Wednesday 31 August 2016

Summer's Dusk

The last day
of August.
Summer
is drawing to an end.
Already
there is a coolness
in the island's air.
The tree's leaves show no sign
of their impending demise.
The garden's perennials
have bloomed.
The berry bushes
have yielded their harvest.
The vegetables
are not far behind.
This island is ripe
with changing life,
as summer offers
her dusk.

Tuesday 30 August 2016

The Hidden Ground of Love

Lost
in your gaze.

Drawn
into your eyes

until
I am no more.

Time
is suspended

as the seas of self
part

and I journey into the
promise



of your
love.

The light of your
face

invites me deeper into the
silence

of our true
home.

Paradise
within you.

Paradise
within me.

The hidden ground of
love.

Hiking and Meditation

Being in the outdoors and connecting with nature is something that we are made for. The exercise, the fresh air, the beautiful wildlife and landscape has the God given potential to open up the mind and free the soul. Over the last number of years, hiking and being in nature has taken on for me a more intentional spiritual practice. I’ve been spending more time in nature as a means of getting out of my busy, overcrowded, tiny mind, and connecting with the freedom, beauty and spaciousness of creation.

Last fall I was on a solo overnight backpacking hike on a section of the East Coast Trail. On the hike out of the wilderness, I met two men working on the trail, members of the East Coast Trail Association. We got to talking, I told them I was an Anglican Priest, and that they should consider taking me on as “chaplain for the trail.” One of the men thought there might be something to that idea, and invited me to apply to become a hike leader for the Association. With that, I applied, went through the orientation process, and led my first group hike in August as a “Nature and Spirituality” hike.

So many people live their lives trapped in the cage of their unrelenting and limited thinking minds. There are even those who hit the trail and enter into nature hoping to experience more inner freedom, only to carry all of their mind noise and distraction with them on the trail. Therefore the intention of the nature and spirituality hike was to enter into nature with simple presence and appreciation as a means of opening up our busy and complex minds. The beautiful landscape helped us to become forgetful of self and, through encounter with nature, connected us to the larger Life that pulses through all of creation.


The hike began with some direction on how we might want to consider combining meditation and hiking. The 20 participants could linger and do their own looking and listening and experiencing at their own pace during the first leg of the hike, all of which was done in silence. At the half way point, and before eating lunch, the invitation was made to reflect upon and share something of how we experienced and connected with nature. The return leg of the hike was at a more normal pace together as a group, in silence, but with more open minds and a greater sense of simple presence.  Hiking straight through on the return leg was also an opportunity to practice mindfulness in focusing on each step and each breath we take. Again at the end of this portion of the hike, the group shared something of their own inner experience. All participants fully enjoyed and got something refreshing out this nature and spirituality hike. Creation is in us and all around us, inviting us to connect and to become whole. All we have to do is to step in!

Sunday 28 August 2016

Solitude in a fierce landscape

Alone
along the coast.

Darkness
descends.

The fog
draws close
as the sea
beats
against the shore.

The horn
in the distance
warns
lost
seafarers.

A gentle
rain
invites
retreat
to shelter
and
surrender
to the
magnificent
symphony
of the
ocean's
music,

in the
solitude
of a
fierce
landscape.