Tag: love

THE EVOLUTION OF BROTHER LAWRENCE

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection

decided at eighteen years old

to make God’s love the goal

of all his actions

but he suffered for ten years

due to his preoccupation/anxiety over his sins

despite God showering him

with graces

 

if he was seeking God with his whole/undivided heart

he would have found God

and God’s Love

in all things:

positive and seemingly negative –

in warm sun

and in winter days

when he was healthy

and when he was cold and sick

in bread he ate

and in being hungry

in the song of birds

and in the noise of cities

in his virtue

and in his sin –

“For God hath made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us

that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

 

Brother Lawrence eventually learned

that it is acceptable in God’s sight

to be imperfect

and that we are all subject to

a Higher Law

hidden in every human heart:

that life is all about growth

and we can all evolve

out of chaos and darkness and sin

into Order and Light and Love.

 

EROS RISING

Creation and Incarnation must go together

if we are going to have an Infinite God

who can communicate in a Finite Way

so God took on a human body

with all its bodily desires

including sexual desires –

all this is part of the humanness of Jesus

so sex is not just “continuation of the species”

it is the “energy of love” by which the whole universe

is becoming more personalized/spiritualized/conscious

sexuality and its erotic creativity

long seen as a source of sin

emerges now as a key dimension

of authentic spirituality.

TWO GOLDEN PATHS

There are no historical/archaeological facts

about either Jesus’ burial or resurrection –

the only data we have is the stories/witness

of his small band of followers who went

from disillusionment/despair

to radical self-sacrifice/martyrdom

based on their reported experience

of resurrection

 

similarly, faith nowadays has undergone a resurrection –

since the 1960s we have gone

from externalized religion

to internalized experience –

in 1962 only 22% of believers reported a mystical experience –

in 2022 68% reported they were “spiritual and religious”

and turned to mysticism –

since the old-time institutional religion

barely/rarely moved them

to tears of sorrow or joy

 

and it is not the participation

of the old-time “Christian Right” (an oxymoron)

in politics which is a problem

for the “UnChristian Left,” –

but rather that progressive believers

cannot stand the style/language/goals

of so-called “Christians”

that violate civil discourse –

and violence is the central problem

in our pluralistic civilization

 

the violations/violence of the right

causes suffering for those “Left-Over Hippies”

who seek peace and love –

but then suffering and prayer

are two golden paths to God

and God prepares us for suffering –

“better is the little of the righteous

than the abundance of the wicked” (Psalm 37:16)

and God calls us to suffering

for justice – “blessed are those persecuted

for the sake of righteousness” (Matthew 5:10)

and God sustains us and renews us in suffering

“for those whom the Lord disciplines

God loves” (Hebrews 12:6) and resurrects.

GRATITUDE, A COUNTERCULTURAL RESPONSE TO THE WORLD’S DESPAIR

The best thing you can do for yourself, others, and the planet is: be grateful.

    Gratitude is a countercultural response to the scarcity mentality we are brainwashed into in subtle ways every day.

    While I realize that capitalism, business, and advertising underlie our whole culture, they seem to thrive on keeping us unhappy with whatever we presently have so we are in a constant state of dissatisfaction.

    Mary Jo Leddy, a Catholic theologian, social activist, and Order of Canada recipient, noted in her 2002 book Radical Gratitude that the hidden message that drives our culture is “you do not have enough, you do not do enough, you are not enough.”

    Gratitude gives you the strength to combat this message because it shows you how abundant your life already is. By teaching you to appreciate what you already have, gratitude prevents the feeling you must frantically get, do, and be more.

    It could be argued that this constant desire for more is causing the over-consumption of the world’s resources such as land, forests and fuel that underlies climate change. And many wars have started because some political leader thought he needed more. A case in point is Vladimir Putin, who although he is the president of Russia, the largest country in the world, decided that was not enough, he needed Ukraine.

    I have found that keeping a daily gratitude journal can be revolutionary. Writing down things I am grateful for from each day has gradually positively shifted my awareness.

I used to be like Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon, who once quipped “I have learned to dread one day at a time.” Now, before I get out of bed, I anticipate the blessings of the day because I know I will be recording them that evening before bed.

    There are so many things one can be grateful for: births, birthdays, graduations, work, promotions, having a spouse or partner, children, groups you belong to, friends, health, education, travel, a place to stay, movies, sports, the list is endless.

    There are lots of both common and unusual things we could be thankful for: butterflies in our garden, hummingbirds at our feeder, podcasts that shed new light, fixing a computer glitch, learning a smartphone trick, our pets, books, receiving a drawing from a grandchild or funny card in the mail, documentaries about whales or fungi, a walk in the woods, learning a new way of exercising, and on and on.

