Brian’s Reflection: Friday, October 24, 2008
Never upset your mind
With yes and no.
Be quiet.
You are awareness itself.
Live in the happiness
Of your own nature,
Which is happiness itself.
-Ashtavakra Gita 15:19 (Hindu)
Yes or No. Why do these “upset the mind”? Because they limit. I’ve been thinking about my life over the last 40 years. Often I’ve played the game of Life as if it had to be Yes or No. Then Life becomes like Russian roulette. Friendships. Marriages. Families. Work. Whetever it is that we have to make decisions/choices about.
If it’s Yes/Yes, or No/No, the gun doesn’t go off. Phew! But. If it’s Yes/No, then there’s very often an explosion, and it can kill whatever is in the way.
There is definitely a part of me that wants things to be “Yes” or “No”. But slowly that is changing. I am beginning to see that my nature as a human being, as Brian, would be happier if I could sit more easily with Yes and No. Oh, some things I am clear about. Like, Does God “hate” or “punish”? No. Or who should be the next President of the United States.
But I am going to work on bring open to the paradox, the Mystery: it can be Yes and No. I am going to try to be quiet in the face of Yes and No. Relax my boundaries (prejudices?) a little. Invite a little more not-knowing into my Life. See a wider picture.
I think I may have more peace, more serenity. And when a Yes or a No is required, it will chosen without rancor or distress.
[ Hopefully this isn’t too spacey for your morning!]
Brian+
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: October 23, 2008
“Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions
of childhood, he ceases being an artist.”
- Ned Rorem, composer & musician, born on this day, 1923
Un huh. And I would extend that to us all. We cease being an Artist of Life is we lose our touch with childhood. Not of childishness. But our childhood.
I am deeply grateful to Ned Rorem. Not because he was a Gay Brother. Though I have to admit that I loved his Letters, published in 2 volumes. Fascinating Life! But for a name-dropping reason. I was lucky enough in my mid-life to meet the greatest soprano of the 20th C (IMHO - In My Humble Opinion), Leontyne Price. Leontyne never had a “Farewell Concert”, unlike many opera singers, who had several, and usually ill-considered! When she was getting older, Leontyne asked Ned to write several songs for her, suited to her voice. I heard her sing several of them in a concert which she gave in her 70’s. Exquisite!
Jesus is recorded to have once said, Unless you become like a little child, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I have preached on this text many times. Of course it doesn’t mean that we should abandon our adulthood - our experience of years - and be a child. We can’t renounce growing up ….. and we shouldn’t. But there are qualities of a child - and not all child-time qualities are fetching!!!! - that we need to nurture. Children of a certain age have not been cynic-alized – though they can be vicious! They innately understand myth and fantasy and imagination. And my feeling is, no human being can be fully human unless they retain that nature.
What “God” wants (I believe) is for us to be Artists. Artists of Life. People who are able to shape Life into spiritual expressions of painting, music, sculpture, word, vision.
No Christian should “grow up”. That is, not abandon childlikeness. In which we retain those uncorrupted characteristics that allow us to gaze in wonder at the childlike wisdom of “God”, and to understand in the heart the Great Commandment - Love One Another as I have Loved You.
Brian+
“Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions
of childhood, he ceases being an artist.”
- Ned Rorem, composer & musician, born on this day, 1923
Un huh. And I would extend that to us all. We cease being an Artist of Life is we lose our touch with childhood. Not of childishness. But our childhood.
I am deeply grateful to Ned Rorem. Not because he was a Gay Brother. Though I have to admit that I loved his Letters, published in 2 volumes. Fascinating Life! But for a name-dropping reason. I was lucky enough in my mid-life to meet the greatest soprano of the 20th C (IMHO - In My Humble Opinion), Leontyne Price. Leontyne never had a “Farewell Concert”, unlike many opera singers, who had several, and usually ill-considered! When she was getting older, Leontyne asked Ned to write several songs for her, suited to her voice. I heard her sing several of them in a concert which she gave in her 70’s. Exquisite!
