Tag Archives: spiritual

DINER MYSTIC LOOKS AT JESUS THROUGH THE SCRIM OF CHRISTIANITY AND SEES A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT PERSON

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The “True Self”

If you want to know what Jesus thought about our “true self” – it’s simple – one’s “true self” can be discovered when we achieve the openness and receptivity of a small child. It’s the state of innocence human beings possessed prior to developing an “ego” or “false self” to deal with a potentially hostile world.

            “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:14-15.

Jesus – in telling us to become “like a small child” – means we need to move towards a radically different, and earlier, version of the human spiritual world – accepting the “natural reality” directly created by God –  as opposed to a “reality” created by technically and theologically “sophisticated” human beings in modern manmade civilizations.

The “Essential Choice”

What deters us from becoming “like little children?” It’s our desire for and love of money – creating a stark choice between love of God and love of money.

            “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Mathew 6:24.

Jesus made this crystal clear by pointing out the impossibility of someone who’s rich to be able to enter God’s kingdom.

            “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  Mark 10:24-5.

Jesus also emphasized God’s preference for the poor:

            “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20.

And said we needn’t worry about clothes or food:

            “… do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body, more than clothes.” Luke 12:22.

What Kind Of “Human Love” Does God Want?

If you want to know what God is “like” – that is, how human beings can start “living like God” – it’s simple: “God is Love” and “Love is God.”

But that begs the question, doesn’t it? What is this “love” God wants for us and how are human beings supposed to achieve it?

Jesus radical (and true) answer is: “Love your enemies!”

            “I tell you: Love your enemies… that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous…. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mathew 6:44-48.

So, don’t be nationalistic, tribal, or self-centered – no, be like God. Remember, people who love their enemies have no enemies. If we can live like this – that is, how God would live if God were a human being – then we’d be able to enter God’s world and start living like God’s children. After all, there’s no ego in the sun or rain!

Another good example was love of one’s “neighbor.”  In response to the question of “Who is my neighbor?” (in the context of “Love your neighbor as yourself”), Jesus gave the example of the “Good Samaritan.” Because there was serious animosity between Judeans and Samaritans at that time (another example of “Love your enemies”), the story demonstrates that non-Jews (and, later, non-Christians) sometimes follow God better than the “official people” of God. Therefore, people like Muslims, or even atheists, may be able to do what God wants even better than those committed to the Western majority faiths.

Such “radical” examples of love go further than the “Love Commandment” later set forth in the Gospel of John:

            “A new command I give to you” Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

This, however, is the least radical of Jesus’ love teachings. That is, it’s significantly less radical than loving one’s enemies or hostile neighbors! This kind of “love” was addressed to Jesus’ immediate circle of disciples.

Who Should We Spend Our Time With?

Jesus tells us that people who act on behalf of God can be spiritually closer to us than our blood relations or close friends – emphasizing doers over listeners.

            “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Luke 8:21

How Can We “See” God?

Finally, how can we see and experience God’s kingdom? Jesus indicated that God’s rule is close or already present but unobserved – that God’s rule is all around us but difficult to discern:

            “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.

In other words, God is spiritual, not materialistic. God’s Spirit can be seen and felt through one’s imagination and heart. That is, it takes an awakened inward “mystical” sense for us to be able to “see,” “feel,” and “sense” the presence of God.

POINTING TO THE GOD YOU ARE (for Ruth)

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Beauty is usually seen
But can come in other ways too.

If at first nothing much appears very beautiful
Take a second look –
And, perhaps, even a third.

It’s only when you’re relaxing hard
That true beauty starts coming through.

Sometimes, beauty is just an accident –
You weren’t meant to see it coming
But, suddenly, beauty appears out of darkness
Or light – depending upon your location at a given moment.

Sometimes, beauty comes rushing through another person
Who points –
There –
And God suddenly bowls you over.

Mainly, beauty comes secretly
Between spiritual friends –
Do you have a spiritual friend
And do they ever point out God out to you?
A God you can’t see
Because they’re pointing at the God you are?

TWO REVOLUTIONS

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Evolving from animals into humans, the issue has always been one of freedom –
Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual –
Because freedom releases huge amounts of energy,
As well as increases our demands for self-fulfillment.

With limited freedom, human beings are dull, subdued – frequently subservient –
While with more extensive freedom – available mainly to the few at the top –
They do have fun!

