When words and heart unite, in Love, Grace leads us into a reverential, awe-inspiring Serenity. In this Spaciousness there has never been or will be any creed, confession, or religion. Peace within and together is our natural state, Home. In Quietness we are led Home. And in this Silence, we discover we are never alone, for we are already, always together. Home is everywhere, for those with eyes to see this beautiful, nameless Grace.

*Arem Nahariim-Samadhi

I kneel at the altar to receive the Body, the Blood. I feel drawn to this ritual that speaks so deeply to me of Love, not Christian Love, but undefined, unnamed Love. I am here in Love, I trust. He kneels beside me. She stands on the other. I know no name here, nameless among nameless, gathered to receive with open hands and, hopefully, open hearts. How fitting, for I sense this One given names and titles, today King, as so much More - some know it, I feel it as more than an emotion... an intuitive awareness, or knowing - not I know, more like just knowing. At some point, all other scents are dissolved in the sweet scent of this Rose. More than not, the words given "Him" - the One referred to as "God" - seems to vanish as soon as they arise, unable to find grounding anywhere. I look downward, noticing the altar rail is high, and my arms are high - I am reminded of an eating place with high tables, and that my parents would take me to as a child. It is kind of like eating uphill. How odd, such memories mingle in the Silence at a time and place like this. But how could it not be, too? Words arise amidst the Word, "I do not belong here." Then, kind recollection that not to belong is okay - we humans have been most often convinced that belonging is right and not belonging is wrong, so we put forth much effort to belong and act like we belong, to prove our faithfulness among the belongers. Those who need to belong cannot understand and often will not tolerate someone who no longer needs to belong. Yet, I do not belong anywhere, to anything - if to anything, Life, but then that word obscures the Truth. Then, relaxing into this absence of belonging, nameless ones among the nameless Name, what feels like a space opens all around, boundless. I could call it Spaciousness, or even Lucidity. Kneeling, all is well, all is well. Not belonging, all is as it should be here. I am here, but not here - I Am. Even in the public rituals, words seem to move like a quiet breeze past deaf ears, as though the Heart does not need them. But I need to be here among persons and words and rituals..., if for no other reason than to be with other humans in a place set apart for Sacredness and Remembrance. I know each one, and no name could give me such knowing. I love them all, for Love loves them, not I. When one has been drawn beyond the sense of I as a separate but belonging self, into the sense of We, and, then, beyond, into It - which integrates self and others in a unity beyond separation -, one has returned to Love before loves, and Grace before all the gods and goddesses swimming in the mind of humans and communities over eons of time. The Secret here, kneeling at the altar, is that, in some sense, I, as a ray of the Light, am more present for not belonging. That is a paradox of Grace. I can be with, without belonging, for the sense of a separate self, or I apart from others, dies in the Fire of Love - yet, again a paradox of Grace, the death is not a ceasing to be, but a transformation into a new consciousness and being. And what is left needs no name and no identity here, anywhere. See, what is seen is we are more present the less we belong. We may join in, we may have our name identified as in a group, but that is all. I wonder, does anyone else around this altar feel a strange, yet lovely and loving sense of not belonging? Does anyone else feel the words just blow right by their ears during the words and rites of worship?

*Arem Nahariim-Samadhi