Brian’s Reflection: The Weekend, Sat, January 30, 2010

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious
or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist
on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it
does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the
truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

1 Corinthians 13 [Epistle for Epiphany IV C_RCL]


OK. I’ve pushed the line that “Love is what it’s all about” for a few decades now. For humans. For philosophy. For theology. For “God”. And I can’t think how many sermons I’ve written, how many retreats I’ve conducted, how many “Schools of Prayer” I’ve led, on this subject. I’ve said that, if there is anything “special” about the Gospel Message, it is that “God is Love”. And that we humans are “made in God’s image” – i.e., Love. And all this in the face of (a) the failure of people (especially Christians, and myself) to take this seriously and radically, and (b) crushing discouragement that we have advanced 2000 years beyond the proclamation of the Gospel and are yet on the brink of barbarism.

I still believe it that Love is what it is all about.

But it’s understanding what Love IS that’s the real work.

I know why Love doesn’t go down in America. Because real Love – as not perfectly but very soundly characterized by the writer of the 1st Letter to the Christians in Corinth - is about two essential things. One: Deep and anchored self-appreciation and self-understanding. And Two: the honouring of and blessing of and living for the Other – only possible when we as a person are secure and whole, psychologically, “spiritually”, emotionally, physically. Much Religion, Christian and other, has in fact worked against its principles.

It is my opinion that the vast majority of human beings are – for a myriad of reasons – not capable of Love. Certainly as Jesus – as I understand Jesus – was capable of Love. Americans (and there are others) are particularly vulnerable, centered as we are in Individualism. We are, culturally, still too infantile.

Read what 1 Corinthians has to say about Love. Think about what the World’s Great True Lovers have been able to do to heal and bring Peace to the World. Ponder it.

I am recommitting to reconnecting to the “Christ” within me. So I can advance a little in the Path of Love.

Love must never end. Or we are headed to even greater suffering.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, Jan 29, 2010

Why should we honour those that
die upon the field of battle? A (wo)man
may show as reckless a courage in
entering into the abyss of him/herself.

William Butler Yeats, poet, born
on this date, 1793, age 73


I had a flare-up on Facebook the other day with the son of dear friends. He insisted that killed soldiers were “heroes”.

His argument: They gave their lives “doing their “duty”, and are therefore automatically “heroes”.

I profoundly disagree. Why? Each situation must be judged by its own circumstances. I reject any such blanket stereotyping. And my conviction is, “God” disapproves of all militarism and war. It is a failure of the essence of being Human.

I agree with Yeats. And with, for example, the sensible and just understanding of Qur’anic “jihad”. The heroic journey of the human being is Self Understanding, and self mastery.

Let us not glorify the killing of other human beings – for any reason. Nor the instruments of the Killing, human or otherwise. Each of us is a “battlefield”. In Yeats’ words, an “abyss”. How amazingly complex we all are!

The journey that produces the greatest heroes is the journey of self-understanding, and the ability to act out of deepest divine compassion and love.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, January 28, 2010

Peoples are made of hate and of love,
and more of hate than love.

Jose Marti, revolutionary, artist; he was
born on this date, 1853 (died 1895, age 42)


Marti was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. His newspaper Patria was a key instrument in his campaign for Cuban independence. After his death, one of his poems from the book, "Versos Sencillos" (Simple Verses) was adapted to the song, "Guantanamera," which has become the definitive patriotic song of Cuba.

His words pose an interesting “theological” issue. Are we human beings essentially “hateful”, or “loving”?? Christians seems to hold that human beings are essentially “good” because they are “made in God’s image”.

Like so many of such issues, for me it comes down to Choice as to what we believe and why. Choice is the central demand of human freedom. There is so-called evidence both “for” and “against”. Personally, I think, along with Marti, that the evidence is on the side of “hate” rather than “love”. I have become more either cynical or realistic in my advancing years. The Bible seems to lean towards “Good”. That is because the Bible is not about “reality” but about Hope.

“Religion” is a thing devised, – at its best - I think, to thrust in the face of “Hate”. To give it it’s best interpretation, it is because we human beings are so aware of our capacity for Hate that we have invented the God of Love, Justice, Fairness, Compassion. We know all too well our capability for Evil – but we also descend into our innermost hearts and know also our yearning for Peace, for Compassion, our desire to live together in unity. We human beings can “find” that center that longs for this Calm.

Marti certainly knew from experience the human capacity for Evil. Deep down, most of us long for Peace and Tolerance.

I can buy into that.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor
imagination nor both together go to the
making of genius. Love, love, love, that
is the soul of genius.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, genius, born
on this date, 1756 [ his 256th Birthday ]


Oh, I am looking forward to XM Classics tomorrow! I get to be home, and get to listen to my satellite radio station all day! Mozart! I can’t stand The Magic Flute” (I like Il Sogno di Scipione”). But the orchestral works in all their variety – lovely, most of them.

I wonder if Mozart considered himself a genius?? We all know a lot about his musical talents. But what do we really know about his Loving?

Anyway. I agree with Amadeus (“Beloved of God”) . If anything makes a genius of a human being, it’s the capacity for Love. Jesus and a multiple of great “spiritual” leaders would agree, I think.

