Jesusian

It is fashionable these days to not believe in Jesus, to not believe in God, and definitely to not believe in Jesus as God personified. So I am out of step with fashion. It is more safe to be a Buddhist or a Taoist. One is spared the anti-God rant. It is also easy to stand on one’s hind legs and howl and yowl at the heavens. Piece of cake. Been there, done that. Or sit quietly in existential despair while one sucks what teats of satisfaction that can be found. Mocking is also “in,” as well as yelling that if one believes in God, one is anti-science. Poppycock. I am one of the most avid scientists I know.

I’ve been re-re-reading the Book of John and find Jesus to be the most powerful example of intellect and heart that I know (and I have read all the “greats”). He is hilarious in some of the things he does and says. He cannot abide pomposity, pops those balloons of righteous indignation as soon as they appear. He leaves the self-absorbed pompous sputtering or with gaping silence. He loves and hangs out with the street folk of good heart, the so-called common folk, while talking at the highest and deepest intellectual and spiritual level with the educated seeker.

I love this Dude. God, our Source, embodying to ask our forgiveness for being such a self-absorbed ruler in earlier times and now coming as a servant to set the new tone. Plus, he speaks in parables, my favorite kind of fare, the cosmic food I love to ingest. I don’t mind if you don’t think this way or experience Life this way. You will do as you will. As for me, I know that we are the Source embodying, that this is the greatest gift that can be bestowed, and that Jesus blazed the trail as the Role Model, the Example.

Global Spirituality

Global Spirituality: the ongoing movement within us all, as planetary citizens, to listen to and move in accord with the Spirit, the Life Force, that forms us, the Spirit of Love, of Grace, of Interflow.

God

The story of God's embodying as Jesus in order to do recompense for his own distancing from and treatment of the humanimals he created makes more sense to me than the story that he did so because of our screwups. By taking on a human life, suffering rejection, and dying young in the cruelest death, he acknowledged our situation by sharing it, taking it on personally, rising out of death anew with a fresh start -- the fresh start being a different relationship, forgiveness all the way around, especially with our forgiving of God. Now we have company, a compassionate, loving, and understanding God. One who truly knows what we are going through. No blame. No judgment. Forgiveness. All the way around. (On reading Jack Miles, "Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God.")

I Die Daily

“I die daily.” I Corinthians 15: 31

What does this mean, to die daily? It means to take the time to release yourself from all your plans and schemes, to know that the hardened shell you have created for yourself as your self is just that, a shell. Not to worry. You can form it again. Or perhaps form one that is a little more effective in your ongoing shell game. “I die daily.” Once a day I release. I let go. I allow go, the onrush of the life I am. I am the flowing water rather than the container. I breathe. I sigh, like the tree branches in the wind. I disappear. Only life remains. I die so I may come to life.

My Work

I do not wish to stand and look at what is wrong. I leave that to others compelled to do so. My work is to assist in putting the first humans on earth. By human I mean one whose consciousness is open to the ongoing flow of the Life Force which births us, which brings us into being, whose embodyings we are. By human I mean one whose mindheart is in conscious relationship with the Source of all being. By human I mean one who lives every moment, every day as a springing of the Wellspring. By human I mean one who is more than an Isolated Protoplasmic Blob (IPB) who lives mainly in a society of IPBs. By human I mean one who has surrendered her IPB to the open radiance of the interflow of the eternal. By human I mean one who has burst open the coffin of self-definition and has become as nothing so that the Great Something can be and is born. I do not wish to stand and look at what is wrong. My work is to assist in putting the first humans on earth.

Children of the Cosmos

We are children of the Cosmos, offspring of the Wellspring, creations of Yahweh, lovers of Allah, daughters and sons of God by whatever name. Each of us receives this knowledge, this knowing, this understanding, this rejuicing and rejoicing in ways we understand. Each cup holds the water according to its shape and its capacity. All cups are welcome in the Kingdom of the Father, the Queendom of the Mother, the Realm of the Infinite Eternal. Each of us holds a sacred space that no other holds. We need each other, learn from each other, respect each other's understanding while not relinquishing our own. This is who we are. This is what we do. Blessings to you if you think your cup is the only one, the true one, and that all other cups are false. The cup is not the focus here. The focus is the Water. Are we open to the flow through of the Water of Life? Are we continuously baptized in its cleansing flow? We open. We pray. We are grateful for the Graciousness. We breathe in Its Goodness. We breathe out Lovingkindness to All.

street talk

Had a really great, deep and interesting spirituo-theo-logical conversation for about 20 minutes or so with a friend I bumped into on the sidewalk today. Enlightening. Thought-provoking. Those just don't happen every day.

One of the topics my friend brought up was pre-prayer. You don't just rush in and grab God by the throat (my terminology). You settle down into a relaxed quiet stillness and then begin your conversation. He brightened at the analogy I used of the anteroom or mud room in South Dakota where you divest yourself of your coat, hat, gloves, muddy or snowy boots and then go in to the inner sanctum of your warm cosy house.

