Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, September 9, 2008
…. surely Allah does not love him who is proud, boastful.
- The Holy Qur’an, 4:36
I could have picked any relevant phrase from the Bible, or the Vedas, or whatever, but I chose the Qur’an today just to indicate that I am impartial. I go to any source.
I don’t know the Qur’an well enough yet to speak with certainty about this. But I can say about the Bible that my understanding is that God’s essence is Love and God loves everyone equally.
It is my perception that the “sin against the Holy Spirit” is to lie about God. So, as far as I am concerned, any “Holy Scripture” which says that God does not love anyone is committing the sin against the Holy Spirit. To emphasize the “gravity” of the “sin”, the Bible says that such a sin cannot be forgiven. In other words, to lie about God is “heavy”.
Quite awhile ago, having comprehended that God is Love, I rejected anything that contradicted that Truth. I now believe that anything that contradicts that Truth about “God”, in any Scriptures that ascribe Love to the character of God, is a human projection, to be discarded. For me, God is not about punishment, or blame, or wrath. These are anthropomorphic projections pandering to human desire to control God. “God” is about lifting up, about leading to Love, about forgiveness, about compassion. “God” is about the Journey to becoming fully human in the image of Love.
The Qur’an is wrong. God most definitely does love “him[her] who is proud, boastful”. In the Christian myth (i.e., Truth Story), Jesus chooses willingly to die for no other reason than from love for His Loving Father and for God’s Beloved People.
I most emphatically believe that fear of “God’s wrath” only makes a shallow, fearful, guilt-ridden caricature of a human being. Wonder at God’s Unconditional Love frees our soul to rise to the destiny I choose to believe has been determined for us since the World began. Only Love frees us truly to renounce pride and boastfulness.
Brian+
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, September 8, 2008
To living Toulouse, to Toulouse who sings
and sings with pleasure the refrains of Mengard
I raise my hat and say "Holy City,
Long may the sun spread thy power!
Long mayest thou make us joyful!"
Oh! Keep thine historic tongue ... It is the proof
that for all time thou shalt bear thine arms aloft and free:
In the language a mystery, an ancient treasure lives ...
Each year the nightingale dons new plumage,
But he keeps his song.
- Frederic Mistral, French poet & Nobel Laureate (1904),
born on this day, 1830, in Languedoc.
Never heard of Frederic Mistral, right? Well, I am particularly interested in him because I have been reading recently a history of Languedoc, and of the Cathar influence (Google if you are interested; the Cathars were a Christian offshoot of Christianity in the 13th C, condemned as heretics by Rome and viciously persecuted and murdered). I’m sorry that this poem is not in Langue d’Oc (or Occitan). It is a fascinating language! Mistral was independently wealthy. He devoted his life to the preservation of Provencal language and life.
Oh, keep thy historic tongue ….. / In the language a mystery, an ancient treasure lives …:. The same is true for the “historic tongue” of sacred writings. That tongue is “myth”, the ancient language of the imagination in which the deepest mysteries and wisdom of Life are whispered. That language evades understanding – by design – until the inner heart and ear “awaken”. But when that inner heart and ear are ready, what we need to know is heard, and the heart is stirred, and a whole hitherto unknown dimension of Life is revealed. Jesus said, Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. And so the reader at the Sacred Liturgy, having read the lesson, says, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches”!
The great French spiritual director Jean Pierre de Caussade once said, "God speaks to us in everything that happens to us.” But to hear what God is saying, we must go deeper than the words. We must listen for the opening of Mystery, for the subtle response of the imagination – a kind of Occitan where “an ancient treasure lives”.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Sat/Sun, Sept 6/7, 2008
Painting: “Beautiful World”, by Grandma Moses
Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.
- Grandma Moses, artist, born on this day,
1860, in New York State
Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson) took up painting at age 75, primarily because her arthritis had gotten so bad that she couldn’t do her needlepoint. As she said, "If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens." By age 79, she had three pictures shown at the Museum of Modern Art. At her death at age 101, she had painted over 1600 pictures, some 250 after the age of 100. She is certainly a perfect example of the words I’ve quoted!
On the whole, I agree with her. Oh, there are all kinds of resources one can access, on all levels. We don’t have to do it “on our own”. And of course it depends on what we want our Life to be. But if we want to be content, if we want to be free, if we want to be creative, this is essentially up to us. These are inner states. And Grandma is right. Life is what we make it. It’s the old If Life gives you lemons, make lemonade thing.
Grandma Moses’ paintings are simple. Simplicity in all things is, I’m beginning to realize, a great gift one gives to oneself.
