A Great Eckhart Analogy

Meister Eckhart told an analogy that speaks volumes to me. Basically, he said that if you take a basin of water or a mirror out in the sun, the sun will fill them with light. They will not only be filled with sunlight, but also reflect it.  But, they will not be the sun, and the sun is still the sun and not diminished.

So too with the soul and God. God's Light shines there, but God is not diminished and is still everywhere. All is in God and God is in all.

It seems to me that our problem is that our reflecting out God's light can be dimmed or distorted by our choices. Just as my bathroom !mirror meed's to be cleaned so  can see myself clearly, my soul needs to be cleaned of negativity, meanness, lack of integrity and so forth so that the pure Light of God can be reflected out.

It is our responsibility to get the log out of our eye and soul, to borrow an idea from Jesus. It's a life long process. Don't let that be daunting. Each day we strive ever toward the goal of being more and more Christ like.

 

 

Are We Lopsided?

 Many great spiritual thinkers have spoken or written of the essential call to be good stewards. Many people in general these days are alarmed about a wide range of things, and come up with solutions that maybe are not actually solutions.  They have not been thought through.

For some reason, thinking and reasoning are not popular right now. People are into emotional causes. They get worked up about something and then get carried sway.  Letting emotions take the lead rarely works out, for agitation short circuits the cerebral cortex, our ability to reason calmly and logically.

Let's consider some examples historically and currently.

Periodically someone decides the world is coming to its end, and they know when. New Year's Eve 999 people slept in churches. They were assured the world would end at midnight. There have been a fairly large number of predictions of doom and gloom, none of course came true. Some groups are still trying it. Reason would suggest, don't fall for this story. Even Jesus, who was a believer in end times, as were most Jews of his time, said that no one knows the day or hour. 

Let's look at a current example. There is a cry to change how we get energy to power our toys, factories, cars, etc. One idea put forward is to use wind by building huge windmills.  I think no one thought this through. Every year 50,000 or more birds are killed by windmills. I think we need birds. I think we need d to find a way that does no harm. 

I urge us to put on our thinking caps and use them so that we don't destroy life or our planet with tilted, lopsided thinking.

Power Costs a Spiritual Price

 

The obsession with power has completely transformed the life of man and dangerously stunted his concern for beauty and grandeur. We have achieved plenty, but lost quality; we have easy access to pleasure, we forget the meaning of joy. But what is more serious is the fact that man’s worship of power has resurrected the demon of power.…When man looks only at that which is useful, he eventually becomes useless to himself. 

              --Rabbi Heschel

He has insightfully described part of our current dilemma. Humans are tending to run roughshod over each other and our planet. There is greediness of wanting, wanting, wanting, of acquiring, acquiring, acquiring.  There is no time for awe and wonder. There is no place for quiet contemplation. 

We hear politicians hurling ugly names, exaggerations, even outright lies to try to gain more power. We hear clergy disparaging and attacking other understandings, even shunning or attacking those who have a differing viewpoint. We see crazed gunmen shooting to kill because they are maybe a bit unstable, but also because of the atmosphere of hyperbole.  We see countries or terrorist groups trying to annihilate other groups.

Sure there are many good people doing good works. But too many are asleep, which allows the ruffians to run wild.

Are we becoming a useless species? Maybe even a blight? Do we have the courage and wisdom to pull back from the edge?

Heschel gives us many clues as to the way out and up, such as, “within our wonder we become alive to our living in the great fellowship of all beings, we cease to regard things as opportunities to exploit.”

What of Friendship?

 The friend can do for his friend what he cannot do for himself. He can give him counsel in time of difficulty; he can teach him ‘to see himself as others see him’; he can stand by him, when all the world are against him; he can gladden and enlighten him by his presence; he ‘can divide his sorrows,’ he can ‘double his joys;’ he can anticipate his wants. 

                   --- from "The Complete Works of Plato"

 How  many of us have the treasure of such a friendship? I wonder about the so-called modern age. Does its very nature throw up obstacles to deep and abiding relationships? Are we in a frenzied world of information/disinformation overload? Are we occupied with advertising, influencers, alerts on our phones, mountains of emails, the latest podcasts? Are we hyper focused on success? Do we even wedge in moments for prayer, contemplation, spirituality? Where is our focus?

Instead of caring and tending to actual relationships, are our days too filled, too busy?

But then, it occurs to me our first friendship needs to be with ourselves. All those things suggested in the quote from the book on Plato can also apply to our relationship with ourselves. As Jesus and Leviticus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." I would go so far to say that if you do not love yourself, it is not possible to fully b love your neighbor. That tricky little word "as"tells us a huge truth. I love others as I love myself. I'm hard on myself for this or that reason.  My neighbor does that very thing that upsets me about myself, and I go ballistic.

