Faith, Heart and the Return of the Light

When faith and mind are not separate. And not separate are mind and faith, this is beyond all words, all thoughts.

If you have been reading these posts this season, you may have noticed I have been writing about Faith. Writing, reflecting, wondering, wandering through the many expressions of Faith as I returned again and again to this practice poem, Affirming Faith in Mind. There is something both delicious and challenging about coming back to the same teaching, day after day, week by week.

Above is the last stanza of the poem. The study of this poem has been part of an autumn practice period I was participating in. The practice period wound down this week, as autumn too is unwinding —turning into winter on Sunday with the solstice.

The autumn in the Northern Hemisphere is a time when the daylight hours grow shorter, and night extends her dark embrace.

I have found it deeply nourishing to practice and study faith as the earth darkens. It feels seasonally appropriate to contemplate faith as the comfort of the sun’s light and heat diminish.

The zodiacal sign Sagittarius, which is where the sun is during this time of year, is often associated with faith, that flickering candlelight that we find in many windows this season. Sagittarius season also is a season of alchemy, art—the ways in which we find light, hope, faith, beauty in the dark.

Whatever ways you have been walking through the dark this season or this year, I’m curious how it has offered opportunities for transformation, for unknowing, for faith to deepen in mystery’s obscure light.

I offer the questions below, as a bit of a memory walk for the season. Feel free to contemplate them, through journaling, mindfulness or creative expression.

* What aspects of life have felt loud during this last season? What has been tugging on your heart? Occupying your time/life energy/mind space? This could be more archetypal energies or particular challenges, inspirations, tasks, questions, inquiries.

* Have there been particular moods, inner voices, thought patterns, somatic experiences that have been more present during this season?

* What resources (inner or outer), practices, teachings, rituals have you been turning towards or taking refuge in? This could include verses from Affirming Faith in Mind.

* Where/how do you feel supported? Is there a person, ancestor, friend, familiar, animal, bodhisattva, dream figure who has been an ally?

* As we enter this period of the Solstice and return of the light/holiday season—What is the thread of practice you intend to connect to?

As a way of honoring the end to the season and the study I have been engaged with around Faith. I wrote this poem. It’s an exploration of how faith has flickered during these autumn months. How it shows up in the ordinary moments of my living. It’s a practice inquiry I intend to carry. A thread through these holiday weeks and into the new year.

I’d love to hear your responses to the reflections or a poem that has been lighting your way during these autumn months.

Faith Mind Poem

What is faith? I ask my hands They reach down and pick-up the cap to the oat milk that has started rolling down the kitchen floor fingers, wrapping around the cool, wet plastic releasing, they scratch an itch before returning lid to carton opening the refrigerator door All day long they touch They hold, open, prepare, grip, make, reach Recover Always in contact Responding before I can--- What is faith? I ask the lilac Whose gnarled branches Hold the frozen white, crystalline snow Not a single leaf remains Roots entangled with icy earth We breathe together, my breath Becoming wood, branch, trunk We do not speak But sit in each other’s silence Faith perhaps does not need A definition Words to explain it, no essay nor poem For it lives in us constantly Even as everything else appears to be resting Fallow, dark Faith glimmers in the empty space In this heart, in its waiting

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I’m Amy Kisei. I am a Zen Buddhist Teacher, Spiritual Counselor, Astrologer and Artist. I offer 1:1 Spiritual Counseling sessions using IFS and Hakomi (somatic mindfulness). I also offer astrology readings. Check out my website to learn more. I currently live in Columbus, OH and am a supporting teacher for the Mud Lotus Sangha.

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