Birth - Resurrection

I was thinking this morning about Christmas and Easter- birth and resurrection. I suppose it is odd to think of Easter a few days before Christmas, but these ideas that come to me seem to have a mind of their own.

Once upon a time Easter was the BIG Christian celebration. Now it seems to come second to Christmas. I think part of that is people can relate to birth more than resurrection. Part of that is Christmas has been secularized and commercialized much more than Easter. Santa and gifts are more appealing to the modern person than the Easter bunny and candy.

Christmas to the Christian and to those who love the ethical teachings of Jesus, is the beginning of the story. None of the rest would happen without the birth. 

Resurrection seems magical and unlikely to the modern mind, but I think resurrection happens all around us all of the time. We see sunsets, and we see sunrises. We see the leaves fall from the trees, and we see springtime.  We see dead seeds spring forth to be flowers or food.  We see barren deserts get rain and become a riot of color with wild flowers. We see cuts scab and heal and disappear to new skin. We see deep hurts in our hearts ease, heal, and become our teachers, so that we become new and strong, over and over again. We learn new ideas and become whole. Change unfolds in our lives and we become new versions of ourselves.

We read or watch testimonies of life after death experiences. Over time and places, people recount similar stories of what happens when we die. We awaken as spiritual beings, evaluate the life we've just lived, and continue on. Our spark, our soul is born into the spiritual realm. 

We read about the University studies on reincarnation by Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker and others.  Some children recall past lives and share things they can prove as true. They have written books and have YouTube videos if you want to explore.

I suggest resurrection is not fantasy. 

Creatuon is Now

 God is creating the entire universe fully and totally in this present now. Everything God created six thousand years ago—and even previous to that—as he made the world, God creates now all at once. --- Meditations With Meister Eckhart

People argue  about how long ago the universe, or maybe our particular solar system, was created, or when it was initiated. Was it 13.8 billion years ago? Was it 6,000 thousand years ago? Was it some other measure of time?

No matter the number, it is recreated constantly, or as Meister Eckhart said, "now all at once." It makes me think of our bodies. Every year 98% of the atoms in our bodies are replaced! The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the lotions we put on our bodies, etc. bring new atoms, we expel atoms as we breathe out, through our bodily functions, etc. Atoms circulate. Yet it's still us. We are recreated over and over and over again. 

Creation is not a one time long ago action, it is a moment to moment ongoing process.

So too with our thinking. Our beliefs of childhood morph constantly as we learn and expand, reason and consider, apply critical thinking skills, etc.

I stand in awe of Creation.

 

 

Where Is God?

 God is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk. --- Meister Eckhart

I love this quote. I have loved this for decades. Contemplate this for awhile, and you will reap many insights.

I have experienced the Divine Presence is absolutely everywhere.  The Bible has many references to this. Here is the Message Version of Psalm 139:7-12.

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

When we come to realize this in our hearts, the world is a far different place.  

 

Grace vs Ego

Where heavenly grace and true charity enter in, there neither envy nor narrowness of heart nor self-love will have place. Divine love conquers all and enlarges the powers of the soul...There is no more troublesome, no worse enemy of the soul than you yourself, if you are not in harmony with the spirit.

--- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a` Kempis

 I have been observing people all of my life, as you likely have too. There are some who quietly go about doing good, no fanfare, no applause required. There are others who want attention and praise for every little thing they do.

Rereading  The Imitation of Christ, I noticed he saw that too. The above quote us one of quite a few of his comments along that line. His point being when we do do things from a spiritual place in us, it's between us and God. It's not for public attention, not from narrowness of heart or a testimony to self-love, not for some manipulative motive.

His point that covers it all is - if you call yourself a Christian, your job is to imitate Christ, leading you to become Christ-like. Pay attention to the life of Christ. Eliminate from yourself anything unlike Christ.  Cease doing things that are unChrist-like. Keep attuning yourself to God, until you are continually aware of The Presence of The Most High. 

Most people are not willing to do the work internally. They seek short term entertainment and ego strokes instead. They live shallow lives.

 Ask yourself which one are you aiming towards? Is your life goal to live on the surface to public acclaim? Is your life goal to see how close to The Presence you can live and be; to see how much good you can do; to be loving, forgiving, and kind? Your choice makes all the difference.

Mind In A Box

 The past couple of days I have been having ideas about closed minds waft through my mind. I got images of the old cartoon, "Joshua In A Box," where he tried and tried to get out of a box. When he relaxed and leaned on the wall of the box, his arm just went through and then all of him, then he created a new box.

