Discovering Spirit and Healing Our Shattered World

 Rufus Jones said, "We shall not be able to rebuild our shattered world until we recover Our faith in eternal realities and we shall not do that until we discover spirit within ourselves."

This past weekend I led a retreat entitled "Practice the Presence of God." I began the retreat By asking everyone to pick a number between 1 and 14 because  I wanted them to learn to listen within and select something they felt guided to choose. 

I have discovered That most people, when they speak of regrets, say I knew I shouldn't have done that. How did they know? Because they had guidance, but they didn't listen to it.

I chose 14 quotes from 14 different mystics that have influenced my life. I told them to intuitively to pick the one that was right for them for today. Then I handed out the paper that had all 14 quotes, and told them they could contemplate the other ones as they felt led in coming day,s but today they had one that was their mystic. Everyone reported after the exercise that they indeed had picked the perfect one for them.

The beginning quote on this entry , from Rufus Jones, was one of the 14. Rufus was a Quaker mystic, and I deeply love his writings. Part of the purpose is to train ourselves to realize the Holy Spirit is always speaking, always guiding, and the thing we need to do is to be still so we can hear it and then follow it.

We are part of this shattered world.  We can begin to heal our own shattered mess. ,In fact we cannot help heal a shattered world, if we are shattered ourselves. I can just hear someone thinking that they wonder what exactly does she mean by shattered? Fractured -  unfocused - fragmented - inconsistent - broken - ineffective -  insecure - all or some if these.

what to do? Begin some regular spiritual practices for a starter. We began with Lectio Divina._So begin with me with the quote above. Read 'it slowly at least five times. Close your eyes, let those words fill your mind. Be with them five minutes or so. Then write in journal for five minutes without censoring what you write. Just write. Then read what you wrote.

Do this everyday with a quote that has some meaning to you or you'd like to understand the meaning. It could be from scripture or poetry or the writings of some enlightened person. And in a short time you'll discover that wisdom is coming to you, that you know more than you knew on your own. And in a short time you'll discover that wisdom is coming to you because you joined with the Holy Spirit. Once you experience this, you'll realize you're never alone, and the shattered pieces are coming together to form a beautiful you.

Prophetic Wisdom

 Jesus’ own Wisdom teaching was not a doctrine of ascetic renunciation, but rather an invitation to reckless self-abandon to love. Jesus modeled a life of faithful surrender to the unpredictable movement of the divine Spirit. --- The Gospel of Q, Jesus' Prophetic Wisdom 

 When we examine the teaching of Jesus that we know about, we see his instruction about how to be, how to live, what to be. We do not see a description of what we have to believe,  or of any dogma in particular, other than love and surrender to God's Way.

His teaching is very much aligned with the wisdom teachings of the ages. Of course he has his unique view of it. In agreement with most wisdom traditions, he includes time apart, being still, emptying of the little self, listening to God's voice, following God's guidance, being good to everyone, and continually trying to be a better person. 

I recommend the book from which I took the quote at the top of this entry. Q is generally agreed upon by the majority of Biblical scholars to be the document that Matthew and Luke used for the material they have in them but it is not in Mark. In this book he pulls out that material, so you can read it all together, and so you can see the great wisdom and teaching that he's offering and calling us to. 

I think throughout history some, maybe many,  have belabored and mutilated some of his points, so that it's hard to know what he really taught.  It is thought that Q was written between the year 50 and 70, so, if this is accurate, it predates the Gospels. 

Even before I knew about Q, I was particularly drawn to the parts that turned out to be from Q. I find this material from Q has been the guiding light of my life. I hope it will be for you too. It cuts through the murky twists and turns of theology, back to a time before speculation distorted Jesus: precious message.  Just maybe this gives us a glimpse closer to sitting at his feet. 

How Many Moons?

In every puddle , in every lake , In every ocean, and in every. body of  water  there is a reflection of the moon each night. Yet there is only one moon orbiting our earth.

So it is with God. There is one Supreme Divine Energy reflected in all beings, all creation. 

It is up to us to clean out all sludge accumulated in us so that we can clearly shine that light. 

Forgive, release, take charge of thoughts, words and deeds, spend time in silence, send send deep roots into the Infinite One. 

You will thereby be the best person you can be. The Light of God will shine without distortion through you. And you will realize all, everyone is sacred, seeded with this Light. All will be well 

The Gopel of Truth

 The place to which they extend their thoughts is their root, which elevates them through all levels to the Father. --- The Gospel of Truth

In 1947 ancient writings From the very beginnings of Christianity were dug up in the deserts in Egypt They became known as the Nag Hammadi find, and later  were called Gnostic Gospels, although not all of them were exactly Gnostic. The Gospel of Truth is one of those ancient manuscripts. 

There is so much in this Gospel that is fascinating. I am currently rereading it and discovering gems that are meaningful. The above quote struck me this morning. Is the root in us reaching to God through thought, word, and deed, which grounds us in spiritual principles? As we extend and stretch our roots into the spiritual domain, we are fed, guided, and lifted. All of life is different. 

