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Welcoming God
Hey spiritual seeker! My name’s Sarah Haykel and I’m the host of Welcoming God, a podcast for spiritual seekers.
In this podcast, I’ll be sharing the goodness of Welcoming God back into my life after years of rebelling against the God of my Catholic upbringing and years of honest seeking on a personal spiritual path. I’ll share my consistently evolving understanding of God and what I’m learning on the path, to help create a God accessible to the every day person.
We’ll have honest and sometimes hilarious conversations about how to go from being a “spiritual” person to a God-loving person. Understanding God as a benevolent guide. What does it mean to have a relationship with God? What does it mean to surrender to God? Cultivating a spiritually mature understanding of God. Learning how to discern God’s truth and will for our lives. How to cultivate the most important relationship you’ll ever have, with God, on a daily, moment to moment basis.
Come along on this spiritually rEvolutionary journey where we get to know God.
This podcast is marked as explicit because there may be swearing or content appropriate for mature audiences in some of the episodes.
Welcoming God
The Challenge of Staying Awake Spiritually When Life Wants to Hit Snooze
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Have you ever found yourself learning the same spiritual lesson over and over again, wondering why you keep forgetting what you thought you already knew? This fascinating exploration of our continuous learning journey reveals why repetition may be essential to spiritual growth.
At the heart of this episode lies a powerful metaphor: We are Mount Zion, not the weather that surrounds it. Drawing from Martin Laird's "Into the Silent Land," we examine how identifying with our thoughts and emotions (the weather) rather than our true, stable nature (the mountain) creates unnecessary suffering. This parallels Jesus's repeated instruction to his disciples to "stay awake" – a reminder of how easily we fall asleep to spiritual truth.
What makes this perspective particularly liberating is understanding that even our distractions and afflictive emotions are manifestations of divine presence. When we experience anger, fear, or jealousy, these aren't obstacles to overcome but expressions of the same "luminous vastness" that constitutes our essence. The challenge becomes integration – fully embodying these insights so they become part of who we are rather than concepts we occasionally remember.
How might you structure your life to support remembering your true nature? Whether through contemplative practice, physical reminders, or community support, finding practical ways to interrupt the forgetting pattern can transform your spiritual journey. Join us in exploring how we might participate in the evolutionary unfolding of consciousness itself by remembering who we truly are.
Don't miss our new ebook that guides you through season one with reflective questions – sign up at WelcomingGod.com to receive your copy and continue deepening your spiritual practice between episodes.
Music by Song Channel Music. Listen at SongChannelMusic.com
Go to WelcomingGod.com to subscribe to our email newsletter and receive updates about all things Welcoming God.
Find Martin Laird's book, Into The Silent Land, here.
Find Caroline Oaks book, Practice the Pause, here.
Find more about Keith Kristich's centering prayer community, Closer Than Breath, here.
Find The Cloud of Unknowing here.
Listen to Deepak Chopra on the podcast, Know Thyself here.
Welcome and Introduction
Speaker 1Hey everyone , sarah here , just to let you know . Sometimes I do use swear words in these episodes and we may at times discuss adult content , in case you happen to be listening around , little ones or people that won't appreciate that . Thanks so much for listening and let's get right into it . Hi , and thanks for joining me on Welcoming God . Hey everyone , sarah , here for episode four of our second season
Learning and Growing Forever
Speaker 1. This episode is about learning and growing . I know I said in the second episode how we're just learning . It's like we're always going to be learning , and I heard that when I was re-listening to the episode yesterday and wondered hmm , is that true ? Is it true that we're going to just keep learning forever ? Is there ever a point where we're not going to be learning anymore , where as a human , we're not going to be learning anymore , or even as a spirit , as essence , as a part of this life ? I'm not so sure about that , because it seems like life is on this constant evolutionary path . So will we always continue to be learning in some way , shape or form , as life itself ? And then I thought about you know , what are we learning ? And a lot of the times what we're learning are lessons we thought we learned already . It's like a repeat cycle of wait . I thought I got this or , oh my God , why am I doing this again ? Why have I done this behavior again , showed up this way again , said this thing again , believed this again . So it's like this pattern of this constant remembering , repeating the lesson , remembering , repeat , remember to get this lesson , to learn something . And I thought that was really interesting , that as humans , it seems that we are on this path of needing to repeat things a lot , but we're also on this path of needing to remember who we are , remember what we
Mount Zion, Not the Weather
Speaker 1are . And it reminds me of .
Speaker 1I am reading this book by Martin Laird called Into the Silent Land , and I started reading it last year in a book club and I just never finished it and I recently have picked it up again . And come to the part in the book where he's talking about the three doorways to centering prayer and he talks about he says on page 91 , when we recognize that we are Mount Zion , god's holy dwelling place , and no longer suffer from the illusion that we are the weather , then we are free to let life be as it is at any given moment . And isn't this just what we were talking about in the last episode about acceptance , accepting what is , having the courage , the ability , the surrender to just say okay , it doesn't mean I agree with it , it doesn't mean I like it , but this is what's happening Now , what , what's possible , through accepting the moment as it is what is possible and surrender . So this really points to that and it also points to this idea , this idea of remembering how often , as humans , do we just fall asleep , we forget . I'm also reading Caroline Oak's book Practice the Pause and I have just read through
The Art of Staying Awake
Speaker 1this whole section about how she's talking , about how Jesus is telling the disciples stay awake , stay awake is telling the disciples stay awake , stay awake . This constant theme of staying awake , staying awake , and why ? Why does Jesus reiterate that to the disciples ? Because it's so easy to fall asleep , literally and metaphorically . How often do we forget ? We just forget things . We forget the truth of who , we life , connected to the all that ever was , is and will be , which I call many different names , god being one of them , source being another , source being another . So , this idea of being on this learning path are we going to be constantly learning for the rest of our lives , for the rest of existence's life , on this learning path . Is that what's happening here , that we are here to help life evolve , heal , grow , learn , remember the truth of who we are ? And I think the answer is yes . So I'm curious what are some of the things that you need to remember about your truth , the truth of who you are ? Is it to remember that you are Mount Zion , not the weather that comes and goes , swirls around the mountain , clears away . You are Mount Zion , that stable presence that will be there , that will always be there , regardless of what weather shifts or doesn't shift around it . Weather shifts or doesn't shift around it .
