The Brain and Beyond

 The psychical, that is to say spirit, seems immensely to outrun its organ and to use brain as a musician uses an instrument. The psychological studies of Henri Bergson in France and of Dr. William McDougall at Oxford make a very strong argument for the view that the higher forms of consciousness cannot be explained in terms of brain action and that there is no well-defined physical correlate to the highest and most central psychical processes. --- Rufus Jones

 The line -- spirit, seems immensely to outrun its organ and to use the brain as a musician uses an instrument, grabbed my attention this morning. I have seen and experienced this various times in my life. I have seen and experienced spirit inspiring me or others with new thoughts and ideas that had not been in our brains, but rather wafted in from a higher place. Spirit/Holy Spirit brings the dawn of new ideas, of guidance, of inspiration. It comes into and then through us, but it comes from More than us.

To get in position for more and more of this to happen, we need to make ourselves fertile soil. We need to clean out our consciousness of all negativity, fears, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, etc. We need to spend time with God in prayer, in reading, in contemplation. We need to do good works. We need to develop our spiritual muscle so to speak.

God, help us to be good gardeners of our inner soil. Lead us to be ever closer to You, to be Light and Love, to be who You had in mind when You created us. Help us wash away all in us that is unlike You. Help us release lesser things to fully embrace You. We ask this in the name of Christ and seal it with the ancient seal of faith and integrity, Amen, Amen, and Amen

The Christ Shift

 I have been thinking a lot lately about the shift in perspective in the New Testament, what it means to our own journey. I wrote some about this on October 14th of this year. 

It starts with the synoptic Gospels primarily telling about Jesus, teaching and preaching and healing in Galilee. They tell us some of what he taught and did. Then John shifts to add the Greek philosophy element and some Cosmic Christ ideas. Then we come to Paul's 7 authenticated letters (even though they were written first, they come after John). Paul jumps totally to the Cosmic Christ. Paul shows no interest in the historical Jesus, he only mentions Jesus 4 times.

The shift to the Cosmic Christ is one from observation to participation. We are called to participate in the Christ life, to put on and fill with that spiritual energy as we too become alive with the Spirit.

The shift is also portrayed by the Gospels' account of the Pharisees vs Jesus. They represent the legal, the authority, the dogmatic, the outer way to be religious. Jesus represents the Spirit way, the inner way that leads to a different outer way.  As Auguste Sabatier wrote a long time ago - Religions of Authority contrasted with the Religions of the Spirit.

The most meaningful things seem to be invisible to our eyes. From the tether of gravity that holds us in orbit, to the atom and quark, to the microbes, etc, even science finds the invisible the most powerful.

Those who have gone before have set up dogma about the shining light from Galilee. Augustine's dogma of original sin still haunts the hallways of seminaries and churches. As Rufus Jones said, "We have had fifteen hundred years under the dogma of original sin and total depravity, now let us have a period of actually facing our own souls as they reveal themselves, not to the theologian, but the the expert in souls... We shall also find that they are strangely linked up with that unseen and yet absolutely real Heart of all things who we call God."

The aspirational Sermon on the Mount can help lead us out of the prison of dogma. It lifts our souls to a grand vision of who and what we are called to be. It gives us a vision to aspire to, but which can not be totally reached. It calls out the best in us to strive to take on the brilliant teaching and bathe ourselves in the Mission of Christ, to rise up, to shine, to be as Christlike as possible. Matthew 5, 6, & 7 can transform us, if we take it as our way as it was Jesus' Way. 

What Is Religion?

 Religion does not consist of inward thrills and private enjoyment of God; it does not terminate in beatific vision. It is rather the joyous business of carrying the Life of God into the lives of men — of being to the eternal God what a man's hand is to a man. --- Rufus Jones

The great Quaker mystic, Rufus Jones, wrote beautiful words of spiritual wisdom. This morning I felt an urging to open one of his books that I have on my Kindle. Immediately I was drawn to the words quoted above. 

It is reminiscent of words of Jesus, including By the fruits you will know them. It has long seemed to me that a person awake in God shows up in the world quietly doing godly things for others. 

The inner Light compels us to love and care for One another. We just do it without hidden agenda or ego. We don't require praise or recognition. We simply walk humbly with God, shining light wherever we are led.

It seems that we are called to be the hands and feet of the Divine Presence here on earth. We are called to be a spiritual magnet, drawing to us the weary to reignite in them the Divine Spark.

As we tend the flame of the Divine Spark in us, it grows into a flame that ignites others. Let your light so shine.

Love is a Verb Not a Noun

 Way back in elemenrary school I learned that a verb is an action word, and a noun is a person, place or thing. 

This came to mind again this week because of a painful conversation. You may remember some of my background angst. Our money was taken from us, and we've been fighting to get it back for a long time. My husband is recovering from a stroke, and now stage 4 cancer.

So someone very dear to me, a relative, called, she usually just texts. During these years of huge challenges, she has done nothing for us, as I said to her not so much as a plate of cookies. But she always says or texts "I Love You." So I said to her last week at the end of our conversation - love is a verb, all this time and no invitations for holidays or birthdays, no visits, not so much as a plate of cookies -with tears in my voice. 

