The sun is shining and there is light everywhere. As you know the sun was one of the main objects of adoration in humankind – which means that we have to have collective rituals.
That’s I think religion can play a very important role since people are sharing the same respect for the same mysteries. Yet, spiritually, you can’t transfer your path to someone else.
So, I would like to know: Are you engaged in some kind of collective worship?
I’m not talking about religion: I’m actually talking about dance, sports, basically everything that we can do together and that at the end of the day we feel we are part of the same movement. So I would like to hear your opinion on that and hear of your collective worships – outside of religion if possible.
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We have no problem, we are breathing (bodyguard next to me)
Aah!
Very elegant topic. It seems to me that anything one fully appreciates, any act large or small that one enjoys in depth is an act of communal worship. There is space separating objects and bodies, but it is not empty space. It is a distance whirring with atoms and particles and kinetic energy, an invisible tether connecting us all together. Anything we do is an act of sharing. And so any individual moment of creation or pleasure is too a communal one. Even a breath is community thanks.
I said earlier that collective worship does not exist in my reality… well, I have been in situations where it would fall under this category… Yoga!
I’ve done Bikram yoga for many years. It’s done in a room with many people, and as someone here said, standing very close to one another, the room is heated to 105 deg. for and hour and a half of intense workout, mental and physical. Every one’s energy is shared, but not necessarily all collectively, as if one does not rise above the barriers and distractions present, such as someone farting, everyone sweating like the flowing river ;) smelly smells going around.
What if a person is germaphobic, or claustrophobic, oh oh, participation in the collective worship is not possible, well perhaps they are a part of it, but not fully engaged in or experiencing it. And it doesn’t even have to be that severe a barrier, it could be just Thoughts that come to one’s mind, distractions of physical pain, looking at someone else’s posture and comparing…
But if these barriers are overcome, then it is a blissful experience, where everybody is moving together, never missing a beat, and that energy is quite enormous… from So many people, it’s both calming and exhilarating.
I’m sure there are other instances where I do participate in ‘collective worship’ and depending on how the word is defined, I could say that I participate in it daily. Every day.
love,
C.
Dear Deva, thank you for your love. God bless you.
LOVE,
Thelma.
I think right now, my collective worship is my pursuit of understanding the moral acceptance of homosexuality.
I am alone in my journey, but I know there are hundreds, thousands, perhabs even millions out there, in search of the same…
answers and acceptance.
if some day u talk with paulo ask hime for the book, time to red time to sew, couse i dont faund it, its really existe???
couse in the book zahir.. it’s commented.. so i need know
pls help me..
tnx im froom mexico…
Kyokushin Karate practice – at any point in my day I know someone from my world-wide “tribe” is training
I have read the Coran in the last week and a book about the good of tomorrow. That makes me think about maybe we are just talking, talking and talking, everybody agees that there are problems like finace crises, swinefly, bird flu, child and woman abouse, Taliban fight. There is time for action, I am ready to do my part, as a leader I can feel http://www.starchildglobal.com/
Art and culture is going to make us happy and smiling again!
To Thelma~ You really touched my soul with what you’ve shared here.
Blessings of love,
With gratitude
Deva
My own personal experience of collective worship came to me through the rave…No matter who you are, no matter what color skin, gender or age, you are accepted unconditionally. When all people allow simultaneously to let the music take them higher, a melting happens…There are no more boundaries…There is true oneness!
For me that has always been one of my deepest spiritual experiences, triggered by a non-religious collective worship. Please read the following words and feel the energy contained within them.
The Raver’s Manifesto
“Our emotional state of choice is Ecstasy. Our nourishment of choice is Love. Our addiction of choice is technology.
Our religion of choice is music. Our currency of choice is knowledge. Our politics of choice is none.
Our society of choice is utopian though we know it will never be. You may hate us. You may dismiss us. You may misunderstand us. You may be unaware of our existence.
We can only hope you do not care to judge us, because we would never judge you. We are not criminals. We are not disillusioned. We are not drug addicts. We are not naive children…
We are one massive, global, tribal village that transcends man-made law, physical geography, and time itself.
We are The Massive. One Massive.
