THE PEARL THAT IS YOU (for Ruth)

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When you tithe, you might buy a few more bricks for a new church annex,
But, unfortunately, you won’t be able to buy God
Through this kind of material agency.

And, even though thousands of people regularly assemble at a specific place of worship –
God will more commonly be found, waiting alone, out in the parking lot.

In truth, God resists being organized
By a committee, a denomination, or even a religious empire,
Nor can God be systematized by logic or complex mathematical equations –
In fact, it’s simply not possible to preserve a spiritually deteriorating civilization
By transforming a standard-issue, everyday God into a shibboleth
To be held in people’s mouths like a piece of butterscotch candy.

Even if we stand out in the street – shouting –
“Open, Jesus, Open”–
God will refuse to open
Because God doesn’t respond to “holy” passwords.

Usually, God is most likely to be found when we’re not really looking –
And, frequently, is discovered in the most surprising places.

The human heart has enough room for a miniature sky – sprinkled with surprises –
But the best one – by far – the one you’ve always hoped for –

Will arrive first thing in the morning
When, half-asleep, your hand reaches under your pillow –
And, there it is –
The pearl you’ve traded your entire life for –

The pearl that is you.

STILL A POSSIBILITY

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It takes some imagination to experience the Holy –
God can’t be “painted” solely in prose – it always takes a “good dose” of the poetic
To display God’s brilliant colors.

Love is humanity’s expressway to God –
Jesus himself merged into God through love
And then informed everyone what he’d accomplished
So they could do the same.

Jesus never envisioned establishing a major religion –
Rather, he saw himself as a spiritual teacher
Who taught everyone could achieve a relationship to God
Similar to the one he had discovered.

So, if you do happen to follow Jesus’ teachings –
You’ll be able to gain important insights into the Divine –

Yes, it’s true, ecstasy still remains a possibility
For those of us living in the Twenty First Century.

INEFFABLE LOVE

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The love of God is like a cool fountain
Continually shooting joy up into our hearts –
Or a bright flame that illuminates our minds
And never goes out.

Once you experience ineffable love
You’ll know what God is like –

Nevertheless, this is difficult to describe
Even for mystics or poets.

CONTRA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

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“Artificial intelligence” is an oxymoron
Because it doesn’t take into account
The fact that human intelligence encompasses both the material and the spiritual.

Soulless “things” like computer programs, no matter how cleverly designed,
Will never achieve freedom, by definition –
And this is why the “singularity” cannot occur –
Relying, as it does, solely on material evolution.

Since God (and the “true self”) are free –
This scientific/technological project to create “artificial intelligence” –
Inevitably has to end up as a complete waste of time.

Inherent in religion is the acknowledgement of God’s freedom –
Along with that same potential in human beings –
But this traditional understanding,
Unfortunately, long ago, got entangled up with various ideas of materiality.

Artificial intelligence is merely the “last gasp”
Of all the myriad materialistic conceptions of the Holy put forward over the ages
Until human beings finally come to understand that there’s actually no serious alternative
To engaging in a path of “spiritual” evolution.

THE SECRET OF SUCCESSFULLY GROWING OLDER

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The secret of successfully growing older physically –
Is to simultaneously grow younger spiritually.

As our body starts falling away – heading back towards the earth –
At the same time, we should be striving to attain freedom of spirit –

We’ll know we’re living right
When, as our happiness is receding,
We experience joy on the rise.

We’ll be satisfied with decreasing material success
When a “spiritual” fountain opens up in our hearts –
And grows daily more refreshing.

It’s a race we win by losing –

An “end of life” paradox:

As we dissolve into the dust –
We simultaneously become more radiant.

LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING

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Love and understanding have similar roots –

However, since God remains largely unknowable by the human mind,
God, generally, is revealed to us through love –
Which is why, in providing such direct access to God, love is so treasured.

Human beings have a potential to love
Infinitely greater than they’re able to rationally comprehend.

Love is like possessing a pair of “spiritual” glasses –
When you put them on,
You understand everything in a new and different light –

That is, you start seeing – just like God does.

SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS

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“Sin”
Is treating people (including one’s self) and other living beings as objects.

Objects aren’t real – they’re ephemeral –
Only subjects are “real” in any true sense.

For example, the ego is a self-made intangible “object”
While your “true self” is always a subject.

The essential work of human beings is to find and align
Their true selves with a “real” God – not with “made-up” ones.

Mostly, though, we need to jump-start our everyday lives
Into an alternative world of creativity, joy, and color –
That we’ll start experiencing the moment
We decide to put aside our comfortable ego
And, completely, “wake up”!

A MYSTICAL DEATH

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A “mystical death” entails dying to one’s false self –
That is, to the “ego,” and becoming “enlightened.”

This is difficult to do, however, because most of us
Have never known anything else.

It’s a death-defying “leap”
Out of a cherished, comfortable, and manipulable ego
Into an evanescent and ecstatic “true self.”

Listen, before jumping –
Don’t bother even thinking about it –

Since, in truth, in order to “come alive,”
You simply have to “do it”!

IT COSTS TOO MUCH TO BUY WHAT CAN ONLY BE EARNED

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It’s more generous than sunshine,
More unstoppable than a runaway coal truck,
And more important than a room full of Presidents.

What is it?
Love, of course, the instant it touches a human heart –
Who or what could stop it?

Every human being has experienced this.

So what’s recently been restricting it to a trickle –
Why isn’t it still fire hose strong –
Rushing and gushing into the world with all the force of a springtime flood?

Perhaps, we take love for granted –
Like air –
Believing it’ll always be there because it’s so essential.

But that would be a mistake –
Because real love is not free –
It has to be worked for.

Since it’s so wonderful, we believe it should be a gift,
So when it’s not –
Futilely, we attempt to buy, and sometimes, even steal it –

This is why a life without love
Often turns out to be so painfully expensive.

GOD OF MANY COLORS, MANY FLAVORS

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God comes in many colors, many flavors –

A fan opens:

Purple dragons
Breathe fire down from dark mountains above –

Flipping the fan over –

Brilliant angels
Are dancing in a perfect circle –

At the center of that circle
A lone deer drinks.

God knows everything by “knowing” nothing –
God doesn’t need to “know” – because God simply is.

So, isn’t it true that, sometimes, we can learn the most about God
When we’ve forgotten God entirely.

Pulling on our boots, we decide to go out –

Where are we going?

To find God, of course, the God of many colors,
Many flavors –

The God who we no longer remember
Because, unfortunately, we somehow, somewhere, have misplaced
Our true selves.