C.H.A.N.G.E.

We live in and as an ever flowing streaming of energy. This energy flows out of and is the Mystery that is so intimate, so close, that provides us with our very breath, that is our Source. We separate ourselves from it, from this streaming at our own peril. We become hardened cysts as we re-cyst the eternal flow.

Let us call this flow Newly Generating Energy. It is happening now, this moment, and every moment. It has moment-um. It is Continuous. It is C.H.A.N.G.E. which takes one of two forms. We are the ones who choose what it is to be.

This eternal flow that we are is either Continuous Hassle Amidst Newly Generating Energy or Continuous Healing Amidst Newly Generating Energy. This is who we are. One or the other. Hassle or Healing. We decide.

We are a closed and knotted fist against it all or we are open flow. What is this Newly Generating Energy that is so healing (making whole, making holy: heal, whole, and holy have similar roots)? It is not the energy of the world we have created for ourselves with its divisiveness, its angers, its separations. That is not the Newly Generating Energy. That is a carbuncle on the butt of God.

The Newly Generating Energy is the life force that births all, from the subatomic to the metagalactic; that births us and continues to birth us ALL. The NGE is the Flow that continues to manifest in all formations. We are embodyings of the NGE. When we identify with the Flow rather than the meat, our lives transform. Love the meat and be the Flow. That has been the way of our spiritual ancestors, spiritual gangsters all.

the soft glow of my awareness

3 a.m. -- Awaking from sleep -- the intermediate world between sleep and wakefulness -- I saw that to “have no other images before me” means to have no images at all in one’s consciousness -- none “before” me. I saw one, sometimes two, images floating in the soft glow of my awareness and my ability to make them disappear -- the lesson repeating itself in my mind -- “have no other images before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Commentary: If you truly want to see, let go of attachments to your favorite images, to all images, of you, of others, of the world. Let go of self-hypnosis (hip gnosis).

Renegade Preacher

Dear Unborn Kin,

A little info to let you know who continues to write to you. I am a renegade preacher, a mouthpiece for the truth I hear in the marrow of my bones and the blood of my heart. Preachers are not popular anymore but when has that ever mattered when you know what you know and are compelled to speak it out loud. Though I do like the appellation of mouthpiece better. The mouthpiece gets out of the way and lets the client do the talking.

One of my favorite parts of the Bible is In Hebrews !3 where it refers to Jesus going “outside the camp.” This is where I went and still am. Outside all camps of formulated thought. Outside all camps yet seemingly welcome at every campfire. Like I said, renegade preacher.

Nothing to be done about it. Nothing I want to do about it. It's who I am and what I do. The next time I write I will move far away from this, to me, boring topic. Back to the condition of the world we find ourselves in today.

I hope all this that is happening now in 2014 has turned out well for you.

Your Loving Ancestor

Views

A gentleman was on TV tonight saying that the Pope's statement that evolution is not inconsistent with the notion of creation is a case of the Pope trying to have his cake and eat it too. He said it was dualism (matter plus spirit, the Pope's view) versus materialism (only matter exists, his view -- which he regards as absolute truth). He neglected to mention my (and a few others' ) view, which he may not know exists, that all is spirit (the life force) and that matter is simply condensed life-force or spirit. All three views accept that everything came from NoThing. As for me, I certainly don't mind calling that God.

the seen and the unseen

The Seen and the Unseen. The Seen is what is seen through the physical senses. The Unseen is all else. The Seen is a very small world compared to the Unseen. To build one's life around the Seen and ignore the Unseen is like an eagle trying to live in a hummingbird's nest. Or, perhaps more appropriate size wise, like trying to fit the boundless Cosmos into a thimble. And here is the Mystery. It can be done. This is who we are.

Yayyyy Jesus!!!

Many seem to have made Jesus into a sanctified marshmallow for their salvational s'mores, but he was a wild paradoxical parable speaking dude who hung out with the lowlife, spurning the societal, religious, and political establishments! Yayyyy Jesus!!!

capaciousness

"Capaciousness. It's all about capaciousness. Capacity. Room." The folk around me have heard that more than a few times. Here's a Jesus story that points to the truth of that. I read it a few minutes ago. It's in Mark.

"6 1-2 He left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?”

3 But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.

4-6 Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching."

There you go. They thought about him this way, then thought about him that way. Then decided to shut down. No capacity to receive. No capaciousness. Then, no matter what, Jesus "couldn't get over their stubbornness." My point? It seems to be a law of the universe. If I don't make any room in the In, nothing will get in. Capaciousness. I'm the only one that can open and allow greater and greater understanding and the happiness of a large and gracious spirit.

