Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Hold fast to your dreams, for without them
life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.

Langston Hughes, poet; he was born on
this date, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri


One of America’s greatest poets and writers. He was known as “The Poet Laureate of the Negro Race”. You can find a biography here: http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html

Langston Hughes knew about broken dreams. He once poignantly wrote, representing so many:

I swear to the Lord,
I still can't see
why Democracy means
everybody but me

Being a Human Being can be so disappointing! I find it so, at times. Think of Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman”. On a scale of one to ten, relative to the six billion people of the World, I’ve had it pretty damn good. I started in a flat in Verdun, Quebec, went to university (when it only cost me about $1500 a year) and got a degree, joined a monastery, went to seminary, got a Masters in Divinity (ain’t that classy!), and retired as a priest after 40 years in ministry. And I can actually say I am happy, blessed, loved, befriended, and charmed by many things.

I “dreamed” of being a musician; that didn’t happen. I dreamed of being a holy monk; that didn’t happen. I dreamed of lots of things that didn’t happen. But what did happen was, I found out that one does not have to be enslaved by dreams, as if they trap you when they fail of “coming true”.

No. I found that Dreams are one of the few “renewable energies”, one of the few inexhaustible resources. They constantly morph into new possibilities ….. just like those weird dreams one has in the night.

Any “spiritual practice” worth its salt and worth commitment will teach us both to latch on to dreams because they nourish our Being ….. and not to cling to them when they become irrelevant. I think part of “faith” is to believe that dreams will be our guide forever ….. and they will teach us to trust in ourselves, to be flexible, to be amazed at Life’s possibilities, and to follow the paths that open without expecting them to last forever.

Life is too extravagant to have only one Journey. Dream on.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 31, 2011

Cocaine isn't habit forming. I should know –
I've been using it for years.

I'm as pure as the driven slush.

Tallulah Bankhead, actor and wit;
she was born on this day, 1903,
in Huntsville, Alabama.


Humour ….. and self-knowledge, with humour. Big gifts, skills, in dealing with Life.

I’ll bet that most of us don’t know just how many addictive patterns we are locked into! Ruts are SO comfortable! Addictions to food, booze, etc can be pretty destructive. But we also have addictions to religion, ideas, concepts, prejudices. Not only do they enslave us, they infantilize us. Frankly, I find that this country (and a lot of the rest of the World - like Mubarak in Egypt, Bashir in Sudan, Netanyahu in Israel, Sarkozy in France, the King of Saudi Arabia, Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivoire, Medvedev in Russia, Harper in Canada, as representative examples) is being run by infantilized people – and the same for those who elect and support them. No wonder we are in such a mess – as are most of the institutions that bolster them.

What point am I making? The point that we human beings have had some superb guides as to how to live Life. No question. And most of the World has honoured these guides ….. out of their mouths. But the test of authentic honour is (as Jesus made clear) is to DO what they teach: “Not everyone who SAYS to me Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” And I would estimate it at about .001% - attributable only to the Justice and Mercy of “God”.

It might be helpful to think today about what WE are addicted to, about what is holding us back from launching into Freedom, about what is keeping us infantilized and unable to see each other as sisters and brothers, connected to each other and called to care for each other and look out for each other’s welfare. If you’re honest, you’ll see that you’re in an addictive rut.

We all think we are so pure ….. but there’s a lot of slush! Let’s admit it, laugh ….. and CHANGE!

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: The Weekend, Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Beatitudes

Jesus of Capernuam


[ You can read The Batitudes here: http://www.io.com/~kellywp/YearA_RCL/Epiphany/AEpi4_RCL.html ]

Ah. The Beatitudes. Well, I’m off the hook ….. to be “original” that is. And someone wise once said that no one these days has any original thought. But: some so express them very creatively and very concisely. Thank God!

Here’s what (Episcopal priest) Cynthia Bourgeault has to say in her book “The Wisdom Jesus”. The Beatitudes are all about our transformation into identity with The Christ – i.e., becoming Fully Human.

“Poor in Spirit”. ….. “describes an inner attitude of receptivity and openness, and one is blessed by it because only in this state is it possible to receive anything”.

“Those who mourn”. It’s about ….. “vulnerability and flow”. She says, “To mourn is to touch directly the substance of Divine compassion.”

“The meek”. Or, the “gentle”. Blessed are those who have “tamed the wild animal energy within them, the passions and compulsions of our lower nature (note: I don’t like at all that word “lower”!)”

“Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness”. “In this ….. Jesus is not talking about doing virtuous deeds so that you will be rewarded later; he is talking about being in connectedness without fundamental yearnig” … i.e., to be anchored in God’s own Aliveness.”

“Blessed are the Merciful.” “It’s all about exchange ….. exchange is the very nature of divine life ….. and all things share in the divine life through the dance of giving and receiving” of Love.

“Pure in Heart”. In Wisdom teaching , “purity means Singleness, and the proper translation is really ‘Blessed are those whose heart is not divided’, is ‘a unified whole’ …. “cleansing the lens of perception”.

Intriguing? It sure is. Ponder this before you go to worship tomorrow!

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, January 28, 2011


I believe there are more urgent and honorable
occupations than the incomparable waste of time
we call suffering.

Colette, French novelist and symbol; she was born
on this date, 1873; she was accorded a state funeral
despite the refusal of Catholic rites on the grounds
that she had been divorced. Her funeral was attended
by thousands of mourners.