She has her reasons. She has made up a fantasy about our situation and refuses to hear the actual truth. In her fantasy, she is vindicated, and of course doesn't need to take any action.

My point being, often people say I love you as a throw away line. There is no love because there is no action attached. They state it as if it were a noun, the word itself being love and being sufficient. They don't need to do anything other than say the word. And the person feels good about themselves. 

I wonder how helpful it might be in our relationships, if we were more accurate in our use of "love." If we stopped to think about what action could/should we take to be love, the world might be a better place.

If we used love the verb in our spiritual journey, we might get further along the path. "I love God. I love Jesus. I love..." What action do we take? Do we spend time every day in prayer and meditation, listening, communing with God?  Do we read spiritual books, watch spiritual YouTube videos, attend spiritual services, etc., and prepare ourselves to give service that comes from a deep spiritual connection? Do we put a priority on it? 

Let us honestly evaluate our love as a verb or our love as a noun that just sits there and doesn't lift or come with any meaning.

As Meister Eckhart said in one of his sermons:

The aim of man is not outward holiness by works, but life in God, yet this last expresses itself in works of love.

You Don't Take The Bible Literally

I know many people say that they take the Bible literally, but I say that is not possible.

Let's start with the folks who hang their hat on being anti-gay. It says in the Old Testament that a man shall not lie down with a man. In the same section it also says a disobedient child should be stoned to death, meat has to be drained of blood and no pork ever, you cannot work on Saturday, you cannot wear clothes made of more than one fiber, etc etc etc. Do you do that and more? If you say you take the Bible literally, why not? Like someone said, imagine an anti-gay person, eating a pulled pork sandwich on a Saturday,  wearing a cotton and polyester shirt, while taking a lunch break from work. He just broke at least 4 laws of the Old Testament.

There is a lot of poetry and metaphor, do you take that literally? Jesus told parables to teach principles. Do you take them literally? The people of the area were story tellers, not literal people.

The Bible was written over many centuries by unknown men (except the 7 authenticated letters of Paul). They wrote in Bronze age and Iron age and in Roman Empire days wisdom of the day.  In this time, less than 1% were literate enough to read and write elegantly,  only the very rich could afford to be educated, so only the top people could have written anything like the various parts of the Bible.They hint at universal truths as they struggle to understand the meaning of life and the spiritual domain. Mostly, they didn't think they were writing scriptures. Often they wrote down the stories and thoughts shared around the campfires generation upon generation. They wrote to share their understanding, to set the record straight (as the author of Luke who wrote to Theophilus both in the Gospel of Luke and Acts).

In the Bible there is confusion and also opposite views. What happened at the empty tomb, who found it, did Jesus meet them in Jerusalem or Galilee, etc. When did he realize he had a profound mission on earth? At his baptism, at birth, at conception, at his resurrection, from the beginning of the cosomos? All of these are presented, not all can be accurate.

There has been great value in the Bible for countless people over thousands of years, including for me. Smugly saying it is literal, while ignoring the impossiblilty of that, misses the deep wisdom that can be found there. 

Let's Consider Love

 First, charity is disinterested, seeking no reward, nor allowing itself to be diminished by any return of evil for its good. God is to be loved for Himself, not for his gifts, and persons and things are to be loved for God’s sake, because they are temples of the Holy Ghost. since charity is disinterested, it must of necessity be universal. Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love…. --- St. Bernard

 He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. I John: 4

That is the agape, unconditional Love of the scriptures. I have often said that to love because that is who you are, and no one or no circumstance can make you not love is a spiritual goal. It is what we aim to be as spiritual beings having a human experience, as Teilhard de Chardon described our life here. 

If we love conditionally, we are merely manipulating. I think that is one of the reasons people deflect Love, for they have been given and give phony love, love that seeks an ego's purpose. As St. Bernard said,  Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment.

Let us strive to live and love fully and without conditions.

The Value of the Negative

But when the hope is to know God inclusively—to realize the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental.... there is need of unsleeping awareness.

    --- Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley

Every so often I re-read this wonderful book. Almost every page speaks volumes to me, and each time something else grabs my attention. This week, the above quote grabbed me. I have been pondering it. This morning, as I lay in bed praying, a profound joy and gratitude for my many and varied life experiences swept through me, and I was tearful.

I was joyfully thankful for all of them! They wove themselves together to form the present me. Each light and shadow held a precious place in my unfolding awakening. Each was sacred, a Divine Gift.

Jesus showed us humanness and Divinity interwoven. He bled, he cried. He was also imbued with complete connection to God. His ground of being was rooted in God here with us, and God transcendent.  Our bodies too are of this earth. We bleed and cry. Our souls are of Spirit. We came to this earthly plane to learn, develop, cherish, live, love and spiritually awaken.

Instead of fighting with the shadows, it seems to me, we would do well to use them for our advancement. My old days of Aikido come to mind. We would say to our partner, "Thank you for testing me." I endeavor to say this to the twists and turns of my life.  In Aikido, we would help the attacker go in the direction they were headed, using their energy coming at us to lead them into a fall. Imagine doing this with the shadows seemingly attacking us. Take a moment and visualize it. 

Everything becomes an opportunity for spiritual growth. Thank You, God, for every moment of my life, every single moment. Thank you for showing me, as You did Joseph - they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. I praiseYou, God. Amen!