FROM GRATITUDE TO GRACE November 21, 2009
Posted by cosmicsandbox in Religious commentary, Spiritual Transformation.Tags: Devil, God, Grace, Gratitude, Scripture, Thanksgiving
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There is an immense and profound connection between having an attitude of gratitude and being a recipient of grace. November is the season during which we are encouraged to focus on being thankful for all our blessings. However, at this time in history, as well as the period of the first thanksgiving in America, there was very little for which to be thankful. In the first thanksgiving many had died and living conditions were extremely harsh. Today, many have also died from war, disease, destitution and despair, and living conditions for millions are extremely grim.
Yet, we are encouraged or even admonished in Scripture to be thankful in the midst of trials and tribulations. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thessalonians 5:18.The key word in this scripture is IN everything, not FOR everything. There is a big difference between feeling gratitude in painful situations and being thankful for the situation itself. It isn’t impossible, but it takes a little longer to be able to get a larger perspective.
Confusion about gratitude stems from of Judeo-Christian traditions that taught we should be grateful for everything in our lives because it all comes through a loving God. However, in reality, we don’t believe it. Most wrestle with the huge contradiction of a loving God allowing tragedy in our lives, and then expecting our gratitude for it. So then in addition to feeling confused, we feel guilty because we can’t or won’t comply with the commandment.
The conflict in understanding the true purpose of the commandment to be grateful in all things stems from the mistaken belief that light and dark, good and bad are mutually exclusive and separate realities; and therefore, only light and good things come from God who is also light and goodness. The dark and bad things come from the Devil, who is dark and bad. It follows naturally for our minds to conclude that if we are grateful in or for bad things, we are aligning with and empowering the Devil.
However, many scriptures in the Old and New Testament of the Bible refute this line of thinking. They refer to God as being One, including the light and the dark, the good and the bad. God told Moses, “…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore, choose life; that both you and your seed may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19 Choosing life would be a no-brainer one would think. However, humanity has been stumbling over it for 4,000 years because most people can’t wrap their heads around God allowing the dark and sad aspects of life.
Here is where it becomes crucial that we understand the bigger picture of the underlying purpose of the principle. Because if we don’t; we stay locked in a destructive belief system that keeps us cut off from grace; and therefore, victimized by every difficult situation. God’s plan out of this dilemma is that we go through tribulation via gratitude IN all things, which activates divine grace to transform our understanding of the trial. Only through the experience of grace can we understand that “all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purposes.” Romans 8:28
Without grace bestowed through gratitude, the world does indeed become a living hell. We writhe in a state of chaos and confusion, continually asking “Why?” Our reasoning mind believes we can find a reason for everything. But reality is too complex for simplistic answers. We must trust there is an unseen purpose for each seemingly random act. Ultimately the reason for everything is our understanding that through gratitude, which activates the experience of grace, we can know whatever happens is for our instruction and edification to bring us into an intimate relationship with the All One/God.
We take the first step in faith by being grateful in our trial, and the Spirit of Grace infuses the situation transforming it from darkness and death into light and life. Immediately we have turned the corner and we aren’t fueling the curse anymore. Gratitude opens the spout where the grace comes out. It is the experience of the grace that fills and lifts us, transforming the dark matter in our hearts to light.
ARE YOU RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL? September 27, 2009
Posted by cosmicsandbox in Religious commentary, Spiritual Transformation, The Real Jesus.Tags: intolerance, Jesus, Letter of Law, Love Enemies, Religion, Spiritual
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RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL
We hear many people today say, “I am not religious. I am spiritual.” What is the difference? Aren’t religious people spiritual? The spiritual group perceives religion as being a rigid belief system of rules that discourages, if not forbids, acceptance or investigation of other religious faiths. That perception is based on prejudiced statements by the religious establishment down through the ages such as, “The equal tolerance of religions is the same thing as atheism.” Pope Leo XIII, 1885.
Our weary world has been suffering under the crushing weight of religious intolerance for millennia; long before Pope Leo issued his limiting edict. Whenever any ideology is taken literally, it can foster hate and division. Literally following the Law to the letter doesn’t prevent one from verbally assaulting another soul. In fact, that is what Jesus accused the priests of his day of doing. He put the Spirit of the Law above the letter of the Law.
Following the Law religiously is different than experiencing the Spirit of the Law. Spiritually we can feel a heart connection to our fellow man, even if we don’t know him or what his religious or political beliefs are. This is because we are born with inherent empathy, which is our Soul/Spirit. But when we go unconscious or get buried under stress, then it is all too easy to stay in our heads, setting ourselves apart and judging others with different beliefs as being wrong, defective or just plain evil.
If anyone stands up and says, “Wait a minute. This action we’re taking doesn’t make sense from a compassionate, loving perspective.” they are labeled a rebel, a heretic or a subversive. Our self-righteous judgmental minds definitely don’t want to hear things like “Love your enemies. Do good to those who despitefully use you. Turn the other cheek. If one takes your coat, give him your cloak also.” as Jesus taught.
