Avatars

 I dreamt of Avatars last night. A dictionary definition is:

a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher.

I saw a steady stream of awakened men and women across all the ages, in all cultures, in all traditions. I felt a sense of gratitude that we are not forgotten beings on a tiny planet in the corner of the Milky Way. The Divine Presence continually sends us teachers and examples of the goal of how we are to grow to be. It is not a secret. It is out there for all who wish to see and implement in their own lives.

One of the challenges is to avoid making idols out of Avatars. They come as teachers and examples. Actual Avatars do not ask to be worshipped, but to be followed. They do not come from an ego position. They are humble, joyful, kind and helpful to others.

Of course, there is also a stream of charlatans, the Elmer Gantry or Rajneesh types of this world. If we pay any attention at all, we can see them for who they are and stay away from them. A few clues: they profess to be the only right ones, they want your obedience, they want your money, they want your devotion, etc. Put your antennas up, and you will know who to stay away from.

There are Avatars who are spiritual teachers, philosophers, great thinkers, mystics, etc. Some are well known and some unknown to us. Of course, my mind goes to Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Huxley as the gold standard of philosophers; and to Lao Tse, Buddha and Jesus as great spiritual teachers; and to Eckhart, Hildegard, Machtild, Rumi, etc as the mystics. Of course, there are many more, these are just the first that come to my mind. I'm sure you can think of many more.

They come to teach and be examples so that it might be open to us to find the way to Truth, to live a fully awakened life. Perhaps we can consider their words and understandings so we too can go to the mountain top of life. We can put away our fascination with trivia, and look to the meaningful. 

This is the day. As Paul said - carpe diem - seize the day.

Back to the Perennial

As you may recall, I reread "Perennial Philosophy" from time to time. It is one of the top most meaningful books in my spiritual life. This morning the below quote caught my eye.

Direct knowledge of the Ground cannot be had except by union, and union can be achieved only by the annihilation of the self-regarding ego, which is the barrier separating the “thou” from the “That.”

I had  vision of all the range of preachers shouting out their sermons, as if they, and only they, knew the absolute truth. I saw the pumped up egos, the pulpit pounding, the distain for other ways, the shouting down of descencion, the punishing of those called "other." I read yesterday there are 45,000 "Christian" denominations worldwide and at least 30,000 in the U.S.! Each has a variation of what it means to be a Christian. Each is sure they are right. They bear little resemblance to what we know of Jesus.

In the quote above, it is suggested that a person can only Know God/The Ground of Being, by direct experience, and that is possible only without ego. To go on an actual spiritual adventure, the ego must be left at the door. The ego is the wall that blocks entrance to The Ground.

Whether people know it or not, knowing directly is the inner yearning that calls to us from somewhere deep within our souls. It is the place we often try to fill with other things, things that can never satisfy. There is no drug that will do it. There is no amount of money that will do it. Only knowing God directly can fill that yearning. 

It might be called Jesus' pearl of great price. We each must ask ourselves how important is it to enter The Ground of Being and have our yearning filled? Is this the life we drop the ego and sincerely enter the Spiritual Quest? Or do we want to hold onto our egos for yet another life?

Oh No! Covid AGAIN!

It happened. My husband and I got Covid, again, a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday we finally tested negative. We are still coughing and fatigued, but lots better. My sense of taste is way off, I tend to get dizzy, etc. but no temperature and no on the Covid test. We got infusions of monoclonal antibodies last week Wednesday. A Riverside County Public Health nurse called after our positive tests and suggested, because of our ages, we should drive up to the University of California Riverside Hospital Complex to get infusions. They called yesterday to check on us. I guess we are now part of the statistics.

So, our lives continue, and I must have more to do here. I prayed this morning, again, for guidance for the best use of these remaining years. I see so much going off the rails, devolving, going away from where civilization could/should go.

You see the news. Putin is threatening WW3 while his forces play havoc in Ukraine causing untold pain and anguish. Zi wants to take over the world and is doing all sorts of things to undermine the West while also promoting atrocities within China. Unhinged teenagers are doing mass murders. Crime is up, borders are open, inflation is galloping upward. On and on,

Underlying all of this, in my understanding, is the move away from spirituality, religion, proven social behaviors and mores. Religion has failed us on many counts. It has failed by moving away from the essential core and making up far-fetched theologies that have nothing to do with the long-ago beginnings. They have morphed into something the founders would not recognize. Imagine Buddha or Jesus or Lao Tse visiting today's versions of what their amazing insights were.

While theologians argued over how many angels could sit on the head of a pin, people were being tortured for having the "wrong" beliefs. Today, while so many are lost and miserable, religious leaders argue over fine points of their made-up theologies. Go back to the fount of the original wisdom to see how far we have strayed from the ideas that ignited an entire movement, words so thrilling and meaningful that great changes were stirring hearts and minds.

It's simple, but not easy. Love one another. Love God. Forgive one another. Help one another. Get the log out of your own eye. Don't judge by appearances. Don't be attached to the things of this world. The kingdom is within. Let your light shine. 