We were first drawn by the sound. From far away, the thunderous, muffled, echoing beat was comparable to a mother’s heart soothing a child in her womb of concrete, steel, and electrical wiring.
We were drawn back into this womb, and there, in the heat, dampness, and darkness of it,
We came to accept that we are all equal. Not only to the darkness, and to ourselves, but to the very music slamming into us and passing through our souls: we are all equal.
And somewhere around 35 Hz we could feel the hand of God at our backs, pushing us forward, pushing us to push ourselves to strengthen our minds, our bodies, and our spirits,
Pushing us to turn to the person beside us to join hands and uplift them by sharing the uncontrollable joy we felt from creating this magical bubble that can, for one evening, protect us from the horrors, atrocities, and pollution of the outside world. It is in that very instant, with these initial realizations that each of us was truly born.
We continue to pack our bodies into clubs, or warehouses, or buildings you’ve abandoned and left for naught, and we bring life to them for one night.
Strong, throbbing, vibrant life in it’s purest, most intense, most hedonistic form.
In these makeshift spaces, we seek to shed ourselves of the burden of uncertainty for a future you have been unable to stabilize and secure for us.
We seek to relinquish our inhibitions, and free ourselves from the shackle’s and restraints you’ve put on us for your own peace of mind.
We seek to re-write the programming that you have tried to indoctrinate us with since the moment we were born.
Programming that tells us to hate, that tells us to judge, that tells us to stuff ourselves into the nearest and most convenient pigeon hole possible. Programming that even tells us to climb ladders for you, jump through hoops, and run through mazes and on hamster wheels.
Programming that tells us to eat from the shiny silver spoon you are trying to feed us with, instead of nourish ourselves with our own capable hands.
Programming that tells us to close our minds, instead of open them.
Until the sun rises to burn our eyes by revealing the dis-utopian reality of a world you’ve created for us, we dance fiercely with our brothers and sisters in celebration of our life, of our culture, and of the values we believe in:
Peace, Love, Freedom, Tolerance, Unity, Harmony,
Expression, Responsibility and Respect.
Our enemy of choice is ignorance. Our weapon of choice is information. Our crime of choice is breaking and challenging whatever laws you feel you need to put in place to stop us from celebrating our existence.
But know that while you may shut down any given party, on any given night, in any given city, in any given country or continent on this beautiful planet, you can never shut down the entire party.
You don’t have access to that switch, no matter what you may think. The music will never stop. The heartbeat will never fade. The party will never end.
I am a raver, and this is my manifesto.
this is my ravers Manifesto.”
I spent a year working with horses recently, which for me was a childhood dream. On one of my last days working at the stable, I spent an hour in the morning patting and playing with the yearlings (year old) horses. I reflected on how far I was from home (I crossed the country for that job) and how despite the unfamiliar region, everything about the horses themselves and even a lot of the horse people remained familiar. Then I realized that in working with horses, in seeking to understand them, I’m part of a community that people all over the world who work with horses understand, and that that is perhaps one of the best gifts they have given me. I obviously do not worship the horses, but they are so much more complex than most people realize and to me, they symbolize many gifts that God has bestowed on the world through nature. It was not the first time I had looked upon those beautiful animals with a sort of awe, but it was the first time I realized that no matter where in the world I go, I would never be alone in that feeling. It definitely filled me with joy and made me feel as though I had a family away from home.
The way my family and I worship is by distributing water filtration systems throughout 3rd world countries. My sons are 13 and 10 years old. At the end of the day we feel as a family we have reflected the love of our Heavenly Father and reached a sense of fulfillment that is borderline addicting. Nothing better than serving your fellow man while worshiping your creator!
Culto Colectivo,
hace un par de años que soy parte de un culto colectivo que esta creciendo año tras año que unifica al mundo en todos sus aspectos, solo une y da conocimiento, es el culto a la ENERGIA UNIVERSAL,
es increible la cantidad de seres que hoy hablamos del aura, los chakras, las gemas , canal de energia equilibrio… soy parte de ese culto.
todos somos canales de algo mas… solo hace falta que despertemos y nos dejemos fluir como energia.
