Please note that we shall be making a time change to the class time later on in August from Thursdays to Tuesdays. We plan on making this change on
Tuesday August 20th. We shall continue as usual with Thursdays on
Thursday, July 25th;
Thursday, August 1st; and
Thursday, August 8th. We shall then MISS
Thursday, August 15th and move to
Tuesday, August 20th, continuing from then with Tuesdays, same time at
7:30 PM and same place, unless otherwise notified in this weekly missal. And now to The Presence!
Many people who have met or seen the
Dalai Lama refer to him as "The Presence" or "having a presence". It is an indication of a very strong, transcendental energy emanating from his being. I can only speak from hearsay since I have never been in his physical presence and have only seen him on TV, which isn't quite the same thing as up close and personal. But his cheerful mood and calm demeanour do impress me, although I haven't experienced it as transcendental. He has maintained this mood and demeanour, not in some sheltered, mountaintop monastery in Tibet, but in the face of loss of homeland to the Chinese and continual threats from them towards him and his people. He has been forced to take up a kind of global mission and residence. And he certainly has a global presence. Amid all of this, he still seems to enjoy life and to be happy.
In
Qabalah there is the aspect of God called the Shekinah, which is the "mother" or "feminine" face of God. The roots of the word "
Shekinah" in Hebrew apparently mean "to dwell in", "to reside in", even "to pitch one's tent" (for those of us who have been nomadic and have done a lot of pitching of tents in our time). So, Shekinah means "the God who dwells within" (or the God who has pitched his tent here!). In essence, this is akin to the Holy Spirit in Christian (or
ACIM) terms. But somehow, to me at least, Holy Spirit seems more abstract and ephemeral, (it's the word "spirit", I think) whereas Shekinah is more immanent, up close and personal, and present in ALL THINGS. In Qabalah, Binah, the third Sephira or sphere on The Tree of Life, is the Divine Mother and Shekinah is her daughter. Shekinah is the physical aspect of the Divine Mother, the god-goddess up close and personal in physical form, or "Mother" as Native Americans would call her. She is the divine presence at Malkuth which is the tenth Sephira or sphere on the Tree of Life, also called the (Physical) Kingdom. In this vision, the Earth, Nature, all that dwell thereon and therein (at Malkuth or in the Kingdom), all of these make up the physical body or Earth House of the Divine. The "Presence" resides in all things, including, of course, all physical form. In mystical, transcendental moments, you will experience this presence, the Shekinah, in what I have learned to call from my own mystical moments "at home in the earth".
Binah, the Divine Mother of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, can be a little unnerving because "she" both gives and takes life, along the lines of "I brought you in; I can take you out" kind of compassion! As I believe I've mentioned here before, one of my personal scares has been that humongous volcanic caldera that lies under Yellowstone Park and is, of course, responsible for all of those sulphurous and rumbling wonders that you see, hear and smell there. If "she" erupted, she would take us all out. I had worked a few years back on these fears with some of the ACIM practices which include also the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But I did wonder, with some apprehension last September, what it would feel like to be there in the presence of the
Yellowstone Caldera. Our first
afternoon there, I felt her presence and her startling message that she (I called her "Mother Gaia" then) had a covenant with all of us of the Earth, that she would give us our time to do what we have to do before she erupts again (as she will do, as she has done before). Being there felt more safe and reassuring than I could ever have possibly imagined. Next day, Charque and I were sitting out by a lake that was chugging and burbling away, and he said to me "what is her message?" Immediately a light breese blew a cloud of hot mist from the lake in our direction and enveloped us in a warm hug. In fact, Yellowstone was full of the "Presence" of Mother or Shekinah for us, not a scary place at all!
The "Presence" is in all things. In moments of wonder, you recognise it. In more mundane moments, it passes you by and life is simply a physical experience or, worse still, a physical trial. Then you you are experiencing the "Absence" which is probably more common! But it needs to be recognised as such. In Qabalistic terms, you are experiencing "the empty shell". In Tarot symbology, it is a reversed Ace of Cups. Your sojourn at Malkuth or in the Kingdom of the Earth is all about finding or experiencing that "Presence". As the English poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, words it: "Earth's crammed with heaven. And every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around and pluck blackberries."