Zen Baptist Book Intro

Long years ago I packed my metaphysical bags and left Troup and Fulton counties and the Baptists behind to go see what the Buddhists were up to. I could not have stated it clearly at the time but I had a definite sense of mission and purpose. Little did I know that I would learn the rudiments of Zen through the martial arts at Tatsuo Shimabuku's dojo behind his house in Agena, Okinawa. Now I am reporting back to the Baptists as some kind of rebound missionary with my gained perspective. But they may not trust me. Am I still a Baptist? 

I am a Zen Baptist -- a peculiar sort of Baptist to be sure. Buddhists of old were horrified by the Zen Buddhists chopping up wooden likenesses of the Buddha for firewood because they were way too cold. This Zen Baptist has no problem with chopping up the icons that we Baptists get too comfy with, too attached. But then neither did Jesus in his day. The rigid ones gave themselves holy hell over his words and ways.

Marcus Borg writes eloquently and well of the pre-Easter Jesus (the human historical Jesus) and the post-Easter Jesus (the experiential Jesus of Christianity). I write of the post-Christian Jesus, who has escaped the mindset, dogma, and doctrines of Christianity, who has gone beyond human consciousness structures, who cannot be captured by a net of moral values and triumphant righteousness. I know and love all three. 

I was looking at a book my Mom gave me a few years ago: George MacDonald’s “The Highlander’s Last Song.” On the title page, she wrote in her fine penmanship, “Just wanted to share with you such deep-thinking and good words. So much like you. Love always, Mama.” She then inscribed “p. 53, 54 bottom paragraph.” The paragraph, marked by her with a line in the margin, says: 

“Ian was one of those blessed few who doubt many things by virtue of a larger faith—causing consternation among those of smaller faith who wrongly see such doubts as signs of unbelief. But while his roots were seeking a deeper soil, his faith could not show so fast a growth above ground. He doubted most about the things he loved best, while he devoted the energies of a mind whose keenness almost masked its power, to discover possible ways of believing them. To the wise his doubts would have been his best credentials; they were worth ten times the faith of most. It was truth, and higher truth, he was always seeking. The sadness which colored his deepest individuality could be removed only by the conscious presence of the Eternal.”

Thanks, Mom.

Son of Man

As I continue becoming more closely reacquainted with Jesus through reading The Message, a translation of the Bible in contemporary street language (more my style), I am struck by his use of "the Son of Man" in referring to himself. I googled it and found considerable disagreement as to what it means. So I sat quietly and I could see what it means. Jesus is the furtherest birthing of all humanity. He is out there, ahead of all of us. He is the advance opening of consciousness, of wisdom, of understanding. As we continue to open to the consciousness state of Jesus, we move the consciousness state of humanity, of Man (which includes all gender) to higher, wider, deeper realms.

morning thoughts

Morning thoughts: I dearly love Jesus. Am reading anew of his exploits in Eugene Peterson’s “The Message.” He really gave the hypocrites (those who say one thing and do another) and the warmongers of his day a tough time. They couldn’t do a thing with him in direct encounter. So they had him killed of course. Not much has changed. Except for one thing. The spirit and presence of Jesus is still around. Here I am talking about him, loving his example, and laughing about some of the things he said and did. I think Jesus and Buddha and Lao Tzu and Muhammad and Chuang Tzu would get along well. In fact I think they do. It’s we humanoids that set up barriers and sit within our exclusive enclaves hurling out invectives at all who disagree with us. It’s time for people of Heart in all spiritual paths to love, respect each other and to work together in harmony. We are all members of the Navel Tribe, plucked from the same vine, with the belly scar to prove it.

Awareness awarenessing

We are Awareness awarenessing. We generally identify only with the small "a" awareness. We are like a pen writing upon a page. The pen point thinks it is of independent existence making this mark here now (small "a" awareness). The pen point fails to realize (real eyes) that it is a part of a pen held by a hand attached to an arm attached to a body of Conscious Awareness. Thus we have "churches" of the Holy Pen Point, others of the Total Pen, a few of the Hand and Arm, some of the Entire Body, and almost none of the Wholly Beyond. We are Awareness awarenessing, yet we become so engrossed in the marks we are making on the paper that we rarely open to Awareness. This is the world we live in. This is the world we have made and are making.

no such coin

There are those who worship God "out there" and those who reject God "out there." The worship and the rejection are two sides of the same coin. The coin is projection. The two, worshipper and rejector, though appearing diametrically opposed, are bound together by a common element: divisive consciousness. The person who lives as Interflow has no such coin in her pocket.

grace and wu wei

When one does not cut God off by putting Him as "out there," the Christian concept and experience of grace is highly similar if not the same as the Taoist concept and experience of wu wei, flowing with What Is.

friction

This world is friction. Walk is friction. Talk is friction. Thinking is friction. Relationship is friction. Even love needs a lubricant. The move toward homogeneity (sameness) and the move toward heterogeneity (difference) is ongoing. Neither goes away nor should or this world will disappear. These two simultaneous counter moves creating such friction are balanced by a third force: stillness. A dynamic stillness moving with (not against) the friction. This stillness is at our core.

framed

Our physical body has a skeleton, a framework for supporting it. So does our spiritual body. The spiritual body's frame is called a religion or philosophy. Whatever it is called, our spiritual body has a skeleton. It is a handy device for holding one's place, for getting around. One day it will dissolve too. Then where will the spiritual body be? Where it is right now when it has no frame.

Question: Why were you like you were?
Answer: I was framed, Your Honor.

who

Cosmotheophilosphy 101. Some believe there is a Divinity. Some believe there is not. My question is: Who is this believing? Who is this believing there is? Who is this believing there is not? Who? You might say "I" or "me." Who is this I? Who is this me? You might start to give some explanation, but that just sets up the same question: Who is it giving this explanation of who they are? Who is it that has a mind made up?

Jesus and Buddha

Jesus gave me love. Buddha opened my mind.

mister awake

To my Christian friends who may not know: Buddhism is not a religion and Buddha is not seen as a god. He was walking along after his awareness opened, noticeably different, radiant. Someone asked, "Are you a god?" He said, "No. I am awake." Buddha means awake. He is Mister Awake. Buddhism is a philosophy of life. One of its teachings is that attachment is suffering. He also said, "Don't listen to me. Go find out for yourself."

the three stooges of the mind

Amongst all the cosmic realms, the realms of conscious awareness, we live in the Realm of Desire. Three forces keep us here. One is wanting what we do not have. This craving, this never fulfilled greed, is a hell of eternal dissatisfaction. A second is not wanting what we do have. Hostility and anger. The willingness to throw it all away. The third is stupor, the willingness to shut down awareness. Ignore-ance. These are the three stooges of the mind: Greed, Hostility, and Stupor. They come in both subtle and blatant forms. We see them operating in others more easily than the mind rotting that takes place within ourselves. To escape their hold, a first step is to become aware of their existence. I learned this from Buddha, Mister Awake, the great psychologist. Jesus, the great heart, fully agrees.

relational christianity

Orthodox christianity is based upon sin being obliterated through sacrifice. Relational christianity is based upon ignorance being obliterated through awareness.

the same infinity

No answers exist "out there" that are not also "in here." The outer infinity and the inner infinity are the same infinity.

theological filter

A theology is a developed system of religious belief and theory. What many folk who say they rely upon the New Testament writings about Jesus as truth do not comprehend is that those writings are a theology, a developed system of religious belief. That system, composed of Greek, Roman, and Jewish thought, is superimposed on Jesus. Only writings about Jesus that fit that organized system of thought and belief were allowed into the New Testament. All other writings were excluded. In reading the New Testament, one is looking at Jesus through a filter.

conversion

On Conversion. A simple way to experience conversion (change of consciousness state) is, if you are sitting down stand up, or if you are standing up take two steps in any direction (watch out if you are standing atop a tall building), or go to the next room. We are "converting" from our old selves all the time yet may think we are the same.

what is man?

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:4)

Or as the genderly correct might say: What is a human, that thou art mindful of him/her? and the offspring of humans, that thou visitest her/him? But if you take the deeper mystic understanding that these two questions go beyond mere gender differences and their bounds we so love to defend, these two questions reverberate in a deep cosmic cry. Who are we? Who is this breathing us? Why are we alive? What is going on?

Being a psychologist, a mystic and a mythopoet, I see two consciousness realms referred to here. One is ordinary everyday make-a-buck linear eat-and-poop consciousness. The other is mythopoetic cosmic mystic supramental consciousness. The one deals with hardcore matter (condensed lifeforce); the other opens to boundless mystery.

The two questions contain their answers. When we are in ordinal consciousness, everyday consciousness, we are locked into ourselves, and our Source can only be mindful of us. We allow no more than that. We are a private universe chugging along on our own mission.

When we open awareness as the "son of man," as that which is emerging from ordinal consciousness, we are visited by an awareness that goes beyond all human societal definitions, aims, wants, and wishes. We become not only planetary, but cosmic citizens. We move from being a closed system to open interflow with all that is. Our education has just begun.

night and day

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. (Psalm 19: 2)

During the night, we dissolve our bounds. We open to new knowledge, new understanding. We no longer wear our ideological clothing. We see freshly, anew. Knowledge is shown, revealed. Our hearts, as organs of understanding, are happy.

During the day,we solidify, congeal. We go about our business, our busyness. We move both against and in accord with other's daytime demeanor. We leave behind the blessed open ignorance of the night. We take our positions. We act as if we know what we are doing.

shall a child be born?

"Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?"(Genesis 17: 17)

As we get older, we can still bear spiritual fruit. Perhaps even more so. Though we have stumbled and fallen many times over the course of our decades, we have learned and are learning to walk in a more centered and radiant fashion.

The-One-Who-Breathes-Us is still with us, ever patient, ever compassionate, ever requesting that we open to the joys of existing, allowing us to know, to experience that the burning flame of suffering is also radiant light. The flesh of aging suffers but the compassionate open heart is consumed with quiet and radiant joy.

A child is born. Who and what is this child? It is ourselves. We are born again and again. Newness unfolds. Like a flame rising upward from a burning log. The log is decomposing and will eventually return to ground, even as the flame leaps into the air.

We are born into a realm in which we already are. All comes from the One. All lives in the One. All returns to the One from which it never left. We gain experience embodying as flesh. Our woundings are mouths that speak our truth.

We fall on our face and laugh. Partly in disbelief that newness will come, is coming again, and again. Partly in surprised joy. We rise up, give birth to the newness of our being.

Dialogue

Most of you won't be at all interested in this, so go on about your business. If Eastern-Western dialogue is to succeed, Buddhism and Christianity have to understand each other. Buddhism is founded on NoThingNess, Christianity on the One. O and 1. The basis of the Buddhist experience and view is nothing, no thing. The basis of the Christian experience and view is something, some thing. The Buddhists have no name for the nothing, saying if and when you give it a name, it becomes a something. The Christians call the something God. What is the common ground in these world views, these experiential stances? Perhaps it will prove to be the O. Some Christian philosophers have adopted the definition of God (the Ultimate 1) as a circle with no circumference whose center is everywhere. 1 = O.

Bible

Since I am in what is sometimes called the advancing years and sometimes the declining (no wonder we Geezers get confused), I am looking to give back to the community what I can before I kick the bucket, throw in the towel, buy the farm, fall into grave disorder. 

The "what I can" part is my take on various realms. I've already given my comments on the application of martial art principles to daily life, on the Gospel of Thomas, on the Bhagavad Gita, and on the Tao Te Ching, so why not dive into the Bible? After all, I cut my eye teeth on it, having grown up as a Baptist in the deep South.

So despite and even because of the heaps of excrement thrown these days at folk who follow the teachings of holy books, here I go!

Turn in your Bibles to Micah 6:8. 

This is a verse that brought me much comfort during my existential angst back-of-hand-to-brow years. I had pretty much soured on all churches, but still derived some understandings and some heart glow from this verse in Micah. 

The latter part of that verse: "what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" gave me direction..

I read that and thought, okay, I can do this or at least keep at it as a spiritual practice. All that is required is to do justly (heck, I learned that in the scouts -- Scout Law: A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.), to love mercy (that's a deep one, I'm still understanding what that means), and to walk humbly with thy God (a continuous practice).

That latter one snags a lot of people who think of God as some kind of floaty creature out there who doesn't have the sense of a billy goat in heat and has screwed up the world something terrible. 

It didn't take me long to realize that what that ("God") means is my source, our Source (whether you capitalize It or not). The Great Mystery, The Wellspring, The Eternal Mother, Father, The One Who Breathes Us, The Original Kin.

And it doesn't say I have to walk humbly with people. I am only required to walk humbly with God. 

The rest takes care of itself.

Sufi Sunday at the Zen Baptist Church

"Today we have a visiting minister. A Sufi joins our Zen Baptist journey. I would like the congregation to welcome Nasruddin, who has the sermon for today. Take it away, Naz!"

"Thank you, George. How many of you here know what I am going to say?"

Silence. Then murmuring. Then finally a response. "None of us do."

"If you don't already know what I am going to say, then the situation is hopeless, and there is no need to proceed further. Back to you, George."  And Nasruddin sits down.

George stands up. "Well, that's it, folks. You had your chance and blew it."

"Wait! Wait! Please give us another try."

"Okay," says Nasruddin. How many of you here know what I am going to say?"

"We all do!" they exclaimed.

"Then I need say nothing." And Nasruddin sits back down.

Now the people are starting to get into this thing. They had been sitting like empty vessels waiting to be filled, for Nasruddin to unscrew their tops and pour clear wisdom into their containers. Now they are getting a little riled up and beginning to be who they really are. Some are grinning. Some are perplexed. Some a little angry.

They confer amongst themselves.

"Give us one more try," they say.

"Okay," says Nasruddin. "How many of you here know what I am going to say?"

"Some of us do and some of us don't!" was the instant reply.

"Fine," says Nasruddin, "Let those who know tell the others."

And he and George walk out into the sunshine and the beautiful day singing one of their favorite songs (composed by their buddy Rumi), "Whoever brought me here will have to take me home."

the Bible

The Bible is the story, the mythos, the journeying of my own soul. It tells of internal dynamics. All its voices are the voices within me, within us. The soul's struggles with being born, its journeyings toward understanding, embroil within its pages.

