Who are you, anyway?
I am with thee.
But, what’s your name?
I am with thee.
What do you mean?
I am with thee.
You’re not making sense!
Remember “For Thou art with me”?
I’ve heard it, but just tell me your name.
For the eternal time, “I am with thee.”
~jpc
Namaste.
image: "Beauty-SHE and HE," Mary Saint-Marie http://www.marysaintmarie.com/cards.html
I believe that all Christians must have a working theology, one that can actually function in their personal, professional, and public lives. . . . [T]here is nothing special about theology – every Christian has one. The question is how good, appropriate, and functional is it? ~Sallie McFague, Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril, p. xii
A good, working spirituality sends us forth to live on behalf of our universe, planet, culture, region, local community, family, and ourselves. ~jpc
To more fully intercommune. Namaste.
Journer: Where do religious truths come from?
Nez: My student* said, “Life, Death and Resurrection . . . [are] happening on a cosmic scale as well as a personal one.”
Journer: So, might we say religious truths come from the way life is?
Nez: Exactly, from the heart of being at the heart of creation.
______
* ~Matthew Fox, Thesis 63
image: Dougall, "Abstract Autumn" www.art.com (above my desk)
If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi and nonviolence. But if your enemy has no conscience, like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer. ~attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Observe, judge, weigh up, decide and act”: those words, written by Bonhoeffer relative to discerning God’s will, led to his execution, because he “acted” by joining the plot on Hitler’s life. ~jpc
“Thy will be done” can be a dangerous prayer. Namaste.
Every morning when we gather to pray in my monastery in Vermont we each wrap a colored shawl over our shoulders to connect us to a particular moment of grace in the universe story. My shawl is the color red depicting the fireball at the beginning of time. This morning on my final day of retreat I drape myself with the cosmic red shawl and feel the stupendous activity of the fireball alive in me. ~Gail Worlesco, Green Mountain Monastery, VT, via LLC
O to reflect that moment of grace of fourteen billion years ago. Namaste.
image: Winner of Miss Universe 2007, Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, 5/28/07 (REUTERS/Andrew Winning, Mexico)
The planet Earth has been the one home for all of its processes and all of its myriad inhabitants since the beginning of time, from hydrogen to men. . . . Our phenomenal world contains our origins, our history, our milieu; it is our home. ~summation by Ian McHarg of his book Design with Nature (1969)
McHarq described local land planners’ work: “the expression of the inalienable right to create ugliness and disorder for private greed.” www.planetizen.com/node/10
O to treat our home as a thing of beauty. Namaste.
Don’t seek spirit, just glimpse it and commune with it. It meets us in every situation and every bit of creation. Sometimes we unite with it. Often we don’t see it and act like we’ve never seen it, but we all know its manifestations and presence. ~jpc
Happy is she who sees spirit and responds. Namaste.
image: Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Whatever career you may choose for yourself – doctor, lawyer, teacher – let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with it. Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights [and care for the earth]. . . . It will give you that rare sense of nobility that can only spring from love and selflessly helping your fellow man [and the earth community]. Make a career of humanity [and universe mutuality]. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for human [and earth] rights. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., 4/8/59 (adapted by jpc)
Our circumference of care keeps expanding and intensifying. Namaste.
Given the chance to do life in the deeps,
To serve humankind is the gift that I be.
To care for the world is the burden I bear,
Invent with my life, ‘tis the cost of my care.
Strange awe-full power is dancing through me,
Buoyantly forging impossible be.
With all my heart I’m poured out endlessly;
I’m burdened eternally.
~tune: “Anniversary Waltz”; first stanza and chorus words by Kay Lush (1936-1995), via LLC
Namaste.
image: Angela Branigan, “Spiritual Renewal (Joy Unspeakable)” http://www.art.com/
Journer: Do you trust all religious people?
Nez: My student* said, “You may be as orthodox as the devil and as wicked.”
Journer: So you don’t trust all religious people?
Nez: Maybe a smidgen more or less than I trust all people.
