Recently I spent a lot of time re-reading, sorting, and organizing my journals, and writings…..a review of my life and an adventure in meaning making. I discovered that after twenty years of well documented, detailed, daily journaling, I abruptly stopped writing in October 1993 after my husband suddenly died. I was left to juggle four teenagers, a mortgage and a house that was falling apart and needed immediate repair. My life was turned upside-down, there were paradigm shifts back to back and overlapping, yet my overall impression of these decades is that I was grounded, balanced, with increasing inner freedom, peace and contentment and an almost otherworldly stillness within. I remember saying to a friend that I was blissfully silenced.

Slowly, I was called into not one but three part time jobs that I loved and as far as I was concerned, I was playing and no longer working.

1. Teaching several courses at two different colleges, in Religions of the World, Ethics or Intro to Philosophy, and also Human Biology or Anatomy & Physiology.
2. I was invited as a part time staff member at a nearby retreat center to facilitate weekend retreats with the Team, give talks and meet monthly with individuals for spiritual direction.
3. In 1994, with two other spiritual friends, I was asked to create, lead and teach in a four year Formation Program for aspiring spiritual directors.

So, between the age of 53 and 83, I have spent 30 years immersed in spiritual work with others, and here is where my form of ‘Spiritual Activism” took roots and flourished. Whether I was with students, retreatants or with those in the Formation Program, we were on a great adventure and discovery. I was a mentor, teacher, companion, helping spiritual seekers discover and deepen their relationship with the divine. I helped create a safe haven where they could share their deepest secrets and desires, where they felt heard, never judged and knew they were loved and respected no matter what their dreams or fears were.

Amazingly they were my teachers as much as I was their teacher and we mutually challenged each other to learn, to expand, to seek and to find new answers to the big questions of life: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? How is fear preventing us from reaching our highest potentials? Is Love the greatest transforming force in the universe and in our lives?

Each semester I encountered an average of 25-30 students. I loved how many of them came into my World Religions or Philosophy classes declaring that they were atheists, yet in no time we were on an exciting adventure to discovery. Teaching, exploring, creating engaging curriculums for my classes were my ways to challenge them to ‘step out of the box’, to give themselves permission to go out on a limb, risk, dare to imagine that we are all divine multidimensional beings having a human experience.

It was my delight and joy to expand and learn with them, help them to recognize their giftedness, trust their own wisdom, deepen their ability to listen to their divine soul’s desire and help them see that we are always guided and that at any moment our consciousness can take flight…..
Encouraged them to ask ‘critical thinking’ and evocative questions and to ‘WAKE UP’ ..….“stay, sit, linger, tarry, ponder, reflect, wait, behold, wonder, because something is on the horizon!” (J.Richardson)

“…step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid…for there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it…..if only we are brave enough to BE IT!”
~ Amanda Gorman, 2020

My spiritual activism flows from this gentle but ever growing sense of divine wisdom working in, through and with me…..enticing, whispering, challenging, assuring, empowering and delighting my being. It flows from the countless remarkable people who entered my life… the right people at the right moment, each with their own unique ‘spiritual activism’ mirroring divine love and wisdom. In turn, I am called to share through my unique being this presence that can manifest in the deepest grief or ecstatic joy. When words fail us, our presence is the most important gift we can give to another.

As our sense of interconnectedness and interdependence grows and our awareness/consciousness expands, we recognize ourselves as vessels of divine wisdom, hope, light and love and that we are here to help bring about a new humanity. We see with new eyes, act with new hearts and our caring and sharing can help us dream our dreams into reality. The older I get, the more clearly I see that our very presence becomes lifegiving ointment as we together become more and more attuned to the ways of the spirit.

We are all spiritual activists, each with our own unique flavor and intensity. The magic and miracle of our common spiritual journey is that we are brought together precisely with those guides that our souls need the most. Inevitably, as we are walking each other home, our mutual spiritual activism prepares every one of us for collective awakening.

“As we attune, as we become available, as we relax together – we begin to generate a field of awakening that is collectively held by all of us….And that field is able to perceive more deeply into the mystery of being than any individual could, and we all have the benefit of being part of that shared field.”

“There is a new way of being, a meta-being, that wants to be born and it is drawing us together.”

“In our world in which so many problems stem from the inability of people to understand each other and get along, a shared field of enlightened awareness could be the answer to our collective prayers.”
~ Jeff Carreira, The Mystery of Collective Awakening