[F]or a warrior there is no end to the mystery of being, whether being means being a pebble, or an ant, or oneself. That is a warrior’s humbleness. One is equal to everything. ~Carlos Castaneda, The Eagle’s Gift, p. 279
This seems true to me, yet I know I’m the apple of being’s eye, as is everything and everyone else. ~jpc
Let the celebration of equality begin. Namaste.
image http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ge-Hy/Global-Warming-and-the-Ocean.html
16. spirit enables us to say yes to life as it is. . . .
24. spirit lets us choose to commune, yet forces the issue.
31. spirit pushes us to be more and more inclusive.
44. spirit reveals the infinite meaning of the finite.
47. spirit reminds the thirsty we forever swim its sea.
49. spirit tells us we are what we seek to be, spirit filled.
76. spirit calls “spiritual development” an illusion.
84. spirit is forever present and illusive.
99. spirit is the ultimate force of creation.
~jpc, from 100 statements about spirit, Our Universal Spirit Journey,* 2002, pp. 66-70
spirit is. Namaste.
image: Spirit Art www.kinexxions.com/foxfire/class02.htm
note: book at www.transcribebooks.com
[I]n 1955, an educational specialist asked him if he would write a book to help children learn how to read. Seuss was given a list of 300 words that most first-graders would know, and he used those words to write The Cat in the Hat (1957). ~writersalmanac.publicradio.org, 3/2/07
I read it to grandchildren Lyndon and Preston last month, and their imaginations were popping out all over. When they’re a little older we’ll read them The Lorax, that little narrative Dr. Seuss wrote about the human contradiction of our times. ~jpc
Images from an early age make up our guiding stories. Namaste.
The cosmos is not just “out there,” it’s “in here,” and there ultimately isn’t any difference between the two. So when you experience the spiritual impulse . . . you’re experiencing the Big Bang [that began our universe] as a surging compulsion for interior development and growth. ~Andrew Cohen, Quote of the Week, 7/24/06
When’s the last time you experienced the Big Bang, that surging compulsion that changes everything? ~jpc
At the heart of every piece of creation is potentially potent power. Namaste.
image: Big Bang sounded more like deep hum www.daviddarling.info/.../2003/archiveNov03.html
[A]nyone who does not regularly – or ever – gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe. . . . [A] clear night sky . . . allows anyone to soar in mind and imagination. ~Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast01nov_1quotes.htm
One of the great things about where we now live is visible night sky, but I’ll never forget how much more magnificent the night sky is down under. ~jpc
What a universe! Namaste.
image: Aurora Australis, the Southern Lights, Historic NWS Collection; Location: Kangaroo Island, South Australia (Photographer: David Miller; Credit: National Geophysical Data Center)
The third testament cares for the earth
(not the theme of the first two testaments),
which can save us humans from ourselves:
“she who says she loves God but does not
love creation is a goner,” ala 1st John.
If our scriptures are human-centered
hardly do they reveal the whole truth.
Anytime we speak of “neighbor” now
we have to think beyond us humans
or truth is not served – truth is ever evolving.
O to discern and decide truth now,
ever bowing to past understanding.
Writers of first testaments spoke truth
as do writers millennia later,
standing on the shoulders of Moses and Jesus.
I give thanks for Bonhoeffer and Neibuhr,
Buber, Tillich, Mathews, and Berry.
Without them I would not have journeyed
into the heart of creation as deeply.
Truth is eternally true and is marching on.
~jpc
Namaste.
image www.grandmaraisartcolony.org/
Journer: Do you despair over the great lack of religious leadership today?
Nez: Yes and no and no and yes.
Journer: Please be more specific than that.
Nez: One* of the greatest religious leaders today says, “Peace is eternal. War is old-fashioned.”
