Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 11, 2011

If any organism fails to fulfill its
potentialities, it becomes sick.

William James, philosopher, theologian; he
was born on this date, 1842



What Religion or Philosophy or Art does, essentially, is try to direct us to an understanding of our “potentialities” as human beings.

Have you ever read Oscar Wilde’s “De Profundis”?? I read it for the first time in 3 wakeful hours last night. He wrote it while in prison for the “crime” ostensibly of being homosexual ….. but in reality he was imprisoned for challenging the prejudices of the English aristocracy in the person of the Marquis of Queensbury, whose son was Wilde’s lover.

In it, Wilde presents an analysis of Jesus that is breathtaking! I recommend it.

The events of Tucson these past few days can be seen as an example of the truth of James’ insight. Much of America claims to be a Christian country, or followers of other faiths at whose heart is a God of Love and Justice. When you look at the Gospel and the person of Jesus, with some help perhaps from disciples both ancient and modern, there is clearly a depiction of the potential of being Human, of being “as Christ”, of being a “child of God”. It does not square with the behaviour of a huge percentage of American “Christians”.

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights reflects the potentialities of those who would be Americans. I do not see much of their grand vision being reflected in American Life, culture, politics, or the media these days – and our country reflects the ugliness, especially in the horror of Tucson.

It seems to me that we have failed of our potentialities ….. and we have sickened “even unto death”. The “face” of what it is to be American these days is inhuman to much of the rest of the World (who often do not see the same reflected in their political and cultural lives).

We must recognize that we are sick. We must hold a mirror up to those who are disseminating the sickness, including ourselves if we are part of it.

If the Gospel is about anything, it is about healing and wholeness.

Healing and wholeness, through the medicines of Love and Justice and Respect, is what we need.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 10, 2011

Peter Marshall: During the War of 1812, Captain Oliver Perry made the
famous statement, "We have met the enemy and..." What?
Paul Lynde: They are cute.

Peter Marshall: Will a goose help warn you if there's an intruder on your property?
Paul Lynde: There's no better way!

Peter Marshall: In "Alice in Wonderland", who kept crying "I'm late, I'm late?"
Paul Lynde: Alice, and her mother is sick about it.

Peter Marshall: Prometheus was tied to the top of a mountain by the gods
because he had given something to man. What did he give us?
Paul Lynde: I don't know what you got, but I got a sports shirt.

Peter Marshall: It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist
camps. One is politics. What is the other?
Paul Lynde: Tape measures.

Peter Marshall: What do you call a man who gives you diamonds and pearls?
Paul Lynde: I'd call him "darling"!

Paul Lynde, the very “out” (especially for the 70s and 80s);
Hollywood Square personality; he died on this date, 1982


I know. I’m being lazy! But, laughter is VERY good for the soul (and apparently for the body)

Enjoy!

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, January 6, 2011

Life is like an onion: you peel it off one
layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.

Carl Sandburg, American poet; he was
born on this date, 1878



Sandburg once said that he had written poetry that he didn’t even understand! But this quote isn’t one of those. I think of Sandburg (albeit not having read huge amounts of his work) as one of that group of American philosopher-poets: simple and wise and uncomplicated.

Yes, sometimes we weep. It’s a given of being human. And it’s important – hell, there is a lot of stuff about being mortal and built to decay that should bring on tears! I remember being in Liberia. Children would die, either at birth or soon after. Mothers and their women friends would carry on working ….. but at the funeral, screeches and wails would pierce the air. It almost looked staged ….. but it was the necessary “getting it out”. But then, community and conviviality at the feast, and then on with Life.

We are peelers, we human beings. We ought to teach each other - in education, socialization, religion, in all ways - to peel, peel, peel. It’s always about Life, not mortality. Every day we’re alive, another layer to be explored. We will die, all of us, sooner or later. That fact lets us Live ….. or should. Sandburg once said “”mysteriously”: “A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake.”

We’re Peelers. “Weeping may come with the night ….. but joy comes in the morning”.

Sandburg also said:

I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes,

so live not in your yesterdays, nor just

for tomorrow, but in the here and now.

Keep moving and forget the post

mortems; and remember, no one can

get the jump on the future.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, January 5, 2011

What if imagination and art are not frosting at all,
but the fountainhead of human experience?

Rollo May
The Courage to Create


They are.

“Imagination and art” are indeed the “fountainhead of human experience”.

If it were not so, why would we conceive of “God”? Why would we write? Why would we tell stories? Why would we paint pictures, from the earliest of human history, in caves? Why would we sing? Why would we create musical instruments? Why would we have “religion”, literature, poetry, sculpture, Myth, gardens?

The Biblical story in its import is correct. The abandonment of “imagination and art” (Eden) inflicted Work, and Work crushed Humanity. Work, that is, that is done only to preserve biological existence. Work, to be nourishing of our Humanity, must nourish our Soul, our Imagination, and the Art that each of us Is.

We must not settle for being “dust”. We know we are the Breath of God.

Live for Imagination and Art. Have the Courage to Create yourself.

Brian+

Addendum to Brian's Reflection for Tuesday, Jan 4, 2011

Creation happened at 9:00AM on October 26th,
in the year 4004BC, in Mesopotamia.

Anglican Archbishop James Ussher so declared;
he was born on this date, 1581.


You see what I mean about the need for both God and our intelligence to be liberated.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Blessed are the hearts that can bend;
they shall never be broken.

Albert Camus, French philosopher; he
died on this date, 1960

I think that many hearts are “broken” because we are unable or unwilling to face Truth. There is a good reason for this: many if not most people are brought up with Lies. I guess that’s why the figure of “Satan” is called the Great Deceiver.

Today is also the birthdate of Sir Isaac Newton, in 1643. Look at all the trouble he had getting people, and in particular the Church, to accept his scientific truths. Is it not ever so, this avoidance of the truth?

Think about the idea of God. In all my nearly 45 years of monastic and ordained ministry, I would say that my primary work has been liberating both God and people from lies about God and people. From magic, and from fantasy ….. and from the heartbreak that such lies inevitably bring about.

Truth is always Life-giving, and Lies death-dealing.

I wish us “hearts that can bend” ….. including to both the great strength of our own being, and to Understanding and Forgiveness.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 3, 2011

I love mankind; it's people I can't stand.

Charles M. Schulz, creator of “Peanuts”;
on this date, 2000, the last new “Peanuts”
comic strip ran in 2600 newspapers.



Well: the challenge here is pretty obvious, isn’t it? “People” in the abstract are manageable. People in the particular are damned annoying!! I’m even annoying to myself!

I get up a couple of times in the night to pee, because of the affects of radiation for prostate cancer ….. and I forget to keep my eyes closed and then I can’t go back to sleep and am awake for 2-3 hours in the night. I tell myself to stop and think before I leave the house ….. do I have the things I need; then, I don’t, and I don’t! I write things about what I think are important in being a healthy person ….. but I don’t listen to myself. I know that listening to the “news” is toxic to my emotional, spiritual, psychic, and even physical health ….. but I find myself turning it on, which only stokes my rage. I know perfectly well that more than 3 ounces of protein is enough, and NONE of Dennis’s fabulous peanut-butter-and-choco cookies during the week is better for my total well-being ….. but I sneak them anyway. I know that following Don Miguel Ruiz’s “Four Agreements” would really balance my Life ….. but my mind is becoming more like the proverbial sieve every day; I can barely remember what the Four Agreements are!

Sigh.

However. As I think about it, if the “God” of the Bible had paid too much attention to the individuals of the ancient Israelite community, without having an “overview” of the Whole, He (and I use “He” advisedly here) they would have indeed have been annihilated very early on in one of His undoubtedly frequent fits of exasperation.

I think it’s OK to be daily pissed off with “people” ….. as long as one has an equal balance of appreciation for the Species.

Individuals are intrinsically annoying. But as a whole, Humankind can be pretty fascinating and even ….. charming.

Brian+