The Wondering Process of Spiritual Inquiry: A Description of an Interreligious Event in Chicago5/2/2022  One of the ways in which the SGTI engages with others who practice different religious, spiritual and ethical traditions is by participating in ‘day pilgrimages’, which are experiences in sacred spaces. Recently, one of our co-founders attended an event that The Chicago Theological Seminary, in collaboration with the Lutheran School of Theology Chicago, Parliament of World’s Religions, American Islamic College, and Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council hosted: A trolley tour through Chicago in acknowledgment and celebration of the convergence of so many sacred holidays during the month of April. The trolley tour stopped at five different sites and the experience culminated with iftar, the meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during the month of Ramadan. The title of this post is credited to a statement that one of Chicago Theological Seminary’s staff used in an introduction to the event. Indeed, the entire day felt like a “wondering process of spiritual inquiry” as we made our way through Chicago’s diverse southside neighborhoods. The first stop was Rockefeller Chapel, a Gothic Revival Chapel on Chicago Theological Seminary’s campus. We heard from three speakers: a Sikh who described Vaisakhi, the collective unification of the Sikh community; a Hindu who discussed Ram Navami, which celebrates the birth of Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of the deity Vishnu; and a Jain, who discussed the celebration of Vardhaman Mahavir, the birth of the last enlightened one. On our second stop we visited Ebenezer Baptist Church, a former Jewish synagogue and the birthplace of gospel music. At the church, we heard from the leadership about the Christian holiday, Easter which celebrates the cycle of life, death, and resurrection.
On our third stop we visited KAM Isaiah Israel Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Chicago. There, we learned about the Jewish holiday, Passover, where Jews look to the past to remember the Israelites’ freedom from slavery in ancient Egypt and expectantly look to the future.
On our fourth stop we visited Claret Center, an organization that incorporates psychotherapy, spiritual direction, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture, and workshops. We also had a conversation with two scholars and practitioners who identify as multiply religious: an ordained Buddhist and ordained Christian who identifies as Christo-Buddhist and an ordained Buddhist priest and Zen monk. Our fifth stop before returning to the seminary for iftar was a mosque, the Taqwa Center for Community Excellence Rehab Project associated with the African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker, Warith Deen Mohammed. We learned about Muslim culture and the celebration of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. On our final stop, we learned more about Ramadan and participated in a prayer before iftar. We considered how fasting is both a metaphor for emptiness for God to inhabit, as well as a mechanism for calling us to live in an “altered and restored state where we are more connected to people”. The overall experience was very positive and served to facilitate new questions about the traditions, people and practices; considerations of interior movements, such as thoughts, imaginings, emotions, inclinations, desires, feelings, repulsions, and attractions; physical/body sensations that were felt during the event; and growth in appreciative knowledge for the dedicated and devoted seekers of the religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions. Experiences like the trolley tour and iftar remind us that building relationships across traditions enhances respect and understanding, promotes continued learning, improves our attitudes towards differences, highlights our commonalities, and diminishes fear. We extend our gratitude to Chicago Theological Seminary and additional collaborators and sponsors for hosting such a meaningful event. ~ Jeanette Banashak
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 Written by: SGTI Student Eric Budzynski I give thanks to native and Indigenous traditions for teaching me to know myself as earth, water, fire, and air; to remind myself to live in harmony with these elemental forces and to allow the constancy of their universal language to guide my own actions in responsible and sustainable ways. Brother Wind, Sister Moon, Grandmother Tree, Grandfather Bird, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to the ancient messages of the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita as a gift from beyond just as the sacred waters of the Ganges flows from the height of the Himalayas. Not needing to limit the Oneness to an archetype of form but a vast explosion of divine, opulent and generous expression allows those sacred and timeless messages to speak to all hearts of all beings. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to the followers of the Covenant in trusting the might and power of the One God and the willingness of that god to touch and intervene with the humanity of the world created in its own image. In giving daring and bold proclamation to thrilling and prophetic voices, those heralds still echo clearly throughout the ages as a message of promise and hope to a New World yet to be known or seen by the children of Adam & Eve. Adonai, Abba, Moses, Noah, David, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to Siddartha for offering the Middle Way as a path to peace and awakening and a realization that to live fully is to live in acceptance and awareness of all that life affords and offers each of us. May I dwell with you in the divine abodes of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity and continue to know, recognize and understand my own humanity in that of all beings. Tathagata, Guanyin, Buddha, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to Christ and his beloved community of saints as witnesses to the impenetrable power of love as victor over death and hatred. Centuries of inspired art and expression have given my own life purpose and meaning to know, touch, taste, see, smell, and hear the invitation to share in your creative reckoning as a faithful believer in your own incarnation. Gregory, Cecilia, Paraclete, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to the author of mercy and to the willing harbinger of his message of peace in a humble prophet. You ask us to surrender, soften, and break open ourselves time and time over to learn your love so that we may never be removed from it again. Faith, prayer, offering, fasting, and pilgrimage show us the path to the essence of your being. Allah, Muhammad, the Merciful One, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I have now arrived nearer to the other shore where You wait patiently with my own resistance and unknowing. This is the place where words fail and end and lose meaning. Sound gives way to the complete and unshakable wisdom of silence and Presence. You offer patience, curiosity and love as a way to ultimately see my own Youness radiantly reflected in You and in everything around me. All You that have gathered to help me bear witness, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. Now our minds and hearts are as one. Now our minds and hearts are as one. (Inspired, with gratitude & humility, by the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. In partial fulfillment of Certificate In Interfaith/Interspiritual Direction/Companionship.)  We are currently living in times that have been called unprecedented, uncertain, difficult and ripe with opportunity. What can we do to engage with these trying times, rather than deny or withdraw or disconnect? What assumptions are confronting us that we can look at and possibly change if change is needed?
The times are calling us to access our spiritual resources, including emotional, physical, mental, etc. and consider what tools and relationships we have to buffer against harm (e.g. stress) that may be caused to ourselves or others. Pir Zia teaches us that when we suffer from illness we can attend to what is needed by getting in touch with patience, slowing down, ceasing to take for granted, watching the breath, breathing to be held by God, and becoming close to those who are dearest to us. We hold these truths in our heart-minds and bodies as we hope for transformation on a global scale. The following are healing words and prayers from an interspiritual collection of the Sufi Healing Order. You may want to memorize some parts of these, read them multiple times aloud or silently, and/or hold them in your hearts and minds. (language may be altered to reflect modern thought and practice) Short One Line Sufi Prayers (located in the Mysticism of Sound) Help me to serve your cause. Oh Spirit of Guidance, throw your Divine Light on my path. Open my heart, that your spirit I may reflect. My life is changing and taking a better turn. My mind is still, my thought is steady, my sight is keen, my life is balanced. Harmonize my soul, God, with all people and with all conditions. My body is healed, my mind is fortified, and my soul is illuminated by the grace of God. Hindu Prayer Lead us from darkness to light Lead us from sickness to health Lead us from death to immortality Om, Peace, Peace, Peace. Buddhist Prayer- Brahma Viharas With the thought of LOVE let me contemplate the world and may this LOVE extend to its four horizons. And then with the thought of LOVE increasing beyond measure, let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. With the thought of COMPASSION let me contemplate the world and may this COMPASSION extend to its four horizons. And then with the thought of COMPASSION increasing beyond measure, let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. With the thought of JOY let me contemplate the world and may this JOY extend to its