Your "_____-ness"

[Dialogue during movie “You, Me and Dupree”]

Dupree (Owen Wilson): “The point is, is somewhere along the road you lost your magic. They knocked you off your game. Your Carlness went right out the window.”

Carl (Matt Dillon): “What’s with this ‘Carlness’? It’s not even a real word.”

Dupree: “Yes, it is. . . . It’s a verb. It’s a conjunction, a preposition, it’s a philosophy, a way of life. It’s your name with ‘ness’ attached to it.”

[Monologue after the credits]

Lance Armstrong (playing himself): “Lanceness. Lance...ness? Lancennneeesss. Lance-ness.”
______
Recall your “_____ -ness” today. Namaste.

image sifter.org/~simon/journal/20030509.html

The Day of Salvation

. . . [N]ow – precisely now and finally now – is the “day of salvation.” . . . The time of grace is the final time in the sense that one can never reckon with a further, future word beyond the word of God that confronts me now. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, (DB Works, vol 6, 2005), p. 151

The day of salvation, the time of grace, the final time, and the second coming are always now; therefore, time is holy. ~jpc

Every day is holy day. Namaste.

image: the sculpture in daylight (same at night used before) of St. Francis of Assisi donated to Green Mt Monastery (VT) in honor of Thomas Berry by world renowned artist and author Frederick Franck

Incredible Grace

I believe in a God who does not send the tragedy but who sends the incredible grace to deal with the tragedy. ~Harold Kushner

Going back and forth to hospitals of late, we have been graced by listening to Rabbi Kushner’s latest book-on-tape, Overcoming Life’s Disappointments. ~jpc

A mantra for today: “For Thou art with me.” Namaste.

image: www.brendaharris.com/videos.htm

"Move, Mountain!"

Over four decades ago, a frail, landless farmer got hold of a chisel and a hammer and decided to change the face of his village nestled in the rocky hills of Gaya. Dashrath Manjhi tore open a 300-feet-high hill to create a one-km passage [long and 16 feet wide]. Manjhi knew it would he easier to move a mountain than an apathetic government. He knew writing to the powers-that-be would only leave the hill tied in red tape. Instead, Manjhi, then in his early 20s, took up a chisel and hammered at the rocks for 22 years. ~Radhika D Srivastava, “The Man Who Moved a Mountain,” article and pictures http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwNy8wMS8wNyNBcjAwMjAy&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

Mountains have been known to move. Namaste.

image: Ellora Caves, caved out of a mountain of rock outside Aurangabad, India, and near Maliwada village; this is Cave 16 (the centerpiece of Ellora's 35 caves built between the 5th and 10th centuries), called the Kailash Temple, and entailed removal of 200,000 tons of rock over 100 years

Saved by Giving Up

Asceticism means to renounce at least for periods of time the options that present themselves. In bygone cultures of poverty there were times for fasting, waking, withdrawing, and keeping silence. Perhaps people believed that life itself could be saved by giving up parts of it. ~Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance, via Tim Wegner

Can life be saved by giving up parts of it, for example, our time, talents, stored up resources, and devotions? ~jpc

Let our spiritual exercises of poverty give plenty. Namaste.

images: (l) Community Church, Derby, England; (r) Indian in the Ganges early in the morning

Modern Heresy

Many evangelical leaders say they are still not convinced that global warming is human-induced and have argued that the collapse of the world is inevitable and will herald the second coming of Christ. ~“Protect God’s Creation,” guardian.co.uk, 4/27/07, via JPC II

Salman Rushdie’s call (washingtonpost.com, “The Right Time for an Islamic Reformation,”10/07/05) is apropos: “It is high time . . . that Muslims [and evangelicals] were able to study the revelation of their religion as an event inside history, not supernaturally above it.” ~jpc

O that our religious dogma inspires our care of creation. Namaste.

image: Rebecca Meininger and Emily White (9th graders), Harbor City International High School, Duluth, MN

Sunday Dialogue LVIII

Journer: Am I body, mind, consciousness? Who am I?

