Brian’s Reflection: Monday, October 1, 2007
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter
how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will
not learn how to live together in peace by killing each
other's children.
- Jimmy Carter, President, born on this day, 1924
Need more be said? President Carter is correct. All the business about a warlike God in the Bible is a human projection. An attempt to justify our own belligerence. A belligerence that rises out of our own sin. Jesus cannot ever be used as a justification for unloving behaviour. Remember that, when Peter cut off the ear of one of the High Priest’s servant, Jesus healed him immediately. And reminded His followers that His Kingdom was not “of this World” - meaning that it did not follow the principles of human sin, vengeance, fear, or power.
War is always a necessary evil. It can never be justified as acceptable to God. Which means that it has its own spiritual “attitude”. War is engaged in reluctantly. With a deep sense of sorrow at the demeaning of the human character that always accompanies the waging of war. This is why we have the Geneva Conventions - to remind us not to relinquish our humanity even in the face of war’s ugliness and failure. Whenever we permit even the tinge of torture - as the present American administration and many other governments in the World have permitted recently - it is a sign that our humanity is being destroyed.
The Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of Peace. Those who have been baptized or who have chosen the Gospel path as the path to authentic humanity have chosen the Way of the Peacemaker. Many these days have perverted the Gospel to support their own perverted ends. It leads only to the continued crucifixion of Jesus about which Paul spoke.
“Make me an instrument of Thy Peace”. It is a prayer close to God’s heart.
Brian+
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, September 29, 2007
Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune.
- Miguel Cervantes, author, near Madrid, 1547;
he wrote “Don Quixote”, 1605
is the soul ever in tune?
never fully.
it’s part of being human.
maybe the Buddha found the place where the soul
is in perfect harmony with the universe?
maybe Jesus, in the wilderness?
maybe Muhammad?
maybe a few on paths
who were able to lead others in the Way?
no, no, the best we can hope for on this lovely
lovely planet,
listening for the whisperings of the world’s heart,
is …..
listening for the music that jars
warning us that the soul is out of tune.
that warning will come from many places
out and in
but we will only hear the jarring
within, within, within
so we must be always listening
with the heart, with the heart
where the lovely music of God’s breath of love
is healing and righting the soul.
then we must tune our own instrument
to the celestial music.
then sing.
Brian+
Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune.
- Miguel Cervantes, author, near Madrid, 1547;
he wrote “Don Quixote”, 1605
is the soul ever in tune?
never fully.
it’s part of being human.
maybe the Buddha found the place where the soul
is in perfect harmony with the universe?
maybe Jesus, in the wilderness?
maybe Muhammad?
maybe a few on paths
who were able to lead others in the Way?
no, no, the best we can hope for on this lovely
lovely planet,
listening for the whisperings of the world’s heart,
is …..
listening for the music that jars
warning us that the soul is out of tune.
that warning will come from many places
out and in
but we will only hear the jarring
within, within, within
so we must be always listening
with the heart, with the heart
where the lovely music of God’s breath of love
is healing and righting the soul.
then we must tune our own instrument
to the celestial music.
then sing.
Brian+
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, September 28, 2007
Hoping to Be More Alive
You are an ocean in a drop of dew,
all the universes in a thin sack of blood.
What are these pleasures then,
these joys, these worlds
that you keep reaching for,
hoping they will make you more alive?
- Rumi, Sufi poet
Long ago I realized that “God” was not “out there” -
as someone wisely said, There is no “out there” out there.
That the body is a “drop of dew”, mostly water,
Some bits of other things, stringy, bony, fiber-y, electric-y,
five-foot something, c. 160 (hope springs eternal),
in which is an Ocean, vast and mysterious, with
undiscovered things yet to swim by in some unexpected light
cast by us, if we are curious and courageous,
or by another, bidden or unbidden.
So we, at differing rates of time
like the Ocean produce complex Life
and live It. Or don’t.
That within the matrix of skin
containing a “thin sack of blood”
are all the universes, comprising Existence -
spirals and ellipticals and irregulars.
Gaze within. What will make you more alive
is in there, not out there.
First see the Holy Self.
Then the Pleasures, the Joys, the “Worlds” of Wonders
will come rushing in or up from everywhere
to join the whirling Aliveness
that you and God are dancing.
Brian+
Hoping to Be More Alive
You are an ocean in a drop of dew,
all the universes in a thin sack of blood.
What are these pleasures then,
these joys, these worlds
that you keep reaching for,
hoping they will make you more alive?
- Rumi, Sufi poet
Long ago I realized that “God” was not “out there” -
as someone wisely said, There is no “out there” out there.
That the body is a “drop of dew”, mostly water,
Some bits of other things, stringy, bony, fiber-y, electric-y,
five-foot something, c. 160 (hope springs eternal),
in which is an Ocean, vast and mysterious, with
undiscovered things yet to swim by in some unexpected light
cast by us, if we are curious and courageous,
or by another, bidden or unbidden.
So we, at differing rates of time
like the Ocean produce complex Life
and live It. Or don’t.
That within the matrix of skin
containing a “thin sack of blood”
are all the universes, comprising Existence -
spirals and ellipticals and irregulars.
Gaze within. What will make you more alive
is in there, not out there.
First see the Holy Self.
Then the Pleasures, the Joys, the “Worlds” of Wonders
will come rushing in or up from everywhere
to join the whirling Aliveness
that you and God are dancing.
Brian+
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 27, 2007
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
- Hopi Elders, Arizona
I have been thinking about the World today. It is not a time for Unity. It is a time for Diversity. And in a strange paradox, Diversity creates Unity in our times.
People cannot be oppressed and subjugated. People(s) cannot be demeaned or dismissed because someone thinks they are “unacceptable”. This is a time to look around and see who is next to us. To suspend judgment, and fear, and entitlement. To “speak your truth ….. be good to each other”. Time to really listen. Meaning, there may at least be some in there we can celebrate with.
There are two types of people. People closed, and people open, to the Spirit of Truth. I’m hanging in with the latter.
Brian+
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
- Hopi Elders, Arizona
I have been thinking about the World today. It is not a time for Unity. It is a time for Diversity. And in a strange paradox, Diversity creates Unity in our times.
People cannot be oppressed and subjugated. People(s) cannot be demeaned or dismissed because someone thinks they are “unacceptable”. This is a time to look around and see who is next to us. To suspend judgment, and fear, and entitlement. To “speak your truth ….. be good to each other”. Time to really listen. Meaning, there may at least be some in there we can celebrate with.
There are two types of people. People closed, and people open, to the Spirit of Truth. I’m hanging in with the latter.
Brian+
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Written on the day the House of Bishops published their Resolution in New Orleans
IfI take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely,
I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life –
and only then will I be free to become myself.
Only a god can save us.
- Martin Heidegger, German philosopher,
born on this day, 1889
Well, it has taken fourty years. Fourty years of ministry, as a monastic and as a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada and then in the Episcopal Church. Fourty years through which I have naively believed and trusted that the Episcopal Church would do the right thing. Today it has chosen not to. It has forcefully declared all of our Gay and Lesbian layfolk and clergy to be barely tolerated fourth-class “citizens”. It has told them that bigots and racists and bishops who advocate murder in Nigeria and biblical fundamentalists are worth more than they are, more worth having as fellow church colleagues than they are.
It is a very sad day. But amazingly, it is a very liberating day. Heidegger is bang on right. Today the Episcopal Church has given me a great gift. It has permitted me to take death into my life in a way that has never happened before, certainly not in a way that my now several near brushes with physical death have done. How both odd and yet deeply appropriate that it is the Church that has allowed my soul to experience death, to “acknowledge it,and face it squarely”.
Driving home, I felt odd. Then I realized that suddenly all the anger of decades has dissolved. My soul feels freed “from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life”. And I feel deeply that I am now “free to become myself”. Alas also to recognize how I have often been my own slavemaster.
No, the Church cannot save us. “Only a god can save us” - and now I see that it is not the god worshipped by the Episcopal Church hierarchy or a large part of the Anglican Communion that can save us either.
How freeing! Take heart, all you Gay and Lesbian folk, lay and ordained, of the Episcopal Church. The days ahead offer fine fine possibilities. And walking with us, and with all faithful folk who embrace justice and truth, is the gracious and loving God Who made us all in Her Divine Image.
“We are seen as dead, and yet we live”. Now I know what Paul meant. Really know.
Thank you, bishops of the Episcopal Church. Your betrayal has made Christ’s message of liberation leap to life. For all our Gay and Lesbian folk, and all who join them, a new day is coming.
Brian+
Written on the day the House of Bishops published their Resolution in New Orleans
IfI take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely,
I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life –
and only then will I be free to become myself.
Only a god can save us.
- Martin Heidegger, German philosopher,
born on this day, 1889
Well, it has taken fourty years. Fourty years of ministry, as a monastic and as a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada and then in the Episcopal Church. Fourty years through which I have naively believed and trusted that the Episcopal Church would do the right thing. Today it has chosen not to. It has forcefully declared all of our Gay and Lesbian layfolk and clergy to be barely tolerated fourth-class “citizens”. It has told them that bigots and racists and bishops who advocate murder in Nigeria and biblical fundamentalists are worth more than they are, more worth having as fellow church colleagues than they are.
