Tag Archives: culture

THINKING ABOUT RELIGION

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Once upon a time, religion was primarily about God
But, today, young people want nothing more to do with any such “religion” –
Pointing out that, in many cases, it’s been transmuted into raw politics –
That is, into fields of strife and hate in a variety of forms and forums –
Including racial, class, and culture.

One prime example is the Russian atheist KGB kind of guy
Who got control of an entire national religion (the Russian Orthodox Church)
And has been using it as a tool to assist in unleashing death like a dark blanket
Over the heads of a neighboring Slavic state
As the first step in re-establishing the “Mongol Empire.”

And then, there’s our own American QAnon clown blaring: “You’re so fired!”
On his way to establishing himself as a cult leader and wannabe tyrant –
Along the way, subverting a primitive Christian religion – Evangelicalism –
Into a ready willingness to trade in its past spiritual wealth for political hard-wired power –
Saying: “If you give me your votes, I’ll ensure abortion becomes unconstitutional”
By sprinkling “conservative” justices and judges like anti-feminist dust through the land –
Requesting his “Evangelical” followers, in fair return, to give him the American “throne!”

Following all this, clever peripheral guys have come flooding in – seeking open opportunities
To cynically work their game of manipulating hard hearted fools –
(Ones who think violence is “cool”) –
(Ones infected with fascism through a nightly Fox punditry dosage) –
All, in exchange for money, power, and cheap notoriety.

After God was sold out by many of the current Christian Evangelical leaders –
Young people saw through it all –
Discovering that Christian “God” wasn’t necessarily “Good” –
Yet failing to understand they weren’t rejecting the “real” God
But only a “puppet” God promoted (from the beginning) by Satan
Who, it looks like, may, temporarily, be winning.

Yet, I promise that the real God is alive and on the way –
Armed with Truth, Love, Beauty, and Justice –
You’ve probably never seen nor experienced all those elemental powers of God at once –
Who, as the “true” God, will, of course, emerge victorious
Over all these recent tin-plated political/media online “gods.”

I FEAR MY SOUL HAS DIED

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This is essentially an American question
Especially in the South
Where most of the nation’s sins lie buried.

What does it mean to fill up with hate –
Through Fox fascist “cable pleasure”?

And when did nihilism become an American color
Rubbed on elbows and knees –
But mostly reserved for our most scary bodily tattoos?

When did leaders of American spiritual life and politics
Become media stars – and nothing else?

Don’t we need, once again, to respect character, integrity, humanness –
Even though all have apparently evaporated.

Minutes are getting louder by the day –
By the hour –
Striking like bell towers falling.

Families separate and come apart
In an invisible American emergency –
Turning unrecognized losses
Like love, once alive,
Into a culture that no longer exists.

Bursting bubbles –
Modern romance in the 2020’s.

A FRENZY OF JOY

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Countries are like big shoes and little shoes
Walking around –
Some without too much direction and others with almost none at all.

Countries are also like lips
Some used to mock, others to kiss –
While the rarest of all can sometimes even be poetic.

Some countries have long memories and others almost none at all –
The latter due to centuries of unacknowledged crimes against others.

People themselves can also be like shoes, lips, or memories –
But, in spite of that, all are capable of dancing when the music starts.

When the music starts, there is no “I” and no “you” –
There’s only a “whee” caught up in accelerating circles of joy.

Logically, this means that dancing should be more popularly encouraged –
Whether in culture, play, or spirituality.

The elderly keep time by nodding along –
Tapping their toes.
The children, however, run riot – attempting to imitate the adults’ complex steps
As well as all their motions and emotions –
Resulting in a wild, yet oddly calm, frenzy of joy.

 

FREEDOM

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What is the “true nature” of human beings
That they share with God?

Freedom!

Most of the time, however, rather than taking a spiritually spontaneous path,
People find it easier to go in a materialistic or spiritual-materialistic direction
In which they have to give up freedom
In order to become whatever they’ve been told “their God” wants –
And whatever, in the particular culture they’ve grown up in,
That they’re “supposed” to become.

