What does it mean to serve justice as a spiritual companion? How does God change our hearts? When is it time to stay in and be present to the tensions of injustice, and when is it time to leave for the sake of justice? These questions beleaguered me as Spiritual Directors International discerned that the 2011 Cultivating Compassion educational events must move out of Boston due to labor disputes at the hotel where we planned to gather.

I realize the move from Boston will disappoint many people in New England and create a lot of work for staff and volunteers in Atlanta, Georgia, where Spiritual Directors International will host Cultivating Compassion in April 2011. Yet it is the right thing to do. How do I know? To be honest, I do not quite fully understand with my head’s knowledge. But my whole body knows: heart, soul, and communal spirit knowledge.

This is not the first time that Spiritual Directors International has been asked to serve justice in a hotel situation. Flashback to 2002, during the SARS epidemic. Spiritual Directors International discerned to stay in Toronto and host educational events, despite SARS, in part to demonstrate support for the Toronto community and to provide work for the hotel housekeepers and kitchen staff. Some amazing conversations occurred between housekeepers and spiritual directors as a result of Spiritual Directors International choosing to stay.

In the current circumstance, the plight of Boston hotel housekeepers who lost their jobs a year ago has polarized executive staff at the hotels, unions, New England clergy of many faiths, and SDI members. Instead of black and white, right and wrong, spiritual directors listen for many shades of gray. We ask “Where is God in this situation?”  

For me, the discernment to move the 2011 Cultivating Compassion educational events from Boston to Atlanta has opened my heart to people who seek justice everywhere. Please join me in praying for God to continue to change our hearts.

In the comments section below, please share your thoughts about what it means to you to serve justice as a spiritual companion. Where do you notice God changing hearts? How does contemplative practice contribute to justice?

Spiritual Direction through Skype
By SDI member, Ulysses Castillo

David and I met last summer at a Buddhist retreat in Estes Park, Colorado, USA. Both of us Christians, we connected during a Buddhist Christian Dialog group that got together for support during the retreat. Afterwards, I thought I’d never see David again.

Several months later, David sought me out via Facebook (an online social network) and asked if I would be his spiritual director. He noted that he was having trouble finding a spiritual director who could appreciate both his Christian and Buddhist spiritual journey. I was thrilled at the opportunity. We e-mailed back and forth a few times, to determine if his expectations and needs and what I had to offer were a good fit, and decided that we were compatibly matched. There was just one problem: David lives in Chicago, and I live in Kansas.

We considered several options, like e-mail and telephone, but e-mail doesn’t allow you to hear emotions, and telephone doesn’t allow you to watch body language. Ultimately we settled on Skype. Skype is a free video-conferencing service that allows you and your friends to have a conversation over the Internet with a computer and a videocam.

I was concerned about the distance at first, and so was David. Both of us knew that we needed to be able to feel a connection, to see each other’s body language, to notice each other’s spirit, and we weren’t sure if videoconferencing would allow that. We were worried, but decided to give it a try. I’m so glad we did!

From a technology perspective, I am lucky enough to have a portable laptop. But the speakers on that system are very poor, so I purchased some inexpensive Logitech external speakers designed for laptops ($20). The sound was immensely improved. I also purchased a Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 ($40), a good quality, light-weight video cam with a built-in microphone that works well in low light and sits easily on top of my laptop screen. Installing and configuring Skype (www.skype.com) onto my laptop was a breeze. Prior to my session with David, I made sure that my set up was working properly. I didn’t want any last-minute technical failures.

I set up in the same space that I normally do spiritual direction. I sat in my normal seat, with my back to the fire place and positioned my laptop on a small end-table that is normally right next to my directee’s chair. I made all the preparations I normally make: prayer beforehand, lighting a candle, and so forth. Even though David couldn’t smell the candle, I could, and smell is always a subtle reminder of the sacred space that I am entering.

David and I had a wonderful first session. After the initial “jitters” that everyone has at a first session, we settled in quickly. Afterwards, we discussed how God was present to us in the session.  We both had the feeling that the Spirit was bridging the gap between us, surrounding us with perceptible energy.

In later sessions, I’ve sometimes sensed the Spirit behind David, sort of hovering above his head. It makes me smile every time.

Far from the Spirit being absent to us because of the technology, it has made us even more aware of God’s presence, and of our need for that presence to be with us, to make the connections, and we are able to place our trust into God’s capable handiwork.

In the months since, we have continued to meet regularly via Skype, and I’ve had the chance to fine-tune our experience.