A closed mind may expand a tad, but then closes again in a slightly bigger box. There is an underlying need preventing freedom of thought and inquiry.  It could be different for different people. It could be an ego thing, where there is need to be "right" at all costs. It could be fear of the unknown. It could be some lingering echoes from long ago. Or....

I see it in all areas of life. Diehard whatever - political party (mine only others WRONG), religion (mine only, others evil), prejudices (my group only, others dreadful), hatreds (like only certain people, others skum), etc.  Sure, it's irrational, but the closed mind can't/won't see or acknowledge that, declaring everyone else who sees it differently to be nuts.

The longer I live, the more I learn, the more I realize I know so little in relation to the whole. Science has  only unlocked a tiny bit of knowledge. History and archeology keep fining new things. Every area of honest inquiry expands ad infinitum.

Spiritual life is my main focus this life. I know that the Divine is Infinite, so not fully knowable. Anyone who says they know the full religious perspective is fooling themselves and often is combative in their insistence that their way is the only way.

No matter what religion, the close-minded ignore input that disrupts their frozen theology.  People have been on earth at least 200,000 years. The longest any current religion has been on earth is about 4,000 years, plus there are older religions we know about that are no longer practiced. We have evidence that our even more ancient ancestors had spiritual inclinations. They left drawings and items of worship that have been found and continue to be found. They had wisdom and connection to something More.

Our smug modern religions, insisting they are "it" ignore humanity's long relationship to the Divine. I suggest, because the Divine is Infinite, no one knows everything there is to know. No one religion has cornered the market on spiritual truths. 

Yet, if we look closely, there are some consistent ideas that thread through them all. No matter who or when someone touches the edges of the Divine, they find some of the same things. They make up different myths and stories and rituals about what they think they know, but there are similarities, if you look closely. 

That's not to say that you and your religion are wrong. It's just to remember, there are many paths to the same God. Let us honor the path we take and others take. Let us cease arguing and fighting and be what our religions call us to be - to become Christlike, Buddhalike, etc. To be lights of love and kindness and blessing and peace. Let there be peace in our hearts and therefore in our world.

Trying to Get On God's Good Side

 Eckhart criticizes the “merchant mentality,” and he applies his criticism to religious practices, “fasts, vigils, prayers and similar good deeds of all kinds” — if “people do these things so that our Lord may give them something,” they are merely merchants. For “truth doesn’t long for any kind of commercial deal. God does not seek his own interest.” --- Meister Eckhart, A Mystic Warrior For Our Time by Matthew Fox

While all the things he mentions are fine in themselves, the motivation behind is not necessarily so. There is a difference between doing something as a manipulation and doing it because that's who we are in our inner self. The appearance may be the same, but in essence it is not the same.

It occurs to me that we can't con God. For our whole being is known to the God in Whom we live and move and have our being. 

How I see it is that our job is to heal our cracked egos, delve deeply, and become thoroughly in tune with the Infinite. No artifice. Who we are becomes light and love, pure and awake, loving because we are in fact love, light because who we are in fact is light. The inner kingdom shows up in the outer, for that is all there is, falsity dissolved into nothingness.

The Master told us this. The kingdom of God is within you... You are the light, don't hide it...love...forgive endlessly...

 

IQ, EQ, & SQ.

 This morning I awoke with the idea of SQ. We know of I.Q., short for Intelligence Quotient. Those with high I.Q. are very smart and can understand very complex tnings. Those with low I.Q. are often called "slow." We've somewhat recently heard of E.Q. that is Emtional Quotient. Those with high E.Q. are good with people, are empathetic and understand. Those with low E.Q. just don't get it. (These are very abbreviated explanations, but you can look them up if you want detail.)

This morning, as I lay in bed half awake, S.Q. came to me, or Spiritual Quotient. Those with high S.Q. include the great Avatars, the mystics, those who walk with God, who have moments in their lives when they awaken to all tnings spiritual. Those who have low S.Q. don't have a relationship with God that they are aware of, or are filled with superstiionand fantastical beliefs. They often "believe" in mutually exclusive ideas and are not aware that they cannot both be true.

It became so clear to me, and it made me want to find a way to awaken people to the possiblity, even the need, to raise their S.Q.  I felt a certain sadness for people slumbering, unaware of what life could be like with a higher S.Q. Then I was led to ponder, what would be ways to motivate people to want to do the things that would in fact raise their S.Q.?

Spiritual life these days takes a back seat to the media, to Smart Phones, to sports, to the internet, etc. Minds are colonized by excitement, by flashy pictures, by fast moving news, by politics, by celebrities, etc. 

I don'thave the answer yet. Spirit gave me the idea of S.Q. and a picture of the current state of life here on earth. So, I think ideas of how to motivate will be forthcoming.

Let's think on these things.