Brian+
Painting: “Beautiful World”, by Grandma Moses
Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.
- Grandma Moses, artist, born on this day,
1860, in New York State
Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson) took up painting at age 75, primarily because her arthritis had gotten so bad that she couldn’t do her needlepoint. As she said, "If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens." By age 79, she had three pictures shown at the Museum of Modern Art. At her death at age 101, she had painted over 1600 pictures, some 250 after the age of 100. She is certainly a perfect example of the words I’ve quoted!
On the whole, I agree with her. Oh, there are all kinds of resources one can access, on all levels. We don’t have to do it “on our own”. And of course it depends on what we want our Life to be. But if we want to be content, if we want to be free, if we want to be creative, this is essentially up to us. These are inner states. And Grandma is right. Life is what we make it. It’s the old If Life gives you lemons, make lemonade thing.
Grandma Moses’ paintings are simple. Simplicity in all things is, I’m beginning to realize, a great gift one gives to oneself.
Brian+
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 5, 2008
A dove got caught in the rafters last night.
I had quite a time trying to get her out.
She hit her head several times in panic.
Only when she was stunned was I able to care for her.
In the paper there was a quote from a sage:
"Human nature was originally one and we were whole,
And the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love".
……….
in this world, the pursuit of love and compassion
is not without pain and confusion.
- Deng Ming-Dao, Taoist
I realize that I am “weary”. No, not just weary from the day. Weary dealing with the human communities I have been part of, most of whom have professed a belief in the Gospel of Peace and Justice, but who seem not to grasp the essence of that Gospel. It was epitomized for me today when a person I had considered a close friend - a person whom I had thought had come to understand that we are all alike and all deserve “liberty and justice for all” as Americans; that we are all loved equally by God; that being a follower of the Christ commits us not “bearing false witness against our neighbour” and lying about them - had apparently joined a group that wishes to deny equality in American society and before God. I was deeply, deeply saddened. Oh no; it did not change my understanding of myself as God’s Beloved. Nor did I, following Dom Miguel Ruiz’s excellent teaching, take it “personally”. I was just deeply saddened that someone could profess to “know Christ”, and to know me, and think this way.
It reminded me that many of us are like Deng’s dove. We are trapped in fearful, narrow, rigid, self-protective boxes, often imposed on us by our culture or by false senses of loyalty to family or “church” or politics, which stunt our ability or our openness to the magnificent power of God’s freeing love and truth.
But: so be it. That is Life.
Jesus came to replace the fearful, panicking doves of our souls, battering ourselves against the rafters of our fear and ignorance, with the dove of peace and of truth and of justice. As the sage said: "Human nature was originally one and we were whole, And the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love".
Love is hard when we reject each other out of our fear of the “other”. We are called to be “whole” and one with each other and with “God” - especially those who profess to be followers of the Gospel.
Brian+ “The pursuit of love and compassion is not without pain and confusion.”
Brian Orrock McHugh
519 W. Taylor St., SPC 334
Santa Maria CA 93458
orrock1946@comcast. net
520.705.5678
Reflections Blog: http://briansalmostdailyreflections.blogspot.com/
Comment Blog: http://brianstakeontheworldfaithandreligion.blogspot.com/
Sermon Blog: http://sermonsbybrian.blogspot.com/
A dove got caught in the rafters last night.
I had quite a time trying to get her out.
She hit her head several times in panic.
Only when she was stunned was I able to care for her.
In the paper there was a quote from a sage:
"Human nature was originally one and we were whole,
And the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love".
……….
in this world, the pursuit of love and compassion
is not without pain and confusion.
- Deng Ming-Dao, Taoist
I realize that I am “weary”. No, not just weary from the day. Weary dealing with the human communities I have been part of, most of whom have professed a belief in the Gospel of Peace and Justice, but who seem not to grasp the essence of that Gospel. It was epitomized for me today when a person I had considered a close friend - a person whom I had thought had come to understand that we are all alike and all deserve “liberty and justice for all” as Americans; that we are all loved equally by God; that being a follower of the Christ commits us not “bearing false witness against our neighbour” and lying about them - had apparently joined a group that wishes to deny equality in American society and before God. I was deeply, deeply saddened. Oh no; it did not change my understanding of myself as God’s Beloved. Nor did I, following Dom Miguel Ruiz’s excellent teaching, take it “personally”. I was just deeply saddened that someone could profess to “know Christ”, and to know me, and think this way.
It reminded me that many of us are like Deng’s dove. We are trapped in fearful, narrow, rigid, self-protective boxes, often imposed on us by our culture or by false senses of loyalty to family or “church” or politics, which stunt our ability or our openness to the magnificent power of God’s freeing love and truth.
