Holiday Celebration and Light of Love Day

Joel giving his Light of Love Day talk

The Center hosted a winter holiday celebration with live music and a potluck dinner on the evening of Saturday 14 December 2024 in the Center meeting hall. We all enjoyed a spread of delicious food, singing and guitar by Arunabeth, and a set of songs by the CSS Sacred Singers. 

On Light of Love Day (December 25, 2024), Joel gave a talk and guided meditation on the topic Finding God in Your Heart. You can watch the video at this link: Finding God in your Heart

An Interview with Matthew Lowes

Matt Lowes

In anticipation of Matt’s appearance at the CSS Community Night on Wednesday March 19, 2025, Vip Short met with him for a friendly and freewheeling chat which spanned more than 3 hours.

The interview took place in mid-February at the home of Matt and his partner Emily: a lovely place with inviting workspaces and two cats. They sat comfortably with coffee and recorders running, and the time went by quickly!

Although by now Matt has already given three Sunday talks at CSS as a guest speaker, this interview provides a chance for CSS members to get to know his personal side a bit better.

Read the whole interview at this link: Meet Matthew Lowes.

Remembering Marleen Marshall

Marleen Marshall

Marleen Marshall (Ani Dechok Tso), an active member of CSS from 2007 to 2011, and again this past year, died peacefully on November 23, 2024 in Beaverton, Oregon. She was 82 years old.

Marleen was a devoted spiritual practitioner for many years, attending six of our retreats at Cloud Mountain. Later, she became a Dzogchen Buddhist nun and lived with her spiritual community near Veneta until returning to Eugene a year ago. A lifelong nurse, Marleen volunteered her nursing skills with the Peace Corp in the early 2000’s in the South American country of Guyana.

How Has the Center Changed Your Life?

Laura Betty writes:

What has been the biggest change that you have noticed in your life since joining CSS?

I find that I notice my “Story of I” thoughts quicker and that they tend to dissipate with focused attention. Then there is a brief pause with clarity of attention.

The other thing that I have noticed is that when an action happens there is not a “me” involved. There tends to be a brief feeling of sweetness afterwards.

I posed this question to several folks, and the answer I got was a benefit of continued meditation practice. I mostly asked folks who have been members for about ten years. And, to be truthful, my sample was rather small, but I did ask a couple of long-time practitioners.

The most common response was “I notice my thoughts more often!” and “I notice more often how judgmental I am!”

Jude said, “I am happier!”

Mona said, ”I notice my thoughts more.”

The long-time members found the question difficult to answer quickly. As one explained, it was hard to remember a time before being a part of CSS in order to be aware of what was different.

Please, if you would like to add to this conversation, either talk to me, or, better yet, submit an article directly to the CSS newsletter. The personal insights are encouraging.

Doug Turvey writes:

CSS is helping my understanding of a mystic worldview. St. John of the Cross wrote: “If you purify your soul of attachments to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually.”

Since attending regularly I have learned that my mind is not a reliable observer as it is influenced by my compulsive habits and addictions that characterize so much of modern life in this digital era.

Daily vows and meditations supported by the center have been helping me see my life in a new way. I am able to move beyond struggle and suffering of my separate self to view life as a symphony with each creature playing a beautiful role in the music.

Joel’s gnosis and leadership has inspired a deeper responsibility for my life. The “Ten Selfless Precepts” are my daily reminder to work on clearing attachments that keep me from seeing that each moment of my life is an opportunity for practice (cleaning the mirror). My practice is leading me to see that my time bound self and thought saturated view has been my illusion. I am here to wake up to reality.

Saint Francis of Assisi wrote “ it is in dying to ourself that we awaken to real life and love” Andrea and Todd are helping me to identify my mental traps that keep me bound to ego. If Joel was a surgeon his scalpel is skilled in effecting an ego-ectomy. I am grateful to participate with fellow members of CSS in pursuit of our awakening. I am grateful to Joel and our teachers.

Beautiful Dreamers

Zoom Awakening Group Participants

ZAG—Zoom Awakening Group led by Merry Song—completed Round Two in January with focus on Individual Dream Support and continued observation of the First Precept of taking Responsibly. Round Three will commence in March with focus on lucid dreaming and lucid living. During every session, Merry Song presents a poem and then leads a freewriting based on a line of the poem. Participants have only three minutes to write with no time to edit. Below is an example of how dreamlike images pour forth from the subconscious, which can then be interpreted. Each person chose the first animal that came to mind and had that animal speak.

