Earth brings us into life
And nourishes us.
Earth takes us back again.
We are born and die with every breath.
Thich Nhat Hahn- Touching the Earth
What’s In a Name?
We started sitting in the field at 5333 Elmwood before we had a name. It seemed so simple and apt, Field Temple, the temple that meets in a field. And other interpretations flowed in. It was a field of play, a place to explore the field of consciousness. Sometimes it seemed like a battlefield between the wish to escape our own selves and the willpower to sit still within our own stream of thoughts. The name also worked in the same vein as a field hospital, a temple set up to meet a need, moveable and adaptive, created for healing.
As we sat, the field itself became clearer. The land slowly came more into focus as we paid attention. We witnessed it in the Autumn , as leaves changed colors and fell.
We sat in the deep quiet of Winter as snow fell.
We sat in Spring, as brilliant green shoots poked through.
We sat in Summer heat, blessed by the shade of the trees and the ripening berries.
As we cleaned the land, pulling away ancient mattresses, piles of clothes, TV’s and wigs, broken concrete and shards of glass, we found remnants of past gardens. Someone had planted tulips, forsythia, and a privet hedge. We noticed the trees, spruce, elm, mulberry, maple, boxwood, apple and how they had made their way into the light, past the piles of rubbish at their roots. We started to see the land itself as the Temple, it helped us to notice more and more of its treasures. We picked red clover for tea. We harvested phragmite for thatch. We used the clay we dug up from the land to make teacups. The land itself was offering us sustenance. It was rich in so many ways.
This has been a true teaching. A vacant lot, when offered curious and heartfelt attention, can be a treasure trove, full of beauty and the nourishment we need. What has been overlooked and neglected, when offered attention, can flourish. This is true within and without. Meditation helps us notice those spaces we have overlooked within. When we take the time to see them, explore them, we are nourished on the healing journey.
This little video offers another connection to the name, offering one real plot of land in Detroit some language to define its connection to the universe.
What’s the definition of a field? The universe is made out of energy, not out of matter. What does the quantum physicist call this energy that the universe is made out of? They call it the field. Well, what’s the definition of a field? Invisible moving forces that influence the physical world.
https://www.tiktok.com/@reikirobert/video/7107471569080913195?lang=en
Work Practice Invitation
On February 4th and February 18th, we will meet from 10am until noon at 5333 Elmwood, Detroit, 48211 to cut phragmite for thatch. Bring your machete. ( or you can borrow one.) Please wear boots and work gloves.
Return to the One
Come, sit, this field is you.
Public Meditation- Sundays at 10 am
Bowing to you, one and all,
Bhavana Sarah Addae
For Field Temple