Caro
Querido Mestre,
O sol esta voltando e este é um momento onde tudo fica mais lindo, as pessoas mais felizes mais calorosas, o céu azul…
Acho muito importante termos sempre atividades coletivas em nossa vida. Pertencermos a um grupo numa atividade que nos faça prazer. Quase todo tempo em minha vida participei de diversas atividades em diferentes momentos, fiz 5 anos de yoga em São Paulo, participei bastante tempo do Bhrama Kumaris, fiz um tempo de pilates, tai-chi-chuan, etc. Pelo momento, eu não pratico nenhuma atividade coletiva, e a atividade coletiva que eu mais pratico é aqui neste blog, onde me encontro com vc e com todas estas pessoas maravilhosas. Amo vir aqui. Sei que é importante praticar uma atividade hors virtual, que possamos pertencer a um grupo. Durante muito tempo fiquei muito sozinha, e embora não veja isso como super positivo, não encaro como completamente negativo, pois foi sozinha que consegui me reestruturar da tempestade, e talvez se tivesse a companhia de alguém naquele momento me ajudando não poderia ter conhecido a força que ha dentro de mim mesma. Depois deste longo tempo sozinha, sem ter muito contato com muita gente, estou voltando aos poucos a interagir com outras pessoas. Com o tempo, estou voltando a confiar nas pessoas, depois de ter passado um tempo achando que não poderia confiar em mais ninguem. Ha uma semana atras, fui a uma festa de aniversario de um amigo e encontrei outros amigos por la, dançamos a noite inteira,nos divertimos muito. Fiquei feliz pois havia muito tempo que eu não saia pra me divertir. Aos poucos vou recolocando a minha vida no lugar, e em breve espero poder estar participando de uma ou mais atividades em grupo.
Tenha uma otima semana!!!
MARG,
Ca
P.S: Incrivel como vc esta com expressao de amor neste video ainda mais que nos outros. Olhar pra vc me traz paz…
i am a little scared by collectives, closest thing to collective i get is going to a lecture coming tuesday. Antoinne Bodar will be in a discussion about art and religion. 20 years ago he taught about beauty when i studied art history. he touched me then and i wrote about this in todays blog.
‘maybe i’ll say something like, -i often think about you,- or, -how old are you now-, maybe i’ll just sit and listen,
i wonder what people his lecture will attract. Elderly woman with sensible shoes, loudish leftists with baggy pants, solid citizens with a standing in the community.
what brought him here, last i heard he’s in Rome, what brings him to the outskirts of Rotterdam now?
is he writing still, only a few months ago i sold ‘Gezellin van de Stilte’, i never re-read it, it was so difficult for him to write, each sentence oozed struggle, selfawareness, too uncomfortable to read again.
does he remember me, i was just one of hundreds of students, maybe thats what i’ll say -i once was one of your students-, put myself in a context, give him a reference to hold on to.
what else am i to him, could i be, i might as well be non-exsisting!
-i often thought about you-, i might say, -funny isn’t it, you don’t know that-.
i see you as my counterpart, every time in our lives when we had to choose between going right or going left i chose one path and you the other, and we both know it doesn’t matter in the end, there is no right and no wrong.
Or maybe you don’t know that. maybe you have become righteous.
Maybe hearing you again will put an end to the last bit of respect i have for the church. -You are the reason i respect catholisism,- i might say, i have always wondered why someone as smart and sensitive as you became a priest, why did you join that conglomerate of male dominance, you were such a shy teacher, so careful and well thought, and you loved the dead philosophers, listening to you i could sense the man behind Augustinus, i could feel the need for security that made Abt Suger built Cluny and along with you i sneererd at Homerus and his ideas on gold resembling ultimate beauty.
You became more devote. i could have met you again earlier, that would have meant attaining a churchservice, listen to latin and gregorian songs, you understand why non- believers love the rituals of your church and would not have scowled, but it would not have been right, it would have been hypocrite.
i wonder if there is anything we can share, you being a priest, homosexual, intellectual, non-sexual, and me, the woman,
maybe we should copulate and procreate and become one from the two halves we are now.
