The Dark of Winter

Things are born in the dark. Today was no exception.

What a glorious gathering we had today, in honor of the winter solstice. Thanks to all the people who braved the nasty, nasty winter weather (freezing rain!!) to sit in the 'white cloud' on 14th street and celebrate the creative spirit. The Darkness is a particularly rich theme for artists, and it was a fittingly 'deep' service...

My own experience of making the services now is this: one needs to do much less in the form of pushing one's will on the world, exerting influence and forcing things to go one's way...it is more important to find the work that is most important and to make it, and to refine it and to approach with consistency and care and authenticity. Then do it with regularity and intention. This is how the world comes to find you, how people see who you are and what your values are.

As I mentioned in the sermon today, solstice comes from the latin, sol meaning sun, and sistere, to sit still. Today I felt the power of 'sitting still' in my life here in New York, of showing up consistently. This is how the services have grown and how the Secret City has blossomed over the course of the year or so since it began...

Lately, my one word mantra has been, 'deepen', and this is what I'm experiencing in my life now--the great deepening of life. to stand still and face the world, to dig down into the world, into the planet, into the source and mystery of life...this is what I long for now...to deepen my connection to the world I am in, rather than looking for a new place to go, or a new thing to do, or a new way to be..

So, thank you all who took part today--we had an amazing amount of new people, and a great collection of dear stalwarts. It is exciting to watch this incredible piece of live, collaborative art unfold. And to be a part of it.