Speaker 1And Martin Laird also talks about a quote from the Cloud of Unknowing here , which my friend and mentor , keith Christich , mentioned today . All about you know , if you have these afflictive thoughts that are coming up , these distractions during your centering prayer practice , look for God . Quoting the Cloud of Unknowing saying the author says try to look over their shoulders , the shoulders of the thoughts , the distractions , the afflictions . Try to look over their shoulders , as it were , searching for something else , and that something is God , enclosed in the cloud of unknowing . So like we can't really know God , like I was just listening to Deepak Chopra on a podcast called Know Thyself and he's like it's unknowable . It's unfathomable , like we are unfathomable , like we can't really totally understand what we are , what this is . It's a mystery .
Speaker 1And Keith mentioned how it's like when we look for God . It's like when there's weather , we see all the clouds around us , but then when we actually look for God , it's like seeing the sky , and oftentimes we just see the clouds , we just focus on the clouds and the weather , but we forget all about the sky , that the sky is always there and that is God . God is this omnipresent , omnipotent existence ,
Integration and Contemplation
Speaker 1essence , beingness , whatever it is . So how will we come back to this truth that we are Mount Zion ? We're not the changing weather . We're not the changing weather . That is also a part of God .
Speaker 1I love that how Martin Laird says that right , right in this area of the book . He says let me go to it here . What is the nature , he's asking . What is their nature ? The nature of these thoughts and afflictions , distractions , the thoughts and feelings that have brought us such delight and sorrow are also manifestations of this luminous vastness . Waves of the ocean , branches of the vine and who is aware of these distracting thoughts Shift your attention from the distraction to the awareness itself , to the awaring . There is nothing but this same luminous vastness , this depthless depth . What gazes into luminous vastness is itself luminous vastness . There is not a separate self who is afraid or angry or jealous . Clearly , fear , anger , jealousy may be present , but we won't find anyone who is afraid , angry , jealous , etc . Just luminous , depthless depth , gazing into luminous , depthless depth . Wow , thank you , martin Laird , for naming that so clearly and succinctly .
Speaker 1So I know this is a big chunk , this is a big bite to chew off here , and I think this is a perfect time to sit with this concept , this idea , for a while . How will you start to understand your own process of learning , of growth , of this ever-evolving learning path that we're on , of remembering the things that we forget , the repeating of these lessons we thought we had , I thought I knew that , I thought I was grounded in that . And then , coming back to Thomas Hubel and integration , how do we truly integrate these lessons , learn them fully , process things , digest things , like Thomas Hubel says , so that we don't have to go back there again ? We can actually just keep moving forward and moving onward on the path and co-creating something new , evolving , it's evolutionary . So I'm going to leave you with that for now .
Speaker 1And I wonder how will you spend the time to contemplate this ? What will you do to fully integrate ? And If you'd like to just take a few moments right now , if you're in a safe , appropriate place to do so , to just pause and be aware of what you're experiencing , how your body is feeling , what your mind is thinking , just notice from that curious , objective observer . You're just the curious observer here , watching , noticing , aware Nothing's bad and wrong , even if there are parts that feel that they . This is bad and wrong , that's right . This is good . This is bad , that's okay too . That's all a part of it , that's all a part of this life . So , just noticing that and just giving yourself the space to contemplate this for the next month or so . And again , how will you remember to come back to this ? Is it a reminder in your phone , a note , a sticky note on your bathroom mirror ? How will you remember to spend some time just contemplating this and contemplating your role in the learning and the remembering , in the coming back to true source as who you are . This is a part of who you are , your beingness .
Episode Closing and Resources
Speaker 1Thank you so much for joining me on the second season of welcoming god . I invite you to go to welcominggodcom and sign up for our email newsletter if you haven't yet . There is a new ebook that brings you through the first season of the welcomingcoming God podcast with some reflective questions , and I think you'll really enjoy that . So stay tuned for the next season and information about that coming up and enjoy the next month or so contemplating what we've talked about here , and have a wonderful experience . God bless , aloha , nui loa , for now and always , forever . Amen .
Speaker 1Hey everyone , sarah Haeckel here from Welcoming God , a podcast for spiritual seekers . This is a legal disclaimer to say that this podcast is not a substitute for therapy or professional help . I am not a trained therapist . I also have not studied theology in a formal setting . This podcast is purely for educational , inspirational purposes , to share the goodness of welcoming God back into my life and all of the things that I'm learning on this journey . Back into my life and all of the things that I'm learning on this journey . So thank you for joining me here and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode . Thanks for joining me on another episode of Welcoming God . Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen , and consider leaving us a review , as it helps more people find and benefit from this show , music by Song Channel Music . You can listen and hear more at songchannelmusiccom . Until we meet again , aloha nui loa , take care , and God bless , thank you .