It is a very sad day. But amazingly, it is a very liberating day. Heidegger is bang on right. Today the Episcopal Church has given me a great gift. It has permitted me to take death into my life in a way that has never happened before, certainly not in a way that my now several near brushes with physical death have done. How both odd and yet deeply appropriate that it is the Church that has allowed my soul to experience death, to “acknowledge it,and face it squarely”.
Driving home, I felt odd. Then I realized that suddenly all the anger of decades has dissolved. My soul feels freed “from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life”. And I feel deeply that I am now “free to become myself”. Alas also to recognize how I have often been my own slavemaster.
No, the Church cannot save us. “Only a god can save us” - and now I see that it is not the god worshipped by the Episcopal Church hierarchy or a large part of the Anglican Communion that can save us either.
How freeing! Take heart, all you Gay and Lesbian folk, lay and ordained, of the Episcopal Church. The days ahead offer fine fine possibilities. And walking with us, and with all faithful folk who embrace justice and truth, is the gracious and loving God Who made us all in Her Divine Image.
“We are seen as dead, and yet we live”. Now I know what Paul meant. Really know.
Thank you, bishops of the Episcopal Church. Your betrayal has made Christ’s message of liberation leap to life. For all our Gay and Lesbian folk, and all who join them, a new day is coming.
Brian+
Monday, September 24, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Our tragedy is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained
by now that we can even bear it... the basest of all things is to be afraid.
- William Faulkner, American, Nobel Laureate in Literature,
Born on this day, 1897
Faulkner thought that to be afraid is the the basest of all things. He may be correct. Jesus thought so, apparently, though I’m not sure that Jesus thought it was “base” - unless by “base” Faulkner meant “debasing of our humanity”. If he did, I agree. FDR understood it, from his famous words on fear.
In Christian mythology, angels told people not to be afraid. (We will be celebrating the Feast of St. Michael & All Angels on Sunday. I was baptized on that Feast - though the Presbyterians didn’t know it was that day I am sure! “Michael” in Hebrew means “Who is like God?” However punily, I’m trying!). Jesus often told people not to be afraid, both before and after his being raised from the dead. Tyrants rule through fear. Faulkner is right - fear can kill, on many levels.
It is not Sin and Death that are vanquished, in the Christian story, by the death and resurrection of Jesus. What is vanquished is the fear of the power of Sin and of Death. We will always sin, such is human nature. And we will die. The Gospel message is that Sin and Death do not have the power to debase our humanity. Jesus’ resurrection is the symbol of this truth. Christians look on Jesus and know that, following His path, His triumph over fear is ours too. However, we can’t live vicariously on Jesus. We must now live through the Christ Within.
“Be not afraid.” I hope to hear those words at every moment Fear reaches for me.
Brian+
Faulkner also said: “Facts and truth really don't have much to do with each other.” Yup.
And: “To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow.” Double Yup.
Our tragedy is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained
by now that we can even bear it... the basest of all things is to be afraid.
- William Faulkner, American, Nobel Laureate in Literature,
Born on this day, 1897
Faulkner thought that to be afraid is the the basest of all things. He may be correct. Jesus thought so, apparently, though I’m not sure that Jesus thought it was “base” - unless by “base” Faulkner meant “debasing of our humanity”. If he did, I agree. FDR understood it, from his famous words on fear.
In Christian mythology, angels told people not to be afraid. (We will be celebrating the Feast of St. Michael & All Angels on Sunday. I was baptized on that Feast - though the Presbyterians didn’t know it was that day I am sure! “Michael” in Hebrew means “Who is like God?” However punily, I’m trying!). Jesus often told people not to be afraid, both before and after his being raised from the dead. Tyrants rule through fear. Faulkner is right - fear can kill, on many levels.
It is not Sin and Death that are vanquished, in the Christian story, by the death and resurrection of Jesus. What is vanquished is the fear of the power of Sin and of Death. We will always sin, such is human nature. And we will die. The Gospel message is that Sin and Death do not have the power to debase our humanity. Jesus’ resurrection is the symbol of this truth. Christians look on Jesus and know that, following His path, His triumph over fear is ours too. However, we can’t live vicariously on Jesus. We must now live through the Christ Within.
“Be not afraid.” I hope to hear those words at every moment Fear reaches for me.
Brian+
Faulkner also said: “Facts and truth really don't have much to do with each other.” Yup.
And: “To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow.” Double Yup.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, September 24, 2007
Life's like a movie. Write your own ending.
Keep believing, keep pretending.
- Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets,
born on this day, 1936
Jim Henson died young. That’s the way Life is. We never know. We are promised nothing and there are no guarantees.
“Pretending”? I would have written, “keep creating!”.
But Jim was right. Life is indeed what we make it. We can write our own ending. We know what we believe, what we yearn for, what we hope for our Life. We are not in the hands of Fate - I have never believed that. Do we have to “surrender” to certain realities? Yes. But I don’t see that as Fate - something we don’t have any opportunity to engage with, respond to, tell to go to Hell. Life is funny. It can all look like it’s all out of our control. But while some things are, there is a lot that isn’t. Including how we choose to respond, work with, challenge, deny power to.
Basically, I do believe. I believe that Life will indeed be what we shape it to be. Faith helps us to adjust as things change in our Life. As our health changes, our vision changes, our courage changes, our flexibility changes.
We are not “victims of circumstance”, despite the fact that circumstance requires us to adjust. We are people with a free will, with an amazing capacity for flexibility and resilience.
Some people think that Faith is “whistling in the dark”. No. Faith is acting out of our knowledge that, like “God”, we have the God-given capacity to “write our own ending”. If it turns out the way we visualized, we chuckle. If it doesn’t ….. we chuckle and rewrite the screenplay!
Brian+
Life's like a movie. Write your own ending.
Keep believing, keep pretending.
- Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets,
born on this day, 1936
Jim Henson died young. That’s the way Life is. We never know. We are promised nothing and there are no guarantees.
“Pretending”? I would have written, “keep creating!”.
But Jim was right. Life is indeed what we make it. We can write our own ending. We know what we believe, what we yearn for, what we hope for our Life. We are not in the hands of Fate - I have never believed that. Do we have to “surrender” to certain realities? Yes. But I don’t see that as Fate - something we don’t have any opportunity to engage with, respond to, tell to go to Hell. Life is funny. It can all look like it’s all out of our control. But while some things are, there is a lot that isn’t. Including how we choose to respond, work with, challenge, deny power to.
Basically, I do believe. I believe that Life will indeed be what we shape it to be. Faith helps us to adjust as things change in our Life. As our health changes, our vision changes, our courage changes, our flexibility changes.
We are not “victims of circumstance”, despite the fact that circumstance requires us to adjust. We are people with a free will, with an amazing capacity for flexibility and resilience.
Some people think that Faith is “whistling in the dark”. No. Faith is acting out of our knowledge that, like “God”, we have the God-given capacity to “write our own ending”. If it turns out the way we visualized, we chuckle. If it doesn’t ….. we chuckle and rewrite the screenplay!
Brian+
Friday, September 21, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, September 22, 2007
Hell is not far below,
Not black, not burning,
Nor even past returning:
You come and go.
You go and come
As in a mirror,
But hell is nearer,
And not so numb.
And when you go
You do not lose it,
Because you chose it--As you know.
- Babette Deutsch, American poet,
born 0n this day, 1895
I am somewhat known for theological one-line zingers. I’ve kind of adopted this form, as I get a tired brain trying to explain a lot of things. And this somewhat silly expectation I’m trying to meet is made only the more futile as my own understandings change on a frequent basis.
When asked, “What is the purpose of Life?”, I say, “To enjoy it!”. I think that Rita Mae Brown also said this – but I am certain that I coined it before she did!
Another of my one-liners is, “God doesn’t send anyone to Hell (if there is one); you can only get there by choosing it.” Now I find that Babette has stolen my thunder!
I have no idea if there is an Absolute called Hell, or whether Hell is a kind of free-floating archetype for ….. well, Hell. As in “all kinds of unpleasantness”.
What I do know is, we make all sorts of Hell for ourselves and for each other. Religion seems to have been an especially fertile field for this - and certainly still is today. We find ourselves in a great deal of Hell these days, all of us.
But remember - as Babette is, I believe, correct. “You do not lose it / Because you chose it—as you know”. Corporately, as the human race, we have and did and do.
Time for a change! Let’s start un-choosing it! Let’s choose bliss and laughter instead. Try it tomorrow.
Brian+
Hell is not far below,
Not black, not burning,
Nor even past returning:
You come and go.
You go and come
As in a mirror,
But hell is nearer,
And not so numb.
And when you go
You do not lose it,
Because you chose it--As you know.
- Babette Deutsch, American poet,
born 0n this day, 1895
I am somewhat known for theological one-line zingers. I’ve kind of adopted this form, as I get a tired brain trying to explain a lot of things. And this somewhat silly expectation I’m trying to meet is made only the more futile as my own understandings change on a frequent basis.
When asked, “What is the purpose of Life?”, I say, “To enjoy it!”. I think that Rita Mae Brown also said this – but I am certain that I coined it before she did!
Another of my one-liners is, “God doesn’t send anyone to Hell (if there is one); you can only get there by choosing it.” Now I find that Babette has stolen my thunder!
I have no idea if there is an Absolute called Hell, or whether Hell is a kind of free-floating archetype for ….. well, Hell. As in “all kinds of unpleasantness”.
What I do know is, we make all sorts of Hell for ourselves and for each other. Religion seems to have been an especially fertile field for this - and certainly still is today. We find ourselves in a great deal of Hell these days, all of us.
