theburninghand.com
The Writings of Robert Daniel Smith
Author of "Resplendent in Rags" The Wild and Homeless Gospel
of the Ragged-Man and Friends
and
Handbook for the Modern Mystic-Activist
"What I learned in 30 years of a breaking heart
in founding and working in a Soup Kitchen..."
To Be Published in 2018!
The Beautiful Way... the Tao of Soulful Harmony
for the Sensual Mystic and Sacred Activist:
a gentle personalism
"The world will be saved by beauty." -- Dostoevsky
"There is a crack in everything... that's how the light gets in..."
-- Leonard Cohen
The Tao: the Yoga: the Beautiful Way... the Way of Soulful Harmony... before there was a path... in ancient Chinese mysticism, the "yin" and the "yang": the cosmic balance, integrity, and subtle "power" that exists only for our "rEvolution" into Love...
The Beautiful Way: the Unity of the female and the male: the integration of opposites: the awakening that both the female and the male exist within the other: the sensuality of desire and the activation of compassion: without limits...
The Tao: the Yoga: the Beautiful Way... now this, now that, light and dark, earth and sky, algae and star shine: to resist is to stand as the new human, evolving into an expansive awakening... into the Oneness, the Unity... and to serve in solidarity and compassion: to contemplate is to rest, as fully human, in the wonder of Quantum Adoration and then to dive into the deep flow of grace and justice, where the New Creation is awaiting the activation of our Sacred Hunger...
We live in the inter-section of the Divine and Human;
We find our purpose through Service and Creativity... through imagining
paradise and practicing beauty in all that we do... through standing
in Soulful Harmony and communing like the divine beings we are...through
cultivating community and the earth wherever we are... and
through a steady, yet vigorous, practice of Resistance and Contemplation;
Our greatest good is to Be Love Now... a solidarity spirituality and politics
There is a Love Affair on the loose: descending from above while also rising up from below: it's in the air that we breathe, in the water we drink: above, below, behind, in front: within and without: closer than the electric-thoughts in our minds and the blood swooshing through our bodies... It is in your skin and the swell of your genitals... It is in your opened hand that has been activated by the benevolence of the Universe... It is why there is no difference between essential mysticism and erotic sensuality... It is the asceticism of loving without the social requirement of limits...
Peace, Equality, and Justice are the building-blocks of the New Creation. Reverence for Life and Service to this precious blue Planet means All Life and looking Seven Generations forward: do you revere the unborn human fetus? Then you serve the already-born child, youth, and adult by creating pathways for their full development and liberation into their potential as sacred beings! The Unholy Trinity of Privilege, Profits, and Power must be overthrown by the Gentle rEvolution of Spirituality, Solidarity, and Nonviolence... "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Love always creates space for the movements of radical grace...
"Quantum Consciousness": cutting edge quantum physicists, like Amit Goswami, Ph.D., are advancing the insights of ancient mystics who have long proposed that the Universe is multi-dimensional AND conscious: "Quantum Consciousness" -- or "God", if you prefer -- is the Active Will to manifest as It's process of Self-Discovery: all manifested consciousness is the means for Divine Exploration: it is through our Loving that "Q.C." knows Itself as Love-without-Limits... it is through our activated compassion that "Q.C." knows Itself as Compassion, Mercy, Kindness, Justice, and Beauty-without-End...
Every moment of loving is a manifestation of Divinity: sitting on a sofa with one's lover and surrounded by one's "tribe" is a moment of "sacramental presence"... "This" touch... this caress... this kiss... this mutual surrender is holy communion... "This" round-table discussion and planning and organizing for an increase of justice, equality, and peace is a sacred temple of worship... "This" task of dish washing, sweeping the floor, working the soil, pursuing a vocation, and gathering for a walk in Nature -- from among the myriad of daily possibilities -- is an everyday-holiness-without-measure...
"This" meditation, mindfulness practice, contemplative hours, and adoration is a deepening of conscious awareness: essential for the "day of our life"...
