Pathways in the Garden of the Tree of Life Part II with Zemirah

[00:00:01] This is Josh Reeves and you're listening to the Mile Hi Church Podcast. Labor Day weekend, Zemirah, Jackie, and myself are facilitating a meditation and prayer retreat. It's about meditation and solitude, but it's just as much about connection and community. We'll be creating a space of healing, introspection, and inner joy and fun. So consider joining us, learn more about this and all sorts of stuff at milehighchurch.org.

[00:00:26] You know, when I prepare for a talk, I like to gather the day before and kind of run through it, you know, see how it's going to go and do a little run through. And yesterday I decided to choose the pinnacle of the heat at about 5 p.m. to run through the entirety of my talk. And my audience happens to be my lovely little dog, Rosie, and my beloved partner, Andrew. And here I was giving this talk and I look over in the middle of it and both of them are like face down in the carpet. So I thought, oh, this can't be good.

[00:00:58] But if that happens to you today, just know that part of the Zen tradition is about deep rest and restoration. So being face down in the carpet is not necessarily a bad thing. This week we return to gather in the garden that is based on this lovely little book, Paradise in Plain Sight Lessons from a Zen Garden that is written by Karen Mazin Miller, who is a Zen teacher.

[00:01:28] And if you were with us last week, last week, we really focused on how to turn from fear to build a foundation of faith. And last week we also looked for how we could just show up for our practice and breathe and sit and stand and walk.

[00:01:53] And that if we just show up, that is enough in terms of bringing ourselves into and to touch the ground of our being, a place of deep peace and serenity. And we ended the service with this song of 100,000 angels.

[00:02:13] And what I want you to know that as we're immersing ourselves in this song, those 100,000 angels was this idea that we are never alone and we are always guided and divinely supported in every single moment of our life, even when it may feel otherwise. But the other part of that song is that each one of us is an angel, one and two, each other.

[00:02:41] Each of us in when we wake up to the fact that we are a very expression of the divine in this garden that is our life, in this garden of our own soul becomes a blessing, becomes a light onto the path of all that we share this beautiful world with. So you are that angel.

[00:03:02] And I want to begin with that idea in mind that yes, when we are fully in the recognition and the awareness of our garden, we, our wings are unfurled and we are here to serve. And the smile that you give someone in the smile that you give someone in the hallway or the thing that you pick up in the grocery store so no one falls down or when you're in the parking lot and you put that cart back so that someone can park in that place.

[00:03:29] Those acts of service are part of this intricate network of service one and to each other. So 100,000 angels is who you are. And we came to know ourselves last week as we entered into the teachings of the tree of life that comes to us from the mystical tradition of Judaism, which is known as Kabbalah or Kabbalah, as you might hear it.

[00:03:55] And Kabbalah is literally the Hebrew word meaning that which has been received. And in this teaching, the aspirant, the Kabbalist is receptive.

[00:04:08] The practices are used to become receptive to the higher worlds of understanding, to become receptive to divine guidance, to become receptive and available for higher knowledge to bubble up through the very inner knowingness. And this happens through a direct relationship with God. It's a tradition that teaches about the allness of God, the absolute, the Ain Saf.

[00:04:38] And as we begin to practice and to polish these building blocks of divine qualities of energies that we learned about last week are known as the Sefero. So these divine qualities, as they become in balance through our practice, through our understanding, as we light them up, we elevate our awareness to know ourselves as the light of God. And then when we know ourselves as the light of God, we become that spark.

[00:05:05] And then as we become that spark, we help to bring back the spark to those around us and bring back the spark into the world. All of our focus today is about tending this garden. It is about some disciplines.

[00:05:22] And most of all, it's about the perceptions that we bring to our practice so that we can awaken to know ourselves more deeply and fully in this garden and to know ourselves as that tree of life. You know, when that ick of life comes and you have the to-do list, the grocery list, the fix-it list, all the lists, all the things that pull us off our path, the stuff of life as we like to call it, or as Daniel was singing about,

[00:05:51] how do we turn ourselves around when those things really become chaotic in our awareness? The worries, the health stuff, all of those things. And often my response has been to speed up, to try to slow down. But that doesn't work. It doesn't work. It always backfires.