But: so be it. That is Life.
Jesus came to replace the fearful, panicking doves of our souls, battering ourselves against the rafters of our fear and ignorance, with the dove of peace and of truth and of justice. As the sage said: "Human nature was originally one and we were whole, And the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love".
Love is hard when we reject each other out of our fear of the “other”. We are called to be “whole” and one with each other and with “God” - especially those who profess to be followers of the Gospel.
Brian+ “The pursuit of love and compassion is not without pain and confusion.”
Brian Orrock McHugh
519 W. Taylor St., SPC 334
Santa Maria CA 93458
orrock1946@comcast. net
520.705.5678
Reflections Blog: http://briansalmostdailyreflections.blogspot.com/
Comment Blog: http://brianstakeontheworldfaithandreligion.blogspot.com/
Sermon Blog: http://sermonsbybrian.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, September 4, 2008
(Wo)Men can starve from a lack of self-realization
as much as they can from a lack of bread.
[brackets mine]
- Richard Wright, author, born on this day, 1908
Author of Native Son, Black Boy [autobiography], The Outsider, Uncle Tom’s Children and other books and stories, Richard Wright had tremendous influence on later writers of the African-American community. He was born in Mississippi in 1908; he died, mysteriously, in Paris, age 52.
The Bible says, [A human being] does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Meaning? I think it means that being human is essentially an inner matter. The body is an essential, precious, indispensible vessel, giving presence in Time to each of us. Life is a matter of discovering that “image of God” deep within ourselves which carries the light of what it means to be Human, fully human. Wright hints at two things when he speaks of “self-realization”. That we “wake up” to who we are meant to be. And, that we give all we have to incarnating the great Mystery of our Self.
This is the fundamental meaning of the Incarnation in the Christian Myth. The Mystery of the Incarnation is not about God taking a human form separate from us. It is about the Mystery of God flowering in every human soul – a part of us, integral to who we are. St. Paul seemed to glimpse this when he spoke of the Body of Christ. All humanity constitutes, each in our uniqueness, the all-encompassing Mystery we call God. This is how “God” fills all things.
Richard Wright wrote from the point of view of a human being whose humanity was being denied by racist attitudes - especially as driven by the Christian religion. If one of us is denied humanity, we are all denied humanity. Look around and see the consequences of this ignorance today.
All great religions call us to Enlightenment, to Transfiguration, to Unity with God. Shall we remain beasts, or shall we have the courage to accept the crown of godliness that awaits our head?
Brian+
(Wo)Men can starve from a lack of self-realization
as much as they can from a lack of bread.
[brackets mine]
- Richard Wright, author, born on this day, 1908
Author of Native Son, Black Boy [autobiography], The Outsider, Uncle Tom’s Children and other books and stories, Richard Wright had tremendous influence on later writers of the African-American community. He was born in Mississippi in 1908; he died, mysteriously, in Paris, age 52.
The Bible says, [A human being] does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Meaning? I think it means that being human is essentially an inner matter. The body is an essential, precious, indispensible vessel, giving presence in Time to each of us. Life is a matter of discovering that “image of God” deep within ourselves which carries the light of what it means to be Human, fully human. Wright hints at two things when he speaks of “self-realization”. That we “wake up” to who we are meant to be. And, that we give all we have to incarnating the great Mystery of our Self.
This is the fundamental meaning of the Incarnation in the Christian Myth. The Mystery of the Incarnation is not about God taking a human form separate from us. It is about the Mystery of God flowering in every human soul – a part of us, integral to who we are. St. Paul seemed to glimpse this when he spoke of the Body of Christ. All humanity constitutes, each in our uniqueness, the all-encompassing Mystery we call God. This is how “God” fills all things.
Richard Wright wrote from the point of view of a human being whose humanity was being denied by racist attitudes - especially as driven by the Christian religion. If one of us is denied humanity, we are all denied humanity. Look around and see the consequences of this ignorance today.
All great religions call us to Enlightenment, to Transfiguration, to Unity with God. Shall we remain beasts, or shall we have the courage to accept the crown of godliness that awaits our head?
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, September 2, 2008
Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
and To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
- Kalidasa, classical Sanskrit poet c 4-6th C
Christians live in the context of a Mythology. (I’m laughing here! When I left a parish, after trying diligently in sermons to get people to understand “mythology”, and while they were interviewing for my “successor”, one was asked pointedly by a “matriarch” - I hope you don’t believe that Christianity is a MYTH!! The woman fled the yawning gates of that Hell!) Well, the “Christian Myth” says that, since the Death and Resurrection of the Christ, we all live in "The Eighth Day”. And what is “The Eighth Day”?
It is, mythologically, the assertion that Christians no longer live in strictly linear Time. Linear time has collapsed. Christians since the Resurrection of the Christ do not live in Chronos – linear time. Christians live in Chairos – God’s Time. So. There is no Past, Present, Future. There is only NOW. And this is “Eternal Life”.
And what does wise Kalidasa say, from long before the Christian Mythical Christ? For Yesterday is but a Dream, And Tomorrow is only a Vision; But Today well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
If you abandon living this NOW Life in favour of achieving a future Life, you will never know it. It is all ONE. Failure here is failure “there”.
The “secret” of Life here is Change. Change is the only Eternal Constant. We must grow. We must abandon the false security of “settledness”. Or we will rot. God begins as “Out There”. We must come to understand that “God is I”. Then, and only then, can the human community live in Peace.
Brian+
Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
and To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
- Kalidasa, classical Sanskrit poet c 4-6th C
Christians live in the context of a Mythology. (I’m laughing here! When I left a parish, after trying diligently in sermons to get people to understand “mythology”, and while they were interviewing for my “successor”, one was asked pointedly by a “matriarch” - I hope you don’t believe that Christianity is a MYTH!! The woman fled the yawning gates of that Hell!) Well, the “Christian Myth” says that, since the Death and Resurrection of the Christ, we all live in "The Eighth Day”. And what is “The Eighth Day”?
It is, mythologically, the assertion that Christians no longer live in strictly linear Time. Linear time has collapsed. Christians since the Resurrection of the Christ do not live in Chronos – linear time. Christians live in Chairos – God’s Time. So. There is no Past, Present, Future. There is only NOW. And this is “Eternal Life”.
And what does wise Kalidasa say, from long before the Christian Mythical Christ? For Yesterday is but a Dream, And Tomorrow is only a Vision; But Today well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
If you abandon living this NOW Life in favour of achieving a future Life, you will never know it. It is all ONE. Failure here is failure “there”.
The “secret” of Life here is Change. Change is the only Eternal Constant. We must grow. We must abandon the false security of “settledness”. Or we will rot. God begins as “Out There”. We must come to understand that “God is I”. Then, and only then, can the human community live in Peace.
Brian+
Monday, September 1, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, September 2, 2008
I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores.
- Moliere, playwright
I think that I am in general agreement with Moliere. With a certain caveat. I would say that “virtue” is not intrinsically boring. I have met some virtuous people who were not ….. boring. Very few. But some. Interesting is an interesting adjective. One can be interested in lots of things without necessarily liking them or “approving” of them. Including Vice.
I have met many people who consider themselves virtuous. Unfortunately they are often also judgmental, priggish, condescending, high-and-mighty, wedded to stereotypes, fanatics, and emotionally and in many other ways stunted, sometimes by choice, sometimes by their unexamined upbringing or their unexamined fears. My sense is that while Jesus tried to “enlighten” a lot of the boringly virtuous of His time, He seemed to prefer the company of those with interesting vices. I suspect He found realism more interesting than self-deception - and more open to “revelation” about themselves and about God and about the human heart.
Much “religion” in our World today suffers from boring virtuosity. Which sets human beings against each other. And which, more importantly, puts it totally out of touch with the understanding that most of us are transfigured into human beauty and sympathy not by condemnation, but by acceptance and Love.
Guess God got it right, eh?
Brian+
I prefer an interesting vice to a virtue that bores.
- Moliere, playwright
I think that I am in general agreement with Moliere. With a certain caveat. I would say that “virtue” is not intrinsically boring. I have met some virtuous people who were not ….. boring. Very few. But some. Interesting is an interesting adjective. One can be interested in lots of things without necessarily liking them or “approving” of them. Including Vice.
I have met many people who consider themselves virtuous. Unfortunately they are often also judgmental, priggish, condescending, high-and-mighty, wedded to stereotypes, fanatics, and emotionally and in many other ways stunted, sometimes by choice, sometimes by their unexamined upbringing or their unexamined fears. My sense is that while Jesus tried to “enlighten” a lot of the boringly virtuous of His time, He seemed to prefer the company of those with interesting vices. I suspect He found realism more interesting than self-deception - and more open to “revelation” about themselves and about God and about the human heart.
Much “religion” in our World today suffers from boring virtuosity. Which sets human beings against each other. And which, more importantly, puts it totally out of touch with the understanding that most of us are transfigured into human beauty and sympathy not by condemnation, but by acceptance and Love.
Guess God got it right, eh?
Brian+
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