Ancient mystics, as well as philosophers such as Leibnitz and Huxley, have summarized a "Perennial Philosophy" -- for these core principles appear in every age: (1) there is an infinite, changeless reality beneath or behind the world of change; (2) this same reality lies at the core of every human person; (3) the purpose of life is to discover this reality experientially: that is, to realize Oneness (Quantum Consciousness) while alive. Similarly, modern physicists are following upon discoveries and insights into the "stuff" of matter to "conclude" that all that appears "out there" and as separate from us, is not really so: we perceive separations because of the limitations of our senses. But the "stuff" of matter and life is a unified field of consciousness / energy: if we had eyes of "magic" we would see that we are units of consciousness temporarily localized in Mind, Time and Space: but at the very same "time" existing within a network of inter-penetrating "fly-by" sub-atomic particles of possibilities ("energized imagination")... Billions of years ago, and many light years away, the "What if? and the Why not?" initiated that which we identify as "creation"... Sub-atomic particles of possibilities from That same "What if? Why not? and What's next?", are penetrating that which we identify as our "skin" and our "soul" this very moment! You are star shine! You are infinite! You are Love without Limits! You are absolute Oneness! (And perhaps there you were thinking that you needed coffee to start your day and beer to end it!)
Oneness is a way of life...
"Oneness" is both an awareness and an awakening: increasingly aware of the essential Unity of all Being and Matter, we first of all strive to reduce the harm that we cause; and then, as we continue into our awakening, we begin to live in the ecstasy of mystic-union... We strive to build a new framework for human community through the advocacy and practice of mindfulness, solidarity, creativity, and inter-spirituality... "Everything is One... everything is Holy"... Penetrated through and through with the Sacred Energy of Consciousness: from star-seed to life-seed, from the nothingness of sub-atomic potential to the evolutionary drive within the human consciousness: everything is connected: everything is a manifestation of "Only One / One Love"... Everything exists as waves and particles of possibilities upon the Divine Breath (the "What if? and Why not?")...
"Everything is One... everything is Holy"... awakening to our essential Oneness is the cultivation of the Sacred Feminine (enough of the Dominator Paradigm already!) in daily life and the parallel realization that this very Planet is very much Alive and Sacred... Steadily liberated from separation and duality, one may see truthfully the sacred divinity of every other and then serve in a spirit of "mutual liberation" from every oppression, injustice, or means of exploitation: walking hand-in-hand in this mutuality, we will be freed to simply love as the Divine Consciousness loves...
"Everything is One"... the transcendental and the immanent merge in the fullness of the human person: body, soul, and mind: One in an awakened ecstasy... The transformation of human culture is the fruit of One Awakening... "Everything is One": this precious blue Planet is One living inter-being. Every creature and everything exists in a living web of relationship... Everything partakes of the One Source, the One Consciousness: nothing is separate from anything else... We can learn how to live within this ecology of grace and give birth to Paradise...
"Everything is One": how does an increasing awareness blossom into a deep awakening? Our Planetary Dream-Keepers, like Yeshua the Poet and Rumi the Ecstatic, like the Mary's: Mother and Mary Magdalene, Sacred Bride, and like St. Hildegard and Mirabai, call to us from within our cells and our stories: our task is to listen, play, sex, work, pray, and love ourselves, every one, and this precious blue Planet into One Awakening... attunement with this "secret rhythm", this "hidden music", of the Universe (One Love) is the height, breadth, and depth of the mystic-activist life... We are each called, out of the Earth's necessity, to radiate outward in spirals of connectivity, creativity, and compassion...
Questions to ponder: Whom do you serve? What do you seek? How will you get there?
A Pathway of Sacred Intention: "To awaken to Oneness and the essential Unity of humanity, religions, and life; to serve that awakening in every being; to express awakening in the direct action of kindness, service, compassion, the practice of soil-care and beauty, and the work of solidarity; to facilitate "sacred circles" of fellowship; to create "homes" and "centers" of holistic life, inter-spirituality, mutual-aid, micro and cooperative enterprises, meditation and mindfulness, the celebration of natural naturism, and inter-being awareness"...
"Only One Earth and Consciousness! Celebrate and Serve!"
and
"Our Awakening is through the 'Oh Ma' of Hearts!"
