SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION

IS THERE A WAR ON RELIGION?

2012-02-07T00:02:00.008-05:00

President Obama recently agreed to a Health and Human Services ruling which says that under the new Health Care Act, Catholic institutions—including charities, hospitals and schools—will be required by law to provide and pay for insurance coverage (for their employees) that includes contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures. If they fail to do so, they will face heavy fines. Many Catholic Bishops and others are objecting to this law as an infringement of First Amendment, Freedom of Religion rights, and in certain quarters, as evidence of a “war on religion”. Many liberals (not all) are saying that what this does is protect and promote women’s health, and prevent the Catholic Church from imposing its will on non-Catholics.

First, let’s be clear about what the ruling does and doesn’t say. It does not say that Catholic Hospitals will be required to perform abortions, or that a Catholic doctor will be required to prescribe contraceptives, or any similar impositions. What it does say is that institutions with ties to the Catholic Church (but not a Church itself) – such as hospitals, colleges, and charitable agencies – that employ non-Catholics as well as Catholics, and that accept federal or state funds, must follow the same rules as other organizations when it comes to providing health care benefits for their employees. In other words, if a non-Catholic person (or for that matter, a Catholic person who does not agree with the anti-contraceptive beliefs of the Catholic Church) were to get a job at a Catholic Hospital as a secretary, or an orderly, or a surgeon, or a ticket-taker in the garage, and that person wanted to go to their physician (not the Catholic hospital itself) and get a prescription for birth control pills, and then went to their local pharmacy to pick up the prescription, their insurance policy – like insurance policies everywhere else – would cover the cost.

Now there is an issue here, a legitimate issue, but let’s look at it without raving about ‘wars on religion’, or ‘wars on Catholics’, or ‘the end of religious freedom in America’, or other sensationalism and negative rabble-rousing.

The issue is this: If we grant special privileges to Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, etc,(which I believe is perfectly Constitutional and perfectly fine), the question arises about whether other organizations or businesses that are somehow related to the religious institution are also entitled to these same special privileges (i.e., regarding taxes, complying with laws and regulations, etc.).

Now there are obvious answers here when the related-organization is very close to, or very far from, the institution itself. For instance, a Sunday School in the basement of a Church is not a ‘Church’, it’s an educational activity – but clearly, this is a close enough association with the Church that I doubt anyone would seriously advocate for refusing it the same privileges as the Church itself. At the other extreme, there may be a drugstore in town which is often visited by Catholic members of the Church, but I doubt anyone would seriously advocate that the presence of Catholic customers means that the store should not be allowed to sell condoms. These are obvious and simple extremes: What about this situation which is somewhere in between?

The question here is whether the institutions covered by this regulation – Catholic Hospitals, Schools, Colleges, Charitable Agencies, etc. – are far enough removed from the Church itself as to be distinct, or so tightly connected as to be a virtual part of the Church. It has usually been assumed that such groups are entitled to the same privileges as a Church. But this historical precedent, while carrying weight, is not necessarily correct. There have always been arguments to the contrary. Laws and rules evolve, and must evolve as technology and society evolve, so this precedent should be considered but not deemed conclusive. There is also the issue of whether these organizations, by accepting government funds, are self-defining themselves as public, rather than religious, endeavors. So, in legal terms, the issue comes down to this: is the regulation, including its exemptions, crafted too narrowly?

I believe this is a fair question. People of good will are on both sides. I am sick to death of hearing all the name-calling and nasty personal accusations that are made when people disagree (whether on this issue or so many others). Frankly, I’m not yet sure where I stand on this, I’m very interested in hearing intelligent opposing arguments, and I’m looking forward to hearing a carefully considered and soundly reasoned opinion from the courts (I’m fairly sure this will get there). In the meantime, I find myself partly persuaded by sentiments of despair about government bureaucracy overly imposing itself, and many considerations of freedom of religion. But I’m also partly persuaded by arguments for fairness and equality in our treatment of employees, and by issues of women’s rights and health.

And I do think it worth remembering, when politicians or others claim that this is a unique case in our history that proves the Administration is conducting a ‘war on Catholics’ or other such drivel, that despite their religious consciences Mormons are not allowed to engage in polygamy, Christian Scientists are not allowed to deny medical attention to their dying children, Quakers are not allowed to deduct taxes that might go toward warfare, Rastafarians are not allowed to use illegal drugs in their religious ceremonies, and Atheists are not allowed to deduct from their taxes monies that might be used to help fund a Catholic hospital. Freedom to hold one’s own religious beliefs and convictions – which comes from the second clause of the First Amendment – has always been balanced by restrictions against imposing one’s beliefs on others – which comes from the first clause of that same First Amendment. Achieving this balance is a difficult and fascinating proposition that must be pursued intelligently and certainly can be pursued civilly.

What are your views?

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A MEDITATIVE BEGINNING

2012-02-06T00:20:00.004-05:00

(Today's Post is a Guest Post from blisslotus.com)

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I often share with others the beauty, inner peace and opportunity for growth that daily Meditation has opened up in my life. Both medical and holistic professionals agree that taking on a life of focus, clarity and calm has health benefits and personal introspective opportunities that few other daily activities can create for you. Newbies to Meditation may not yet understand how to reap the rewards and begin to realize a Meditative state. Here are some valuable starter tools one could use to learn how to Meditate and nurture the development in concentration and clarity.

The Quiet Room

Nothing is more important to your Meditation than the ambience of the room. Finding a distraction free area, one that is clutter free and peaceful can be the key to setting the tone to your mental and physical relaxation. For some this is their personal bedroom, for others it could be the basement. As long as there is no cell phone, no television and certainly no computer or work then you can pretty much meditate anywhere in your home.

Lighting is important to set the mood as well. Soft light, candles or even a completely darkened room all bring about the body’s natural tranquil setting readying it for the meditation about to begin. Often music, ambient noise or nature sounds are used to enhance the meditative experience. There are plenty of options available online or in stores for meditation audio. Music has been proven to calm the brainwaves and mute the thought process that brings about disruption in the mind.

Body Posture

Most meditation takes place in the seated position. With legs under you or sitting cross-legged, imagine your back is a straight tree stump coming out of the ground. You may place a pillow under your hips if this helps to maintain that upright posture. Position is important as it helps you focus, breathe and reach the body’s fullest potential. Some meditators find that laying on a mat, back straight and legs straight is a more comfortable position to begin. Either way is acceptable as this is your experience and there is no exact, ‘right’ way. Hands can lay comfortably at your sides or resting on your knees. Focus is usually best achieved with eyes closed gently. Now you are ready to initiate the process of meditation.

Breathing

Traditionally we breathe completely through our noses when we are in a relaxed state. During meditation we inhale through our nose, but then exhale through our mouths. This deeper type of breathing calms the body quicker and allows us the ability to focus on our breathing instead of our thoughts.

Begin by taking in one deep nasal breath. Think a positive thought on your inhalation – about your family, your friends, a favorite vacation spot, anything that makes you happy. Then, on the exhalation through your mouth, blow out a negative thought – anger towards someone, feelings of being judged, etc. Continue this breathing process for one to two minutes or until you feel you have a good flow. Then you may begin resuming normal breaths.

Focal Points and Mantras

Both experienced and new Meditators can benefit from a focal point. A focal point can be something as simple as a candle’s flicker or something in your mind that you visualize. Picturing a star twinkling in a sky of darkness, a wave on the ocean over and over – anything that busies your thoughts and keeps you motivated in your meditation. Some add a mantra to their focal point, repeating a phrase or sound over and over again. There is no exact phrase to repeat, but some suggestions are “I am worth it” or “I am one with my universe” or the simple, “Om”. The point of both focal points and mantras are to maintain that effort and concentration to allow your body the natural process of complete and utter relaxation. Your thoughts do not have hold of you during a meditation, you become one with mind, body and soul.

Accepting Thoughts and Completing the Meditation

During your meditation you may start to wander. Shopping lists, work matters or stress may try to enter and take hold. Just observe your thoughts, let them pass on by and don’t give them a moment to bother you. Refocus on your breathing and your focal point or mantra so you can regain your meditative composure.

Once you have completed your meditation and feel that you are ready to accept and give back what it has given to you, take in your final whole breath. Slowly open your eyes and readjust yourself to your surroundings. Rise from your position, welcome in the unity and pay it forward.

Peace and Blessings.

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For more information and other guides on how to meditate or grow in your meditative experiences, you can visit www.blisslotus.com. Content on this site was provided by Sara Kutliroff, a motivational and holistic writer who can be reached via her blog at www.kutliroffpages.blogspot.com.

THE WISDOM OF SOCRATES

2012-02-04T16:38:00.000-05:00

Socrates was born in 469 B.C., in the early years of Pericles’ rule. Socrates, like all Athenian children, studied music, Homer’s poetry, and gymnastics. He also acquired some knowledge of geometry and astronomy, and became fascinated with the theories of Thales and others on the nature of matter. So with his friend Chaerephon, he began studying the natural science of his day.

But this interest in science did not last very long for two reasons:

* First, it all just seemed like a lot of idle speculation, full of disagreements and contradictions, and incapable of proof.

* Second, it was useless -- useless, that is, for what seemed to Socrates to be the chief and proper concerns of a human being: knowledge of oneself and the right way to live. Socrates only wanted to discuss human concerns -- what makes people good as individuals and citizens.

Chaerephon was so impressed with his friend’s intelligence that he went to the Oracle at Delphi and asked if there was anyone as wise as Socrates. The prophetess, whose words were supposed to be those of Apollo himself, replied that no one was wiser than he. When Chaerephon reported this to Socrates, Socrates was troubled. “What can the god mean? What is the interpretation of this riddle? For I know that I have no wisdom, small or great. What can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men? And yet he is a god and cannot lie.”

So Socrates decided to search for someone who really did have some wisdom, and then to go back to the Oracle at Delphi and confront Apollo, hoping to learn the answer to this riddle. “Accordingly”, he later reported with priceless irony, humor, and much contemporary relevance, “I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom -- his name I need not mention; he was a politician whom I selected for examination -- and the result was as follows: When I began to talk with him, I could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and wiser still by himself; and I went and tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present and heard me.“ So Socrates left, thinking to himself that “although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is -- for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him.”

After this, Socrates went on questioning others who had pretensions to wisdom. He spoke with politicians, he spoke with poets, he spoke with merchants, but always with the same results. He was aware of the enmity he was continually provoking, but he felt that this was a necessary task which had been set for him by the divine Apollo himself. At last, he concluded that the riddle which the oracle had given to Chaerephon really meant that he, Socrates, who had no wisdom at all, was nonetheless as wise as anyone else on earth -- since only God is wise, and what people think of as wisdom means nothing.

Thus began Socrates’ mission of relentlessly asking people questions, listening to their answers, and accepting no ideas or opinions without examining them fully, as a means of eliciting self-knowledge and a deeper understanding of truth and virtue. Eventually, he so annoyed the complacent authorities of Athens, that at the age of seventy they condemned him to death on trumped up charges of impiety and corrupting the youth of the city. His allegedly ‘corrupting activities‘, as demonstrated in Plato’s Dialogues, consisted of a method of self-inquiry, a path toward ever increasing self-awareness, because he knew that self-knowledge is the necessary first step in the perfection of the soul. Socrates, as a teacher, guided his pupils through their self-examination by asking them pointed questions and probing their answers with them, leaving no stone unturned or unquestioned.

He did not teach a ‘belief system’. Rather, he taught them a method of psychological self-discovery, a method for asking questions and verifying truth for themselves.

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JUDAH AND TAMAR

2012-02-02T00:02:00.007-05:00

After Joseph was sold into slavery, and prior to his being sold to Potiphar, Genesis interrupts the story of Joseph and inserts this interesting, and seemingly-out-of-place, interlude about Judah.

Judah had gotten married and had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. When Er came of age, Judah found him a wife, a woman named Tamar. But Er was evil (we are not told why), and God took him. After Er died, the tradition of the times was that his brother must marry the widow, and the children of this marriage would be considered the children of the dead elder brother and would continue his line. So Judah had Onan marry Tamar. But Onan was not interested in supporting a family that was not considered his own, so when he slept with Tamar he would not ejaculate inside her. This greatly displeased the Lord who had commanded his people to ‘be fruitful and multiply’, and Onan, too, was taken. Next, Shelah was supposed to marry Tamar, but Shelah was still a boy. So Judah told Tamar to return temporarily to her own father as a widow, and when Shelah was grown up they would be married.

Shelah grew to manhood, but Judah did not contact Tamar. She seemed a bit of a jinx, and he did not wish to lose his only remaining son.

