https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRkC6xkCBr0&t=119s
I invite you to view my talk on Turninng to Christ that I gave yesterday at the Temecula United Methodist Church. It is filled with some of my understandings as of now. If you enjoy my writing, I think you will find my talk inspiring.
I n rereading Emerson's essays, I am once again struck by his genius, his clarity, and his unique vision. This morning I read his essay on Shakespeare. Here is a small excerpt.
Shakspeare, Homer, Dante, Chaucer, saw the splendor of meaning that plays over the visible world; knew that a tree had another use than for apples, and corn another than for meal, and the ball of the earth, than for tillage and roads: that these things bore a second and finer harvest to the mind, being emblems of its thoughts, and conveying in all their natural history a certain mute commentary on human life. Shakspeare employed them as colors to compose his picture.
This leads my mind many places. I go to Jesus' statement to not judge by appearances, but judge righteous judgement. It reminds me of Meister Eckhart saying that if we sufficiently studied a caterpillar, one would have sermons for a lifetime. It takes me to the many mystics who tell us God is everywhere, in everything. It takes me to physics that say all is energy, most, maybe all, is empty space and just vastly speeding patterns of energy, quarks and beyond. It takes me the knowing that the most important things are invisible, from gravity to love. It takes me to the incredible distance we travel each day and the speed of our collective travels, from the rotation of our planet, to its orbit around our sun/star, to the orbit of our solar system in the Milky Way, and on and on.
Clearly not all Truth is obvious, and for the most part, most of us are rarely or never aware of what is really going on. I invite you to stretch your mind today, and think on these things with me.
It seems to me that often people define themselves by temporary, fleeting outer things.
Is who I am my poverty or my wealth? My infirmity or my health? My sex, my height, my job? My whatever, name what you will. Is my worth tied up by the status of my associates? Is agreeing with the current trends guaranteeing my acceptance? Does keeping busy show how important I am? Am I trying to impress others? Do I need and seek approval from others? If so, the you that is you is buried under a pike of meaninglessness.
Actually there is another way to define oneself. it requires different questions.
Am I true to myself? Do I know that I am part of a universe that is Divinely inspired? Do I know that everyone and everything is part of that? Do I treat all as sacred? Do I listen to my inner guidance? Am I at home in my own soul?
If we can say yes to the second set of questions, we are immune to control from the outside. Who we are is between God and us. We are free.
It occurs to me this morning that some few people are mental pioneers, while the majority simply go along with the masses, or with their particular subset group.
I was rereading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on "The American Scholar." He makes some very profound points in it. It stimulated some thoughts in me, proded by his thoughts, thoughts from two centuries ago.
There are those who simply regurgetate what others have written. They are not participating in life, gaining experience that puts action into their thinking. Actually being aware of our experiences, considering their meaning and teaching, putting new ideas into practice, makes us pioneers. We let go of ideas and behaviors that life shows us to be false or at least limited. Then we continually reinvent our relationship to ourselves and to life in general, and of course to the Divine.
Things change. He gives the example of the mulberry leaf turning into silk. We could also say, the catepillar turning into the butterfly. The seed turning into the tree. The ocean turning into the rain that waters the crops that turn into our food. And on and on.
I suggest, if you've not had a new experience, a new idea, a new action lately, you're not fully living. Risk being a pioneer. Step out into this new day, never lived before, and open to the great adventure and mystery of life.
It's officially a New Year all around our planet. May it be filled with many blessings for us all. May we awaken to our inner peace and come together to create peace on earth.
In some ways this is an artificial shift. It's a new year, never lived before, yet if we don't grow and awaken, it's another string of days where we simply continue how it's always been. We have 365 days within 2025 to choose new things, or to remain stagnant, to remain hypnotized by media, to remain in our biases, and to just get by.
We can also realize that each and every moment is a new moment, never lived before, open to new and good/great ideas and activities. We can look into the adventure of such a life and create ourselves anew, to be the person we deeply want to be.
I suggest we make a list of the noble goals our souls urge. How can we, for example, be more kind, more loving, more peaceful, more compassionate, more in tune with the Infinite? When 2026 begins, can we see ourselves more of the above? Imagine yourself there. Imagine what steps you need to take to get there. Imagine actually taking those steps. Let's become that version of ourselves. Let's go for it.
Oh Divine Presence, I turn to You this moment. Show me the way to be more fully in tune with You. Lead me to take the steps that lead to You. Wash away from me all unlike the pure being You created me to be. Dissolve my false ideas, my fears, my excuses, and grant me the courage to go forward in tune with You. This is the year of my awakening. I feel it. I accept it. I rejoice in it.
Clement, writing about 95 C.E., put together bits of various writings that later became the Gospels. He mixed them together in a rather interesting way. Here is an example:
We should especially remember the words the Lord Jesus spoke when teaching about gentleness and patience. For he said: “Show mercy, that you may be shown mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven you. As you do, so it will be done to you; as you give, so it will be given to you; as you judge, so you will be judged; as you show kindness, so will kindness be shown to you; the amount you dispense will be the amount you receive.” (1 Clem. 13:1–2)
I find this a statement about karma, among other things, or as Jesus might have said in his agricultural examples, it's about sowing and reaping.
Whatever we give out, either spiritually or mentally or physically, it creates an energy pattern that circulates and brings back to us the kind of energy we sent out.
I think Clement summed it up well. Wisdom comes to us across the ages.
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.