[00:06:12] And I always have come at life with this idea is if I go faster, if I do more, if I gather, if I seek, then I will begin to know. But what I found is it just wears you out while you're doing it. And so today we're going to look at approach of getting back into the garden when we ourselves have perhaps solely, solidly self-extradited ourselves from that awareness.

[00:06:41] There's a poem from Zen Master Shukman. He likens it to floating on a pool, and it's called Passenger, Passenger. He says, When the last moorings have been released and the lines swung loose, the hull has parted from the key, and you feel this new flow carry you as if it had been waiting just for you all this time. Don't imagine it's you who entered, that engineered this current,

[00:07:10] although it's so smooth and it has the unseen power of a great river. It is like that first time when you were seven or eight and you lifted your toes clean off the bottom of the pool, and to your astonishment, the water held you. And you hovered like a cloud in the sky, your shadow flickering over the blue land beneath.

[00:07:37] So now all you have done is to give yourself over against all instincts and found that you are fully held. And what carries you knows where to take you. There's no reason not to let it. And you do.

[00:07:59] And in doing so, you realize that you just found the answer that had always eluded you. In meeting with my prayer partner, she shared with me a song that goes perfectly with this poem, and it's called The Way Knows by Lindsay Scott. And the lyrics go like this. You don't have to know the way. The way knows the way. You don't have to find the way. Trust the way.

[00:08:28] The way knows the way. And so last week we talked about that when we open in a deeper trust, the way knows the way. The path becomes clear ahead because it comes from trusting the flow, opening to the flow. And so the first discipline, the first perception that brings us deeper into the garden this morning

[00:08:55] is the teaching that comes to us from the Zen tradition known as the eternal now. That intersection, that intersection point of the past, the present, and the future. And when we stand on that threshold, that is when we fully are able to be in that fullness, that allness, that absoluteness of God.

[00:09:22] This right here I'd like to introduce you to is a Sago palm. This Sago palm, although you may not recognize it right here from just looking at it, it is actually what Mazin Miller calls a time machine. And she says this time machine lives in her backyard and she brings it forward because it teaches the timeless by being a living contradiction of chronology.

[00:09:53] This is a living fossil from the time of the dinosaurs. And it is still standing here. As if a dinosaur once upon a time stepped upon a seed and out went flying the very essence of this plant three million years into the past and three million years into the future to bring us this beautiful plant right here.

[00:10:20] And this plant, what does what plants do and has been doing it for three million years, every single year, it unfurls a leaf. This is what it means, a perfect example of what it means to be both ancient and new all at once.

[00:10:42] This new leaf, this fresh spiral, this leaflet that unfurls just where the last year's growth was and it begins again. We learn from this palm that the garden of life isn't a destination. It's not what you arrive at when the past has been resolved and the future has become secure.

[00:11:09] This is the present now. What's rooted in the now is what's rooted in this pot right here. You know, when I was studying to be ordained as a Sufi minister, my Sufi teacher, as is the custom when you're going through the studies, often bestows upon you a name, a spiritual name.

[00:11:34] And when I was going through my initiation, I was given the name Bismillah. And the idea is when the teacher is bestowing upon you a name, she is bestowing both a practice and a growth vision. So that when you are imbued with this name, when you hear this name, when you receive this name, when you use this name,

[00:12:03] you are both practicing a principle and you are awakening an awareness all at the same time. So it's both teaching and intention. And Bismillah literally means we begin again and again in the name of God. So as a practice, that means that every time you come again to start again in the name of God. Think about all the moments throughout your day.

[00:12:32] I come again in the name of God. I come again. I begin again in the name of God and again and again. And I forget. And again, I begin in the name of God. And as a teaching, Bismillah literally means unity of existence. That beginning again is choosing to water the very awareness of God in every moment.

[00:12:57] And so choosing to water this leaf, this present moment, instead of waiting for a better season or the perfect reason. That's what we do in the perception of the eternal now. You know, this palm is indifferent. It'll grow in the rainforest, in the desert, in the sand, in the swamp, in the sun, in the shade. It cares not where it is. And it does not negotiate with its conditions.

[00:13:25] What would it be like to not negotiate with one's conditions? That is what it would be, would be to become in our practice. We would open this willingness to choose again and again in the present moment. This too. And this too. Ah, this too. Regardless.