YOUR “ORIGINAL FACE”

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I’ve frequently written about the “true self” –

That is, when you come to be able to live the life you were meant to live – before being born –
Before getting “beaten up” by family, society, and culture
And “molded” – with or without your active participation –
Into an “ego” that occasionally reflects aspects of your true self – but frequently does not.

Zen people call this true self – our “original face.”

To illustrate the weight of mask upon which your roles are typically displayed –
Start by relaxing your facial muscles –
Then check to see whether your face still remains tight –
If so, try to let your face become as “liquid” as possible – completely non-judgmental –
Until you’re left with as un-tense a face as possible.

That’s as close, without a lot of additional spiritual work,
That you’ll be able to get to your “original face” for now –

A face that exhibits your naked heart –
A face that reflects your essential being –

Your “true self.”

AT ANY MOMENT

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Once you become nothing – that is, no thing,
You instantly become a door –
A spiritual door that, once entered,
It’s possible to find your “true self.”

Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much “work” to surrender one’s ego
Since it’s only “dead weight” accumulated from birth –
Manufactured and transmitted by culture, politics, society, and religion.

It’s surprisingly easy to find your true self – the easiest thing in the world –
But does take courage
Because you have to give up everything –
That is, the glorious ego you pieced together over a lifetime.

Easy, because you’re already “there” – beyond ego – without consciously knowing it –

Yes, it’s true, you can find your “true self” at any moment –
Your very own spiritual “pearl.”

BORN AGAIN

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“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3

Christianity teaches that Jesus was referring to salvation based upon a belief in him.

But Jesus was actually talking about being born “into the Spirit” – not about a commitment to himself.

So, what does it mean for one to be born “into the Spirit”?

I think, first, this requires a determination of the meaning of one’s “self.”

Each of us is born as a “true self” – but, at this moment in history, a “true self” probably wouldn’t be able to survive past his or her childhood. That’s why a person, while still young, accepts the substitution of an “ego” or false self in place of their true self – so that they can successfully integrate their “self” into the world – i.e., with their parents, community, and surrounding culture, including their nation and religion. This successor “self,” in most cases, takes the form of the strong and healthy ego that Freud described.

But what are the costs of living through an “ego” self, no matter how successful it may be in the world?

Think about consciousness as an open circle. Then picture the part accessible to the ego as a very thin slice – maybe 10% – 20%. From early childhood on, that’s the part of ourselves we choose to live within – with all our experiences needing to fit within that narrow slice or be excluded. Excluded how? The ego self requires, as the price of an effective existence, that each and every experience outside the scope of its chosen roles be methodically and ruthlessly pushed back into the unconscious – sealing those experiences off from our consciousness.

So, what happens when we’re “born again”? Upon being born again, we gain access to all our consciousness – all 360 degrees of it – and are able to experience full reality. We become completely “free” and totally open to all our experiences – just like when we first came into the world as a newborn baby – but we also retain all the experience and knowledge of the person we had become by the time we were “reborn.” This rebirth, however, doesn’t happen to an ego – it only happens when we’re able to break free of the ego we had earlier accepted – and start living outside it. That’s what Zen training, for example, prepares us for – to get “outside yourself” in order to become “free of your ego.” This is essentially the same path which Jesus taught – that we need to be “born again” in order to become our “true self” – the self God originally provided us with.

Once you become your true self, you’ll enter “Heaven” – and no longer be creating karmic problems in this world. That’s because you’ll be experiencing everything clearly – by being able to see yourself at the same time as you’re participating in the world – by an ability to stand “outside” yourself. This makes it possible for you to see what God wants you to do in any given situation – just like Jesus was able to – allowing you to act the same as God would act if God were a human being like yourself.

Let me say this as simply as possible – once you find your “true self,” you won’t be Jesus, but you’ll have become someone like Jesus – because you’ll have done what he recommended – spiritually, you’ll be “born again.”

All the “Angels in Heaven” start singing when this happens –

or perhaps,

You’ll simply be able to hear the angels who’re always singing – once you’ve gained the “ears to hear” that everyone receives upon being “born again.”