Here are some tips I’ve learned:

• Get your technology squared-away beforehand. One time, my Internet connection decided to not work on the laptop, and I had to move everything to my messy office with just minutes to spare before our session was to begin. I felt rushed and harassed. The lesson: make sure everything is working well ahead of the session.
• Allow extra time between sentences. There is sometimes just the very slightest split-second delay in the audio. Allowing a little extra time after your spiritual directee has spoken will make sure that you don’t accidently “step over” his or her words.
• Watch your lighting. Normally we like our spaces to be somewhat dim, but video cams need a good amount of light to be able to see each other well, so plan on having some extra light. And watch out for backlighting (a lamp or bright window positioned directly behind you for example), as that will cause you to be nothing but a silhouette to your spiritual directee.  
• Turn your screensaver off. There’s nothing more disruptive than having your screensaver kick in while you’re listening and watching your spiritual directee speak. And when you get back, your cam may temporarily freeze the video. Remember to turn it back on after your session.
• Give audible cues during silence. Often during silences, there is that almost perceptible intuition that the time for silence is over. That is often still present in our sessions, but we make sure that we give each other an audible cue, like saying, “Amen,” to let the other know for sure that we’re ready to continue.

I would love to do spiritual direction with David in person. Skype will always remain second best for me. But advancements in technology have opened a whole new world for my spiritual direction ministry. Far from being an impediment to deep connection, it’s been my experience that Skype has given me an even deeper awareness of God’s presence during my sessions, and I gratefully yield even more into God’s hands.

About
Ulysses Castillo, OblSB, is a member of Spiritual Directors International, a lay member of the United Methodist Church, and an Oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict, affiliated with Mount Saint Scholastica, Atchison, KS. He received his spiritual director training from Souljourners Ecumenical Program for Spiritual Directors and is a retreat leader with interests in Benedictine spirituality, Sabbath rest, and Christian Buddhist dialog.

 

August 16, 2010, The University of Oregon reports:

"Just 11 hours of learning a meditation technique induces positive structural changes in brain connectivity by boosting efficiency in a part of the brain that helps a person regulate behavior in accordance with their goals, researchers report. The technique -- integrative body-mind training (IBMT) -- has been the focus of intense scrutiny by a team of Chinese researchers led by Yi-Yuan Tang of Dalian University of Technology in collaboration with University of Oregon psychologist Michael I. Posner."

Using a type of magnetic resonance called diffusion tensor imaging allows researchers to examine fibers connecting brain regions.

"The importance of our findings relates to the ability to make structural changes in a brain network related to self regulation," said Posner, who last fall received a National Medal of Science. "The pathway that has the largest change due to IBMT is one that previously was shown to relate to individual differences in the person's ability to regulate conflict."

The new research is published online the week of Aug. 16-21 ahead of regular publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Click to read the full article, "Chinese meditation IBMT found to boost brain connectivity."

Explore your meditation, contemplative practice, and prayer life when you meet regularly with a spiritual director. To locate a spiritual guide near you, visit the online Seek and Find Guide at the Spiritual Directors International Web site.

What is your experience of meditation? Please comment...

 

 

As Muslims enter into the month long holy holiday of Ramadan and focus on self-discipline--physical, mental, emotional and spiritual--we can reflect upon words from Spiritual Directors International member Sheikh Jamal Rahman. In 2009, Rahman, together with Kathleen Schmitt Elias, and Ann Holmes Redding authored A Spiritual Directors International Book:  Out of Darkness, Into Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Quran with Reflections from Jewish and Christian Sources.

We learn:

"In Islam, whose name means surrender to God, the central goal is to live our lives in the spirit of surrender to our Creator. Seekers of any religious tradition have a similar desire to achieve union with Divine Reality. Whether we call it surrender, redemption, union, or quest for inner freedom, the journey is the same. It is a lifelong adventure, and along the way there are many twists and turns, many opportunities to get lost or go astray. There are no maps to guide the human heart, but in every religion there are teachers and basic guidebooks—scriptures and sacred texts that point the way toward Mystery. In Islam, we have the Quran. We also have fourteen centuries of wisdom distilled from the Holy Book by Islamic sages, mystics, and teachers."

To read more about Out of Darkness, Into Light, click here.

Revealing Ramadan: 30 Days, 30 Stories

Would reading "personal stories and reflections about the meaning of Ramadan and how Muslims incorporate those experiences into their personal faith journeys during Islam’s holiest month and afterward" inspire and intrigue you? Then make certain to take a look at the Speaking of Faith “Revealing Ramadan” blog where 30 stories—one story per day—will be "featuring the voices of Muslims from Madrid to Dallas and Seattle."

