Bonus: Sink Into the Taproot of Your Heart

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit cac.org.

James Finley (0:08)

Greetings, I'm Jim Finley.

Kirsten Oates (0:11)

And I'm Kirsten Oates.

James Finley (0:13)

Welcome to Turning to the Mystics. Thanks.

Kirsten Oates (0:23)

Welcome, everyone, to this podcast recording of Turning to the Mystics with Jim Finley. I'm joining you in my role as program designer for the CAC, and just letting you know that at the CAC, the Center for Action and Contemplation, we are trying to create some more responsive programming to the terrible and unexpected chaos that we've found ourselves in as a result of the coronavirus.

We're so lucky to have someone like Jim Finley on our faculty who has not only a depth of knowledge and embodied experience in the Christian mystics, but also worked for many years as a psychotherapist. And so what's happening now really touches on one of Jim's core teachings, the spirituality of healing. And so Jim, we're so grateful that you've taken time out of your day to spend with us responding to the virus. And before we get started, I'll just let everybody know that you're at home in your study in California, I'm at home in mine. And Corey, our producer is also on with us in Albuquerque, New Mexico. So we've been in the shelter in experience for at least a week.

And Jim, we're so grateful to have this time with you today.

James Finley (1:51)

Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Kirsten. Oh yeah, I was so, when you called me and said that the staff there at CAC was talking about how timely it would be to say something about what's going on, to kind of ground these teachings of the mystics and the suffering of the real world.

This connection between the mystical traditions and social justice, the corporal works of mercy, that it heightens our response to suffering. And so it seems so timely and kind of providential and important that we can do this. So I'm glad we can do it.

Kirsten Oates (2:28)

Yeah, thank you, Jim. And when we spoke about the podcast overall, we thought that we will continue on with these more responsive podcasts for a while.

We're estimating at least four weeks of recording a new podcast each week in response to what's happening in that moment alongside your evergreen depth of teaching that really stands the test of time in terms of responding to crises like these.

James Finley (3:00)

Yes, and then what we'll do then after these three or four, whatever that is, we'll just pick up what we left off with Merton, and we'll probably move next into Teresa of Avila as the next mystic. We'll just continue on with the series. So this is kind of a hiatus to ground these mystical reflections in the suffering that we're all going through right now, how our groundedness in the mystics can help us to be present to this in a spiritually grounded way.

Kirsten Oates (3:31)

Well, thank you so much, Jim, and I'll hand over to you to lead us through today.

James Finley (3:38)

Thank you, thank you, Kirsten. Yes, what I'm gonna do here is I'm gonna follow the same format that we've been following in Turning to the Mystics. As I'll share with you a reflection, kind of a poetic, experiential reflection on kind of grounding ourself in the richness of the mystical lineage of the Christian tradition.

One in spirit with the mystical lineage of all the world's great religions and in some poets, philosophers, but those who serve the poor. And then I'll share with you a way to meditate or pray as a way to experientially ground ourself in the spiritual truth embodied in the reflection that we can then carry out of that daily meditation practice, a way to help us be present through this crisis in a more compassionate, grounded, authentic and helpful way. And then we'll end with a meditation. We'll sit, I'll ring the bell and we'll bow and we'll sit, say the Lord's Prayer. And so that'll be our format for each of these.

So with that, then I'll be good.

For Let's say here is a kind of a devotional practice. We begin by a kind of a, like a visualization practice that we're approaching Jesus with our hearts heavy, with these fears of the pandemic, for ourself, for our family, the disturbing statistics that we're seeing on the media, and something that may go on for a while, get worse, and kind of the breaking down of the societal structures on whom we tend to depend for our security, kind of the uncertainty of it all. And so we're approaching Jesus then with our hearts are heavy with these concerns.