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
Thelma xxx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKlCYFjeHEY&feature=related
The prayer of Saint Francis.
I belong to the Greek Orthodox church. I do not go very often to church… When I was a child I used to go every Sunday.. The church was near to my parent’s house, the bells, the tradition, the Byzantine hymns and mass. I felt the presence of the Divine.. Now being old, whenever I go into the church of my childhood I cry and cry and cannot explain it.. Maybe I become a child again there in our Father’s house. I feel that there is nothing to say .. Everything is understood and I am .. transparent. It is a place full of benign energy, the energy of Love.
The same feeling overwhelms me whenever I am with people vibrating with love. I do not know how to explain it, but it is a feeling that gives me warmth, peace and tranquility. I cannot stay in a place where I ‘feel’ people are .. hostile or irritated. It ‘sounds’ like a .. false note in the music of life. I prefer the solitude of my heart.
Collective worship is to be even with just one loving person, ‘singing’ the song of love and life. Being ONE.
LOVE,
Thelma.
This morning I along with my two boys went to Mass in our local church which is in a rural parish in Ireland. There were many people there but not too many children. This is my act of weekly collective worship being with the people I live amongst. It is a simple act which I have taken for granted for years.
Dear Peter,
What you wrote in your post mirrors my thoughts too, I see worship as stgnant and limiting though powerful.
Love
Luce
Every week, I meet a group of musicians at a local pub for a blues jam. The musicians are from all age groups, diverse backgrounds and are of all levels of ability. We gather and sets of two or three songs are announced by the host band. Everyone has a chance to play. Last week there were a couple of fine sax players in addition to the guitarists, drummers, bassists, and vocalists. Keyboards are available also. It is an interesting mix of people who are passionate about the music despite the often unpredictable results. The challenge is to play well, respect your fellow musicians and make a song happen for the small audience. None of this can occur without the collective passion of the group.
Un cordial saludo. Practico la lectura, es un culto colectivo, al practicarla siento que mucha gente esta haciendo y sintiendo lo mismo, compatiendo la misma energia que se genera, ideales y pensamientos que tarde o temprano se van a ser realidad, es excelente para compartir y comunicar, segun lo escrito en un libro.
Ademas comparto el gusto de ver la danza, el teatro y el cine, al llegar al teatro siento que es un grupo que nos sentidmos identificados especialemnte por eso.
olá
todos nós enquanto individuos temos rituais de culto, formas que nos posicionam no mundo em que vivemos.
Desde o dia em que nascemos aprendemos ou somos aptos para adquirir formas de sobrevivência dentro das quais alguns passam pela relegião, espiritualidade, forças superiores, cada um de nós arranja formas de se fazer superar.
Afinal o que nos move?
Porque afinal todos queremos o mesmo!!
Somos agarrados sempre a algo, de uma forma espontanea ou não!
Vivemos toda a nossa vida em função de quê??
Da família, do trabalho, do desporto, da beleza, da futilidade, da religião, espiritualidade, força superior, do amor, do ódio…….
Simplesmente vivemos…cada um de nós à sua maneira, em busca do melhor!
Beijo a todos os seguidores do melhor escritor de sempre Paulo Coelho
E mais uma vez aqui nos juntamos como se uma ceita fossemos em busca de dar respostas ao nosso escritor que tanto gostamos, isto também nos move!
My participation in collective worship is when I wake up in the mornings and give thanks for another daylight, and before I sleep, for another night of solace.
It also incude my thoughts and meditation, where I’m more receptive to the universe, where all our energies combine and share one common ground under the sun.
Once in a while, our signs remind us that albeit our loneliness, we are never alone. This, to me, is healing for the soul.
Hi,
I belong to a twelve step self help group. The last thing I expected was an introduction to a way of faith that is working for me.
There is no set religion only a journey that involves the belief in a power greater than ourselves. How this power manifests is deeply personal. For some it is through an organised religion for others it can be nature or acts of love from other people.
For me, I can’t define my God, I find it in Christanity, through lighting candles, singing, prayer in a quiet church , in Buddasim through meditation and mantras, in nature, in old pagan beliefs celebrating the cycles of life, in life’s coincidences, in the acts of strangers in the smiles or tears of my loved ones and in writings.
