I am currently a participant in Bill Redfield’s virtual Easter Retreat and Practicum. Besides deeply appreciating all of Bill’s online offerings, I would like to draw the Wisdom community’s particular attention to a two-part practice that is crucially important in these times we are moving through. Lamenting the difficult reality that currently many people are dying essentially alone in our hospitals without the comfort of family and close friends as well as the additional reality that many are then being buried without funerals—Bill has put together two recordings that can serve as vehicles for our prayers and intentions. Prayers for the Dying and Prayers for the Dead can be found on Bill’s website.
These meditations went straight to my heart. I felt deeply connected to people I’d never met, those lying alone in a hospital as well as grieving family members. Images and sensations coursed through me; tears streamed down my cheeks. If you’ve not listened to Bill’s reflection recordings before, they are quite stunning in their artistry and impact, an amalgam of words and music that together take one beyond the ordinary mind and into the depths of the heart, to the extent one is willing let go and go there. After a couple sessions with these recordings, I started to feel a little overwhelmed with the grief of the world and my feelings of helplessness in the face of what appeared to be awful circumstances. Upon reflection, I realized I was getting trapped in the misconception that I am “the doer” who is supposed to be somehow “fixing” some of this sorrow by participating in this meditative prayer. In a flash it became clear that the only thing to “do” here is to open the channel and allow myself to be instrument in the orchestra, this great symphony of love. This love is what lies at the bottom of this pain we are all feeling as this pandemic unfolds. To grieve is to love. To hold others, especially those who are alone and most in need, is an expression of that love. Participating in this work feels to me like an important reason for being here in human form.