Nez: My student* said, “It is time you remember who you are: . . . a reflection of Spirit.”

Journer: So am I spirit?

Nez: You’re a reflection of spirit, so reflect it.

______
* ~Paramhansa Yogananda, via Jean Watts

image: Bell Labs building, Holmdel, New Jersey, designed by Eero Saarinen; photo taken 11/03 by Ralph Brandi brandi.org/.../photo.php?word=reflection

The Point of It All

God did not become an idea, a principle, a program, a universally valid belief, or a law; God became human. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (DB Works, vol 6, 2005), p. 99

We need not believe anything more than this: spirit dwells among us. Other beliefs often distract us from this, the point of it all. ~jpc

This belief would unite us. Namaste.

image: by Natasha Wescoat, from raw art series www.art.com

No Trash

“God don’t make no trash.” Cowbirds do what cowbirds do. Starlings happen to hang out in flocks and eat a lot. Cats are natural hunters. Squirrels are natural seed eaters. There is no good or bad in any of it. It’s nature. The universe doesn’t view the tufted titmouse as a worthy bird and the grackle as a pest. Now I can choose whatever attitude I want, but that’s all it is . . . my attitude. ~Shelley Hahn

“God goofed!” or “All is good!” – both are attitudes (or statements of faith). And guess what: we all operate out of our take on the way it is. ~jpc

Let us consider our attitude. Namaste.

image: Bluejay leaves its perch, Nelson Kepley, 5/15/07 http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/NEWSREC0101/70515006/-1/NEWSREC0201

Rehearsal of Life

The liturgical seasons help us rehearse the human spirit journey. Advent – our journey begins with the illusion that there will be something that will come along that will make life whole. Christmastide – what actually comes is the death of an illusion and the birth of a child which reminds us of the ongoing reality of new life. Epiphany – the rehearsal of the fact that we’ve been enlightened from the beginning. Lent – a time to reflect and prepare for what I have decided is worth the rest of my life. Eastertide – the realization that my intentional movement toward death is in fact intentional life. Pentecost – the step in the spirit journey when we affirm the power of corporateness. Kingdomtide – when we re-read the stories of the Kingdom of God and remember the mysterious power in life itself. ~Mark Dove, longtime United Methodist leader in Ohio

Let us rehearse the great journey together. Namaste.

image: ancient Shawui Calendar essenes.net/calen.htm

New Life

Communion (Berry), I-Thou (Buber), inter-being (Thich Nhat Hhan), reconciliation (St. Paul), reunion (Tillich), transparency (Mathews), and I-ness (Wilber) are words that describe our depth relationship with spirit. These words are not ideas but point to gracious moments of encounter, to “stopping our world,” to major turning. After the encounter comes a new relationship with spirit, with all that is other, and with ourselves. New life is the consequence. ~jpc

New life, always at hand. Namaste.

image: from REUTERS’ pictures of the month from April 2007

Whose Rights?

With gasoline prices hovering near all-time highs, the Senate on Monday began debating a sprawling energy bill that has already kicked off an epic lobbying war by huge industries, some of them in conflict with one another: car companies, oil companies, electric utilities, coal producers . . . [food companies and] farmers, to name a few. ~Edmund L. Andrews, “Congress Turns to Energy, and Lobbyists Arrive,” nytimes.com, 6/12/07

Who’s protecting the rights of the total earth community in this lobbying war? ~jpc

Protect mother, for god’s sake. Namaste.

image: Tracy Longacre photo, Africa

Great Cartoon

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/36953/

Great cartoon by Signe Wilkinson

"Cool Congregations"

There are over 200 cities that have decided to take the Kyoto Protocol seriously by doing it city by city. Seattle is the initiator of the effort http://www.coolcities.us.

There is also a move to create “cool congregations,” solving global warming, one religious congregation at a time, one family at a time.

At St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, a small group of dedicated individuals have taken the words of their priest to heart: “To keep the faith, we must keep the earth,” says Rev. Benjamin Webb. They started a program called, “Cool Congregations,” as a means for people of faith to take practical steps to slow global warming. “Every faith tradition has a tenet calling us to care for creation,” says Sarah Webb (contact: sarahwebb@cfu.net).

