Nothing. Everything. Kything...

What Have I Been Doing??? Not quilting, that’s for sure…

It’s been a busy week, but quilting hasn’t really been a part of it. I did wash yards + yards of new fabrics, however, purchased from several of the quilt fabric web sites that were recommended in our QuiltArt mailing list. So all is not lost, it’s just not what I had hoped to be doing this week. I think I’m ready to quilt “Flames,” but since I’ve not had the time available, it’s obviously not the right time!

The week was full, in every sense of the word. Between physical therapy three times per week and DH’s follow-up doctor appointment following last week’s surgery, plus a trip to pick up a quilt I accidentally left behind last weekend at the home of our Art Lunatics hostess, plus the usual, mundane routine stuff…I was exhausted by last night. So today was spent leisurely reading a sci-fi novel, first read 14 years ago, by Madeleine L’Engle entitled, “A Wind in the Door.” It’s actually written for young adults, but has much to say to everyone about prayer and/or energy healing.

Madeleine L’Engle (1918- ) - author of 60+ books, lecturer, mystic, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, widow, philanthropist, and spiritual director - happened into my life for a brief moment in time about a decade ago… We shared morning prayer together, nothing more…or less. She was ‘plain’ in many ways, yet seemed extraordinary as well. For more, visit her website at http://www.madeleinelengle.com/

The book, “A Wind in the Door,” was recommended during a 6-week intensive course on prayer. The prof advised us to pay special attention to all that is written with regard to “kything.” Mind you, this professor (Louis M. Savary) co-authored an entire BOOK on kything, yet he referred us to Madeleine L’Engle’s young adult book! I read it then, and I reread it today, with an even stronger appreciation for it now than I had then…

L’Engle teaches about paradox - the power of balance, the rhythm of opposites, the importance of ‘naming’ lest the truth be lost. And she does it masterfully. According to L’Engle’s novel, mental telepathy is the first stage of kything. It is communication without talking, without words – perhaps more akin to communion, a union of mind/thought/being. From another perspective, it is the Oneness we all share – and in which we can all commune (hence communicate) with each and every part thereof.

Paraphrasing Savary + Berne’s book, “Kything: the Art of Spiritual Presence,” when dealing with the physical realm, kything can be used to facilitate healing. On the psychological level, kything can deepen our experience of caring and support. Spiritually, kything can facilitate the release of the energies of creativity, self-affirmation, forgiveness, compassion and commitment. Kything and the sacred explores the movements of indwelling and communion between Great Spirit and the individual.

Thanks to physical therapy, I’ve met two young adults who just happen to be interested in learning more about energy medicine. One has just completed Reiki Level II and the other is accomplished in the art of cranial sacral therapy. Having quit my formal teaching position at a local university, new ‘students’ are now finding me – just about anywhere at anytime! There is an old saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” Well, it almost seems the reverse is true as well… Perhaps kything will be the topic of the next few sessions together, Come to think if it, both Reiki and cranial sacral therapy use a form of kything to connect with the person seeking healing for the purpose of facilitating the healing process…

But kything is ever so much more than that…or so it seems to me. Yes, it’s part mental telepathy. It’s a form of presence, a very deep type of connection, a psycho-spiritual state of being…and I’m discovering that I’m not very good at explaining what seems somewhat beyond verbal explanations!