For more information on ZAG along with upcoming opportunities in the fall, contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

“Leaving the Life” by Merry Song for her brother

Crow says
Swiftly will come the day we leave the house
We will hardly recognize it coming
Startled, we will step back

Crow says
We will hand over the keys
We will stand in front of the house frozen
We will be incapable of comprehending the emptiness

It’s all right that we have emptied a lifetime from it
It’s all right that we left a bit of dust, hard to reach
It’s all right that the porch needs fixing and paint

Let us unfreeze our limbs: the deed is done
The house that was our house is vacant
Soon something else will happen there, we know not what

Crow says it’s been a longtime coming
                   Crow has lived and died twenty-five times there
                                    Crow’s children have flown away

And we will unfreeze and move our legs
We will walk away in different directions, crying
Crow has seen a lot of that

Kevin wrote ~

Bear says swiftly will come... your authentic self in the face of adversity. You haven't chosen the easy path, but it is a path of great joy, knowing, and support. Do not falter as you have chosen a different way to look at the world. Be like I, strong, courageous, protective, and wise. Go out into the forest and be with the little ones. Let them whisper secrets of their telling. Listen to the wind, feel the earth, reconnect with your child-like wonder as it is connection to your true self: creative, bold, and always listening and learning. The universe supports these efforts and we will be watching.

Sweetbird wrote ~

Panther says swiftly will come the line of Shamans who have visited you in journeys, drumming for you, dancing with you, letting you know you have these powerful allies, guardians, mentors walking with you in all your days. Black Panther has presented when you were a child and onwards, walking beside you, fur touching you. The Shamans are from many and all cultures highly dressed in their ceremonial robes, walking powerfully clanging bells and beating drums, entering deep bone, they are parts of you. And you are strong and courageous, sacred and Light.

Shannon wrote ~

King Fisher says swiftly will come…..
My morning meal!
My warrioress calls resound
Oh tasty morsels
Gliding and diving
Motion an elegant ease
Of nature’s wild imagination
With rhythmical precision
I do remain reclusive
However flashy
And I excite the walkers on the morning path
Loved even adored
Aumakua for a girl named Shani
(Hawaiian for guardian spirit)
Until the morrow then
Along an ever changing pondscape
Sometimes muddy oft a reflection rarely frozen
Where life teams below the surface

Donnalee wrote ~

“Black Panther Cat,” Fox says, “will come swiftly, softly, silently on his padded feet, sharp claws withdrawn safely within their sheaths.”

He does come. He is soft, gentle sweet. An Innocent living in a body of thick glossy black fur. He nudges against my cheek with his cheek. Purring deeply, he turns his head so his yellow eyes set themselves trustingly into the gaze of my tearful blue eyes. Turning away, he pads and pedals his feet, stepping onto a soft warming blanket, curling his tail around his body, falling asleep. He dreams black panther dreams of hanging high in tree branches, hiding in tall grass, waiting patiently. I smile while watching him smile in his sleep, comforting his beautiful sleek cat body the way he had selflessly comforted mine when I was sick with cancer during those years. He is dying. Sadly, I let him go gently, kindly and freely where ever his spirit chooses to flow. Dearest Camper, a true friend and sweet companion, so important to me, I will deeply miss your purring heart, intelligent meows and engaging stares. Maybe we will meet again, you as the human, me as The Black Panther Cat sharing our sweet dreams and caring.

Niraja wrote ~

Large wild cat says swiftly will come the time when you will have to let go of everything.
Don’t wait for the fires to burn your old life.
Do it now. Large wild cat will help you –
Shred that unnecessary baggage.
Run quickly and feel the freedom of wind in your face.
Swiftly the time will come, but you can be ready – always alert for the next change, the next transformation.

Jude wrote ~

Buffalo says, “Swiftly will come...the new moon.”

You love to see full moons
But Buffalo is telling you
It’s a new Moon on its way
Buffalo has always been trustworthy,
A steadying presence
So maybe she means not to fear the darkness
The full moon will come again,
But first comes the new moon.
They cycle around, as does everything. Buffalo will be by my side, pawing the ground
and snorting her strength
She lets me know all is well
With her deep moon eyes.

Stella wrote ~

Cat says swiftly will come my life and only for a blink of an eye. You didn't want a cat and yet here I was hanging on the inside of a cage that was sitting on the sidewalk along with all the other kittens hoping to be adopted. You just kept clinging to the side of that cage and looking right at me with those beautiful blue eyes as though saying, please take me home with you. Orange and brown fur & so little. Shannon said oh mom look how cute she is. I said ok and found a cardboard box to put her in. I took her back to work with me and then home. Thus, a special relationship began with Xena the princess warrior cat...to be continued. She found her forever home and her home it remained until the tragic death of her body. Her spirit still dwells there for I have seen her!