But remember - as Babette is, I believe, correct. “You do not lose it / Because you chose it—as you know”. Corporately, as the human race, we have and did and do.
Time for a change! Let’s start un-choosing it! Let’s choose bliss and laughter instead. Try it tomorrow.
Brian+
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, September 21, 2007
In dreams the truth is learned that all good works
are done in the absence of a caress.
- Leonard Cohen, poet & songwriter,
born on this day, 1934, in Canada
And that, my friends, is the character of true Love. I guess that I have said it too many times - but it is a crucial and fundamental truth. Love is an act of the will. 99.9%. Only one tenth of one percent of love has to do with how you feel. That 1% adds the lovely romance and fun to Life. It must always be preserved! But the rest of Love is Choice. It is choosing to love both in the face of Joy, and in the face of Hurt and Pain and Disappointment. C’est la Vie.
Caresses come from Heaven. At least, the caresses that truly soothe and calm and pleasure us. Heavenly caresses are magical. They confirm that each of us is OK - and oh God, we need to know that, both for stability, and for the courage to move off the dime and evolve and grow.
In our dreams, we learn that the good work we are is a Given. Who we are is not bestowed by any other human being. They can only affirm a pre-existing Truth - if they are free human beings who lose nothing by magnanimity.
You really know that you are Free when you (a) do not doubt your own beauty, and, (b) can lavish others with your praise of their unique beauty.
Simplify. Give without desire of gain. There is nothing else you can do that will more centre Jesus’ amazing Love at the heart of it all.
Brian+
In dreams the truth is learned that all good works
are done in the absence of a caress.
- Leonard Cohen, poet & songwriter,
born on this day, 1934, in Canada
And that, my friends, is the character of true Love. I guess that I have said it too many times - but it is a crucial and fundamental truth. Love is an act of the will. 99.9%. Only one tenth of one percent of love has to do with how you feel. That 1% adds the lovely romance and fun to Life. It must always be preserved! But the rest of Love is Choice. It is choosing to love both in the face of Joy, and in the face of Hurt and Pain and Disappointment. C’est la Vie.
Caresses come from Heaven. At least, the caresses that truly soothe and calm and pleasure us. Heavenly caresses are magical. They confirm that each of us is OK - and oh God, we need to know that, both for stability, and for the courage to move off the dime and evolve and grow.
In our dreams, we learn that the good work we are is a Given. Who we are is not bestowed by any other human being. They can only affirm a pre-existing Truth - if they are free human beings who lose nothing by magnanimity.
You really know that you are Free when you (a) do not doubt your own beauty, and, (b) can lavish others with your praise of their unique beauty.
Simplify. Give without desire of gain. There is nothing else you can do that will more centre Jesus’ amazing Love at the heart of it all.
Brian+
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 20, 2007
THE BAT
The bat loved my belly button. It flew out of it when the caverns were no longer enough. Thousands of other bats ignored me, while my bat ate my thoughts and carried them south to the mountains where Cochise, the Apache, painted his face to resemble the flat-nosed rattler. My bat made it back into my hands that night, its beeping reminding me I left my jump rope in the shower, the sweat and pounds lifting higher than the line of bats encircling my car. When I went to bed that night, something motioned to me to start running because the bat that loved my belly button knew more about my body than I did. When the cloud of bats disappeared by morning, I found my lone bat crushed on the road, tire tracks lining its wings to resemble lifelines on the palms.
- A poem by Ray Gonzalez, poet, born in El Paso on this day, 1952
What’s the Bat?? Come on - you can do it!! Read the poem carefully, thoughtfully - just the way Scripture should be read. Read it with an intrigued spirit, with a sense of wonder, with an understanding that anything is possible!
Your thoughts are perfectly valid and fascinating. I’ll share mine. My “take” is that the Bat is “God”. Is What- Gives-Us-Life. Belly-buttons are where we are connected with the womb. “God” knows everything about us. And when we get to the right moment, “God” leaves, flies out. Can’t be confined any longer. Needs to beckon us on to new possibilities, new understandings, new dreams, new levels of comprehension. There we meet Cochise – face painted - who is the Warner/rattler. Oh, the Bat whispers, Come on into the Unknown, the Mysterious, the enticing, that which makes our Beings tingle with anticipation!
The Bat returns - and demands that we rise “higher that the line of bats encircling my car”. The Bat knows what we are capable of, what we need, what we MUST have to grow into our Humanity.
Eventually, we stride out, full of ourselves, confident - and the Bat is flattened on the road. The Message? We have wings! Parts of us we will end up with “tire tracks lining its wings” - that’s the way Life is. But we, WE! Ourselves, will be flying. Soaring on to new adventures, discovering new dimensions of Being.
Do not be afraid of the Bat that loves your belly-button. It is what will give you wings, give you the Life for which each of us has been made.
Brian+
THE BAT
The bat loved my belly button. It flew out of it when the caverns were no longer enough. Thousands of other bats ignored me, while my bat ate my thoughts and carried them south to the mountains where Cochise, the Apache, painted his face to resemble the flat-nosed rattler. My bat made it back into my hands that night, its beeping reminding me I left my jump rope in the shower, the sweat and pounds lifting higher than the line of bats encircling my car. When I went to bed that night, something motioned to me to start running because the bat that loved my belly button knew more about my body than I did. When the cloud of bats disappeared by morning, I found my lone bat crushed on the road, tire tracks lining its wings to resemble lifelines on the palms.
- A poem by Ray Gonzalez, poet, born in El Paso on this day, 1952
What’s the Bat?? Come on - you can do it!! Read the poem carefully, thoughtfully - just the way Scripture should be read. Read it with an intrigued spirit, with a sense of wonder, with an understanding that anything is possible!
Your thoughts are perfectly valid and fascinating. I’ll share mine. My “take” is that the Bat is “God”. Is What- Gives-Us-Life. Belly-buttons are where we are connected with the womb. “God” knows everything about us. And when we get to the right moment, “God” leaves, flies out. Can’t be confined any longer. Needs to beckon us on to new possibilities, new understandings, new dreams, new levels of comprehension. There we meet Cochise – face painted - who is the Warner/rattler. Oh, the Bat whispers, Come on into the Unknown, the Mysterious, the enticing, that which makes our Beings tingle with anticipation!
The Bat returns - and demands that we rise “higher that the line of bats encircling my car”. The Bat knows what we are capable of, what we need, what we MUST have to grow into our Humanity.
Eventually, we stride out, full of ourselves, confident - and the Bat is flattened on the road. The Message? We have wings! Parts of us we will end up with “tire tracks lining its wings” - that’s the way Life is. But we, WE! Ourselves, will be flying. Soaring on to new adventures, discovering new dimensions of Being.
Do not be afraid of the Bat that loves your belly-button. It is what will give you wings, give you the Life for which each of us has been made.
Brian+
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, September 19, 2007
When we are under stress, awareness of Tao is impossible. If we
are fighting on the battlefield, or fighting in the office, or fighting in
your home, or fighting in your mind, there is no such thing as being
with Tao. If you are involved in this type of life, then you must content
yourself to face your problems bravely - until you can do nothing other
than renounce it.
- Deng Ming Tao
I don’t in any way claim to understand that much about the Taoist tradition. The Western mind is mostly befuddled by Eastern thought. “Tao” seems to be “the Pattern of the Universe”, of “Existence”. And the implication is that there is a sensible path that each of us can follow which will, to put a very subjective spin on it, make us happy, content, calm. You know what? I’m all for that!
It seems to me that “being with Tao” is paralleled in Christianity by the phrase either “being in union with God”, or “doing God’s will”. The Gospel is, I think, very clear that we will be “happy” only when we are “one with God”. It also more than implies - and most people don’t see this - that prayer is only “answered” in proportion to this unity. “Asking in Christ’s name” is not a magic spell, conjuring up answers to prayer by the right incantation of words. “Asking in Christs name” means praying “in union with God”, that is, willing what God wills.
Stress is incompatible with “being in Tao”. I believe it is incompatible with “being one with God”. Certainly the stress that results from conflict, from division. When I realized this, I was somewhat stunned! I realized that prayer for any blessing is useless when we fight, exclude, reject. Utterly pointless. It is only when we renounce the life of stress/fighting/tribalism/greed/intolerance/false witness against our neighbour, that we can be happy. We say that God hears all prayer. Perhaps She does. But God “cannot” answer prayer which is contrary to Her nature.
You are wondering when I am going to get to Love? Now! Love is path to “oneness with God. Unless we love, unless we renounce anything else, we are doomed to unhappiness.
So: get busy!
Brian+
When we are under stress, awareness of Tao is impossible. If we
are fighting on the battlefield, or fighting in the office, or fighting in
your home, or fighting in your mind, there is no such thing as being
with Tao. If you are involved in this type of life, then you must content
yourself to face your problems bravely - until you can do nothing other
than renounce it.
- Deng Ming Tao
I don’t in any way claim to understand that much about the Taoist tradition. The Western mind is mostly befuddled by Eastern thought. “Tao” seems to be “the Pattern of the Universe”, of “Existence”. And the implication is that there is a sensible path that each of us can follow which will, to put a very subjective spin on it, make us happy, content, calm. You know what? I’m all for that!
