Ira Progoff was born in 1921 on the same day I am writing this blog. He was a significant American Jungian psychotherapist, whose main interest was to help people engage and develop their natural creativity and spiritual experience. I found two of his writings particularly helpful in this regard. The first was his book 'At a Journal Workshop' published in 1975. The book introduces us to his intensive journaling method and helps us to reflect, process and deepen our search for meaning and purpose. It assists us to also explore the movement of our life and the possibilities that await us as we engage with our inner source of wisdom in a way that is spiritually, psychologically and socially satisfying. The Episcopalian priest and Jungian therapist, Morton Kelsey, suggested his journaling process 'became almost a sacrament of their religious way, a symbol of the religious quest'.
Progoff also published several other books to be used alongside his journaling method. The one I am most familiar with is called 'The Well and the Cathedral'. It has twelve Meditations which encourage us to sit in stillness and enter the sanctuary, or 'Cathedral', of our lives. We are then invited to move slowly and progressively inward and explore our hidden experiences, and feelings. As the meditations take us deeper into our longing for meaning and purpose, we learn to be refreshed by the timeless and sacred waters of eternity that flows within us. In this regard, Progoff's work is closely related to my last blog where I mentioned ways to explore and develop our belly-centre, or 'Organ of Touch' as the Sufi's call it. It is here, at the depths of our being we learn to sense the essential presence of the One who created us and who is 'the ground of our being and the centre of our soul'.
I was also reminded of Progroff's work again today when reflecting on the Annunciation story found in Luke's Gospel. A young unmarried woman named Mary receives a visit by the Archangel Gabriel. In its own way, the Annunciation story is another Entrance Meditation. It has several layers that lead us inward towards the One who created us and 'in whim we live and move and have our being'.
I imagine we are all familiar with the surface level of the story of Mary's Annunciation, and may even gloss over it as being surreal. Do heavenly angels – as portrayed in Biblical illustrations – actually, drop in and visit ordinary people doing their housework? Yet God is always beside us even in the most tedious and mundane moments of our lives. However, the Annunciation story has a sub-plot, and we need to enter into the story at a deeper and more personal level if we wish to understand it better.
Mary's Annunciation is about a vulnerable young woman who is willing to accept new possibilities (as offered by the Angel's message). And she dares to be open to the unknown in faith and trust.
When taken this way, her story parallels a Hebrew story of Moses' Annunciation at the burning bush (Exodus Ch 3). The central truth of both stories is that God is present to all of us. We are all created in the Divine image and likeness. Even if we do not recognise it, the Divine image is flowing in the depths of our being within timeless and sacred waters of eternity; waiting for us to become still and hear the echo of the Divine voice within. And both stories remind us that even with our vulnerabilities, God is still with us,
Moses, for example, was born in a time when his people were an enslaved minority. He had to flee for his life and became a homeless refugee. Mary was a young and soon to become a pregnant and unmarried woman, and in her day she would receive public and religious censure. No excuse or impediment we possess will hinder the patient and creative invitation of God for us to become spiritually fertile. We are all invited to give birth to the Divine beauty and light in and through our lives, and to lead and encourage others to share in works of compassion and mercy.
What kind of Annunciation is God offering you?
Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.
Phil
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Progoff,Ira, At a Journal Workshop: Writing to Access the Power of the Unconscious and Evoke Creative Ability, TarcherPerigee; Revised edition (May 1, 1992) .
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