Sacred
Philosophy
The Creed of Still & Moving Meditation Fellowship
1.) Deep Presence
We open ourselves to the invisible, unexplainable vastness of the universe and ourselves, that richness beneath, behind and above that holds meaning, promise, and purpose, with all the past and all the future in one ever-present now, thus allowing people of all faiths and no particular faith to find their own relationship with the pulsing heart of that One, deep presence. In Deep Presence we recognize our Unity.
Credit ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Bellini
6.) The Inherent Joy of the Universe
While our trials here on Earth beset us with suffering, we intuit that the underlying nature of the Universe is Joy. Within each of us is the innocent faith of a little child. Our light hearts sing as we behold the universal dance. Perhaps at dawn, or on a mountain peak, or under a star-filled midnight sky, we gaze in wonderment at the transcendent delight of the Universe, and we yearn to share that Joy with every living being.
7.) Infinite Compassion
We believe that highly evolved beings of infinite compassion occasionally walk this Earth, seemingly as one of us, selflessly bestowing upon us their beneficent guidance and care, assuaging our sorrows with no thought for their personal selves. We see ourselves as ultimately capable of this same boundless compassion, and we seek to increasingly embody that benevolence in our lives. Believing that all humanity is fundamentally interconnected with each other and with the whole, divine Cosmos, we cultivate understanding, empathy, cooperation, and peace, seeing the well-being of every sentient being as inseparable from our own.
2.) The Law of Causality
We trust that all our intentions, thoughts, words and deeds make a difference in this cosmos in which each cause yields its effect, interwoven with all other causes and effects set into motion. We trust that each cause we put into motion will return back to us with exact appropriateness, teaching us to align ourselves with universal harmony and compassion. We understand that every event holds significance.
3.) Humanity in the Evolving Cosmos
We believe that the purpose of life is to learn and to help others. We and all sentient beings are evolving with the cosmos. Human life is a school for learning soul lessons. Human evolution cannot rely on instinct - it depends upon self-determination. We need never be victims, for we can always choose our response to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Suffering can be our teacher, for as we learn, we find the profound satisfaction of understanding. Our learning never ends. The Self never ceases to be.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)
Credit NASA, ESA, STScI
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini
Credit NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
NASA/JPL - The Sounds of Earth Record Cover
4.) The Honor of being Human
We stand in awe at the human being’s miraculous potential for Self awareness. We hold that birth into a human body, with our human mind and our recognition of Selfhood, bestows upon us both enormous opportunity and tremendous responsibility. At the stage we hold on the evolutionary arc, our human capabilities through consciousness and physical force make an enormous impact upon our world and its creatures.
5.) The Invisible
We acknowledge that the invisible is. Both science and spirituality point out that there’s more to the cosmos than our senses reveal. Before any thing can come into this universe, its invisible archetype or pattern must exist for the physical to be built upon - something like the architect’s plan that precedes the structure. It’s not just what we do that counts, but how we do it, and why. We are interconnected in untraceable ways. We affect one another and the outer world through our inner thought, intention, and love.
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Credit (Above photo) NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe Collaboration | Acknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Penn State University)
Theosophia
Theosophia translates as Divine (theo) Wisdom (Sophia - Greek goddess of wisdom).
To give credit where credit is due, the beliefs and sacred philosophy of theosophia underlie Still & Moving Meditation Fellowship. Teachers and devotees of theosophia believe that one ancient religion, language, and philosophy lies at the source of all the various religious, philosophical and even scientific traditions that have ever appeared in the world’s history for the spiritual uplift and evolution of humanity.
In whatever guise they may appear, Theosophy recognizes the great spiritual teachers, gurus, mahatmas, buddhas, christoses, avatars, and prophets from around the globe and throughout time. Approaching the universe with reverence and with an appreciation for the invisible, as the ancients such as Pythagoras did, sacred scientists also teach us our unity with this great cosmos.
All of these Teachers of humanity espouse meditation as a way of realizing our Oneness with each other and with the Whole. Meditation leads to realizing our Self individually, and with the leavening of love and service, meditation leads us to realizing our identity with the Self of All.
Theosophia, as a spiritual life taught since the dawn of human history, and as more recently taught by Helena Blavatsky, William Quan Judge, Robert Crosby, and Raghavan Iyer, inspires this Fellowship’s creed.
Many if not all of the world’s religions engage in moving meditation: from the Sufi’s whirling dervishes, to Christians’ prayerful labyrinth walking, to Hindu bharatanatyam dancers dedicating their pieces to the god Shiva, to sacred Jewish circle dances at their weddings, to Cham dancing performed by Tibetan Buddhist monks, to the tai chi and qigong practices of Taoists, as well as a wealth of sacred indigenous ceremonial practices world-wide, such as the Sun Dance by the Plains Indian Nation tribes.
Various traditional quasi-still, quasi-moving practices can clear the mind and elevate the soul when performed in a devotional manner, such as Japanese tea ceremonies and ikebana flower arranging, as well as Buddhist mandala-making – to mention just a few.
When devoted to the evolution of the human spirit and all of Nature, both still and moving meditation constitute a way of living consistent with the faith of theosophia.