Since we all have a mind, we are all guilty of falling into its divisive clutches and existing in the limited thinking box that separates us from God and each other. But we have also been gifted by our Creator with the Spirit; and It is omnipresent Love residing within our hearts. In fact, all world religions have the same Golden Rule. Where religions have failed is in hiding this magnificent Truth from the masses by teaching exclusivity and separation. They shun unity and cooperation with those of different beliefs.
Our views of religion and the spiritual could expand if we viewed all sacred scripture as poetic love letters written to each individual human soul. Scripture, like poetry, was created using symbols and metaphors to fully express the essence of its meaning. It wasn’t intended to be taken literally. Emotions and deep spiritual truths cannot be dissected and understood by the reasoning mind. They are only experienced in the Soul.
To really appreciate and benefit from religious texts one must embody them as one would take in a work of art. If just read as a linear history or a doctrine of social behavior, the transformational purpose is lost, its power made impotent. To fully experience the Spirit of scripture, one must be willing and able to understand the symbolic and metaphoric meanings of the words and pictures they paint in our mind’s eye.
Read the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament. It is written to be read on many levels of meaning. On one level, it is a poem of the wedding of King Solomon to his bride. On another level, it is about the symbolical marriage of the Creator with us, His creation. It is a lavish description of the intimate and extravagant devotion God has for the beloved, which is you and me.
This indescribable Love is the unconditional love we all long for. We continually seek it from one another, but rarely if ever find it in human form. This is because we were created to receive this deeper love from Spirit first, which enables us to love and accept ourselves. The more we are able to receive the unconditional love of Spirit and “fill our cup”, the more we are able to love and accept others because our “cup is overflowing”. It is a spiritual experience. It is not a religious doctrine.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO – Part 2 August 10, 2008
Posted by cosmicsandbox in Religious commentary, Uncategorized.Tags: fundamentalism, hypocrisy, war, women's rights
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Even though Jesus was an extraordinary Master, Rabbi, and Prophet, it is still important to look at his life and his teachings in light of the culture in which he was living. What he said and did was intrinsically linked to what was going on in Palestine in his day.
It is no different today. We just had the priviledge of HBO’s John Adams series which shed so much light on the real men and women who forged this nation out of a colony of Great Britain. Their decisions and political beliefs were forged by the oppressive culture of England in the 17th Century. They suffered under taxation without representation. They had fled an elitist society to find freedom from the burden of a class system determined by birth, which still exists today.
Jesus’ day was similar in many ways to our country in those early days. His people, the Jews, were also unfairly taxed by Rome without representation, and it was an extremely strict class system. The classes couldn’t intermingle at all. If you dined with someone like a tax collector you would lose any of your priveledged status in the community. Everything was based on status and rank of importance.
Just like in our society, keeping up with the Joneses was an obsession for many. People lusted for status and coveted it almost more than friendship. There were no safety nets in their society, so if you had no status and no money, you were a beggar on the streets. These are the people Jesus ran around with and taught his message of the Kindgdom of Heaven.
Rich folk came to him in the dark of night to learn what he was about. They couldn’t risk being seen with him because he had no status and ran around with prostitutes and tax collectors. He even touched lepers!
What we would think of Jesus today? He wouldn’t want to socialize with anyone who was somebody. He would be with the down-in-outers wherever he went. If you spoke against them to him, you probably wouldn’t be accepted into his band of followers. His love and compassion for the poor and un-classed (unclean) was phenomenal. He was the ONLY rabbi teaching and comingling with the outcasts and lower rungs of society.
Christianity today is so completely out of touch with Christ it is ridiculous to call it Christianity. The fundamentalists are more like the Pharisees and high priests or Jesus’ day…the ones he called white sepelchures full of dead men’s bones. They would rather see a person die than break a religious rule. They have convinced themselves that Christ would be a military general and wage war to prevent war. They are just as patriarchal as the fundamentalist Muslims. Women and their civil rights are denegrated and pushed back 100 years in their status as an equal human being. Women are taught only men have rights and they are to be submissive them.
Jesus, on the other hand, elevated women to be equal with the men. In fact, Mary Magdelene was so close to Jesus that he taught her mysteries that he didn’t share with the male diciples. This angered the men and they chose to banish her, smear her reputation as a fellow apostle reducing her to prostitute. The new Christians of the 21st century are doing the same. What would Jesus do if he returned today? Only the few would even know he was here. Everyone else is too busy doing the opposite to even notice.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? Part 1 June 25, 2008
Posted by cosmicsandbox in Religious commentary.Tags: catastophe, corruption, dictatorship, elite, Jesus, poor, super hero
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We hear this question bandied about lately. I think it is because we’re at the same place that Israel was in under the Roman rule in the first century before they were crushed by the Romans in 70 A.D. At a subconscious level people now feel a great unease as they did then when Jesus lived.
Imminent catastrophe looms on the horizon as it did then. Governments are mostly corrupt dictatorships pandering to the super rich, while masses grovel in the trenches to eek out a living. Our government is much like Rome was – a miltaristic empire suffering from ED, or Empire Dysfunction as Caroline Casey* has defined it.