The Bible is not about "out there." The Bible is about "in here." A delicate yet profound truth is that in here is out there, but out there is not in here. Out there cannot touch in here, but in here continuously touches and transforms out there.

Amen, Selah, and Yes Indeed.

gate way

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates!" (Psalm 24:7)

Stop just plowing along on the horizontal. Open to the vertical.
Lift up your spiritual head. Aspire to the Above!

You are a gate between two worlds, two fields. You are a gateway to the Divine.

Be a gateless gate. Come unhinged.
Drop the snug little identity you have created for yourself,
your little cocoon of self satisfaction.

Open to Full Awareness! Allow the visible and the invisible,
the physical and the spiritual, the exoteric and the esoteric to be as one!

Lift up your heads, O ye gates!

consigned

"For God has consigned all men to disobedience so that He may show mercy to all." (Romans 11:32)

I know this verse is conventionally interpreted with the focus on the latter part of the verse: God's mercy.  I understand that and greatly appreciate the mercy of the Cosmos, of the Tao, of the Source, of God.

Yet, when one reads these words without the supporting frame of conventional Christian doctrine, they portray a quite different scenario. We humans are CONSIGNED to disobedience. Why? So God may have the quality of mercy. Without us, God could not be merciful. Our disobedience (to which we have been consigned) is essential for the bringing into existence of a distinct quality of God. In other words, we are co-creators of God and with God.

Much has been made in literature and plays and movies and sermons and poetry of "The Fall" of humankind as an explanation for our situation.   This is not just a Christian motif, but can be found worldwide across cultures.

But if we rely on this verse as stating a truth, whether we call it a fall or disobedience, we are serving an important role in the Cosmos. Through our very nature, consigned or no, we call mercy into existence.

christ-directed buddhism

This imagery, a painting (Christ Our Pilot) by Warner Sallman, had powerful effect on me as a boy and young man. I looked at it from time to time, feeling its power and directive. Only in looking back decades later could I see its deep message: I was to head for the shores and seas of Buddhism. As the young man in the painting, I would eventually firmly grasp the eight-spoked Buddhist Wheel of Life with its strong core and center. This would be done under the direction of Christ my pilot. I was on my way to becoming a Zen Baptist and did not know it.

How interesting too that the Wheel became the symbol I used in my first book, Embodying Spirit: The Inner Work of the Warrior, for framing the eight principles and practices for applying the martial arts to daily life (nine, including the Wheel center). I did that unconsciously with understanding coming later.

I am so grateful for the Mystery that unfolds within us.

the harrowing of hell

(Excerpt from "The World's First Ever Baptist Crime Novel")

In his deep inner being, Gregor knew that he had doomed himself into his current condition, a remarkable insight for a demon. He had been, even more than now, a rebellion hellion. But Gregor carried a small glimmer of light, a teeny sliver of hope, even though hope and light caused his dark heart burning pain. 

Oh, it was still easy for him to lapse into blame of others for his devilish predicament. He had full access to and continued to wallow in the seven deadly sins of Christianity, to cultivate the unwholesome mental factors and cognitive afflictions warned against in Buddhism, to delight in the infidel status ascribed to him by the Quran, and to enjoy being the poster demon child warned against by all religions and spiritual paths.

But Gregor knew that the Universe has an excellent recycling program. These bursts of insight came from a unique event – the visit of Jesus to Hell. Gregor had been present when the visit occurred and his future had changed forever.

In the church bulletin all had received from the diligent ushers at the little church’s front door, they saw that Gregor’s sermon was entitled “Rescued From Hell.”

After the required prayers and announcements and hymn singing and the taking of the offering, Gregor took the pulpit. His deep bass voice rolled through the congregation.

Have you ever been in that place where life itself is like a living hell? I’ll bet everyone here has felt that at one time or another. (Nods of agreement) Well, I’ve been in that place a lot. In fact at one time I was a prisoner there.

(He had their attention right away with that remark.).

But I wouldn’t be talking with you here today if that was all there was to it. You know how they say that in the darkest night a candle glows? (Amens were spoken.)  And every cloud has a silver lining?

I’m here to tell you that there is a little bit of heaven in the depths of hell! (Not a single amen on that one. It went against popular theology. But Ted began to smile.)

Now you might not be used to thinking that way. I hope I can make it clearer to you here tonight.

My life was once in the pits! But something happened and I stand before you now. I think you will be startled by my story.

Will you please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 24:22?

It says, “And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit,

and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.”

That’s the pit I’m talking about! Imagine yourself down in that pit milling around in the foul waste of yourself and others, sleep-deprived, taken out and tortured, agonizing over your unknown fate.

(Junior nudged Thelma, “Is he one of those Ay-rabs we captured?” “Hush, Junior! Just listen!”)