I sometimes feel inadequate and lacking because I cannot define my God that others can. It is sometimes as if I need to define it so I can understand it. I don’t believe this is really so. As long as I understand it is a God of Love I am alright.
I find great strength within the group. A great strentgh of faith in how people’s lifes are transformed once they connect with a higher power. I dont think I could go to the meetings if I was told “This is who God is, his name is … and this is how we must worship and honour him”. The steps and philosophy of the group that there is no heirachy opens the way to discovering a God of my own understanding.
I stuggle with understanding many times, I find this site an incredible help, it wakens me to the fact that there are others each on their own spiritual quest and it is not such a lonely road.
I was reading Confessions of a pilgrom yesterday when I came to the piece about a poem by Lao-tse about emptiness.
It was wonderful, I suddenly had the insight it is good for me to have the reoccurring sense of emptiness within myself and to accept it, not fill it with doubt or fear for it is the space that is infinately filled by my higher power.
I went walking early this morning with my 4 dogs, i walk this walk a lot, to the top of a very steep hill which looks over Dorset and finishing in a wood full of wild garlic and bluebells. Having just started on my journey of discovery i now feel part of a collective worship having thought that i wasn’t part of anything. I came home and finished reading Brida and now my head and heart are full of questions and a restlessness to find answers.
Dear Paulo,
I have been a part of collective worships in the past be it spiritual,religious or a passion. I however find them after a point
very boring as the people are too obsesseed with the belief to a point that they seperate themselves from normal people. I like to be FREE at the same time if I meet some interesting people doing interesting thing would like to see and understand.But life is too varied and beautiful for me to be blended in one form of worship.
Luv,
Nehal
Hi Paolo,
In general, worship is a false credo more like looking in a mirror and believing that what you see is someone (something) else. For an external observer it takes ridiculous forms such as shaking to walls, bowing before idols, kissing rocks, jumping when stocks grow, celebrating an illusory profit made by turning the Canadian tundra into mud for oil etc. Same things, different decors :-). It may be OK on the back burner since you don’t want to forget and to move in circles (like you did in The Pilgrimage for a while), but worship is stagnant since it keeps you from believing. The believe is what keeps us alive and makes us move along
Peter
Any form of erotique, sensualism, sexuality…
from a slight kiss to advanced activities
is the ultimate way to me to worship.
All the partners of my lifetime
and everything sexual that I’ve done, also alone by myself,
have, one way or another,
given me straight connection to the very soul of the universe.
Regarding collective worship …. mob mentality means you get to share responsibility for actions by claiming all those others coerced us into doing or participating in their actions, good or bad. Collective worship attempts to do the same, by feeding on the energy and shared love of the moment when we are trying to meet God, spirit to spirit, face to face. There is a sense of joy when we experience that close contact, when we look at someone else who may be seeing and feeling the joy we have in the presence of God. To be part of something, to define our fence lines so we know our limits and when we step over them or above them. Yes, collective worship is soooo worth it. Reinforcement by any other name ….
Interesting question, I feel it is important for me to feel that I form part of a group in which there is “collective worship” as you call it. Joining and communicating with others with similar social, literary or musical interests makes me feel that I am part of a group that shares a somewhat similar philosophy or vision. For example, reading submissions frOM the readers in your blog helps me analyze and interpret life in ways that add value to the way I live my life.
At first I thought, well i don’t participate in any collective worshiping. I’m not some soccer club fan, I don’t attend some specific rock group concerts wherever they go or something like that. I thought I really have nothing to say about this topic.
But then I decided that, instead of doing what I usually do for last 10 years: dropping it all and just going along with my day to day duties, this time I will put this question in back of my mind and let it stay there while I’m doing all those other more important things in my life. An old zen exercise.
Nothing came up for days. It started to bug me. Really. Has my life became so hectic and streamlined that I have nothing I can call “collective worship”? Soccer fan? No. Dancing? No. Tai-Chi? No. Rock bands? No. Jeeeez.