four horizons. And then with the thought of JOY increasing beyond measure, let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. With the thought of PEACE let me contemplate the world and may this PEACE extend to its four horizons. And then with the thought of PEACE increasing beyond measure, let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. Amen. Jewish Prayer/Affirmation -Shema Sh’ma Yisrael Listen and hear Adonai Eloheinu The Divine is God Adonai Ehad The Divine is One Amen Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi God, make me an instrument of your peace: Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O divine Creator, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. The Hopi Elders Speak By Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be considered: Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. Rachel Naiomi Remen, MD The purpose of life is to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better. If life serves theses purposes, then health serves these purposes. And illness serves them as well, because illness is part of life. ~ Jeanette Banashak, PhD, EdD  In light of the Coronavirus health warnings, we have all become more aware of the importance of hand washing. Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann from Mishkan Chicago, one of SGTI's partners in interfaith learning, shared a beautiful Jewish blessing with her congregation about hand washing. We thought it was lovely and so timely, of course. With this prayer, we can reorient even the most mundane and repetitive task toward the sacred. We can bring what might cause duress to spiritual practice. Imagine yourself washing your hands and viewing this as prayerfulness, or as an opportunity to take a deep breath and receive a beautiful blessing. https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/blessing-washing-hands-during-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR02zucjQ22Y4vhl4nJxqw7K3Ht5I3duKsTvY4y7ybFd-Dxi6fz60HiFoI8&mc_cid=68cae03973&mc_eid=67f093db45 We send blessings of good health to everyone! May inner calm and clarity be yours.  At the SGTI, we believe that we can promote interfaith harmony through deep listening and compassionate presence. One of our co-founders, Jeanette Banashak, is going to present at Chicago’s Interfaith Fair on Thursday, February 6 at the Chicago Cultural Center. In her talk, "Interfaith and Interspiritual Companionship (Direction): Listening to One’s Self for the Healing of Another", Jeanette will share about how one of the greatest gifts we can offer another is to see them, to hear them (and we acknowledge the ableism inherent in those ideals), and most importantly, to be with them. In the practice of spiritual direction, we meet with someone monthly for about an hour to listen to their sacred story, to support their meaning-making process, and to offer ways in which they can live their best lives. We create a space for deep, active listening and as much as we are able, are aware of any biases and assumptions that we have. As spiritual companions, we are like a mirror, a reflection to the seeker. Yet, while we listen to others we also listen to ourselves. Seekers are also a mirror for us (though to keep with the integrity of the practice, we tend to anything that comes up for us after a session.) Kathleen Dowling Singh wrote, “Our practice of the gift of attention is a perfect mirror for our self-cherishing mind. It reveals every intrusion of “I” with great clarity." One of the ways we are attentive to another, no matter their religious, spiritual, or ethical traditions, is to practice maintaining our attention. Spiritual guidance is both a practice and a lifestyle. It is recognizing the Divine in another. With a "heartmind" (a Kathleen Dowling word), we practice being calm, concentrating, cultivating community, seeking justice, serving. We make conscious decisions about where we put our attention. These are the practices that help us to become aware of our own ego - which is a necessary part of development—and then to move beyond ego, or as Ram Dass said, to "‘extricate (our)self from an identification" with it. During this week devoted to interfaith harmony, we commit to listen to our selves even as we companion another, and we hope that in our awareness we begin to heal ourselves for the wellness of all. If you are in the Chicagoland area and would like to participate in Interfaith Harmony Week as sponsored by the Parliament of the World's Religions, this link provides more information.
 In the next few weeks, a new feature will appear on the SGTI website. We are excited about spotlighting our current students and alumni and have plans to do both beginning in February. We feel that our new features, "Student Spotlight" and "Alumni Spotlight," will help you get to know the Institute better, especially when it comes to the kinds of students we attract, why they take SGTI's unique training, and how they hope to serve others once their training is complete.