And then, wonder of wonders, totally unexpected, you get a visitor!

I don’t know if you grasp the full implications of that. You are alone, without hope, the only thing keeping you going is some kind of stubbornness deep inside that won’t give up. Days and nights go by indistinguishable from each other. All you know is suffering and uncertainty and fear.

Then you notice a difference in the atmosphere. The pit-keepers seem both agitated and excited. You are taken with the others and hosed down with cold water, washing away your filth. Clean prison garb is given.

The word is in the air. Visitor! A visitor is coming! All of a sudden you are reminded that there are worlds other than the hell you are in. Your head lifts up a little bit. Something begins to stir in the numbness – the numbness that has allowed you to survive.

It’s like when your arm has gone to sleep from laying on it the wrong way and that feeling like tingling painful needles that shoot through when it begins to wake up.

Except that now it’s not your arm, it’s your soul. The familiar numbness can seem more like your friend than this painful awakening.

(The congregation gave him full attention now. They knew exactly what he was talking about.)

The Visitor was unlike anyone I have ever met. He was powerful, of radiant heart and mind. His eyes were piercing but emanated a force, an energy I knew little about. His gaze would have been unbearable except for his deliberate softening of its intensity. For the first time in my life, I knew mercy. I knew love.

(Eyes were tearing up. Tissues were retrieved from purses, handkerchiefs from pockets.)

It  didn’t take me long to understand the purpose of His visit. You can read it for yourself in Isaiah 42:7.

(Gregor allowed folk time to find it. Many of them being good Baptists and having participated in Sword Drill in the Sunday evening Training Union found the passage immediately.)

I will read it aloud.. “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,

and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”

(People began murmuring. Who was this preacher? That verse they just read was generally interpreted as referring to Jesus. Was he saying he was there when Jesus visited hell?)

Some in our group stayed in their numbness, not ready to hear what he had to say. Others, like me, attuned to him right away.

I know what you are thinking. Is this true? Did Jesus really preach to those in hell?

First Peter 3: 18 through 20 says that after Jesus’ crucifixion, he was “quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, ….”

Jesus had just gone through hell on earth. Tortured in the worst way possible. Abandoned by everyone. By everyone! So he knew what hell was. And when he came to visit, we knew he knew. That made all the difference. In a sense he was one of us.

(People were spellbound now, not knowing what to think. You could hear the sparking fizzle of minds short-circuiting.)

Now I know you are going to be judging me, once all this sinks in. Not only is it the nature of humans to pass judgment, though Jesus taught not to do so, but in this case, my case, it is foretold in the scripture I am about to read.

My last Bible text for this preach-off sermon (Gregor was reminding people where they were, bringing them out of the hell-visitation imagery to the here and now) is I Peter 4:6.

“For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”

Jesus visited hell to preach the gospel, the “good news.” And some of us heard it and some of us didn’t. Those of us who heard stayed behind and talked with him a little more.

He told us many things. I share two with you. He said that we had done so much wrong that we would always be judged harshly by most people. We understood that and accepted it. But he also said that we were not to be taken down by those judgments.

And this is the really good news! We did not have to stay in hell but could “live according to God in the spirit!”

And if that is true for demons in hell, think how true it is for you!

Brother Ted, will you lead us in prayer?

“Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this message we have heard preached here tonight. We ask your blessings on the one who delivered it. Everyone of us here has been in one hell or another in our brief lives here on earth. And we greatly appreciate your mercy and lovingkindness in visiting us there. We know that we are the ones who give ourselves hell, not you. All we get from you is life and breath and forgiveness and joy. Thank you for you, Dear God. Amen!”

crucial

We exist on the cross of time and space, nailed to the spot. And yet we are eternally resurrecting, forever transforming. The I we are today is not the I of yesterday nor even the I of a few seconds ago. Crucifixed and resurrecting, the crux of the matter and no matter at all.

anything but that, o lord, anything but that

After the Minister of Music had done his job of assisting the individual consciousnesses of the folk showing up for Sunday morning service to move from scattered personal interests to a more unified attentiveness through the singing of hymns, and the announcements made, the tithes and offerings collected, and a rousing rendition by the choir of "Jesus Saves," he arose and stood behind the pulpit.

Many had their Bibles in their hands ready to turn to the text he would announce.

"I am going to do something different today," he said. "Some of you are not going to like it. But I ask that you listen to the spirit of what I am saying and you will recognize the same spirit that flows through the orthodox version of the Bible.

"I wish to tell you a story that comes from the Acts of Thomas, a beautiful work that contains the powerful 'Hymn of the Soul.' It is not the Hymn of the Soul which I wish to address today. I will do that at a later time.

"A little background first. Many writings of the early Christians exist which were not included in the writings selected by the group of men that set themselves and their choices up as orthodox and all others as heretics. We are beginning to see their short-sightedness. They threw out many precious babies with the rejected bathwater. The Acts of Thomas is one.