A long time afterward, Judah’s wife passed away. After the period of mourning, he took a trip to the city of Timnah, and Tamar heard that he was going there. She also knew that Judah had not done as he should have, and as he had promised, for Shelah was by now a fully grown man. Since it was her divine duty to bear children, and she was considered to be betrothed to the family of Judah and could not marry anyone else, she devised a shrewd plan:

She took off her widow’s garb, covered her face, and sat beside the road that led to Timnah. When Judah saw her, he did not recognize her and thought that she was a harlot, and he asked to sleep with her. She asked what he would pay. He offered a young sheep from his flock. She agreed, but since he did not have the sheep with him, and was only promising to send it later, she asked for some collateral. Judah gave her his seal, cord and staff. They then slept together and she conceived. He later sent a friend to give her the sheep and retrieve his belongings, but she was nowhere to be found and no one in the region had seen any harlots.

Some months later, Judah received word that Tamar was pregnant. Since she was betrothed to his family, and Shelah had not married her, Tamar was evidently guilty of adultery, a capital offense. Judah therefore ordered that she be brought out and burned. As she was being brought out, she sent a package and a message to her father-in-law: “I am with child by the man to whom these belong. Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?” Judah recognized them, and he said “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.”

Tamar was spared and gave birth to twins, Perez and Zerah. King David was a descendant of Perez, and so would be the Messiah .

When the brothers threw Joseph in the pit, they had no Mercy. When they returned to Jacob and deceived him with Joseph’s blood-splattered coat, they took no responsibility. But here, Judah admits “She is more righteous than I.” This public confession of wrongdoing is the first such confession in the Bible (long overdue since Adam first blamed Eve and Eve blamed the Serpent), and it is a symbol of profound repentance. Judah has learned to be honest, to bear responsibility, and to be merciful. Judah has become a Tzaddik, a genuine, righteous Man.

This is why, years later, in Joseph's presence, in Egypt, Judah (unlike Reuben who was always weak and ineffectual) was able to take full responsibility. He shows his love for his father and his young brother Benjamin. He knows what it feels like to lose two sons, and he demonstrates compassion and empathy. He recognizes that he is, indeed, his brother’s keeper.

Judah, the righteous man, exemplifies the highest form of human love, without which life on earth can never succeed – the willingness to sacrifice one’s life for another.

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BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

2012-02-01T00:02:00.004-05:00

To be ‘poor in spirit’ means to be finally ‘empty’ of absurd illusions, to have achieved a Socrates-like humility and to recognize that we know nothing – for only God is wise. The ‘poor in spirit’ acknowledge their spiritual neediness.

Such people are ‘blessed’ because there is room now for Christ to enter their souls, there is room for the passionate longing of Eros to return -- the longing for union with God. The door to the Threshold, the inner door that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven, can only open for those who have this longing.

“But woe to you who are rich”, Christ adds in Luke, for those who are ‘rich’ in spirit, who are filled with vanity and are content with the world of the ego, shadows, and illusions of self-importance, have already received their consolation.

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IT'S ONE THING TO HATE, ANOTHER TO DO SO IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE HATED

2012-01-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

A Palestinian American, Abraham Hassan, got to ask a question in the debate the other night. He wanted to know what the candidates would do to help bring peace to the Middle East. It created an awkward moment. “It’s one thing to hate”, notes Haroon Moghul in an article in yesterday’s Religion Dispatches, “and another thing to do so in such close proximity to the hated.” The awkwardness was compounded because the man identified himself as a Republican. Hassan asked:

“How would a Republican administration help bring peace to Palestine and Israel when most candidates barely recognize the existence of Palestine or its people? As a Palestinian-American Republican, I’m here to tell you we do exist.”

Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich got a chance to answer. But as Hassan put it, “neither candidate sufficiently answered my question.” Both shifted the question to their usual rhetoric. This is why the reporter, Moghul, sought out Hassan later for an interview.

You can read the entire article here.

As a Jewish American, a friend of Israel, and a supporter of a peace that includes security and opportunity for all parties, I can’t help but have some sympathy for the responses of the two candidates. But generalizations, pandering to the audience, oversimplifications and exaggerations, will not accomplish anything. Neither will a lack of respect or a host of false assumptions. (Moghul’s article clears up several. For example, “Most Muslims aren’t Arabs,” and “The percentage of Christians among the Palestinian population is about the same as the percentage of African Americans in the U.S.A.”)

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SRI CHINMOY: "TRUE RELIGION DOES NOT FIND FAULT WITH OTHER RELIGIONS"

2012-01-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

Born in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in 1931, Sri Chinmoy was the youngest of seven children. In 1944, after both his parents had passed away, 12 year-old Chinmoy entered the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a spiritual community near Pondicherry in South India. Here he spent the next 20 years in spiritual practice. In 1964, he moved to New York City to share his inner wealth with sincere seekers in the West. Sri Chinmoy saw the heart's ceaseless yearning for ever higher and deeper realities as the spiritual force behind all great advances in religion, culture and science. He departed this life in October, 2007.

Here are some quotes from Sri Chinmoy:

"True religion has a universal quality. It does not find fault with other religions. False religions will find fault with other religions; they will say that theirs is the only valid religion and their prophet is the only saviour. But a true religion will feel that all the prophets are saviours of mankind. Forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood and the feeling of oneness are the signs of a true religion."

"No religion is absolutely perfect. Yet not only do we fight for religion, but also are we often willing to sacrifice our lives for it. And what we hopelessly fail to do is to live it. A true religion is that which has no caste, no creed, no colour. It is but an all-uniting and all-pervading embrace."

"If we live in our oneness-heart, we will feel the essence of all religions, which is love of God. But if we live in the mind, we will only try to separate one religion from another and see how their ideologies differ. It is the heart that can have a true intuitive understanding of the height and breadth of all religions. It is the heart that sees and feels the inner harmony and oneness of all religions."

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THE HAJJ

2012-01-26T00:01:00.007-05:00

Each year, Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca, the site of the Ka'bah that was built by Abraham and Ishmael, to praise and give thanks to God, to ask pardon for their sins, and to renew their spiritual commitment through an elaborate series of rites and rituals. One of the five pillars of Islam, the pilgrimage to Mecca, called the "hajj", is required of all Muslims who can manage it at least once in a lifetime.

The events of the hajj have long remained veiled from non-Muslims, who are forbidden even to enter the holy city of Mecca. But in 2003 a team of Muslim filmmakers gained access to Islam's holiest place at the peak of the pilgrimage to document the holy event for National Geographic Television.

National Geographic's documentary, "Inside Mecca", follows three Muslims, all with different geographic backgrounds, as they head out on an epic five-day reaffirmation of their individual and collective faith in Islam. Their final destination is Mecca, but this is more than a physical journal. The film, through unique tales of the hajj, follows the three men on not only a physical quest but an emotional and spiritual quest. "There is something ultimately universal about hajj. … Something different types of people can relate to," notes Anisa Mehdi, the film's producer and director. "It is a search for the divine and a search for self. It is a quest for absolution and for meaning in life. It is a chance to get a lot off your chest and to replenish the reservoir."

The viewer is exposed to the smells, touches, extreme crowding, grandeur, and ultimate spiritual uplift of the largest yearly gathering of Muslims from around the world. Through the eyes of three men, we see the full scope and healing power of a pilgrimage and ultimate reunification.

Click here to watch "Inside Mecca" and join in the journey. After watching, you can browse documentary-log.com to watch various documentaries online.

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BURIED TREASURE

2012-01-25T00:01:00.004-05:00

The dream of buried treasure has always fascinated the human mind: the lost treasure of the Pharaohs, buried in Egyptian tombs; the jewel-filled treasure chests of pirates, buried on Caribbean Islands; the incalculable treasure of Solomon’s Temple, discovered by the Knights Templar and hidden once again by the Freemasons. In an age of science, commerce, and common sense, these stories have stirred our imaginations, inspired us with hope and yearning, and encouraged not a few individuals to embark on great adventures. Most of these adventures, of course, have come to naught. Some of these seekers have returned with a few items for the museum, some have returned with empty hands and a good story, and some have not returned at all.

The reason why these treasure hunts have by and large been unsuccessful is that most of these stories are symbolic and mythological. But this does not mean that a treasure does not exist! The stories themselves may not be literally true, but the meaning revealed by the stories is true. Among contemporary people, myths tend to be dismissed as childish fantasies or the unscientific gropings of primitive minds. But the mythological vision of the world has always been, and still remains, an important way of experiencing and understanding reality. Myths reflect our deepest psychological and spiritual truths.

A ‘hidden treasure’ does exist, just as all these stories claim. The fabulous jewels, the silver coins, the golden statues, all of this is real – far more real than anything found in a museum. It is true that this treasure is buried and hidden, just as the legends tell us. It is also true that a map exists, and it is a secretive map that requires special knowledge and preparation before it can be read and understood. There is even a guide who knows the way. However, the treasure is not buried under desert sand or a building in Manhattan. The map is not written on a scrap of faded parchment or the back of a national document. And the guide is not some enigmatic vagabond in a faraway land. The treasure, the map, and the guide, are all at hand.

The search for buried treasure is the sacred quest of the soul.

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WHAT EXACTLY IS “SAUL ALINSKY RADICALISM”?

2012-01-24T00:01:00.006-05:00

Who was this evil, anti-God, anti-American, radical that Newt Gingrich dismisses with so much arrogance and distaste?

Alinsky was a community organizer in Chicago who, among other efforts, challenged the political machine of Mayor Richard J. Daley (a Democrat by the way) and helped register tens of thousands of previously disenfranchised black voters. He was an intelligent, compassionate social reformer who brought together community groups to work with socially aware churches.

What kind of “radicalism” did he practice? In his own words:

"Believing in people, the radical has the job of organizing them so that they will have the power and opportunity to best meet each unforeseeable future crisis as they move ahead in their eternal search for those values of equality, justice, freedom, peace, a deep concern for the preciousness of human life, and all those rights and values propounded by Judaeo-Christianity and the democratic political tradition. Democracy is not an end but the best means toward achieving these values. This is my credo for which I live and, if need be, die." [Page 12, Rules for Radicals, by Saul Alinsky]

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HATE 'RELIGION' BUT LOVE ITS INTENT AND MEANING?

2012-01-23T11:22:00.002-05:00

This video of a young Washington man reciting a poem about his spiritual journey, has quickly gone viral with more than 16 million hits, launching lots of conversation about religion. His enthusiasm for his new realization -- that Religion can be stifling whereas Christ's original intention (as is true of all great spiritual teachers) was to open our hearts and bring freedom to our minds and souls -- is truly infectious.

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Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus

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DID THE DISCIPLES BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION?

2012-01-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

As Jesus was walking with his disciples, “he saw a man who was blind from birth”. His disciples, having learned that this sort of affliction can be the result of ‘sin’, and noting that the blindness in this case had been from birth, asked Christ whether it was the man himself or his parents who had sinned.

This is an extraordinary question! If the blindness is due to the parents’ sin, then the statement from Leviticus, “He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children”, taken coarsely and literally, would apply. But if the affliction is due to the man’s own sin, then the sin must have occurred before birth since he was born blind. Thus, the disciples’ question presupposes a belief in reincarnation.

Christ’s response is even more extraordinary. He says that neither the man nor his parents had sinned. In this particular case, he says, the man had been made blind so that “the works of God may be manifested in him”.

Superficially, we could take this to mean that this poor fellow had endured a lifetime of blindness so that one day Jesus could come along and perform a miracle.

Alternatively, we can recall that all of these stories are taking place internally, all of these people represent qualities within our own souls. A place within our soul has been ‘blind’ since birth, it has lived in a state of continuous psychological darkness and has never known anything else. Christ, the ‘light’ of the soul, who is ‘walking by’ in his task of transforming the soul, now sees this blind, hidden corner of the psyche. He tells the disciples that this part of the soul is exactly what it should be. It is necessary for the soul to experience the Creation all the way down to this, the lowest depths of Hell. It is all part of God’s plan.

In the ‘Parable of the Prodigal Son’, the Son cannot return to the Father until he has fallen all the way to the bottom of the scale, and has experienced all the pain, all the joy, and all the nothingness. So here in John, Christ is glad to have found the ‘man born blind’ – for until he finds him the transformation of the soul cannot be completed.

Christ now sets to work. He knows his ‘hour’ is coming, the destructive forces that oppose him are at his heels. In other words, if the initiate does not pass through the threshold soon, if the forces of death reach the ‘Christ within’ before his work is done, then, like Solomon, he will ‘fall’, and the story will have to begin all over again.

