5/26-6/6 Reflections (Spain trip)

The quotes for 5/26-6/6 come from my book Our Universal Spirit Journey: Reflections and Verse for Creation's Sake, pp. 20-52. ~jpc

Note: In this book I was capitalizing "Spirit," in next books not, but italicizing [spirit]; trying to remind myself that spirit is a name for the mysterious power at the heart of creation, not an other-worldly person in our image. I only italicize the word to point out it is not the same as "team spirit" or "my spirit life," for example; "spirit movement" is harder, but I don't italicize it either.

5/26 Thrs -- Unite and Build

Teilhard says "we can progress only by uniting." These times and Teilhard’s imperatives to unite and build the Earth are revealing to us the depth and power of Spirit; are compelling us to live as one community; are redefining spirituality for the 21st century; are calling forth new spirit people and leaders. A fresh wind is blowing. ~jpc

5/27 Fri -- Spirit Is . . .

Spirit is the inner dimension of everything,

the dynamic of communion within creation.

It gives foundation to but transcends religions

and cultures.

Spirit is ever sustaining the immense journey

and making all things new. ~jpc

5/28 Sat -- Deep Global Unity

We must go far beyond the ecumenical and interfaith activities of the past. We must claim our common spirit journey for the sake of our common Earth future. . . . Deep global unity will not come until we are convinced we are all talking about the one, same reality in life that sustains, motivates, and unites us. ~jpc

5/29 Sun -- Then, In the Beginning

Then even nothingness was not, nor existence.

There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it.

Who covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping?

Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed? . . .

But, after all, who knows, and who can say

whence it all came, and how creation happened?

The gods themselves are later than creation,

so who knows truly whence it has arisen? . . .

~Rig Veda, X:129

5/30 Mon -- Clear and Transparent

Spirit can reveal Itself through anything, anywhere, anytime, through a stream or even through you and me.

Like the little stream

Making its way

Through the mossy crevices

I, too, quietly

Turn clear and transparent.

~Ryokan

Is nature Spirit? Of course not, but it is transparent to Spirit. Am I Spirit? Of course not. No thing is Spirit, but everything is potentially transparent to It. And no one or no religion has the market on Spirit — It’s Its own thing. ~jpc

5/31 Tues -- Getting Us Unstuck

Maybe the Spirit of the universe is revealing to us that we are stuck — evolutionarily speaking — in our human-centeredness, which is devolving the Earth community and holding it back. Spirit is about getting us unstuck. Spirituality is about saying Yes to Spirit’s urging toward unity. ~jpc

6/1 Wed -- Guided by Spirit

We are all on the immense journey together, guided by Spirit. I truly believe Spirit is the key to life, not economics, politics, education, nor religion. . . . Spirit is reconciling the world. . . . Spirit is always coming again. ~jpc

6/2 Thrs -- Spiritual Revolution

[Ours is a time of] mixing, a stirring together of the "essence" of religion, namely, spirituality. . . . The Dalai Lama has observed that "the reality is that the majority of people today are unpersuaded of the need for religion." He calls, however, for a "spiritual revolution." ~Matthew Fox

6/3 Fri -- World Empire without Emperor

A world empire without emperor can happen only when universal order and meaning is mediated through all native soils and symbols but contained by none. ~Lonnie Kliever

6/4 Sat -- With a Plus

[W]e are a secular world — but with a plus: a consciousness of and sensitivity to Spirit. . . . Why do we sense our interior reflection in response to Spirit is at least as real as exterior events and things? . . . The consciousness of Spirit working in universal existence is emerging whether we consider ourselves religious or secular. ~jpc

6/5 Sun -- We are Experiencing Spirit

Spirit encounters us and births our acute consciousness. When something radical, total, and unconditional is demanded of us, we are experiencing Spirit. When something announces to us that we can go on, in spite of, we are experiencing Spirit. When something releases us to be slave to no thing and free for all, we are experiencing Spirit. When we see and respond to creation’s suffering, we are experiencing Spirit. ~jpc

6/6 Mon -- All Things New

And Spirit cuts like water through it all

Carving out this emptiness [in me]

So inner eye can see . . .

Making, always making, all things new

~Parker Palmer

Meaningful Closing

Blessings on you and may your bit of stardust continue to sparkle with unfolding mystery into the great web of being, however you discover you are called. ~Sr. Adeline Kroll (e-mail to Lynda C.)

Life Is

Life is indescribably full,
Unfalteringly real,
and unfailingly good.

