Monthly Archive for December, 2011

Spiritual Superstars!

Published on December 31, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

There are just a handful of mega churches in America and the largest (so they say) is here in Houston1

There are literally dozens of TELEVANGELISTS who rake in millions (even hundreds of millions of dollars) annually. And, I am just talking about our American superstars, not those around the globe: and there are some HUGE churches out there (Can you say South Korea?).

What we call superstars today isn’t anything like those of the past.

As Steve Rabey wrote, “The MYSTICS of the past were a different breed of superstars”. They weren’t of the privileged class and they were often vilified by the elites; however, those that were spiritually attuned say them for the giants that they were: people such as:

>Bernard of Clairvaux
>Hildegard of Bingen
>Catherine of Siena
>Ignatius of Loyola
>Teresa of Avila
>John of the Cross
>Therese of Lisieux
>Thomas Morton
>Evelyn Underhill

This is just a partial list of the thousands of mystics who have left us pieces of the spiritual puzzle and pointed us to the divine within and the universe without to guide us in the understanding of things esoteric and mysterious. You may not be a spiritual superstar in light of today’s definition(s), but don’t let that diminish your understanding of who your REALLY ARE!

Conquer Her!

Published on December 30, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

If it MOVES- MATE it!

The reptilian brain operates very animalistic by focusing on eating, protecting, and reproducing. It sounds rather crude but it is what it is. Thankfully, we once upon a time, homo erectus (pun intended) have evolved into homo sapien sapiens. On top of our reptilian brain we have added the limbic, neo cortex, and pre-frontal lobes, all of which help stifle our inner most brain.

Stifle doesn’t mean totally dominate. Just look at the daily news of rapes and killings.

Unfortunately our planet has been looked upon as a SHE, a HER. Our planet that gives us life is called “Mother Earth”. Primarily males, but not limited exclusively to that gender, have turned their attacks upon the lager HER- Mother Earth. The Western tradition particularly says that the feminine must be possessed, controlled, conquered, compelled, owned, and exploited. Surely this is not hard to see.

Much of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) give evidence of such.

In our madness, we have gone a long way to destroying the earth, depleting the forests and polluting the air and seas. But, we also think that we can somehow CONTROL NATURE (the feminine) by seeding clouds, changing wind currents, diffusing hurricanes and tornadoes, and altering the climate.

News Flash! Don’t mess with Mother Earth.

And while you are thinking about it, respect all: male, female, and androgynous!

Trained To “BE”

Published on December 29, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

Our Western culture has moved away from “Tacit knowledge“.

What?

Tacit knowledge is implied but not expressed: understood or implied without being stated openly. In other words it isn’t textbook training, classroom instruction, or religious indoctrination to a set of rules, dogma, or doctrine. Some synonyms might help: unspoken, implicit, inferred, implied, understood, unstated, silent, wordless

Well hell Ernie, what’s left then? How do we learn and be trained?

Read the title to today’s post again. Michael Polyani (a real person) says, “We Westerners are missing the training and knowing that isn’t passed on through books or verbal instruction, but learned by direct experience through the whole of one’s BEING.” Most people have a hard time wrapping their minds around that because it’s not a MIND MEDIIUM!

Let me put it this way, or use this example.

I can be taught how to memorize a certain fact or be told a phone number and the chances are that I will not remember either of those ten years from now. Hell, most of what I was TAUGHT in college has long since been forgotten. I never was in to calculus and my grade was more than indicative of such! But, once I experienced riding a bicycle, it’s NEVER been forgotten. Why? I experienced riding a bike with my whole being!

What are you learning today?

What are you training yourself for- the skill of passing on some pablum that you’ve been fed in order to be honored for what you know, or for the self-satisfaction of KNOWING that you KNOW because you EXPERIENCED? I can’t walk in the shoes of those who lived 2,000 years ago. David couldn’t wear Saul’s armor. But you and I can create and live our own experiences and have our own stories.

Comprende?

Bible Words???

Published on December 28, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

Slow yourself down now a bit and read this next line slowly, maybe twice!

The Bible is the WORD of the Universe (God), but the Bible is not the WORDS of the Universe (God). We have so many TRANSLATIONS of what’s called the Bible, so which translation has the WORDS of God? My answer is no translation has the exact words of the writer to whom the specific book is attributed.

Spiritual books (ie. the Bible, Koran, etc.) are arrows pointing to the Creator, Universe.

John Michael Talbot wrote, ‘Although the rational discussion of religion is good and potentially very helpful, most of us would acknowledge that rationality is not the source of religion. Before it expresses itself in words and ideas, religion is born of EXPERIENCE.” Can I get an agreement here (or a religious-AMEN!)?

This doesn’t mean that reality and ritual are necessarily enemies.

The Universe (as well a Mother Earth- Gaia) is a living and breathing reality. Unfortunately too much of the religious scene is a rehash of thousands of year old doctrines that worked well then, but have no place in today’s reality. The Universe is still growing. Isn’t it time that we asked ourselves to what degree we’re growing-maturing as well?

Indigenous Science?

Published on December 27, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

What?

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. And the definition of indigenous is? The simple definition is- “the original inhabitants” of a territory. But, when you look for more detailed adjectives, you usually come up with the words: primitive, pagan, superstitious, folk tales, and undeveloped.

How in the world can the two be reconciled?

Native Americans and other “natives of the land” have a totally different view and sense of the world and universe. They are deeply into the UNSEEN while scientists only believe in the SEEN. And yet, many of our own Native American indigenous tribes (Hopi, Mohawk, Navajo, and Lakota) have had “understandings” of how the universe works long before our scientists even imagined such workings.

How’s that work?

