chanting the psalms is like chanting OM

"When there is surrender," writes Cynthia Bourgeault, synchronicity tends to follow, which is one of the most delightful side effects of the a surrender practice." (Wisdom Way of Knowing, p. 74) By surrender Bourgeault is speaking of what others call acceptance, relinquishment or letting go. It is the spiritual, emotional, and physical commitment to move into reality as a death rather than fighting or offering resistance. Surrender, she continues:

Is the archetypal soul gesture. From a force greater than our own lives, we are made for this, and when we finally yield ourselves into it, we are born into a meaning that is never known as we simply struggle on the surface with our (small) reality.

It is a crossing over of sorts. I rather like her further description:

In any situation of life, confronted by an outer threat or opportunity, you can notice yourself responding inwardly in one of two ways. Either you will brace, harden, and resist, or you will soften, open, and yield. If you go with the former gesture, you will be catapulted immediately into your smaller self, with its animal instincts and survival responses. If you stay with the latter regardless of the outer conditions, you will remain in alignment with your innermost being, and through it, divine being can reach you. Spiritual practice at its no-frills simplest is a moment-by-moment learning not to do anything in a state of internal brace. Bracing is never worth the cost.

Last night, participating in a small group at L'Arche Ottawa interested in the way of Marshall Rosenberg's "compassionate communication," we spoke, thought, listened, moved and sang our desires for peace and forgiveness. During one of the opening chants, we sang the Greek vowels. Each sound corresponds to a chakra, an energy center in our flesh, that can be open or blocked. As we sang I kept thinking that just the night before, during Bourgeault's talk in the wisdom school, she shared that something comparable happens in the Benedictine tradition of chanting the psalms. Singing these prayer songs in Latin, with their wide and open vowels, replicates the heart, sound and intention of the eternal prayer: "Om." Last night at L'Arche, as we practiced feeling and hearing where the sounds come from in our bodies, I felt myself supported by a Spirit of peace. It was as if we had become one sound, one body, for just a moment in time, all connected to a larger love that has been loving creation since before there was time.