“Cool Congregations” adds a new dimension to regular financial stewardship programs in faith communities, whereby interested congregants pledge to implement energy efficient measures in their own homes. In doing this, they are pledging to reduce their personal family contribution to global warming.

At St. Luke’s, the 35 participating families hope to reduce global warming pollution equal to the amount that 18 average cars produce in a year. If all Iowans took simple steps to reduce by 10%, they could prevent the amount of global warming pollution that 604,000 average cars produce in a year. That is one third of Iowa’s present fleet of cars. “Cool Congregations” has trained 90 congregations in ’07 and will be doing more training workshops in ’08.

For more information: http://www.ncrlc.com/IICEC.html and http://www.ncrlc.com/IIPandL-webpage.html, people of faith working together to slow global warming.

~via David Zahrt, Turin, IA

"Miracle" Demythologized

[M]iracle is the rescuing act of God that reaches in from above, beyond all historical calculations and probabilities, and creates new life out of nothingness – that is, the resurrection from the dead. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (2005 translation: DB Works, vol 6), p. 131

Miracle creates a new spirit manifesting new life. “I once was blind but now I see” is not talking about physical sight, in the first instance. ~jpc

If you’ve experienced a new spirit, raise your hand. Namaste.

image kingofpeace.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html

Sunday Dialogue LVII

Journer: Who knows meaning?

Nez: My student* said, “Write it on your heart / that every day is the best day in the year. / He is rich who owns the day.”

Journer: So, a child, an elder, the poor and the sick can experience meaning?

Nez: Absolutely, if they live this day and not throw it away.

______
* ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, via Dick Galbreath

image: Yang Yang, three, kisses a Beluga Whale in China, 6/2/07, REUTERS/China Daily

Everyday Earth Ritual

Leader: . . . We see ourselves as part of the universe, as part of all that is seen and all that is unseen. . . . Do you know your task?

People: Unless you know your task and perform it . . . you stray from the Good Red Road. . . .

Unison: Remember to pray with “all nations, all faiths, one prayer” for healing Grandmother Earth.

Namaste.

~Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Buffalo Calf Pipe www.wolakota.org via Herman Greene

Note: We remember Larry Henschen, whose Memorial Service is Saturday: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” ~Julian of Norwich, via Randy Williams

image: Lantern Festival in Tianjin municipality (China Daily) REUTERS, 2/28/07

Truth and Conscience

“The highest aim of every legal contest is the search for truth,” [North Carolina] Wake Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway wrote in an 18-page opinion. “To require pious and faithful practitioners of religions other than Christianity to swear oaths in a form other than the form most meaningful to them would thwart the search for the truth.” . . . Ridgeway suggested that courts allow witnesses to bring their own texts, so long as the material is “calculated to awaken the witness’ conscience.” ~Eric J. S. Townsend, “Judge: Courts Can Use Quran,” news-record.com, 5/25/07

Truth and conscience are at the heart of an authentic legal system. Thus, witnesses should be allowed to swear on the holy scripture that means most to them. ~jpc

Use any window onto truth that awakens. Namaste.

image: swearing on the Quran www.yunson.blogsome.com

By What Authority?

A church based on the authority of the God of theism cannot [be the mediator of the courage to be] . . . but a church which raises itself in its message and its devotion to the God above the God of theism without sacrificing its concrete symbols can mediate a courage which takes doubt and meaninglessness into itself. ~Paul Tillich, TCTB, p. 188

A truly religious body does not worship its symbols – be they revered messiahs, scriptures, theologies, laws, leaders, or relics – but worships the holy spirit, which is always in but never of its symbols. By including and transcending its symbols, the body mediates transforming power. ~jpc

O to be true to the holy spirit. Namaste.