______
* ~attributed to John Wesley, wikipedia.com
Johannesburg — The official order of business Wednesday was the introduction of The Elders: convened at the request of Nelson Mandela, a collection of former [global] leaders that has begun to work together to advance the causes of peace and global justice. ~Stephanie Nolen, globeandmail.com, 7/18/07, http://tinyurl.com/yq5wus, via Jann McGuire
image: The Elders and major sponsors, (L-R) Musician and activist Peter Gabriel, Professor Muhammad Yunus, former Pesident of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Secretary General of the U.N. Kofi Annan, former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and entrepreneur Richard Branson in Johannesburg Wednesday. (Photo: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)
In each moment the universe is about something new, something that had been but a dream until this moment . . . when the necessary conditions have been created for a new and stunning transformation. ~Brian Swimme, Foreword to The Human Phenomenon, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, p. xvi
As well as all the other forces of the universe, we’re also talking about us humans helping to create the new and stunning. ~jpc
The creativity of the universe working together is beyond belief. Namaste.
image: Jerome Hunter photo of Connie's horse playing the roll-over game
To live on Main Street is, if one lives in the right spirit, to inhabit the Holy City. ~J.N. Findlay, interpreting Hegel, in Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything, p. 305
"Main street spirituality” is being aware that the other world is in this world – the essence of the spirit journey. ~jpc
O to be really aware. Namaste.
Thou art ever calling me to be.
Without thee I die in spirit –
A listless ship a-sail with no wind.
With thee, inspired to live again.
~jpc
“I am I . . . onward to glory [we] go.” Namaste.
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men [sic] who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. . . . [T]hey offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. ~Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, p.86
One can build a psychology of life around this “last freedom,” and Frankl did and called it logotherapy, assuming meaning in life under any and all circumstances. ~jpc
O to see through everything to the center. Namaste.
image: A Bosnian Muslim woman cries during a mass funeral in the town of Brcko June 16, 2007. Thousands of friends and relatives gathered for a funeral of 77 Bosnian Muslims and two Croats killed by Serb forces in 1992 and found in mass graves near the town of Brcko more then ten years after the war ended. (REUTERS/Damir Sagolj)
A Honda Accord diesel test car recently set a record of 92 mpg. http://tinyurl.com/2h2sw9
.jpg)
after talking about paying to kill weeds, grow and maintain grass, rake and throw away grass and leaves, the story ends . . .
God: And where do they get this mulch?
St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
God: Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
St. Catherine: “Dumb and Dumber,” Lord. It’s a story about . . .
God: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
~the whole story http://www.comptechdoc.org/humor/garden/ via David Zahrt, along with this image around his abode
Journer: Is it wrong to want?
Nez: My student* said, there comes “the startling recognition that the very thing you [really want] . . . wants everything from you.”
Journer: That seems unfair.
Nez: What’s fairness got to do with it?
______
* ~Andrew Cohen, Quote of the Week, 1/15/07
[A]ny religion, if you do it wrong, will leave people feeling condemned and dismissed and unworthy; and any religion, if you do it right, will leave people feeling cleansed and affirmed. ~Harold Kushner http://tinyurl.com/ypb8mn
We choose cleansed and affirmed. Re-joicing in the power of grace we go forth to serve mother earth and all her children. ~jpc
Right religion lifts up all. Namaste.
image: grandson JPC (Preston) baptizing another pebble
[David L. Goetz says in Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul:] “How do you view the world in a deeper, more mystical way when you’re living in an environment that sucks you in with more shallow goals – bigger house, better body, perfect kids?” ~Annie Gowen, “Breaking Free of Suburbia’s Stranglehold,” washingtonpost.com, 6/3/07, via JPC II
Glad to hear secular types reporting on deep journey issues that cripple our spirits if we let them. ~jpc
O to build our foundations on rock rather than sand. Namaste.
image: Joro Petkov, "Field Study I" www.art.com
From where I stand, the model of Jesus is a clear one: A religious life is defined by more than personal moral choices. It demands actions designed to make the world better for everyone. Those who claim to be Christian might want to remember that when they start choosing presidents on the basis of their “Christian principles.” ~Joan Chittister, “From Where I Stand,” 6/7/07, via Jann McGuire
Who will make the world better for everyone and everything, even the poorest of the poor and the going-extinct honey bees? ~jpc
Globally, let us consider a new kind of leadership, grounded in authentic principles of care for all, present, past, and future. Namaste.
image: Chris Harrison, digital alteration photo.net/photos/RedDoor
“Since late February, during the time you [son Jonah Taub, in wheelchair, with cerebral palsy and challenged to communicate verbally] were preparing for this [Bar Mitzvah], you had to deal with two major seizures, three visits to the emergency room, one outpatient EEG, a few courses of different anti-seizure meds, and culminating with three nights at UNC Hospital . . . for an EEG and MRI on top of regular schoolwork and EOG tests,” Steve Taub [father] said [during his son’s Bar Mitzvah service]. “That you managed to prepare anything under circumstances like that is quite an accomplishment. You really impressed your father. . . . My biggest job in this world is to raise a tzaddik (a righteous person) and a mentsch (a true human being). . . . You’re making that job easy.” ~Rabbi Andy Koren, “A Bar Mitzvah and Tzaddik that Won’t Be Forgotten,” news-record.com, 6/30/06
We celebrate the human spirit in dialogue with spirit. Namaste.
