|
As I prepared to attend an intensive on the subject of Sacred Service a couple of years ago, I was in the
midst of some major soul searching. I was trying
to understand the nature and essence of my "true voice". For
nine months I had been working hard on a book. Embodying both the wisdom I
had gleaned as a residential architect, and my belief that our homes can
be our own sacred space, I had felt joyful throughout the process of the
book's making. Now I had run across a significant obstacle. My publisher,
upon reading the completed manuscript, wanted a rewrite. He told me that
he recognized the
|
|
© Tone Kroger
|
power of the message it embodied--building smaller,
better designed homes, that reflect the personalities of their
inhabitants--but felt that in its present form it was intelligible only to
readers with some existing architectural understanding, and some esoteric
interest. He wanted me to reconfigure it to speak clearly to a much larger
segment of the American public.
The response that arose within me was one of
deep distress. I felt that my message was somehow going to be corrupted.
For days I sat in deep meditation. I felt as though I were spiraling into
the Earth, in the hope that through this deep falling I would somehow find
guidance. How could I maintain my true voice and write a less mystical,
less personal book? This was my state of awareness as I went to the
workshop on Sacred Service, consumed by this great sense of powerlessness.
For three days we had been discussing the
ways in which opportunities for service can appear. I had felt the
powerlessness transform into surrender. Then came the epiphany. I was
dancing in front of the altar, alone, on the last afternoon of the
intensive when suddenly I was filled to overflowing with an aching
sadness. I found myself dancing, singing and weeping as though my life
depended upon it...until all the souls of the oppressed feminine energies
of millennia came pouring forth through me into the world. I danced their
tears, I sobbed their anguish and their repression, and I KNEW
inexplicably, that my role in this life is to help reawaken this knowing
of the feminine principle, and to rebalance the division between masculine
and feminine energies in the planet and her peoples. Until this moment,
such a thought had never even crossed my mind. I would have thought it
arrogant beyond words. I felt humbled and unworthy. Yet somewhere inside a
resonance struck loud and clear.
Sarah's
Own Sacred
Space in her Attic
The pain and sadness were gone then. I saw
that my real mission in the writing of this book was to bring our homes
into harmony by giving credence to intuition, to the need for comfort, and
to the home's ability to nurture the lives within--all aspects of the
neglected feminine. Our houses can be places of beauty and inspiration,
they can be the still point and the place of the heart. And I saw too that
my publisher was exactly right, that without a rewriting, the book could
only affect very few, most of whom would already be on the path to
consciousness. What I needed to do was translate my message down an
octave, to entice all those with a longing for more meaning in their lives
to look at their homes as the first place for the befriending and
expression of the inner self.
As the second version of the book evolved,
its message became much clearer. There are many places in our homes today
that rarely get used, and can be disposed of or made smaller without great
loss, as we strive to make them more gracefully accommodate the way we
live today. But there are also places missing, the most important of which
is a small "place of one's own" for each adult. Children have
their own rooms typically, but, once coupled, adults share their private
space, leaving no place for what I like to term "inner
listening" and self discovery. By making such places, and giving them
importance in our lives, we can on an individual level give ourselves the
gift of connection to the greater mystical universe, and we can learn to
hear the voice of the true Self.
Joseph Campbell wrote of the need for such a
place. He said, "You must have a room or a certain hour of the day or
so where you do not know what is in the morning paper. A place where you
can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.
At first you may think nothing's happening. But if you have a sacred space
and take advantage of it and use it everyday, something will happen".
Such a place does not need to be large. It can be an alcove off a bedroom,
an unused corner of the basement, or an attic, as in my own home. Take
time to make it beautiful, make it an expression of who you are, whether
simple and unadorned, or filled with treasures collected over a lifetime.
And make it a pattern of your daily routine to spend time there each day,
in meditation, in contemplation, or in creative exploration. We are
amazing creatures, every one of us, but we forget so easily, when we don't
take the time to listen to our inner being.
With the completion of the book, I made a
pledge to myself. If this book was successful, I wanted the profits to go
towards my original intention, by transcribing its message back to a
higher level. With a number of friends, we formed a non-profit
corporation, named Maitrhea (pronounced May'-tree-a) to do just this. The
name evolved from a composition of many words, names and concepts that
have taken on meaning for me over the years.... Ma-at, Eight, Rhea, Maria,
Mare, Earth, Heart. Just as in our homes, we need to move to a new model
of sufficiency, sustainability, beauty, and balance, so there exists such
a need in almost everything we do today, at every level. But until we can
attune to the needs of our planet with our inner ear, such changes will be
difficult if not impossible to effect.
Through the medium of sacred space,
Maitrhea's mission is to make places for the individual, the group, and
the culture to hear its own inner voice.
At the individual level this place is the
"place of one's own" mentioned above. At the family level
this place is the home. At the societal level this place is the retreat
center. At the planetary level, this place is the sacred land form, more
than a few of which exist still from times past. And beyond planetary
scale, for our solar system at least, and perhaps much more, this place is
the Earth itself.
At all levels we are sorely lacking places
for such inner work--especially non-denominational sacred space. We still
seem to hold to the idea that if one is not part of a specific organized
religion, one must not need sacred space. Many groups of seekers today are
not affiliated with any particular religious discipline. They find places
for their gatherings that are adequate, but often ill suited to their
purposes. We are in need of a new sort of sacred gathering place--one that
encourages inner-listening, whether this be for a corporation searching
for its greater vision, for a solstice gathering, or for a spiritual
teacher to work with students. Although there are a few such places in our
world today, we need many, many more. It is our hope that we can help
bring them into reality by naming the need, and offering services to
assist in their making.
As a first step in this mission of creating
sacred space, we have developed a web site that lists and links to retreat
centers around the country. The web offers such an extraordinary tool for
bringing people of similar vision together. As I travel in my work, I am
amazed at how many people today hold in their hearts a vision of a retreat
center that they long to bring into reality. But often resources are
limited, and there's no clear path for how to get from here to there.
Maitrhea aims initially to offer its web site as an information network,
bringing together those with such a vision, and those who are in a
position to offer financial support. In the long term, Maitrhea will
provide architectural design assistance, so that the sacred spaces that
are created truly resonate with the spirit. We need places that are not
only functional, but also beautiful, and serene. By making sacred space
with consciousness, craft, and creativity, the experience of being in the
space will magnify whatever spirit is brought to it. Just like the
cathedrals, pyramids and henges of our past, sacred space can harmonize
with the inner voice, and so make it more audible.
The rebalancing of our lives and of our
planet is not something that can be done by massive planning. But through
actions like the making of such sacred spaces, it will happen of its own
accord. All that is required of us is to tune in and listen to Earth's
requests of each of us, and to act accordingly. It sounds like such a
simple thing, but it requires clarity, compassion, and collaboration from
all those who can already hear her voice.
My search for my own true voice has led me on
an extraordinary path. By letting go of my original vision and desire to
control the outcome, my inner ear heard not only my own voice, but also
the voice of the pulse, the power, and the poise that is our planet, and
our universe. I know that in this moment, like the Fool of the Tarot deck,
I step off the precipice. None of us is alone as we step. We fall into a
myriad rocking arms, singing the one true song, dancing the only dance
there is, to awaken us from our sleep. 
Sarah
Susanka, AIA is an architect in Minnesota, and
the author
of the books:
The Not So Big House and Creating
Not So Big House.
She
also writes a regular column entitled Drawing Board, for
Fine Homebuilding Magazine. You can contact her at her
website:
www.notsobighouse.com
You can read more
about Maitrhea and exchange ideas with others by
visiting
their website: www.maitrhea.org
|
