Mystery Re Problem Solving

I wanted to evoke in people a sense of awe and wonder and mystery, and to give them a definite sense of the divinity that's in front of us every day. When you look at the earth from space, you can't help but be struck or touched by the mystery of it all. That mystery is an essential part of living, and it's an essential part of solving the problems that we have today -- we have to be inspired to muse and wonder. I don't think that we could even comprehend the changes we need to make, much less make them, if we didn't have that visual model [of the Earthrise]. ~Kevin Kelley, The Home Planet

The Option

We know now what we could never have known before -- that we now have the option for all humanity to "make it" successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race. ~Buckminster Fuller

Great Expectations

People dwell sometimes very explicitly, most times quite vaguely, in great expectations of that which will relieve them of the necessity of living their given life in the present situation. ~Joseph W. Mathews

With the beginning of Advent, we can expect reality or illusion, beginning or end. Let us choose the ever-present coming of possibility and new life instead of the deathly impossibility that is ever-present in cynicism, victimism, and hopelessness. Our choice makes all the difference. ~jpc

BSS (Bumper Sticker Sighting)

Born OK the First Time

Humility, Gratitude, and Compassion

In humility we acknowledge the contingency of all.

In gratitude we experience the abundance for all.

In compassion we live our interdependence with all. ~Randy Williams

Making Divinity Explicit (Thanksgiving Day)

[T]he universe is accomplishing [the] great work of making divinity explicit. ~Brian Swimme

Since we are a part of the universe, our great work, as well, is making divinity explicit. For this vocation we give great thanks and pray for the eyes to see and the heart to relate. ~jpc

[Read a Thanksgiving Card in the Comments]

A Credit to the Race

When some called [Joe] Louis "a credit to his race," sportswriter Jimmy Cannon responded, "Yes, Louis is a credit to his race -- the human race." ~ESPN online

"When Death Comes"

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
~Mary Oliver

The Enemy Has Our Key

There is no way to God for our time but through the enemy. The enemy has our key to survival and transformation. ~Walter Wink

Sounds like what Jesus would say today. ~jpc

Emptied and Filled, Again and Again

Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life. ~Tagore

BSS (Bumper Sticker Sighting)

I Believe In Life BEFORE Death

When I Fight Change

When I fight unwanted and unsought changes and when I seek to keep things just as they are, place me on the wings of birds flying south for another season. Gather their spirit of freedom into my heart. Let me be willing to leave my well-satisfied place of comfort. . . .Thank you, God of transformation, for all these lessons that the autumned earth teaches me. ~Joyce Rupp [e-mail from Clare Whitney]

True Religion

Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven. ~Mark Twain

A Part of Nature We Are

Anyone who's doing science and religion right these days is concerned with the human's place in the natural world. ~Holmes Rolston III

. . . the Human Venture within the Earth Venture. ~Thomas Berry

I like the way Rolston and Berry choose their words: they understand that the human is a part of the natural world. In reality, humans are not something alongside nature, but nature includes humans. But we act as though we're in a tug-of-war: "care for me and mine" as opposed to "care for other humans" as opposed to "care for the earth." Wouldn't it be more healing and effective to integrate our caring, as indicated by Rolston and Berry, into an ethic of intercommunion? ~jpc

That's Good to Know

The Tao is that from which you cannot depart;
if you can depart from it, it's not the Tao. ~Confucius

Spirit is the only thing that is never absent. ~Ken Wilber

Where can I go from your Spirit? ~Psalmist

SAP: Spirit's always present. ~jpc

Empires Are Scary

Our cultural religion has taken us over. We could point out our ultimate loyalties -- other than "God" -- that have pulled in "God" to sanctify them, justify us, and to give them authority and us power. For example, that's what Constantine was doing when he decided to make Christianity the Empire religion. Some historians say it was good that he did. I say it's scary to make any religion the Empire religion. I say Empires are scary. ~jpc

Suffering

Suffering is the constant reminder of the pain of being human, but also one of the most elemental ways that we all connect with each other. . . . Suffering is not just "negative"; it is a bond through which we all touch each other. Suffering, truly, is the first grace. ~Ken Wilber

BSS (Bumper Sticker Sighting)

When you're as great as I am, it's hard to be humble. ~Muhammad Ali

Plain Brown Wrapper of Surprise

. . . Eventually my little one
will learn to express
gratitude for what she has
actually received, knowing
simply that life has once
again blessed with a
gift in the plain brown
wrapper of surprise

~TCWright, "Beyond the Wrappings," Poems for 2004

Dying the Happy Death

Ten-year Netherlands study suggests that highly optimistic people have lower risks of all-cause death, and lower rates of cardiovascular death than those with high levels of pessimism. ~Google News

From friend who's become minister, who was around abusive, alcoholic father; she's had two bouts of memory loss recently for week or longer each: she wrote, "I am a better person because of it all. In fact all of the bad things in my life have come together and made something good and precious. I love being a pastor, I love preaching, I love the mountains, and I love caring for my flock. God is good . . . all the time and in all situations." Relative to the study, will she live longer because of her "optimism"? Not sure, but as Camus would suggest, she is dying "the happy death," which trumps living long life. ~jpc

Beloved Three-legged Pig

[W]e have powerful political opponents who insist that an Earth-destroying economy is justified by freedom and profit. And so we compromise by agreeing to permit the destruction only of parts of the Earth, or to permit the Earth to be destroyed a little at a time -- like the famous three-legged pig that was too well loved to be slaughtered all at once. ~Wendell Berry

Russia joined the Kyoto Treaty last week. Pray, when will the primary polluter, the leader of nations, join? ~jpc

"Ecology" Is a Sacred Word

[T]he ancient words that make up "eco-logy" are sacred words. The combined roots of "ecology" could be translated as "the mystery of being at home in this life." When you live ecologically, you are part of life, a member of the family, and not apart from it. . . . Ecology is basically a form of love, and only out of love for life can you find good reason for protecting your environment. ~Thomas Moore

Mutuality of the Species

We can get along, even if we're very different. ~jpc

Granddaughter Lyndon and her puppy, Hamlet

They Don't Want to Hear

I find it strange that the last place I can really quote Jesus these days is in American churches. They don't want to hear "overcome evil with good." They don't want to hear "those who live by the sword die by the sword." They don't want to hear "if your enemy hurts you, do good, feed, clothe, minister to him." They don't want to hear "blessed are the merciful." They don't want to hear "love your enemies." ~Tony Campolo, evangelical churchman

What does it mean to be the "American church"? ~jpc

The Fundamental Reality

Twenty years ago, my sister gave me the Jung plaque above my desk. One translation is "Invoked or not invoked, God is present." It was above the front door to his house and on his tombstone. The man knew the power of symbol and the fundamental reality of existence. My translation: "Invoked or not, Spirit is always already present." ~jpc

TSS (T-Shirt Sighting)

Don't wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day. ~Albert Camus

Speak to the Hearts and Souls

At the Villa tonight, the Italian owner and I discussed the election as I waited for my gyros. He said, "The reason we lost was they did not speak to the hearts and souls of the people. The campaign was run by a lot of folks who don't seem to have much heart or soul themselves. Kerry showed the most during his concession speech." A young black, about twenty, said "Amen!" as he put another pizza into the oven. I asked, "So who will run next time?" Without hesitation he said, with a smile, "The Lady and the Kenyan American." I responded, "You do declare." ~jpc

Brush Up on Your Theology

Craig Biggio said, when his Houston Astros baseball team had lost the Division championship year after year, "It’s like someone upstairs doesn’t like us, and I don’t know why. We’re good people. We live right."

Why is this a natural human complaint, especially when great expectations are dashed, when elections are lost, for example? But guess what, Craig, what goes on "down here" -- if you have to talk like that -- is not a result of magic and rightness. Everyone of the 115 million USA citizens voted their moral values Tuesday. They all are good people and they all thought they were living right. About 56 million lost, however. So brush up on your theology in the off-season. ~jpc

An Inescapable Network of Mutuality

We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. ~Martin Luther King, Jr. [E-mail from Jann McGuire]

You Have a Great Responsibility

You have a great responsibility. You do not govern now only your own small, insignificant existence. You are a throw of the dice on which, for a moment, the entire fate of your race is gambled. Everything you do [or don't do] reverberates through a thousand destinies. ~Nikos Kazantzakis, The Saviors of God, "The Race"

http://www.angel.net/~nic/askitiki.html <A gift for you: the little Kaz book online. It could give you a renewed sense of reality, hope, and courage -- born of awe. But it could also challenge your belief system and your way of security. ~jpc

Times They Are A-Changin'

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

~Bob Dylan