For
me, autumn is the perfect time to get in touch with an experiential
awareness of the presence of Christ - not the Christ of dogma or of
pushy, aggressive religion, but the Christ who dwells in the heart of
each and every being, filling it with warm, silent, radiant love. The
yellow, gold and orange colors of the leaves draw me naturally into the
heart, where I can feel the reality of Christ's warm presence. However,
I understand that this is a humble, self-emptied Christ, not the
religious Jesus who is always portrayed as pointing to himself or to his
own greatness.
The phenomenon of alpenglow speaks powerfully to my experience of the humble, self-emptied Christ. Each clear morning here in Colorado, the mountains begin to glow in shades of pink, lavender or orange just before the sun rises. A similar event occurs in the evening on the west side of the peaks, when the glow happens just after the sun has set. Similarly, the presence of Christ in the heart manifests a kind of warmth and glow, but his identity remains hidden - like the alpenglow sun - below the horizon of Being. As this humble warmth radiates from the heart, all things in the world around us begin to reveal their own innate glow, and then melt together into oneness - just as the alpenglow light dissolves rocks, glaciers, trees and lakes into a single lavender or orange radiance.
On my hikes this past week, the golden glow of the aspen trees has inspired me to practice a form of meditation I call "Christ Meditation," or "Alpenglow Meditation." Here, I envision my heart filled with the warmth and radiance of the golden autumn landscape, a warmth and radiance I identify as Christ. Alternately, I imagine an icon of Christ that hangs in my office, one which portrays Jesus' face surrounded by golden light. I then imagine this vision of autumn-gold-and-icon disappearing into radiant alpenglow within my heart. Here, the sun of Christ's being dissolves in self-emptied humility into my heart, which then mysteriously lights up - like our Colorado mountains - in the radiant hue of its own innate divinity. By faith, I can FEEL this warmth and light in my heart. Then, I inhale this warmth, light and love from my heart, and exhale it into the world - into the objects and creatures surrounding me, penetrating them all with love, warmth and alpenglow light - in other words, with Christ. I then imagine that they too begin to glow with the autumn warmth and radiance of alpenglow light. This practice is especially effective when I'm walking around town, exhaling this Christic warmth, radiance and love to everyone I meet, as well as to buildings and computers and chairs and office furniture. In the process, I watch spellbound as the boundaries between all of these things begin to dissolve and melt into a single radiance of divine warmth and love!
Photos: (Top) Aspens and Deer Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 10, 2014; (Second) Morning alpenglow on Long's Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, September 20, 2014; (Third) Aspen trees near Gould, CO, October 13, 2014; (Bottom) Rocky peak and aspen trees, Poudre Canyon, CO, October 13, 2014
The phenomenon of alpenglow speaks powerfully to my experience of the humble, self-emptied Christ. Each clear morning here in Colorado, the mountains begin to glow in shades of pink, lavender or orange just before the sun rises. A similar event occurs in the evening on the west side of the peaks, when the glow happens just after the sun has set. Similarly, the presence of Christ in the heart manifests a kind of warmth and glow, but his identity remains hidden - like the alpenglow sun - below the horizon of Being. As this humble warmth radiates from the heart, all things in the world around us begin to reveal their own innate glow, and then melt together into oneness - just as the alpenglow light dissolves rocks, glaciers, trees and lakes into a single lavender or orange radiance.
On my hikes this past week, the golden glow of the aspen trees has inspired me to practice a form of meditation I call "Christ Meditation," or "Alpenglow Meditation." Here, I envision my heart filled with the warmth and radiance of the golden autumn landscape, a warmth and radiance I identify as Christ. Alternately, I imagine an icon of Christ that hangs in my office, one which portrays Jesus' face surrounded by golden light. I then imagine this vision of autumn-gold-and-icon disappearing into radiant alpenglow within my heart. Here, the sun of Christ's being dissolves in self-emptied humility into my heart, which then mysteriously lights up - like our Colorado mountains - in the radiant hue of its own innate divinity. By faith, I can FEEL this warmth and light in my heart. Then, I inhale this warmth, light and love from my heart, and exhale it into the world - into the objects and creatures surrounding me, penetrating them all with love, warmth and alpenglow light - in other words, with Christ. I then imagine that they too begin to glow with the autumn warmth and radiance of alpenglow light. This practice is especially effective when I'm walking around town, exhaling this Christic warmth, radiance and love to everyone I meet, as well as to buildings and computers and chairs and office furniture. In the process, I watch spellbound as the boundaries between all of these things begin to dissolve and melt into a single radiance of divine warmth and love!
Photos: (Top) Aspens and Deer Mountain, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 10, 2014; (Second) Morning alpenglow on Long's Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, September 20, 2014; (Third) Aspen trees near Gould, CO, October 13, 2014; (Bottom) Rocky peak and aspen trees, Poudre Canyon, CO, October 13, 2014
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