Jesus gave us a trail of clues to remedy the "as" problem. One was telling us to get the log out of our own eye before trying to get the speck out of our neighbor's eye. Another was not to judge by appearances, but use righteousness judgement. Another was to love one another as he loved you. Look, and you will find a lot more.

Lord, teach me to be a good and true friend for myself, so that I can also be a good and true friend to others. 

Life's Turning Points

 There are those times in our lives that are pivotal. Usually they require a decision - closely related to the word incision, When we make a decision, we cut off other possible choices, A simple example might be - we make a left turn onto Elm St. at 10:22 a.m. That means we can no longer make a decision to make a right turn at 10:22, we cut off that choice. and all that would have gone with it.  Perhaps, if we had turned right something disastrous might have happened, or we might have gotten stuck in a construction zone, or any number of other things. But we turned left along with all that went with that turn.

Yesterday I was honored to participate in a couple's pivot. On Tuesday evenings I lead a Bible Study at the emergency homeless shelter. Two weeks ago I met a middle aged couple who had been together 8  years, but had never married.  They were homeless, but about to move into the transitional shared housing program of the shelter. They wanted to get married. I told them where to get a license, I arranged for them to go to the program's thrift shop to get a nice outfit each, I found a zircon ring in my jewelry because they couldn't afford a ring, I printed out a beautiful commemorate certificate I had made up, I edited my wedding ceremony, etc. One of the ladies who was also in the shelter bought a little cake and  cupcakes for after the ceremony, plus a silk flower bouquet for the bride. My friend found the wedding march on her phone and one of the residents  brought out a little speaker. My friend agreed to be a witness, and the staff person agreed to be the other witness. It was a team effort.

The bride looked radiant as she walked out of the office, down the sidewalk to where the groom and I stood. It all went well, including an enthusiastic kiss at the end, This was a big turning point in their lives. They committed to one another in front of God and witnesses. They made a decision.

I encourage you to think about your decisions. It can be an interesting exercise in taking responsibility for your life.

God bless you one and all,

Moving Forward

 The speed of my overcoming has accelerated. In the not quite 3 months since Gilbert died and I discovered his multiple betrayals, I've gone from frozen in shock, to forcing myself to do a bit each day,to what I'm calling 75% reconstructed.  It feels like I'll make it now.

Prayer and a lot of self-talk all are at the heart of it, along with good counsel from my Pastor and support of friends and family. I still have daily moments when I'm reminded of something, and then remember I don't have that anymore.  I still have imaginary talks with him, What were you thinking? How could you say you loved me, yet take everything of value, or almost everything, away from me? Was all of it a lie? Etc etc etc.

I have my name on a waiting list for an affordable senior  apartment.  Its not what I dreamed of for sure, but it would give me a place to call home and the privacy that would entail.  I might qualify for the two bedroom, so I could have a sewing and art room.

I'm teaching Bible study again at the homeless shelter, and I started leading a spiritual discussion group at the county shelter. I still lead the prayer quilt ministry at church. I'm not doing as much, thank God I have a fantastic team now.

And I started my book on my life. The working title is, "I Wouldn't Believe It Either, If I Hadn't Lived It," So far I have over 70 pages written.  I go back to the beginning. I seem to have been under attack since birth. I need to find an agent to help me get it published. Any prayers for that are really appreciated.

That's my update. God bless you one and all. God bless our planet and everyone upon it.

What Kind of Faith?

 I am reading "Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years" by Paula Fredriksen. It is an excellent compilation of the history of early Christianity. A lot of  it I already knew, and it is powerful not only to review, but also to have it all togetherin one place. It is definitely worth reading in my estimation.

This morning, during my prayer time, a thought rose up. Yes, there was turmoil, angry fights, even murder and executions within Christianity.  Yes, there were intrigues and ridiculous battles over points of view, some of them seemingly minute. Yes, the development of theology is messy, and in many cases, it ended in theology being made by Imperial fiat. Yes, it shifted the focus away from Jesus and what he taught.

It shifted from having the faith of Jesus to having faith in Jesus be the focus. It stopped trying to be like Jesus to just believing the creeds made up by the Imperial church. It made him something he did not claim to be, at least until later writings such as John made claims for him, putting things on his lips that  no other writer put there.

And yet, I know from my life that there is something not able to be destroyed by the inflated egos of men, by the bouts of power struggles, or by the ugliness done in the name of Jesus. There is something that informs me from the depths, that is here with me, that is more than me. It is in synch with the Jesus before the battles, at least the Jesus of the earliest writing.

I aim to have faith as Jesus taught and modeled - the faith of Jesus, his kind of closeness to God, his lovingness, his kindness, his healing presence.