Prepare to Surrender

In a class meeting weekly in January and February, 2025, Mora Fields guided participants in an exploration of surrender. When we surrender, just what are we to surrender? Clinging (to pictures and beliefs about ourselves and the nature of reality) is an activity, and what we can surrender, more and more, is the doing of this activity. In this class, we engaged in exercises and practices to look at this activity of clinging, to try to actually catch it in the act. Can we desist from some of this activity in our daily lives, and observe how that affects us? Surrendering these clingings we find in ourselves is not, as Joel tells us, final surrender. However, by practicing the relinquishment of clinging, we reinforce the surrender response and prepare ourselves for that possibility.

Jude writes:

Mora Fields recently taught a wonderful class on the subject of surrender. She had us observe and note that we constantly surrender various things throughout the course of a day, including the many different selves we believe we are depending on whom we are with, what role we are playing, and even how we feel. Through observation, we found that we manifest innumerable selves with no core. Mora offered many great written and video resources plus homework practices to get us to look deeply into our sense of being in control, a controller. If Mora offers this class again, it is definitely worth taking!

Guest speaker Matthew Lowes

Guest Speaker Matthew Lowes gave a talk at the Center on February 2, 2025, on the topic "The Pursuit of Skill as a Spiritual Path." If you've ever wondered how developing skill in an art, sport, or other worldly activity might fit into a spiritual path — or even become the path itself — you can watch the video of the talk here: The Pursuit of Skill as a Spiritual Path.

Matthew Lowes is the author of That Which is Before You, When You are Silent it Speaks, A Billion Fingers Point at the Moon, and Lighting the Sacred Fire. On his own path, he practiced martial arts for over 30 years and devoted a good part of his adult life to learning the craft of writing fiction. Visit matthewlowes.com for more on his work.

Guest speakers Kimberly and Jim Carson

Jim and Kimberly with Joel and Jennifer

Our Sunday March 2, 2025, public meeting featured a talk by guest speakers Kimberly and Jim Carson, members of the CSS community based in Portland. Their talk explored the (double) meaning of not-knowing and knowing the 'knots" in our experience. You can view the video recording of their talk here: "The Consecration of kNot Knowing: Disentangling the Malas of Kashmir Shaivism." 

The Carsons have studied, practiced, and taught the teachings of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition for over 25 years. They have published two books and dozens of scientific studies of the clinical application of Eastern wisdom, and they have led professional trainings for yogis and healthcare providers. Learn more at MindfulYogaWorks.com.

Stewardship Video Matinee

On Saturday 18 January the CSS Stewardship group hosted a showing of a spiritual video and discussion in our meeting hall. Locally grown popcorn and refreshments were provided. This inaugural spiritual video matinee event featured the video "Sacred Activism" by Andrew Harvey. In this recording of a talk he gave in 2005 in Santa Fe, NM Harvey speaks with passion and conviction about the urgency of the current crisis and the spiritual transformation that allows us to authentically respond to it. 

He talks about a vision of a "beast of apocalypse" with seven heads that we must have the courage to face: 1) overpopulation, 2) environmental holocaust, 3) fundamentalism, 4) weapons of mass destruction, 5) our disconnection from nature, 6) disinformation and debased mass media, 7) modern lifestyle of superficial busy-ness distracting us from our inner wisdom.

After facing the darkness of the beast, and our heart breaks, Harvey talks about the encounter with the divine mother and her mercy and kindness as we pass through a dark night, and how we can discover a state where we are transformed by love and compassion for all beings. This takes us beyond fear and despair to surrender and sacrifice. We may be blessed with a grace of the divine mother and a vision of seven stars of the birth of divine life.

A secret of the path of sacred activism is that we cannot continue fixated on the darkness. We must connect with the light beyond it. The real truth of the apocalypse is that it is also an opportunity for rebirth into the light, from which we can become a servant to it. The seven stars are 1) recognizing the apocalypse as a gift, 2) technological solutions to the environmental crisis, 3) new ways for people to connect with each other across the world, 4) explosion of information about the world mystical traditions, 5) emergence of radiant compassionate nonviolent movements, 6) the return of the divine feminine to humanity, 7) the divine is with us, guiding and helping us, here and now. If you are mad and wild and brave enough to surrender to the divine and act, the divine will give you what you need.

We can take concrete action in several ways. How do we become a midwife to this rebirth? Five acts of sacred service: 1) serve the divine in thanksgiving, praise, devotion, 2) serve yourself as an instrument of the divine, 3) serve all beings in your direct contact as divine beings, 4) real, practical service to your community in a way that is meaningful to your heart, 5) serve the global community by acting in responsible ways about our financial, political, lifestyle choices. If you fuse these types of service, it will transform you and fill you with joy and sacred passion.

For more about Andrew Harvey and his work, visit www.andrewharvey.net.