[00:13:55] And so that is what the eternal now is. Not time stopped, but it's collapsed into this one leaf right now. Mason Miller writes, There is no greater joy than seeing through time because when you've touched the leaf tip of eternity, it looks exactly like your backyard right now. That is being fully in the garden.

[00:14:25] A second way in which we seed our garden to bloom into that awareness of knowing our life as the garden, but also knowing ourselves as the garden in the tree of life, is to seed with gratitude in advance. To dwell in a state of blessing. You know, all of our new thought teachers and giants, you know, Ernest Holmes, Florence Scovel Shin,

[00:14:54] Emmett Fox, Emmett Curtis Hopkins, Neville Goddard, all of them taught that the sacred order of prayer is that we don't wait for life to show us the evidence of our prayer before we believe. That's the way of the world. But that's not the way of spirit. You don't see and then believe. You believe and then you see.

[00:15:19] This is the spiritual work of gratitude in advance. This is also the spiritual work of assuming our good. That there is a power greater than us in the universe and we use it for good. That's our spiritual work. So dare to assume in your life the best out of faith. And when fear is knocking at the door as these new thought teachers teach, answer with faith.

[00:15:49] Stand guard over your inner world. That is where everything begins in the soil of your thoughts. And it takes assuming the good, aligning with the positive and living in a state of blessing. Living in a state of blessing. That is what brings us to this fruition of knowing the garden of our life. Neville Goddard said, once the seed of assumption is planted, and that is the assumption of our good.

[00:16:19] And once we've nurtured it with belief, life itself becomes the garden in which it blooms. And then he said, you are defined by what you claim within. And you can't expect water to take shape without a vessel, just like you can't expect life to deliver. And what you have not first shaped and claimed and seeded within yourself. You know when our little works of heart bookstore was over in the vote chapel?

[00:16:47] Way back when, I entered one Sunday and I bought this little tiny stone. And it has come with me ever since. And on this stone it says, I ask certain that I receive. That's the beauty of seeding and also applying gratitude in advance. There's something divine about walking through life with gratitude before those answers come.

[00:17:17] I was once working with my realtor. She actually sends me videos of Neville Goddard. I just love it. And I was working with her and we were getting ready to sell a house. And it wasn't, you know, the market this, the market. It wasn't the ideal bestest of what you would say conditions. But she said, this is what I want you to do. She goes, I want you to imagine the day that we've sold the house. And we're standing in Coors Field and everyone's cheering that you've sold this house.

[00:17:46] And the fireworks are going off and we have champagne and we're congratulating each other. And it's all done. And so I got to work. Three days later, we sold the house. And, you know, no, there wasn't the Coors Field thing. That was great. You know, that was fun. It was all great to imagination. But see, that was the power of gratitude in advance.

[00:18:10] The power of rehearsing the good and knowing and trusting that it is unfolding as we believe. Once you believe, you shall see. And so the power of prayer is the garden that is your life. And we can begin to cultivate a quiet confidence that arises from an inner knowing of being aligned with a greater power.

[00:18:39] And that power is God. You know, that brings us to the final part in our series, which is about growing. And we're growing as we know ourselves to be part of a greater forest. You know, earlier, a couple weeks ago, I went into Reverend Jackie's office. And there sitting on her desk was the most beautiful little bamboo.

[00:19:07] It was so pretty. And I commented and I said, wow, that is so delightful, Jackie. She said, yeah, a student brought it to me last night as a symbol of how we can grow in our life with prosperity, with grace. And also the bamboo symbolizes emptiness. And you know how you have that split second thought that thinks, oh, I'd like to get a bamboo. That'd be nice. I'd like to rehearse grace and beauty and fortune and prosperity and that in my life.

[00:19:36] And I had that split second thought when I was commenting on the beauty of her bamboo. Well, two days later, I went to hike with my friend Rita, who I don't think I've hiked with in three years. We finally found a date to hike. And when I parked the car at 6 a.m., she came running out of the car and she said, Samira, look, I have something for you. It's a gift. And when I saw it, I just knew it was for you. And I thought, whoa.

[00:20:05] Not only did I need to know that little bamboo, but I needed to know at time. Six. A forest of bamboo showed up two days later. I immediately texted Jackie. I said, you'll never believe it. But look what just came. This bamboo. And not only is that such, I think, a powerful idea of how our thoughts create in our reality.

