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CONTEXTS & CULTURES

can see the ground of their identity in the Divine within True Self. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013.
and without. The spiritual journey becomes lighter and Silf, Margaret. Inner Compass: An Invitation to Ignatian
more compassionate, although dark questions and issues Spirituality. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1999.
may continue. When identity is disengaged from story Singer, Michael A. The Untethered Soul: The Journey
and grounded in an awareness of the Divine within beyond Yourself. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger
(however that is imaged), spiritual seekers who have Publications, 2007.
experienced trauma find they can return to look at the Tillich, Paul. Systematic Theology. 3 vols. Chicago:
story with clarity, with compassion, with a broadened University of Chicago Press, 1951.
perspective, putting responsibility and accountability Whyte, David. The House of Belonging: Poems. Langley,
where they belong. The trauma becomes something that WA: Many Rivers Press, 2006.
happened to them but no longer defines who they are:
Their stories are no longer who they are. The shift has
happened, and identity is now beyond story where actu-
ally, unrecognized, it has always been—resting with the
Divine within. The crucible of our story, our story home,
opens, and Divine light or energy or awareness (however
our spiritual directees understand the Divine) shines into
all the corners of our story homes.
Hundreds of years ago, the Sufi poet Hafiz wrote these Silent Worship
lines about the God who only knows four words, “Come

dance with me” (270). After much hard work, the The sky is a startling
woman who saw herself as the ugly little girl frozen in ice blue, but
came one day and said with great surprise and wonder- we’ve forgotten to notice.
ment, “The ice is melting and the little girl isn’t ugly and
filthy: She’s beautiful and free, and God does love me!” I We walk about
knew she had detached her identity from story and had in the most pedestrian way,
begun to connect with the Divine within. She was ready forgetting we are here—
to join the Dance. ■
where light
References etches the trees
Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. Hildegard of Bingen: A in high relief,
Spiritual Reader. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2007.
Eckhart, Meister. Meditations with Meister Eckhart. and the spaces between
Edited by Matthew Fox. Santa Fe: Bear, 1982. reveal everything—
Hafiz. The Gift. Trans. Daniel Ladinsky. New York:
Penguin Compass, 1999. same as the window
Herman, Judith Lewis. Trauma and Recovery: The high up in the meeting room
Aftermath of Violence—From Domestic Abuse to framing blue sky,
Political Terror. New York: Basic Books, 1992.
Newell, J. Philip. Christ of the Celts: The Healing of slicing angular planes of light
Creation. San Francsico: Jossey-Bass, 2008. that pierce the stillness
Plotkin, Bill. Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of to its heart.
Nature and Psyche. Novato, CA: New World Library,
2003. Amy Lucinda Runge Gaffney
Rohr, Richard. Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our

54 Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction