Peeks Into the First Century

Clement, writing about 95 C.E., put together bits of various writings that later became the Gospels. He mixed them together in a rather interesting way. Here is an example: 

We should especially remember the words the Lord Jesus spoke when teaching about gentleness and patience. For he said: “Show mercy, that you may be shown mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven you. As you do, so it will be done to you; as you give, so it will be given to you; as you judge, so you will be judged; as you show kindness, so will kindness be shown to you; the amount you dispense will be the amount you receive.” (1 Clem. 13:1–2)

I find this a statement about karma, among other things, or as Jesus might have said in his agricultural examples, it's about sowing and reaping.

Whatever we give out, either spiritually or mentally or physically, it creates an energy pattern that circulates and brings back to us the kind of energy we sent out.

I think Clement summed it up well. Wisdom comes to us across the ages. 

Birth - Resurrection

I was thinking this morning about Christmas and Easter- birth and resurrection. I suppose it is odd to think of Easter a few days before Christmas, but these ideas that come to me seem to have a mind of their own.

Once upon a time Easter was the BIG Christian celebration. Now it seems to come second to Christmas. I think part of that is people can relate to birth more than resurrection. Part of that is Christmas has been secularized and commercialized much more than Easter. Santa and gifts are more appealing to the modern person than the Easter bunny and candy.

Christmas to the Christian and to those who love the ethical teachings of Jesus, is the beginning of the story. None of the rest would happen without the birth. 

Resurrection seems magical and unlikely to the modern mind, but I think resurrection happens all around us all of the time. We see sunsets, and we see sunrises. We see the leaves fall from the trees, and we see springtime.  We see dead seeds spring forth to be flowers or food.  We see barren deserts get rain and become a riot of color with wild flowers. We see cuts scab and heal and disappear to new skin. We see deep hurts in our hearts ease, heal, and become our teachers, so that we become new and strong, over and over again. We learn new ideas and become whole. Change unfolds in our lives and we become new versions of ourselves.

We read or watch testimonies of life after death experiences. Over time and places, people recount similar stories of what happens when we die. We awaken as spiritual beings, evaluate the life we've just lived, and continue on. Our spark, our soul is born into the spiritual realm. 

We read about the University studies on reincarnation by Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker and others.  Some children recall past lives and share things they can prove as true. They have written books and have YouTube videos if you want to explore.

I suggest resurrection is not fantasy. 

Creatuon is Now

 God is creating the entire universe fully and totally in this present now. Everything God created six thousand years ago—and even previous to that—as he made the world, God creates now all at once. --- Meditations With Meister Eckhart

People argue  about how long ago the universe, or maybe our particular solar system, was created, or when it was initiated. Was it 13.8 billion years ago? Was it 6,000 thousand years ago? Was it some other measure of time?

No matter the number, it is recreated constantly, or as Meister Eckhart said, "now all at once." It makes me think of our bodies. Every year 98% of the atoms in our bodies are replaced! The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the lotions we put on our bodies, etc. bring new atoms, we expel atoms as we breathe out, through our bodily functions, etc. Atoms circulate. Yet it's still us. We are recreated over and over and over again. 

Creation is not a one time long ago action, it is a moment to moment ongoing process.

So too with our thinking. Our beliefs of childhood morph constantly as we learn and expand, reason and consider, apply critical thinking skills, etc.

I stand in awe of Creation.

 

 

Where Is God?

 God is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk. --- Meister Eckhart

I love this quote. I have loved this for decades. Contemplate this for awhile, and you will reap many insights.

I have experienced the Divine Presence is absolutely everywhere.  The Bible has many references to this. Here is the Message Version of Psalm 139:7-12.

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

When we come to realize this in our hearts, the world is a far different place.  

 

Grace vs Ego

Where heavenly grace and true charity enter in, there neither envy nor narrowness of heart nor self-love will have place. Divine love conquers all and enlarges the powers of the soul...There is no more troublesome, no worse enemy of the soul than you yourself, if you are not in harmony with the spirit.

--- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a` Kempis

 I have been observing people all of my life, as you likely have too. There are some who quietly go about doing good, no fanfare, no applause required. There are others who want attention and praise for every little thing they do.

Rereading  The Imitation of Christ, I noticed he saw that too. The above quote us one of quite a few of his comments along that line. His point being when we do do things from a spiritual place in us, it's between us and God. It's not for public attention, not from narrowness of heart or a testimony to self-love, not for some manipulative motive.

His point that covers it all is - if you call yourself a Christian, your job is to imitate Christ, leading you to become Christ-like. Pay attention to the life of Christ. Eliminate from yourself anything unlike Christ.  Cease doing things that are unChrist-like. Keep attuning yourself to God, until you are continually aware of The Presence of The Most High. 

Most people are not willing to do the work internally. They seek short term entertainment and ego strokes instead. They live shallow lives.

 Ask yourself which one are you aiming towards? Is your life goal to live on the surface to public acclaim? Is your life goal to see how close to The Presence you can live and be; to see how much good you can do; to be loving, forgiving, and kind? Your choice makes all the difference.

Mind In A Box

 The past couple of days I have been having ideas about closed minds waft through my mind. I got images of the old cartoon, "Joshua In A Box," where he tried and tried to get out of a box. When he relaxed and leaned on the wall of the box, his arm just went through and then all of him, then he created a new box.

A closed mind may expand a tad, but then closes again in a slightly bigger box. There is an underlying need preventing freedom of thought and inquiry.  It could be different for different people. It could be an ego thing, where there is need to be "right" at all costs. It could be fear of the unknown. It could be some lingering echoes from long ago. Or....

I see it in all areas of life. Diehard whatever - political party (mine only others WRONG), religion (mine only, others evil), prejudices (my group only, others dreadful), hatreds (like only certain people, others skum), etc.  Sure, it's irrational, but the closed mind can't/won't see or acknowledge that, declaring everyone else who sees it differently to be nuts.

The longer I live, the more I learn, the more I realize I know so little in relation to the whole. Science has  only unlocked a tiny bit of knowledge. History and archeology keep fining new things. Every area of honest inquiry expands ad infinitum.

Spiritual life is my main focus this life. I know that the Divine is Infinite, so not fully knowable. Anyone who says they know the full religious perspective is fooling themselves and often is combative in their insistence that their way is the only way.

No matter what religion, the close-minded ignore input that disrupts their frozen theology.  People have been on earth at least 200,000 years. The longest any current religion has been on earth is about 4,000 years, plus there are older religions we know about that are no longer practiced. We have evidence that our even more ancient ancestors had spiritual inclinations. They left drawings and items of worship that have been found and continue to be found. They had wisdom and connection to something More.

Our smug modern religions, insisting they are "it" ignore humanity's long relationship to the Divine. I suggest, because the Divine is Infinite, no one knows everything there is to know. No one religion has cornered the market on spiritual truths. 

Yet, if we look closely, there are some consistent ideas that thread through them all. No matter who or when someone touches the edges of the Divine, they find some of the same things. They make up different myths and stories and rituals about what they think they know, but there are similarities, if you look closely. 

