Check out the retreat center: http://www.schweibenalp.ch/en/ueberuns/blick.html
[Ive]
...I am writing to you to tell you of my interest in volunteering at the Centre of Unity. I’ll begin by telling you a little about myself. I was born in New York City on December 30, 1969 (I am now 38 years old) to second-generation Jews of Eastern European descent. I was raised in a typical Jewish-American household – proud of my religion as a connection to my ancestors and heritage, but generally with very liberal secular values. I went off to college where I double-majored in psychology and religion – realizing that these were two disciplines and ways of understanding existence that called to me. And an experience helping to heal traumatized inner-city youth working at a summer camp during those years convinced me to pursue a career in clinical psychology. I completed my doctoral degree in 1998 and took a job conducting psychological evaluations of youth involved in our juvenile justice system near Seattle, Washington. I have now lived near Seattle and have done my best to help judges understand the youth before them for about ten years.
In 2000, I went through a very difficult personal experience. My wife, who I had met during my studies in psychology, and I chose to divorce. This was the most painful experience I had ever had and I felt really lost and groundless. That experience led me to pursue Buddhism – a tradition I had read a great deal about previously and had admired. Through the teachings of many Buddhists, but especially Ani Pema Chodron, I learned first-hand that sitting meditation is a very powerful tool for experiencing whatever is really happening – the good and the bad of my own person, of others, of life, and the universe. I also realized that my painful experience provided a beautiful opportunity for me to cultivate my compassion for others experiencing pain in their lives and to be of benefit to them. Through Buddhism, this awful experience of my divorce became a transformative experience.
I joined a Tibetan Buddhist community in Seattle and became active within it, which showed me both the spectacular opportunities and painful obstacles of participating in community. I took on a number of responsibilities in the community, including hosting an open house meditation session, taking care of housekeeping needs at the Center, and co-directing our children’s “Bodhi School” program. I completed many, many weekend study and practice retreats at the Center. I completed several extended silent retreats at larger meditation centers – most one to two weeks, but one that was one month in length. I came to develop a deep appreciation for the gift retreat centers provide in respite from day-to-day concerns and the opportunity to consider more essential life issues. And through my deepening understanding of the Buddhadharma, I began to cultivate a new comfort with myself and a deeper, more genuine desire to be of help to others – to discover my own basic goodness and to dedicate my life to the ideal of the Bodhisattva.
But as time went on, after about 7 years participating in the community, I also began to see more clearly the rigid religious elements of the tradition. For a tradition that values emptiness, non-judgment, and non-concept, I saw that in practice some leaders of the community rigidly adhered to the one perspective promoted within the community, expressed certainty that this approach was right, and rejected alternative views and ideas. I spoke with others in the community about what I was seeing, but was not able to find satisfaction in their explanations. I found myself in love with Buddhadharma, but drifting from the community I had participated in.
As the universe would have it, at just about that same time, I met and began to fall in love with a woman of Orthodox Christian descent who was very invested in the spiritual transformation her tradition had provided her and could provide others (this is Miral, who is also applying along with me). At first, this relationship was very interesting to me because, among many other elements, it brought the language of “God” back into my life. At many times as I was studying and practicing Buddhism, I would reflect upon how what I was learning related to my original tradition of Judaism – but I found limited support for this exploration. In conversations with Miral, I began to see more deeply the connections between Buddhism and Judaism – that the Bodhicitta within me and around me can also be called the God that is within me and around me. I watched her work with genuine heart to make sense of the Buddhist teachings I was explaining in the light of the Christian truth that was in her bones – and I became inspired to do that work with Buddhism and Judaism. I also began to develop a genuine appreciation for Christianity – a tradition that has carried a great deal of baggage for me as a Jew and descendent of the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe.
As my relationship with Miral deepened, I became increasingly confident that all traditions have the potential to provide spiritual truths that can transform humans, yet they all also grapple with the potential to be solidified into overly rigid religious certainties. I began to explore a personal spiritual path that combined my Jewish heritage with the Buddhism that had transformed me – I became a “Jew-Bu,” as some have called it! For example, I have a daily Buddhist sitting meditation practice, but I light Shabbat candles and say Jewish prayers before I sit because they are in my bones and touch my heart in a different way than the rituals of Tibetan Buddhism. I also began to study the writings of teachers who have an “inter-spiritual” approach to the traditions (especially Wayne Teasdale and Ken Wilber). And Miral and I created an inter-spiritual Sabbath for ourselves. For the last two years, every Sunday night we meditate together, have a special meal together, and read or discuss spiritual teachings from Buddhism, Judaism, and/or Christianity together. This has become a very precious ritual for us.
At the same time this new direction in my spiritual journey has been unfolding and my relationship with Miral was solidifying, I began to feel that I had accomplished what I was meant to accomplish in the psychology work I have been doing for ten years. For example, I was invited to write a book about the work I was doing and began to realize that this was a perfect gift to give my professional community as the fruit of my ten years of work. I began to feel an energy moving toward doing something new and creative with my life that combines my knowledge of psychology and my growing inter-spiritual path. Together, Miral and I agreed to leave the safety of our current situation and step out into the groundless unknown so that we can see the world with new freshness and have the space within which to discover what the next best steps will be in our lives.
