and I am feeling as if their voices need to be presenced.
The first thing that comes to mind is a healing of the mind/body split. We are the one tradition who celebrates an incarnate divine, yet we are the most disconnected with our bodies. No longer do we want the tired polarities of virgin or whore for we are far more complex. What about a remembrance of our sensuality? So many "nice" Christian women shut down the fullness of sensuality. The shadow projections of sexuality in this tradition is nothing short of disastrous as it limits a deep embodiment of our incarnation.
Another thing that comes to mind is women long for the sacred feminine to be explored more deeply; what does it mean? What does it call forth? What does it require as relates to our power and our unique expression of the Sacred Heart of love?
I've debated this notion of masculine/feminine with friends whose center of gravity is anchored in second tier and they long to do away with the dualities of masculine/feminine as non-duality/unity have no such categories.
Yet, if we are truly holding an Integral vision, we cannot fast forward through such crucial shadow components that call for integration. Women from the Christian lineage (particularly traditional women) have minimal experience and almost no container for encounters with the feminine divine.
When I give them "Dance of the Dissident Daughter" by Sue Monk Kidd many of them weep for the recognize a voice deep inside of themselves. They begin to realize: I am That.
When we explore the cult and mythology around Mary of Magdala and re-imagine her story, they experience a sense of empowerment. Anger often follows as the shadow elements of the tradition are illuminated in their awareness. Why did a sensual woman who loved the Master become an object of derision and ridicule? Such a simple example identifies the cost of the silencing of a women's voice.
Which invites the final consideration: Dance with the notion that the sacred texts of been exegeted and sermonized only by men, most likely at red/amber altitude, for its entire history. What might be lost? What insights are buried?
I often am surprised the tradition has found any traction with any young people who see the massive blindspots; it speaks to the power of the myth which continues to capture the hearts of so many people.
My teacher often says that the contemplative arm of the tradition must be dusted off and brought to light. I couldn't agree more and make contemplative practice an integral part of any group I teach. If there is no contemplative practice, it is almost impossible to move past mythical Christianity with any grace. Many leave with no real awareness that direct experience of Being is at the tradition's core.
Yet, Integral is an AQAL affair and we must have an encounter with the entire map if we are going to explore a truly Integral Christianity. We cannot do away with reflecting on the tradition through the masculine/feminine typological lens because it is already one of the elephants in the living room of the Christianity.
It has done damage amongst both its practitioners and the angry ones who have left and carry its woundedness inside of themselves and inside of every WE space they encounter. One need look no further than the body politic to see the imperative of healing this wound.
Fr. Keating told David Riordan to look for the women. They are in hamlets throughout the world, moving under the radar and sometimes upsetting the applecart and from what I can see out here in the Midwest and in the campos in El Salvador, there are powerful rumblings of awakened voices who will be silent no more.
My vision is one in which we no longer wait for the behemoth of the structural churches to catch up; in their own way, they are doing their job and holding a container for traditional Christians. An embodied Christian recognizes the Christ within and begins to manifest that encounter in self, culture and nature by stepping into our own capacity to create LL and LR containers in the space of the unknown.
Most crucially, we explore our interiors, our shadow resistances and have the courage to not only climb the swaying ladder of evolution but also to plunge ourselves into the mysterious unknown that lies in the Ground of our Being.
My friend, Dan Crump, from the Integral Theory program sang this song at one of our JFKU student intensives which elegantly articulates this venture into the unknown. The first step is in the letting go of the illusory structures/reality we thought were our ground in order to truly encounter and embody the trinitarian Christ.
DUST
It’s like stepping off a hundred foot pole
it’s like holding your breath, holding your breath
then letting go.
It’s like giving in to the bottom giving out
it’s like giving up, giving up
precious doubt.
How does it feel skipping rope with your fears
laughing as you fall
can you see it all intertwined,
tangled vines
twisted lines?
We are handfuls of dust.
We are pieces of sky
We are thundering silence answering why we are.
We are zeros
we are ones
we’re everything, everything and everyone
We are silence
we are storms
We die and we are born
we’re emptiness
we are form
We are handfuls of dust.
We are pieces of sky
We are thundering silence answering why we’re gods in ruins,
gods in the making, we are…
We are handfuls of dust.
We are pieces of sky
We are thundering silence answering why we’re gods in ruins,
gods in the making, we are…
Ericka Luckett