Then it happened. Well, old masters were right as always, right? :o) It hits you when you don’t chase it. I was washing dishes. Boring. Good. It came to me like: worshiping? Hmmmm… hey there’s that silly technique Robert M. Pirsig was talking in his “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” and it goes something like this:
Professor gave his students a task to write two pages of text about their town, since it was towns day or something. Next day all came with page or two except one girl. She was really sad and when teacher asked she said she could not remember anything she could write about. To make her task easier he told her she should try to write something about towns main square. It is less broad subject he tought.
Next day girl came very depressed: she couldn’t find anything worth writing about towns main square for it’s celebrations day. She was trying really hard. Teacher was dazzled. Ok, write something about town’s city hall which is on its main square.
Next day girl was all in tears: she was very sorry, she couldn’t sleep all night, but she is just stupid and unable to write anything about towns city hall.
Teacher was speechless. He was looking at the girls eyes and could see that she was sincere, she wasn’t pulling his leg or trying to avoid her homework. He became a little annoyed and he told her: “I want you to write an essay about forefront of the city hall. I want you to write about it’s part that is made out of brick. And I want you to go there, look at the brick in the very top left corner of the wall and start with that brick.”
When he came next morning there was something like 20 pages of text on his desk. Girl was amazed of her self. She said she didn’t know she had so much to say about the her home town. She said she started to literally describe the brick in the top left corner of the city hall. She noticed one thing about it, then another, and then yet another and suddenly endless stream of ideas started to pour out of her, she just couldn’t stop, she wrote almost 20 pages.
Amazing. Ok. So I get up in the morning. Right. Wash my teeth. Right. Oh, wait, there’s a little ritual. Well more like a habit. Or a ritual. Whatever. Then I have a coffee with yogurt. Go out. Get to my car. Trying to get from the parking lot together with my neighbors. Driving to work through the traffic. Morning rush.
Hey… I’m going out *every* work day *together* with my neighbors. And we all do *the same* thing. Go to work. But it’s not a worship it’s a ritual… A-haaaaa!!! Gotcha!
I’m also one who does rituals. One of the most common is a barbecue. Think about it. It’s nice. We’re really doing a ritual thing. We all know what to do and how it goes. There’s even initiation phase: first time you go as a kid and you ask your dad or mum what is going on. And he or she tells you. Later on as and teenager or adult you actively participate: who gets coal, who buys meat, juice, who drives with whom and so on and so forth. That required initiation the first time you went as active participant: what do I do, who is chief, who to ask? And there is always some form of “chief” or “priest” who starts and makes rudimentary organization. Etc. and so forth I could write for days about it.
And. It all goes without books, without laws, rules, schools or any other thing like that. Yet there are unwritten rules, and there is a school for attending barbecue and there is… ah, you know…
Woooooah… amazing…
It’s like a little doors had opened just a small bit and I could see behind it: it’s magic and it’s everywhere and it’s so everyday…
Kickboxing class.
“Take a deep breath in.
Breathe out.”
I worship nature, the moon, the elementals and nature spirits. I worship with a group when the moon is full and we chant, and dance, and perform various aspects of ritual. I worship with a very large group once a year for a festival where we embrace the elements and the spirit of transformation and change. We dance to drums around a large fire every night until dawn…we worship in this way,
I practice Chi Gong,Girotonic ,Belly Dance,and InnerMouvement(African music),Tango Argentino etc.,together with people.I went although in a Healing Circle. I love to be in this blog with you all,and I am very thankful that Paulo gaved me this oportunity.
Well ,together the Energy grow up!
In Romanian we say:’where are two the power grow up’!(proverb)
Because my husband have a dvd shop,we see a lot of films.But I still like it more to go to cinema ,because the group give me a better satisfaction.
It is important for me to be sometimes a’ solitaire’,but realy joyful experiences I had in colective worship.
Love,
Mirela(the woman in elevator)
For me the collective worship I practice is social dancing. When I loose myself in the steps the conection with my dancing partner I feel the unit, the entire universe in that moment. It is a collective worship in the sense others practice the same rituals we all search the same connections and understandings but above all we feel.
