Spirit means our capacity to relate to the totality of things. ~Thomas Aquinas, a la Matthew Fox
We most naturally relate to "God and Neighbor" as it, but it is possible to relate to the other as thou. Spirit gives us the possibility and occasion to decide, and even triggers our decision to relate to the other creatively. Is it not possible, even, to bow to the enemy? And is it not possible to decide to do so? And if so, we need not be victims to hate. ~jpc
Christianity is the dominant religion in the West, and the West is the dominant polluter in the world. ~Dennis O’Hara
He had fallen on the earth a weak boy, but he rose up a resolute champion, and he knew and felt it suddenly at the very moment of his ecstasy. And never, never, his life long, could Alyosha forget that minute. ~Fyodor Dostoevsky
[I]t is time for us to kiss the earth again. ~Robinson Jeffers
Let the way of the Spirit refresh your heart. Let the vision of a transformed world ground your actions. ~Rabindranath Tagore
Joe Pierce once gave a lecture in which he witnessed that true passion in pedagogy (in that case, teaching Religious Studies I) arose when one had no passion left but chose to fake it, in which case true passion, rekindled, arose. ~Tom Bergdall
. . . arose "sometimes," and if it didn't, you just kept on teaching the best you could on behalf of the participants. ~jpc
Lynda and I about wrecked from laughing on our trip to Charlottesville yesterday as we read bumper stickers from Northern Sun's new catalog. ~jpc
Identify with Spirit, Emptiness, the Ultimate, yet walk the middle way between Form and Emptiness, between the Relative and the Ultimate, between Matter and Spirit, trusting in the Mystery of incarnate living, embracing the way life is, loving each moment and each being as perfect. ~Rob Work
The spiritual challenge of our lives lies not in desperately setting aside moments for God alongside the other activities and commitments of our lives, but rather that of discovering in our basic human activities and commitments the possibility for communion with God in our communion with others. ~Richard R. Gaillardetz [submitted by Randy Williams]
I assume "communion with others" means with any other, including humans. ~jpc
[At last weekend's retreat, 74 adults, youth, and children performed the following ritual by jpc in a closing service by the lake and forest, standing on ground, under the sun and cloudless sky, with a felt breeze.]
Position I: stand, put hands together, and pull them in to touch your heart -- then slightly bow and say . . .
"Namaste: I bow to the heart of creation";
Position II: hands apart, reach high above head, pull head back, and bow backwards, and say . . .
"Namaste: I bow to all universes (to left), to our universe (to right), and Mother Earth (to center)";
Position III: bend over at waist with hands hanging toward the ground, and say . . .
"Namaste: I bow to all species (reach down toward ground), to humans (reach down further), to my tribe (reach down to ankles), and to myself (reach down to toes);
Position I : as above . . . and say . . .
"Namaste: I bow to Spirit in creation."
Such a ritual can help us stand at attention to all that is: "Creation is Spirit's and everything in it" (a la Ps. 24:1), and "Spirit's at the heart of creation" (a la many religious traditions). Hopefully, we have not left any neighbor out in this ritual. Give it a go. ~jpc
Besides loving the neighbor in God, . . . Augustine is clear and insistent that Christians must love God in the neighbor. ~Margaret Miles
I'm not absolutely clear what Augustine meant by this, but I am pretty clear what I John (New Testament) means when it says, "He who says he loves God and hates the neighbor is a liar." And let us remember the neighbor is all creation, including humans. ~jpc
. . . is the way life is
. . . is the fundamental fact of the oneness of creation
. . . is born out of an experience of communion
. . . is a covenanted "yes" to creation
. . . is an I-thou, not an I-it, relationship with what is
. . . is a demonstration of unity
"Intercommunion" is of the Spirit. Divisiveness is of something else (in another day "devil" might have been used). Most of what goes on among humans today is not in touch with Spirit, is not uniting the 6.4 billions of us. What's the problem? To say "sin" is not really helpful if we intend to make a difference, especially with our religious, cultural, economic, and political divisiveness. Let us be agents of intercommunion all day today, at least. ~jpc
Lynda put the art form [right, click once and then once again to see it well] beside her mother's bed during her last days. She and everyone who looked at it wanted to talk about its meaning and gave it heart-felt names, most of which included "hand" and "world." And most were mystified by the "orange dot." Thank you, Ellen, for "Sacred Moment."
What is it saying to you at this moment? ~jpc
Capitalism beat communism and is the champ still standing. So far, however, it has not been able to push the poverty line globally or bring prosperity to all. . . . [We must be about] demythologizing capitalism as well as the gods of . . . religion. ~George Holcombe
What are practical examples of demythologizing capitalism? ~jpc
To be authentic, one need have an object of devotion to glorify, a cause to serve, and a community to be loyal to. This is from the Hebrew understanding of life interpreted by H. Richard Niebuhr and passed on by Joseph Mathews.