image theredeemer.org/GreatConcerts.htm

He's Come a Long Way

Since being literally thrown off the train as a colored man, M. K. Gandhi has come a long way in South Africa. In Durban they propose to name a major downtown street after the man who helped revolutionize the nation’s colonialism and apartheid with a new weapon they called “satyagraha,” or nonviolent resistance. Who knows, maybe someday it will become the global weapon of choice – mercifully more transforming than nuclear bombs. ~jpc

Let’s keep evolving in spite of ourselves. Namaste.

image: Rogan Ward for The New York Times, 5/25/07

To See the Abyss

The failure of reasonable people is appalling; they cannot manage to see either the abyss of evil or the abyss of holiness. ~Bonhoeffer, Ethics (2005 translation: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol 6), p. 78

I have seen the abyss of evil and it looks something like Picasso’s “Guernica.” I have seen the abyss of holiness and it looks something like this scene in India of students from the nearby poorest villages being really educated, especially the girls. Ah, the look on their faces. We humans have seen it all. ~jpc

O for the eyes to really see what we have seen. Namaste.

images: "Guernica" http://www.artfaq.it/; School for Tribal Children, Chikhale Village, ICA Panvel, India http://www.ica-international.org/activityreports/impact-02-07.htm

Being Changed

Fred Gealy says that the spiritual life is nothing but a dialogue, a dialogue with God. You say, “Over my dead body will Being continue the way it is.” That’s what you mean when you say that a revolutionary only dies in her tactics. God never slaughtered anybody who stood up to him [sic], except in her tactics. ~Joseph Mathews, Bending History, pg. 137

Mary said, “Be it unto me according to thy word.” Obviously she and spirit consensed on her bearing the child. Their dialogue was real. Being changed. ~jpc

O to be a handmaid of spirit. Namaste.

image: Blanche, mother of my wife, crafted this piece for the top of the Christmas tree many years ago.

Sunday Dialogue LVI

Journer: Trying to figure out the meaning of “God” stupefies me.

Nez: My student* said, “‘God’ is a relational term: we either embrace the given with thanksgiving or curse it.”

Journer: You threw me a curve with the phrase “the given” relative to “God.”

Nez: Since “God’s” at the heart of “the given,” you are embracing or cursing “God” in the way you relate to what is, or as you relate to your given situation.

______
* ~Joe Pierce via Carlos Zervigon

image: www.answers.com/topic/bodhisattva thousand-hand Kwan-yin: Chinese dancers (all 21 dancers are deaf); awesome film clip (via Roseanne Sands) http://art-extremist.blogspot.com/2006/12/thousand-hand-bodhisattva-dance.html

Our Reptilian Brain

I Googled to see who came up with the “reptilian brain” concept. As the theory of the evolution of the “triune brain” indicates, each of us carries the whole, “evolved” brain with us today, including the aged, wild, reptilian part. Yet, our modern brain has been at least as dangerous (a couple of examples: nuclear munitions and “holy” wars) – evil in many respects – as our old brain. We need to examine our brains – and our morals. ~jpc www.kheper.net/topics/intelligence/MacLean.htm

We give thanks for our brains and promise to do better with them. Namaste.

image mind-surf.net/magazine/siete.htm

Friend I'll Never See

One day I went to see Andrew Cohen and asked him for a word of direction. He responded to me in typical Desert fashion by saying, . . . “To let yourself be guided by the friend that you will never see is the dawning of humility.” I left my encounter with Andrew thinking, “This is what the Christ is, a friend that I will never see.” ~Sr. Gail Worcelo, “Andrew Cohen and Evolutionary Transformation,” www.greenmountainmonastery.org

Spirit is that friend and comes in many manifestations. ~jpc

What a friend I have in. . . . Namaste.

image: Oscar Basurto's "Shining Presence" www.astralresearch.org/pax-basurto.html

"To Remake the World"

Inspiration . . . resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. Healing the wounds of the Earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party. It is not a liberal or conservative activity. It is a sacred act. ~Paul Hawken, “To Remake the World,” orionmagazine.org, May-June 2007, via George Holcombe

The sacred act of healing the earth and its people is the great work that calls us. ~jpc

O to be about our great work. Namaste.

image: sculpture by Frederick Franck of St. Francis of Assisi donated to Green Mountain Monastery http://www.greenmountainmonastery.org/ in honor of Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work

On-Behalf-Of Exercise

The Dalai Lama says that he does Tonglen every day, and in particular for the Chinese officials who torture and kill Tibetans. He says: “I visualize them and draw their ignorance, prejudice, hatred and pride into myself. I do this with such strong feeling that if later I hear about atrocities, the intensity of my own negative feelings is reduced to the point of groundlessness.” http://www.aboutmeditation.com/tonglen.html

May our meditation birth compassion. Namaste.