Athens was the cynosure of the world’s first revolution –
A political revolution that’s still playing itself out –
Providing people with individual responsibility for their nation
As well as for their personal lives.

Today, this battle is still raging on – the 1% versus, literally, everyone else.

This revolution, begun in Athens, has now become partially successful
And is responsible for releasing stupendous amounts of energy across the globe.

The second and a parallel revolution was the attempt to achieve spiritual freedom –
Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed pushed open those stubborn doors
To a freedom providing human beings with the soul-openness of God –
That is, so that people could live pretty much like God does – but in human form –
In spite of their mortality.

Unfortunately, this revolution failed –
Primarily because it involved too much work and too much risk –
Requiring us to give up our cherished egos – those utilitarian “self-puppets.”

Jesus died providing us with a spectacular example of human spiritual freedom
But those who followed, later on, established a world religion instead –
Which taught that only one person could become as free as God –
Jesus himself –
While everyone else needed to live “through” him –
Giving up their own, once in a lifetime, opportunity to achieve a similar spiritual freedom –
In exchange for a promise of some “afterlife”
Available “nowhere,” “no-time,” and “no-place” –
Which is how Christianity turned Jesus’ spiritual revolution upside-down and inside-out.

This failure, and the consequent abandonment of radically increased spiritual freedom
Has resulted in an almost infinite loss of energy and hope for the entire human species.

Political democracy has always been thrilling because, with it,
We’re personally able to improve our society and individual living conditions.
Spiritual democracy, however, could provide us with an even more profound freedom –
The key to almost infinite human energy –
Freeing human souls to become their “true selves”
And allowing human beings to mature in a straight line after being born
Without having to stop along the way to develop an artificial “ego” for self-protection.

Freedom, political and spiritual, takes a lifetime of hard work and courage to achieve –
But, without both these freedoms, human beings will never be able to experience ultimate joy.

It takes guidance from Athens and someone like Jesus, Buddha, or Mohammed
To achieve ultimate human joy in our everyday quotidian lives –

And that’s no joke!

TO BE A MYSTIC IS TO BE FEMININE

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To be a mystic is to be feminine –
That is, beautiful in a spiritual way –
Especially since we now know there’s no “church” available to mystics –
Because, originally, churches were established for transmitting male doctrines
Of “abbots,” “fathers,” and “ministers” –
Male establishment figures authorized to direct people to God.

In truth, however, there’s only God and the “true self” – and nothing else –
God is a universal Spirit extending infinitely beyond human spirit –
While the true self is “nothing,” i.e., “no thing,” as well as, of course, “no ego.”

Traditional religions have largely been based upon the erroneous idea
That human life is hierarchical –
However, we know that life’s much too “spontaneous” for that!

A true prophet or enlightened individual will always be a “wild” combination –
Like a child endowed with the understanding of a wise old man –
Or a wise old man with the spontaneity of child.

Jesus, on earth, was a vulnerable human being with enough courage to embody God –
Or, perhaps, God had decided it was finally safe to merge with a human being –
Anyway, Christian theology might actually be correct
In its clumsy, overwrought, and often misunderstood way –
Especially the part about salvation,
And, most especially, life after death.

Jesus tried his best to “save” the world he lived in
And he’s still trying to do the same today –
It’s just that, over time, he became transformed into something else –
Something, unfortunately, he would never have been able to recognize.

WAS JESUS, SPIRITUALLY, A WOMAN IN MALE FORM?

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Was Jesus, spiritually, a woman in male form –
And is this why Evangelical men have recently desired
To establish a more “muscular” Christianity –
In order to cover up the shame of this truth?

Did Paul understand this by saying that, in Christ, there’s neither male nor female –
Because he understood that spirit bypasses all sex roles?
Moreover, is it possible that the men rushed to claim leadership of the Church
Because women appeared so naturally spiritual – so unmaterialistic –
So similar to Christ?

Jesus didn’t appreciate ambition-led male hierarchies – and neither do women today –
Moreover, he despised male hypocrisy, as do women who suffer most by it.

Jesus once imagined himself as a “mother hen” –
Is that why male theologians insisted upon replacing that poetic image
With the actual mother of Jesus?

So, let’s take all that fantastic Mariology and place it like a shawl around Jesus’ shoulders –
And then remove all the Davidic secular “power” that had so long been waited for
And that Constantine later appropriated to shore up his waning Empire –

What you’d be left with is a spiritual woman in male form
Who allows herself to be stretched across a Cross
Swallowing suffering like a woman giving birth
To a new world dedicated solely to God

That is, to “her” Mother.

