Mirror of Zen Blog

Search
Close this search box.

Gethsemane, not Religion

The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus went to be alone when he heard that he would be arrested by the authorities. He entered that space — alone — to reflect on the intense suffering to come. He felt “anguished and distressed… ‘My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death’…”, he told his students and friends (Matt.: 26:37). He needed THREE sessions of reflection and meditation in the garden there to really get clear about himself, and expressed even the wish to give up!

And the same is true for us, in our busy lives, with coronavirus fears and constant busyness, civil unrest barely held in at the seams, constant financial struggle, the gathering doom of global overheating, etc.: We all need our time in Gethsemane. Time in our life for reflection in the middle of unrelenting suffering. The word for this is “establishing a daily meditation practice,“ also sometimes referred to as “meditation retreats.“ Now, more than ever, “finding your Gethsemane“ is of the greatest importance and urgency.

Just don’t make it into religion.

Gethsemane, Not Religion [Insta-bites]

[Excerpt from a Q&A in May 2019 in Haugesund, Norway — the “Bible Belt of Norway”.]

Share this on:

Related Posts:

  • Image-10.08.20-at-21.25-1

    In Haugesund, Norway, in May 2019, a student asks about attaining Zen. https://youtu.be/YHu0ablh9ks

  • Screen Shot 2020-08-10 at 16.59.34

    Attaining Zen is not difficult -- unless we want some complicated explanation, some understanding for our heads. https://youtu.be/G_8-a7wlEoc The beautiful…

  • mqdefault-8

    We recently released a teaching-video called "Zen Means 'Mind-Revolution'". Here is an Instagram excerpt. As usual, with Instagram, the video…