Great wisdom. I would add a comprehensive worldview -- better, "creationview" -- to relate to as neighbor, and put it second:
How would you articulate such a list of life fundamentals? ~jpc
all mystics -- Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion -- are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But most people, tragically, never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare. . . . ~Anthony de Mello
. . . they are having an illusion that all is not well, all is bad. When was the last time you experienced "all is well"? How does it change you when it happens? ~jpc
Thomas Berry, our universe mentor here in Greensboro, goes beyond the well-known African proverb "it takes a village to raise a child" and says
It takes a universe
to make a child both
in outer from and inner
spirit. it takes
a universe to educate
a child. A universe
to fulfill a child.
Each generation presides over the meeting of these two.
He says teach the children to read the wonder and creativity of the universe even before teaching them to read from books, even religious books. ~llc, The Heart of Creation, our last book
Now I knew that a system of values which concerns itself only with our relationship to other people is incomplete. . . . Only by means of reverence for life can we establish a spiritual and human relationship with both people and all living creatures. ~Albert Schweitzer
We believe that the future depends on the transition from the homozoic to the ecozoic -- from the house of humans to the house of all of life. ~Herman Greene
Human-centeredness is giving way to creation-centeredness, which means aboriginal peoples have been way ahead of their time. Thank goodness some are still standing as "human progress" has almost wiped them out. ~jpc
People have the means for living, but not meanings. ~Viktor Frankl
The problem in the spirit of humans today is that we’re aware that there are so ____ many gods we don’t know what to do with them. That’s our problem. Therefore, the spirit question of life is Which god is God? ~Joseph Mathews
There is but one objective, everlasting, unchanging life truth: namely, the living of life as a gift is the meaning of living life. ~Joseph Mathews
[to make comment, look at Sept. 9 entry below]
We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the Earth, my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. ~D. H. Lawrence, Apocalypse, his last book, written during the winter of 1929-30 when he was dying.
Look at the picture below and comtemplate with DHL and the baby. Contemplation is the beginning of wisdom. I see therefore I am, Mr. Descartes. Seeing comes before "thinking." I am . . . cosmoswise, earthwise, humanwise, selfwise, and not vice versa. Even a child senses this.
And what do we see? The universe . . . big, beautiful, and bono.~jpc
. . . On their behalf
we pledge allegiance
to 200 nations under God
with liberty and justice for all
~jpc, from poem
Find the poetry, music, art, or other spiritual exercise that helps you memorialize 9/11 and similar events globally: Bali . . . Madrid . . . Beslan (Russia) . . . all over Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan. These may not be as horrific as Hiroshima, Europe of WWII, Cambodia's "killing fields," or genocide in Rwanda, but they hurt the human soul as deeply. ~jpc
Right-wing conservatives and left-wing radicals . . . must be willing and able to sit down at the same table, look across the table at each other and see not an enemy, . . . but a brother, a sister, a fellow American, another child of God. We must expand our hearts and enlarge our identity beyond ‘my people’ to include and embrace all of Creation. ~Eldridge Cleaver
Eldridge was a credit to the species. Today, think about agents of creation reconciliation. ~jpc
To midwife the Divine -- already present in each, but perhaps not shining brightly; already given to each, but perhaps not noticed well; already caring for the world, but perhaps forgotten in all the rush. . . ." ~Ken Wilber
Where've you seen "midwife to the divine" going on lately? For example, can a hurricane be midwife to the divine? ~jpc
A bit of advice given to a young Native American at the time of his initiation: 'As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think.' ~Joseph Campbell
This is what can be called profound spirit humor. Reminds me of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," as they debate jumping off a high cliff into a river to escape their enemy --
Butch: You jump first.
Kid: No, I said.
Butch: What's the matter with you?
Kid: I can't swim.
Butch: Why you crazy, the fall will probably kill you.
-- and then the famous outcry as they jump. ~jpc
[E]verything that exists, from the tiniest atom to the illlimitable universe in which our tiny earth resolves, everything that happens, from the most trivial event to the most seemingly momentous, makes one pattern, tells one story, is comprehended in one prayer. ~Malcolm Muggeridge
Question: What do you say the "one prayer" is? ~jpc
There is no time after time but there is eternity above time. ~Paul Tillich
He means that there is "eternity within time." That's what he says later in his sermon "The Eternal Now": sometimes we become "aware of this 'eternal now' in the temporal 'now.'" When that happens to us, we "enter the eternal rest which stops the flux of time and gives us the blessing of the present." It's great to know that "eternity" and "eternal rest" are life experiences. ~jpc