In the past I felt the same doing martial arts an still feel a conectivity with the universe in my meditadions. I consider all these activities (dancing, martil arts – aikido) as a moving meditation, a worship of the conection between self and others a path to GOD outside the organised church.
In terms of the collective worship you describe, the first thing that comes to mind is having lunch in a park with friends. We sit under the sun on a blanket, having bread and cheese and maybe a little wine. There is always talk – religion, politics, love, thing that happened that week – but after a while, we always end up laying in the sun, enjoying being silent together, watching the world around us. This has been a favorite thing of mine to do in Madrid’s Parque Retiro (I am from California, studying here for the semester).
Thank you for writing such beautiful books :)
Vibration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muQe4yJD8Fw
Amigo Paulo,
Todas as manhãs, eu e outras moradoras do prédio, saímos JUNTAS, para levar nossos cachorros ao BANHEIRO heheheheee…
Passeamos, conversamos, damos risada, falamos do dia anterior e, é claro, nossos cachorros ficam aliviados.
Além disso procuro manter essa coletividade me meus blogs, nos comentários. É bem verdade que poucos comentam, mas chegará o dia em que verei mais de 100 comentários, como em seus blogs, será?
Um abraço e…
“Saúde e Boa sorte a todos nós”
Each and every of us have something or somebody to worship. From times out of mind people felt the need of worshiping.
If you refer to ‘collective’ as a great gathering of people than I do not practice any collective worships. There have been times when I did (dancing and skating).
If you refer to ‘collective’ as a whole than I believe that all of our actions have an effect on the others. We are interconnected, we cannot live one without the other and we cannot be so shallow as to believe that no one cares of what we do or that no one pays the price of our actions. So, from this point of view, I am part of a collective worship on a daily basis: taking care of nature and finding joy in the simple things of life, loving the others and trying to be as honest as possible both with myself and with the others, chatting with strangers met in a supermarket or on a bus, giving a hand to someone in need and so on and so forth.
This is the beauty of life in my opinion and I am worshiping each and every moment of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp2Jmtob_SQ
Dear Paulo,
First, I ask for your blessings. Obrigado.
Collectively this is what I’m doing:
I’m currently involved with a music project. I have many songs written but I cannot be a one man band so others have to help me with their instruments. We’re working on recording these songs. Most of them in Portuguese, since I’m from Brazil.
Also wife and I are expanding our vegetable garden here at home. It’s always good to have fresh food to cook when we get home. Due to harsh weather, we can only do that in Canada between the months of May and early October. Very different from Brazil where we can virtually have any fruit or food planted all year round.
Espero que voce esteja aproveitando Cannes. Manda um postal pra mim ;-)
Um abraco e paz.
Daubian
“Sonho que se sonha só, é só um sonho que se sonha só. Mas sonho que se sonha junto é realidade”.
Com a Internet, ficou bem mais fácil participar de sonhos coletivos:
Orkut, My Space, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube………
Drinking a warm cup of tea or coffee, that is my simple collective worship. It gives me a great feeling of comfort and relaxation. With a cup of tea or coffee in my hand I can lean back, take a deep breath and find back to my inner self.
The good thing is that you can also drink a cup of tea or coffee with a good friend. And you can also get to know new people over a cup of tea or coffee. Many good friendships start by drinking a nice cup of tea or coffee together.
That’s why I can say that my life would be poorer without tea and coffee :)
I’m quite new to the idea of collective worship..
For me worship is like praying silently to God… and let me admit, I remember God mostly when I need him.
What I’m curious about is that when I pray, the sense of crisis just vaporize away from my mind, and I feel rally calm and confident…although there is no apparent sign of solution for my problem. It is like a warm cloak around me which makes me feel more comfortable. What is it actually? Is that God’s way of saying that he is with me ? Can anyone provide an insight?
Really I think that you can’t be a human if you are not a part of several collective worships. Mine are my football team here in Thessaloniki which I’m a big fan. I try to watch all the games of PAOK and get really mad when we loose. Also I love reading books about history and religion and talk about it with my family and friends because through our conversations I always find something new about myself.
Il y a beaucoup de moments de partage dans la vie quotidienne ! Par exemple, en couple ou en famille, le premier moment de partage c’est…la salle de bains !!!