~David Dunn via Beret Griffith

The Place Is Holy

You have made me cross the good road and road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in, day out, forevermore, you are the life of things. ~"Black Elk's Prayer" edited

Love the Situation

The task is to release people to love their situation wherever they are. ~Kay Hayes via Beret Griffith

American Eagle

I’ve always thought the American eagle needed a left wing and a right wing. The right wing would see to it that economic interests had their legitimate concerns addressed. The left wing would see to it that ordinary people were included in the bargain. Both would keep the great bird on course. But with two right wings or two left wings, it’s no longer an eagle and it’s going to crash. ~Bill Moyers via Ed Reames

A New Being

The work involved in loss, in grieving, leads to understanding ourselves, though changed, as whole. Each loss brings to us a new being, a new wholeness. ~Marilie Blanchard

Thesis 54: The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit works through all cultures and all spiritual traditions; it blows "where it wills" and is not the exclusive domain of any one tradition and never has been. ~from Matthew Fox's "95 Theses" via Jann McGuire

Go to Matthew Fox's weblog and read all the "95 Theses" for the New Reformation (Transformation): http://matthewfoxcs.blogspot.com ~jpc

Matthew Fox nailing his 95 Theses outside
church door at Wittenberg, Germany, where
Luther nailed his in 1517.

An Atheist's Tombstone?

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. ~on Kazantzakis' tombstone

In Report to Greco Kaz wrote: "the man who either hopes for heaven or fears hell cannot be free." He also wrote, "It is true that we cannot conquer death. We can however conquer the fear of death." What think ye? ~jpc

Nikos Kazantzakis

God Changes Appearance Every Second

God changes his appearance every second; blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises. At one moment he is a glass of fresh water, the next your son bouncing on your knees or an enchanting woman, or perhaps merely a morning walk. ~Nikos Kazantzakis

If It Doesn't Happen Now . . .

It is so important to me to find ways to connect our everyday "spirit happenings" and events to people in all times and places. I keep saying in my church and to all my groups, if it doesn't happen now, I'm pretty certain it didn't happen then. ~Roger Alexander

Vocation Check

Not for my sake but for the sake of the whole. . . . This changes everything, because now our raison d'être is not to have and to get and to become for ourselves. ~Andrew Cohen

Paul Tillich

Not and Is

[G]race is not a divine emergency action which sometimes breaks into our predicament, but is the actual paradox in which we live. It is always present . ~Tillich

The Basic Flaw

That human well-being could be achieved by diminishing the well-being of the Earth . . . was the basic flaw in this [time of the] Wonderland myth [of human progress]. ~The Universe Story, Berry and Swimme

Thomas Berry, 5/11/05 at 90.

10 Percent and 90 Percent

We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. . . . We are in charge of our attitudes. ~Charles R. Swindoll

Forcing Revelation?

None of us can force revelations into happening, but we can prepare a receptive consciousness for them. ~Gloria Karspinski via Ann Stewart Shafer

Bending History

Bending human history bends evolution, for good or ill. ~jpc

Solitary Bird

. . . it aims its beak to the skies

. . . it flies to the highest point

. . . it doesn't suffer for company

. . . it does not have a definite color

. . . it sings very softly

~St. John of the Cross

Mother's Day (Grandmother Lynda) 

Function of Prayer

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays. ~Soren Kierkegaard

How do you respond to SK? ~jpc

High View

The first time I saw Brother Lawrence [1666] . . . he told me that . . . at the age of eighteen . . . in the winter, seeing a tree stripped of its leaves, and considering that within a little time the leaves would be renewed, . . . he received a high view of the providence and power of God, which has never been effaced from his soul. ~Brother Lawrence: His Letters and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God

Surprising Circumstances

I was reminded of how circumstances we would not choose open up possibilities we would not have imagined. ~Laura Critchfield via Beret Griffith

Bucky's Question

In 1927, at the age of 32, Buckminster Fuller stood on the shores of Lake Michigan, prepared to throw himself into the freezing waters. His first child had died. He was bankrupt, discredited and jobless, and he had a wife and new-born daughter. On the verge of suicide, it suddenly struck him that his life belonged, not to himself, but to the universe. ~www.bfi.org

[After deciding not to commit suicide, he decided] he would devote himself to asking, "What is it on this planet that needs doing that I know something about, that probably won't happen unless I take responsibility for it?" ~John Kabat Zinn

Bluebonnets

The bluebonnets last a little over a month each year . . . , but their memory lasts all year long. They never fail to throw you into a meditative state, where memory mixes with hope. ~George Holcombe

What We Did

I don't think God is going to ask us how he created the earth [evolution or creationism], but he will ask us what we did with what he created. ~Rev. Rich Cizik, v-p of governmental affairs, National Assn. of Evangelicals

Even though I have trouble with the way he talks about God, his point is right on. ~jpc

Hope Is

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

~Emily Dickinson via Beret Griffith

Wilderness Sustenance

Jim often says to me that we are in the 40/400 year wilderness and that this is the time to drink from whatever wells we find to sustain ourselves. ~Isobel Bishop