Tag Archives: human beings

JESUS DID IT FIRST

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After, spiritually, we’ve fallen fast asleep –
Suddenly, God will open a door
Where, apparently, there had been no door –
And, with a good-natured chuckle, surprise us back to life!

Inside God’s voice may be heard another – more distant voice –
We hear it by being able to glimpse a face
Behind the face of society’s accepted quotidian “God.”

At times, though, it can seem like we’re a leaf floating downstream – just being carried along –
Sometimes exhilarated, at other times, getting stuck –
No matter how fast we go, however, usually we’re pretty passive –
So that what seems to us like “action” – is more like being a stone flung up into the air.

Given this, how much work and courage would it really take
To become fully conscious and fully alive –
To even start such an effort?

It might be easier than you think!
First, just wake up –
And then wake yourself a second time to your highest state of “awakeness” –
Walk to the nearest window
And look out –
If you’re fully “awake” by that time – more than you’ve ever been before –
At that very moment, you’ll get hit “right in the puss” with joy –
Human beings’ natural state.

It takes only a single moment to pass into eternity
Where we come to “life” without passing through a womb –
Avatars call this “life beyond life” –
Jesus called it pretty much the same thing – “being born again” –
But no one has described, specifically, what it’s really like.

Jesus lived through these peak experiences many times –
Especially, and finally, when singing the 22nd Psalm on the cross –
“My God, my God, why ….”

A touch of joy in death – unimaginable –

But Jesus did it first.

APPETITES

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Over time, God’s biblical names have turned to ashes –
And begun drifting down –
Each ancient name a wasted universe.

Even though the names are “pretty dead” by now –
God doesn’t miss them – at all.

People don’t want an original God anymore – it’s just too much reality to bear –
Instead, they’ve substituted smaller, ersatz Gods – stuffed animals, really –
In order to get themselves to sleep – while still being awake.

Since most people will never be privileged to see, hear, or experience God themselves –
They’ve authorized the construction of large stone structures –
Each topped by a white arrow that points straight up –
Symbolizing that something’s up there!

But actually nothing’s there.

So, when people decide they no longer want a real God any longer –
And begin worshipping their own fabulous human productions instead –
They begin feeling an increasing spiritual hunger –
That is, a strong desire to eat everything in the world –
Whether money, fashion, wearable computers,
New ideas, exotic food, foreign vacations, and much much more –

As a result, it’s getting pretty hot – and heating up even more –
In a sort of reverse Vesuvius effect –
Each person an upside-down volcano – pulling “hot” materials back inside themselves.

God is appalled at this, but can do nothing
Because these people no longer exist as ordinary human beings –
Having become primarily appetites.

It is natural to eat – so long as it’s in suitable proportions –
It only becomes unnatural when it’s gotten completely out of control –
For example, when one tries to “eat” enough to fill the gap left by a missing real God.

Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed all warned us against this –
When our appetites become more important than other human beings, or even God –
When appetites take over and start devouring our human spirit.

The strongest materialistic forces in the world have been steadily pushing this –
With global capitalism out in front –

The advertising and public relations campaign runs as follows:

“Become appetites, little ones –
Don’t even think about God –

After all, you can’t “eat” God,
Can you?”

SURFING

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Human beings desire control in their lives –
Which is both a good, as well as a bad thing.

Actually, life is more like surfing –

If you go too far forward –
Or too far back –

You fall in.

It’s the same with our attempts at control –
Not enough, and life starts to fall apart,
Too much, and it can freeze up.

Western culture teaches that we should strive for as much control in our lives as possible
But this has led to embracing a “material” God.

It’s similar, isn’t it, to what Jesus said about the birds –
Which don’t have to worry about what they eat or wear.
Jesus knew people had to work –
But thought it just wasn’t the most important thing.

The paradox each of us needs to solve
Is how to become our “true self” –
The child that’s still able to play –
In the midst of a responsible adult life.

It is a lot like surfing, isn’t it –
Balance being the most important skill.

Playful as a child –
Responsible as an adult.

This takes a lot of practice
Like all other critical life skills.

TOO SPOILED TO CHANGE

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We believe we’re okay, even though we’re not –
And know we’re not.
We’re committed to this belief because we’re too spoiled to change
And, up until now, have always been able to “get away with it.”

In the distant past, God sent a few select people into the world
Repeatedly attempting to teach human beings they really need to change –
But, rather than changing, they changed the message instead –
And then buried it – upside-down – inside magnificent stone structures.

Now, however, it’s gotten to the point
That, as a species, we face the threat of going extinct – by
Inadvertently tearing ourselves to pieces (in the old tried and true “male” way),
Along with altering the climate of our beautiful, still largely paradisiacal world –

Unless we completely change:

From human animals to human beings –
From false selves to true selves.

