The spiritual art of slowing down

Podcast
05 April 2018

2 Comments

We live in a world full of constant sound and movement. What do we miss when we fail to stop and listen? In this episode, we slow right down and consider the things we need to let go.

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr is an Aboriginal elder and educator from Nauiyu (also known as Daly River) in the Northern Territory. She is known for spreading the concept of daddiri, which is a dimension of Aboriginal spirituality.

We caught up with Miriam at the Catholic Social Services conference earlier this year to talk about daddiri, what it offers to non-Aboriginal people, and why it's more important than ever to pay attention to the natural world.

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Fatima Measham is a Eureka Street consulting editor. She co-hosts the ChatterSquare podcast, tweets as @foomeister and blogs on Medium.

Topic tags: Fatima Measham, Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, Aboriginal spirituality, daddiri

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What was so apparent at the commencement of this dialogue was that I would have to slow down, to the way that Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr related her state/understanding of daddiri. That in its self could be described as an induced meditative state, accompanied by her ‘natural’ repetitive mantra of, ‘slow down, listen and be aware of the moment’ etc. The fruit of which was manifest by Miriam-Rose in her intermittent spurts of laughter/chuckles , welling up naturally from her spirit/heart. I believe that when the divine spark within our heart catches a glimpse of His beauty (Reflection of Him in creation) we are automatically drawn into His timeless reality, the state of being which we lost at The Fall. Today we use the term “timeless moment” as we now can only remain in His reality momentarily. To my understanding the quite reflective awareness of natural beauty can create a spiritual replenishment, as in a state of wellbeing, something akin to the residual effect, of a timeless moment. So it could be said that timeless moments are afore taste of what our hearts long for, that is unity with Him. Yes we are indeed the dust of the earth, but these experiences pertain to the spirit and have nothing to do with the flesh, as Miriam-Rose said, ‘dust you are and dust you shall return’. Please consider continuing in my post @16 in the link http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2014/06/irish-catholic-catechism-for-adults-and-the-fall/

Kevin Walters | 05 April 2018

What a blessing Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr is to our world! ... and what a treat it was for me to discover dadirri back in the 90's when it wasn't well-known beyond the Australian Indigenous world. Again ... our First Peoples have the wisdom needed to help us all at this point in time ... in history. We all need to learn dadirri listening ... then we will truly become more respectful to both God and all other relationships we encounter.

Mary Tehan | 08 April 2018

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