    As an abundance mentality, gratitude tends to loosen up peoples’ purse strings: when they realize their life is already overflowing with things to be thankful for, they more easily give to those who are in dire straits caused by war or poverty.

    Scripture is full of verses calling us to gratitude: “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). “O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever” (Psalm 30:12). God has created a world of abundance not scarcity, but as Jesus said, it is “for those who have eyes to see” – seeing abundance or scarcity are choices we can make, for better or worse.

    At this time of year, despite all the emphasis on consumption of physical gifts, churches try to help people be grateful for the greatest gift of all, given to us out of God’s infinite abundance: “For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

    The greatest thing to be grateful for is God’s overflowing love, manifested in a physical way we can understand, God in the form of a human being, Jesus the Christ.

    With political chaos. climate problems, and wars, the world seems dark and depressing right now, but let’s open our eyes this Christmas season and choose to see how abundant our lives already are, be grateful, and open our hearts to God and others.

 

Bruce Tallman is a London religious educator of adults and spiritual director. http://www.brucetallman.com

 

CHILDLIKE MINDFULNESS

Trungpa Rinpoche, like many Buddhist monks

never got trapped in unnecessary hope

or groundless fear

was never for or against results

not attached to things working out

just lived life freely/with curiosity/

as an experiment/like a child

 

children were always the models Jesus used

to teach his disciples the spiritual life

and the children’s story of Jonah in the belly of a whale

was Christ’s only metaphor for transformation –

you have to go into the dark

before you can see the light

 

if while practicing mindfulness we are not aware

of all the darkness/suffering in the world

it is not mindfulness but escape

and if we could peer into the minds/hearts/souls

of those causing suffering we would realize:

we could be just like them and they know suffering too –

peering always creates compassion/love for our enemies

 

we are somehow connected to all humans

no matter how despicable

and this reveals a fundamental truth about life:

mutuality/interdependence/connection

are woven thru and thru the cloth of creation –

even quarks can only exist in dyads and triads

 

if integrated wholeness/oneness/consciousness

are the heart of cosmic personalization

they naturally lead to selfless/altruistic love

and, contrary to popular belief, Darwin himself

saw the survival benefits of cooperation:

if I help others I get helped

 

the “Hsaio Ching”/“Classic of Filial Love” –

a Confucian approach to the Tao

sees brotherly/sisterly love

as the greatest taproot

into the mysterious

“Will of Heaven.”

 

MYSTICISM CURES RELIGION

Unhealthy and dysfunctional institutions

breed codependency in people –

the need to have others give us a sense

of identity and self-worth

 

as Christians reduced faith to belief –

assent to a list of ideas/doctrines

about God/Jesus/Church –

some extended it to belief

about women/science/politics

and we lost sight more and more

of “love your enemies”

and so became oppressive hypocrites

 

religion is only healthy

when it is about ego-transformation

not group superiority –

“my religion is better than your religion” –

or having correct doctrines

or being morally worthy enough to enter an afterlife

 

most people (80%) think civilization should move

toward a global vision

and in that regard

mysticism is the comprehensive “theory of everything”

people long for – something that makes sense

out of reality for everyone

just as Christianity used to do

 

the basic Christian understanding is that

you find your true self/true identity

by surrendering all your individual autonomy

to Christ

who makes you right with God

thru his Love and Penance

on the Cross for your sins

 

in God and God’s Love –

not in the Church and the Church’s love –

we and everything

become stabilized and eternalized –

if not established in God

we, and all things,

including the Church

perish.

SPIRITUAL ESSENTIALS

Myth is “deep truth” not “falsehood”

and it is the secret door

through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos

pour into human life – religion/philosophy/the arts

have all boiled up

from within the magic ring of myth

 and myth stems from the innate desire of humans

to find meaning

in a simultaneously overwhelming/frightening/confusing/

amazing/glorious universe –

humans are the universe’s meaning-makers

and therefore myth-makers

 

out of myth comes religion and contemplation

and the key to contemplation

is to realize that the love of God

pours into life

seeking us in every situation

and particularly in hard situations

the love of God seeks our good/awakening

 

myth begets religion begets contemplation

and after contemplative prayer

the second essential of the devout life

is spiritual friendship –

joining with two or three others

for mutual support

 

spiritual friends vivify and grow each other

and, according to Ruth Barrows

“God is not glorified by half-persons”

but rather, according to Irenaeus

“The glory of God is human persons fully alive”

 

when we affirm ourselves and others

we participate in the infinite spiritual love

with which God contemplates God’s own Self

 

and what God finds in God’s own Self

is Grace –

 and Grace is not something God does

it is who God is

and Grace makes up for

all the deficiencies and suffering in the universe.