That’s why we need the purest girl in the world more than ever
To make an appearance here on earth (life’s only “known” home in the universe) –
Because our ancient spiritual models have gone stale
And no longer work in the way we need today.

SEARCHING FOR GOD – WITH BOTH MINDS

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We possess two minds: a logical/mathematical/scientific mind and a creative artistic one:
Joined at the brain’s center they function best when acting together
Because it takes both to encompass reality.

Today, many people are using just one of their minds in their search for God or for understanding reality – the “logical” one –
And that’s true whether we’re speaking of believers in orthodox religion or atheists –
Since both can be quite comfortable construing reality in a purely logical manner.

Atheists – being materialistic – use “Occam’s Razor” to crop spirit entirely out of life’s picture,
While Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals proselytize a “god-given” faith
composed of ancient superstitions systematized into a “take it or leave it” religion.

Both are dead-ends.

I propose that people should start searching for God and their true self by using both minds. A new post-“postmodern” field of human endeavor will be necessary to accomplish this: a freely creative and artistic, yet inherently rational, spiritual discipline of using both of our minds.

In the past, artists convincingly portrayed various aspects of God, but restricted their images and stories to their culture’s predominant religion – whether Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam.

Today, however, artists need to widen their scope of work to encompass all human religions, spirituality, thought, and emotions. Human beings’ highest and most joyful levels of creativity could then be used to “paint pictures” and “tell stories” about God, and to discover their true selves – with absolute freedom – while grounding this new“ spiritual-art” in a profound and rational understanding of reality.

This “Two Minds spiritual discipline,” however, will never be included in the course curricula at Princeton Theological Seminary or Oral Roberts University because this combination of a rational scientific approach with spontaneous and free artistic creativity, by its very nature, could never be the subject of academic systematization.

The best thing would be for each person to become a “scientific-artist” or “artistic-scientist” (depending upon one’s natural preference), and to go and search for God and one’s true self on their own – using both minds. If they happen to learn about someone who might be helpful to them in that search – they should go and talk to that person – one on one.

Repeat, as often as necessary, until radiant with joy!

CHURCH LIKE A MUSEUM

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Jesus had this idea
That, one day, we might become complete human beings
Instead of remaining, in some part, human animals –

That we might set aside our materialistic desires and fantasies
And live in “reality,” that is, in spirit.

To Jesus – spirit was God,
And the reason we’re prevented from seeing God, face-to-face,
Without dying,
Is the very real danger of seeing ourselves.

In light of this, Jesus preached death to artificial selves
And the rebirth of our true self –

The “pearl” –

After he died, Church officials rushed to designate him as “God” –
But, of course, by then, he was no longer able to stop that from happening.

His finest gift to us was the validation of an active, open, loving human spirit –
While his successors spent their time constructing a spiritual/materialistic empire.

Everything they did, at least in part, led away from God –

So, today, we attend church, reverentially, like entering a museum.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND THE TRUE SELF

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“The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21 (Emphasis added)

Do we become “God” when we have achieved the highest/best level of humanity?

No.

Do we become “God” upon enlightenment or, much more rarely, upon arrival as an Avatar of the Age?

Again, no.

Are human beings such a key part of reality that we may serve as a symbol for everything else – at least intellectually – and so, from that perspective, might be viewed as “equivalent to God”?

Good heavens, no!

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God doesn’t want us to aspire to be “God”. God wants for us only to be our “true self” – so that we may gain entry into that “kingdom of God” that’s “within” us.

***

This “true self” is what God always intended for us to be – that is, the person we were destined to become if we ever stop working so hard at embellishing our ego self.

A true self is what God desires for everything and everybody – after all, cardinals, bees, and galaxies all exist exactly as God intends – however, none of them are given the freedom to become “something else,” i.e., to change themselves – like we are.

One day, when we decide to drop our false selves – like discarded clothes – we’ll be able to make an initial appearance into that innermost “kingdom of God”.

Upon returning to this interior “Eden,” and thereby gaining the self-reflective intelligence, spontaneity, and freedom that’s natural to human beings – it’s true that we’ll become “like” God – but only in the sense that we’ll have become as “natural” as God.

Listen – I’ll say it one more time since there’s so much confusion about this (especially from the world’s self–appointed, self-enriched gurus) – the point is not for us to become “God” – but only, while remaining a normal human being who has given up their artificial ego self – to become as natural as God.

WHEN

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When a human animal meets a human being, he immediately starts looking for something to eat, and, if nothing “edible” appears, he’ll probably get bored or angry.

When a human being meets a human animal, she may feel amused or loving, but sad at the waste.

When a human being meets another human being, they recognize one another. A bemused sparkling in their eyes announces the mutual acknowledgement of God’s presence. Upon this joyful recognition, the surrounding space fills with light and laughter.

From “Diner Mystic”