Living these simple teachings could change everything. Lay down the weapons of manmade theologies, and pick up the clear and simple ideas and live them the best you can. It could be the dawn of something wonderful for humankind, if only we would live the teachings that still ring clear and true across the ages. Think on these, contemplate them, and do your best to be living examples:

 Love one another. Love God. Forgive one another. Help one another. Get the log out of your own eye. Don't judge by appearances. Don't be attached to the things of this world. The kingdom is within. Let your light shine. 

Bits of Me Here and There

Last week a molar had to be pulled, cracked all the way through the root! While in the dentist's chair, I mused about what would become of it, this tooth that had been with me for 70+ years. I thanked it and said goodbye in my mind. Would it be in some landfill? Then I thought how parts of me are scattered hither and yon. My tonsils left me when I was 3. A tumor left in my early 20's. My uterus left when I was 37. I said goodbye to my gallbladder in my 40's, etc. They are long gone in some way or the other, rotted in a landfill, burnt to ashes, or ...

Other parts of me are scattered around in other ways. The words I've spoken, words recorded, and words written, leave a global trail. One day we will see them all and evaluate them. No excuses will be accepted. 

What if we made a covenant with ourselves to from this day onward to be aware of ourselves and the trail we leave, and promise to leave a positive, uplifting trail?

Just A Gaze

This morning I read about a scientific study that proved an experience of mine, and probably of yours too. You know how it is when you can feel a person starring at you, and you turn to discover they are actually starring at you, or a person turning around when you are starring at them? It actually makes neurological reactions that can be detected. It seems it is a real thing.

In meditation I was shown an expanded understanding of this. It involves our connection to The More. God, Divine Presence. As we deeply turn to God in prayer and/or meditation, God "feels" our gaze, and, if we go quietly into the silence, we can feel God's Gaze being returned. That changes everything, or at least it has for me.

Unhinged from God, people flail around. We can see that most everywhere today and also historically. The evil done by people is done when the people are not connected to The More. Connected people - those whose gaze turns to God and God's Gaze turns to them - are peaceful, compassionate, kind, etc.

Meditation is one of the keys. I can only imagine what a different world it would be if/when a large number of people would daily meditate and open and keep open that incredible Connection.

Oh Divine Presence, lead us to Connection with You. Show us how to encourage others to Connection. Show us how to encourage meditation. Lead us to be the difference the weary world needs. 

Violence

It seems that much of our world has plunged into violence. It is heart-breaking! We see horrors of war and butchery, a huge amount of deaths of the pre-born (60+ million since Roe in America), shootings and stabbings on the streets,  drugs flooding in from Mexico and China that kill, trafficking of children into sex trade, cartels controlling so much, people in China being imprisoned in their apartment buildings to starve or die from lack of medication, a shift toward totalitarianism and Marxism, etc, etc, etc.

So, why? Richard Rohr sent out the following statement this morning:

The root of violence is the illusion of separation—from God, from Being itself, and from being one with everyone and everything.

That seemingly simple statement puts it succinctly, and I think accurately. As the people of earth get more and more untethered from spiritual roots, they get farther and farther from living and acting from spiritual understanding. Everything goes when nothing matters.

BUT everything does matter. Some are alienated from the truth of who they are. They are lost and in pain, and act out with reckless abandon. 

We are actually spiritual beings. We are accountable for our words and our deeds. 

We need somehow to communicate that God, The Divine Presence, Creator - is everywhere, in everyone, in every single thing. All is sacred. We are intertwined. We need to honor life, to honor our planet, to honor ourselves and everyone.

We can turn the mess around. We can wake up to the Truth, model it, teach it, be it, share it, shine it. Love our neighbors as ourselves - love yourself, and out of being at peace in your own heart, share that love with every speck of this planet and all upon it. 

Shall we try to save this planet before it descends farther?

Message from Coptic Manuscripts

The Coptic Manuscripts, that were found in Upper Egypt in the 1940's, give us some insights that had been lost and buried for preservation from the authorities that sought to burn them all. I am reading a new to me book on them, although I have read them and books about them over the years. The excerpt below from thoughts about some words in The Gospel of Thomas struck me this morning.

As John the Baptist said, “One can give only what one has received. Nothing more, nothing less”. Do not let yourself be guided by those who do not have the experience of which they speak. Intuitively, we know to beware of those who eagerly offer “good advice.” As the Indian sage Nisargadatta said, “Those who know what is good for others are dangerous people.” You can bear witness to your faith, but never graft it on another. When this is seen as the luminous truth it is, it becomes an awakening force in itself. All that you can say is: “That which is alive in me is also alive in you.”

The truth in these words struck me deeply this morning. I have pondered and criticized those who are incongruent, inauthentic, just plain phonies. I think this does come from "teaching" what one does not actually know - or perhaps just know a smidgen and try to puff up the ego. 

When one Knows, there is a luminosity that speaks for itself. The light that has been quickened can touch another and seed the quickening in them. It is not what we say, but the energy of Divine Light upon which the words rest. It is not what we do, but the Divine Energy that does it through us. Once seen and experienced in another, we know it is in us too, and we seek to know it more.

Seek the luminous words, deeds and presence. We know it, when it comes to us. Seek to be a contagion of the luminous for others. The weary people of earth are starved and thirsting for it.