We Are Contextual Beings
Somos seres contextuales--por Pir Aga Mir
Esta es una de mis preguntas centrales: si nuestras prácticas espirituales y religiosas no están expandiendo nuestro círculo de empatía, compasión, amor y cuidado, ¿cuál es su propósito? Si no nos están preparando para nuestra muerte física, ¿qué fines están cumpliendo? Parte de la razón por la que las religiones institucionales han perdido el rumbo en este sentido es que la praxis de un humano una vez iluminado no puede calcificarse y universalizarse. Como humanos, somos seres contextuales. El contexto de Jerusalén hace 2100 años o La Meca hace 1500 años o la India hace 4000 años, o incluso el Amazonas hace 100 años, no se traduce en un código de ética relevante o una filosofía moral en el mundo desordenado y enredado de la modernidad. De hecho, el contexto de Jesús o Mahoma (que la paz sea con ellos) no podría traducirse desde el momento en que dejaron el reino material.
Esto no quiere decir que las prácticas, tradiciones y aspectos de la cultura no deban preservarse y perpetuarse. Más bien, deben compartirse y discutirse abiertamente con una lente crítica contemporánea y con el abrazo amoroso del impulso evolutivo que yace dentro de tod@s nosotr@s. ¿Tu práctica espiritual te convierte en un mejor estudiante del empobrecimiento de tu tiempo? ¿Te permite estar en un servicio más profundo a las transformaciones que están sucediendo ahora? ¿Te conecta más profundamente con el cuerpo que habitas? ¿Te arraiga más profundamente a este generoso planeta que te sirve como tu hogar y tu madre?
Todos hemos elegido encarnar en tiempos difíciles. Puedes describir nuestro contexto como el Antropoceno o el Kali Yuga (la edad oscura en el ciclo védico), un contexto que premia el cortoplacismo, la codicia y la extracción. Todos debemos ser buenos estudiantes de nuestra cultura para ser objetores de conciencia. Este es el camino del místico. [...] Algunos pueden llamarlo herético, yo lo describiría como contextualmente relevante.
Parte de nuestra práctica espiritual es estudiar nuestras culturas para entender la lógica del antídoto. En nuestra cultura de modernidad, el antídoto es cultivar relaciones recíprocas, vivir en diálogo con un planeta vivo, actuar de forma solidaria con toda la Vida, construir poder y oponerse a la opresión, y vivir en el don, sin usura, especulación ni acumulación. Sabemos que nuestras almas seguirán regresando a este planeta hasta que creemos el cielo en la Tierra. De manera no dualista, también entendemos que el cielo en la Tierra ya está aquí. Nuestro poder político proviene de las verdades simultáneas de múltiples realidades. Esta es la voluntad divina.
No puedo hacer nada mejor que tomar prestado de nuestros hermanos que escribieron el Talmud:
No te dejes intimidar por la enormidad del dolor del mundo.
Haz justicia, ahora.
Ama la misericordia, ahora.
No estás obligado a completar el trabajo,
pero tampoco eres libre de abandonarlo.
Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Qué significa para ti ser contextualmente relevante? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de una ocasión en la que pudiste actuar en solidaridad con toda la Vida? ¿Qué te ayuda a involucrarte en el trabajo sin sentir la obligación de completarlo?
S.S. Pir Aga Mir es un maestro sufí. Pasó gran parte de su adolescencia viviendo en cuevas. Recientemente salió del aislamiento después de tener visiones de colapso social y renacimiento.
H.H. Pir Aga Mir is a Sufi teacher. He spent much of his adolescence living in caves. He recently left isolation after visions of societal collapse and rebirth. Excerpted from here.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What does being contextually relevant mean to you? Can you share a personal story of a time you were able to act in solidarity with all Life? What helps you engage in the work without feeling the obligation to complete it?
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9 Past Reflections
On Nov 19, 2024 Esha Sharma wrote :
The first question reminds me of something I read:
"There are as many routes as there are individual souls."
