March’s theme: Wisdom
What Does It Mean To Be a People of Wisdom?
There are many ways to seek wisdom. There is travel, there are masters, there is service. There is staring into the eyes of children and elders and lovers and strangers. There is sitting silently in one spot and there is being swept along in life’s turbulent current. Life itself will grant you wisdom in ways you may neither understand nor choose.
~ Kent Nerburn
Wisdom is everywhere and nowhere. It is within our reach and often elusive. It is outside us, beyond us. We can spend our lives seeking it–acquiring more and more experiences, accumulating knowledge, and looking to gurus and masters for meaning and guidance.
But sometimes we need to stop and see how wisdom is showing up from within us. Listening to our own teacher, to our own intuition, our inner voice, can be powerful and profound. How well are you doing at listening to your own inner teacher as well as heeding the counsel of others? When’s the last time your still small voice gave you just the insight you needed all along? This month as we explore the many sources of wisdom, be sure to take time to explore your own inner voice. It just may be the key that unlocks some wisdom you’ve been waiting for.
Yours in love,
Rev. Sandra
Balancing Knowledge and Wisdom
From your Director of Music
Elizabeth Bromley
“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. ”
– Martin H. Fischer
In rehearsal we focus on the balance between piling up of skills and then in performance we strive to let all of the details go and focus on the moment at hand.
In rehearsal we’re focused on the rhythm and the notes and the text and the dynamics And and And and And…..
Letting all of the details become one simplified idea can be so hard.
All of the details can seem so important that engaging with the whole picture, the whole piece of music can become challenging.
It is often only in a dress rehearsal, the time right before a performance, that we give ourselves permission to move away from the details and experience the whole piece.
Great conductors know to check the “balance” of an ensemble. Either they’ll ask someone to move to the far corners of a room and report what they hear to the conductor or they themselves will move away from right in front of the group and conduct from a further distance than normal to hear how the different sounds are blending in the room. Are the lower sounds louder than the higher sounds, can we hear each individual part or are some parts not coming through?
The simplification comes when we can create distance from the piece we’re focusing on and it truly helps our wisdom when we can share our perspectives with many folx. In what ways is it easy for you to find a “balcony perspective” with moments in your life? In what ways do you need to ask someone else to share with you their “balcony perspective”?
In Harmony,
Ebee Bromley
The Wisdom of A Wise Old Owl
From Your Director of Religious Education
Elizabeth Bromley
A Wise Old Owl
A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more they saw the less they spoke.
The less they spoke the more they heard.
Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?
Wisdom shared to you from the SoulMatters Religious Education Materials for our Seeds class (PreK-K group).
Questions to play with in this month of wisdom:
What helps you see, hear, smell, touch & taste your world?
How can you experience more of your world this month?
Yours in the wisdom of questions,
Ebee Bromley,
Director of Religious Education
by nadine j. smet-weiss
spiritual director
within
intuition
speaks
deep
opening
|