"I could have told you the story I am about to tell you without telling you its source. I even considered telling it to you and revealing its source later, but that felt too much like trickery. I am up front with you and always will be.

"The disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection to determine who should go where in the world to carry out Jesus' commandment to go into all the world and preach the gospel, the good news. India fell, by lot, to Thomas.

"We know Thomas, right? He had a stubbornness in him that we might recognize in ourselves. He was the disciple who said he would not believe that Jesus had come back from the dead unless he could touch the wounds in Jesus' hands and put his hand in Jesus' wounded side. So it is not surprising that his response to going to India was this: "but he would not go, saying that by weakness of the flesh he could not travel, and 'I am an Hebrew man; how can I go amongst the Indians and preach the truth?'"

"Sound familiar? Not only do I recognize this same reluctance in myself and all us humans to not follow what we are called to do, I am also reminded of the story of Jonah and his refusal to obey what he was asked to do. We know how that turned out.

"Thomas went home firmly resolved to not go. He was not let off the hook so easily. Jesus appeared to him that night and said: 'Fear not, Thomas, go thou unto India and preach the word there, for my grace is with thee.'

"Thomas replied: 'Whither thou wouldst send me, send me, but elsewhere, for unto the Indians I will not go.' A stubborn man. We might hear that echoed in ourselves: 'I will do anything you require of me, O Lord, but not that to which I am truly called.'

"I suppose Thomas thought that might be the end of it. But Jesus is far more stubborn than Thomas.

"This time Jesus appears at noontime; the time when earth's business is being carried on. He appears to 'a certain merchant come from India sent from the King Gundaphorous (an actual historical person who reigned over a part of India) to buy a carpenter and bring him unto him.'

"The plot thickens!

"Jesus, in human form, walked up to the merchant in the noontime  marketplace and said I hear you are looking for a carpenter. The man said yes. Jesus said: 'I have a slave that is a carpenter and I desire to sell him.'

"Now at this point in my initial reading of this story, I burst out laughing. The audacity of Jesus! Thomas, who has promised to follow Jesus everywhere and thus in one sense, the slave of Jesus (Jesus is his Master), is being sold by Jesus into slavery. Thomas is going to India!

"The story continues: 'And so saying he showed him Thomas afar off, and agreed with him..., and wrote a deed of sale.'

"Jesus then went to Thomas and led him over to the merchant who asked Thomas if Jesus was his master? Thomas said yes. At which point the merchant said I have bought you and we are going to India.

The preacher bursts out laughing once again and many of the congregation do the same.

"And guess what? Thomas said okay!

"The next morning, Thomas rose early, in prayer, and said: 'I will go whither thou wilt, Lord Jesus; thy will be done.'

"And Thomas left with the merchant bound for India taking nothing with him except 'his price,' the money the merchant gave to Jesus to buy Thomas. 'For the Lord had given it unto him, saying: Let thy price also be with thee, together with my grace, wheresoever thou goest.'

"Amen, And may it be so with each and everyone of us. Let's stand and sing the closing song: 'In the highways, in the hedges, I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.'"

And the congregation did. And the preacher was not run out of the church for using a non-canonical text for his sermon.

from where do we come?

From where do we come?

Some are not bothered by such a question. Nor ever want to be. Living in the here-now and/or in the buzzing arena of the mind and multitasking body is plenty enough, thank you. No curiosity exists about how all this came to be. Perhaps it has all been settled by their birth story, the story they were born into and accepted without little or further thought.

Fine. But as for me, I am interested. I enjoy opening my consciousness within such realms.

Where do we come from? (Forgive me, third grade teacher, for ending my question with a preposition.) Several stories exist: a large grouping of them (see the Laurasian story) with common themes. First there was nothing. The nothing (no thing) gave birth to all that is. All that is is continuously emerging.

There are variations on the story, different words for speaking it, and the use of capitalization to indicate importance. Here is one (the story I was born into):

The nothing (Godhead) gave birth to something (God) which gave birth to a plethora of somethings (gods, angels, humans, earth, earth creatures, the heavens, etc.). Then the humans screwed up, or one of the angels, or both or if you prefer, the something (God) was dissatisfied with the plethora of somethings and decided to erase the plethora like a child erasing a drawing of a tree and starting again. The story goes that there was some good stock in the brew and it was saved for further use. We are the descendents of that stock including some angel-human intermarriages along the way. The story continues that we are all going to get zapped one day but nobody knows exactly when that is. We can throw a lifeline to the something (God) and in doing so we have already swung to safety. Makes for some suspense, doesn’t it?

Now I am sure you have your favorite story, including a story of no-story. I recognize that. So don’t start jumping my case about I didn’t tell the story right or telling me that isn’t the right story at all. Unless you really want to. I’m always up for a good story.