[00:20:34] But also, this bamboo brings us a Zen teaching. Maison Miller talks about bamboo in her book. And she says, you have to be really careful because if you commit to bamboo, it may take over your whole life. If you're not really, if you're not careful about where you plant it. But she says, this bamboo is a perfect teaching of the Zen principle of emptiness. It's known by many names.

[00:21:02] It's the Himalayan blue, the fountain, the sweet dragon, the moonlight, the golden fish pole, and the Chinese goddess. And she says, you can fall in love with it, but be careful because if you become attached to it, it will take over your garden. In the Zen teachings, we learn that in order to work with our attachment, that we have to move into a practice of emptiness.

[00:21:32] We need to empty. And in the first introduction of our talk last week, we talked about how the leaves in the Zen garden show us the very nature of how we can let go. Bamboo, although it is one of the most durable, sustainable, and flexible plants, it is hollow on the inside. It is empty.

[00:21:57] And in the Zen teachings, they teach that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. And so in our practice, we have to become increasingly aware that we must let go of those things that we have formed our attachments to or have allowed to cloud our thinking.

[00:22:15] The resentments, the grievances, the desires, even the things that might feel good can take us out of that very presence and nature of our being. And oh, how hard it can be sometimes, right, to let go in the midst of.

[00:22:34] I like how author Mark Nepo, he tells this beautiful story about a dream that he had where one night it was his job to sweep the temple floor at dawn. And he said he couldn't find the temple. In his dream, it was cloudy all around him. There was mist and he just kept sweeping and he kept sweeping, but he couldn't find where he was supposed to be.

[00:23:03] And in the midst of his sweeping, this man, he said, approached him. He was this ancient being. And he said, when he looked in his eyes, it was as if he was looking a thousand years. And as he was there, this man came to him and he took the broom from Mark and he examined the handle.

[00:23:30] And as he was looking at the handle, he handed it back to Mark and he says, you know what, you're holding it too tightly. And then he said, the secret is, is that the temple is anywhere that you are awake. And so Mark said that he began to sweep right where he was and the path became clear.

[00:23:59] This is what we are called to, to loosen our grip and to empty where we stand. To realize that where we are awake is the garden, is the temple of our being. And when we come together, it says in this book, to practice, we come together like trees in the forest.

[00:24:30] Because we all share the forest. We share the food, the space, the water, the light. And each of us grows according to our own capacity, according to our own calling. Some are to grow tall and strong and provide shade for others. And some of us are called to grow and be the beauty that simply is.

[00:24:55] This is the growing awareness of the real harmony that underlies everything. And it's written that as we practice then, together, the internal and the external, we become aware that they can't be separated. That is the very nature of knowing and understanding paradise in plain sight,

[00:25:23] is to know the harmony beneath it all, within yourself and within the vastness of the all. And so we're going to close right now as I invite you to go within. To turn within, perhaps close your eyes, to gather, to rest in the garden that is the tree of life and to commune, as Ernest Holmes said.

[00:25:51] To imagine that you're pausing and you're sitting, perhaps with your back against this great tree. And all there is to do is to breathe and to sit. To breathe and to sit and to listen.

[00:26:12] For it is in the breathing and the sitting and the listening we touch that beingness of the eternal now. We awaken to know ourselves as a leaf on this vast tree of life. This canopy of leaves.

[00:26:41] This inner connectedness. To feel and know that inner connectedness of the allness of things. And as we sit and as we breathe, what I know is that each one of us opens a little more to simply feel and know that each one of us is a spark, a light of the divine.

[00:27:12] And together we interconnect to be this constellation of light that is the greatness of the tree of life. And so this morning we recognize, we give thanks for this awareness of the interconnectedness of all. For I know from that place, that awareness, our hearts open.

[00:27:41] And we become those hundred thousand angels. And we become those angels, both within our own heart and as we interconnect with one another. And so I give thanks for this opportunity to feel and know the grace of God. The eternal present now. The very lightness of being.

[00:28:12] I release this word into that law. Feeling and knowing it is done, it is so. And knowing it is so. Because I believe. And so it is. Thanks for listening to the Mile High Church podcast.

[00:28:39] This podcast is made possible by the generous contributions from listeners like you. To make a donation, please visit milehighchurch.org.