Christ takes some of his saliva (‘water’ imbued with his Spirit), combines it with dirt, and spreads this mixture over the man’s eyes, saying, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” Siloam, John tells us right in his text, “means Sent”. The pool of Siloam was fed by waters from a spring called Gihon that was beneath the city of Jerusalem. ‘Gihon’ means valley of Grace. So the waters of Siloam were ‘sent from Grace’. The man “went and washed and came back able to see.” The deepest place of the initiate’s soul has been reached, permeated with God’s Grace, and awakened from its blindness.

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ANGELS ON MT. SINAI

2012-01-17T01:55:00.011-05:00

According to Jewish folklore, when Moses first stepped into the cloud at the top of Mount Sinai, he was confronted by the angel Kemuel, known as the ‘gatekeeper’. Kemuel, the Guardian of the Threshold between Heaven and Earth, tried to prevent Moses from passing, claiming he did not belong there. Moses explained that he was there with God’s permission to receive the Torah, but Kemuel still did not want to let him pass, so Moses struck him down and destroyed him. Thus did Moses open the door of the Threshold, so that all could follow. Next, he met the angel Hadarniel, who, with his fellow angels (representing the level of the Planets), angrily demanded to know what he was doing there. Moses cried out in fear and almost fell back into the cloud, but God heard him and became angry with Hadarniel, for Hadarniel had been very quarrelsome ever since Adam was created! [some esotericists claim that tensions among the planets are the root cause of tensions that we feel on Earth]. When Hadarniel learned that Moses was there with God’s permission, he begged pardon, and even offered to escort Moses. He took him as far as the next great angel, Sandalfon, but he could not go further lest Sandalfon’s flame scorch him. Sandalfon, who binds human prayers into garlands for God’s crown, is so large that it would take a human being 500 years to cross over him. (He represents the level of Being of the Sun, ‘Sol’, which nurtures the Earth). Again Moses was frightened, but again the Lord came to him, and stood with him until he had safely passed the flames. After Sandalfon, Moses came to the stream of fire, Rigyon. (The river is the Upper Threshold, between ‘Heaven’ and the ‘Heaven above Heaven’, or, more concretely, between the level of our Solar System and the Beyond). It is said that every morning the angels dip in the river, are purified, and arise anew. God came again, and by His Holy Grace Moses passed the river without injury. Moses was then in the realm of pure Being. There he met the angel Raziel, whose job is to reveal the secrets of his Master, to make known to the world what is decreed by God. He stands before God, where he sees and hears everything. Moses trembled when he beheld Raziel, but God helped him pass unhurt. Moses then came to the Angels of Terror who surround the Throne of Glory (the level of the Dark Night of the Soul, just before all attachment is relinquished and one attains union with God), the strongest and mightiest of the angels. They questioned Moses about his mission, but God told him to hold tightly to His Throne and answer their charges. In the end, they acknowledged that it was right for mankind to receive the Torah. Moses stayed forty days [the number Forty symbolizes ‘a long, long time’] and learned the Torah from God Himself, before bringing it down the mountain. He had blazed the trail for Israel to follow, all the way to the Throne of Glory.

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REMEMBERING MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

2012-01-15T15:16:00.001-05:00

I’ve long understood that, while most of us arrive here with the task of self-evolution, there are higher-level souls who occasionally arrive as ‘Messengers’, souls who have already done the Work in past lives and are sent to accomplish great tasks and help the rest of us. They might be recognized by their extraordinary wisdom (too many Teachers to name), by events in their lives that seem unfathomable (a young George Washington riding between lines of relentless explosive rifle fire and emerging unscathed), or perhaps by their uncanny ability to know when their own death is at hand (Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane).

If you read the story of Martin Luther King’s life, you find that at age three he fell off a high roof and was somehow, miraculously, uninjured. You see that he quite suddenly emerged, almost inexplicably, at the head of the Civil Rights Movement, preaching non-violence and love. And then there’s that final speech he gave the night before he was killed…

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"I've Been to the Mountaintop"

Delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee [You can read the complete speech here]

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.

And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I'm happy, tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

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AN INVITATION/REQUEST FOR REVIEWS

2012-01-10T15:55:00.002-05:00

Are you interested in the topics we discuss on this website?

The esoteric Symbolism of spiritual and religious stories?

The sacred inner Quest for Enlightenment?

The underlying Unity of all our traditions?

The hope for international and intercultural Friendship and Peace?

I would like to invite any interested readers of my Blog to read, for free, and write a Customer Review of, Symbols, Meaning, and the Sacred Quest: Spiritual Awakening in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Stories.

It’s been my deepest hope, through all my years of writing, that my books may contribute to this change in consciousness, to a spiritual renewal without any fundamentalism or divisiveness, to a new world of tolerance and respect where we delight in the magnificent diversity of our human experiences rather than seeing them as causes for enmity and hatred.

You can contact me at Andrew@AndrewCort.com, let me know you’re interested, and I will send you a free PDF copy of the book, with a brief explanation of ‘how to’ post a review on Amazon.

Thanks!

ABORTION, RELIGION, & POLITICS

2012-01-06T12:09:00.000-05:00

Christianity has been hijacked by right-wing zealots who have demeaned the teachings of Jesus. When they quote the bible, they take phrases out of context and interpret them with an extreme brand of literalism that distorts or ignores their vast possibilities of meaning. Even worse, they practice a selective literalism – taking literally those words and phrases that superficially support their agenda, but ignoring Christ’s words whenever they do not. As if this were not enough, they then poison public discourse by insinuating, or stating unabashedly, that to vote for policies or candidates who disagree with their program is tantamount to ‘sin’.

Given the insistence of the Christian Right in taking the words of the Bible seriously and living by its precepts, it is rather extraordinary to realize that regarding their major modern battleground issue – abortion – neither Christ nor Moses say anything at all. The Catholic Church skirts around this by noting that they have always considered Church tradition and priestly interpretations of “natural law” as crucial to their doctrines. But the Protestant movement is based on Martin Luther’s break with these Catholic ideas: Evangelicals insist on the words of Scripture alone for their authority.

Of course, there are a few phrases here and there that are pulled out of context and misinterpreted in an attempt to secure biblical sanction. In Deuteronomy, for instance, Moses tells the assembled Israelites that they have been given a choice between “life and prosperity, death and destruction.” He then assures them that if they will love the Lord and follow his commandments they will live long happy lives and be blessed, but if they turn away from God they will just as assuredly meet with destruction. “Now choose life,” he advises, so that they will be blessed and enjoy the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Some opponents of abortion have extracted Moses’ injunction to “choose life” and turned it into a rallying cry and bumper-sticker for their unrelated cause. This is typical, but its semi-humorous obviousness serves to emphasize the fact that the Bible itself is neither for nor against abortion. (I should note in fairness that I was recently present at a study group in which several somewhat obscure biblical passages were interpreted in a strained way to support the right of abortion that is accepted by many in Reform Judaism. Both sides need to admit that the Bible is silent on this issue.)

On the other hand, the Bible has a great deal to say about divorce, and a literal reading of these statements does not leave much room for quibbling about their meaning. According to the prophet Malachi, God explicitly says “I hate divorce.” According to Paul, “A husband must not divorce his wife.” And Jesus states unequivocally that “anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” This is pretty clear! So why aren’t the right-wing protectors of morality lobbying to outlaw divorce? Perhaps because a few too many members of the group have ‘selected’ to ignore these scriptural admonitions and have gotten divorced themselves. On the other hand, it is still relatively easy, though becoming rather less so, to imagine that women-who-choose-abortion are not ‘members of the group’: they are ‘other’, and all sorts of potent negative emotion can easily be directed at ‘them’.

Actually, there was a time not that long ago when the divorce issue was important in Republican politics. Nelson Rockefeller, who was divorced and remarried, could not get his party’s presidential nomination at least in part for precisely this reason. But twenty years later, the delegates were fawning over another divorced-and-remarried candidate, Ronald Reagan. Suddenly, the clear biblical injunction against divorce was a matter of no concern. The imagined injunction against abortion took center stage. It has proven to be a very politically-useful issue. Reagan (who had previously signed a bill as Governor of California that legalized abortion) kept the issue very much alive for eight years as did Bush I and II during their tenures. People rallied, and continue to rally, to the cause. What is astounding to me is that so many people with little or no interest in preserving the sanctity of life when it comes to war, capital punishment, discrimination, animal rights, or the degradation of hunger and poverty, become morally outraged to the extreme over this issue. They rant against the Judiciary, the Humanists, the Liberals, the so-called Socialists, and of course the Democrats, and Conservative Republicans do nothing to quiet their fervor. The simple fact behind this, of course, is that these people bring out the vote.

All of this avoids the question of the rightness or wrongness of aborting a fetus. But it would be difficult to find many people who would offer the opinion that abortion is a good thing. No one likes abortion. The issue is not the ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’ of abortion: it’s a sad and dreadful choice with serious and severe moral, psychological, and spiritual repercussions. The issue is whether it would be right or wrong, wise or foolish, to make it illegal. And right here there are grounds for hoping that we can eventually put this question to rest, if the political hacks and media charlatans would just stop riling people up.

Most proponents of anti-abortion legislation acknowledge that such laws will not stop the occurrence of abortion itself, or even slow it down very much if at all. Most understand that making abortion illegal will increase the frequency of botched surgery, terrible injury, and unnecessary death. Most acknowledge that only a serious change in the cultural and moral climate can truly lower the frequency of abortion.

This coincides with the point I often make that nothing will really change in the outer world unless we change. A relentlessly pornographic media will continue to encourage unwanted pregnancies. A culture that entertains its children with constant persuasion to seek sex without responsibility will continue to encourage unwanted pregnancies. All of this has to change, but not by passing restrictive laws: that’s just an abdication of our own responsibility, and pretending to believe it would make a difference is just an illusion.

The responsibility lies with us, with our own ‘suggestibility’, the astonishing ease with which we abdicate all efforts to think and reason and choose for ourselves, and believe and do whatever we are told by the media and the cultural environment to believe and do. It’s not that the government isn’t doing enough. It’s that we are passive inside our own selves.

If the Religious Right really wants to stop the tragedy of abortion, and not merely stir people up to vote for their candidates, it would be far more useful to focus their energies on the cultural, moral, and sociological climate: ending poverty; encouraging people to boycott the media exploitation of sex and violence; teaching our boys that treating women respectfully and becoming responsible fathers is the true definition of Manhood; teaching our girls that they are loved for their minds, hearts and souls, not just their bodies; encouraging adoption; and perhaps even remembering that the Gospels are supposed to be ‘good news’ – not a justification for being nasty and punitive.

If the Democrats and Liberals want to help, they have to stop ignoring the moral implications of abortion while focusing exclusively on issues of privacy and a woman’s right to choose. It is just this distinction, between the morality of abortion and the politics of abortion, that the Democrats don’t seem get. Both are important. But by ignoring the religious and ethical implications, they continue to turn off half or more of the electorate while stoking the endless fires of violent discord over the issue.

These fires have been raging for decades. It’s enough. We have to change. Not them. And not the government.

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ABRAHAM, HAGAR AND ISHMAEL: THE STORY FROM TWO TRADITIONS

2012-01-03T23:25:00.003-05:00

According to the Jewish Tradition:

Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing. She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you.

As for the son of the slave-woman,

I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.

Abraham then obeyed Sarah, and he prepared water and bread for Hagar and the boy, and he sent them off. When the water ran out, Hagar burst into tears and walked away from Ishmael, for she could not bear to see him die. But God heard the boy, and He sent an angel to reassure them. “Come”, he said to Hagar, “lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink. God was with the boy and he grew up; he dwelt in the wilderness and became a bowman. He lived in the wilderness of Paran [which means ‘Beauty’ and ‘Glory’].

So Ishmael, too, is to have a share in God’s Covenant with Abraham: he too will give birth to a great nation. His father Abraham loved him (Hebrew legends tell us that Abraham visited his elder son on many occasions throughout his life) and when the time came for the boy to depart, he provided him with bread (spiritual sustenance) and water (spiritual truth). And when this ran out, God Himself appeared and gave him more: the Lord ‘opened Hagar’s eyes’ – that is, He opened the Eye of her Soul, so that she could ‘see’ the Truth and convey it to her son. Ishmael, we are told, drank this ‘water’, and he went on to live in Beauty and Glory.

According to the Muslim Tradition:

When Sarah saw Hagar’s son Ishmael playing with Isaac, she told Abraham to cast out the child and his mother. Abraham was greatly distressed, but God told him to do as Sarah said, and He assured Abraham that they would both be fine. Abraham prepared water and bread for Hagar and Ishmael, and sent them off.