 A question to ask ourselves then, Is what are the predominant thoughts and words and deeds we are engaging in regularly in our  lives?  Are we focused on the trivia of life, the outer of life, ultimately meaningless things? Or are we rooted in the More?  Are we simply skimming the surface? Are we sinking our roots deep?

The prophet's words come to mind, "Like A tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved."

 

Coming Soon - Watch for My New Book

 

It Is Who We Are That Matters

 

you still ought to strive in every effort towards goodness, but this is not reliant upon what one does or the nature of work itself, but upon how one is, for such is the ground of all works. --- Meister  Eckhart

 When we come from pure goodness inside of our minds and hearts, whether we do small things or large things, they are blessed and a blessing because they come from a pure heart, a good heart. Who we are cannot help but show up in all we do. 

 Therefore, if we come with inside anger toward people or criticism or negative energy, if we are manipulating and have ulterior motives, no matter what it is we do, it's going to be distorted in a negative way. It will definitely not turn out to be a blessing either to ourselves or to others, for our shadow will show up and sour what we do. 

As Meister Eckhart said in the quote above, it depends on who one is. I think he is correct. Which leads us to contemplate how we can make our selves right inside so that we are doing things that are Good and come from the ground of our being that is good? How can we heal our issues and our traumas and our fears and pains that we carry inside of ourselves and serve as a distorting lens to all that we think and feel and do?

My experience tells me that we have to have intention to do that healing work inside of ourselves. We have to give up our excuses. We have to get clear that our target is to be a clean clear avenue of God's work here in this world. We need to be committed o do what healing work needs to be done inside of ourselves. 

 A simple beginning includes monitoring our thinking. Whenever we think a negative judgmental or angry thought, stop immediately and turn it around and think something positive and healing and uplifting. Choose to align our thinking and speaking to what we know is right and good and holy.

 As we gain control of our own minds, then our actions begin to change. We notice that service is an important aspect of spiritual growth. We realize that we're not alone here on this planet, for we share it with all life. And so we expand our hearts to include everyone in this planet, and find ways that we can lift maybe just 1 person, and then maybe 10. As we grow in our hearts to be more and more good and pure, life changes, doors open, understanding expands. It is a kind of rebirth. 

Perhaps this is one of our purposes for coming to earth. We seem separate from one another, yet we are in another way one, one people, inhabitants of one planet. Just maybe we are accountable for what we do here, and who we become is important. I completely Believe that each of us were created on purpose with a purpose.

I invite you to think on these things.

 

Women In Church

  Just looking historically, In the Jewish tradition, women were not allowed to participate as leaders. In the time of Jesus there was some loosening in the Roman world where women were able to excel in certain areas,  especially the upper class women. Of course the poor women of the low classes worked, it was a necessity. 

In some ways Jesus broke the mold of bias against women. Contrary to Jewish tradition, he talked to women in public, scandiously to women he didn't even know or who were of ill repute, and he had women friends, as well as some women in his following.

Paul praised women, even calling one of them an apostle. And he declared that in Christ there is no male or female slave or free etc. His writings seem to argue both directions, but mostly it's because of pseudo Pauline writings.   Later works that were written in his name, but not written by him, such as the Timothy s and Titus, spoke harshly against women doing anything in church.

In the beginning of the Jesus Movement, some women had a fairly prominent role, at least more than in most society. But by the end of the second century, that was obliterated. 

That was one of the points of debate among the orthodox and the Gnostic leaders. The orthodox position was very patriarchal, arguing that God was male, and they argued from Genesis two rather than Genesis 1. Gnostics argued from Genesis one, and they placed women, for the most part in places where they rose and were encouraged to become prophets and to participate in the sacraments, even lead the sacraments,  and also preach. This was pne of the reasons the orthodox were horrified and declared them heretics. Plus the Gnostics saw God as the masculine and feminine principle. Being creative by birthing all of creation was the feminine aspect, and thinking it up in the 1st place was the male aspect.

There were other distinctions of course. For More details, I recommend Elaine Pagel's book on the "Gnostic Gospels".

The orthodox thinkers and leaders called everyone who disagreed with them heretics and in some cases put severe penalties upon them, even imprisoning them or having them executed. The early orthodox writings used extremely negative violent words and of actions upon those who disagreed with them, excommunication, shunning, even torture. The leaders had gosoels they did not like burned, and those hiding them punished. 

It took centuries for women to gain agency in churches again. Even today there are some churches who do not know history Do not recognize the origins of the Jesus movement as pro or at least inclusive of the feminine.. As late as the 1970's, the Pope stated unequivocably that women could not participate fully as "our Lord was a man." And so still in some churches today, not just Catholic, women are a subservient and substandard species not able to lead or preach or teach. Some profess women must be subservient.to men. 

History Can be our teacher, if we pay attention to it. I think it's time that we let go of the ancient irrational patriarchy and realize God created us all, male and female.