Tag Archives: the “Nones”

“GOOD” AND “GOD”

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They’re the same – don’t you already know that?

Both demonstrate the moral excellence undergirding the universe
As an “ideal,” as the “perfect” –
In other words, as Jesus’ personal image of God.

It’s also what we want to discover for ourselves
And why we feel so ashamed or guilty
When we do begin thinking about it
Because we’ve neglected or generally refused to work very hard at this
Since moral excellence takes a lot of effort –
Especially since we have to get past all the pleasurable fantasies
That have been so comforting to us.

A direct experience of God is exhilarating –
While the same can also be said of the Good.

Actually, there isn’t any “Big Man in the Sky”
And it doesn’t have anything to do with “Power” –
In fact, it’s more like a “state of being”
That takes significant effort through extended conscious human thought.

In the West, Jewish prophets and rabbis put a lot of work into ethics and morality
And we’ve all been the beneficiaries of their efforts –
While in the East, for priests and gurus, the focus was primarily on Nature and Beauty
Which obviously are good – just not “perfect” –
Especially if it doesn’t result in any deep connection to ethics.

So, the ultimate of both God and the Good is Jesus’ view of “perfection,”
That is, universal moral excellence.

It’s what we “say” we want –
As if such “sounds” can actually issue forth
Out of our very own mouths.

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.

ALWAYS THE SAME PERSON

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I’m always changing – adding and subtracting to and from my “self” –
Yet remain the same – from the first moment of my existence.

How is this possible – to remain, in essence,
A single soul –
While, over time, adding and subtracting worlds to myself –
Eventually even being changed by the love of my life into two
Yet still remaining one.

Is God like this?
From the first moment of creation – staying the same –
Carrying time, space, and energy inside an infinitesimally/infinitely small/large bright self?

Is it really necessary for a God to “die” in order to be “born again” as a newer, fresher God –
A “Springtime” God?

When, ultimately, I personally “flash off,” will I remain the same – just in another form?
Will, after my body dries up and blows away, the energy of my “life” continue existing
In a time and space beyond our present time and space?

All forms change and die –
Yet, perhaps, never really die –
Not even the “old” Gods
Or the newborn ones either!

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

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What’s the difference between a mental concept and a mentally direct experience?

“The tulip is reddish-orange.”
“Snow covers the mountainside blindingly white.”

Are these mental concepts or mentally direct experiences?

Or perhaps both?

Zen argues we should rely solely on direct experience
And avoid mental concepts which can be manipulated inside one’s head
And end up, really, as almost anything at all.

So, tell me, are love, truth, justice, and beauty, direct experiences or mental concepts?
If they’re direct experiences – they could be reality – the same as God.
If they’re mental concepts, on the other hand, they might be mirages, dreams,
or complex manipulations inside one’s mind – i.e., lies!

Zen repeatedly has attempted to distinguish between mental concepts and direct experience
but, in my opinion, has not had much success in parsing this.

I think that’s because, sometimes, mental concepts actually are identical with reality –
at least in certain times, circumstances, and places.

They just are!

THE “INTERPRETER”

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The left hemisphere of our brain contains a special module called the “Interpreter”
Which provides us with an interpretation of our behavior – both cognitive and emotional.

This “Interpreter” looks outward as well as inward and, ultimately, brings these together
into one core reality – as a psychological unity.

This unique system was delivered to our human brains over a fabulously lengthy period of time via natural selection.

In sum, our conscious feelings and insights are derived from a virtually infinite number of “bubbles” floating up through our humanly-modularized brain which are then integrated into one’s “self.”

Of course, God doesn’t need an “interpreter” to assist God’s understanding –
God “thinks” through and beyond time and space.

“LAYERING”

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Our minds “read” reality through differing layers of abstraction
Because human beings embody a complex architecture of consciousness
Made up of different “levels” of virtualization using mental abstraction.

For example, the micro-physical level is on a radically different level
From the “normal” human body level –
When we move our arm, the mental abstraction of “arm”
Lies on a different level from the millions of cells making up that arm
Which, in turn, is on a different level from the gazillions of electrons making up those cells.

So, given these different levels of “reality” –
Our minds virtualize “arm” as an ordinary everyday mental abstraction
As part of our overall physical self –
While our minds also have the capacity to visualize, using imagination,
The underlying cells and electrons supporting this “top” level of human reality.

God’s reality, however, encompasses reality at all levels.
Jesus indicated his understanding of this by teaching his disciples that God
“Numbers” the very hairs on our heads. (Mathew 10:30).

So, what is the next layer of abstraction that might become available to our human minds?
I think it’s a “human/God” level of experiential Love, Truth, Justice, and Beauty –
Which, in turn, would require a fresh spiritual language and accompanying supportive culture
To attain this newly-exposed world of reality existing beyond
All previous levels of human abstraction.

With the availability of a new language, fresh realities could open up to our “true selves”
So as to experience living “like” God would live if God were a human being – just like us.

WICKS

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We are wicks
Waiting for a promised spiritual fire to light up our hearts –
Waiting for a holy love.

I meet enlightened people in the most unlikely places –
Suddenly, they appear,
And this leads to long inspired conversations,
Especially after God enters the room.

God lowers a hand near my head
Which lights up in response –
To God’s “touch” – gentle and profound.

It’s never just a single candle though –
There’s usually a long string waiting for that hand of fire
To be lit up – all at once.

God’s an “invisible hand” that reaches down to us –
No body, no face, nothing to be seen!

I’m a waiting wick –
Waiting for a touch from God’s gentle flame
That changes me into pale pure fire.

LONELY AS A ROCK

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If there were no God
I’d be lonely as a rock hurtling through the void.

If there were no “high true” human character to attain –
I’d travel to an amusement park and ride around all day –
Eating cotton candy – while going round and round.

If there were no love available for me –
I’d rent a room in some high attic
And never go out again.

If truth completely evaporated out of American society –
I’d hitch a ride to dusty red Mars with a bunch of bizarre billionaires.

If it turned out that Jesus was not really Jesus –
And that the Buddha never blossomed into his “true self” –
I’d stop asking further questions and respond solely in exclamations –
Like “Huh,” “Argh,” or “Wheeh!”

If I thought it’d be pointless to learn any new things –
I couldn’t find fault with Trump saying: “Duh, maybe Hitler was a pretty good guy
Since he did get people back to work.”

And if there really were no God, there couldn’t be joy either
And the word “hope” would never be found in any English dictionary.

INTEGRITY (from “integer” or “whole”)

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Integrity is the quality possessed by people “who do the right thing” –
A foundational moral virtue.

So don’t American political leaders need integrity now more than ever?
And shouldn’t this be an essential qualification for every political office?

Recently, everything’s become “just a show” –
With each of us making up our own reality
And emulating the subliminal cruelty hidden beneath media’s potent political lies.

The result has been –
A substantial number of Americans forgetting their sense of normal human decency –
Evangelical Christianity becoming the exact opposite of historical “Jesus” movements –
And many Republican politicians relinquishing ethics, morals,
And any sense of personal shame.

Was it just one man responsible for spoiling much of what’s decent in society?
Could just one bad apple have turned the entire American barrel rotten?
Can this now be fixed?

Integrity is the answer –
When America starts valuing character over money, power, and fame.

Our country would then become a true “Anti-Trump, Anti-White Nationalist Nation” –
With a people who pray to an alive God of Many Colors
Who has signaled the intention to come again and live among us –
As a people who demand scruples
By being “scrupulous.”

It would take just a few – especially at the beginning –
When a people worshipping a God of Many Colors
Decides, now, but also once again, to enter onto the world’s main stage!