Join In the Dance

“Come to me, and I shall dance with you,” writes the 17th century Sufi mystic, theologian and poet Rumi. “By accepting the mystical invitation to ‘dance’ with the Divine, we discover our oneness with All that is,” explains Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones in his article “Shall We Dance?”, published in the April 2018 issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine.

As he explores what it means to “dance with divinity,” Jones says, “The entire width and span of our daily life is the dance floor; we just need be aware. When Rumi writes, 'Come to me, and I shall dance with you,’ he is echoing the words of the Beloved. However, it is up to us to consciously listen to the invitation and say yes.”

To that end, Jones offers four simple steps that prepare us for the dance. He asks that we consider making these steps a sacred practice for 30 days, and then be prepared to “be amazed how quickly you find yourself moving through the day dancing with the Divine, enjoying your oneness with life.”

Those steps are:

1. Make yourself available. “While spirit is always extending the invitation,” Jones writes, “it is you who has to make the first move and respond; you must make yourself available to hear the request."
2. Practice mindfulness. “Mindfulness,” he explains, “is the ability to bring your thinking mind back into your body when it drifts; it sets the stage for the dance. …”
3. Practice non-judgment. “The singular goal of dancing with the Divine is to experience the ecstasy and bliss of unconditional love woven into the sacred moment at hand.” Entering into judgment, then, separates us from the “ecstasy of oneness.”
4. Make the Divine surrender. “Enter the dance with no agenda other than to enjoy the ecstasy of being blissfully entwined with God, trusting and faithfully following Its lead,” Jones says. “When you are fully committed to your oneness with life, you can trust and know that where you are going is secondary to the joy you’ll experience on the journey while getting there.”

A Sacred Pledge to Mother Earth

The words are simple and yet profound: “I pledge to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.” This vow is at the center of the work being spearheaded by the Order of the Sacred Earth. Not a religion or a church, the order defines itself as “a radically inclusive order of mystic activists, uniting our energy and intention in one sacred vow.”

The order’s website further clarifies its work, saying: “In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood — as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter — the planet doesn't need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order...a sacred community and movement: 

1. A movement of communities welcoming all the peoples of Earth: our varied belief systems (or non-belief systems), genders, races, classes, abilities, and nations.
2. A deeply spiritual movement, free of religious institutions and grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, in leading-edge science and indigenous tradition. Therefore, an Order of the Sacred Earth.

Created by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jennifer Listug, the order was inaugurated on December 21, 2017. “Fundamental to the vision of OSE is the recognition that just as each one of us is a body temple of the Divine, so also is Earth,” writes Kathy Juline in the April issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine. “The vision and vow of OSE call us to participate actively.”

Activities underway range from wildlife preservation to urban gardening, reducing consumerism to becoming open to cooperative living and sharing resources.

“In the voices of Earth, air, fire, water and spirit, the planet cries out for defenders,” OSE’s website says. If you’d like to join their work, take the vow and become a defender of the planet, visit www.OrderoftheSacredEarth.org.

Take the vow today, as we prepare to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, remembering the words of Dr. Ernest Holmes: “The world is saturated with Divinity, immersed in Reality and filled with Possibility. We must take this Divine Possibility and mold it into a present Actuality in everyday experience. This is the way to freedom, the pathway to peace and happiness.”

God Is the Only Reality

— Dr. Ernest Holmes

I am secure in God. Nothing can withstand truth, and I am knowing the truth of my being today.

My world must respond to my thought, for that is the law of Mind. I now declare the peace, love and beauty of God as my true environment, and these now bless me. God surrounds me, infolds me and upholds me at every moment. My world is the law unto the thing to which it is directed. I speak the truth, and the truth is all that I can experience.

I stand in the midst of a flexible universe that responds to my thought and acts upon it. I, alone, am the creator of good in my world. I handle my thought rightly in order to bring this good forth into my experience. I am free of all problems, all fear and all possibilities of failure.

I know with certainty that God is for me. I say “no” to all evil; I say “yes” to all good.

— Entry for April 8, “365 Days of Richer Living: Daily Inspirations”

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