In the meantime, one of our current students, Matthew Whitney, has been featured as a guest on the Spiritual Directors International podcast, "SDI Encounters." Matt is usually the host of this wonderful series, but this time the tables were turned and he is interviewed about his life as a contemplative artist and a student of spiritual companionship. We hope you will take a listen! Visit this main page for SDI podcasts: https://www.sdiworld.org/podcasts then look for Matt's podcast: "Art, Creativity, and Spiritual Companionship" You can also listen here: https://sdiencounters.podbean.com/ On Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/2ufeZhwf9z6WuBi5pZEeNn On Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sdi-encounters/id1451231142?mt=2 On Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/sdi-encounters  Little boy. Knees so busy under your school khakis. Your dried millet stalk prods an old bicycle tire, bare of tread, along a rocky footpath. You wear a cereal box on your head. You are fearless! The magic of your cardboard helmet makes you bold, protects you. Your tongue trills out machine noises, your body synced. You are an engine of movement, propulsion. You are a green dart of energy running towards me, flitting to the side when we intersect. You come into focus, and I fold into laughter. Magic Sugar Flakes, imported from Ghana, now transformed. I know this box. Knock-off Frosted Flakes from the Muslim grocer. His store is Fridaos. Muslim Heaven. Did the wind carry the box out of the trash heap and lay it at your feet, like manna? With the donning of colored paper with shiny letters, you metamorphose. You take a scrap and animate it, let it animate you. You are unstoppable, courageous. Will anyone tell you this? Will you remember it if you reach adulthood? Will you find other ways to protect yourself, to dodge harm when malaria and parasites and infection comes? Later this afternoon, I drive the truck to another footpath. A new village. The rumble of the diesel an intrusion. The rhythms of this place are pestles pounding manioc, machetes chopping wood, women sifting chaff from rice. I come to say hello, to visit. I approach a group of four women crouched on wooden stools where the path opens. There you are beneath them, the second little boy of this day. And the second mask of this day. You lie on the ground, atop a red and yellow pagne. You are all knees and twigged arms. Your face. What is this? Are you, too, wearing a cereal box? I double take, uncomprehending. Then I see the older woman sitting closest to you. She tends an ochre paste in the scooped out earth. She is applying the mud to you. Not a mask. It is your misshapen face. Your jaw is longer than my hand. Your eyes bend and bulge through stretched, contorted skin. You see me, too, and then you turn away. Is it a tumor? A birth defect? There is no box to contain what I’m seeing, not even Magic Sugar Flakes. My tears start. Too many and too fast to swallow. Yes, this is happening. I go from watching to being watched. You and the women have no container for this, a white stranger who openly sobs. We have scarcely exchanged the most threadbare of greetings. Nyanewisi: you and the sun. The afternoon greeting, followed by a litany of questions about the state of your health, your work, your children. But no further questions will continue under this sun. And only God knows how the years will unfold under suns back home, in North America. I will sit with people seeking spiritual guidance. I will encounter them--sometimes in the midst of great suffering--and it will unmask us both. But for now, uneasy air stirs like a dirty swill of river water around us. None of us knows how to ease back into the everyday. I have seen you. And you have seen me seeing you. And we cannot unsee. This is a place of suffering. This is a place of bravado. This is a place of brazen love. Love in your unmasked faces, your downward gazes, bearing witness as you attend. And while this day has been extraordinary, you are all preparing me to see others and myself more clearly as spiritual guide. Little boy from this morning, you are preparing me to find bold, bald courage. To re-use the tools I have to leap into new worlds. Little boy in this afternoon sun, you are preparing me, too. Preparing me to sit unflinchingly in waves of suffering and waves of love, in equal measure. Women, you are preparing me. You teach me to turn my face toward what is before me, my attention more potent than any medicine I offer. You show me what it means to love until the end. Author Jane Neal is a student with Cohort 2 The Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, graduating in January 2020. She lives with her family in Tyler, Texas.
 At the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, we are constantly amazed at the wonderful inter-religious gatherings that we have been a part of that promote justice, respect, care, and conversation. We thought we would highlight three different ways to go about growing together as one interconnected community. Below, you will find some ideas about what you might experience in an inter-religious gathering, and perhaps you may be interested in facilitating your own gatherings.
