In Your Eyes | A Practice to Reconnect
January 29, 2023 Kosmos Community News

In your eyes, the light, the heat
I am complete (In your eyes)
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
The resolution
Of all the fruitless searches. – Peter Gabriel

Practice | Walking down the street or an aisle on a bus or plane, try to make eye contact with as many people as possible. Relax your face, your eyes, and greet everyone with a warm, soft smile.  Many will be immersed in their thoughts, or their phones. Some will make eye contact and look away quickly to avoid the sudden feeling of awkwardness. A few might meet your gaze with a mask of hostility, perhaps causing you to look away. Suddenly, you encounter someone who meets your eyes full-on, clear and unwavering. You feel a jolt and in that moment, an expansion occurs. No longer two, but one, you recognize your own wakefulness in the eyes of the other. 

This moment of intimate connection through the ‘gaze’ often occurs when we are falling in love. With trembling vulnerability, we allow the other to see ‘through’ us completely. We can also experience and practice this deep connection with a family member, a friend, a beloved pet, an animal in the wild, even a tree or flower…or a total stranger.

Gazing deeply into the eyes of another, for three deep breaths silently express love and compassion through your eyes. What do you experience?

PROGRAM | Radical Faithfulness in Action at Pendle Hill

Are you already engaged in organizing for social justice? Do you value the importance of interconnection, community, and spiritual practices to sustain you in your work? Are you wondering how to sustain your spirit in the work ahead? Radical Faithfulness in Action may be for you.

Join experienced organizer-facilitators and committed people of different faiths to strengthen your capacity for effective community action for peace and justice. The experiential curriculum will help you:

• Gain knowledge and skills in effective social action organizing;
• Give and receive support in your ongoing social justice work outside the course; and
• Deepen spiritual practices that will build resilience in carrying on the work.

Online resources and webinars will support three on-campus residencies in which participants will engage the following themes:

June 28- July 1 Reconnection: Spiritual Grounding to Interrupt the Status Quo
August 16-19 Resistance: Embracing the Trickster
October 25-28 Resilience: Death is Not an Ending

Pendle Hill is a Quaker study, retreat, and conference center welcoming all for Spirit-led learning and community, located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. This program is capped at 16 participants and early application is highly recommended. FIND OUT MORE.

In the Light | Kosmos Advising Editor, Pamela Boyce Simms

This week, we spotlight evolutionary culture designer, Pamela Boyce Simms. Pamela convenes the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH), an information hub for a six-state network of environmental activists. She is a veteran of local, regional, and national environmental resilience-building, and currently works with international Quaker, Buddhist, and African Diaspora Earthcare networks. Read her blog, Resilience.org at the Post Carbon Institute.

Articles by Pamela:

Activists Take the Mystery Out of “Mystical” for Movement-building

Activism Guided by Still-Point Consciousness: Early Adopters Speak Out