In the valley of Becca, forty days south of Canaan, the water ran out, and mother and son were so overcome with thirst that Hagar feared the boy would die. While Ishmael lay in the sand crying out to God, the distraught Hagar stood upon a rock to see if any help was in sight. Seeing no one, she rushed to another high point to look for help, but still could see no one. Seven times she passed back and forth between the two points, and then she sat upon the rock and wept.

But God had heard her son, and He sent an angel to reassure them. “Come”, He said to Hagar, “lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.

The water was from a spring which God caused to arise under the feet of Ishmael. It was named Zamzam, and it would soon become a favored place for caravans to stop, due to the abundance and excellence of the sacred water.

Abraham often visited his first-born son in the valley of Becca (later called Mecca), the holy place to which Hagar had been guided by God. On one such visit, God showed Abraham a certain site near the well, and on that spot he and Ishmael built a sanctuary called the Ka’bah.

When the sanctuary was complete, God spoke to Abraham and said, “Do not ascribe divinity to aught beside Me!”

Purify my Temple for those who will walk around it, and those who will stand before it in meditation, and those who will bow down and prostrate themselves in prayer. And proclaim unto all people the duty of the pilgrimage, that they may come unto thee on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every far-away point on earth, so that they might experience much that shall be of benefit to them.

Abraham made it part of the rite that the pilgrims were to pass seven times between the two high points where Hagar had passed seven times.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR: MY PRAYER FOR 2012

2011-12-31T13:39:00.002-05:00

May it be a year of peace around the world.

May it be a year in which children everywhere are safe and loved, and free to be kids.

May it be a year in which all of us have enough food, clothing and shelter.

May it be a year in which no one suffers unnecessarily or alone.

May it be a year in which hatred and violence are replaced with love and the celebration of life.

May it be the year that slavery, rape, abuse and oppression are finally wiped off the Earth.

May it be a year in which human greatness, nobility, and achievement are respected and encouraged.

May it be a year of cooperation, decency, friendship and civility, in politics, diplomacy, and our daily lives.

May it be a year of prosperity and joy.

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METROPOLITAN ANTHONY BLOOM: ON DEATH AND SUFFERING

2011-12-29T00:05:00.022-05:00

His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (June 6, 1914 - August 4, 2003) was bishop of the Diocese of Sourozh, the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland.

He was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and spent his early childhood in Russia and Persia. During the Bolshevik Revolution the family had to leave Persia, and in 1923 they settled in Paris where he was educated, graduating in physics, chemistry and biology, and receiving his doctorate in medicine, at the University of Paris.

During WWII, before leaving for the front as a surgeon in the French army, he secretly professed monastic vows in the Russian Orthodox Church. During the occupation of France by the Germans he worked as a doctor and took part in the French Resistance. After the war he continued practicing as a physician until 1948, when he was ordained to the priesthood and sent to England to serve as Orthodox Chaplain of the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius. He was appointed vicar of the Russian patriarchal parish in London in 1950, consecrated as Bishop in 1957 and Archbishop in 1962, in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland (the Diocese of Sourozh). In 1966 he was raised to the rank of Metropolitan. He devoted himself to the pastoral needs of all who came to him seeking advice and help, and to his writings on prayer and Christian life.

Many Orthodox Christians consider Metropolitan Anthony to be a saint.

Here is an Excerpt from his article “On Death”[*]. Below the article is a video of Metropolitan Anthony discussing ideas of Suffering and Redemption in Christianity.

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Awareness of the Present

Death is the touchstone of our attitude to life. People who are afraid of death are afraid of life. It is impossible not to be afraid of life with all its complexity and dangers if one is afraid of death. This means that to solve the problem of death is not a luxury. If we are afraid of death we will never be prepared to take ultimate risks; we will spend our life in a cowardly, careful and timid manner. It is only if we can face death, make sense of it, determine its place and our place in regard to it that we will be able to live in a fearless way and to the fullness of our ability. Too often we wait until the end of our life to face death, whereas we would have lived quite differently if only we had faced death at the outset.

There is a patristic injunction, constantly repeated over the centuries, that we should be mindful of death throughout our life. But if such a thing is repeated to modern man, who suffers from timidity, and from the loss of faith and experience which prevails in our time, he will think he is called upon to live under the shadow of death, in a condition of gloom, haunted always by the fear that death is on its way and that then there will be no point in having lived. And death, if remembered constantly and deeply, would act as a sword of Damocles for him, suspended over his head by a hair, preventing the enjoyment of life and the fulfillment of it. Such an approach to the saying must be rejected. We need to understand mindfulness of death in its full significance: as an enhancement of life, not a diminution of it.

Most of the time we live as though we were writing a first draft for the life which we will live later. We live not in a definitive way, but provisionally, as though preparing for the day when we really will begin to live. We are like people who write a rough draft with the intention of making a fair copy later. But the trouble is that the final version never gets written. Death comes before we have had the time or even generated the desire to make a definitive formulation. We always think that it can be done tomorrow. 'I will live approximately today. Tomorrow is when I shall act in a definitive way. It is true that things are wrong, but give me time. I will sort them out somehow, or else they will come right of themselves'. Yet we all know that the time never actually comes.

The injunction 'be mindful of death' is not a call to live with a sense of terror in the constant awareness that death is to overtake us and that we are to perish utterly with all that we have stood for. It means rather: 'be aware of the fact that what you are saying now, doing now, hearing, enduring or receiving now may be the last event or experience of your present life'. In which case it must be a crowning, not a defeat; a summit, not a trough. If only we realized whenever confronted with a person that this might be the last moment either of his life or ours, we would be much more intense, more much attentive to the words we speak and the things we do.

There is a Russian children's story in which a wise man is asked three questions: What is the most important moment in life? What is the most important action in life? And who is the most important person? As in all such stories, he seeks everywhere for an answer and finds none. Finally he meets a peasant girl who is surprised that he should even ask. ‘The most important moment in life is the present - it is the only one we have, for the past is gone, the future not yet here. The most important action in this present is to do the right thing. And the most important person in life is the person who is with you at this present moment and for whom you can either do the right thing or the wrong'. That is precisely what is meant by mindfulness of death.

The value of the present moment may be realized when someone dear to us has a terminal illness and, more particularly, when we are aware that he or she may be dead within minutes. It is then that we recognize the importance of every gesture and action, then that we realize how slight the differences between what we usually consider the great things in life and those which are insignificant. The way we speak, the manner in which we prepare a tray with a cup of tea, the way in which we adjust an uncomfortable cushion become as important as the greatest thing we have ever done. For the humblest action, the simplest word, may be the summing up of a whole relationship, expressing to perfection all the depth of that relationship, all the love, concern and truth that are within it.

If only we could perceive the urgency of every moment in the awareness that it may be the last, our life would change profoundly. The idle words which the Gospel condemns (Matt 12:36), all those statements and actions which are meaningless, ambiguous or destructive – for these there would be no place. Our words and actions would be weighed before they are spoken or performed so that they might be culminating point in life and express the perfection of a relationship, never less.

Only awareness of death will give life this immediacy and depth, will bring life to life, will make it so intense that its totality is summed up in the present moment. Such precisely is the way in which the ascetics fought against mindlessness, lack of attention and carelessness, against all the attitudes which allow us to miss the moment of opportunity, to pass the other person by, not to notice the need. One of the chief things that we are called upon to learn is awareness – awareness of our own self and of the other person's situation, an awareness that will stand the test of life and death. All life is at every moment an ultimate act.

[*] (from two addresses given at the Fellowship Conference 1978. Published in Sobornos,t vol.1, №2, 1979. P. 8-18.)

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IF YOU ENJOY THIS BLOG: 10 WAYS TO HELP AN AUTHOR YOU CARE ABOUT

2011-12-28T13:15:00.002-05:00

I'm having a wonderful time with this Blog, and I hope you enjoy it too. This month alone we've talked about the Christmas Story, the Maccabees and the Chanukah Story, Science and Epistemology, Kwanzaa, the political situation in Palestine at the time of Christ's birth, the Fracking issue, Sri Ramakrishna, the AIDS crisis, the Old Testament's erotic masterpiece 'The Song of Songs', the latest book from Hay House, and much more. With several days left in the month, it looks like we'll be reaching more than 6,000 visitors in December!

Thanks for joining us throughout 2011, and I hope we'll see you all through 2012. And if you like the site and appreciate the posts we share, here are Ten Things you can do!

TOP 10 WAYS TO HELP AN AUTHOR YOU CARE ABOUT

1. BUY YOUR FRIEND’S BOOK! Buy copies as gifts for family and friends. Encourage other friends to buy the book. Go to your local library or bookstore and encourage them to buy the book. If you like my blog, you will certainly like my book.

2. DON’T PUT OFF BUYING THE BOOK. Media and other decision makers pick up on a book based on the momentum the book inspires. The more sales the more attention it will get from key decision makers, the media, and consumers.

3. WHERE TO BUY IT? My first choice is Amazon (I make a bigger royalty when you buy it from the ‘cart’ on this site, but every Amazon sale raises the level of awareness of cyberspace (Amazon, Google, etc.). My books are available in paperback or on kindle and other eReaders, and can be ordered by your local bookstore.

4. RECOMMEND YOUR FRIEND’S BOOK. If you like the book, recommend it to friends. Blog about it (write a review for your blog, or interview me). Tweet a review or mention. Share a note on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Recommend the book to your book group. Review the book on Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads, Library Thing, and other reader social networks.

5. HELP YOUR FRIEND GET SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS. I give talks and seminars on “The Seven Steps of Spiritual Awakening”, “Promoting Religious Tolerance”, “The Sacred Feminine in the Bible”, and “Reconciling Science and Religion.” Host a Talk. Host a Tour! Contact me at Andrew@AndrewCort.com

6. RECOMMEND THIS WEBSITE. Link to it from your website, blog, Facebook page, etc. Tweet about it. Write Comments! Add this Blog to your Blogroll.

7. CREATE A WIKIPEDIA PAGE. While authors can't create their own Wikipedia page, other people can. On the Wikipedia page, feature a short bio (you can find mine on the “About Andrew Cort” tab above), a bibliography, and a link to this website.

8. HELP YOUR FRIEND WITH THE MEDIA. If you know of any newspaper editors or reporters, magazine editors, radio producers or hosts, TV show hosts or producers, columnists, bloggers, etc., send them a copy of the book or a note about the author. Or tell me about your connection, and introduce me to your contacts. If you host an Internet radio show, podcast, or teleseminar series, please interview me (you can listen to some of my past interviews on the “Media” tab above).

9. DO A VIDEO REVIEW OF THE BOOK and post it on YouTube and other video sharing websites.

10. PRAY. Prayer always helps. Pray for people to discover and read the book. Pray it helps them with their lives. Pray for major media attention.

THANKS!

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THE GREAT QUESTION OF SCIENCE AND EPISTEMOLOGY. (HAVE YOU AN ANSWER?)

2011-12-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Suppose we see, and thus become aware of, a tree.

This statement seems simple enough, but this is one of those precarious occasions where we casually speak of something spectacularly ineffable as if we knew what it meant. When we say we “become aware” of a tree, what are we talking about? What does this mean?

Let’s consider this carefully. We say we “see the tree”: that is, we perceive it by means of the eye. We can scientifically analyze this event quite substantially as follows:

A ray of light bounces off the tree and enters the eye. The light traverses the lens, which, due to the laws of optics, flips the light ray upside down and focuses it on the back wall of the eye chamber. This inner wall is lined with tiny nerve endings called rods and cones. The rods and cones are stimulated by the energy of the light, and they respond by sending electrical transmissions down the Optic Nerve. This nerve reaches its endpoint deep within the brain in a section we call the ‘visual area’. The multitude of brain cells that comprise the ‘visual area’ now receive the electrical stimulation transported to them by the optic nerve, and they respond with a great flurry of electrical activity of their own. We can then analyze this activity at the profound level of the atoms and particles that comprise these brain cells, and we discover that these protons, neutrons and electrons react to the incoming electrical impulse by changing their positions and rates of vibration. And then we see the tree.

Huh? And then we see the tree? When? How? When our atoms start to vibrate differently? But we do not see vibrating atoms. We see an object ‘out there’. What does the cognitive experience of envisioning a tree have to do with vibrating atomic particles in the back of the skull? Where is the link between these two utterly disparate things? Our description of physiological phenomena deep within the tissues of the brain has only gotten us further away from the tree.

We have learned about many physiological and electrochemical processes that occur concurrently when we see something, but in no way does this explain what ‘seeing’ is. There remains a huge and critical gap between (1) our knowledge of vibrating particles, and (2) our ‘awareness’ of a tree.

This inscrutable gap lies between Matter (which includes the tree, the sense organs, and the vibrating atoms in the Brain), and Consciousness (an invisible ‘experience of awareness’ occurring within the Mind). Objective scientific analysis can provide no logical connection between the two – once we speak of invisible subjective experience, we are completely outside its realm. Neither can Reason explain it away.