1. Dialogue One of our favorite ways to engage in dialogue revolves around a meal. Because many participants are available for dinner, this kind of gathering tends to begin at around six and last for two to two and a half hours. There are many ways to organize the dialogue, but it is common for the organizer to bring in a few differing religious, spiritual, and/or ethical perspectives around a theme while attendees sit around tables (we prefer circles). For example, themes could be death and dying, loving others and self, spiritual practices, etc. The order can vary, but generally, each of the experts or practitioners shares about their tradition’s worldview, attendees have opportunities to discuss together in small groups, attendees ask questions of the experts/practitioners, and everyone may have a chance to ask questions and discuss in a big group setting. 2. Storytelling A storytelling event can be a powerful way to engage with others around a theme. They can include snacks or a meal, a formal or informal time to meet other attendees, an explanation of the theme by experts/practitioners/storytellers, and of course, the stories themselves. These events can last three to four hours and have many aspects to them, so we recommend inviting six storytellers to share, and coaching them, or having a coach, to teach them some tricks to the storytelling trade. We have also participated in storytelling events where the host provides prompts for attendees to write a line or two of their own stories related to the theme. These are read in between storytellers and before a new teller is announced. 3. Panels Panels are good ways to engage in dialogue when the focus is on content and engaging with an expert in the field. Like dinner dialogues, panels are usually organized around a particular theme. Panels tend to be shorter in length than dinner dialogues, as they can last about an hour to two. Because the nature of panels includes asking questions and seeking answers, the key to a memorable panel is the host. This person facilitates conversation among the panelists, as well as attendees. It is also helpful when the panelists know each other and interact together in real time. We hope that you may find a way to attend inter-religious gatherings and also to host them in whatever unique context works for you and your audience. Step out of the circle of time, and into the circle of love. ~ Rumi
When we attended the Spiritual Directors Conference in Seattle in March we became aware of the ever-growing need for spiritual companionship for people of all traditions (and none)—BY people of all traditions and then some.
SDI has been moving forward to expand the understanding and practice of spiritual companionship—beyond formal spiritual direction. We at SGTI support this effort. There are a myriad of ways we can companion individuals of various religious, spiritual and ethical traditions and many forms of training one might be able to take to get comfortable with doing so. When we think of all the heart-centered individuals in various caring professions—chaplains, social workers, counselors, coaches, hospice workers and health-care professionals, clergy and lay servants, spiritual and secular community leaders, and more—who might want to expand their understanding and practice of compassionate presence and care, our hearts open even wider. The world is in such great need of healing and many of its citizens are ailing, feeling spiritually uncertain, isolated or unsupported. A spiritual companion is someone who can hold presence for someone right where they are, just as they are. No matter their religious, spiritual or ethical framework, a properly and ethically trained companion can serve others individually and collectively. Spiritual Directors International defines spiritual companionship in this way: "Spiritual direction or companionship inspires people to experience authenticity in their lives as they connect with and explore the ground of all being, that deepest of truths which is beyond life and death and goes by many names, including God, and no name at all." In keeping with this international movement to promote and expand spiritual companionship, SGTI has expanded its 5-month training program to be more inclusive. We are pleased to announce "Interfaith/Interspiritual Wisdom Training." This innovative training program is for people in all the caring professions. online program results in a Certificate in Interfaith/Interspiritual Competence. This will prepare you to companion and serve seekers of various religious, spiritual and ethical traditions. The premier cohort is now forming and we invite you to learn more about "Interfaith/Interspiritual Wisdom Training" and listen deeply to hear if this kind of offering might serve you and those YOU serve very well. We welcome your questions and look forward to hearing from you and do hope you will consider joining us—and enter the "circle of love" of which Rumi spoke. The Spiritual Guidance Institute recently spent a fabulous week together at our spring residential institute. We camped out at the Cenacle Center, a wonderfully hospitable retreat center on the northside of Chicago. The week’s activities were quite varied: We incorporated teachings on development and the enneagram, practiced deep listening with our unique methodology Pure Presence, had a day of silence, ate community meals together, met with a Cenacle sister, and visited the Hindu Temple in Lemont, an Ash Wednesday service at a Presbyterian church, IMAN (Inner-city Muslim Action Network), and a Muslim/Christian dialogue dinner. It was a week to remember! We feel grateful to our students for the productive conversations and presence during the week. And we are grateful to our friends who hosted us and shared their sacred stories with us. Our next cohort will begin in August 2019. An interfaith immersion experience like this could be yours! Learn more. |
About this blogDeepening the understanding, practice and importance of spiritual guidance-companionship across traditions. 
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