______
* The Dalai Lama, via Frank Knutson
image: www.peacemuseum.org/
I teach Ancient Civilizations to 6th graders, mapping the 6,000-year journey of war and empire from Mesopotamia to . . . [the present] and molding young minds to consider alternative options to the culture of violence we are all heir to. ~Jaime Vergara, Saipan, EarthRise reflection, 2/19/07
This visionary teacher, who thinks we can evolve out of the culture of violence one 6th grader at a time, manifests a starting point of hope for children around the world. ~jpc
O to embody nonviolence. Namaste.
image: Palestinian children walk beside blood stains. Israeli forces killed two Islamic Jihad leaders and their driver, drawing vows of revenge for the ambush in Jenin. 2/27/07, Reuters/Mohamad Torokman
Aren’t you already aware of existing? Don’t you already feel the simple Feeling of Being . . . [the] immediate gateway to ultimate Spirit? . . . Who is not already Enlightened? ~Ken Wilber, One Taste, p. 302
Be careful you don’t become a saint to boot. ~jpc
Gratitude for the way existence is. Namaste.
image: participant covered with powder and dye during Holi, annual Hindu spring festival, in New York (3/4/07 REUTERS/Eric Thayer)
All life is interrelated. All men [sic] are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. . . . [T]here is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches . . . (before ellipses, p. 210; after, p. 20), via Randy Williams
We saw the movie “Babel” the other night, at my sister's recommendation. A kick in the gut it is, making shockingly clear the brokenness of life in our times. Yet, by the end of the movie we sensed a deeper oneness with all of us broken human beings. ~jpc
All is interrelated. Namaste.
She [Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, author of Failing America’s Faithful] suggests reforms that she believes will revitalize . . . [the] Catholic Church and refocus the faithful on service. The hierarchy in Rome, she says, needs to stop obsessing about sex. It needs to rethink its position on the ordination of women and married people, on abortion, on gay clergy and gay unions. . . . These recommendations will infuriate Catholic traditionalists, but [she] doesn’t care: she loves her church and she’s not leaving. “The church,” she says, “is full of possibilities.” ~Lisa Miller, Newsweek, p. 12, 3/12/07, via LLC
I’m not up on all this, but I’m not really worried either, especially after reading this article on Kathleen’s stand as an influential laywoman who’s dedicated to reform. This, to me, is an appropriate Lenten message. ~jpc
Reformation is eternal. Namaste.
image: former Lt. Governor of Maryland and eldest child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy
I have great hope. The Anglican Communion may be about to split up, but I believe that something more valuable will emerge. . . . [T]he Episcopal Church is beginning to be a light to this modern world, showing ourselves to be a credible form of Christianity in a time when Christianity has become increasingly incredible. ~Brian C. Taylor, “The Episcopal Church as Prophet to our Day,” 3/4/07 sermon, www.all-angels.com/sermons/2007/03/post_1.php, via Ida Forbis
I’m not up on all this, but I’m not really worried either, especially after reading this sermon. This, to me, is an appropriate Lenten message. ~jpc
Reformation is eternal. Namaste.
image: Katharine Jefferts Schori, new Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in the USA, the first woman elected primate in the global Anglican Communion -- a history-long victory
Orthodoxy can be a straitjacket
A labyrinth of believers’ notions
A sounding gong seeking silence
A tangle in the way of the Way
A cocoon to be resurrected from
with awful pain and thanksgiving
~jpc
“If it takes all that to bring me to where I am, so be it.” Namaste.
image: "Heavenly Ladder," in The Icon, Kurt Weitzmann, p. 88, plate 25 www.monroe.edu/~mcq/rel/Tours.html
Journer: What do you do when you’re not being profound?
Nez: Sometimes look at myself from outside myself.
Journer: And what do you see?
Nez: Wonder.
______
image: "Fractured Child," by Shelley http://intuitivecreativity.typepad.com/
At the center of our being is . . . a point of pure truth. . . . It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the . . . blaze of a sun. ~Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p. 142, via Randy Williams http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/884057raboteau.html
That blaze is there whether it blazes in just a few at a time or billions, and we give thanks for however many. And the fact that it’s there gives courage to dream the biggest dreams and never give up on the family of earth being family. ~jpc
At the center a blaze. Namaste.
image: Sol (small version) by David Newby celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/show_creator_d...
The underlying Reality has cloaked Itself in the ceaselessly transforming cosmos, declaring Itself without revealing Itself. . . . The purpose of each soul’s sojourn on earth is to learn to see beyond the evanescence of phenomena to [this] Eternal Reality. ~Paramhansa Yogananda, via Jean Watts
“To see . . . Eternal Reality” is our life purpose – I would add, to assist others to experience Eternal Reality. ~jpc
Eternal Reality is always here and now. Namaste.