Every 2.2 seconds, a foot long pulse of neutrinos leaves the circular accelerator at Fermilab near Chicago, Illinois, USA and is aimed northward toward a target a half mile underground in a defunct 19th century iron mine in Soudan, Minnesota, USA. The tiny particles travel at almost the speed of light, reaching Soudan 2.5 thousandths of a second later.

Last week I visited my family on the north shore of Lake Superior where my grandparents built a cabin. My father took me to visit an experiment that has captured his imagination. He ferried me to the underworld.

In an old mining cage, we descended down, down, down, half a mile into the dark, damp earth where iron miners once toiled. We entered a modern high-energy physics lab carved into 2.7 billion year old rock. On one wall, a huge bright mural tells the story of scientists experimenting with fundamental structures of the universe (see mural by Joseph Giannetti). Bats fly through space in the mural, as they do in the deep mine.

The lab houses receptors consisting of six-thousand tons of giant steel plates that detect the existence of neutrinos that have been blasted from the Fermilab accelerator 735 kilometers (457 miles!) away. The neutrinos not only move through clay and rock but also are so small they pass through the emptiness of atoms. Only neutrinos that strike the nucleus of atoms within the six-thousand-ton-steel-plate receptors are detected. Of the billions of neutrinos sent every 2.2 seconds, only four neutrinos a day are recorded.

There are no commercial applications for the information gained by the elaborate and expensive experiment half a mile underground. Pure science. Basic inquiry. A passion for understanding. But what are we trying to understand? Creation. God’s universe. God’s great labyrinth. In fact, the name of the experiment is MINOS meaning Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search. You may recall in mythology that Minos was the builder of the labyrinth.

Dallying with quantum physics puts me in a state of awe. I certainly do not understand all that is going on, but the realization that neutrinos are God’s handiwork deepens my faith and appreciation for all God has created, including the vastness of space in everything I perceive to be solid, like rock and steel.

My father prays differently than I do. His search is unlike mine. And yet, we seek. We search. We yearn for connection with the great mystery.

In the comments section of the blog, please share your thoughts about how you go deeper and explore further. What inspires awe for you?

 

Recently there was an article published by an author who " defined spirtuality for everyone." An unusual claim to me as I have discovered on my decades of journeying, and mentoring, that spirituality is an intense personal relationship between a source of infnite power and an individual. A source of comfort and joy, and one that can be shared, but is, within me as a great gift. I am blessed to know many others who have this same inner light - and we all may have a different "name" that we refer to as the source of this " light " but it is within each of us not a generalized "religion." Yes, we all share our bibles and histories and chants and songs--but as each of come to an altar, we bring just what we have. Ourselves. We come together to pray, to offer what we can, it is all so simple. Spirituality for everyone is offered but not as a blanket program, but one that lifts the individual to the deepest and highest of all that Creatior has to offer.This takes a courageous step for each individual, not a weeping movement for total commitment.Yes, we all support each other, but each of us has to have a personal commitment. To want to BE.

Are you seeking a spiritual director, spiritual guide or a compassionate listener to accompany you at this time in your life?

Learn tips and next steps on August 24, 2010 during a FREE teleconference.

Spiritual Directors International offers FREE one hour educational teleconferences for everyone who wants to learn how to use the online Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors to find a spiritual director or guide.

Learn practical steps to locate and interview a spiritual director from the ease of your own telephone, in the location of your choice.

August 24, 2010 12:00 EDT; 5:00 GMT/UTC

Click here to RSVP for the August 24, 2010 Teleconference
You will receive an e-mail one week ahead of time with the telephone number to call for the teleconference.

"How to Seek and Find a Spiritual Director" specifics

WHO: Everyone interested in learning how to seek and find a spiritual director or guide.
WHAT: A one hour FREE educational teleconference. Your only cost is the telephone call.
WHEN: August 24, 2010, 12:00-1:00 EDT; 4:00-5:00 GMT/UTC (To calculate 12:00 EDT; 4:00 GTU  in your time zone click here: www.timeanddate.com)
WHERE: Location of your choice, using your telephone.
WHY: Discover practical steps to locate and interview a spiritual director. Learn good questions to ask yourself as you begin this process. Find out about new and updated features in Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors - the first-ever comprehensive, global listing of available spiritual directors.

Click here to RSVP for the August 24, 2010 Teleconference
You will receive an e-mail one week ahead of time with the telephone number to call for the teleconference. Everyone is welcome.

Sacred listening transforms lives through the art of spiritual direction, spiritual guidance, spiritual accompaniment, anam cara in Gaelic, and mashpiah in Hebrew. SDI offers resources for spirituality, contemplative prayer, compassionate listening, discernment, education, and retreats.