That's not to say that you and your religion are wrong. It's just to remember, there are many paths to the same God. Let us honor the path we take and others take. Let us cease arguing and fighting and be what our religions call us to be - to become Christlike, Buddhalike, etc. To be lights of love and kindness and blessing and peace. Let there be peace in our hearts and therefore in our world.

Trying to Get On God's Good Side

 Eckhart criticizes the “merchant mentality,” and he applies his criticism to religious practices, “fasts, vigils, prayers and similar good deeds of all kinds” — if “people do these things so that our Lord may give them something,” they are merely merchants. For “truth doesn’t long for any kind of commercial deal. God does not seek his own interest.” --- Meister Eckhart, A Mystic Warrior For Our Time by Matthew Fox

While all the things he mentions are fine in themselves, the motivation behind is not necessarily so. There is a difference between doing something as a manipulation and doing it because that's who we are in our inner self. The appearance may be the same, but in essence it is not the same.

It occurs to me that we can't con God. For our whole being is known to the God in Whom we live and move and have our being. 

How I see it is that our job is to heal our cracked egos, delve deeply, and become thoroughly in tune with the Infinite. No artifice. Who we are becomes light and love, pure and awake, loving because we are in fact love, light because who we are in fact is light. The inner kingdom shows up in the outer, for that is all there is, falsity dissolved into nothingness.

The Master told us this. The kingdom of God is within you... You are the light, don't hide it...love...forgive endlessly...

 

IQ, EQ, & SQ.

 This morning I awoke with the idea of SQ. We know of I.Q., short for Intelligence Quotient. Those with high I.Q. are very smart and can understand very complex tnings. Those with low I.Q. are often called "slow." We've somewhat recently heard of E.Q. that is Emtional Quotient. Those with high E.Q. are good with people, are empathetic and understand. Those with low E.Q. just don't get it. (These are very abbreviated explanations, but you can look them up if you want detail.)

This morning, as I lay in bed half awake, S.Q. came to me, or Spiritual Quotient. Those with high S.Q. include the great Avatars, the mystics, those who walk with God, who have moments in their lives when they awaken to all tnings spiritual. Those who have low S.Q. don't have a relationship with God that they are aware of, or are filled with superstiionand fantastical beliefs. They often "believe" in mutually exclusive ideas and are not aware that they cannot both be true.

It became so clear to me, and it made me want to find a way to awaken people to the possiblity, even the need, to raise their S.Q.  I felt a certain sadness for people slumbering, unaware of what life could be like with a higher S.Q. Then I was led to ponder, what would be ways to motivate people to want to do the things that would in fact raise their S.Q.?

Spiritual life these days takes a back seat to the media, to Smart Phones, to sports, to the internet, etc. Minds are colonized by excitement, by flashy pictures, by fast moving news, by politics, by celebrities, etc. 

I don'thave the answer yet. Spirit gave me the idea of S.Q. and a picture of the current state of life here on earth. So, I think ideas of how to motivate will be forthcoming.

Let's think on these things.

Underpinning of Modern Western Civilization

 The thinking of Spinoza from the 1600's has influenced great thinkers from his time onward. 

Einstein, when asked if he believed in God, answered that he believed in Spinoza's God. Basically, Spinoza equated God with nature. God is the energy that organizes and participates in the orderly expression of nature. There are inconvertible laws, such as gravity and even not yet known laws, that operate throughout creation.

One of the ideas he presented was that people flourish when they can question and think and discuss in freedom.  These ideas influenced the Enlightenment as well as our own Thomas Jefferson.

Currently, the freedom of speech that he declared as fundamental to our ability to flourish, is now under attack. Somehow we got polarized so that people are not free to discuss without fear of being cancelled, fired from jobs, and ridiculed. A small segment of society seems to have decided they know the truth, and they alone know. It is settled so that any discussion to the contrary is folly and even criminal.

We need to grab back our free speech, free thinking, free and abundant life of questing for understanding. I agree with Spinoza, we cannot flourish without it.

Have the courage to not allow others to stop the discussions of free people. Have the courage to hold a point of view that seems reasonable to you, and at the same time the courage to look at all sides and all points of view. We might learn something. There is more than meets the eye of any point we might see. There is always another way to look at anything. We cannot know all that is possible to know, but we can grow to consider as much as we can. Life is not either or. Sometimes it's both and.

The Brain and Beyond

 The psychical, that is to say spirit, seems immensely to outrun its organ and to use brain as a musician uses an instrument. The psychological studies of Henri Bergson in France and of Dr. William McDougall at Oxford make a very strong argument for the view that the higher forms of consciousness cannot be explained in terms of brain action and that there is no well-defined physical correlate to the highest and most central psychical processes. --- Rufus Jones

 The line -- spirit, seems immensely to outrun its organ and to use the brain as a musician uses an instrument, grabbed my attention this morning. I have seen and experienced this various times in my life. I have seen and experienced spirit inspiring me or others with new thoughts and ideas that had not been in our brains, but rather wafted in from a higher place. Spirit/Holy Spirit brings the dawn of new ideas, of guidance, of inspiration. It comes into and then through us, but it comes from More than us.

To get in position for more and more of this to happen, we need to make ourselves fertile soil. We need to clean out our consciousness of all negativity, fears, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, etc. We need to spend time with God in prayer, in reading, in contemplation. We need to do good works. We need to develop our spiritual muscle so to speak.

God, help us to be good gardeners of our inner soil. Lead us to be ever closer to You, to be Light and Love, to be who You had in mind when You created us. Help us wash away all in us that is unlike You. Help us release lesser things to fully embrace You. We ask this in the name of Christ and seal it with the ancient seal of faith and integrity, Amen, Amen, and Amen

The Christ Shift

 I have been thinking a lot lately about the shift in perspective in the New Testament, what it means to our own journey. I wrote some about this on October 14th of this year. 

It starts with the synoptic Gospels primarily telling about Jesus, teaching and preaching and healing in Galilee. They tell us some of what he taught and did. Then John shifts to add the Greek philosophy element and some Cosmic Christ ideas. Then we come to Paul's 7 authenticated letters (even though they were written first, they come after John). Paul jumps totally to the Cosmic Christ. Paul shows no interest in the historical Jesus, he only mentions Jesus 4 times.

The shift to the Cosmic Christ is one from observation to participation. We are called to participate in the Christ life, to put on and fill with that spiritual energy as we too become alive with the Spirit.

The shift is also portrayed by the Gospels' account of the Pharisees vs Jesus. They represent the legal, the authority, the dogmatic, the outer way to be religious. Jesus represents the Spirit way, the inner way that leads to a different outer way.  As Auguste Sabatier wrote a long time ago - Religions of Authority contrasted with the Religions of the Spirit.

The most meaningful things seem to be invisible to our eyes. From the tether of gravity that holds us in orbit, to the atom and quark, to the microbes, etc, even science finds the invisible the most powerful.

Those who have gone before have set up dogma about the shining light from Galilee. Augustine's dogma of original sin still haunts the hallways of seminaries and churches. As Rufus Jones said, "We have had fifteen hundred years under the dogma of original sin and total depravity, now let us have a period of actually facing our own souls as they reveal themselves, not to the theologian, but the the expert in souls... We shall also find that they are strangely linked up with that unseen and yet absolutely real Heart of all things who we call God."

The aspirational Sermon on the Mount can help lead us out of the prison of dogma. It lifts our souls to a grand vision of who and what we are called to be. It gives us a vision to aspire to, but which can not be totally reached. It calls out the best in us to strive to take on the brilliant teaching and bathe ourselves in the Mission of Christ, to rise up, to shine, to be as Christlike as possible. Matthew 5, 6, & 7 can transform us, if we take it as our way as it was Jesus' Way. 

What Is Religion?

 Religion does not consist of inward thrills and private enjoyment of God; it does not terminate in beatific vision. It is rather the joyous business of carrying the Life of God into the lives of men — of being to the eternal God what a man's hand is to a man. --- Rufus Jones

The great Quaker mystic, Rufus Jones, wrote beautiful words of spiritual wisdom. This morning I felt an urging to open one of his books that I have on my Kindle. Immediately I was drawn to the words quoted above. 

It is reminiscent of words of Jesus, including By the fruits you will know them. It has long seemed to me that a person awake in God shows up in the world quietly doing godly things for others. 

The inner Light compels us to love and care for One another. We just do it without hidden agenda or ego. We don't require praise or recognition. We simply walk humbly with God, shining light wherever we are led.

It seems that we are called to be the hands and feet of the Divine Presence here on earth. We are called to be a spiritual magnet, drawing to us the weary to reignite in them the Divine Spark.

As we tend the flame of the Divine Spark in us, it grows into a flame that ignites others. Let your light so shine.

Love is a Verb Not a Noun

 Way back in elemenrary school I learned that a verb is an action word, and a noun is a person, place or thing. 

This came to mind again this week because of a painful conversation. You may remember some of my background angst. Our money was taken from us, and we've been fighting to get it back for a long time. My husband is recovering from a stroke, and now stage 4 cancer.

So someone very dear to me, a relative, called, she usually just texts. During these years of huge challenges, she has done nothing for us, as I said to her not so much as a plate of cookies. But she always says or texts "I Love You." So I said to her last week at the end of our conversation - love is a verb, all this time and no invitations for holidays or birthdays, no visits, not so much as a plate of cookies -with tears in my voice. 

She has her reasons. She has made up a fantasy about our situation and refuses to hear the actual truth. In her fantasy, she is vindicated, and of course doesn't need to take any action.

My point being, often people say I love you as a throw away line. There is no love because there is no action attached. They state it as if it were a noun, the word itself being love and being sufficient. They don't need to do anything other than say the word. And the person feels good about themselves. 

I wonder how helpful it might be in our relationships, if we were more accurate in our use of "love." If we stopped to think about what action could/should we take to be love, the world might be a better place.

If we used love the verb in our spiritual journey, we might get further along the path. "I love God. I love Jesus. I love..." What action do we take? Do we spend time every day in prayer and meditation, listening, communing with God?  Do we read spiritual books, watch spiritual YouTube videos, attend spiritual services, etc., and prepare ourselves to give service that comes from a deep spiritual connection? Do we put a priority on it? 

Let us honestly evaluate our love as a verb or our love as a noun that just sits there and doesn't lift or come with any meaning.

As Meister Eckhart said in one of his sermons:

The aim of man is not outward holiness by works, but life in God, yet this last expresses itself in works of love.

You Don't Take The Bible Literally

I know many people say that they take the Bible literally, but I say that is not possible.

Let's start with the folks who hang their hat on being anti-gay. It says in the Old Testament that a man shall not lie down with a man. In the same section it also says a disobedient child should be stoned to death, meat has to be drained of blood and no pork ever, you cannot work on Saturday, you cannot wear clothes made of more than one fiber, etc etc etc. Do you do that and more? If you say you take the Bible literally, why not? Like someone said, imagine an anti-gay person, eating a pulled pork sandwich on a Saturday,  wearing a cotton and polyester shirt, while taking a lunch break from work. He just broke at least 4 laws of the Old Testament.

There is a lot of poetry and metaphor, do you take that literally? Jesus told parables to teach principles. Do you take them literally? The people of the area were story tellers, not literal people.

The Bible was written over many centuries by unknown men (except the 7 authenticated letters of Paul). They wrote in Bronze age and Iron age and in Roman Empire days wisdom of the day.  In this time, less than 1% were literate enough to read and write elegantly,  only the very rich could afford to be educated, so only the top people could have written anything like the various parts of the Bible.They hint at universal truths as they struggle to understand the meaning of life and the spiritual domain. Mostly, they didn't think they were writing scriptures. Often they wrote down the stories and thoughts shared around the campfires generation upon generation. They wrote to share their understanding, to set the record straight (as the author of Luke who wrote to Theophilus both in the Gospel of Luke and Acts).

In the Bible there is confusion and also opposite views. What happened at the empty tomb, who found it, did Jesus meet them in Jerusalem or Galilee, etc. When did he realize he had a profound mission on earth? At his baptism, at birth, at conception, at his resurrection, from the beginning of the cosomos? All of these are presented, not all can be accurate.

There has been great value in the Bible for countless people over thousands of years, including for me. Smugly saying it is literal, while ignoring the impossiblilty of that, misses the deep wisdom that can be found there. 

Let's Consider Love

 First, charity is disinterested, seeking no reward, nor allowing itself to be diminished by any return of evil for its good. God is to be loved for Himself, not for his gifts, and persons and things are to be loved for God’s sake, because they are temples of the Holy Ghost. since charity is disinterested, it must of necessity be universal. Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love…. --- St. Bernard

 He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. I John: 4

That is the agape, unconditional Love of the scriptures. I have often said that to love because that is who you are, and no one or no circumstance can make you not love is a spiritual goal. It is what we aim to be as spiritual beings having a human experience, as Teilhard de Chardon described our life here. 

If we love conditionally, we are merely manipulating. I think that is one of the reasons people deflect Love, for they have been given and give phony love, love that seeks an ego's purpose. As St. Bernard said,  Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment.

Let us strive to live and love fully and without conditions.

The Value of the Negative

But when the hope is to know God inclusively—to realize the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental.... there is need of unsleeping awareness.

    --- Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley

Every so often I re-read this wonderful book. Almost every page speaks volumes to me, and each time something else grabs my attention. This week, the above quote grabbed me. I have been pondering it. This morning, as I lay in bed praying, a profound joy and gratitude for my many and varied life experiences swept through me, and I was tearful.

I was joyfully thankful for all of them! They wove themselves together to form the present me. Each light and shadow held a precious place in my unfolding awakening. Each was sacred, a Divine Gift.

Jesus showed us humanness and Divinity interwoven. He bled, he cried. He was also imbued with complete connection to God. His ground of being was rooted in God here with us, and God transcendent.  Our bodies too are of this earth. We bleed and cry. Our souls are of Spirit. We came to this earthly plane to learn, develop, cherish, live, love and spiritually awaken.

Instead of fighting with the shadows, it seems to me, we would do well to use them for our advancement. My old days of Aikido come to mind. We would say to our partner, "Thank you for testing me." I endeavor to say this to the twists and turns of my life.  In Aikido, we would help the attacker go in the direction they were headed, using their energy coming at us to lead them into a fall. Imagine doing this with the shadows seemingly attacking us. Take a moment and visualize it. 

Everything becomes an opportunity for spiritual growth. Thank You, God, for every moment of my life, every single moment. Thank you for showing me, as You did Joseph - they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. I praiseYou, God. Amen!

Beyond History

 There are many biographies of men and women in many times in the life of humanity on this planet. There are also great myths and stories that hint at more than the encapsulated soul waking in a body on the face of earth.

A favorite study of mine is the New Testament. The synoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luke, focus on life stories about Jesus and share some of his teachings, a bit about the eternal Christ. Then we shift to John, Paul, Hebrews that tell a different story, a story about a universal Christ. In "Perrenial Philosophy," Huxley says:

Each in his own way wrote about the eternal "not-I" of Christ rather than the historical "I"; each in his own way stressed an element in the life of Jesus, in which, because it is more-than-personal, all persons can participate. 

So we move from the amazing teacher and healer, walking around Galilee, to Paul's Christ in you the hope of glory.  We move to the Cosmic Christ, to the Christ Eckhart called us to birth in our souls, to the Divine Energy with which we can relate and participate, to Hebrews' High Priest and High Christology.

It is a shift that may be quite a jump for some people. We can see it in the writings, when we look deeply and with new eyes, as Jesus said, Except you become like a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom.  Read through the New Testament and see the shift, allow an internal shift. Allow yourself to participate in the Christ energy, the Divine that calls us each and every moment of our lives, stirring something within us until we at last listen and turn.

Humans With and Without God

 History shows us a sad story of humankind, peppered with golden moments of humans rising above the lower tendencies to glorious moments- so we know we can rise, it is possible. So much of our history, however, exhibits violence, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, meanness, herd mentality, wars, and other horrible things.

So what can we do? Do we have the desire and will to rise above the lower behaviors? Do we realize how dangerous it is, with all the modern technology, to play with the dark side?

My vision shows me the way up and out is to align ourselves with the Divine, with the Higher Power, with God. There are pitfalls there too, because historically and currently there is violence in religion; there is ego; there is theology made by violent and power-hungry men. The story of Christianity is not just the man from Galilee and his teaching, but it is the long history of fighting over fine points of theology, even unto death. Early on there was the fear that if they got theology wrong, God would be angry and punish them with violent weather and earthquakes. There were wars over things like whether Mary was the mother of God or the mother of Jesus, over whether Jesus had one or two natures, over when he became God's son, etc. There was intrigue. 

Even today there is a huge variation of what is the "true" Christian theology, arguments over who is right and who is wrong. Families are split over disagreements over whose church is right. Nations try to destroy churches and imprison advocates of "other" points of view. 

I am most familiar with the Christian story, and  I know there is some of this in other religions too.

All of this, I consider to be life without God. The ugliness glimpsed above is not what any great teacher taught, it surely is not what Jesus taught.

Life with God is a whole other thing. It is Peace that passes understanding. It is Guidance from the Highest Source. It is Love. It is Joy. It is Kindness. It is Compassion. It is Oneness.

If we want life with God, let us heal our brokenness in prayer, introspection, forgiveness, and release. Let us open ourselves to the Highest Light, the Highest Teachers, the Noblest Way, and then walk it the best we can. Let us strive to be all we can be, forgive ourselves when we falter, and pick ourselves up and continue. 

We can change the human trajectory one person at a time, lifting and leading, waking up, and walking with The Divine Presence that is with us always.

P.S. Go back and read my "Turning" article earlier this year on June 6th.

Tethered - But to What?

I've been seeing a vision of tethering. That is to say, being attached with a stretchable cord to something that is hooked into a person on one end and the thing on the other. This is, of course, not visible to the eye, but nonetheless a very real connection that influences the person.

For example, you keep thinking about a negative experience from your past. Each thought makes your tether to it stronger, your feelings stronger, and as it strengthens, it controls you more and more. It is as if this past event is going on, over and over again. It skews how you view the present and the people in your present. It keeps you imprisoned to old shadows.

Of course, to get free, florgiveness is important. Also, diengaging the tether with visualization is important. And then, tethering to the Spiritual, rather than the shadows of the past, is the ultimate freedom.

Tethering to the Divine, opening to Unconditional Love, rooting yourself in that, is the blissful experience of Freedom, of all being well with your soul. 

As Meister Eckhart told his listeners centuries ago, Mary birthing the Christ Child means little to me unless I too can birth the Christ in my life and soul. Let the spiritual birth happen in you. Make ready by untethering from all shadows of the past and tether to the Eternal Holy Presence that calls to you. As we take a step toward God, open arms of Divine Love greet us and welcome us home.

Where Is Our Connection to God?

 Origen, that great authority, suggests a parallel: that God’s Son, God’s image, is in the ground of the soul like a living spring. If earth is thrown on it, earthly desire that is, it smothers it, covers it over, and it vanishes from our ken. But in itself it remains alive, and on removing the soil that was thrown on from without, we see it again.                              --- Meister Eckhart

There is so much to consider here. First, I find it interesting that he is quoting Origen. He was the great thinker of early Christianity, 185-253 C.E. Later Origen was called a heretic for several odd reasons. Here is one of the greatest mystics quoting him 1260-1328 C.E.  So apparently, he saw genius in Origen, as have I.

Anyway, I appreciate the visual of a living God-spring bubbling inside of us in our souls. But then we throw dirt upon it and cover it up. It is unharmed, but we are cut off from It. We are walled off, helled off, from God.

As we remove our negativity, fears, anger, resentments, false ideas, etc, the dirt is removed. We put it there, we take it away.

As Meister Elkhart says later in the sermon:

When the artist makes a statue of wood or stone, he does not put the image in the wood; he chips away the wood which hides the form. He gives the wood nothing, he takes it away: carves it out where too thick, pares off overlay, and then there appears what was hidden.

We find God never left us, was always there, right where we left Him/Her, under our own pile of dirt, in the center of our soul. 

When Your Heart Drops

 There are moments in life when our hearts feel like they just drop. 

This week I had one of those moments.

My husband had a stroke on July 30. While in the hospital, he had a pain in his side, so they scanned it. They said he had appendix cancer, then they said peroteneum cancer. This week the surgeon put a camera in his abdomen, took biopsies, and put a chemo port in his shoulder. The surgeon said his abdomen is full of cancer, and it is likely that chemo could only give him a little more time. My heart dropped. My tears flowed. This Wednesday we go back and get the biopsy results and suggestions of what to do.

I know with surety that life continues beyond here. I know our bodies are sort of suits our souls wear so we can navigate earth and learn and get experience here. I know our bodies are made of earth and return to earth and our souls are divine and eternal. I know this not on second-hand information, but on my own personal life experience. So I am not afraid of the transition from life here to the next existence. 

And, because I love my husband and have been blessed to be married for 37+ years, I want him well and healthy and to stay here with me. My selfish self shouts out, NO God, heal him, let him stay with me. My spiritual self softly counsels me, ask for his highest good, not yours. Tears well up, and my heart drops again.

Of course God is in charge, not me. We should all be thankful about that. Imagine if we ruled with all of our conflicting wants and desires. Chaos!

We had been rolling along, hopeful we would finally get our assets restored very soon, making plans for foundations and lifting others, making plans for our future. And then the stroke and then the cancer. My heart drops just writing it.

So, God, I surrender. I ask You to Guide us. I ask You to bring forth the Highest Good for us, even if we don't understand, even if You don't want to explain. I let my fallen heart fall into Your care and keeping.So be it.

History Is Now

 I'm reading " The Jesus Wars," and remembering how the themes of history repeat themselves ad nauseum. Perhaps we fail to learn from those who were here before, or this planet has a set curriculum, a gauntlet we all must walk. We succeed or we fail. 

It is widely thought that those who fail have to try again as many times as needed, to at long last succeed. And some of those who succeed come back as teachers and some as Avatars.

What would succeeding look like, feel like?

There are huge hints from major and minor teachers, from scriptures and mystical writings from those who remember.

Some I've mentioned before: Unconditional Love, compassion, non- attachment, peace, kindness, generosity, devotion, Oneness with the Divine.

See for yourself. Read the writings of spiritual greats, such as the Commandments and Psalms and Proverbs, the Bhagavad Gita, Lao Tse, Buddha, Jesus, the great mystics such as Rumi, Hafiz, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas a Kempis, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Teilhard de Chardin, Rufus Jones and countless others. You will see a thread of thinking connecting them.

You will feel a deep inner pull to the eternal truths, as if old friends you just remembered.

Compassion or Not?

What is compassion? Knowing we are not unique, that we are in this together, our joy and suffering shared.                       --- Matthew Fox

We share this planet and all that is here, from air and water to knowledge. We share the hopes and dreams of all humans- a good life for our families, a safe place to live, freedom, etc. If we ruin our planet home, it is ruined for us all. If we lie, viciously compete, cheat, create fear and hatred, we all suffer.

Psalm 85:10 says  Love (compassion) and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

The path of Love/Compassion is taught by all spiritual greats. We hear it from every corner, yet so few live it, and fewer still consistently live it.

I muse - how would it look? We would be interested in other people, their hopes and dreams, their ideas, how life looks through their eyes, accepting them with kindness. We would not insist everyone agree in every detail with us. We would be free of hostility towards ourselves and others. We would collectively find a way to deal with those who insisted on violence (any form, such as cheating, stealing, physical), endeavoring to help them heal their pain, so they could live free of inner torment that caused them to hurt others.

I know this is unlikely, but it is not impossible. Let us strive to begin a Love/Compassion revolution today by doing all we can to show up in our lives as walking talking Love/Compassion, as Kindness in action.  

Vision of Awakening

This morning I had a vision I need to share.

I saw earth in a dark gray cloud of hatred, anger, illusion, fear, false ideas. I saw a few sparkles of light of those of us trying to get people to wake up from the nightmares of all of this, to the mission for which we came to earth.

Tears ran down my face. How needless the pain and agony of living in this cloud. How far astray it leads people. How unlike it is meant to be. 

The great religions, the great avatars/prophets/visionaries have told us to love one another, respect one another, treat others as we want to be treated, attune to the Divine. They have told us there are answers. There is guidance available. There are spiritual principles to follow. Our lives have purpose. The seed of the Divine is in each of us. We are not our bodies, rather we inhabit our bodies with our souls so we can navigate earth.

We know these words. We say prayers. we pay lip service, but do the opposite.

How can we awaken?

We NEED to awaken NOW. Earth, humans, animals, plant life - we are vulnerable. Weapons of terrible power have been invented, and some crazily itch to use them. Artificial intelligence is poised to be way too powerful. Look what we with the potential of a conscience have done. Imagine what something with more intelligence, but with no conscience could do.

Listen to the call to awaken. Follow it. Become the Light you were meant to be.

The Past and Now, A Different Angle

 It has long been my understanding that we need to resolve our past issues so as to not drag them into our now and distort it. Yesterday I got a glimmer of a new idea, or a slightly different angle, along that line from a novel I started reading,"An Echo in Time."

Basically, the idea is that some of the patterns in our lives can be unresolved issues of our ancestors, recent or even centuries ago.

That struck a note of recognition. My mother's father put a bullet to his brain in front of my mother, when she was 7. I saw the direct influence that had on her and her sister, mother, aunt, and later to my dad, etc.

But then, yesterday I saw a direct line to me from my grandfather. When there were times in the past that I felt hopeless and thought of giving up, I thought of him and made a choice to not give in and so not carry his hopeless forward. He had just been ripped off by his business partner and lost his fortune; his wife was mentally ill; his son was dead. He apparently talked himself into deep hopelessness and gave his life to it.

In my children and in myself, I see resilience. We have walked some very deep valleys, and we kept on walking. Also, we have strong faith. I don't know about my grandfather's faith, but I assume, if he had some, it faltered.

I am going to consider some of the other, strange and seemingly out of left field, patterns in my life through this lens. Are there other family issues trying  to resolve themselves through me? 

Or is it just the human lessons we all came to earth to learn? Are our lives not so different? Is it just earth-school for all of us? Maybe it's not my family issues afterall.

Marguerite Porete

I have just discovered a mystic I was not aware of, or I simply forgot and just glossed over her name and life 😪,  Marguerite Porete. She wrote a little book, "The Mirror of Simple Sou!s" that was translated into four languages and widely distributed, especially among the Beguines. I just downloaded it myself yesterday. 

She was born in 1250 C.E and burned at the stake in 1310 C.E. Below is just one of the reasons the official church was opposed violently to her, as well as many parts of her writing and teaching, such as that you could find God everywhere. She had tapped into the deep mystical well that has fed the souls of so many. Also, she was a female and part of a religious group not approved of by the Roman church, the Beguines.

 In her book she distinguishes between what she calls “The Great Holy Church,” which is the Church of the Spirit, and “the Little Holy Church,” which she calls the “empirical and scholastic church whose uncomprehending queries are more often placed on the lips of reason than are made to testify to love or the soul . The former church preaches Love; the latter church preaches rules and law and order.          --- "Meister Eckhart - A Mystic Warrior for Our Time"

The church was/is not open to ideas that interfere with their dogma or their control. Yet, all through history there have been people who knew greater, deeper truths. I celebrate Marquette and am grateful for her witness to God's Truth, even unto death.

 

 

Ideologues

 I watch with fascination, and maybe a little horror, as partially aware people rant and rave about some position orthe other. They are wound up emotionally, so not able to use their higher thinking. They are sometimes led to violence. They are civilizations' downfalls all across history. They are controlled by false and nonspiritual ideas. they are not skilled in critical thinking and ao are easily led whichever way their friend or leader leads them. The herd cries "get them" and they do. Group think takes over and bad things happen.

This can happen in any area. In politics we see it. Ranting and raving about this or that party or person, as if they actually knew what was going on behind the scenes and oblivious to how they are being manipulated. There is almost nonexistant civil discourse regarding ideas and principles and consideration of all points of view.

We see paid demonstrators riling up young people to loot and burn and attack. Actually it is to bring down society, but the wild demonstrators think at first it is for some bogus cause and then are so wound up in emotion, they are out of control. The puppeteers behind it all laugh.

I sometimes wonder it Hitler could have been stopped, if people stopped and thought about what he was actually doing, and if they really wanted all that violence and death.

We see it in religiion. Some clergy get people whipped up in emotion and seed in them wild ideas quite unlike the original teaching. All the while, some of the leaders are doing the opposite in their own lives. Think of the clergy who abuse children sexully, or  have multiple affairs with young women, or who live in mansions in lusxury. There is very little actual scholarship going on, if any. There is a twisted and literal interpretation of scriptures with no understanding of what's really being written and by whom.

I don't know how we are going to do it, but I thihk it is urgent that we wake up and help others wake up. We are in a more precarious situation than ever before because of media and also our advanced weaponry. We who see and understand, need to be voices for reason, for thinking beyond the boxes we are in, to step up and live in freedom mentally. 

Please deeply consider this.

Interbeing - Oneness

 I've  been reading some Thich Nhat Hanh and also some Meister Eckhart. Some of their concepts are remarkably alike. I have been pondering one of them this morning. I'd like to share some of my thinking with you.

Eckhart talks about the seed of God in you, about the Cosmic Christ in all things - in other words, about Oneness.

Thich Nhat Hanh talks a lot about interbeing, about everything being connected and interrelated. He has given many examples. I'll share something like his idea. Look closely at a piece of paper. If you look closely, you can see the tree it came from, and the plant that turned it into paper, and all the hands that touched it umtil it came to you. If you look closer, you can see the cloud that rained on the tree and gave it water, and the oceans and lakes and rivers that evaporated to make the cloud to make the rain. You can see the sun that shone upon the tree giving it photosyunthesis and life, you can see the orbit of the earth around the sun and the orbit of the solar system around the Milky Way. And if you look very deeply, you can see the big biang and know that every atom that makes up everything vivible came from that big bang, that the visible is all made of star dust.

It boils down to us being one, participating in a connected, interrelated life. Everything is partof everything.

Everything, everyone, every moment are all sacred and part of the Grand Divinity, the Intelligence orchestrating the manifest universes and beyond.

Contemplate this with me and open to the Great Mystery.

Taste It To Know It

 “The ultimate dimension of reality has nothing to do with concepts,” he warns us. You cannot just describe and talk about apple juice — you must drink it. "Things cannot be described by concepts and words. They can only be encountered by direct experience.”               ---  Matthew Fox,"Meister Eckhart, A Mystic Warrior for Our Time"

Words are useful, but cannot convey meaning alone, for example if the listener has no experience to understand the particular words used or has a mind-made-up-already stance based on other people's experience. They might as well be speaking a different language. The words "apple juice" have no useful meaning to someone who has not tasted actual apple juice. They may understand what the category juice is, but not the taste of this juice.

You may be thinking it's no big thing to not understand apple juice. Yet this is a principle that can be applied to important things, important things like God, soul, unconditional love, forgiveness, peace, and other spiritual principles. 

Most people allow television, internet and social media to colonize their minds. With techniques of hypnosis, these things impart control and seed a mixture of untruths, partial truths, with a smattering of truth. They numb us to the greater Reality.

People become more concerned about what's supposedly going on in some celebrity s life than in the lives of people actually in their lives. They get upset by propaganda. They miss the gorgeous sunset. They miss the tear in their loved one's eye. They block the essence of life and lessons so dearly the soul needs and yearns.

It is an honor to be able to come to earth and experience the spiritual hiding behind the appearances, to develop our spiritual muscle and understanding, to experience the Divine and know Oneness. 

Here in this place we have limits. All is on loan. All is temporary. We must learn to be present so as not to miss those precious moments sculptured, tailored for our soul growth. You may not pass this way again. Be present for every moment.

Speak to Me

 Speak to me,

I speak to you in the morning breeze.

Speak to me,

I speak to you through the cooing of the morning doves.

Speak to me,

I speak to you through the happy faces of the flowers.

Speak to me,

I speak to you through the exuberance of children.

Speak to me,

I speak to you through the eyes of love of all whom you know.

Speak to me,

I speak to you even in the shadows, in deep valleys, and darkest of nights.

I speak to you at all times, in all places. 

I am always with you.

I am everywhere. 

I am the Energy at the heart of all.

I am you.

 --- M. Marlene Oaks

My Teacher Across Centuries

“All roads lead to God for God is on them all evenly.”                                               ---Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328 C.E.

 As Thomas Merton wrote in the margin of one of his journals - Meister Eckhart is my lifeboat. When I first discovered the mystics during my studies in the 70's, I thought "I have found my people." Meister Eckhart  was my first, then along came a village with Mechtild  of Magdeburg, Hildegard of Bingen, Jacob Boehme, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence and many others, including others not Christian, but from other centuries and places.

I discovered there is something like a deep well of wisdom and knowing and that some people in all cultures, all times, have drunk from this well and have known the same truths. You could say Cosmic Christ (as Colossians 1), the Tao (The Way) or use other terms. Interestingly, the original followers of Jesus were followers of The Way.

The same well is open to us. However, we need to prepare our inner ground so that the seed of God in us can grow and flourish, and so that we become ready to receive the immense Truths, Wisdom and Love that await us. To everything there is a season, and for the season of our spiritual awakening we now prepare.

We  need to become gardeners of our souls. Pull up weeds of negativity, fear, greed, selfishness, anger, hatred, etc. Spend time in spiritual practices from reading inspirational words, to prayer, contemplation, journaling, to good deeds of kindness and lifting others.

Be ready for a powerful awakening. Without preparation, we could not stand it or even understand it. As Jesus said that it can come like a thief in the night. Even though we prepare, it can be startling. It is absolutely wonderful and unlike anything else.

In God's Image

 God has formed and created the soul very like himself, for we read that our Lord said: “Let us make human beings in our own image” (Gen. 1:26). And this is what he did. So like to himself did he make the soul of a person that neither in the kingdom of heaven or on earth among all the splendid creatures that God created in such a wonderful way is there any creature that resembles him as much as does the soul of a human being alone. --- Meister Eckhart

How wondrously and marvelously we are made! Our centers, our souls, they are in God's image. There is a sacred center in each and every person.

It is our job, those of us who know the Truth, to live our lives aware and awake to the sacredness within, not only us, but also within each and every person. When we look beyond appearances and see righteously, as Jesus taught us, we help bring out that knowing in others. No matter how confused, lost, angry someone appears to be, deep within is the soul made in God's image.

So we have multiple choices daily. We can ask ourselves - Do we help to continue the appearance that imprisoned a soul by believing it, or do we see righteously and help the person set their soul free to live gloriously expressing the imprisoned sp!endor? Our thoughts are energy, As Isaiah said:

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;  it shall not return to me empty ,but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,  and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Or as Jesus said according to Matthew:

Listen and understand.

11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

What goes out of our mouths is energy that either lifts or destroys. 

Let us strive to be lifters who know the soul is sacred, and, even if apparently hidden, is there and maybe, just maybe our thoughts and words can help free it.

God lives and dwells and has His Being in you.

Living a Script?

 I had a vivid vision. I was standing before a wall of bookshelves. They were arranged from left to right, easy to difficult, to very difficult.  I took down one in the very difficult section. The cover said "Job." I told my guide, "I will take this one."

That would certainly explain the strange events of my life. My general life script is like Job's. What was I thinking?

This morning, not wanting to get up yet, I was musing, and I was asking what I am to learn and what am I to do with the rest of my life? 

I saw the Bible as a cast of characters that outline all of our lives. I saw that it tells not only of God, but also of the human condition and the lessons we come to earth to learn. 

I thought of Shakespeare's all the world's a stage. Maybe, just maybe, there is some truth to this and to my vision.

Think on these things...

The Spirit Who Raised Jesus

 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.--- Romans 8:11, 14-17

 I was reading Richard Rohr again this morning. The section I was reading suggested reading Romans 7. I did and kept on reading chapter 8. Now, I have read the New Testament hundreds of times, and this time I read Romans 8, I was struck with the above verses. This is what I've been saying, and yet somehow I missed that Paul made the same point. Or maybe subconsciously I remembered and joined it with my life experience to know and teach our seeking and yearning for the Spirit of God.

It is the Spirit of God we seek, the same Spirit that worked through Jesus. Jesus showed us what that kind of life would look like, would be. When we become aware of the Union. the Unity, the Oneness, our lives shift into something wholly different from the life seemingly separate from God. The Spirit of God is everywhere, but we have spiritual blinders on until we awaken. It seems we are separate, but we are not. Only in our belief are we separate. Magnificent Oneness is there, knocking on our inner door all the time. We are not orphans, adrift on earth. We are children of God, co-heirs with Christ.

You Belong

 If the veil parts once and you know life is radically okay, then you are — to use the normal Christian language — a child of God. You are in union. There is nothing to prove. Nothing to attain. Everything is already there. It is simply a matter of recognizing and honoring and trusting. --- Richard Rohr, "Everything Belongs"

The veil can part in meditation, in prayer, in nature, in some moment in life that has sudden change,or seemingly random moments. You can't make it happen. You can make yourself ready by your spiritual practices, make your inner ground receptive.

However it happens, it is a profound life change. It may happen multiple times. It changes us more and more. The more surely we know of Divine Union, of Unconditional Love, of what's really going on, the more aware, awake, and at peace we are.

We know from experience that God exists, that God is with us, that life's lessons have purpose, that everything is part of the Whole. We know and know that we know. It's not intellectual, or hopeful, or hearsay.  You belong. You are okay ---  a magnificent one of a kind masterpiece of God, and so is everyone else. 

Arise

 Arise, shine for the light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.           - Isaiah 60:1

I opened my Bible randomly this morning, and opened to the above verse. As my husband walks better and better with a walker and is overcoming the stroke, this seemed like it was personally meaning-laden for us.

And, for all of us in process of overcoming various things, arise. I remember someone long ago saying People say I'm doing okay under the circumstances, what on earth are you doing under circumstances? 

Arise! Life happens. Life and its challenges/lessons happen for us all. We have to face them, overcome them, learn from them, hold out a hand to others also trying to overcome and move on. 

We cannot avoid life's lessons. As the Borg said "resistance is futile." In fact, resistance, complaint, weeping and wailing, only prolong it. 

We can avoid some of the challenges, however, by being present in the present moment and making better, wiser choices. As I have often said, "after most of our valleys we can say I knew I shouldn't have done that." It seems to me that we receive guidance that we ignore.

So let us listen more carefully, choose more wisely, be fully present, and when we find ourselves in a dark place, Arise!

Life Turns On a Dime

And suddenly all is different.

My husband and I were rejoicing that on Saturday it's our 37 the wedding anniversary.

BUT Tuesday he had a stroke. His legs no longer work. He's dizzy, throwing up. He's in the hospital.

Our future is not what we thought it would be.

Time to pray and regroup. There are new things to do, things we never expected or prepared for. What can I do? St. Francis' thought speaks to me.

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” —St. Francis of Assisi

So I'm about to help my husband do the impossible. Pray for us please.

A Fascinating New Old Book

 I am reading a book written over 100 years ago that is new and exciting to me. Abraham Rihbany wrote The Syrian Christ, Son of the East. He was born and raised near where Jesus was born and raised. He says to understand the Bible, one must understand the life and ways of a culture far different Western culture. It is difficult to understand deeply for those not part of a culture. Most only know a surface snapshot. He goes on to say: 

The combination of our commercial activities and the never-ceasing whirl of the wheels of our industries close up our senses to the intimate whisperings of the divine spirit. We see, but with the outward eye. We hear, but with the outward ear. Our inward senses are in grave danger of dying altogether from lack of exercise.

 I find this sadly true, maybe even more so with all of the developments since he wrote. We are bombarded with the trivial, we are kept busy with things that we have no control over, we are upset and distracted. We often fill our days with the meaningless.

For some people there seems to be no time to be still, to contemplate, to listen, to go inward and upward. Therefore, spiritual senses are dulled, shut down and out of the lives of many people. As he said, "for lack of exercise," spiritual senses may die in us. There then is no richness, no depth, no poetry, no understanding or even awareness of the Mystery. We wander in the dry desert, in the wilderness devoid of greatness of soul.

I urge you to carve out quiet time every day, to be aware when you are busy with the meaningless, to exercise your spiritual senses. Go inward and upward every day.

How Do I Become Anything?

First of all,decide on it and practice, practice, practice. If you want to be a philosopher and wise Epictetus said:

We ought to learn that there is a God and that he provides for all things: also that it is not possible to conceal from him our acts, or even our intentions and thoughts... (We) must with all our power try to be like him. If the divine is faithful, man also must be faithful: if it is free, man also must be free; if beneficent, man also must be beneficent; if magnanimous, man also must be magnanimous; as being then an imitator of God, he must do and say everything consistently with this fact.

 Whatever we wish to be, we must learn the skills of that thing, whether it be music or art or coding and be consistent in our learning and application. 

In addition, it seems to me, we would also do well to seek wisdom and a relationship with God.  There are many writings and teachings about this, of course. Epictetus writes succinctly. His words can add to what we know or seek to know. 

To me, if I say I am something or other, but do not do best  practices of that thing, I am not really what I say I am.. I am a phony, sloppy, an imposter. 

I think that is one of the reasons people have fallen away from religious groups, are disgusted with politics, and don't know what to do or how to find a genuine, congruent teacher. So few practice what they preach, often even do the opposite. 

If we want to turn the world around, we need to embody the qualities that we desire in our leaders, practice them, get more and more consistent, and then, only then, teach others, lead others. As is often said, be the change you want to see happen.

You can do it. God has led you here to these words, in this moment of time. Hear them in your heart and begin.

 

Justice= Truth

 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be well satisfied.”  Justice is another name for truth, and truth is something that stands the test and is durable. Anything less than the truth fades away... Justice is as precious and as necessary as the air that man breathes. When justice is flouted, human equilibrium is thrown out of balance; but when justice reigns in a land, everything functions well.                     -- "The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth" by George Lamsa  

(Lamsa's book on  the Sermon on the Mount  is amazing.  He was an Aramaic language speaker from an area much like it was when Jesus walked the earth.)