Beyond this personal level lies the richness of the . . . symbolic layer . . . where patterns, instincts, all that is human resides, a deep core of meaning that dreams and creativity draw from. Here are the wellsprings of the soul, the spiritual instinct that directs us toward divinity in the same unconscious way that flowers turn to face the sun. Here the . . . quest for wholeness and meaning begins. ~Jean Shinoda Bolen, Close to the Bone, p. 16, via LLC and LiDona Wagner
This is a secular way, from an M.D., of talking about the deeps that sustain you and me, in easy times and hard, that are just part of reality for all that exists, whether we are religious or not. ~jpc
Deep sustenance is always at hand. Namaste.
image: Yokokama High ballplayers bow to assistant manager after practice, USA TODAY, Darr Beiser, 3/2/07 (flowers face the sun and humans bow to the deeps)
Warren Buffett, the world’s second-richest man [sitting beside the richest person/couple], wowed the world last summer when he announced that he plans to give away most of his $[50] billion fortune [and most through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation], and now he wants to make sure those donations are spent quickly. . . . The 76-year-old Buffett predicted that his giving plan . . . in his will should mean that all of his Berkshire shares will be distributed for societal purposes within the next 25 years because Buffett said his expected life span is 12 more years – “though, naturally, I’m aiming for more.” ~Associated Press, 3/2/07
Buffett understands that to whom much is given all must be given away, and why wait till the end. So he keeps playing Bridge with Bill and holding the Foundation accountable. ~jpc
Making money on behalf of. Namaste.
image: Buffett and the Gates willblogforfood.typepad.com/.../06/index.html
The common ground [among the world’s religions] is the earth itself, along with a shared sense of . . . the inter-dependence of all life. This shared sensibility and the extent of the environmental crisis present themselves as a moment of enormous opportunity for cooperation around a common cause – the activation of flourishing human-earth relations. ~Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, “The Greening of the World’s Religions,” 2/9/07 http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i23/23b00901.htm
The life mission of Mary Evelyn and John, students of Thomas Berry, is greening the world’s religions. They have catalyzed some great events and research in this direction already. ~jpc
Let the greening accelerate. Namaste.
image: Green Rule poster presents sayings from more than a dozen of the world's great religions, demonstrating traditions of ecological stewardship http://www.faith-commongood.net/resources/index.asp
Those days [of limiting “the definition of morality to the way humans behave among humans”] have been over ever since it became apparent that humans . . . had the power to destroy huge numbers of species, whole landscapes of habitat and, in fact, the balance of life on earth. The greatest moral issue of our time is our responsibility to the planet and to all its inhabitants. ~“Evangelical Environmentalism” editorial, 3/10/07, nytimes.com, via Randy Williams (bold added)
This is not the consensus yet, especially with many Christian leaders and groups in the USA and globally, as the editorial points out, but is certainly the rapidly growing understanding of the moral issue of our time. ~jpc
All earth’s people are called to the great work of “our responsibility to the planet and to all its inhabitants.” Namaste.
Journer: So who is the neighbor?
Nez: Without an evolving understanding of “neighbor,” we cannot begin to fulfill the truth at hand.
Journer: “Evolving,” meaning beyond traditional scriptures?
Nez: Right. Religious understanding 2,000 – even 50 – years ago could not see who and what is the neighbor for us to love today.
______
image http://www.spiritlink.com/mother_earth.jpg
Listen, we have to do some sucking-up here. OK? Though it may not seem like it in the day-to-day grind, this voyage is something great. . . . But I’ve got news for you: You don’t always gotta love it. Travelling is going to get boring. Your relationships are going to get boring. . . . But you have this: you chose to be here. You can choose to be here. . . . We have power. We are not jailed here. We can decide to stay. ~Rigel Crockett, Fair Wind and Plenty of It, via Dick Kroeger
Though this is from a book about a big ship adventure, it’s good for us on the big life adventure to hear. ~jpc
Fair wind and plenty of it. Namaste.
image: "Glory of the Sea," Richard C. Moore shipmodeling.info/sail.htm
Toward the end of her career, as she was speaking at a midwestern college, a student asked: “Miss Keller, is there anything that could have been worse than losing your sight?” Helen Keller replied: “Yes, I could have lost my vision.” ~via Jann McGuire, 2/14/07 e-mail
If vision is a greater gift than physical sight, how to help humans use their visioning capacity? ~jpc
“Our eyes have seen a thousand years.” Namaste.