We find ourselves between worlds, between the Mind and the Senses, between the unmanifest realm of Spirit and the manifest realm of Matter.

So here is the million dollar question:

How does a ‘Sense Perception’ cross over into ‘Mind’? How does an impression pass beyond the senses and the vibrating atoms, traverse the mysterious ‘gap’, and sink into the awareness of our consciousness?

What are your thoughts?

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KWANZAA AND THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES

2011-12-26T13:44:00.001-05:00

Annual Founder’s Kwanzaa Message

SHARING AND SUSTAINING THE WORLD

Dr. Maulana Karenga

"The celebration of the 45th Anniversary of Kwanzaa is a significant marker and milestone in itself, not only because of what it says about the expansive message and en-during meaning that Kwanzaa has for millions throughout the world African community, but also because of what it says about us as a people. For it speaks to our profound commitment to self-determination; to cultural reaffirmation and the celebration of ourselves; to our right and responsibility to speak our own special cultural truth in a multicultural world; and to the practice and promotion of Kwanzaa’s core principles, the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, the hub and hinge on which the holiday turns.

As always, the season and celebration of Kwanzaa rightfully calls to mind its origins in the ancient African first-fruit harvest celebrations and the model of the harvest which stresses the cooperative creation, gathering and sharing of good, specifically food as a life-sustaining good; gratitude for the bountifulness and beauty of the world; and the commitment to protect and preserve the earth as both a source of life and a site of the sacred. This Kwanzaa comes with an increased concern for the well-being of the world because of the continuing injustice and oppression imposed on humans and the injury and injustice inflicted on the earth. And as Dr. Wangari Mathaai stated, “today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking,” a shift that stops us from destroying the very basis of human life on the planet, and causes us to “assist the earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal ourselves.”

It is here that we link the concept and practice of sharing the world with that of sustaining the world, for the well-being and flourishing of humans are tied to the health and wholeness of the world. Therefore, for our ancestors and us, sustainment is a dual concept of both well-being and right-being of and in the world, a world of social and environmental justice, peace, physical and spiritual well-being and ongoing develop-ment. Here the Nguzo Saba are again posed as a vital and valuable way to walk, work and struggle in the world for the well-being, wholeness and flourishing of ourselves and the world. And their central and summary message is: walk gently, act justly and relate rightly in and for the world.

(1) The principle of Umoja (unity) speaks to our need to develop and sustain a sense of oneness, righteous and rightful togetherness in the small and large circles and significant relations of our lives, from family and friendship to community and the cosmos. It urges us to practice a principled and peaceful togetherness rooted in mutual respect; justice; care and concern; security of person; and equitably shared goods. And it calls on us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, suffering and struggling peoples of the world in the cooperative achievement of these goods.

(2) The principle of Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) instructs us to assert ourselves in self-defining and dignity-affirming ways in the world; and to create the miracles, monuments and meaningful relationships and achievements we want in our lives. And it reaffirms our right and responsibility to live liberating and liberated lives; to value and dialog constantly with our own culture; retrieve and bring forth the best of what it means to be African and human, and speak this unique and equally valid and valuable truth to the world. And it upholds the right of all peoples in the world to demand and do likewise.

(3) The principle of Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) teaches us that we must build the good and sustainable com-munities, societies and world we all want and deserve to live in and leave to those after us. This means, as Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune taught us, that “We must remake the world. The task is nothing less than that.” This means engaging and solving the major problems of the world, including: poverty; famine and food insecurity; housing; environmental degradation; economic security; HIV/AIDS and other health issues; education; racism; sexism; corporate plunder; war; occupation; crime and the criminal injustice system.

(4) Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) reaffirms the ethics of the harvest, shared work and shared wealth. It thus is opposed to in-equitable distribution of wealth, and resource monopoly and plunder by the rich and powerful. And it teaches us to privilege the poor and vulnerable, and uphold the right of all peoples to live lives of freedom, dignity, well-being and ongoing development. Ujamaa also urges us to give rightful recognition and support to the small farmers and farm workers of the world for the vital role they play in feeding and sustaining people and the planet, especially in the context of the globalization of agriculture and its destructive effects on the lives and lands of the people.

(5) The principle of Nia (Purpose) teaches us to embrace and respond creatively to the collective vocation of restoring to our people the position and possibilities of great achievements thru doing good in the world. For the sacred teaching of our ancestors in the Husia say that “the wise are known by their wisdom and the great are known by their good deeds.” And in the Odu Ifa, they tell us that we “humans are divinely chosen to bring good in the world” and that this is the fundamental mission and meaning in human life.

(6) The principle of Kuumba (Creativity) teaches us the moral obligation “to do al-ways as much as we can in the way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.” Thus, we must practice serudj ta, constantly repair and remake the world, a Maatian concept with ethical and aesthetic, as well as natural and social implications, and which expansively means: to repair the damaged, raise up the ruined, replenish the depleted, rejoin the severed; strengthen the weakened; set right the wrong; and make flourish the fragile and undeveloped.

(7) Finally, the principle of Imani (Faith) teaches and urges us to hold fast to the faith of our ancestors, that reassures us that through cooperative work and struggle, the famine and food insecurity in Somalia, the Horn of Africa, and the rest of the world, can be ended; that the human-caused catastrophe of Katrina will not occur again; that the fields and forests of Haiti will blossom, grow abundant grain and fruit again; and that every other plundered, polluted and depleted place will do likewise. And it is a faith that assures us we can truly transform ourselves and the world, and insure clean air, pure water, safe and nutritious food for everyone, and a free, just, secure, dignity-affirming and flourishing life and future for all the world.

Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and Introduction to Black Studies, 4th Edition, www.MaulanaKarenga.org.

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FROM AN OBITUARY IN THE LONDON TIMES

2011-12-26T08:00:00.010-05:00

"Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:

I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim"

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-25T04:00:00.005-05:00

THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE, PART 2: SPIRIT BECOMES FLESH

2011-12-24T00:05:00.002-05:00

In those days, a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that there was to be a Census taken of all the world. Everyone was ordered to go to their own home towns to be registered. So Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, the birthplace of David, for Joseph was the descendant of kings. And in Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread”, and which signifies this realm of body and flesh, Mary’s time came and she gave birth to her son. Because there was no room for them in the inn, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable carved out of a cave behind the inn, she wrapped him in bands of cloth for swaddling clothes, and cradled him in a manger – a feedbox for animals. Formed at the Beginning in the Heaven above Heaven, Christ was then conceived and born at the level of Earth – the Spirit had become Flesh.

Gabriel then came to the shepherds who were keeping careful watch over their flocks that night. The glory of the Lord shone around him, and at first they were afraid like Moses at the Burning Bush. But Gabriel said, “Fear not.”

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And suddenly the shepherds heard the whole choir of heaven singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The angels then departed, and the shepherds made haste to find Mary and Joseph and the baby in the manger. When they had ‘seen’, they went and told everyone all they knew concerning the child. While the people wondered at these things, they returned to the manger, to praise and glorify the Lord.

On the eighth day, according to law and custom, the child was circumcised. Joseph and Mary then presented him to God in the Temple in Jerusalem, and as the Law of Moses required, they ransomed their firstborn son with a sacrifice that consisted of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

In the Temple were two aged prophets who had long been awaiting the birth of the Christ child – Simeon and Anna. Each blessed the child in turn. Simeon took hold of the babe and prayed, “Now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

A light to enlighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Simeon then blessed them and prophesied to Mary: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel [that is, to be a critical factor in the descent and ascent of many souls], and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Then Anna came forth. She had been a widow for eighty-four years, and had not left the Temple in all that time, fasting and praying night and day. She came at that instant and gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of the child to all those who were awaiting redemption in Jerusalem.

When all these rites and ceremonies were finished, Joseph and Mary took their infant son and returned home.

Shortly thereafter, from Persia in the East came wise Astrologer Priests who had ‘seen’ in their sacred arts the birth of a Divine King of the Jews. They followed the Light of his Star and came to King Herod in Jerusalem. “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?”, they asked him. “We have come to pay him homage.”

This of course frightened old Herod, as well as frightening the citizens of Jerusalem – for they well knew the violent tendencies of this jealous and brutal Idumean pretender. Herod quickly excused himself and called together his own priests, demanding an explanation. They told him that the Messiah was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem, in Judea. Herod then returned to the wise men from the East, and told them they would find the child in Bethlehem, shrewdly adding, “When you have found him, bring me word so that I, too, may go and worship him.”

The wise men set out, and the Star they had seen rising in the East now led them directly to where the child was. “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.” Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: Gold, the symbol of the royal bloodline, and the symbol of perfection of the soul; Frankincense, an herb that burns with pure white smoke, that was used for the incense in the Tabernacle, a symbol of prayer and sacrifice; and Myrrh, an herb of healing and embalming, used by Moses in the making of holy anointing oil, a symbol of rebirth and resurrection.

The wise men then left the holy family and returned to their own land. But having been warned in a dream to avoid Herod, they followed another road.

After they left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I bring you word. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.”

When Herod realized he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. Once again, an order went out to kill all the little children in and around Bethlehem. But again, as in the story of Moses hidden in the bulrushes, it was too late.

[W]hen Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel:

for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

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THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE, PART 1: GABRIEL

2011-12-23T00:05:00.023-05:00

It began in the Temple. It began with a passionate prayer that opened the gates of heaven.

An elderly couple – the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, who both were “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord” –were nonetheless barren, just as Abraham and Sarah had been barren. So Zechariah entered the Sanctuary of the Temple and lit the incense – sending the smoke of prayer up to the Lord – while all the people, oppressed and desolate, gathered and waited outside the gates.

His prayer was heard, and the angel Gabriel appeared to the old man, just as he had done so long ago when he appeared to Abraham in Canaan, to announce the miraculous coming of the long-awaited son of his old age. Gabriel now said that this boy was to be named John – ‘the Grace and Mercy of God’. John would be “filled with the Holy Spirit”, and as God’s agent he would go before the Lord to turn the hearts of parents toward their children, and to turn the hearts of children back to God, and in the spirit of Elijah he would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

But again, as with Abraham, there was a tinge of doubt. Zechariah said to the angel, “Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.” The angel assured him that all is possible for God, and John, like Isaac, would come as foretold. This time, however, in response to his doubt, Gabriel muted Zechariah until the time of the birth, so that he could remain turned inward in a state of prayer, and would not be able to speak more words of doubt.

When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God again sent forth Gabriel to Mary and Joseph of the royal House of David, in the town of Nazareth, in Galilee. ‘Galilee’ means ‘revolution’, as in the revolution of the Sun, and ‘Nazareth’ means a place of special ‘sanctification’. Mary was in a state of great holiness. She was a “Virgin”: that is, her soul was pure and completely free of sin. Joseph also was a righteous man, who understood dreams much like his namesake, the first Joseph. Mary and Joseph were betrothed, but they were not yet married.

Gabriel came first to Mary, and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

“Behold the handmaid of the lord,” Mary responded. “Be it unto me according to thy word.” Gabriel then departed, and Mary “arose” and “went into the hill country” to spend time with her kinswoman Elizabeth. “Blessed art thou among women,” Elizabeth said, and “blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” And Mary responded, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

After three months, John was born in the hill country, and Mary returned home. Joseph now saw that she was with child, but “being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example”, he planned to divorce her quietly (the only legal way to end a betrothal).

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, being “raised from sleep”, awoke –the Eye of his Soul was opened -- and he did just as the angel Gabriel had said.

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PALESTINE BEFORE THE BIRTH OF JESUS, PART 2: PERSECUTION, APOCALYPSE, AND MESSIAHS

2011-12-22T09:00:00.011-05:00

In yesterday’s post, I talked about the religious and political divisiveness in ancient Palestine that had to do with various groups of Jewish citizens: The Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes.

Another source of seething hostility in Palestine was a strange and completely new experience of the times, the phenomenon called 'Religious Persecution'. People had often wondered why God allowed good people to suffer despite their being good. But now, as the Jews found themselves being persecuted simply because of their religious practices, they began to wonder why it was that God would allow people to suffer because they were good! Such persecution seemed the very essence of evil.

