"I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought for you are not ready for thought.
So the darkness shall be light, and the stillness the dancing."
T S Eliot, "East Coker," Four Quartets
"As the temperature drops and the darkness settles in, perhaps the urge to hibernate and sleep more is deep within our bones. Of course, life in the modern world does not encourage hibernation. We can shop and do business throughout the night, thanks to electricity. We are expected to work our usual eight hours a day, even if it's dark when we arrive and dark when we leave. Added to this, Winter is the holiday season, when most are shopping, entertaining and going to parties. No wonder Winter is the most difficult season for some people. The demands of the culture are contrary to those of nature.
The beauty of the Eliot poem shows us how to embrace an important aspect of the Winter season...waiting. Waiting is really not waiting for something, or, if we are waiting for something, what we get is often not what we thought we were going to get. Waiting is a mysterious place between the letting go of desire and the birth of a new desire. If we think we know where we are going, we miss the opportunity to dwell in the mystery, to allow new impulses to emerge from the darkness, to allow new desires to enter our hearts.
During the Winter Season we can practice waiting, with heart, with art this year, as we endure the long dark days and nights of Winter. We can change our attitude towards waiting. Welcoming it. What happens when we are willing to wait, when we choose waiting?
Let's make it our goal this Winter to find as many ways as possible to hibernate. Can we shorten our hours at work? Can we go straight home and curl up in front of the fire with a good book? Can we indulge ourselves with more hours of sleep?
We may then, suddenly discover and acknowledge true moments of immense joy and pleasure, as we are gently reminded that joy is a small ever-present flame we can nurture in our hearts in oh, so many simple ways.
Through this waiting, this mystery, this hibernation and joyful moments in stillness, there is a clarity of intent that arises within us. If we pay attention to this deeper dream arising, we can generate a desire to cleanse our mind and purify our senses. This allows us to renew what is sacred to us and strengthen our devotion to our spiritual path."--Shakti
Shakti is an Ordained Minister and performs services such as: Marriages, Renewal of Vows, Baptisms, Funerals, and the Dissolution of Marriages in a sacred and harmonious way. Check out her website: http://inspiritconsulting.com/mail/wsw.htm