With that desire in our hearts, we plan to spend about 14 months traveling the world and volunteering for extended periods as we go. We both agreed that an important element of this adventure is to spend time in a community that shares our appreciation of an inter-spiritual path, so that we can more deeply explore the beauty and the obstacles of this way of being, and see how we want our lives to proceed. After some research, we were directed to examine the website for Schweibenalp. ...we became more and more certain that the Centre for Unity is a place we want to spend time at and contribute to.
Our hope is to stay at the Centre for Unity for two months, from April to May 2009. Personally, I have several goals for my time there. First, I want to learn from the people there about how they are integrating different spiritual beliefs and practices into their lives – how they are making sense of this integration and how this is able to help them to help others. Second, I want to live in a place and in a community that provides time for me to sit in meditation to help me have clarity about who I am now and who I am unfolding to become. Third, I want to give my time and service to a place and a community that I believe is the future of this planet – a place that helps all peoples to see the deep humanity of all of the different ways we seek, more than the lines of difference between our traditions that have separated us for too many generations, while still appreciating that those differences are real. ... I feel like I have a great deal to give the Centre for Unity – and a great deal to benefit from it. I really hope that you will invite Miral and I to volunteer with you all.
Bowing to You-
Ivan
[mi]
Dear Volunteer Coordinators...
At this juncture of my life, I am presently living in western Washington State in the United States. I am of Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox Christian heritage and have long been learning about the mystical spirituality of the desert mothers and fathers from the early Church and the Christian mystics of the past centuries. The practices of spiritual discipline, such as contemplative prayer and fasting, have been as much a desire in my heart as they have been a challenge for me; I have always struggled with being in silence, as I tend to be more action-oriented in nature. Thus I am always seeking in myself to create integration, a balance of all the interrelated aspects of spirituality, such as action, silence, and mindfulness. I also seek continuing spiritual transformation, which is what led me to my psychological studies and current spiritual practice.
For the past couple of years, I have been working as a licensed Psychologist. My background and training is varied, but the interest that originally led me to enter into the study of psychology was the desire to immerse myself in the experience of and understanding of spiritual change. This desire grew out of a transformative experience I had while living and volunteering in community with persons with mental and physical handicaps in France. After this experience, I moved on to continue community volunteering in Senegal, West Africa with children and families in need, and then decided to pursue the study of change in a psychology program in the United States. To that end, I completed my doctoral thesis in the study of the spiritual transformation of persons with developmental disabilities, which, very briefly, led me to a more detailed understanding of how relationship can be at the heart of personal change. I also completed a Master’s degree in theological studies. The results of my studies and training, and my own personal experience of change, led me to focus my inner-seeking toward two experiences: mutual relationships of exchange with others in community, and a self-emptying experience with God in meditative prayer (Christian Scripture calls us to do this in order to empty ourself of our own will and instead: “put on the mind of Christ"). I believe both of these relationships - with others and with God - are at the heart of truth and change.
Another focus that came out of my studies of spiritual transformation was a questioning about the universality of such change – not only across persons of different abilities and disabilities, but from different religions as well. It was a question that came from discoveries I made during my thesis work. I remember discussing this while I was presenting my thesis to my professors - where would this newfound curiosity take me?.... I suppose everything has its time and its place, and my questions lay dormant, until I began to open myself up to encounters with persons of other faith backgrounds in a new way.
As often has been in the timing of my life, one such encounter presented itself, and I was led into a relationship with my now committed partner, Ivan Kruh, who is of Jewish heritage and has spent the last ten years or so studying Buddhism and considering the universal benefit of mindfulness practices. Our relationship and his commitment to daily meditation practice and striving to live in bodhisattva ways (saintly works), awakened my thirst and stimulated my thinking about universal faith experiences.
I began to read Christian monastic experiences of eastern meditation, I began to experience the ways in which another’s path could inform my own lens, and enrich my knowledge and relationship with God, and how my own could offer this for the other person as well. I began to truly experience how different spiritual paths can inform one another. Ivan introduced me to meditation in a different tradition. Through learning his practice, my own Christian contemplative prayer began transforming - through the eyes of Ivan and his own teachers, I began to see more clearly the light and path of Jesus and understand more deeply His call to awakened living and service. There is newfound clarity to my own journey because I have been able, with slow but increasing ability, to open up to Ivan’s journey, and in turn, I have found that I, with my own lens and practices, have been able to nurture and enlighten his journey as well. It is this continuation of my spiritual seeking that began years ago, seeking through relationships among persons with differences (whether of different abilities and disabilities, religions, genders, social backgrounds or other) and experiencing these relationships as the root of God’s transformation for myself and for others, that leads me toward your community at the Center for Unity.
As I wrote, several years ago, I spent about three years living in international communities in service as a volunteer. I feel moved to enter into another such experience at the Center, as a part of a greater journey of spiritual reflection as well as service. At this point in my life, I feel called to step away from my path in my current job in the United States and spend the next year exploring myself, others and the world, through experiences of relationships and time in service. My goal for my time at the Center is to serve others on their own unique journeys, by living in a mutual spiritual exchange through simple days. I come with openness and hope that my time at the Center will continue to change my soul and shape how I can direct my life in offering to others, to the world and to God.
We do very much want to serve and more than anything, we want to continue our explorations, provide assistance to a wonderful place that seems devoted to a path that is very resonant in our hearts, and to immerse in a community we can grow from and with. We hope you'll consider having us join you.
Peace, Miral