Fortunately, the belief in a cosmic struggle between Good and Evil carried with it a growing conviction that Good would ultimately triumph. Therefore, the experience of religious persecution, according to Julie Galambush in "The Reluctant Parting", "proved to be the catalyst for a developing belief that those who died for their faith in this world would be rewarded in another world - life after death through resurrection." Rather than being seen as unfortunate wretches who had been unaccountably forgotten by God, such people began to be seen as martyrs - religious heroes whom God would reward in the afterlife for their goodness and their faithfulness. The philosophical belief that God – and Good – would ultimately triumph over Evil, coupled with rising political tension with Rome and the anticipation of inevitable war, led to an increasingly 'Apocalyptic' view of the world: in other words, many Jews in Palestine began to believe that the ‘End of the World’ (at least as we know it) was rapidly approaching. God was about to triumph over Evil, He would judge the wicked, He would reward the just, and a New Order would dawn.

To lead God's legions to victory against hopelessly adverse political conditions, and to establish a new kingdom of God, a leader with divine power would be necessary. And thus, a Messianic hope was kindled in the heart of Judaism. God had promised Samuel that an anointed son of David would rule over the Israelites forever. Where was he? Now, after centuries of Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman oppression, faith in God and hope for the future merged with the new belief that God was finally going to send Moshiach, "the anointed one", the Messiah, to rescue Israel and lead them to a new world.

As Galambush writes: "Messianic expectations, cosmic dualism, martyrdom, and resurrection – an entire constellation of beliefs absent from ancient Israelite religion – suddenly took center stage. In some respects Jewish life continued as it had done for centuries: the rituals in the Jerusalem temple followed forms set down in Leviticus, and the rhythm of Sabbath and the festivals went on as always. But in the final centuries before the Common Era, Jewish popular imagination had come to occupy a far more colorful religious landscape, one in which history was fast approaching its end."

It was into this colorful, dangerous, and hopeful world that a child called Jesus, of the Tribe of Judah and the House of David, was born in Bethlehem.

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PALESTINE BEFORE THE BIRTH OF JESUS, PART 1: PHARISEES, SADDUCEES, ZEALOTS AND ESSENES

2011-12-21T13:27:00.001-05:00

In yesterday’s post I talked about the Maccabees, and how they waged a long and desperate battle against Greek rule and eventually became free.

Unfortunately, the new Kingdom of Judah would not be free for very long. After just 76 years, the descendants of the original Maccabees – through political intrigue, murder, and greed – lost the freedom which the courage of the Maccabees had won for them, and the Kingdom of Judah became a vassal state of Rome.

You can read the whole sordid-and-utterly-fascinating-story in my little book From Joshua to Jesus: A Brief Chronicle of the Kings, Empires, Legends and Ideas, that Paved the Way to Bethlehem. Right now, however, as Christmas approaches, let’s fast forward 150 years or so and have a look at what was going on at the time of Jesus’ birth.

During their years of exile in Babylonia and Persia, the Jewish people had absorbed the idea that life is a battlefield between Good and Evil. Now, in Roman-occupied Judea, the line between Good and Evil seemed to have been clearly drawn between the Jews and the Romans. This divisiveness was further fueled by several conflicts that had been brewing for a very long time:

First, there was the growing anger and cynicism caused by the corruption and violence of their own rulers as well as their occupiers. Various new groups and 'movements' - particularly the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes - were shaped and motivated by these sentiments.

The Sadducees were mostly members of the wealthy conservative elite. They had opened their hearts to the secular world of Greek culture and commerce, while insisting that the only worthy form of Judaism was to be found in a rather spiritless, fundamentalist, "pure letter-of-the-law" reading of the Torah. Philosophically, they denied such concepts as resurrection, personal immortality, or other ideas that were only found in the Oral tradition (eventually written down in the Talmud). Politically, they contented themselves with the way things were and resisted change – preferring instead to promote cordial relations with the Romans. Although they often held influential positions in society, they were unpopular with the masses who generally opposed all foreign influences.

The Pharisees, the largest group, were mostly middle-class Jews who emphasized the exact keeping of the law as it had been interpreted by sages, elders, and rabbis. Politically, they were ardent anti-Hellenists and anti-Romans. The Pharisees were admired by the majority of Jews, but they were never a very large group since most people had neither the education nor the time to join the party and follow all their stringent rules regarding prayer, fasting, festival observance, tithing, etc. Pharisees were greatly influenced by Persian ideas of Good and Evil, and they adhered to the growing belief in the resurrection of the body with an afterlife of rewards and punishments. Over time, many of the finer impulses of Pharisaism would weaken into an empty religious formalism (as is ever the case), focusing on outward actions rather than the inward experience of the soul. Although the group had initially been exceedingly tolerant, this began to devolve into a feeling of contempt toward those Jews who did not meet their standards of behavior.

From among the more politically radical of the Pharisees there came a new group called the Zealots, meaning 'men of action'. These were revolutionary patriots, who sought to overthrow the Roman regime by whatever means necessary. They were strongest in Galilee. As the Romans committed one atrocity after another, the ranks of the Zealots grew. (By 66 A.D., their ranks would be swollen, and they would lead the charge against the Roman oppressors, initiating a long, costly, and bitter war, that finally ended with the inevitable Roman victory and the destruction of the Second Temple).

At the other extreme were the Essenes. These were religious Jews who, in contrast with the Sadducees, now rejected the Temple and the Priesthood believing these had been defiled by corruption and murder. They also scorned what they felt was the spiritually empty and overly 'comfortable' life of the Pharisees. And unlike the Zealots, they had no taste for politics or violence. They chose, instead, to withdraw from secular activities and devote themselves entirely to spiritual purification and contemplation within austere religious communities. The Essenes are not mentioned in the New Testament, but Flavius Josephus, Philo, Pliny, and various others speak of them in their writings. According to the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered in 1947, and the additional scrolls that were later excavated from a Jewish monastery in Qumran, the Essene communities worked and worshipped according to their own customs, studied and copied religious literature, practiced baptism and a communion meal, and lived an ascetic life devoted to spiritual growth and the perfection of the soul.

(Come Back Tomorrow for Part 2: Persecution, Apocalypse, and Messiahs)

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THE CHANUKAH STORY, PART 2: THE MACCABEES

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

In 167 BCE, in a small town near Jerusalem, a Greek official ordered an old Jewish priest named Mattathias to sacrifice a pig to the Greek gods. It would set a good example, the official said, and he promised Mattathias a handsome reward if he complied. The old priest defiantly refused, but while he was upbraiding the official a Hellenized Jew approached the altar and began preparing to offer the sacrifice. Mattathias, filled with a blazing anger and indignation, grabbed a sword and killed both the renegade Jew and the Greek official. He then turned to the crowd that had gathered and said, “Follow me, all of you who are for God’s law and stand by the covenant!”

Those who joined Mattathias, including his five sons, hid in the hills and organized a guerrilla army led by the eldest son, Judah. Judah and his soldiers were so successful that they were given the nickname “the Hammers” – in Hebrew, “the Maccabees” – because of all the hammer blows they dealt the enemy. Though vastly outnumbered, they waged a long and bitter war, which they eventually won, and the legend of the Maccabees spread throughout the empire, causing the Seleucid rulers much consternation.

Antiochus first sent a small force to stop the revolt. Judah annihilated them. Then a larger force was sent. This time, Antiochus was so confident of victory that he brought slave auctioneers with him and promised them a large supply of Jewish slaves after the battle. Again, the Maccabees were victorious.

After the third year of fighting, Judah was able to reconquer Jerusalem and chase away the Hellenist sympathizers. When the Maccabees entered the Temple, they found it desecrated, filled with Greek statues, overgrown with vegetation, and its holy implements – including the golden Menorah (the Candlestick) – stolen: in fact, much of the Temple’s wealth had been used by the Seleucid kings to pay the Romans their tributes. Judah and his followers threw out all the idols, cleansed everything, constructed a new Menorah, and rededicated the Temple on the 25^th day of the Jewish month of Kislev, in 164 BCE.

But they could only find enough oil to keep the Menorah burning for one day (it was supposed to burn continuously), and it was an eight day journey to bring back and prepare a new supply of oil. Miraculously, the oil continued to burn for the full eight days.

This miracle is still commemorated by the Festival of Lights, the Chanukah Festival, when Jews light candles on a Menorah for eight days.

The word Chanukah comes from the Hebrew word chein, which means Divine ‘Grace’ – i.e., God’s Light. With God’s help, the Maccabees overcame incredible odds. The candle lighting ceremony of Chanukah is meant to remind us of God’s Grace and to rekindle Hope in the human heart during times of adversity.

Judah’s triumph, however, was not yet complete, and there would be many more years of fighting. But in battle after battle, the Seleucids were forced to retreat. Mattathias and Antiochus Epiphanes both died during this time, and four of Mattathias’ sons would eventually die in battle, including Judah Maccabee. But at last, in 143 BCE, Antiochus’ successor, no longer certain of victory, tired of the endless guerrilla warfare, and feeling weak and threatened by Rome, signed a peace treaty with Mattathias’ only surviving son, Simon.

The Israelite Nation was free.

This year, Chanukah begins at sunset tonight, Tuesday, December 20, 2011. With all the hardship and suffering that people are enduring here in America and all around the world, perhaps we can all light a candle to remind us of God’s Grace and to rekindle Hope in the human heart.

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THE CHANUKAH STORY, PART 1: THE REIGN OF TERROR

2011-12-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

After the death of Alexander the Great, his three generals divvied up his Empire. The Greek city-states went to Antigonus. The northern region from Persia through Babylonia and Assyria was taken by Seleucis. The southern region, including Egypt and Palestine, was taken by Ptolemy.

For 125 years, the Ptolemies (i.e., Ptolemy I, Ptolemy II[1], etc.), ruled Palestine with a generally tolerant, hands-off attitude: as long as the Jews paid their taxes, they could govern themselves and worship however they pleased.

Even so, the Greeks expected their vassals to adopt their language, manners, customs, and ideals. Among other alien ideas, the Jews had to cope with the popular philosophy of Epicureanism that encouraged a life of cynicism, in which Divinity played no role in human life, and our only purpose was to free ourselves from concerns about morality so that we could pursue a life of physical pleasure. As has always been the case, this was a very fashionable and attractive philosophy for many people, especially among the young. Between the prosperity and the pleasure, many Jews were happy to be Hellenized.

In response to this, however, there was a conservative reaction among those Jews who still revered the Mosaic Law and the religious culture of their ancestors, and who maintained a firm belief that the royal line of David would one day be restored to the throne. These Jews became members of a political group known as the Hasideans. So the nation was soon split between pro- and anti-Hellenists.

Also during these years, there was constant fighting between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, both of whom wanted control of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard which included Palestine. Finally, in 200 BCE the Seleucids, under Antiochus III, wrested Palestine from the Ptolemies. Still, Antiochus continued to allow the Jews freedom of worship and the right to govern themselves, so it didn’t make much difference and once again many people were perfectly content to be tax-paying vassals of the latest Hellenic emperor.

Antiochus soon decided that he wanted to expand his empire even further, and he marched into Egypt intending to collect more property. There, however, he ran into the latest contender for world domination, the Romans, who had only recently become the masters of all Italy and were now beginning their own expansionist policy. One look at the Roman legions and Antiochus turned back.

But he still thought he might be able to defeat these upstarts if he had the help of a truly united empire behind him. So Antiochus embarked on an intense project of Hellenization throughout his realm, including placing statues of himself, as a god, everywhere. In Palestine, of course, the Jews objected vehemently to this idol-worshipping project, and Antiochus decided to let them be -- so long as they demonstrated their continued loyalty by providing taxes and soldiers. But then Antiochus III died, and the son who soon took over, ‘Antiochus Epiphanes’, was not so agreeable.

In time, the aristocratic pro-Hellenist forces in Palestine, believing it to be in their best interest to support Antiochus Epiphanes in his Hellenization program, convinced him (and very likely bribed him) to appoint one of their members, a priest named Jason, as the new High Priest. The High Priesthood, which controlled the great wealth of the Temple, had fallen into a corrupt institution. Within a year there were Greek statues and Greek rites in the Temple. In response to this, more and more moderate Jews flocked to the anti-Hellenist Hasidean party, and the divisiveness in Palestine approached a state of civil war.

Antiochus Epiphanes’ Hellenization project was successful in the rest of the Seleucid Empire, and even in Palestine he had some supporters. So, believing he was strong enough to face the Romans, he headed once again to Egypt. He was quickly sent packing by the Roman legions[2], and a rumor reached the Jews in Palestine that he had been killed. Members of the Hasidean party took this news as a signal that the time was ripe to purge the nation of traitorous Jewish supporters of Hellenism and desecrators of the Temple. Many were killed, and the Greek statues in the Temple were thrown over the wall and smashed.

Antiochus, however, was very much alive. And when news of the uprising reached him, right on the heels of his humiliation by Rome, he was enraged. He marched into Jerusalem, slaughtered thousands of people indiscriminately, installed new statues in the Temple, looted the Temple’s wealth, and invited pagans to come to Jerusalem and settle there. Still angry, he then outlawed the Sabbath, forced Jews to sacrifice pigs to pagan gods in their own Temple, and forbade circumcision.