Jesus is recorded to have once said, Unless you become like a little child, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I have preached on this text many times. Of course it doesn’t mean that we should abandon our adulthood - our experience of years - and be a child. We can’t renounce growing up ….. and we shouldn’t. But there are qualities of a child - and not all child-time qualities are fetching!!!! - that we need to nurture. Children of a certain age have not been cynic-alized – though they can be vicious! They innately understand myth and fantasy and imagination. And my feeling is, no human being can be fully human unless they retain that nature.
What “God” wants (I believe) is for us to be Artists. Artists of Life. People who are able to shape Life into spiritual expressions of painting, music, sculpture, word, vision.
No Christian should “grow up”. That is, not abandon childlikeness. In which we retain those uncorrupted characteristics that allow us to gaze in wonder at the childlike wisdom of “God”, and to understand in the heart the Great Commandment - Love One Another as I have Loved You.
Brian+
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008
Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion
which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is
based on the experience of one's identity as a being of worth and dignity.
- Rollo May, psychologist, who died on this day, 1994
Be who you are. Only then can you know worth and dignity.
We have so many people walking this earth these days who are forced to live a Life where they are not who they are. I’m not talking about folk with criminal intentions, etc. I’m talking about men and women who have been given identities and personalities and unique gifts by the Life Force, but whom Society keeps firmly repressed. So-called majorities repressing (and oppressing) “minorities”. Why? Fear that their own privileges and perks will be diminished.
I don’t believe that. I believe that honouring the diversity and the uniqueness and the graced gifts of every human person can only enhance human community. Enhance peace. Enhance security. Enhance wonder. Enhance care. Enhance understanding. Enhance compassion.
It does no society good to deny worth and dignity to any human being. It does only evil. It sets one person against another, and diminishes the outreach of the heart to fellow human beings. And. It does no good to lie about others, to “bear false witness” as the fearful do about those who are “other”.
Happiness is ephemeral, a state that rests on avoidance of others not “like us”, or on an avoidance of Reality. Joy is transcendent ….. because it is the experience of having found our place, as a being of worth and dignity, within the wondrous expression of Being.
Brian+
Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion
which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is
based on the experience of one's identity as a being of worth and dignity.
- Rollo May, psychologist, who died on this day, 1994
Be who you are. Only then can you know worth and dignity.
We have so many people walking this earth these days who are forced to live a Life where they are not who they are. I’m not talking about folk with criminal intentions, etc. I’m talking about men and women who have been given identities and personalities and unique gifts by the Life Force, but whom Society keeps firmly repressed. So-called majorities repressing (and oppressing) “minorities”. Why? Fear that their own privileges and perks will be diminished.
I don’t believe that. I believe that honouring the diversity and the uniqueness and the graced gifts of every human person can only enhance human community. Enhance peace. Enhance security. Enhance wonder. Enhance care. Enhance understanding. Enhance compassion.
It does no society good to deny worth and dignity to any human being. It does only evil. It sets one person against another, and diminishes the outreach of the heart to fellow human beings. And. It does no good to lie about others, to “bear false witness” as the fearful do about those who are “other”.
Happiness is ephemeral, a state that rests on avoidance of others not “like us”, or on an avoidance of Reality. Joy is transcendent ….. because it is the experience of having found our place, as a being of worth and dignity, within the wondrous expression of Being.
Brian+
Monday, October 20, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
The poet in his lone yet genial hour
Gives to his eyes a magnifying power :
Or rather he emancipates his eyes
From the black shapeless accidents of size--
In unctuous cones of kindling coal,
Or smoke upwreathing from the pipe's trim bole,
His gifted ken can seePhantoms of sublimity.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, born on
this day, 1772, in Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire
I have read several of Coleridge’s poems. He seems to me, frankly, to be rather a Poet of Gloom! Doesn’t his portrait seem like that too?