I read this in the book called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
"There are as many routes as there are individual souls."
I read this in the book called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
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On Aug 1, 2024 Fiona wrote :
This reading requires deep thinking. It has always been my problem with religion, that many texts are written during or for the times in history that are not as relevant today. My sister is an Anglican Priest and I struggle to be in the language that does not relate to my life or context of today. I literally cringe and have to deepen my connection with God (that is not attached to religion) while I sit amongst the worthy people in her church, feeling like an imposter. I’m not a follower of any rules made in the past. I am for humans having a human experience, and always wonder how I can make a difference. Every story and context is unique. Every culture suffers their past and informs the current feeling tone of that community. I try to be respectful of the past but work with the present moment of all that is my current reality.
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On Jul 31, 2024 stream wrote :
Being a word nerd, I look at contextually and feel that I am with the texture of an ally. And natures web of life is the textured ally that guides me most so I am almost always in "solidarity with all life". However, I am unfortunately "realistic" also. So, I view the consciousness raising work as if I were delivering a tanker truck full of water to a precious flower in the desert, aware that I alone can not make the whole desert bloom, yet with a vision that WE WILL ALL WAKE UP soon.
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On Jul 30, 2024 TN Args wrote :
Seeking answers to the question of one's purpose, is an illusory application of the spiritual path or practice.
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On Jul 26, 2024 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
The foundation of all religions is spirituality. If our religious practices are not expanding our circle of empathy, compassion, love and care , what is their purpose? We need to join hands with each other to create Heaven on Earth. Living in Heaven is living a spiritual life here and now.
Being contextually relevant means being relevant to the present times, people, and events, and the world at large.. Past is gone, future has yet to come. Living spiritually is practicing spirituality in the here and know.. According to my understanding spirituality is responsive, not reactive to what is happening. Reactivity breaks bridges. Responsivity builds bridges. I daily do self-examination to be aware of my inner world: How am I responding to people different from me in many ways? Am I reacting or responding to people with different religious and cultural orientations? With different political ideologies? The world we live in has been divided into different and opposite worlds generating... [View Full Comment]
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On Jul 26, 2024 David Doane wrote :
Being contextually relevant means being relevant to the present context I am in, that is, relevant to the present times, people, and events. I act in solidarity with Life when I am open to and listen to others and to myself, when I am in solidarity with my truth, that is with what I am experiencing, thinking, feeling, and when I am responsive to and not reactive to what is happening. What helps me engage in the work without feeling the obligation to complete it is my belief in doing the work, which I have some control over, and not in outcome, which I don't control. What also helps me is my belief in what I am doing and my belief that there is always more that can be done. What helps me not feel obligation is that I've pretty much given up operating by obligation in regard to anything. I do what I do out of believing it it and believing it is the right action.
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On Jul 25, 2024 Gururaj wrote :
One contextually relevant practice many of us engage in, in these times, is having these nourishing interactions over the World Wide Web. The experience of daily physical life anyway continues to be there as the laboratory. And i see a shift away from organized religions with narrow viewpoints to a more personal, at the same time, universal basis in striving.
One personal example of "acting in solidarity with all life" was to get my neighbours in my housing community to let the beehive in my apartment balcony to thrive as long as it lasted. Some grumbled but, overall, there was acceptance.
I reckon "completing the Work" is not fathomable. One lives from moment to moment, day to day and the spiral of awakening moves on magically.
One personal example of "acting in solidarity with all life" was to get my neighbours in my housing community to let the beehive in my apartment balcony to thrive as long as it lasted. Some grumbled but, overall, there was acceptance.
I reckon "completing the Work" is not fathomable. One lives from moment to moment, day to day and the spiral of awakening moves on magically.
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On Jul 25, 2024 Stan wrote :
If a friend seems to ask what u seem to know .. Know that they may not appreciate you telling them what you think they are asking... Ensure you are clear about what it is that you truly know.... and what it is.... that they are asking