Control but no Command* is the rule of the day. No reverence for God or Creation. People are commodities, not valued spiritual beings clothed in flesh. Inequities abound between rich and poor, free and slave. Sounds awfully grim, doesn’t it? Things haven’t changed much in 2000 years. Alas!
Jesus was not a super hero. We are seeing a lot of those movies now, because in our weakness we think that might just be the only salvation for “the huddled masses yearning to be free”. But bigger, stronger attackers can’t be the answer. Jesus came on the scene as a prophet consumed with compassion like Jeremiah in the Old Testament who was also called the “weeping prophet”. Not your typical Super Hero to the rescue.
If you could conjure up Jesus and ask him what he would do in 2008, he would probably weep like Jermiah. Most religious leaders of the world would condemn him as they did then, because he would tell them the same thing he did the leaders in Jerusalem: “Love your enemies, feed the poor, love God with all your heart and your neigbor as yourself.” Wow! Not a very popular or politically correct message. And I might add…impossible to do in one’s own strength.
The rich and powerful would certainly disdain him. He proclaimed, “Sell all you have a give to the poor. You can’t serve two masters – God and Money.”
Jesus’ demographics was the disinfranchised who had no money to spend on stuff. They were not anyone’s “target market”. No one polled them ever. They had no say in anything. Can you imagine setting a career path to minister and teach this group? Yet that’s what Jesus did. More in Part 2
*Caroline Casey – visionaryactivism.com *See previous post on Control or Command
CHRISTMAS – BIRTHDAY OF LIGHT December 14, 2009
Posted by cosmicsandbox in Religious commentary, Spiritual Transformation, The Real Jesus.Tags: Jesus, Virgin Birth, Light, Winter Solstice, Christians, Saturnalia, Wise Men, divine child
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Many of our holiday traditions are borrowed from earlier traditions. For example, the Winter Solstice marks the beginning of the long dark winter nights and the symbolic death of the sunlight on December 21st. The sun is then “reborn” on December 25th, which is the first day it appears to remain in the sky longer.
Most likely Jesus, the Light of the world, wasn’t born in December. However, early Christians in the Roman Empire, to avoid persecution, celebrated his birth during Saturnalia, the holiday honoring the birth of the Sun god, on December 25th. Christmas, or Christ-mass, celebrates the birth of the Christ Light into the dark world bringing hope of “peace on earth and good will toward men” as proclaimed by the angelic choir on Christmas Eve.
We can miss a lot of the deeper meaning of traditions, rituals and their symbolism if we only focus on the literal details of the story. For example: in a symbolic sense, each of us is a type of a virgin mother, pregnant with a child of light in our souls that is yearning to be born into our dark world. This child is innocent, perceives no separation between itself, the Divine or others, lives in the present moment and is full of joy and wonder. This is the real, true essence of each of us. It has remained perfect and whole, unaffected by all the storms or traumas of our lives.
Why aren’t we aware of this part of ourselves? It has been hidden deep within our hearts, buried under a lifetime of conditioning and worldly cares. Our divine child can be coaxed out at Christmas because it is a time of joy, bright light, festive music, vibrant colors, succulent sweetness and infectious play. Can we allow the birth as Mary did? Will we stop our disbelieving lives and set aside time to let our sacred Child Self of light be born?
Just as in the Christmas story, our world isn’t ready for this birth of light. There is no room being made for its arrival. No one seems to know or care about it at all. The world is too busy stumbling around cursing the darkness. Like Mary, each of us must be willing to give birth to our precious child of light alone, witnessed only by a few shepherds and cattle in a manger. The Sacred only shows up in humble mangers, not castles of convenience.
It doesn’t matter whether or not anyone else understands the miraculous transformation happening within us. A select few humble, unassuming type people like the shepherds will notice the light in our eyes and the spring in our step. They will rejoice with us. However, the ones we thought would notice our transformation and be happy about it either ignore us or would rather dispose of us. These unfortunate souls are trapped in fear, negativity and cynicism. They would rather put our light out because it reveals their fears and anxiety. They become furious that we can be joyful and peaceful in spite of the darkness in the world.
Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt to keep the Christ child safe from King Herod’s murderous rage. Society, like Herod, is fearful that it can’t control the free spirit inherent in the children of light. The powers that be know they can never enslave one who knows in their heart they are free. This is why it is vital that we stop at this time of deep reflection and make space for Spirit to birth the Light within us and out into the world.
When we do accept our sacred Self, the three wise men will come bearing gifts of grace. They are divinely guided to find us wherever we may be. They offer us gold for divinity or Christ consciousness, frankincense to transform the mundane into the miraculous, and myrrh for humility and continual dying to our small selves. These wonderful wise men are symbolic of the sages, teachers, mentors and guides that grace our lives at every stage. They remind us that we are never alone; and that there is no limit to how far our Father/Mother God will go to make sure the divine child not only survives but thrives.