We “Westerners see such indigenous peoples as lower primates. As David Peat says, “Texts on psychiatry speak of indigenous peoples as representing ‘earlier’ and ‘more primitive’ forms of mental development.” So why is it that we hear stories of miraculous healings from these so-called ‘natives’ after our best doctors and scientists have given up on the same patients? Until we ditch our dualistic thinking and egoic world views, we’ll not advance as far as we’d like.

We are ONE
Maybe we need to re-think the concept of SCIENCE!

Future Creeds

Published on December 26, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

A CREED is a fundamental BELIEF, or what I prefer to call a “guiding principle”

The Creeds adopted by the Christian Church over the centuries are not inspired additions to Scripture, nor in any way replacements for the words of Christ and his apostles or the prophets which preceded them. However, many live their life by such creeds, placing them even above the Scriptures.

Unfortunately most Christians accept creeds written by HUMANS who lacked greatly in the realisms of the universe some 2-3 thousand years ago.

These human documents are carefully considered and usually thoughtfully worded responses to various issues, heresies and historical situations that have troubled the Church and the world over the centuries. But, they were formulated in a world much different from that which we understand today. Therefore, I can easily say that I feel much like Michael Dowd when he wrote, “The greatest and boldest creedal assertions are in the future, not in the past.”

Agree?

Merry Christmas?

Published on December 25, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

If you’re one of the minority believers that call themselves CHRISTIANS- Merry Christmas!

Somewhere around 70% of the world does not see themselves as Christians and that number gets lower each decade. The 70% call themselves a variety of things: Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Taoist, etc. Then there are the agnostics and atheists. Is there any wonder we’re hearing more about HAPPY HOLIDAYS instead of Merry Christmas?

Happy Holidays?

That sure sounds so VANILLA, but of course that’s the intent: offend no one, be politically correct, and yes, it speaks of a growing reality- The Christian community is not the only gumball in the candy machine. So, while it is still fashionable in most parts of America today, have a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

It’s getting harder to do every year.

The biggest reason though doesn’t have anything to do with percentage of population; rather, a loss of identity and the reason for the season. How’s your memory on it?

Merry Festival Of Saturn?

Published on December 24, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

What?

Holidays and celebratory days are for most intents, ARTIFICIAL!

Today, few Christians think that Jesus was born on December 25th. I’ll not bother you with the details; however, due to historical records it appears that the month of October would be a more logical estimate, if it matters. Pick a date, a day, who cares what it is, JUST DO IT! It’s great to have a “Mothers Day”, but honor mothers every day!

Celebrate the birth of Jesus, who became the Christos, but don’t get wrapped around the axel on the historicity of his birth date.

Where’d we get this 12-25 date and the “gift giving” madness anyway? The custom of giving gifts on Christmas originated with the Roman Festival of Saturn, which also aligned with the winter solstice. The Sun appears to STOP (dead) in the sky for three days as it moves from shortening the length of a day to beginning to lengthen the days.

Thus, the metaphor-story for being three days in the tomb.

So persistent was this custom, that early church fathers moved their “Christ’s Mass” to December 25th to co-opt the holiday and potentially obliterate any trace of its pagan origins. Many Christians today try to deny the fact that Dec. 15th has long been a pagan holy day. That’s not a bad thing unless you’re trying to be EXCLUSIVE.

Oh, that was the point wasn’t it!

Regardless of all the religiosity, may we just remember the REASON for the SEASON, or is it too late to do that? :-(

Do You Speak Whale?

Published on December 23, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 0 Comments

In the movie, Finding Nemo, which was a 2003 American computer-animated film, we have a conversation about “speaking WHALE“.

Do you speak whale?

Unfortunately today we speak primary artificial (intelligence). We have broken from the past and we no longer commune with nature, with the cosmos that birthed us. We have radically altered the evolutionary dynamics of the earth. As Mary Tucker wrote, “We live on a planet now, where not biology but symbolic consciousness is the determining factor for evolution.”

The entire ecosystem of the planet is dependent on us.

How are we doing? Sorry you asked. We’re depleting the oceans, destroying our forests, wiping out our topsoil, and killing coral reefs the size of mountains. Like another recent movie theme, we have become a danger to the planet.

Some 50,000 years ago we humans migrated out of Africa and wherever we went we became an expression of that locality. We followed the reindeer and became reindeer people. We followed the birds and we became bird people, eagles, etc.: taking on their feathers as sacred dress. We lived off of the land and with nature. Today, most people on see the outside world when traveling from home to the office.

Is it any wonder that we’ve lost touch with who we are, the divine within? Mayans and past civilizations knew more about the universe, the cosmos than we do today. It’s not a good thing; however, it can be changed. Are you game?

The Mysterious Adventure!

Published on December 22, 2011 in Daily Commentary. 2 Comments

Organized religion likes to make simplistic promises. Christianity says………..

>Be good and God will love you.
>Don’t sin and you will go to heaven.
>Worship God alone and blessings will follow
>Refuse to claim Jesus as Lord and Savior and burn in hell forever

The universe tells us a different story! When we look the earth, planets, galaxy, and universe what we see more confirms a messy world of both chaos and order. We humanoids though like to think we are in control and can thus with the blink of an eye and a synapse jump from one neuron to another, create our own world.

What the future holds is vague at best!

Yes, we do create much of what happens in our life by our pro-active stance, our contemplative responses, and our heart of gratitude. We are currently in the midst of great destruction and at the same time profound liberation and enlightenment. Mary Tucker writes, “The future is being created by all of us, and it is a messy and confusing process.”

Well, DUH!

The collective consciousness is on the rise but ever so slowly. We can only be responsible for that which we do, which we create. How’s it coming along in your garden?