On Monday January 20, 2025, Marcella Kraybill-Greggo and Henry Schoenfield offered a free one-hour Waypoints Pause via Zoom. On this day of both the Inauguration and the remembrance of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., we endeavored to encircle the globe with a network of wisdom waypoints, collectively attuning to the higher during this transitional time.
What Is a Waypoint?
A waypoint is a specific location en route to your destination, allowing you to check your position, mark your progress, and stay on course as you journey forward…imagine our globe encircled by a network of wisdom waypoints keeping the ship on course as our planet journeys along its imaginal trajectory.
Offerings From a Waypoints Pause
Today, in this moment of history – as the new administration takes power in Washington – as there are disruptions in governments and cultures all around the world. (And by far, not incidentally, as we also celebrate of the life and witness of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,) we can breathe together and lean into a knowing.
Friends… this is our moment.
And in all honesty, the clarion call of this moment goes far beyond one political party versus another – red vs blue, liberal vs conservative. These are labels that could obfuscate what is really in front of us – a deep invitation to transformation, a transformation that must be rooted in our own inner work.
It seems often forgotten that our brother, Dr. King was not only a social activist. He was also a committed contemplative. I will dare to say that – just like Jesus, the lasting impact of his work in the world would not have been the same were it not for a rich life of inner work and practice.
And so, the call rings out for us.
If our species is to survive – if we are to give birth to something new, there must be a shift of consciousness on a global, nay… a cosmic level. Anything less is not sufficient for this moment. We must wake up and embrace that the only reason for our existence is to serve the whole, for at the end of the day, we are intricately bound to each other. The fate of one is the fate of all. This is our moment.
Friends, abundance awaits. The choicest wine – that is, the essence of divinity wants to flow into us and through us. May our yes! in this moment be the first sign in the new book of signs that we write together.
~ Henry Schoenfield, read the full blog post here.
“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” ~ MLK
According to Cynthia Bourgeault, the capacity to midwife third force —or holy the reconciling—is 1 of the most powerful fruit of a spiritual practice, a contemplative practice.
Without a contemplative practice, midwifing third force is virtually impossible. It can feel like a random pull on the slots. But with a spiritual practice, you gradually develop the heart as an organ of alignment with God.
Denying (second) force is never an obstacle to be overcome but always a legitimate and essential component of the new manifestation. The enemy is never the ‘enemy’ but a necessary part of the ‘givens’ in any situation and solutions will never work that have as their goal the elimination of second force.
Resistance must be factored in: not simply to cover one’s bases but because it is an indispensable ingredient in the forward motion.
~ Cynthia Bourgeault, 2013, Holy Trinity and the Law of Three
What would happen to us, if the chances of our journey brought us to a naturally advantageous panoramic point (an intersection of roads or valleys) from which not only our eyes looked out, but from which things themselves radiate. The landscape would become legible and illuminated from within. We would see.
~ Teilhard de Chardin p 67 from Eye of the Heart, by Cynthia Bourgeault
“If we are absolutely grounded in the absolute love of God that protects us from nothing …even as it sustains us in all things, then we can face all things with courage and tenderness …and touch the hurting places in others and in ourselves with love.” ~ James Finley
…Mystical hope is not intended to be an extraordinary infusion, but an abiding state of being. The call is to become a vessel, to become a chalice into which this divine energy can pour; a lamp through which it can shine. (p 17)
1. Mystical Hope is not tied to a good outcome, to the future. It lives a life of its own. (p 9)
2. Mystical Hope has something to do with Presence, the immediate experience of being met, held in communion by something intimately at hand. (p 9) 3. Mystical Hope bears fruit within us at the level of sensation – strength, joy and satisfaction: an “unbearable lightness of being.” (p 9 – 10)
4. Mystical Hope pulls us out of the linear stream of hours and days, imbuing the moment we are actually in with an unexpected vividness and fullness.
~ Mystical Hope by Cynthia Bourgeault p 11-12
“Every day we wake up, we should think, Is what I’m doing helping us to learn how to live together? Or is it pulling us further apart? That’s the biggest message for me from him.”
~ Dr. King. Rev. Bernice King, youngest daughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. King
“Do not be afraid, little flock. It is my Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
~ Luke 12:32