Mais en parlant de culte collectif, celui qui me vient aussi à l’esprit et qui est le plus grand culte collectif intergalactique…LA VOITURE !!! Les milliards de voitures sur cette terre qui se pressent chaque matin et chaque soir aux mêmes endroits. Les ralentissements ou les embouteillages ! C’est bien connu de tous : le matin il faut se dépêcher d’aller au travail car tout est urgent et le soir il faut se dépêcher d’en sortir car nous avons encore milles choses importantes à faire !
Plus sérieusement, c’est également les déjeuners ou les dîners, qu’ils soient entre amis, famille ou avec des collègues de travail. Partager avec ceux que l’on apprécie, un film, un spectacle, une fête, une randonnée, un café…
En ce qui concerne le sport, j’ai eu la chance de pratiquer le judo et la natation qui sont des sports à la fois individuel et collectif. La fierté de gagner en individuel est immense et celle de gagner en collectif l’est encore plus. Parce que l’énergie et la responsabilité que l’on a en soi pour gagner sont beaucoup plus valorisées en équipe. L’équipe, au travers des différentes personnalités qui la compose, nous apporte ce qui manque en individuel : la reconnaissance absolue de notre travail, de l’effort accompli. Peu importe si l’on a gagné ou perdu.
Donc, peu importe ce que nous partageons. C’est la volonté de partage qui est importante. Pour qu’une pierre précieuse puisse être mise en valeur, il lui faut un support ! Et comme l’a dit justement le peintre Henri Matisse : « Un ton seul n’est qu’une couleur, deux tons c’est un accord, c’est la vie ».
Translate :
There’s lot of instants of share in daily life ! For example, in couple or family, the first instant of distribution is…bathroom !!!
But spoken a collective worship, the one who comes to mind me and which is biggest intergalactic culte…THE CAR !!! The billions of cars on this earth which senses every morning and every evening in the same places. Slowing down or traffic jams ! It is well known of all: in the morning it is necessary to hurry up to go to job because everything is urgent and in the evening it is necessary to hurry up to go out of it because we still have milles important things to be made !
More seriously, it is also there lunches or dinners, has them with friends, family or with working colleagues. Share with those what they appreciate, a film, a show, a holiday, a walking, a coffee …
As regards sports, I had the chance to play the judo and swimming which are at the same time individual and collective sports. Pride to win in individual is huge and that to win in collective is it even more. Because energy and responsibility which they have in itself to win are much more promoted in team. The team, through the different personalities which composes it, brings us what misses in individual : the absolute recognition of our job, accomplished effort. It doesn’t much matter if they won or lost.
Therefore, it doesn’t much matter what we share. It is the will of share that is important. So that a precious stone can be emphasized, he needs a support ! And as said it precisely the painter Henry Matisse: « The single tone is only a colour, two tones it is an agreement, it’s life”.
It’s the end of the day and before going to bed I want to feel part of the movement once more. I wish all wols a good night. :)
Hola Paulo,
I find myself in that state once again — you are familiar with it, I’m sure. It has been about eight months since my last Camino. I yearn to go back, feeling like, with every passing day, the likeliness of my return grows greater.
The first time I walked the Camino (only 500 km) was in 2006 after my mother died. I returned again (St. Jean Pied du Port to Finisterre) in 2008 after having a few mysterious dreams about it.
I think I might be in a cycle. It seems like every time I am able to escape the daily grind by walking the Camino, my life improves. Then a few months go by and my mindframe regresses once again. I’m not quite back at square one, because I always come out with greater self-awareness, but I feel like I might be dependant upon it for happiness.
Your thoughts?
Jessica
Reading and participating in these blogs. We are in a collective worship right now.
Karen I share your four walls. Isn’t it lovely to travel this way? All the best to you.
playing badminton is a collective worship and oh, reading, could it be called too? you can read all together right? hehehe
Dear Sid,
We have no obligation here to read one another’s words. I take precisely the space I need to say what I need to say, in the way I wish to express it. If my posts are too long for you, simply skip over them. I won’t mind.
Sincerely,
Savita
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