image: "Vision Quest" by Ronda Larue www.rondalarue.com/PAGES/ART%20%26%20PRODUCT%20PAGES/photoselection.html
Prof. Marcus Borg says that his unchurched university students, in assigned short essays on their impressions of Christians, “consistently use five adjectives: Christians are literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted.” (The Emerging Christian Way, p. 21)
Why do they think that? I’m a baptized Christian: I don’t think I’m literalistic or anti-intellectual, but . . . hmmm. . . . am I a self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted Christian? ~jpc
What kind of authentic style is needed from Christians today? Namaste.
image: Northstone Publishing (April 30, 2006) -- many contributors, including Thomas Berry
We’re an independent charity launched to champion youth volunteering in England. Our aim is to inspire a million more 16-25 year olds to volunteer and enable a lasting change in the quality, quantity and diversity of youth volunteering. ~www.wearev.com/, via Martin Gilbraith
What a great vision, or strategy, or tactic. “Vimagination,” very good, chum. Vluck. ~jpc
Creativity in social and earth care is on the rise. Namaste.
[T]he most important thing we can do in . . . moving into the New Civilization is to change the noosphere* and we do that by changing our own consciousness. There are many learning aspects of this, such as . . . learning about biology, ecology, geology, and geography, . . . learning the story of the evolutionary development of the universe and of our place in [it], and . . . becoming aware of our inner connections with all members of the Earth community. When we learn these things . . . we will open to what I will call an ecological imagination, and on this the New Civilization will be built. ~Herman Greene, ecozoicstudies.org, “How We Get to an Ecozoic Society: Ecological Imagination/Common Sense” (upcoming article in The Reader)
We are the emerging civilization, be it evolutionary or devolutionary. One or the other, not by default but by decision, including indecision. ~jpc
O for a leap of compassion. Namaste.
* Teilhard de Chardin concept
These days, my working definition of “sin” assumes that ontologically and naturally we are already connected with and never separated from G-O-D or creation (including humans). Therefore, “sin” is living and acting “as if” we were separated and disconnected from G-O-D and creation, the symptoms of which are those thoughts, actions, and states of being which prevent us from living in the indicative connectedness as constructively, creatively, and compassionately as possible. ~Ellie Stock, from comment on 2/23/07 reflection
Ellie, a Presbyterian minister, articulates theology and cosmology in such a way as to help bring our planetary community together – which seems like a good thing to me. ~jpc
O that we be who we really are, connected to all that is. Namaste.
image: http://www.australia2000travel.com/images/aboriginal_hand_stencils_250.jpg
Journer: Is enlightenment what my life is about?
Nez: For sure, but listen to my student*: “enlightenment is not an individual attainment; it is a collective emergence . . . [toward the] evolutionary impulse.”
Journer: So the emphasis is not just about individual awakenment?
Nez: Yes, it’s a movement of humans who are conscious of joining with the rest of the earth to transform her.
______
* Andrew Cohen, andrewcohen.org/quote, 2/26/07
A literal translation of na-mah-te is “not to me, but to you,” a reverential salutation to inner being (from Sanskrit, pronounced na-ma-stay). Namaste can mean
[S]o many of my people [whites] flit from Hinduism to Buddhism to Paganism like a butterfly going from flower to flower: they have no roots, no tribe, no elders, no path of their own. All were systematically destroyed by the Celts, the Romans, and then the Roman Catholics [and Protestants]. Whites in America and Europe – and Blacks who were brought to America as slaves and have since lost their ancient ways and languages – are a people bereft. ~Thom Hartmann, “The Lost People,” via Gene & Joyce Marshall http://www.thomhartmann.com/lost_people.shtml
Even without our ancient ways, we can guard against existing aboriginal peoples losing their ancient ways – and we can harness their wisdom in transforming our cultures. ~jpc
Let us be careful what we destroy. Namaste.
image www.casaarriero.com/the%20area.html
The main human task of the immediate future is to assist in activating the intercommunion of all the living and nonliving components of the earth community. ~Thomas Berry, “Principle 12,” Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology, p. 108
Even if I am just a retired person, just a housewife, just a child, just an immigrant, just a member of Congress, or just Bill Gates, Thomas has defined our main human task for life. All career paths are called to serve under the banner of intercommunion. ~jpc
Why didn’t I know this in my bones by the first grade? Namaste.
