Bonus: Grounding Meditation for the Election

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Jim Finley (0:08)

Greetings, I'm Jim Finley.

Kirsten Oates (0:11)

And I'm Kirsten Oates.

Jim Finley (0:13)

Welcome to Turning to the Mystics. Thanks.

Kirsten Oates (0:23)

Welcome to a bonus episode of Turning to the Mystics, recorded on the 2nd of November, 2020 Our wonderful producer, Corey, had the idea that it might be a good time to bring our contemplative community together, to sit in prayer and meditation, to help ground us and the world as we approach the upcoming election.

So Jim, thank you for being here, and you're planning to lead us in a 10-minute sit, but as people feel called or able, you can extend the time of your practice. So thank you so much, Jim. I'll hand over to you.

Jim Finley (1:02)

Yes, thank you. Yes, when you approached me, I thought it was a great idea. It's great timing. And my sense of this is that all of us who are nourished by these teachings of the mystics, in a very real way, we all belong to a contemplative community with each other. And so in the midst here in the United States, with the election coming up, with far reaching implications in terms of the tone of the country and its direction, combined with the pandemic, and knowing that those of you in other countries too, where there's the pandemic, not to mention what other sources of strife and stress might be going on and in our homes and so on, that to be true to the teachings of the mystics, we keep returning again and again to sink the taproot of our heart in the presence of God, whose oneness with us sustains us unexplainably, come what may. And so to honor then the kind of the spirit of this contemplative lineage, we will sit together in quiet meditation. And so it will be a simpler form that I'll invite you to sit straight and we'll bow and I'll ring the bell once. And then we'll sit for 10 minutes. And at the end of the 10 minutes, I'll ring the bell once, we'll bow, and then I'll say the Lord's prayer.

And that's how we'll end our sitting, okay? And if you hear a little noise going on, there's a lot of construction going on right outside my window. So we're living the contemplative way of life in the midst of the real world. So that's the point, I guess, really. So we'll begin. I invite you to sit straight, hold your hands and bow. Bow.

Repeat after me. Be still and know I am God.

Be still.

You slowly say the Lord's prayer together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now and forever, amen. Mary, Mother of Contemplatives, pray for us.

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us. St. John of the Cross, pray for us.

SPEAKER_1 (13:08)

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