God is a word
And that word is “God” –
In a sense, God has to be a word
Because we only “think” in words.
Words are made up of nothing –
But they’re all we have.
Actually, words just point –
For example, God points at God
And says: Look at me –
Not at yourself.
Also – you might want to
Look at “love” or “truth”
If you can bear it.
God “says” (since that’s how God generally reaches out to us):
“Look at me,”
“I’m a ‘Word.’”
The world doesn’t judge
Much less take notice of
What we do.
Most of the time, we’re not sinners –
Only imperfectly real –
No matter how many Messianic feathers we stick in our caps.
The real reason we can’t directly see God – or anything else for that matter –
Is because our ego mask has no real “eyes” –
Except for a couple of tiny mirrors
Reflecting ourselves.
The truth is: There’s no real
“Christ,” “Church,” or “Bible” –
They don’t actually exist!
Just God, who they only partially represent, is truly alive in our world.
For example, it’s love that makes possible “real” life,
Truth that opens minds to original ideas
And allowing justice to others that gives us the ability to compromise –
Beauty, for its part, however, always takes its own time
Opening a door for God to enter –
Which is why an experience of true beauty is so magical –
So much so that everyone dreams of experiencing it “in full flower”
At least once in their lives!
The Quantum Theory, the General Theory of Relativity, and God
Are all intellectual constructs –
Sophisticated mental tools located inside our heads
Each pointing out and away from us –
And used to apprehend different types of reality –
However, the farthest reaching – “God” – may only be discerned by using both mind and spirit
In other words, God –
As well as the spiritual attributes of God – such as love, truth, justice, and beauty –
Are the only true reality –
Nothing else lasts.
Jesus, in the way he lived his life, demonstrated
Something truly amazing –
So, it’s surprising that, even after all these years, we still haven’t “gotten” it.
Big Religion, on the other hand, has acted like an enormous stuffed pillow
With extraordinary capacity to smother spirit –
And, even though it hasn’t been able to muffle Jesus’ radiant words entirely,
It has been effective at “re-interpreting” what he said –
For over 2000 years.
Quite a feat!
In spite of that, the Church never achieved complete ownership of Jesus –
Even though it’s been publicly displaying him,
Like a jeweled pendant for two millennia.
In contrast to these theological contortions, however –
Jesus has always been just another human being –
Teaching us how to love God –
Which, of course – is both very easy and very difficult.
Jesus told us not to try to live like him but, instead, to be like him –
To embrace, whenever possible, truth, justice, and beauty –
And always be vulnerable
To love.
Without his extraordinary example, how will we ever escape all the crazy ideas
We are so constantly fashioning about ourselves –
Faster than eye can follow –
Instantly creating and re-creating a “self” in order to meet worldly expectations.
Camouflage people –
We assiduously avoid any reality
That might turn out to be our actual lives.
Love has no teeth
Or appetite.
Speed, size, and charisma
Are all subordinate to it.
Love is secretive – so even when fully open –
You’ll never be able to guess its timing.
Love has its own weather –
And its own meteorologists.
Love doesn’t calculate
Or attempt to gain control.
Love is immortal because, once in existence, it can’t be lost,
Eternal, because its light will never go out.
Love knows everything without thinking about it –
And is the reverse of self-importance.
Love is a letter sent to oneself
With no return address.
Hindus tell us life is a dream
While, at Cal Tech, reality is conceived of as particles –
Relying upon these concepts, there appears to be no true reality –
Everything just a trick!
But, if we’re a dream, we’re certainly a real dream,
And if we’re particles, where, after all, did “love” and “truth” come from?
People worry about how a God who’s good,
Can permit suffering to exist –
But, really, isn’t it simply the price of freedom.
Existence is deeply magical – that is, “spiritual” –
And, ordinarily, even though we take it for granted –
We really shouldn’t.
Picture raindrops striking a window –
Are they dreams, particles,
Or tiny gifts from God?
Think about how everything
Is part of everything else –
So intricately interrelated –
If this weren’t true
The world couldn’t exist
And, really, would be just a dream
Or a bunch of particles.
So,
We should be thankful for love, truth, and beauty
Each of which comes in almost infinite varieties –
Because, actually, they’re the only meaningful reality
That we’re ever going to experience.
Whoever talks about mirrors
Or “cleaning their mirror”
Isn’t talking about God –
They’re talking about their “self”.
They’re trying to see what they’re made of.
But since God is actually nothing – i.e., no thing,
The self, also, is equally nothing – in the same sense.
When this nothing merges with that nothing
“Reality” suddenly appears!
From God’s perspective
The Chinese Olympics
Aren’t any more spectacular than a single blade of grass.
Remember, love is everything –
So no matter what comes through the doors of life,
Big or little, large or small, it all may be loved –
Always, always – it’s a matter of attitude!
There are over seven billion people in the world
And trillions of leaves –
Each one, however, is magnificent –
In the eyes of those who look
Through the eyes of love.
“Heaven” is a place many wish for –
But wishing doesn’t make it real.
It’s not just children who cherish fairytales –
We all want to believe in them.
From a personal perspective,
If life doesn’t continue after our given span, it loses some meaning –
But, of course, that’s not how God sees it!
God gifts us with life and almost infinite opportunities to love –
But if we insufficiently value this –
Counting on greater gifts to come –
We are fools –
Entertaining, but, ultimately tragic, fools.
Living within the stream of life –
Going fast – and then – towards the end – even faster –
Working, eating – having fun –
When we finally reach the “ocean” –
It looks like, at least in our present form, we may simply disappear.
It’s no different than anything else –
We are what we are,
And, then, one day, perhaps, come to an “end”.
It’s a joyful sort of tragedy –
Which we’ve been fortunate to participate in –
Our minds, sometimes, however, refuse to accept this –
But our hearts know better –
Our hearts are always willing to give our minds permission
To adjust to the coming reality.
When Jesus counseled us
To be “born again”
He didn’t mean just once –
Because it doesn’t take long
For a new self to freeze
Into a mask.
What he was saying –
Since God is absolutely free,
We, also, need to be.
Each moment should be experienced as a new birth,
So that our prior selves do not have the power
To bind us back into the past.
Love won’t arrive through habit or rote –
It always needs to be free!
That’s why, as we grow older and gain greater experience,
Jesus wants us, simultaneously, to spiritually regress –
Not just back to when we were a child –
But all the way back to when we were newborn
Where the subjective world begins again –
All our lifelong experience
Joined to the bud of birth –
A life occurring afresh –
Moment by moment.
When a leaf falls,
It seems to take forever –
No one sees it go –
Yet, one morning, there’s a whole tree
Lying on the ground.
When we’re born, we don’t take up much room
But, as we grow older, we occupy more and more space,
Sometimes, even the entire world,
Later, however, for a variety of reasons, we start falling apart, and, one day,
Fortunately or unfortunately,
Disappear –
But what remains even longer than our bones or teeth?
Love, of course,
Love lasts forever –
Assuming it actually came into existence –
Assuming it wasn’t a lie.
Love is so memorable
It’ll be the last thing the universe forgets
Before finally flickering
Out.
Law and the Political
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