It was a new idea to me that justice and truth are the same, at least in the understanding of the Aramaic  language.  

When Truth/Justice are ignored or denied, sad and dreadful things ensue. When they are honored, something good and enduring are honored.

That could explain the current situation in the world. Truth is not being spoken by our leaders in any area - not in politics, not in government, not in science, not in media, not in religion - not in any area. Therefore there is no enduring Justice in our world.

Let us begin a new movement, speak only the Truth. It is a sacred duty in order to honestly be able to say "I follow Christ."

 

Ways to Read the Bible

 There are many ways to read the Bible, many eyes through which to view it.

There are the eyes of an archeologist. These eyes look for clues in the Bible as to where to search and dig. For example, The Armstrong Institute has found verification for a number of things by finding what the people left. I get their fascinating magazine, Let the Stones Speak. Another magazine I get and recommend is  Biblical Archeology Review.

There are the eyes of an historian. These eyes seek to find what actually happened, what was it like back in the day, what were the laws and customs and diet and on and on. What was the Roman Empire like?  One example, they never had a census where people had to go their home town to be counted. Can you imagine the chaos  of that in the huge Roman Empire? They did have a few censuses, but the people just went to an official in the town where they lived.

There are the eyes of a linguist, of experts in ancient languages, experts in idioms, experts in how languages change over time and meanings of words change.

There are eyes of apologists who seek to make it fit their theology. They want it to be all true and literal and do all sorts of contortions in an effort to force it and to stop all thinking otherwise.

There are eyes that skim the surface and give little thought or care.

There are eyes that seek the Truth, that delve deeply, that meditate and contemplate and find deep meanings. They know that some things are myths, allegories, or parables, and they contain great truths. 

This morning in meditation, I heard "No room at the Inn," is there room in your heart to nurture the Light of Christ?" The story might not be historically true, but is loaded with profound meaning. 

I challenge you today to look at the Bible, or any sacred text, with new eyes. Open your eyes, your heart, and your mind to  enter the Great Mystery of God.

What Is a Human?

 Epictetus answers - A rational and mortal being. He also tells us he/she can act like a wild beast and lose the promise of rationality and lose oneself, lose our humanity. When does one become as a wild animal? We act gluttonously, lewdly, rashly, filthly, inconsiderately .. When we act contentiously and harmfully and passionately and violently, to what have we declined? To wild beasts.

Therefore, it is upon our shoulders to get in control of ourselves and to be the person God had in mind when He created us. It is essential we become aware when the beastly rears its ugly head in us, and to send it away and refuse to sink into that dark place 

I think of Jesus extending the commandments. Not only should we not murder, but we also must avoid anger.  Not only should we not commit adultery, we should not lust. Etc. And if we even have something in our heart against someone, we need to stop what we are doing, even worshipping, and go clear it up. 

In so many ways Jesus would have agreed with Epictetus. How about you?

Great Spirit

This morning in my meditation I was asking what am I now to do in my remaining years? I heard guidance to write this down and share it.

There is a Great Spirit that speaks in the depths of souls and has done so from the very beginning of humanity. It calls out the very best of us. It calls out to love, to be joyous, to be kind, to be generous, to be curious, to be creative, to celebrate this Great Spirit in everyone and everything, and to endeavor to be like It.

But It also made it so that we have to work to go beyond appearances. Much like an athlete in training, we have to stretch and flex and develop our spiritual strength. 

The Great Spirit is urging us vigorously to awaken to this NOW. 

It is time to realize the many religions are various attempts to awaken us to the spiritual truths in somewhat similar ways. The details vary as do cultures, but there is Truth to be found everywhere.

It is time to stop making slight differences the stuff of  prejudice, hatred and violence. It is time to stop dividing people into groups and judging them as a group, aka prejudice. 

We are all humans. We all are kin to God, The Great Spirit. We all have greatness of soul. Teach this to one another. Awaken this Truth in as many as you can.

So said The Great Spirit of God to me this morning and asked me to share it with you. I pray you contemplate these words and implement them in your life. God Loves you and so do I.

Why I Don't Believe in the Virgin Birth

Recently I shocked an evangelical friend of mine, when I told him I do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, actually of anyone. It occurred to me this morning I might share my reasoning with you.

Long ago I had the realization that God gave me intelligence and expected me to use it. 

I began to question and explore.

 So here is a brief outline of my thinking.

 Paul wrote between 52-64 CE. The only thing he said about Jesus' birth was he was "born of woman under the law." He surely would have said something about a magical birth, if it were being talked about. 

The next writing we have is Mark who starts his Gospel with the baptism. Not a word about a virgin birth. All three baptism stories have Jesus see a dove or spirit and hear a version of Isaiah or Psalms saying he is my son. Indicating he did not know that before this time. 

Then there is the episode in Mark 3 where his mother and brothers want to take him away "for he has gone out of his mind." That does not seem consistent with Mary being made pregnant by God. It seems that story does not develop until The Way has moved fully into the Greek/Roman world where they already had such stories. 

For these and other reasons, such as the genealogies in Matthew and Luke all through Joseph, I am pretty well convinced that Paul spoke the truth

A Really New Idea to Me

 He did not speak to His disciples of His resurrection, His ascension, and His parousia as three distinct acts, since the event to which He looked forward is not identical with any of the three, but is composed of them all. The resurrection is, at the same time, the ascension and parousia, and in the parousia the resurrection and the ascension are also included. --- Albert Schweitzer, "The Quest of the Historical Jesus"

Wow! I never even considered this as a possibility. My mind is whirling.

I can see this as possibly true. All three were contained in this multifaceted event. 

It goes on to say:

 "Jesus spoke of the future of His work and His teaching in a way that implied the consciousness of an influence to be continued after His death, whether unbrokenly or intermittently, and the consciousness that by this influence His work and teaching would be preserved from destruction and the final victory assured to it."

Here we are 2,000 or so years later and various versions of his teaching are still here. I'm going to have to contemplate all of this!

1776 and Us

 July 4, 1776, the official birthday of our nation, is a joyous and sacred day. Courageous and visionary people dreamed of a new kind of government, and surprisingly they did something about their vision. They wrote The Declaration of Independence. They fought the greatest power of the day and won independence with farmers, builders, and other ordinary people. Great men led them, including the incredible George Washington. Then they wrote the landmark document, The Constitution. They realized some more was needed, so they wrote some amendments. It developed and grew and became the place in the world where dreams could come true.

John Adams said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The quote above haunts me more and more. Christianity seems to be unraveling. Marxism is on the rise in the world and in subverting our foundation. Youth are being taught false history and to hate our country. 

It seems to me that it is time to wake up, to think, to stand for what once made this place great. I often think of my long ago political science professor who said, ""You can tell which country is the best by which way the borders leak."   From the very beginning, people with a dream were drawn here. I'm not talking about the current invasion - I'm talking about orderly and lawful immigration. Remember the history of the Roman Empire, weakened by bad emperors and declining morals, finally taken down by the barbarians flooding the borders. 

God bless the American Dream. Will we have the courage of our visionary founders, or will we go down as a failed experiment, a footnote in history?