 

THERE’S NO BEAUTY WITHOUT

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There’s no beauty without naturalness
And, of course, goodness.

There’s no beauty without a love that’s alive
And none, certainly, in the bleak lands of the unjust.

There’s no beauty without reciprocal respect
And none when facing violence.

There’s no beauty without generosity
And none, of course, beyond the outer limits of joy.

There’s certainly no beauty without spontaneity
And none at all when engaged in worshipping one’s own ego.

****

When natural beauty walks into a room – everyone holds their breath
Because the presence of beauty makes everyone glad
For this unexpected gift.

When God eventually sends us a follow-up to Jesus –
In female form –
Everything will have to be re-thought, re-experienced, and re-imagined
Because of the presence of such new spiritual beauty –

That’s when we’ll be able to modify all the old forms
Of capitalism, religion, laws, and customs –

And when the world will finally start becoming fresh
Once again.

HERE COMES THE SUN

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Growing old physically –
We start to fall apart
Which isn’t all bad
Since we gain opportunities to become more spiritual.

Our goal is the attainment of “wholeness” – or “holiness” –
Inside and out –
Accepting both the world and ourselves
Right up to the moment when we go crashing into the dark –
Which, God willing,
Turns light.

Do we awake when we die?
And, if we can accelerate this consciousness while still alive,
Mightn’t this bring us an even earlier “awakening”?

But what if we’re never able to find the “pearl” –
And what would be the consequences of not bothering to look?

Yes, it’s true that, as we grow older, we start to fall apart –
It’s natural –
But what would be “unnatural” is to become more loving
While, at the same time, becoming weaker, more stressed, and more helpless.

This would be like observing the sun rising up behind a dark mountain –
When we’re both mountain and sun.

SPIRITUAL STATIC

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What’s “good” would be to have a direct relationship with God –
That’s the ultimate!

Christianity, however, requires a relationship between its believers and Christ –
Who, in turn, has a great relationship with God.

Personally, I view Jesus as a “shining example”
Of someone able to achieve a direct relationship with God –
Not to sublimate to – but to emulate –
Especially since neither the Bible nor any church or other religious institution,
And not even Jesus himself (no matter what the religion says), is capable of substituting
For the real God.

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 NUMINOSITY OF TREES

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We set up Christmas trees in our homes
As a sign of God and nature’s presence.

It’s a really good symbol because these trees have fresh green needles –
Natural as all outdoors –
And are strung with lines of colorful lights –
Reminding us of the candles used by our ancestors.

We do this without thinking about it –
Since it’s a custom more ancient than our formal religion –
That is, bringing nature and lights into dark winter homes.

But it’s more than a symbol –

If you engage a bit more deeply with your tree –
Through half-closed eyes and an open heart –
You’ll slowly begin to perceive that nature’s lit with an “inner fire” –
In other words, numinosity is hidden inside the entire material world –
Representing an aspect of the holy that’s in everybody and everything.

This numinosity exists not only in life, but also in non-life –
Like stones – small as a grain of sand or large as a planet – or even stars –
Whether spinning around in water or revolving through outer space –
In a way, they’re all “alive,” each bearing its own particular “touch” of God.

Quantum physicists know this –
How everything increases in energy and speed
The deeper one penetrates through the multi-layered shells of reality –
Like Russian nesting dolls –
Universes inside universes –
“Up,” as well as “down” – to infinity –
Where everything moves
Faster than the speed of light – and beyond –
But never, never, as quickly as the speed attained by human hearts in love –
Where entropy doesn’t apply.

Love exists in a realm beyond material measurement –
It’s a spiritual quality of such signal importance to humans
That everyone long ago reached agreement that love’s both essential and true.

So, you might want to take a closer look at your Christmas tree,
Looking through half-closed eyes and an open heart,
To see for yourself whether you can intuit the presence of God
In your very own living room.

Remember, love moves at the speed of glorious green nature –
Hiding individual colored lights, like stars, throughout your tree’s infinite branches –
And supporting tiny angels gently opening and closing their wings –
Nestled way back in the shadowy dark fresh green needles.

Standing there, quietly,
In your very own living room –
A radiant, sparkling, light/dark Christmas tree