 

THE REFUGE OF DIVINE LOVE

In Eastern Christianity they dwell on the cosmic significance of Christ

but in the West we focused too much on his saving work –

Augustine and Anselm claimed that Jesus came

only because we were ill – no illness, no Jesus

but contemporary theology believes Jesus came

to show us how to live/our true self – divine love –

repeat after me – “I am divine love”

 

the tremendous energy of love by which the universe

converges on itself passes through human sexuality –

the Christ comes to us through sex –

that is why Jesus performed his first miracle

at the wedding at Cana – Jesus saying symbolically:

“Before marriage/union/sex your life was water

now it is wine!”

 

but our sexuality is often dysfunctional

our wisdom is forever mixed up

with our craziness/neurosis/delusion/confusion

we need to wake up and accept this more and more –

this is better than constantly trying to change/perfect ourselves

peace lies in humble acceptance of our brokenness

and our need of God to put us back together

 

“The deadliest sin is to swim on the surface

for grace is found in the depths and death –

in falling/failing/not being in control/going down/not up”

– Richard Rohr in Falling Upward

 

too much security or insecurity leads to death

we need a healthy balance so we don’t become

either stagnant or overwhelmed by change

so we are not killed by the “future shock” –

the culture of constant change we live in

 

a prayer in Buddhism that is as common

as the “Our Father” in Christianity:

“I take refuge in the Buddha

I take refuge in the Dharma (the teaching)

I take refuge in the Sangha (the community)”

translated into Christianese:

“I take refuge in the Christ

I take refuge in the Beatitudes

I take refuge in the Church.”

SACRIFICE/LIBERATION/SALVATION

Contemporary theologians would do well

to free themselves from the “Hellenic complex” –

the integration of Greek categories of thought

into Christian theology – starting with Thomas Aquinas

and his merging of Aristotle into Judeo-Christian beliefs –

Popes John Paul II and Benedict thought Catholicism

should no longer be dominated by Aquinas

but they embraced no one else

 

they could have embraced Gustavo Gutierrez

who realized the new European theology he learned

could not deal with the structural injustices

of his South American continent

so he began interpreting the gospel in light of the poor

but “Saint Pope J.P. II” condemned this as Marxism

and so destroyed liberation theology

 

in spite of “Saint Pope J.P. II” liberation theology

became the key to black theology in North America –

the theology of liberation contained in the Bible –

the liberation of the Jewish slaves from Egypt –

parallels the liberation of black slaves in America –

Lincoln was Moses to the sharecroppers –

because the very essence of Jesus is freedom

Jesus became the model of liberation for blacks

 

understanding is the most powerful tool for “liberation”

which in Buddhism is “salvation from suffering”

so Buddhists talk about salvation by understanding

and the seed of understanding in everyone –

so similar in Christian or Buddhist terms –

is God/Jesus/Christ-Consciousness/Buddha-Mind –

Buddhist meditation involves deep insight

and creates understanding/love/salvation

 

love is both dependent and free at the same time –

it depends on objective values and creates new values:

joy/gratitude/self-sacrifice –

the bodhisattvas sacrificed entering into nirvana/heaven

until all sentient beings were liberated

 

similarly, Muslims sacrifice sex during the Great Fast/Ramadan:

“Do not lie with your wives during the day but cleave to the mosque –

(but during the night you can go into your wives and lie with them)” –

some sacrifice (but not too much) there. 😊

BELOVING OUR MOTHER – EARTH

The transition from “faith-as-experience” to “belief as opinion”

came from poor New Testament translations of the Greek:

in Greek “to believe” is a verb meaning “to trust” or “to belove”

in English it is a noun “My belief is that….”

 

Belief as “beloving” involves sexuality

and this involves the Third Buddhist Ethical Precept:

“Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct

I vow to protect individuals/couples/families/society

by not engaging in sexual relations without love

and a long-term commitment”

 

in order to be more beloving, Brother Teasdale renounced sex

and adopted the lifestyle of a Hindu sannyasin (renunciate)

but one engaged in the world –

his book A Monk in the World

explains how he became a “Warrior-Monk”

which is what the world needs right now:

Prophet-Mystics in our midst right here/right now

 

we cannot hope to have a revival

of meaningful sacramental fundamentals

without a re-education about the necessity

in everyone’s life of the importance of myth/symbol/ritual

that crystallizes our purpose on planet Earth

 

the first Earth-rise above a lunar landscape

broke all the old mythology to pieces as we realized:

Earth and heaven are no longer separate:

Earth is floating in the heavens

Earth is a heavenly body

Earth is no longer the center of the universe –

cosmological centers are now everywhere!

 

Therefore, we can surrender

all our anxieties and ambitions

to the God who is everywhere –

God is no longer “Our Father who art in heaven”

but right here/right now

and therefore will provide what we need

right here/right now

to be happy and holy and loving

of this pale blue dot

this goddess, “Our Mother Earth.”