God is not a person but the presence.
Jesus is a person and Christ is the presence.
Spirit is no-thing but the presence.
Heaven is not a place but the presence.
Eternity is not a time but the presence.
Salvation is always now in the presence.
The Way is not a religion but the presence . . .
not a set of beliefs but the presence . . .
not a body of people but the presence.
Faith is communing with the presence.
Hope is trusting the presence.
Love is demonstrating the presence.
The greatest of these is the presence.
~jpc, 6/29/07
Namaste.
Jesus appeared to be a failure. But his followers experienced an event in the midst of his death and their gutted community that empowered them to tell a story that built new community, changed global history, and is helping to guide evolution. Theirs is a story of transformation. In the 20th century, John Knox, a Jesus follower, wrote, in so many words, event creates story and story creates event . . . unendingly. That’s the way of the journey. ~jpc
What events and stories are transforming journers today? Namaste.
image (at one time) http://www.neuroquantology.com/comingsoon.htm
Journer: Am I on the spirit journey you keep talking about?
Nez: My student* said, “One has to go on the journey. . . . The need is deep in the soul.”
Journer: But am I on the spirit journey?
Nez: If you have a soul, yes.
______
* ~Osho, via Megha Merani
image: Blase Sands, scene in the North Carolina mountains
In today’s multi-tasking world, we all know that doing many things at once lessens the value of each encounter and experience. Every moment is a gift to be savored. When all the taste buds are engaged – the bitter, the sweet, the salty, the sour, and the pungent – the meal is most appreciated. As Auntie Mame put it: “Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” ~Cheryl Hood
O to be present. Namaste.
image: part of the garden of George and Wanda Holcombe
The universe thrives on the edge of a knife. If it increased its strength of expansion it would blow up; if it decreased its strength of expansion it would collapse. By holding itself on the edge it enables a great beauty to unfold. ~Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, The Universe Story, p. 54, via Carl Larsen
Therefore, in the midst of that unbelievable balance our existence thrives on the edge of a knife. Best we give thanks and live it while the living is good. ~jpc
The living is always good. Namaste.
image: Sombrero Galaxy, 28 million light years from Earth, was voted best picture taken by the Hubbell telescope www.hubblesite.org
"From Living Hell to Living Well: A radical campaign to return streets from cars to people in Colombia's largest city is now a model for the world," by Charles Montgomery, globeandmail.com, 6/25/07, via Tab Combs
Thinking we understand our world, invariably something comes along and boggles our realization. For example, watch this link http://tinyurl.com/2we7hw via LLC.
What are other global shifts happening that many of us don’t realize? ~jpc
O to be opened up to dream and care and act. Namaste.
Liberty . . . is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying ‘no’ to any authority – literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social, and even political. ~Ignazio Silone, The God That Failed, p. 102
Individually, socially, and universally liberty is grounded in the gift of freedom. Liberty is a right. Freedom is built-in reality. ~jpc
Celebrate freedom that launches liberty, way up in the middle of the air. Namaste.
The climate crisis offers us the chance to experience what few generations in history have had the privilege of experiencing: a generational mission; a compelling moral purpose; a shared cause; and the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict of politics and to embrace a genuine moral and spiritual challenge. ~Al Gore, “Moving Beyond Kyoto,” nytimes.com, 7/1/07
Finally, we humans will do or not do, and earth history – plus or minus the human species – will decide how we did or didn’t do. ~jpc
“These are the times. / We are the people.” Namaste.
It did not really matter what we expected from life [in the concentration camps], but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. ~Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 98
How would you answer the question of meaning in such evil situations? ~jpc
Meaning is always where spirit is: here. Namaste.
Journer: My life is full of holes.
Nez: My student* says, “Those holes in your life are holy, too.”
Journer: Is anything not holy?
Nez: One thing for sure: not loving your holy life.
______
* ~jpc
image: school children in Nairobi slum named Kawangware