It was a reign of terror.

(Tomorrow, we'll talk about how the Jews fought back: The Maccabees)

[1] It was Ptolemy II who compelled seventy Jewish sages to translate the Torah into Greek. The translation is known as the Septuagint. Ptolemy II and his Greek subjects were pleased to have another volume of human wisdom on their shelves, but the sages grieved. They knew that without the Oral teachings, the Greek Torah was just another ‘literary classic’ that could only be read literally – as history and a description of social legislation – rather than symbolically and spiritually.

[2] In fact, the Romans declared themselves henceforth the ‘Protector’ of the Greek-speaking peoples, and Antiochus was forced thereafter to pay them an annual Tribute. So the citizens of Palestine were now, by some strange logic of politics, simultaneously the vassals of the Greek Seleucids while under the ‘protection’ of Rome.

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YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

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RAMAKRISHNA: A GOD-INTOXICATED LIFE

2011-12-16T15:12:00.000-05:00

Today's post is an Excerpt from
Sri Ramakrishna, The Face of Silence,
by Swami Nikhilananda and Dham Gopal Mukerji.

Sri Ramakrishna was born in 1836 and passed away in 1886. His life was an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He delved deeply into the ideas and principles of all traditions, and seekers of God from all religions have been drawn to his life and teachings which have influenced much of the spiritual thought of our time. Ramakrishna demonstrated in his own God-intoxicated life that the revelation and experience of God takes place at all times and is not the monopoly of any particular age, country, faith, or people.

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"Now that Ramakrishna had become a master, like bees to the flower many earnest religious souls came to receive instructions from him. They came from all walks of life. Social reformers, university students, brahmins, rajahs, artisans, peasants, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims all flocked to Dakshineswar….

"We have already noted that among the visitors to Dakshineswar there were Christians and Muslims. They came to see what 'the heathen Ramakrishna' was like. Of course, many of them saw in him nothing but a religious man. But there was a Christian who perceived in him a great teacher. He went further than that; he said to Ramakrishna, 'You verify to me the teachings of my own religion.'

" 'What is your religion, my son?' asked the Master.

" 'Christianity, my Lord,' answered the gentleman.

"Ramakrishna explained, 'Yes, Yata mat tato path — as many souls, so many pathways to God. But I have never studied your particular religion. Now I will do so.'

"From that day on, for two years Ramakrishna studied Christianity. Since he did not know English, he had the New Testament read to him in translation many times over. Gradually it had such an effect on him that he began to meditate on the Christos. He lived like a Christian anchorite, all alone in the famous woods of Panchavati. Then one day, after many months, he came out and proclaimed, 'I found God at the end of the road of Christianity. So if anyone follows Christ he will reach God. I have verified it.'

"Another time a Muslim visitor said to him, 'You are the most devout Muslim I know!'

"That roused the Master. He decided to spend some time studying Islam. Forthwith he had himself converted to that religion. Again he retired into Panchavati to meditate on what had been taught him from the Qur'an by his Muslim teacher. Months passed. Then he came out of his seclusion and proclaimed, 'That road too leads to the palace of the same King. Religions differ in their appearance, but not in their essence. No matter which path you take it will usher you in the end into his presence: the end of it all! As the many-colored rivers tear and claw their way to the ocean and are lost in its steady emerald level, so all the religions, turgid with dogmatism, lose themselves in the serenity of God. Since religions are but means to finding God, why quarrel about their respective merits and defects? That will take you nowhere.”

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LESSONS FROM A FRIEND WITH AIDS

2011-12-14T21:18:00.001-05:00

In the late 1980’s, while I was living in New York City and practicing chiropractic, I was asked to join the Executive Board of an organization that was involved with the AIDS epidemic. Basically, our mission was to encourage more research into possible treatments. (There was little available in traditional medicine at the time besides AZT, a very toxic drug, yet other possible avenues of research, medical and alternative, were often being systematically discouraged.)

As a result of the time I spent with the organization, I met a large number of people who were HIV positive, a large number who had contracted AIDS, and I watched a great many of these new friends (though, I hasten to add, not all) die. It was a heartbreaking time.

I certainly did not treat AIDS with chiropractic, but as an adjunct treatment (and I also employed nutrition, herbs, and some acupressure as part of my practice), or sometimes just because someone coincidentally might hurt their neck or back, I fairly frequently would have a patient in my office who had AIDS. I remember how hard it was, especially early on, to hear that some young friend had just gotten back his or her lab results and had Kaposi’s Sarcoma or PCP, and they were confronting the looming possibility of death. I often had to leave the room on some pretense or other, I found it so hard not to cry or scream.

And one day, one of my patients told me to stop being so sad. He said that AIDS was the best thing that had ever happened to him! I didn’t know what on earth he was talking about, but he explained that once he came to grips with the realization that he was going to die, he stopped wasting all his time being moody, or cynical, or lazy, or mean, and every second became a great joy. He said he felt sorry for me, and all the people like me who act as if they think they’re going to live forever and can waste all the time they want being negative.

So now I try to think differently. I try really hard, and so should you, to remember that we’re going to die, that we could die in the next moment, that the person we’re talking to, or ignoring, or even just thinking about, could die in the next moment – and there will never be another chance to say something kind, or helpful, or friendly, or loving. Of course, it’s really hard! Someone annoys me, someone cuts me off in traffic, or maybe I’m just tired, and I completely forget! But I try to remember what my patient said to me that day (and I found his words confirmed by countless extraordinary people during that time), I try to think in a new and better way about the fragility, beauty, and wonder of my life, and the precious life that’s all around me.

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FRACK IT AND FORGET IT

2011-12-10T22:09:00.002-05:00

12/08/2011 Cheyenne, WY –
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday for the first time that fracking - a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells - may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution.

The draft finding could have significant implications while states try to determine how to regulate the process. Environmentalists characterized the report as a significant development though it met immediate criticism from the oil and gas industry and a U.S. senator.

The practice is called hydraulic fracturing and involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures and improve the flow of oil or gas to the surface.

The EPA found that compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals. Health officials advised them last year not to drink their water after the EPA found low levels hydrocarbons in their wells.

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The Art of Forgetting has become an essential part of our lives. By forgetting, we become comfortable with ourselves and our situation. We forget any sense of personal emptiness. We forget the sufferings of other people. This insidious comfort does indeed bring with it a certain form of happiness. But such happiness, in the midst of meaninglessness and the threat of extinction, is surely nauseating. And none of the accoutrements of this happiness (money, sexual adventure, social status, and the like) ever quite work: because no matter how physically or emotionally comfortable they make us feel, they can never quite overcome the conscience-pricking fear that we have forgotten to do something.

But notwithstanding our attempts to forget, we all know that greed, hatred, and apathy are threatening our individual lives, our society, and our planet.

Some people keep trying. An old friend of mine, and an absolutely awesome musician, Marc Black, has been fighting the good fight against Fracking for a long time. Here’s Marc singing “No Fracking Way”.

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COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME!

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"DOOR TO THE MIND" RADIO INTERVIEW

2011-12-09T11:32:00.007-05:00

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I had the pleasure of speaking last night with hosts Paula Hutson and Radiah Nunez on their Radio Program The Door To The Mind, a joint program with KDCL Media and the H20 Network.

You can download the show and listen to it instantly by CLICKING HERE. (It begins with a rather-too-long-musical interlude, and the previous night's heavy wet snow caused some audio glitches. Please be patient!)

It's a long program, but I hope you will at least listen to some of it. We had a great conversation about lots of spiritual topics (esotericism and exotericism, religion in politics, the Garden of Eden, soul and spirit, the underlying unity of traditions, the difference between faith and belief, and much, much more).

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OUR SEXUAL ENERGY IS OUR SPIRITUAL ENERGY

2011-12-06T19:46:00.002-05:00

Our sexual energy is our spiritual energy. It is part of the soul’s ‘Serpent Power’ that encompasses the totality of Creation, the sacred force that can be used at one level for the creation of a human being, at another level for creativity in the arts and sciences, in business, and in human relations, and at the highest level for the re-creation – the rebirth – of a human soul.

‘The Serpent’ has been given many meanings in the world’s mythology. It has been the symbol of wisdom and the symbol of evil, the symbol of God and the symbol of sin. In its ability to shed its skin and be ‘reborn’, it has been a symbol of resurrection and, hence, a symbol of Christ. Corresponding to this association with birth and rebirth, it has been the symbol of sexuality and the symbol of healing. It has referred to the world of the senses and the world of the spirit. It rises to the heavens as a phallic symbol, an emblem of power, potency and enlightenment. It encircles reality and swallows itself, indicating wholeness and completeness and Oneness. It dives into the earth, eating dust and signifying death. In all of this, as it extends its infinite presence from the ‘Above’ to the ‘Below’, from the highest to the lowest, from God to the Devil, it represents the totality of Logos/Eros/Thanatos – the Will and Spirit of the Creation, hovering everywhere, encompassing everything, crossing all thresholds and communicating with every Level.

In Greek Mythology, Charon (the Boatman who takes the souls of the dead across the River Styx) represents the nethermost aspect of God’s Will; i.e., the Spiritual/Emotional/Sexual energy that permeates the Creation, the force which acts in the Creation through the Logos (Holy Spirit), Eros (Love), and Thanatos (Death) – the threefold ‘Messenger’ of God who enacts His Will. He hovers here over the lower waters of the River Styx (as Charon), just as he hovers “upon the face of the waters” (as the Logos, the Holy Spirit) at the highest level of Creation.

In the Hebrew Bible, at a time when the Israelites (like us) are still grumbling in the wilderness, God sends seraph, which means fiery serpents, against the people. “They bit the people and many of the Israelites died.” These serpents, of course, represent the Serpent Power, the Will of God – but at the lowest level on the scale of Creation, the same level in which the serpent of Eden “bites our heel”. This is precisely how most of us die: bitten by the serpent, poisoned and mesmerized by the realm of illusion, and aimlessly descending into the nothingness of meaningless death.

But others of the people came in desperation to Moses and asked him to intercede with the Lord. God then told Moses he must build a great Serpent of Copper and mount it on a high pole: “And if anyone who is bitten looks at it, he shall recover.” This supernatural decree is startling in a document that, in general, looks down on ‘magic’. But we must remember that the great sexual symbol, the serpent, represents the all-encompassing Will of God that crosses all Thresholds and traverses all levels. In its lowest aspect, this is Thanatos, Death, the seraph, the serpent of Eden that brings death to the soul. But in its highest aspect it is the Logos, the Spirit of God that “hovers above the waters”. So God is telling Moses that if the Soul will open its inner Eye and look up at the serpent rather than down, if it will turn its attention to the ‘Above’ and put its full faith in God, then it will be healed of the lower serpent’s bite and it will be able to cross the Threshold (with the serpent’s help) and enter the realm of Spirit, the realm of Pure Being, the “Promised Land”.

In a related story in the New Testament, when Jesus is teaching Nicodemus (who wants to understand the teachings of Christ based only on what he sees with his physical eyes and grasps with his literal mind) that we must not take everything literally but must learn to ‘see’ with an awakened inner eye, he says: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Again, sexuality is an aspect of the soul’s (and the cosmos’) spiritual power. Sex is not ‘evil’ or lowly. According to the Kabbalah, a married Jewish couple, on the Sabbath, is required to engage in and appreciate sexual relations. (This also, of course, reflects the union of Heaven and Earth, and the Kabbalah says that if this is done, and the Sabbath is properly observed, a higher level in our soul awakens for as long as the Sabbath continues.)

In the Qur’an we learn that Omar’s brother-in-law, Uthman ibn Mazu, was the most ascetic of the Muslims. He was so determined to conquer his earthly desires, that he had once asked the Prophet for permission to make himself a eunuch. Muhammad forbade him from doing any such thing. He reminded him that the body has rights, just as the family has rights. Muhammad himself had sexual relations with women; he fasted, but he also broke the fast and ate; he prayed at night, but he also slept. God had given us life and senses and emotions so that we would be thankful, not so that we would despise these things. He used to say, ‘Do for this world as if to live forever, and for the next as if to die upon the morrow.’

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LOVE, GOD, AND THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING

2011-12-05T20:04:00.002-05:00

A Review of the New Book by James F. Twyman

We experience many incredible moments of opportunity in our lives, notes James Twyman in his new book from Hay House, Love, God, and the Art of French Cooking: “brief encounters and events that have the potential to transform us. But these moments are often missed or disregarded; we are too busy and too harried, or perhaps too fearful of what we may discover about ourselves to embrace the experience.” This is the story of how just such an opportunity came his way, and he was able to slow down, embrace it, and learn from it.