It seems to me that “being with Tao” is paralleled in Christianity by the phrase either “being in union with God”, or “doing God’s will”. The Gospel is, I think, very clear that we will be “happy” only when we are “one with God”. It also more than implies - and most people don’t see this - that prayer is only “answered” in proportion to this unity. “Asking in Christ’s name” is not a magic spell, conjuring up answers to prayer by the right incantation of words. “Asking in Christs name” means praying “in union with God”, that is, willing what God wills.
Stress is incompatible with “being in Tao”. I believe it is incompatible with “being one with God”. Certainly the stress that results from conflict, from division. When I realized this, I was somewhat stunned! I realized that prayer for any blessing is useless when we fight, exclude, reject. Utterly pointless. It is only when we renounce the life of stress/fighting/tribalism/greed/intolerance/false witness against our neighbour, that we can be happy. We say that God hears all prayer. Perhaps She does. But God “cannot” answer prayer which is contrary to Her nature.
You are wondering when I am going to get to Love? Now! Love is path to “oneness with God. Unless we love, unless we renounce anything else, we are doomed to unhappiness.
So: get busy!
Brian+
Monday, September 17, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Life would be so wonderful if we
only knew what to do with it.
- Lovisa Gustafsson, born on this
day, 1905, in Sweden
Oh, I have been thinking about Lovisa’s words. They have made me understand something. They have made me understand today (have I said this before?) - understand? more, feel - how precious and how urgent and how glorious is this earthly life of ours!
What is the Past? I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember the Past or my Past very well. Especially if there was one before I was born. And once it’s Past, it’s Past, right? And many have said, you can’t change it; it’s done. And the Future, well, most of us don’t think about the Future. We just assume that there is one! Tomorrow is another day. But I’ve had enough (three is enough!) experiences of almost dying that I know you can’t really count on tomorrow arriving and finding you alive - though I think it’s “human” to make that assumption, make plans. Lovisa however did say, “There seems to be a law that governs all our actions so I never make plans.”
What we have is Right Now. Now is the moment to care, to understand, to repent, to love, to unburden, to give generously, to believe in yourself and others - to do all the things that advance our humanity in the image of the Divine Lover. This earthly Life is the “bird in hand”, to be made the most of. If we don’t, there is no bridge between the Past and the Future (including Afterlife) - hence, no connection.
The Past can be fascinating, but is done. The Future is a Mystery, though we often have great fantasies about it. Live every day, boldly and fully. From what I have learned in 62 years, I know what to do with it. I hope you do!
Lovisa Gustafsson? Greta Garbo.
Brian+
Life would be so wonderful if we
only knew what to do with it.
- Lovisa Gustafsson, born on this
day, 1905, in Sweden
Oh, I have been thinking about Lovisa’s words. They have made me understand something. They have made me understand today (have I said this before?) - understand? more, feel - how precious and how urgent and how glorious is this earthly life of ours!
What is the Past? I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember the Past or my Past very well. Especially if there was one before I was born. And once it’s Past, it’s Past, right? And many have said, you can’t change it; it’s done. And the Future, well, most of us don’t think about the Future. We just assume that there is one! Tomorrow is another day. But I’ve had enough (three is enough!) experiences of almost dying that I know you can’t really count on tomorrow arriving and finding you alive - though I think it’s “human” to make that assumption, make plans. Lovisa however did say, “There seems to be a law that governs all our actions so I never make plans.”
What we have is Right Now. Now is the moment to care, to understand, to repent, to love, to unburden, to give generously, to believe in yourself and others - to do all the things that advance our humanity in the image of the Divine Lover. This earthly Life is the “bird in hand”, to be made the most of. If we don’t, there is no bridge between the Past and the Future (including Afterlife) - hence, no connection.
The Past can be fascinating, but is done. The Future is a Mystery, though we often have great fantasies about it. Live every day, boldly and fully. From what I have learned in 62 years, I know what to do with it. I hope you do!
Lovisa Gustafsson? Greta Garbo.
Brian+
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, September 17, 2007
Its door opens near. It's a shrine
by the road, it's a flower in the parking lot
of The Pentagon, it says "Look around,
listen. Feel the air." It interrupts
international telephone lines without a tune.
When traffic lines jam, it gets out
and dances on the bridge. If great people
get distracted by fame they forget
this essential kind of breathing
and they die inside their gold shell.
When caravans cross deserts
it is the secret treasure hidden under the jewels.
Sometimes commanders take us over, and they
try to impose their whole universe,
how to succeed by daily calculation:
I can't eat that bread.
- William Stafford
About 7:00am, I would set out from the little apartment about two thirds the way up into the old town. Menton, the city of lemons! The apartment was in a little cave cut out from the rock, with a heavy wooden door, handcarved, sometime in the 17th century. The apartment, I was told, was over 500 years old.
In the warm morning air, I walk past the open church to the the bakery. Buy a baguette, warm from the wood-fired oven, pop it into my string bag on my back. A walk down to the lower town, lazily, wandering through the narrow streets, enjoying the geraniums in their wall clay pots, and the birds singing in their wooden cages hanging from the windows. Next, the fruit vendor. A lime and a peach, warm from the early morning sun. On to the market for a small terrine de lapin (rabbit). And a small cut of butter wrapped in butcher’s paper. My trusty Swiss Army knife hanging from my belt – those were the pre-terrorist days.
The beach. Plunk down my little folding chair, put my straw mat under my feet on the pebbles. Watch the light brighten on the sea. Eat slowly, a slice of warm bread, butter, a slice of rabbit terrine, a little lime squeezed. Strong coffee from the man on the sidewalk by the beach. A book, hat. Walk the shore. Napping. Oops - time for lunch!
“It’s a flower in the parking lot ….. Look around ….. Listen ….. Feel the air ….. dance on the bridge ….. breathe ….. (don’t) die in your golden shell.” When commanders, of whatever kind, try to impose their killing issues of whatever kind, say simply:
“I can’t eat that bread”.
Brian+
Its door opens near. It's a shrine
by the road, it's a flower in the parking lot
of The Pentagon, it says "Look around,
listen. Feel the air." It interrupts
international telephone lines without a tune.
When traffic lines jam, it gets out
and dances on the bridge. If great people
get distracted by fame they forget
this essential kind of breathing
and they die inside their gold shell.
When caravans cross deserts
it is the secret treasure hidden under the jewels.
Sometimes commanders take us over, and they
try to impose their whole universe,
how to succeed by daily calculation:
I can't eat that bread.
- William Stafford
About 7:00am, I would set out from the little apartment about two thirds the way up into the old town. Menton, the city of lemons! The apartment was in a little cave cut out from the rock, with a heavy wooden door, handcarved, sometime in the 17th century. The apartment, I was told, was over 500 years old.
In the warm morning air, I walk past the open church to the the bakery. Buy a baguette, warm from the wood-fired oven, pop it into my string bag on my back. A walk down to the lower town, lazily, wandering through the narrow streets, enjoying the geraniums in their wall clay pots, and the birds singing in their wooden cages hanging from the windows. Next, the fruit vendor. A lime and a peach, warm from the early morning sun. On to the market for a small terrine de lapin (rabbit). And a small cut of butter wrapped in butcher’s paper. My trusty Swiss Army knife hanging from my belt – those were the pre-terrorist days.
The beach. Plunk down my little folding chair, put my straw mat under my feet on the pebbles. Watch the light brighten on the sea. Eat slowly, a slice of warm bread, butter, a slice of rabbit terrine, a little lime squeezed. Strong coffee from the man on the sidewalk by the beach. A book, hat. Walk the shore. Napping. Oops - time for lunch!
“It’s a flower in the parking lot ….. Look around ….. Listen ….. Feel the air ….. dance on the bridge ….. breathe ….. (don’t) die in your golden shell.” When commanders, of whatever kind, try to impose their killing issues of whatever kind, say simply:
“I can’t eat that bread”.
Brian+
Friday, September 14, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, September 15, 2007
I don't expect you'll hear me writing any poems
to the greater glory of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
- Robert Penn Warren, first Poet Laureate
of the United States, and Pulitzer Prize winner,
died on this day in Stratton Vt., 1989, age 84
So, I am a weak human being who cannot resist a great line! For my sheer delight, I request pardon of Nancy, and of Ronald - wherever he may be. I shall refrain from speculating.
Here are some poetic words from Warren:
But I had forgotten to mention an upland
Of wind-tortured stone white in darkness, and tall, but when
No wind, mist gathers, and once on the Sarré at midnight,
I watched the sheep huddling. Their eyes
stared into nothingness. In that mist-diffused light their eyes
Were stupid and round like the eyes of fat fish in muddy water,
Or of a scholar who has lost faith in his calling.
Their jaws did not move. Shreds
Of dry grass, gray in the gray mist-light, hung
From the side of a jaw, unmoving.
You would think that nothing would ever again happen.
That may be a way to love God.
(Here is to be found the entire poem: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15311
I feel like one of those sheep, when I ponder the Mystery called “God”. I suspect that this what the shepherds “abiding in the fields” in the Christian myth/truth story looked like – “shreds of dry grass …. unmoving” ….. “their eyes stared into nothingness”. I have, for many many years, pooh-poohed the image of sheep for human beings - dumb creatures paying no attention, too stupid to see danger, etc.
But, but …… What else should we be like except these awed sheep, unable to utter word, shift an eye, or move a jaw, in the presence of the power of Holy Love?! Is there anything more stunning than Unconditional Love flowing from the star-lit heavens, pointing to the indwelling God within each of us?? If we catch even a fleeting glimpse of this reality, would we not stand in utter amazement, struggling with unbelief to believe? Oh, it’s true. It’s true. Each human heart is a lowly manger. And in it, “God” is born. Look inside your heart, look deeply, free from prejudice, guilt, or self-judgment. There is your True Self. When you have recovered from your immobility - CHEER!
Brian+
I don't expect you'll hear me writing any poems
to the greater glory of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
- Robert Penn Warren, first Poet Laureate
of the United States, and Pulitzer Prize winner,
died on this day in Stratton Vt., 1989, age 84
So, I am a weak human being who cannot resist a great line! For my sheer delight, I request pardon of Nancy, and of Ronald - wherever he may be. I shall refrain from speculating.
Here are some poetic words from Warren:
But I had forgotten to mention an upland
Of wind-tortured stone white in darkness, and tall, but when
No wind, mist gathers, and once on the Sarré at midnight,
I watched the sheep huddling. Their eyes
stared into nothingness. In that mist-diffused light their eyes
Were stupid and round like the eyes of fat fish in muddy water,
Or of a scholar who has lost faith in his calling.
Their jaws did not move. Shreds
Of dry grass, gray in the gray mist-light, hung
From the side of a jaw, unmoving.
You would think that nothing would ever again happen.
That may be a way to love God.
(Here is to be found the entire poem: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15311
I feel like one of those sheep, when I ponder the Mystery called “God”. I suspect that this what the shepherds “abiding in the fields” in the Christian myth/truth story looked like – “shreds of dry grass …. unmoving” ….. “their eyes stared into nothingness”. I have, for many many years, pooh-poohed the image of sheep for human beings - dumb creatures paying no attention, too stupid to see danger, etc.
But, but …… What else should we be like except these awed sheep, unable to utter word, shift an eye, or move a jaw, in the presence of the power of Holy Love?! Is there anything more stunning than Unconditional Love flowing from the star-lit heavens, pointing to the indwelling God within each of us?? If we catch even a fleeting glimpse of this reality, would we not stand in utter amazement, struggling with unbelief to believe? Oh, it’s true. It’s true. Each human heart is a lowly manger. And in it, “God” is born. Look inside your heart, look deeply, free from prejudice, guilt, or self-judgment. There is your True Self. When you have recovered from your immobility - CHEER!
Brian+
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, September 14, 2007
Relinquishing control is the ultimate challenge of the Spiritual Warrior.
- the Book of Runes
Today, in the Christian calendar, is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The cross on which Jesus was crucified has been the principle symbol of Christian faith since the very beginning.
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the cross with the figure of Jesus on it became dominant. Does this mean that the death of Jesus is somehow paramount, along with His suffering and pain? It seems so to me. “Christ died for me” is more often heard in Roman Catholic devotions and books and sermons than “Christ lives for me”.
In the Protestant tradition, it was and is the empty or bare cross that dominates. Is this saying that Christ’s death is irrelevant in the face of the Resurrection? Personally, I think this is nearer the message of the Gospel. Yet, I do not see in any of the Christian expressions a clear focus on Being Alive in Christ, in living one’s life. Of leaving Death in all its forms behind. Of living every moment fully and without fear.
I appreciate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (and will say so again on Sunday) because it celebrates the Cross itself, not the Mystery of what God “did for us”.
Simply put, this Feast thanks the Cross - the two beams of wood that composed it - for its part in revealing a Mystery which, if we catch some understanding of it, frees us to live fully, fearlessly, freely.
In my mind, the Cross has come to represent each human being. We , like the wood of the Cross, can be so rigid, unyielding, made hard and rejecting by our egos, our character defects, our old behaviours, our fears. So much so that we refuse to embrace the gifts for Life that are being offered. We seek to control, We begin to believe that our humanity is incapable of great beauty. But a great early hymn addresses the Cross, in a sense thanking It for relaxing its rigidity and embracing the body of Jesus. By letting go of control, of holding on to a long-held way of being, the Cross broke a barrier, letting Life flood through. People have debated “how” for millennia, but the “how” is secondary to the gift.
Relinquish control. Let down barriers. Like the Cross, reach out and throw your arms around the Love which alone makes us fully human, and which “The Christ” universally represents. As we “exalt” the Cross, we are cheering on our own courage in letting down our defenses, allowing ourselves to be inhabited by the Life-force we call God”.
Brian+
Relinquishing control is the ultimate challenge of the Spiritual Warrior.
- the Book of Runes
Today, in the Christian calendar, is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The cross on which Jesus was crucified has been the principle symbol of Christian faith since the very beginning.
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the cross with the figure of Jesus on it became dominant. Does this mean that the death of Jesus is somehow paramount, along with His suffering and pain? It seems so to me. “Christ died for me” is more often heard in Roman Catholic devotions and books and sermons than “Christ lives for me”.
In the Protestant tradition, it was and is the empty or bare cross that dominates. Is this saying that Christ’s death is irrelevant in the face of the Resurrection? Personally, I think this is nearer the message of the Gospel. Yet, I do not see in any of the Christian expressions a clear focus on Being Alive in Christ, in living one’s life. Of leaving Death in all its forms behind. Of living every moment fully and without fear.
I appreciate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (and will say so again on Sunday) because it celebrates the Cross itself, not the Mystery of what God “did for us”.
Simply put, this Feast thanks the Cross - the two beams of wood that composed it - for its part in revealing a Mystery which, if we catch some understanding of it, frees us to live fully, fearlessly, freely.
In my mind, the Cross has come to represent each human being. We , like the wood of the Cross, can be so rigid, unyielding, made hard and rejecting by our egos, our character defects, our old behaviours, our fears. So much so that we refuse to embrace the gifts for Life that are being offered. We seek to control, We begin to believe that our humanity is incapable of great beauty. But a great early hymn addresses the Cross, in a sense thanking It for relaxing its rigidity and embracing the body of Jesus. By letting go of control, of holding on to a long-held way of being, the Cross broke a barrier, letting Life flood through. People have debated “how” for millennia, but the “how” is secondary to the gift.
Relinquish control. Let down barriers. Like the Cross, reach out and throw your arms around the Love which alone makes us fully human, and which “The Christ” universally represents. As we “exalt” the Cross, we are cheering on our own courage in letting down our defenses, allowing ourselves to be inhabited by the Life-force we call God”.
Brian+
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 13, 2007
Indeed, Miss Manners has come to believe that the basic
political division in this country is not between liberals and
conservatives but between those who believe that they
should have a say in the love lives of strangers and those
who do not.
- Miss Manners (Judith Martin), born on this day, 1938
Good Lord! I had no idea that Miss Manners was 8 years older than I am! But, I suppose that she would consider it “rude” that I have had the effrontery to point this out. My apologies.
Now, I suppose that many of you are going to “rush to the judgment” that I am applying Miss Manner’s words to the vicious, nasty, mean-spirited, troglodyte tendency to tell people who love those of the same sex, or perhaps those of whom they don’t approve who might be thinking of marrying their children, most of whom they have stolidly determined to keep as “strangers” and make no attempt to get to know them personally, that such loving is disgusting and all other manner of wickedness.
Nope. Not even going to refer to it. I’m thinking about those who want to intimidate those of us who have been taught to love everyone, including our enemies and those who disagree with us and those who threaten us, that we must have a healthy hatred for such persons. What?! Love a Muslim, who is quite likely a terrorist out to destroy our culture, religion, and way of life? What?! Love a “social inferior” who is quite likely to burgle our house, pee on our lawn ornaments, or reject our every effort to tidy them up? What?! Love those who dare to criticize the way we “have always done it” - well, they can just go back to where they came from! Shocking, ungrateful behavior!
Perhaps if those who “believe that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers” were to give up trying to regulate love and just become lovers …..
Brian+
Indeed, Miss Manners has come to believe that the basic
political division in this country is not between liberals and
conservatives but between those who believe that they
should have a say in the love lives of strangers and those
who do not.
- Miss Manners (Judith Martin), born on this day, 1938
Good Lord! I had no idea that Miss Manners was 8 years older than I am! But, I suppose that she would consider it “rude” that I have had the effrontery to point this out. My apologies.
Now, I suppose that many of you are going to “rush to the judgment” that I am applying Miss Manner’s words to the vicious, nasty, mean-spirited, troglodyte tendency to tell people who love those of the same sex, or perhaps those of whom they don’t approve who might be thinking of marrying their children, most of whom they have stolidly determined to keep as “strangers” and make no attempt to get to know them personally, that such loving is disgusting and all other manner of wickedness.
Nope. Not even going to refer to it. I’m thinking about those who want to intimidate those of us who have been taught to love everyone, including our enemies and those who disagree with us and those who threaten us, that we must have a healthy hatred for such persons. What?! Love a Muslim, who is quite likely a terrorist out to destroy our culture, religion, and way of life? What?! Love a “social inferior” who is quite likely to burgle our house, pee on our lawn ornaments, or reject our every effort to tidy them up? What?! Love those who dare to criticize the way we “have always done it” - well, they can just go back to where they came from! Shocking, ungrateful behavior!
Perhaps if those who “believe that they should have a say in the love lives of strangers” were to give up trying to regulate love and just become lovers …..
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, September 12, 2007
All government, of course, is against liberty.
Adultery is the application of democracy to love.
Archbishop - A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank
superior to that attained by Christ.
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective
wisdom of individual ignorance.
For every complex problem there is an answer that
is clear, simple, and wrong.
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise
and free than Christianity has made them good.
- H. L. Mencken, gadfly, born on this day, 1880
Ok, ok, so I am being lazy today! I am doing this deliberately (of course) so that all of you can feel the reassuring confirmation that I am just as unreliable, slacker-off (well, as a rabid INFP, would you be surprised??), quirky human beings as we all can be. There is a pleasant solidarity in human weakness!
I did, however, pause when I pondered Mencken’s comment about Christianity not making people good. The parable Jesus is reported to have told about the Sheep and the Goats being separated at the end of time popped into my mind. The “goats”, you may remember, seemed shocked to find themselves on the “wrong” side of the Kingdom fence. “But WHEN did we see you and not feed you, visit you in prison, clothe you when you were naked …..etc”??
And I thought of the words from 1 John, that no ne can say that they love God and hate their neighbour.
Mencken always invokes some serious thought. But, for the most part ….. have a laugh with the old Curmudgeon!!
Brian+
All government, of course, is against liberty.
Adultery is the application of democracy to love.
Archbishop - A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank
superior to that attained by Christ.
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective
wisdom of individual ignorance.
For every complex problem there is an answer that
is clear, simple, and wrong.
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise
and free than Christianity has made them good.
- H. L. Mencken, gadfly, born on this day, 1880
Ok, ok, so I am being lazy today! I am doing this deliberately (of course) so that all of you can feel the reassuring confirmation that I am just as unreliable, slacker-off (well, as a rabid INFP, would you be surprised??), quirky human beings as we all can be. There is a pleasant solidarity in human weakness!
I did, however, pause when I pondered Mencken’s comment about Christianity not making people good. The parable Jesus is reported to have told about the Sheep and the Goats being separated at the end of time popped into my mind. The “goats”, you may remember, seemed shocked to find themselves on the “wrong” side of the Kingdom fence. “But WHEN did we see you and not feed you, visit you in prison, clothe you when you were naked …..etc”??
And I thought of the words from 1 John, that no ne can say that they love God and hate their neighbour.
Mencken always invokes some serious thought. But, for the most part ….. have a laugh with the old Curmudgeon!!
Brian+
Monday, September 10, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, September 11, 2007
In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim
at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in
either can rarely be cured by persecution.
- Alexander Hamilton, who on this day, 1789,
was appointed the first Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States of America
I have ever been stunned by the fact that Christianity decided to make the Hebrew Scriptures part of the Holy Writings of the Christian faith. (And equally stunned that we never developed our own set of “Psalms”.) If I had been alive at the time, I would have been a Marcionite. Or, in the 19th century, I would have been a follower of Olive Pell, who composed her own Bible by taking out of it all the passages to which she objected as being unworthy of the God she knew.
From a “spiritual” perspective, I believe that Hamilton is correct. The God of the “Old” (an odious term!) Testament may have been pictured as achieving His ends by “fire and sword”. I simply cannot imagine the God of Jesus Christ would. And, intellectually and rationally, it makes clear sense that persecution, punishment, mistreatment, and ridicule only makes for more determined enemies. That is why we try to make imprisonment for crime not vengeful; we only make more vicious enemies of society.
Today we remember 9/11 - and with deep prayer and sorrow those who perished, their families and friends. We give thanks that they are in the loving hands of God, simply because they are God’s “children”. But in my own heart I also remember all of those, of whatever nationality and culture and religion, who have suffered and died in the aftermath of 9/11, because of the actions of unloving human beings. Christians know that the God we have come to know in Jesus loves every human being equally and unconditionally. God weeps at every act of hate and fear perpetrated by one human being against another.
Has 9/11 taught us anything? I look around and I am not reassured. But I am ever hopeful.
Brian+
In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim
at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in
either can rarely be cured by persecution.
- Alexander Hamilton, who on this day, 1789,
was appointed the first Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States of America
I have ever been stunned by the fact that Christianity decided to make the Hebrew Scriptures part of the Holy Writings of the Christian faith. (And equally stunned that we never developed our own set of “Psalms”.) If I had been alive at the time, I would have been a Marcionite. Or, in the 19th century, I would have been a follower of Olive Pell, who composed her own Bible by taking out of it all the passages to which she objected as being unworthy of the God she knew.
From a “spiritual” perspective, I believe that Hamilton is correct. The God of the “Old” (an odious term!) Testament may have been pictured as achieving His ends by “fire and sword”. I simply cannot imagine the God of Jesus Christ would. And, intellectually and rationally, it makes clear sense that persecution, punishment, mistreatment, and ridicule only makes for more determined enemies. That is why we try to make imprisonment for crime not vengeful; we only make more vicious enemies of society.
Today we remember 9/11 - and with deep prayer and sorrow those who perished, their families and friends. We give thanks that they are in the loving hands of God, simply because they are God’s “children”. But in my own heart I also remember all of those, of whatever nationality and culture and religion, who have suffered and died in the aftermath of 9/11, because of the actions of unloving human beings. Christians know that the God we have come to know in Jesus loves every human being equally and unconditionally. God weeps at every act of hate and fear perpetrated by one human being against another.
Has 9/11 taught us anything? I look around and I am not reassured. But I am ever hopeful.
Brian+
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, September 10, 2007
Creationist critics often charge that evolution cannot be tested,
and therefore cannot be viewed as a properly scientific subject
at all. This claim is rhetorical nonsense.
- Stephen Jay Gould, born on this day, 1941
You know, I had no idea really who Stephen Gould is! So, thanks to Google, I “looked him up”. He was a paleontologist, having announcd that he would be one having seen a dinosaur skeleton at age 5 at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Just like me, who said, at age 5, that I wanted to “be a priest”. Gould was a scientist. And he was Creationism’s most effective opponent - Creationism as “science”, that is.
I cannot tell you how discouraged and disappointed and yes, even angry, I have become about this business of the clash between Creationism and Evolution. Why disappointed and discouraged? Because it tells me that Americans are not evolving. And not to evolve means that the American human imagination is withering. “Evolution” is science. “Creationism” is ….. well, should be ….. holy imagination. Holy metaphor.
The Bible has NOTHING (or very little) to do with science or history. Israeli (and other) archeologists have come a long way in proving that pivotal characters like Abraham, Moses, the Flight from Egypt, the Wandering in the Desert, the occupation of the “Promised Land” are NOT historical personages or facts. The Bible is a Holy Metaphor. The Bible is imaginative expression of how a people have chosen to understand their place and meaning in History. “Creationism” is a Holy Myth. A story attempting to express a people’s struggle to grasp - or, and here is the problem, create - their meaning in History?
Do you understand how confusing Science with Imagination kills the Soul? Kills Truth? Kills the freedom of the Human Spirit? Do we not see how thinking there was a physical place called Eden fatally leads us astray from understanding that we are called to become Beings of Divine Compassion?
Take nothing in the Bible “literally”. There is NO SUCH THING as “literal truth”. Only an invitation to open the heart and mind to Mystery.
Brian+
Creationist critics often charge that evolution cannot be tested,
and therefore cannot be viewed as a properly scientific subject
at all. This claim is rhetorical nonsense.
- Stephen Jay Gould, born on this day, 1941
You know, I had no idea really who Stephen Gould is! So, thanks to Google, I “looked him up”. He was a paleontologist, having announcd that he would be one having seen a dinosaur skeleton at age 5 at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Just like me, who said, at age 5, that I wanted to “be a priest”. Gould was a scientist. And he was Creationism’s most effective opponent - Creationism as “science”, that is.
I cannot tell you how discouraged and disappointed and yes, even angry, I have become about this business of the clash between Creationism and Evolution. Why disappointed and discouraged? Because it tells me that Americans are not evolving. And not to evolve means that the American human imagination is withering. “Evolution” is science. “Creationism” is ….. well, should be ….. holy imagination. Holy metaphor.
The Bible has NOTHING (or very little) to do with science or history. Israeli (and other) archeologists have come a long way in proving that pivotal characters like Abraham, Moses, the Flight from Egypt, the Wandering in the Desert, the occupation of the “Promised Land” are NOT historical personages or facts. The Bible is a Holy Metaphor. The Bible is imaginative expression of how a people have chosen to understand their place and meaning in History. “Creationism” is a Holy Myth. A story attempting to express a people’s struggle to grasp - or, and here is the problem, create - their meaning in History?
Do you understand how confusing Science with Imagination kills the Soul? Kills Truth? Kills the freedom of the Human Spirit? Do we not see how thinking there was a physical place called Eden fatally leads us astray from understanding that we are called to become Beings of Divine Compassion?
Take nothing in the Bible “literally”. There is NO SUCH THING as “literal truth”. Only an invitation to open the heart and mind to Mystery.
Brian+
Friday, September 7, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, September 8, 2007
Even Tom Sawyer had a girlfriend and to talk about adults
without talking about their sex drives is like talking about a
window without glass.
- Grace Metalious, author, (“Peyton Place”) ,
born on this day, 1924
You’ve heard about kids reading by flashlight under the covers. Right? I only did that once; did you ever do it? I don’t remember what age I was. But I read “Peyton Place” under the covers. Whoa! Terrific. Why? Because Grace had written a book that I was reading at a time when I was blossoming into a human being, including sexuality. Well, it wasn’t about my sexuality, but it was about the reality of sexuality - and I was thrilled! Have you ever heard about Grace Metalious since “Peyton Place”? I don’t think she ever wrote anything else that was “famous”. She didn’t need to. She exposed the soft underbelly of America - the hypocrisy that our roots in American Puritanism led us to ….. and in which we still live. It is a cultural core that has twisted and tortured and made us liars. Therefore, she is one of my heroes; she forced us to look at the Truth.
