The right phrase

We are growing this site inch by inch mostly for the fun of it. I think it's a very interesting experiment going on at Shekina, one that has been life changing for me.

I'm trying to write here as often as I think of it, (twice so far! woot!) to help give our tribe a voice, to shine some small light on this thing that has shaped my whole life. How do you talk about the things that matter the most to you? Maybe It's all about the right words. We are finding them now.

An aside: If you hear the phrase "slowly slowly" shouted from a man on a street corner in India, it's probably a good time to fake being cool walk and leave without looking back.

That's because if you hear it means you've probably done something embarrassing and moronic like; dropped your rupees and banged your head retrieving them, rolled over on your scooter while trying to set the kickstand, or blasted away a plastic chair with your unwieldy foreign thighs while waving goodbye to your friends upon exiting the local crowded chai shop. "Slowly slowly!" you will hear from some anonymous mysteriously smug stranger you had not noticed standing there before.

Any attempt to explain yourself, no matter how earnest, how obvious and undeniably true, will be met with the same phrase, "Slowly slowly" this time louder for emphasis. You should really just cut your losses and walk on.

You figure out (around the tenth time) that it doesn't have anything to do with speed, it just means be careful. Careful careful! After a little brow furrowing, anyone can kind of sort of connect going slower with carefulness. In a way. Kind of.

That doesn't make it the right thing to say in english. It's just another of the hundreds of endearing/infuriating little phrases you hear when traveling in this colorful wonderful paradoxical India. And in india it's just what they say, right or wrong.

Im a bit curious if anyone out there is simultaneously a) Indian and b) watching this site being built, and is feeling an irrepressible urge to shout that very phrase into the comment box?

Even if you did, I wouldn't be embarrassed, not of this site, notthis time. I'm enjoying watching it form before my very eyes as we wrestle it into being. honestly its fun.

Were using squarespace, which allows you to edit on the fly eight in the browser without any programming at all. In fact, two of us are doing it at the same time now. Fun, chaos, building!

Ok, end aside.

right now the big question is, how will this Jesus-minded traveler hippie neo-monastic-light, international intentional seed tribe tell it's story? what words do you use?

It's a simple idea, with a long history. Its hard to explain, but easy to experience.

How to go forward?

Easy. Slowly slowly.

;)

One Man's Opinion

So what are people experiencing in Meditation? Wow, great question. heres an answer (randomly selected from a pile of perfect answers) from someone new to the practice...

Today was my fourth time experiencing Shekina Meditation. However, it was my first time experiencing an imagination meditation. Rachel led the meditation. She chose the passage from the gospel story where Jesus miraculously calms a storm during a boat trip across Lake Galilee with his disciples. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. At the beginning of the meditation Rachel led us to the shore amidst the crowds of people where Jesus was calling us to himself. We were encouraged to really experience being there. This was such a powerful experience for me. There was chaos on the shore—lots of people, and lots of commotion and confusion. Then I saw Jesus. He was amazing; I was enamored. Coming into his presence made all the chaos and confusion seem insignificant. He was so pure, strong and trustworthy. My soul was fully attracted to him. I felt peace. I felt safe. I felt fulfilled. I couldn’t even remember, let alone be bothered by the fact that a seemingly life-threatening storm was coming. I felt healing just by dwelling in this place where Jesus was. But then, we were led into the experience of the storm while crossing the lake. This experience was not so ostensibly pleasurable. I suddenly became confused. I didn’t understand why this was happening. The meditation became difficult at this point. But there was another breakthrough. I realized that the way I was feeling was similar to the other disciples in the boat. How quick we were to let our troubles and fears fog our minds, to turn back and doubt Jesus. But then Jesus calmed the storm, restored our faith and brought peace to our souls.



Let me say I’m not the type to have such profound experiences, which is why I was so surprised and thrilled that I had this one. I came to faith four years ago. For the first two years my doubts were based on intellectual struggles. I’ve pretty much dealt with those and now have a strong intellectual foundation for my faith. However, for the later two years up to the present, many of my doubts have more been based on not having enough of a fulfilling, personal, experiential relationship with God. Being that I don’t seem to be the type that’s wired for the more charismatic type experiences, I think I may have discovered a very powerful life-transforming spiritual discipline here with Shekina Meditation, especially through imagination meditation. It facilitates a personal encounter with Jesus, which in turn grows my relationship with him. All it takes is some time to sit down and imagine being with him. It’s so powerful because I know that it’s not simply fantasy imagination. I know that in doing this something real is actually happening. The Holy Spirit is present, truly ushering me into the presence of Jesus. Jesus is actually really ministering to me in this time. He’s renewing my mind and feeding my soul. I’m definitely coming back for more.

.....

Nice one! and also, here's a groovy icon. Although I don't  think they are sacred (sorry my earnest orthodox family!) and don't use them at all in my own practice, I love the artwork. And yeah, I think I get it, visual meditation.

Shekina Meditation, like a block party, only quieter.

So here it is, a tidbit from a hebrew speaking person who has been coming to the meditation times with us. She wrote this in a shout out to some friends, and thought it was a good insight to share...

"Mmmm mysterious! Let me explain, for some days now I've been meditating on "shekina", which in the Hebrew simply means "to dwell" (shochen) Exodus 25:8 " ... Let them build Me a sanctuary that I may dwell (shocen) with them"

The letter goes on with more words from the Tanach and some seasons greetings, but the main point is right there. It's a good excuse to talk about part of the point, the reason behind of the whole thing, which might come in handy just about now.

It was something she said after the meditation jumped out to me like an indian cow on the highway. She mentioned that when she moved into new zip code in Israel, she had to talk about where she was and who she was, just a run of the mill newbie discussion with her budding hebrew skills.

Turns out she had to say the word for neighborhood (שכונה -Shechonah) and neighbor (שכן-shochen) alot. Did you catch it?  It comes from the same root word that we get shekina. A surprisingly common and familiar word to use for lofty God concepts, don't you think?



Dwelling, house, abode, living place. Dwelling meditation. Yeah, I like it.

So go with the thought, with the implications. God wants to live with you, in your hood?

Now that's something to meditate on. Often when we start, we invoke the hope and expectation that God would do just that, reveal the presence among us, like right then and there. True, its a sobering even high goal for a one hour circle on a rooftop, if you look at it one way.

On the other hand, anything less might just be a waste of time.

P.s. The newly minted "Bizaam! Insights" category could be full of stuff like this, and better.  You know, lightbulb moments you might get during the meditation time and in discussions after. Even juicy musings on the the topic by frequent flyers. So come on down, weigh in and let it loose man, we'll supply the pulpit.

Okay, pulpit is too strong. Look, don't get all preachy, nobody likes a know it all. Just say what you learned like a normal human being, ok? ;)

The Countdown has begun!

As you can see, our website is completely up! Erm, well its in the works anyway. Just got its wings today, so if you are a shekina junkie, you can check back here real real soon and see our shiny new site. Until then, blessings!