I am visiting England and having a beautiful time. Dear friends and beautiful gardens provide me with amazing conversations with human spirits and nature spirits.
Today is the festival of Pentecost or Whitsun which reminds us of the sacred event fifty days after the Easter when the Holy Spirit ignites the twin tongues of fire within the souls of each one present and suddenly everyone can be understood by everyone in “the language of their birth.”
This is generally interpreted as the speaking in tongues but if we penetrate the esoteric and evolved meaning we find a very profound and liberating possibility that has nothing to do with where one was born and what their mother tongue is. Actually, it never had to do with the languages of locations.
In the possibility of Whitsun, it is where you are “coming from” in the moment that is understood. If every moment you are born anew and this birth is understood by all those around you, you will receive the love that surpasses all understanding. If you find in your heart the ability to experience the constant birthing anew of the individual in front of you then you will give the love that surpasses all understanding. Through this love you experience the “fulness of Spirit.”
Whitsun or Pentecost occurred almost 2000 years ago. How close are we to understanding and being understood by those who are dear to us, let alone those who are strangers or perceived enemies? Do we have any sense of a love that surpasses understanding? Do we experience the fulness of Spirit - the full incarnation of the inner divinity? These are not rhetorical questions and when considered deeply they ask us if we really want to feel, know, be penetrated with, this understanding, this love, this fulness? Could our hearts bear it?
Supporting the opening our hearts and the maturing the noble capacities of our human souls is the intention behind the Inner Year emails and teleseminars.
Much of the Inner Year focuses on the awakening of our individuality. Pentecost is the festival that celebrates the connection of one individuality to another. This festival nurtures and celebrates how the inner I moves out to meet the I of the other. It is the once a year attention to community. It’s the party of the year.
Yet, to really know communion with others we must know the community that makes up our sense of self. Yesterday I was having a significantly healing conversation with a kind and thoughtful friend. He was confronting me about some of my inner challenges. He was saying “You are…” I was struggling with feelings of being understood but misjudged. I defended myself and counter attacked even tho’ I felt he was touching a truth. In a moment of inspired Whitsun wisdom, I realized that the truth was about a part of me, but not all of me. I asked him if he could restate his insight and begin with “I see a part of you, Lynn, that is ….” He did and I immediately felt understood and loved. My complexity of good and weak parts, bad and wonderful parts, creative and stuck parts was being acknowledged by my friend and by me. My defenses rolled away and I could love all of me including the not-so-thrilling part he was pointing to and the conversation became compassionate transformative.
So what are all the languages of my parts? What are the languages of your parts?
Last night as I was falling asleep, I began to look at all the languages I am speaking in my own being and not understanding. The languages of my moods, the languages of my fears, the languages of my longings, the languages of my needs for love, sex and romance, the languages of my senses, the languages of my gut and my nervous system, the ancient languages of my biography, the languages of my traumas and my healings, the languages of my aging and on and on. Each part of me has a language and only a few do I speak well, listen to or understand.
Perhaps this polyglot challenge causes my love of this festival. I shine in the Whitsun promise that I will be given the grace of knowing my own languages and in knowing my own come to know the languages of all other human souls - the twin tongues of self and other. But I also wonder what are the archetypes of this understanding and how can I apply them practically.
Today I will be giving a workshop on Stimulating and Soothing, the Art of Creative Self-Management, at the Steiner School is York, England. As I was preparing my outline, I reflected on the many twin tongues of fire living in the wisdom of our humanity. Soothing and stimulating are twin tongues. If we understand the mysteries of soothing and stimulating, we can speak the languages that will soothe and stimulate our own and each other’s souls. In the workshop I will focus on the soothing and stimulating of our temperaments and our senses. I feel the possibility of a “fulness of awareness” here. Knowing the languages of the temperaments is the foundation of understanding ourselves and others. Knowing the soothing and stimulating languages of the senses helps us find the right perceptions of all things.
I will be offering a teleseminar on the languages and conversations of the four temperaments in June. I will send out the information after I return to the States next weekend. Over the summer I will be sending out 12 weekly emails on the Twelve Senses, sharing the way these sensory tongues shape our consciousness. I will offer teleseminars on the mysteries of Intimacy and the mysteries of Balance beginning in July. I hope you will join me as we learn these challenging languages spoken in our souls.
Yet, to really know communion with others we must know the community that makes up our sense of self. Yesterday I was having a significantly healing conversation with a kind and thoughtful friend. He was confronting me about some of my inner challenges. He was saying “You are…” I was struggling with feelings of being understood but misjudged. I defended myself and counter attacked even tho’ I felt he was touching a truth. In a moment of inspired Whitsun wisdom, I realized that the truth was about a part of me, but not all of me. I asked him if he could restate his insight and begin with “I see a part of you, Lynn, that is ….” He did and I immediately felt understood and loved. My complexity of good and weak parts, bad and wonderful parts, creative and stuck parts was being acknowledged by my friend and by me. My defenses rolled away and I could love all of me including the not-so-thrilling part he was pointing to and the conversation became compassionate transformative.
So what are all the languages of my parts? What are the languages of your parts?
Last night as I was falling asleep, I began to look at all the languages I am speaking in my own being and not understanding. The languages of my moods, the languages of my fears, the languages of my longings, the languages of my needs for love, sex and romance, the languages of my senses, the languages of my gut and my nervous system, the ancient languages of my biography, the languages of my traumas and my healings, the languages of my aging and on and on. Each part of me has a language and only a few do I speak well, listen to or understand.
Perhaps this polyglot challenge causes my love of this festival. I shine in the Whitsun promise that I will be given the grace of knowing my own languages and in knowing my own come to know the languages of all other human souls - the twin tongues of self and other. But I also wonder what are the archetypes of this understanding and how can I apply them practically.
Today I will be giving a workshop on Stimulating and Soothing, the Art of Creative Self-Management, at the Steiner School is York, England. As I was preparing my outline, I reflected on the many twin tongues of fire living in the wisdom of our humanity. Soothing and stimulating are twin tongues. If we understand the mysteries of soothing and stimulating, we can speak the languages that will soothe and stimulate our own and each other’s souls. In the workshop I will focus on the soothing and stimulating of our temperaments and our senses. I feel the possibility of a “fulness of awareness” here. Knowing the languages of the temperaments is the foundation of understanding ourselves and others. Knowing the soothing and stimulating languages of the senses helps us find the right perceptions of all things.
I will be offering a teleseminar on the languages and conversations of the four temperaments in June. I will send out the information after I return to the States next weekend. Over the summer I will be sending out 12 weekly emails on the Twelve Senses, sharing the way these sensory tongues shape our consciousness. I will offer teleseminars on the mysteries of Intimacy and the mysteries of Balance beginning in July. I hope you will join me as we learn these challenging languages spoken in our souls.
Whitsun is often celebrated with flowers. Here in England, spring flowers are everywhere. Let flowers speak to your soul today.
with Whitsun wonder and love,
with Whitsun wonder and love,
Lynn