Love is the greatest of the Arts. To Love is to Create, in every form. Many artists pour their love into their creations – and it shows. I have stood many times in the Bargello and looked at the statuary, and seen the radiating passion that makes them “genius”.

The lovely thing is: we can all do it. We can all be Great Artists. Artisti di Amore.

It’s the basic, Divine-given tool for being a human being.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Nothing says holidays ………. like a cheese log.

Ellen DeGeneres, TV host, comedienne, born on this
date, 1958


A cheese log. A cheese log. I LIKE that!

What is – symbolically – a cheese log???

Remember: “holidays” are Holy-days. That’s the origin.

And what could be more ….. “normal” than a cheese log??!!

Metaphorically – at least to me, being the weirdo I am - a “cheese log” is Basics. This is Theology!

Thoughtfulness. A phone call. Chicken soup. A favourite ice cream brought over. An E-card. A text message.

“Prayer” is not a message to the Deity.

Prayer is a message to Oneself.

And the message is: “Do Something!”

Do whatever you can.

Incarnate (used as a verb) Love.

As an act of the Will.

Lifting up each other – whether we know the “each other” or not.

By a simple act, Peace will come.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, Jan 25, 2010

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o 'fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

Robbie Burns, Scot, born on this
date, in Alloway, Scotland, 1759

[ This is the last verse of Burn’s “Address to the Haggis”;
you can read the whole poem at
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/address-to-a-haggis/ ]


Well: here’s a test for you if you’re interested! Google Robbie Burn’s words in his poem “Address to the Haggis” and see if you can figure out the Scots bits! If not let me know, and I will email my oldest friend and ask him to supply an “explanation” !

Today is Robbie Burns Day! I LOVE Scotland. I love my Scottish heritage. And I – and now Dennis – love Scotland. I’ve been there many times – and love it, walking the Highlands (though alas I have to admit that my paternal grandparents were Lowland Scots – but then Bums was too!( The generation before my grandparents were Irish. (I have, though, discovered that there is an Orrock tartan – and if I can lose enough weight at this advanced age, I will get a kilt in it! I “took” Dennis to Scotland on my 60th Birthday – what a wonderful time we had.

Stories. My dear friend Martin knows the “Address” by heart. Gathered round the Haggis on a Burn’s Night, I heard him recite it with great passion – a wonderful moment in Life.

When I was a boy in Verdun – which was filled with Scots immigrants – my Mum would take me every Saturday morning to Main’s, a Scottish bakery. We would buy all sorts of Scottish goodies. Wonderful. But, though my father’s family were from Dundee, we never had haggis at home. There was another Scottish bakery – Muir’s – where my oldest friends mother shopped. Muir’s. They are no longer in Verdun – but they moved to Maxwell, Ontario. When I am there, we go to Muir’s (run by the daughter of the man who owned Muir’s in Verdun) and we load up on Scots meat pies (made with ground lamb), Empire Biscuits (renamed after the War, previously called German Biscuits), Eccles Cakes, Fern Tarts, and Oat Cakes. Heaven!

How I remember one lovely Burn’s Night, when Martin recited, with great passion, the Address to the Haggis – and stabbed it with his dirk. What a feast!

One day, staying on Loch Awe, at a B&B, the proprietor asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I said “Haggis”! – ignorant of the custom. She said that it was “odd” for anyone to want it for breakfast – but had some and would produce it. I had it, with Blood Pudding (yum) and eggs. Wonderful.

Do I have a “spiritual” point to make? Yes. All Humanity has these customs, cultural and ethnic and religious. I can’t help but think that we would all benefit, in many many ways, from knowing and appreciating and respecting each others’ valued traditions – and the meaning behind them all. It is my conviction that they all speak to the same thing – to the myths/traditions that “explain” us.

In the end, they point to the same longing to express our origins and our self-esteem. When honoured, they deepen our appreciation of each other, and our shared anchoring in the Mystery of God and Being Human.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, January 22, 2010

I would to heaven that I were so much clay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling -
Because at least the past were passed away -
And for the future - (but I write this reeling,
Having got drunk exceedingly today,
So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)
I say - the future is a serious matter -
And so - for God's sake - hock and soda water!

George Gordon, Lord Byron, born on this date
1788

Lady Caroline Lamb described Byron as “mad, bad and dangerous to know". If I had never read anything about Byron, or read any of his poems, I would have loved him immediately! Byron served as a regional leader of Italy’s revolutionary organization, the Carbonari in its struggle against Austria. He later travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died from a fever contracted while in Messolohghi, in Greece. He was 36 years old. How Romantic! Almost as Romantic as Rupert Brooke!

I understand Byron’s hesitancy about “the future”. It’s scary. I have a deep sense of foreboding about the World, and about the country I live in, these days. The future looks pretty bleak – specters arise of conflict, militarism, nuclear devastation (yes, we’re back to that after a few decades), ethnic and religious hate and animosity, class and race wars. More.

But. Cowering in a hole isn’t a good or acceptable plan. So, I’m with Byron. Let’s enjoy each other, our friends and loved ones. Let’s sop up as much intoxicating fellowship as we can – perhaps even to the limits of standing “upon the ceiling”. Let’s knock back a little material and spiritual “hock and soda water” to keep ourselves relaxed and limber.

And get on with transforming our surroundings and neighbours one heart-felt kiss at a time.

Brian+