A very old member of the Order of the Holy Cross once gave a children’s mission. Facing a pile of 6-8 year olds sitting on the floor, his opening line was, “Now children, what does God love most?” After a significant pause, he said in a loud, sepulchral whisper ….. “Suffering!!!”

Ye gods! Talk about being stuck in a sick theological time warp! I’ve often wondered how much money was spent by those children in later life on therapists.

Be that as it may, Suffering’s a given of human Life. And the more we live with the illusion that we can avoid suffering, the more painful Suffering will be. Take my word.

Colette is bang on. Suffering is not, must not, be an “occupation”. The Christian religion tried, for many centuries, to inflict it on us. Shame on it. The Buddha rightly noted that Suffering was a central experience of being Human ….. but He did not suggest that we make it an occupation …. to the contrary.

The givenness of Suffering is no excuse for a Life of wallowing in it. That is a way of “death”. The Gospel - and need I say with St. Paul, the very wonder and beauty of Being – is about Life. If Suffering snuffs out Life, it’s time to move on.

At best, Suffering leads to empathy, to compassion, to generosity, to Love - and if we are fortunate, to freedom. Now THERE'S a spiritual Journey!! I have a way to go!

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, January 2, 2011

It is not hard to feel like an outsider. I think
we have all felt like that at one time or another.

Alan Cumming, Scottish actor; he was born
on this date, 1965, in Aberfeldy, Perthshire


I have. Oh God, I have.

Yet, I have been blessed. Extraordinarily so. And when I look back on it, it comes as a great “surprise” to me. As if I had nothing to do with it. And yet I did. Though I often didn’t, don’t, see it. What I didn’t – and still often don’t - see is that there was, is, a Mystery working in me that has guided me throughout my Life. It isn’t a Mystery that I know just through my religious journey in Christianity. It turns out that it is much more brilliant, more wondrous, more charming, more deep than I even now understand. Which I find utterly delightful! By some cosmic grace, I was enabled to choose not to demean, to dehumanize myself.

Believe me, I had a much less traumatic journey as a Gay man than most of my Gay friends. In my journey, I avoided any sense of self-hate, and sense of inferiority. My sense of that for Gayfolk didn’t come until later ….. and it is the reason that I have been consumed by a sense of rage all my Life. And yet, as much as my insides churned with this rage, I somehow managed not to act out that rage, but to find in my ministry as a priest ways to lead others to new understandings.

So many Christians want God to be picky and exclusive. Meaning they want to control and define and limit God. And to make God in their own Image. In this, the Church often colludes – to its shame.

For the “God” I know, there are no outsiders. And I am deeply grateful that I encountered this God early in my Life. If you feel an “outsider”, I happily transfer my blessing to you! The fact that others would consign you to being an Outsider does NOT make it so. They do not have that power. Only you can concede that power to them ….. and I beg you not to.

In the realm of the Beloved, there are no Outsiders.

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, January 26, 2011

To bring the sublime into the mundane
is the greatest challenge there is.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Alchemical Wisdom


Sublime: “up to a next hearth”. Mundane: “of the World”.

It seems to be rather difficult for us human beings to infuse the Mundane with the Sublime. Oh, we have plenty of advice! Religions. Philosophies. Wisdom. Truth. Gurus. Priests. Shamen. Scriptures. Gods & Goddesses.

We have grand ideas about what it is to be a fine human being, both as individuals and as part of the Human Community. We have lots of advice and guidance about how to be fine human brings – some helpful and some not so. But we don’t do it. As PVIK says, with a bit of obviousness, bringing the “sublime into the mundane is the greatest challenge there is”.

“Bringing the sublime into the mundane” is about evolving as a human being. It is about “dying” – dying meaning letting go of “stuff” we started out with from our birth and which was helpful in establishing our Ego and Identity as a unique person, and then integrating into the Universal Unconscious, into “God”, into the matrix of All That Exists – however you want to conceive it. We fear this because we think that we “disappear”. But Rumi clarifies this spiritual and philosophical and metaphysical misconception:

I died as a mineral and became a plant.
I died as a plant and rose to animal.
I died as an animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?

If you have a weak Ego, work on that ….. we all need a strong one. But when the Ego has been shored up, begin work on “sublimating” the Ego. In other words, start evolving to the next level of human evolvement, the next "hearth" (yes, that place of home!). As you move there, the fighting, the alienation, the fear begins to dissipate. Harmony and understanding grow.

Soon, there is Enlightenment and Peace and Freedom.

Think: is that not what we most desire?

Brian+

Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 24, 2011

Success consists of going from failure
to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister;
he died on this date, 1965, age 90


You have really got to have your act together actually to believe this! (Note that I did not split the infinitive; it is usually done these days ….. but I absolutely refuse to break about the only rule I remember being taught about English grammar. It also connects me in a pedantic way with Mr. Churchill, who famously said, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”)

If you know that you are loved, and respected. If you know that Failure is part of being Human, as well as a necessary part of being courageous and of growing up and of learning what one needs to learn in order to be a mature adult. If you know that honest mistakes are part of Life. If you know that Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts (including to oneself), and is one of the chief characteristics of the God of Compassion. If you know that your true friends will always respect you for admitting failure and moving forward …..

You will succeed.

Of course you know there things, yes?

You don’t?

They are all true.

Practice.

Be enthusiastic about Life.


Brian+