Our Judgments

I'm out of the news loop, so I'm just hearing about Susan Boyle. If you have not watch this. Isn't it interesting that people in the audience had tears in their eyes and were genuinely moved? Perhaps we are unaware of the constant state of judging that we live in.

How many times have I missed the "beautiful song" because of my initial judgment?

Finding Common Ground

Whatever your religion it seems there are some similar spiritual experiences and conclusions that exist across religions and geographical boundaries. When there are a few items that the most advanced forms of religion agree on across the world, it's worth checking out. Perhaps these are spiritual currents that exist in the universe, or just our world? It seems to imply that we are hardwired for for these spiritual realities.

I'd like to throw a short list of ideas that these traditions seem to agree upon. This list is certainly partial, but I'd love to use them to get the conversation started (taken from Integral Life Practice).

1. Spirit, by whatever name exists, and it is good, true, beautiful and loving.

2. Spirit, although existing "out there," is also found "in here", or revealed within to the open heart and mind

3. Most of us don't realize this Spirit within because we are living in seperation, sin, or duality - that is, we are living in an illusory, fallen, or fragmented state.

4. There is a way out of this separated state (of illusion, separation, sin or disharmony); there is a path to our liberation.

5. If we follow this path to its conclusion, the result is an awakening, a rebirth, salvation, or enlightenment, a direct experience of union with Spirit both within and without (and neither), a supreme liberation.

6. This supreme liberation marks the dissolution or transcendence of illusion, sin, and/or suffering, and manifests in care and courage, service, social action, mercy, and compassion on behalf of the whole sentient Kosmos.

A few of my thoughts:

So, does list include your particular religious belief? If these spiritual patterns exist among all spiritual traditions, does it suggest something deeper going on? Could a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist generally agree on this list? It seems there would be no way around leaving behind the belief that one's religion is the ONLY true path if this list is accurate.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Easter UFC

Didn't Paul say something like: Everyone should bring a punch, kick, or elbow?

This is kinda funny in a sad sort of way...

Of Apples and People

The ego tells us we are separated, that we are detached from the rest of the world. And this makes sense. We experience the world only through our limited perspective, as if everything IS separate from ourselves. Our societal and political structures bear this out. Most of us blindly go about our day without a thought of how we are connected to the environment, let alone each other.

In the West we are taught that we are a special creation of God, and are supposed to "rule over" creation. I've given little thought to the ecological system that I am a part of. I don't think it's just me either, Western society doesn't do much better as we blindly consume any resources we can find.

But like the ego itself, this separateness is an illusion. We cannot have any sense of "I" without seeing the background of the "I". We cannot know ourselves without knowing our family, our neighborhood, our culture, our planet, our universe...

We use language that portrays our feeling of separateness too. We are "born into" this world aren't we? No, not really. In truth, we are "born out" of the world. We are made of the same stardust that the ants, and trees, and grass are made of. Without the warmth and light of the sun, without the atmosphere, without gravity...we would cease to exist.

Alan Watts says that we call apple trees, "apple trees", because they "apple"(verb). If a flying saucer came to visit our planet they might say, "Oh, look. The earth is "peopling"(verb). "Peopling" is just what the earth does, and we are all beautiful, ripening "fruit" (in the vegetative sense of course).

Jesus said, we should die to the old and live in the new. Take on a new identity. A new Self. Perhaps part of that new identity is understanding that we really aren't separate from the world...from the universe...from God. We are simply an extension of the world, the universe, and God. We are an appendage of something much bigger, and more beautiful than our skin encapsulated egos. And looked at in the right way, perhaps, we are the universe.

So here is to all you ripening apples out there. Peace!

Post-Christian America?

A few interesting articles coming out these days....

The End of Christian American

Christians At The Gate

What do you think? Are we headed for a post-Christian America? What does it mean to the Church? What does it mean to your spiritual walk?

All In All and Us

If God really is "All in All". It must mean that He is bigger than the entire universe, smaller than the smallest particle, and at the same time infused in everything. Considering that humankind falls in the middle of that spectrum, what does that make us?