Note: Click http://www.zen-eye.org/free%20samples_page.html and scroll down to “Understanding Non Attachment” (free audio). This tonglen exercise led by Musho Sensei is well worth the time, as it guides one through a meditation on dealing with pain in ourselves and all others. (The dialogue about “oneness” led by Genpo Roshi is also insightful.)

image: novice monks celebrating the 2,551th birthday of Buddha in South Korea, 5/24/07, REUTERS/Jo Yong-hak

Movements of the Soul

Let him [sic] who is consoled see to humbling himself . . . , thinking how little he is able . . . in the time of desolation without . . . grace. . . . On the contrary, let him who is in desolation think that he can do much with . . . grace. ~Ignatius of Loyola, “For Perceiving and Knowing in Some Manner the Different Movements Which Are Caused in the Soul,” The Spiritual Exercises, via Randy Williams

Ignatius’ two movements of the soul – between “desolation” (unaware of grace) and “consolation” (aware of grace) – speak to everyone’s journey. ~jpc

Let us be thankful for the whole journey, giving thanks for grace and our dependence upon it. Namaste.

image: St. Ignatius http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=56

National Will

In 1973, America imported 35 percent of the oil it used; today that figure is greater than 60 percent. . . . In a fit of frustration [over this national problem], I asked . . . what we needed to do to reawaken Congressional interest. [A Senator] asked me if I knew how to start another Arab embargo [1973]. He was right. Without a crisis, a real national energy program could not get past normal political paralysis. The [President] Ford initiative [1975] was the last real national attempt to reduce our vulnerability. ~Frank G. Zarb, “How to Win the Energy War,” nytimes.com, 5/23/07

O for the will, national and personal, to avert war and warming. Namaste.

image: cars trying to get gas at two stations www.fiendbear.com/bear1973.htm

Sunday Dialogue LV

Journer: What makes us joyful?

Nez: My student* says, “Be joyful though you’ve considered all the facts.”

Journer: So what makes us joyful?

Nez: Joy is an ever-present spring, so splash around in it and be joyful.

______
* ~Wendell Berry, via Geri Tolman

image: www.starkravingbrad.com/html/photos.html

What Did Jesus Say?

Far from being a Book full of bad news for gays and lesbians, I believe the Bible is indeed full of good news of God’s love for all of creation. . . . The Bible has no clear and consistent sex ethic and only knows a love ethic, which is constantly being brought to bear on whatever sexual mores, moral codes or church teachings are dominant in any given country, culture, or period. There is also the emphasis on grace rather than on law. ~former United Methodist Bishop Yap Kim Hao, Singapore, via George Holcombe [full article http://www.umnexus.org/commentary.php?Article=325]

Jesus said nothing about homosexuality but a lot about love. So, let’s go with Jesus on this one, in as loving ways as possible, which of course include new structures of justice. ~jpc

Spirit loves us all equally well, regardless of sexual identity. Namaste.

Spirit of the Law

Religious laws, in all the major traditions, have both a letter and a spirit. As I understand the words and example of Jesus, the spirit of a law is all-important, whereas the letter, while useful in conjunction with spirit, becomes lifeless and deadly without it. ~David James Duncan, www.oriononline.org/pages/om/05-4om/Duncan.html

The letter of the law, religious or not, can kill our spirits. The spirit of the law, religious or not, can inspire our spirits. ~jpc

Let us live by the whole, merciful law at the heart of life. Namaste.

image: www.fasting.ws/fasting%20scriptures.htm