But! What a fine poem for understanding Holy Scripture ….. anyone’s Holy Scripture. Such writings are like unctuous cones of kindling coal, or like smoke upwreathing from the pipe’s trim bole. It takes a poetic soul - a gifted ken - (preferably not as lugubrious as Coleridge!) to see phantoms of sublimity. That is, the deep Mystery, the Reality clarified. Sharp-edged pictures, often posing as “history”, are presented, like black shapeless accidents of size. But one must ponder the smoke from fire or pipe. One must, as St. Paul said, look through the darkly glass. It is in the mysterious cloud that the Truth is seen - as Moses saw the presence of God through a shining cloud, and the disciples saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
In our search for the Mystery of God, we must be like a poet in his lone genial hour. Here is the contemplative calling. Ponder the smoke of Scripture. There lie the phantoms of sublimity ….. of wonder and of grace and of liberation and of peace.
Brian+
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
The poet in his lone yet genial hour
Gives to his eyes a magnifying power :
Or rather he emancipates his eyes
From the black shapeless accidents of size--
In unctuous cones of kindling coal,
Or smoke upwreathing from the pipe's trim bole,
His gifted ken can seePhantoms of sublimity.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, born on
this day, 1772, in Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire
I have read several of Coleridge’s poems. He seems to me, frankly, to be rather a Poet of Gloom! Doesn’t his portrait seem like that too?
But! What a fine poem for understanding Holy Scripture ….. anyone’s Holy Scripture. Such writings are like unctuous cones of kindling coal, or like smoke upwreathing from the pipe’s trim bole. It takes a poetic soul - a gifted ken - (preferably not as lugubrious as Coleridge!) to see phantoms of sublimity. That is, the deep Mystery, the Reality clarified. Sharp-edged pictures, often posing as “history”, are presented, like black shapeless accidents of size. But one must ponder the smoke from fire or pipe. One must, as St. Paul said, look through the darkly glass. It is in the mysterious cloud that the Truth is seen - as Moses saw the presence of God through a shining cloud, and the disciples saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
In our search for the Mystery of God, we must be like a poet in his lone genial hour. Here is the contemplative calling. Ponder the smoke of Scripture. There lie the phantoms of sublimity ….. of wonder and of grace and of liberation and of peace.
Brian+
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, October 20, 2008
Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge.
- Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, born on this day, 1854
Paul Verlaine said of Rimbaud, “He was tall, well-built, almost athletic, with a perfectly oval face of an angel in exile with untidy light brown hair and eyes of a disturbing pale blue.” Who, man or woman comfortable with themselves, would not be drawn by such a description!
“Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge”. I agree wholeheartedly, based on where I have gotten on the path to comprehending Divine Love”. I have spent literally decades sorting out what Divine Love really is. Separating it from all the human overlay, all the projection, all the self-serving deceit, all the fear, all the inability to embrace Reality. How I found the heart of the Gospel I do not know! But I believe I did. I think because I let it bang up against my true feelings and needs ….. are of which were faithful guides to the Truth. What did I find? A person longing to be the unique being I was created to be.
Oh, I haven’t been completely successful over the years. I’ve hidden, I’ve lied, I’ve cowered in the face of the disapproval of others. But in the balance, the God of Truth overcame the Prince of Lies.
Nothing is perfect; such is not the destiny of humanity ….. even beyond the grave. But. Joy is not dependent on perfection. And if there is any sign of Divine Love, it is that Joy requires very little fuel to keep it triumphant over torrents of Sadness or Discouragement.
And I have had, and now have it. Blessed I! It is what I hope for us all.
Brian+
Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge.
- Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, born on this day, 1854
Paul Verlaine said of Rimbaud, “He was tall, well-built, almost athletic, with a perfectly oval face of an angel in exile with untidy light brown hair and eyes of a disturbing pale blue.” Who, man or woman comfortable with themselves, would not be drawn by such a description!
“Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge”. I agree wholeheartedly, based on where I have gotten on the path to comprehending Divine Love”. I have spent literally decades sorting out what Divine Love really is. Separating it from all the human overlay, all the projection, all the self-serving deceit, all the fear, all the inability to embrace Reality. How I found the heart of the Gospel I do not know! But I believe I did. I think because I let it bang up against my true feelings and needs ….. are of which were faithful guides to the Truth. What did I find? A person longing to be the unique being I was created to be.