Twyman’s story begins as he arrives at a Bed and Breakfast near Toronto for a weekend romantic adventure with his latest prospect, Michele. But the climax of the story occurs in the first few sentences of the book. It was over before it began. Michele, completely fed up with him, took the car and disappeared, leaving him stranded – like Dante awakening lost in the woods, not knowing where he was or where he was going. But rather than Virgil appearing to guide him, his guide came in the form of the owner of the B&B, a superb French chef named Roger Dufau.

In the late ‘70’s there was the classic book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, in which Robert Pirsig used the experience of taking a motorcycle trip with his son, and being impeccable in his relationship with the motorized machine, as a context in which to discuss philosophy, spirituality, and impeccability in one’s life. Twyman’s story, though a bit less lofty in its spiritual goals (he is concerned more with the personal level of his relationships with women), bears some resemblance to that earlier book. But rather than learning about life through the study of motorcycle maintenance, Twyman learns through the medium of cooking.

Many years ago I wrote in a book about health that – despite the many preceding pages of useful nutritional advice I had just given – there are really only three necessary rules of nutrition: If it’s a color you’ve never seen in nature, I suggested, don’t eat it; If you are reading a long list of ingredients and you can’t pronounce the words, don’t eat it; and finally, trumping even these (in my opinion) very worthwhile pieces of advice, the most important “rule” of all is simply this: a meal prepared and served with love will always be good for you. This is what Dufau teaches Twyman: “So that’s my formula,” he says, “start with the best, natural ingredients, and always cook with love.”

In fact, he says, that’s the secret “not only to French cooking, but to everything in life.”

The first lesson is to teach Twyman that the proper way to get the best results with garlic is not to cut the clove into pieces, but to smash it: this allows all the juice, the essence, the goodness of the garlic, to flow out and make the dish wonderful (rather than staying “locked up inside.”) This metaphor, of course, is extended to Twyman’s life: if he wishes to stop repeating his same endless cycle of failed relationships, the first step is that he must be smashed and everything that’s been locked up inside him through the years has to be allowed to flow. Dufau’s piercing insights and uncensored observations do just that, and Twyman begins the journey of self-awareness and healing.

On the journey, Twyman learns much about cooking, but more importantly he learns a great deal about serving others, he learns about appreciation and gratitude, he learns about passion, intensity and courage, he learns that withholding love from others is a consequence of withholding love from oneself. He faces his hidden memories and fears, he has long, insightful conversations with several women in his life, and even travels to France alongside Dufau just to have lunch with his Teacher’s Teacher in a small café in Paris!

The book is written in a light, gentle manner that allows the inner meaning of Dufau’s teachings to slip quietly into the reader’s unconscious while one simply reads along with an interesting story full of romance, travel, good food, and good wine. It only takes a couple of sittings to read, and is well worth your time.

James F. Twyman is the NY Times bestselling author of fifteen books including The Barn Dance and The Moses Code. He is known around the world as The Peace Troubadour, having performed The Peace Concert in war torn countries like Iraq, Bosnia and Israel. He has also produced or directed four films including the award winning “Indigo,” and the film version of “The Moses Code.”

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DOES RELIGION REDUCE SCIENCE LITERACY?

2011-12-05T12:50:00.000-05:00

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A story today on the blog Why Evolution is True:

"Religion reduces science literacy in America"

My Response:

It is true that scientific inquiry and experimentation can disprove literal claims of fundamentalists about historical events or natural processes. But literal fundamentalism is NOT the be-all and end-all of religion. There is spiritual and psychological MEANING in the symbols, allegories, parables and metaphors of religious traditions. When science claims that it has 'disproved' the inner meaning of myth and scripture, it is being just as silly as any fundamentalist who takes the story of Balaam's talking donkey literally.

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A CHAMPION OF TOLERANCE, INCLUSION, AND REAL SPIRITUALITY IN RELIGION

2011-12-03T12:41:00.000-05:00

John Shelby Spong, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, is a visionary thinker who encourages Christians and others to read and understand the Bible in a loving and spiritual way rather than a literal 'hell, fire and brimstone' way.

A true Compadre.

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PLANETARY HEALING CALL TO ACTION

2011-12-01T16:13:00.001-05:00

Nicki Scully and my friends at “Planetary Healing” will be holding their first Planetary Healing Call to Action Tele/Webcast Thursday, December 1st at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern. Click here to register for this free event.

Here's info from their site:

It took twenty-five years of visioning to create the Planetary Healing practices in this book. As this body of work took shape, we practiced on the issues of our times, such as wars, natural disasters and environmental degradation.

Over the years we held web/phone conference events through which we galvanized the strength of our numbers to focus on such issues as the gulf oil spill of 2010, working with the ocean and the wildlife that were affected; Hurricane Rita; the Haiti and Chilean earthquake disasters; and most recently Hurricane Irene. We also held bi-monthly Phone Bridges (phone/web teleconferences) for healing cancer for more than six years. The feedback from these virtual gatherings was consistent with our realization that when we focus together and exercise the power of our group mind, we can make a difference.

“Planetary Healing’s informative and nurturing insights offer readers an opportunity to actively manifest new positive and empowering futures that benefit humanity, Mother Earth and all of life.” - Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D.

The first Introduction to Planetary Healing Web / Teleconference took place Tuesday, 4 October. Listen to a recording of the event here.

On this site we will feature specific processes and journeys from the book designed to tackle emergencies as they arise on the planet in the myriad forms that are occurring in these intense times. We plan to create event opportunities through phone, web, and skype conferencing to work together to mitigate challenges as they arise. The goal is for us to harness the exponential power of our numbers. We will offer forums and possibly a blog to discuss our progress and support one another in our work. We commit to remaining accessible to answer questions that come up around this work. We hope this forum will stimulate discussion to improve, expand, and create new spirit medicine for global transformation.

NEWT'S CHURCHGOING IMMIGRANTS

2011-11-29T16:00:00.052-05:00

I listened with interest to the Republican Debate the other night, and was especially struck by Newt Gingrich’s comments on immigration. Despite being of a very different political persuasion, I often find Gingrich’s comments to be thoughtful and intelligent, and far prefer to listen to him than to the others.

When he first began to speak, I appreciated the fairness and decency that he was advocating. He said he wouldn’t favor kicking out an immigrant “If you've been here 25 years and you’ve got three kids and two grandkids, you've been paying taxes and obeying the law…” So some illegal immigrants ought to be sent home, but others – who have lived here peacefully for many years, who have taken care of themselves and their families, who contribute to the country and their community and are good friends and neighbors – have earned a little humane consideration, and “I don't think we're going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out.”

So far so good. As a loving father myself, and without obsessing about all the smarmy moralism of the ultra-right-wing, I certainly appreciate giving value to the family and keeping children safely with their parents. As a citizen, I appreciated the underlying acknowledgement that the American legal system has always included a tradition of fairness and Equity as a balance to the concept of strict adherence to the letter of the Law. Also, as we have always recognized, America needs new influxes of immigrants - to stimulate the economy, to stimulate culture, to bring new ideas, new innovations, and new life.

But there was one other thing he said, more than once, that really turned me off. During the debate, and in several interviews that followed it, Gingrich kept repeating that one of his criteria for deciding if an immigrant was a good enough person to remain in this land of the free was if they’d been attending church.

I really hate this kind of off-hand “Christian nation” stuff. I suppose I’ll be accused of nit-picking, but I don’t think that’s it. What if an immigrant has been attending a Synagogue? What if (God forbid!) an immigrant has been attending a Mosque? What if (horror of horror to good Republicans) an immigrant has been a peaceful, loving, contributing member of American society for many years, but happens to be an Atheist? Would Gingrich recommend any special consideration for them, would he allow them to stay in America?

Actually, if pressed (which no news commentator did so far as I am aware), I’m fairly certain he would. I don’t think this was an example of overt bigotry so much as yet another example of the nonchalant presumption many people have that America, despite the Constitution and the statements and efforts of the founders of the country, is somehow nonetheless a “Christian Nation”. It’s just this laziness of thought, this rude, dangerous, unquestioned (and inaccurate) assumption, that I object to.

In the new ‘Forum’ I’m hoping to get going on this site, I’ve introduced a ‘Church and State’ thread by saying: “Religion is playing such an important role in the current election cycle. What do you think of this? For my part, I believe that to maintain freedom and equality the spirit must reject dogmatism, and religions must remain within their proper bounds! On the other hand, I'm a fervent supporter of a spiritual renewal in contemporary life, and I find that traditional religions as well as all spiritual traditions, eastern and western, have much to offer. But as a long-time high school teacher, I can think of nothing worse for religion than to leave it up to the schools to teach our children about spiritual matters, and as an attorney and a Jew I have the greatest respect for the American Founders' decision to separate church and state. In fact, I am convinced that the increasing vibrancy of religion, faith, and spirituality in America can be traced precisely to the fact that religion is not imposed on our citizens and the government is not allowed to put its foot in religious matters. It sickens me to hear people claim ‘this is a Christian nation’, and so forth.”

I invite you to share your views.

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COMMUNION, SALVATION, & MYSTICAL UNION

2011-11-28T18:59:00.002-05:00

Jesus tells his followers that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you…. [F]or my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink."

The ritual of Communion is a ritual of sacrifice and rebirth, a renewal of the binding compact between the people and God – the ancient Hebrew covenant – whose symbolism of circumcision always included the cutting of flesh and the letting of sacrificial blood. This is not a new covenant, but a renewed understanding of the covenant, with new multifaceted symbols. There are many levels of meaning, e.g.,

The flesh, the ‘Bread’, is the outer, the material.

The blood, the ‘Wine’, is the inner, the spiritual.

The flesh also symbolizes the life of Action, the domain of the Lesser Mysteries: the descent into this realm. The blood symbolizes the life of Contemplation, the domain of the Greater Mysteries: the ascent back to God. All of this will be ‘fed’ (taught) to the initiate. The two sublime principles will then blend and reunite within the soul, and the results will permeate the entire being. The initiate, like Christ, can then ‘die’ to this world and return to the upper realms.

The Sacrament of the Eucharist, notes Frithjof Schuon, serves two distinct purposes, one for the ordinary churchgoer and another for the initiate: “[I]n the first case their end is salvation pure and simple, and in the second it is mystical union.” This dual usage sheds light on the distinction between exotericism and esotericism. As Schuon goes on to point out, all of Christ’s efforts to refresh our understanding of the ancient teachings, so that we can begin to think and see in a new way, illustrate and confirm his clear conviction in the superiority of the esoteric to the exoteric.

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ARE ALL RELIGIONS REALLY TEACHING THE SAME THING?

2011-11-25T17:08:00.001-05:00

“Isn’t this idea offensive to many adherents of different faiths and sects who believe they are following the only ‘real’ teaching?”

First of all, I would say that they are right, they are following the only ‘real’ teaching. Because there’s only one real teaching – just different ways of expressing it.

Here’s an example of what I mean: When Jesus tells his followers that the “only way to the Father is through me”, it’s absolutely true! But this is not because Christianity has an exclusive path to God. It’s because the Level of Being that the Bible calls “Father” can only be attained through the Level it calls “Son”. The ‘Son’ symbolizes the Mediator between the highest divine state and this material world, and this means that we are connected to God only through this very high Level of Being which is represented in Christianity by the Christ. You can’t get around it.

But needless to say, there are countless other “Father and Son” stories in the various traditions – Abraham and Isaac, Uranos and Cronos – as well as “Mother and Daughter” stories like Demeter and Persephone. They are all teaching the very same inner Truth.

Even St. Augustine said, “That which today is called the Christian religion existed among the ancients and has never ceased to exist from the origin of the human race until the time when Christ himself came and men began to call ‘Christian’ the true religion which already existed beforehand.”

All inner spiritual teaching, whatever the Tradition, is aimed at preparing the eye of the soul to open, so that Divine Light can enter and we will be able to ‘see’ Reality – above our sense perceptions, above our foolish prejudices, above our narcissistic ‘reason’. This actual preparation, however, is precisely what is missing from our modern versions of religion. “With a truly tragic delusion,” Carl Jung noted, “these theologians fail to see that it is not a matter of proving the existence of the light, but of blind people who do not know that their eyes could see. It is high time we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing."

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SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION

IS THERE A WAR ON RELIGION?

A MEDITATIVE BEGINNING

THE WISDOM OF SOCRATES

JUDAH AND TAMAR

BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

IT'S ONE THING TO HATE, ANOTHER TO DO SO IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE HATED

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I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim"