Universal Phenomenon

Teilhard de Chardin says that truth has to appear in only one mind for one moment to become a universal phenomenon that “sets everything ablaze.” ~David Richo, Mary Within Us, p. 107 (books.google.com)

The truth appearing in my mind lately is “here in eternity.” What about yours? ~jpc

Everything lit. Namaste.

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image: natural and artificial auras http://tinyurl.com/nd8est

Who Isn't?

I’ve been reading a bit of Phillip Yancey lately, after being lent his book titled Prayer. He calls himself “a recovering fundamentalist.” ~Frank Bremner e-mail, 8/09

We’re all recovering from something, right? ~jpc

Journey on. Namaste.

image www.zazzle.co.uk/recovering+gifts (maybe they have your shirt or mug)

How Relate?

Christians … simply are [not] immune from anger, anxiety, disappointment and so forth. …[S]uch unwelcome experiences are quite often part of the Christian life (…indeed, sometimes they are brought on precisely by a commitment to lead a Christian life), and … our task is to cope with them in a Christian manner. ~Charles Wood, review of The Consolations of Theology, 7/28/09, christiancentury.org, via John Montgomery

If his parenthetical thought is true, how did Jesus relate to (“cope with” is stoic language) these unwelcome experiences “in a Christian manner”? ~jpc

How did Gandhi do it in a Hindu manner? Namaste.

image: Jesus cleanses the temple in the movie "Jesus of Nazareth"

"Here In Eternity"

Jagged journey
Taught my heart
Turmoil and despair

Amazing grace
Gave my heart
Meaning to declare

That it’s good
To journey
To live aware

With open eyes
joyous heart toward
Life’s possibility

And glory in
The moment
Here in eternity

~jpc, August 2009

Namaste.

image: "Blue Clouds" http://www.prabhashah.com/25.htm

Happiness Quotient (HQ)

[About half] of someone’s happiness [is genetically determined] and 10% can be attributed to life situations. The rest – 40% – is something people have the capacity to change through intentional activities that affect how we act and how we think. ~reference to Sonja Lyubomirsky studies, by Sharon Jayson, “Techniques Can Boost Happiness,” usatoday.com, 8/16/2008

With that 40 percent, how much happiness am I embodying and expressing today? Namaste.
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image: photo of young Buddhist monks praying at a festival in Bangalore, India (photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar, AFP/Getty Images) http://tinyurl.com/lkb9j3

Nothing Is Single

…Nothing in the world is single,

All things by a law divine

In one another’s being mingle –

Why not I with thine?...

~Percy B. Shelley, from “Love’s Philosophy”

Even if Shelley was primarily contemplating mating, he spoke universal truth: nothing is single. We are one universe, whether we expand or recollapse. ~jpc

And me keeps becoming the larger we. Namaste.

image: universe theories of "The Last 100 Years," by Ethan Siegel http://tinyurl.com/kq3jmp (image by Stephen van Vuuren)

Sunday Dialog CLXXX

Nez: My student* said, “Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things are.”

Journer: I’m not too good at seeing the good in things.

Nez: Maybe your spiritual practices are lagging.

Journer: I will do better, ‘cause I do want to experience the joy I’ve been missing.
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* Marianne Williamson, A Woman’s Worth, p. 46

image: JPC II and the kids on the way to church