January 27, 2019

How many times has it been asked, “How could a loving God allow that to happen?!” 

War, genocide, murder, rape, torture, violence, abuse of all kinds! 

Cheating, greed and corruption no matter the cost to others! 

Famines, epidemics, heartbreaking miscarriages, awful birth defects, catastrophic accidents and natural disasters!

How could a loving God allow such things?

Is it possible that our understanding of how God works is, though naturally human, simply wrong?

Is it possible that God has given life, function and opportunity to all living things and, particularly to each human being, stewardship – whether we accept it or not - of the gift of life, including care of ourselves, of each other, and of our planetary ecosystem?

Is it possible that we do not want that responsibility?

Two inexhaustible energy sources

Self-righteousness - whether concluding quietly to oneself or asserting vociferously to others that one is right - is the easier of humanity's two inexhaustible sources of energy.

The other one, the much more powerful one, is love.

Self-righteousness is instinctual, requires neither effort nor growth, and is at least initially comforting, especially when we go with a crowd.  The high costs of self-righteousness - loneliness, stress, atrophy of love of others and curiosity about them and their views - often appear after the habit of self-righteousness has taken hold so firmly that we do not see their origin.

Love is instinctual, too, but is much harder work because its focus is on growth and service, not on feeling emotionally or physically comfortable.  Love includes others.  Love includes curiosity about and care of others, as well as self-care.  Love includes acceptance of others, and modesty, because true acceptance of another means accepting that we might have something to give away, not protect, and that we might have something - maybe a lot - to learn from others.  Love includes curiosity about how we and others might grow, not how we might protect what we have, including our self-perception.  Love, too, can become a habit, and easier each day, once its value - particularly its value compared to self-righteousness - becomes clear.

Love is the powerful discipline.

Reality check #10

Temptation, including the blink-of-an-eye temptation to act on impulse, and how we respond to temptation clearly reveal our values - if we are willing to look.

If personal responsibility is really one of my core values, is what I'm tempted to do something for which I will shrink from taking responsibility?

Is what I'm tempted to do something which will diminish my awareness of my responsibilities?

January 20, 2019

We are enough.

Each of you is enough.

I am enough.

Though we gather as seekers, we must remember what we have already found: we have found many truths which bring us the experience of love, peace, strength, and courage.

You are enough.

I am enough.

Does the Holy Spirit within each person look upon us and our choices and condemn us? 

Does the Holy Spirit tell us, “you are not enough”?

I don’t think so.  I think the Holy Spirit says to us,

“Do your best joyfully and productively to use the gift of Life and stop trying to be more perfect than I made you.”

And we will be joyful and productive if we look upon each other, and every other person, with love, and with the conviction that “you are enough and I am enough.”

Creativity in dreams

One way to think about dreams: 
All the creativity they represent, night after night, is within the dreamer.
That creativity is worth cultivating in ourselves and honoring and encouraging in others.

What, or whom, do you represent?

What, or whom, do you represent? 
For what or for whom are you an agent, constantly or variously from moment to moment?
Is it God (however named), or Love?
Your family?
A friend or friends?
Your church or faith?
Your nation, state, district, or community?
A cause, or a person or group advancing that cause?
One or more principles, such as integrity, honesty, fidelity, or equal justice under law?
Your organization, employer, or colleagues?

Why do you choose to represent what, or whom, you do?  The choice is yours, isn't it?

If you see yourself as being completely unencumbered by commitment; as representing no thing or person, as being an agent of nothing and no one; isn't that a choice?

Don't you still and always represent yourself?

#confessionofaselfishman

December 23, 2018

I recently listened to a full choral and symphonic performance of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. As usual, it moved this former conscientious objector to tears.
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword.
His truth is marching on."

This is clearly a Christian hymn:
"As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."

Relatively few people die in the physical struggle for freedom, justice, and peace. But it takes nothing away from the due honor and glory of those who do for us to honor, thank and support those who dedicate their natural lives to the achievement and preservation of freedom, justice, and peace.

And so today I think the first stanza of The Battle Hymn of the Republic may with all respect be re-framed, rephrased:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the presence of the Lord. 
He still tramples out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He hath given us the power of Love's self-sustaining word.
His truth still marches on.