Think about it. Countless “religious Christian” Americans rail piously against sexuality – and yet support and maintain a culture that feeds off of sexuality. Why? Because we have never dealt with it - and so it dominates us. Our icons are Tammy Fay Baker. Pious Christian – but a mascara-laden sex queen, Marilyn Munroe, Steve McQueen, Dr. Kildare..
The Bible is full of sexuality. Most people turn a blind eye - how absurd. “Human” and “sexuality” are inextricably bonded. To deny that is to condemn ourselves to a life of lies. But, America is committed tyo a life of lies, on many levels.
Church people - even Episcopalians! - hate it when their clergy talk about sexuality. Good Lord, I became an Episcopalian because I thought “they” were the best hope of honesty! What a disappointment this has been throughout the years. Episcopalians are just as willing as anyone to cower in falsehood.
Friends: Christ is about Truth. And there is no other foundation for Truth than Love. And vice versa.
If you can’t face the truth about what it is to be Human, there is NO salvation.
Be sexy. That’s the road to Freedom.
Brian+
Even Tom Sawyer had a girlfriend and to talk about adults
without talking about their sex drives is like talking about a
window without glass.
- Grace Metalious, author, (“Peyton Place”) ,
born on this day, 1924
You’ve heard about kids reading by flashlight under the covers. Right? I only did that once; did you ever do it? I don’t remember what age I was. But I read “Peyton Place” under the covers. Whoa! Terrific. Why? Because Grace had written a book that I was reading at a time when I was blossoming into a human being, including sexuality. Well, it wasn’t about my sexuality, but it was about the reality of sexuality - and I was thrilled! Have you ever heard about Grace Metalious since “Peyton Place”? I don’t think she ever wrote anything else that was “famous”. She didn’t need to. She exposed the soft underbelly of America - the hypocrisy that our roots in American Puritanism led us to ….. and in which we still live. It is a cultural core that has twisted and tortured and made us liars. Therefore, she is one of my heroes; she forced us to look at the Truth.
Think about it. Countless “religious Christian” Americans rail piously against sexuality – and yet support and maintain a culture that feeds off of sexuality. Why? Because we have never dealt with it - and so it dominates us. Our icons are Tammy Fay Baker. Pious Christian – but a mascara-laden sex queen, Marilyn Munroe, Steve McQueen, Dr. Kildare..
The Bible is full of sexuality. Most people turn a blind eye - how absurd. “Human” and “sexuality” are inextricably bonded. To deny that is to condemn ourselves to a life of lies. But, America is committed tyo a life of lies, on many levels.
Church people - even Episcopalians! - hate it when their clergy talk about sexuality. Good Lord, I became an Episcopalian because I thought “they” were the best hope of honesty! What a disappointment this has been throughout the years. Episcopalians are just as willing as anyone to cower in falsehood.
Friends: Christ is about Truth. And there is no other foundation for Truth than Love. And vice versa.
If you can’t face the truth about what it is to be Human, there is NO salvation.
Be sexy. That’s the road to Freedom.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, September 07, 2007
Love - love is strange
lot of people take it for a game
Once you get it - you're in an awful fix
after you've had it - you never want to quit
Many people don't understand, no no
they think lovin', yeah yeah - is money in the hand
Your sweet lovin' - is better than a kiss, yeah yeah
when you leave me - sweet kisses I miss
- Buddy Holly (lyrics his), born on
this day, 1936
Born in Lubbock TX he was. At age 13, sang with a friend at local clubs and high school talent shows. Saw Elvis sing in 1955. He opened for Bill Haley & his Comets, turned to Rock & Roll, and, with the Crickets, opened (accidently!) at the Apollo in Harlem! After a gig in Duluth, a small chartered plane crashed, killing Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) and the pilot. Buddy Holly was 22.
You get maybe 22 years (or less). Maybe 101. Most of us get “educated”. How? What were you taught? About Life, I mean? When I think about it, I was “taught” by my early education to conform. Are we all, even today? No one ever taught me about the road “less travelled by” (Frost) ….. unless that Teacher was inside me. Maybe I heard it from sitting in First Presbyterian Church and listening to Jesus say to His disciples, “Come, follow Me, and they left everything and followed Him”.
Oh, you could stay in the same physical place all your life. But within oneself, for the inner Journey, I believe that the Journey can never even begin until the voice is heard to “take the road less travelled by”. Becoming fully human, fully Oneself (“one traveler”), will never happen on the road that doesn’t diverge in the yellow wood.
“Church” (of whatever religion) is about being equipped for the “road less travelled by”. Or should be. Even if the plane crashes early on, you’ll have done what was needed - become Human, really Human. Buddy implies it’s about Love and not quitting.
Brian+
Love - love is strange
lot of people take it for a game
Once you get it - you're in an awful fix
after you've had it - you never want to quit
Many people don't understand, no no
they think lovin', yeah yeah - is money in the hand
Your sweet lovin' - is better than a kiss, yeah yeah
when you leave me - sweet kisses I miss
- Buddy Holly (lyrics his), born on
this day, 1936
Born in Lubbock TX he was. At age 13, sang with a friend at local clubs and high school talent shows. Saw Elvis sing in 1955. He opened for Bill Haley & his Comets, turned to Rock & Roll, and, with the Crickets, opened (accidently!) at the Apollo in Harlem! After a gig in Duluth, a small chartered plane crashed, killing Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) and the pilot. Buddy Holly was 22.
You get maybe 22 years (or less). Maybe 101. Most of us get “educated”. How? What were you taught? About Life, I mean? When I think about it, I was “taught” by my early education to conform. Are we all, even today? No one ever taught me about the road “less travelled by” (Frost) ….. unless that Teacher was inside me. Maybe I heard it from sitting in First Presbyterian Church and listening to Jesus say to His disciples, “Come, follow Me, and they left everything and followed Him”.
Oh, you could stay in the same physical place all your life. But within oneself, for the inner Journey, I believe that the Journey can never even begin until the voice is heard to “take the road less travelled by”. Becoming fully human, fully Oneself (“one traveler”), will never happen on the road that doesn’t diverge in the yellow wood.
“Church” (of whatever religion) is about being equipped for the “road less travelled by”. Or should be. Even if the plane crashes early on, you’ll have done what was needed - become Human, really Human. Buddy implies it’s about Love and not quitting.
Brian+
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 6, 2007
To live for some future goal is shallow.
It's the sides of the mountain that sustain
life, not the top.
- Robert Persig, writer, born on
this day, 1928
Robert Persig wrote a book called “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. In the 70’s, I think. I loved it - though I knew nothing about motorcycles, and equally little about Zen, then. The book was, by Robert’s own sub-titling, “an inquiry into values”. I’ve been reading that sort of stuff for years. “Values” is a fascinating subject. Especially in America. There’s a book we may do a study on, about Jesus’ “family values”. I can’t imagine that, in America, given the dominant politics, there could possibly be any correlation.
I agree with Persig. It is the sides of the mountain that sustain Life. The “top” of the mountain is about the ultimate goal or purpose. But you can’t get there apart from the sides. As I have said before, you can’t get to “Heaven” without the fully authentic living of this Earthly Life.
The point is: the “future goal” and “the living of this Earthly Life” are inextricably intertwined. As the song says, “You can’t have one without the other”. But, I completely disagree with Persig that “to live for some future goal is shallow”. Perhaps he was just making his point. The reality is, living daily mundane Life (the sides of the mountain) and living “for some future goal” (the top) are the very same thing. This is an example of the Christian truth that, once one has “died with Christ and been raised with Him”, there is no break between what we do here and what we hope for beyond this Earthly Life. They merge, become part of the same Reality.
What I do today has both its own integrity, and is woven into the great tapestry of building the community of Compassion. If you should get to the place where you can’t distinguish between today and forever, you have become whole. You have become One with all Creation.
Brian+
To live for some future goal is shallow.
It's the sides of the mountain that sustain
life, not the top.
- Robert Persig, writer, born on
this day, 1928
Robert Persig wrote a book called “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. In the 70’s, I think. I loved it - though I knew nothing about motorcycles, and equally little about Zen, then. The book was, by Robert’s own sub-titling, “an inquiry into values”. I’ve been reading that sort of stuff for years. “Values” is a fascinating subject. Especially in America. There’s a book we may do a study on, about Jesus’ “family values”. I can’t imagine that, in America, given the dominant politics, there could possibly be any correlation.
I agree with Persig. It is the sides of the mountain that sustain Life. The “top” of the mountain is about the ultimate goal or purpose. But you can’t get there apart from the sides. As I have said before, you can’t get to “Heaven” without the fully authentic living of this Earthly Life.
The point is: the “future goal” and “the living of this Earthly Life” are inextricably intertwined. As the song says, “You can’t have one without the other”. But, I completely disagree with Persig that “to live for some future goal is shallow”. Perhaps he was just making his point. The reality is, living daily mundane Life (the sides of the mountain) and living “for some future goal” (the top) are the very same thing. This is an example of the Christian truth that, once one has “died with Christ and been raised with Him”, there is no break between what we do here and what we hope for beyond this Earthly Life. They merge, become part of the same Reality.
What I do today has both its own integrity, and is woven into the great tapestry of building the community of Compassion. If you should get to the place where you can’t distinguish between today and forever, you have become whole. You have become One with all Creation.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Nomad Exquisite
As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth
The big-finned palm
And green vine angering for life,
As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth hymn and hymn
From the beholder,
Beholding all these green sides,
And blessed mornings,
Meet for the eye of the young alligator,
And lightning colors
So, in me, comes flinging
Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames.
- Wallace Stevens
I was just too ….. I don’t want to say “tired”, last night, to compose the Reflection for today. It sort of annoys me when people say, “I’m tired”. As soon as I feel that annoyance, of course I then have to ask myself, “What’s going on with you, Brian”. It always - or mostly always - comes back to us, doesn’t it. (Statement, not question.) I pondered it.
“Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames.” What it is, is that I want Life to be chock-full of “green sides and blessed mornings”. Not frantic. It could be quiet, tranquil. Like now, as I write. The Arizona morning is taking shape out of the night. I can’t yet tell if the sky is clear or a textured grey. The doves are sitting calmly on the stones beneath the platform feeder waiting, I fancy, for ….. me to bring them breakfast! When I’m away, I think of them there, disappointed. In the olive trees out front, some Great-tailed Grackle is squawking about something. My tea is cooling in the bone china cup beside me. In California, my beloved is off to work.
If there are going to be “green sides and blessed mornings” in our lives, oh yes, those things are offered. That, I choose to believe, is how God, or the Universe, works. But we must welcome them, see them. And I recall, a friend’s PET scan yesterday came back, “Nothing Wrong”. A flake of flame!
Now. Carry this into the day.
Brian+
Nomad Exquisite
As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth
The big-finned palm
And green vine angering for life,
As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth hymn and hymn
From the beholder,
Beholding all these green sides,
And blessed mornings,
Meet for the eye of the young alligator,
And lightning colors
So, in me, comes flinging
Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames.
- Wallace Stevens
I was just too ….. I don’t want to say “tired”, last night, to compose the Reflection for today. It sort of annoys me when people say, “I’m tired”. As soon as I feel that annoyance, of course I then have to ask myself, “What’s going on with you, Brian”. It always - or mostly always - comes back to us, doesn’t it. (Statement, not question.) I pondered it.
“Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames.” What it is, is that I want Life to be chock-full of “green sides and blessed mornings”. Not frantic. It could be quiet, tranquil. Like now, as I write. The Arizona morning is taking shape out of the night. I can’t yet tell if the sky is clear or a textured grey. The doves are sitting calmly on the stones beneath the platform feeder waiting, I fancy, for ….. me to bring them breakfast! When I’m away, I think of them there, disappointed. In the olive trees out front, some Great-tailed Grackle is squawking about something. My tea is cooling in the bone china cup beside me. In California, my beloved is off to work.
If there are going to be “green sides and blessed mornings” in our lives, oh yes, those things are offered. That, I choose to believe, is how God, or the Universe, works. But we must welcome them, see them. And I recall, a friend’s PET scan yesterday came back, “Nothing Wrong”. A flake of flame!
Now. Carry this into the day.
Brian+
Monday, September 3, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, September 4, 2007
In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon.
What we loathe, we graft into our very soul.
- Mary Renault, English-born South African author,
born on this day, 1905
Mary Renault is a hero of mine. She was a writer. And by God she was honest. What a refreshing thing. As a young person, I inhaled her books, especially her trilogy on Alexander the Great. She made the Classical Greek world come alive for me. She made me dream. She made me understand that there was a genuine glory in being who you really were as a human being. I think that I have read “The King Must Die” at least five times. Oh, the tale was rivetingly absorbing! But she helped me understand something mystical that lies at the core of the Christian myth (“faith/truth story”). “The God dying” (Jesus on the Cross) points to the fundamental truth that we and what we call the Divine are part of the same reality. I don’t “hoard” books - but Mary Renault’s works rest on my shelves, critical to understanding Life.
Jesus is reported to have said, “Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where rust and moth corrupt …. Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be”. Mary Renault is correct. Her words remind us that we become what we choose to value ….. or to devalue. For example, if we loathe those who are not like us, we become ourself something to be loathed. And since there is so much of ourselves we fear to embrace and to integrate, we have chosen the path of self-destruction.
Joshua said to the people of Israel as they were poised to enter the Promised Land (alas, a wicked interpretation of the Bible!), “Choose today Whom you shall serve.” I say, Choose Love. Love what is vulnerable; what is fragile; what is confounding; what is humbling; what is disturbing; what eradicates division; what raises our hackles; what makes us afraid; what angers us; what makes us contemptuous; what urges arrogance; what stimulates pride; what urges judgmentalism. Loving these things leads us to cherish our brokenness - and in that embrace we will be led to glory.
If we brood upon what we loath (and fear), our soul withers. If we brood upon Love, our soul is shaped into the image of Compassion.
Do not brood on anything but Gentleness and Kindness. Rejoice in the strength of your vulnerability. You will become unconquerable, and a blessing.
Brian+
In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon.
What we loathe, we graft into our very soul.
- Mary Renault, English-born South African author,
born on this day, 1905
Mary Renault is a hero of mine. She was a writer. And by God she was honest. What a refreshing thing. As a young person, I inhaled her books, especially her trilogy on Alexander the Great. She made the Classical Greek world come alive for me. She made me dream. She made me understand that there was a genuine glory in being who you really were as a human being. I think that I have read “The King Must Die” at least five times. Oh, the tale was rivetingly absorbing! But she helped me understand something mystical that lies at the core of the Christian myth (“faith/truth story”). “The God dying” (Jesus on the Cross) points to the fundamental truth that we and what we call the Divine are part of the same reality. I don’t “hoard” books - but Mary Renault’s works rest on my shelves, critical to understanding Life.
Jesus is reported to have said, “Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where rust and moth corrupt …. Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be”. Mary Renault is correct. Her words remind us that we become what we choose to value ….. or to devalue. For example, if we loathe those who are not like us, we become ourself something to be loathed. And since there is so much of ourselves we fear to embrace and to integrate, we have chosen the path of self-destruction.
Joshua said to the people of Israel as they were poised to enter the Promised Land (alas, a wicked interpretation of the Bible!), “Choose today Whom you shall serve.” I say, Choose Love. Love what is vulnerable; what is fragile; what is confounding; what is humbling; what is disturbing; what eradicates division; what raises our hackles; what makes us afraid; what angers us; what makes us contemptuous; what urges arrogance; what stimulates pride; what urges judgmentalism. Loving these things leads us to cherish our brokenness - and in that embrace we will be led to glory.
If we brood upon what we loath (and fear), our soul withers. If we brood upon Love, our soul is shaped into the image of Compassion.
Do not brood on anything but Gentleness and Kindness. Rejoice in the strength of your vulnerability. You will become unconquerable, and a blessing.
Brian+
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, September 3, 2007
"May God forgive you for what you have done".
- Albino Luciani, installed on this day, 1978,
as Pope John Paul I
Cardinal Patriarch of Venice (something, I confess, I wouldn’t have minded being!! What fun to make pastoral visits in a gondola!)), Albino Luciani was surprisingly elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His health was, unknown to most, not too good - though it was later written in print that he might have been murdered. He became known as “The Smiling Pope”. He reigned for only 33 days.
I have only this to say. Most churches and religions today could do with leaders who are a little more like Albino Luciani. Though Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, he was out of the power structure. This probably contributed to the apprehension he felt at being elected Pope. He was known often to ask, “Why did they elect me?” But, I am tired of people being elected to positions of authority in religious organizations who are “in” the power structure. Christ certainly wasn’t. The Buddha gave it up. Most of the religious leaders who have contributed the most to their faiths weren’t into power. And, in my humble opinion, the mess we are in the world today is exacerbated by the wrong kind of leaders.
Luciano’s quoted words certainly remind one of Jesus’ words from the cross. But a person who can utter such words is just the kind of person I would trust to be a faithful guide.
I think if the word had had John Paul I for some years, the world would be a better place now that what we ended up with.
Brian+
"May God forgive you for what you have done".
- Albino Luciani, installed on this day, 1978,
as Pope John Paul I
Cardinal Patriarch of Venice (something, I confess, I wouldn’t have minded being!! What fun to make pastoral visits in a gondola!)), Albino Luciani was surprisingly elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His health was, unknown to most, not too good - though it was later written in print that he might have been murdered. He became known as “The Smiling Pope”. He reigned for only 33 days.
I have only this to say. Most churches and religions today could do with leaders who are a little more like Albino Luciani. Though Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, he was out of the power structure. This probably contributed to the apprehension he felt at being elected Pope. He was known often to ask, “Why did they elect me?” But, I am tired of people being elected to positions of authority in religious organizations who are “in” the power structure. Christ certainly wasn’t. The Buddha gave it up. Most of the religious leaders who have contributed the most to their faiths weren’t into power. And, in my humble opinion, the mess we are in the world today is exacerbated by the wrong kind of leaders.
Luciano’s quoted words certainly remind one of Jesus’ words from the cross. But a person who can utter such words is just the kind of person I would trust to be a faithful guide.
I think if the word had had John Paul I for some years, the world would be a better place now that what we ended up with.
Brian+
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