Oh, I haven’t been completely successful over the years. I’ve hidden, I’ve lied, I’ve cowered in the face of the disapproval of others. But in the balance, the God of Truth overcame the Prince of Lies.
Nothing is perfect; such is not the destiny of humanity ….. even beyond the grave. But. Joy is not dependent on perfection. And if there is any sign of Divine Love, it is that Joy requires very little fuel to keep it triumphant over torrents of Sadness or Discouragement.
And I have had, and now have it. Blessed I! It is what I hope for us all.
Brian+
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Sat/Sun, Oct 18/19, 2008
Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?"
But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you
hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.
Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The
emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are
the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."
- from the Gospel called Matthew ( 22: 17-21)_Gospel for October 19, 2008
Jesus was not making any comment on whether taxes were appropriate or not. Don’t get distracted here from the point of Jesus’ words. He wasn’t setting up a guideline for civil disobedience, and he wasn’t even really commenting on what taxes were fair or unfair, or on what one’s relationship with oppressors should be.
He was simply outmaneuvering those “enemies” of His who disagreed with His theology, morals, and ethics, and who feared losing their power. They were trying to avoid Jesus’ prophetic condemnation of their unholy ways by trapping him into making a politically dangerous statement, hence using the political system to do their dirty work. (Eventually, they succeeded, because Jesus refused to play the game.) But Jesus here beat them at their own game. He didn’t fall into the trap ….. and the Pharisees were left standing there with the bright yolk of hypocrisy on their faces.
What the Gospel does, if you honour It’s holiness, is organize your priorities. I have said for several decades that I am first a citizen of The Kingdom of God, and secondarily of earthly “kingdoms”. I believe that it is constitutionally my duty, as a last resort, to “burn the flag” if the government refuses to permit me to honour the ways of God before the ways of Wo(men), or fails to do so itself. Silently accepting the cross was Jesus’ way of “burning the flag” as a last protest against society’s rejection of God’s Love, Compassion, and Justice.
In side-stepping the trap by refusing to give the Pharisees a political weapon against Him, He attempted to get them to see that in not listening to His just, compassionate, and loving words they were betraying their God. Alas, this usually only stokes anger in the hypocritical, not repentance. I see this in America today: those who have oppressed and deprived the poor, increased their wealth and power by raw chicanery, and even been caught at it, are stoking the same fury that got Jesus crucified.
Love, justice, compassion, humility, peace, respecting “the dignity of every human being” (Baptismal Rite of the Book of Common Prayer), “Whatsoever is good” ….. these come first. Not “Caesar”.
Brian+
Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?"
But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you
hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.
Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The
emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are
the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."
- from the Gospel called Matthew ( 22: 17-21)_Gospel for October 19, 2008
Jesus was not making any comment on whether taxes were appropriate or not. Don’t get distracted here from the point of Jesus’ words. He wasn’t setting up a guideline for civil disobedience, and he wasn’t even really commenting on what taxes were fair or unfair, or on what one’s relationship with oppressors should be.
He was simply outmaneuvering those “enemies” of His who disagreed with His theology, morals, and ethics, and who feared losing their power. They were trying to avoid Jesus’ prophetic condemnation of their unholy ways by trapping him into making a politically dangerous statement, hence using the political system to do their dirty work. (Eventually, they succeeded, because Jesus refused to play the game.) But Jesus here beat them at their own game. He didn’t fall into the trap ….. and the Pharisees were left standing there with the bright yolk of hypocrisy on their faces.
What the Gospel does, if you honour It’s holiness, is organize your priorities. I have said for several decades that I am first a citizen of The Kingdom of God, and secondarily of earthly “kingdoms”. I believe that it is constitutionally my duty, as a last resort, to “burn the flag” if the government refuses to permit me to honour the ways of God before the ways of Wo(men), or fails to do so itself. Silently accepting the cross was Jesus’ way of “burning the flag” as a last protest against society’s rejection of God’s Love, Compassion, and Justice.
In side-stepping the trap by refusing to give the Pharisees a political weapon against Him, He attempted to get them to see that in not listening to His just, compassionate, and loving words they were betraying their God. Alas, this usually only stokes anger in the hypocritical, not repentance. I see this in America today: those who have oppressed and deprived the poor, increased their wealth and power by raw chicanery, and even been caught at it, are stoking the same fury that got Jesus crucified.
Love, justice, compassion, humility, peace, respecting “the dignity of every human being” (Baptismal Rite of the Book of Common Prayer), “Whatsoever is good” ….. these come first. Not “Caesar”.
Brian+
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, Oct 17, 2008
Education is what remains after one has
forgotten what one has learned in school.
- Albert Einstein, refugee from Nazi Germany,
arrived in America, 1933
I remember very little of the detail of what I read ….. including the Bible. Movies, novels, everything. This has always been true; it has almost nothing to do with my present age. (Except, strangely enough, hymns and other music, the words of which I can usually sing from memory, including the songs my mother used to play and sing at the piano.)
I had what I consider to be a great education. It “led me out” ….. which is of course the Latin root and meaning of the word “education”. It annoys me sometimes that I can’t spout quotes and phrases of the things I’ve read and seen ….. though I realize that this is just pride and a desire to “lord it over” others.
I am, however, extremely well educated. What ever my 17 years of formal education did, it launched me out into the exploration of Life. It has never abated. The details may not be lodged in a file in my brain waiting to be quoted at the brilliant moment. But my education led me to absorb all kinds of ideas - and they became part of my Being and they have permitted me to think things out for myself and express them fairly well, if somewhat verbosely. Yea!
Education which focuses in training a person to “make a living” and fit into the job market is ….. a total waste. I learned by heart the chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah to pass the ordination exams ….. but it makes little difference to being a priest if I can’t see the meaning and lessons in their lives. Unless education draws you to new things, develops an “inquiring mind” a la Dorothy Parker, one might as well have played hooky and enjoyed those years a la Huck Finn. (Though Huck had a great education!)
The “Holy Spirit” is the Great Educator. She leads us out into new universes of Thought and Wonder. The Episcopal Church, unlike many other churches, is a pupil of the Holy Spirit. Hence my choice.
I’ve forgotten what I learned in school. My education has never stopped, and my Life is fascinating.
Brian+
Education is what remains after one has
forgotten what one has learned in school.
- Albert Einstein, refugee from Nazi Germany,
arrived in America, 1933
I remember very little of the detail of what I read ….. including the Bible. Movies, novels, everything. This has always been true; it has almost nothing to do with my present age. (Except, strangely enough, hymns and other music, the words of which I can usually sing from memory, including the songs my mother used to play and sing at the piano.)
I had what I consider to be a great education. It “led me out” ….. which is of course the Latin root and meaning of the word “education”. It annoys me sometimes that I can’t spout quotes and phrases of the things I’ve read and seen ….. though I realize that this is just pride and a desire to “lord it over” others.
I am, however, extremely well educated. What ever my 17 years of formal education did, it launched me out into the exploration of Life. It has never abated. The details may not be lodged in a file in my brain waiting to be quoted at the brilliant moment. But my education led me to absorb all kinds of ideas - and they became part of my Being and they have permitted me to think things out for myself and express them fairly well, if somewhat verbosely. Yea!
Education which focuses in training a person to “make a living” and fit into the job market is ….. a total waste. I learned by heart the chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah to pass the ordination exams ….. but it makes little difference to being a priest if I can’t see the meaning and lessons in their lives. Unless education draws you to new things, develops an “inquiring mind” a la Dorothy Parker, one might as well have played hooky and enjoyed those years a la Huck Finn. (Though Huck had a great education!)
The “Holy Spirit” is the Great Educator. She leads us out into new universes of Thought and Wonder. The Episcopal Church, unlike many other churches, is a pupil of the Holy Spirit. Hence my choice.
I’ve forgotten what I learned in school. My education has never stopped, and my Life is fascinating.
Brian+
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