Beautiful Are You
"Beautiful are you who have embraced the poverty of your hearts...
you are, even now, Welcomed Home!
Beautiful are you who cry for the suffering of others...
you will know the Bliss of an always Opened Door!
Beautiful are you who practice everyday kindness...
you will yet create Paradise upon this Earth!
Beautiful are you who awaken every morning with a passion for justice...
you will be like the first who discovered Fire!
Beautiful are you who become a living mercy for everyone you meet...
you will receive more than you ever give!
Beautiful are you who remember there is Only One Love...
you will kiss face to face!
Beautiful are you who build peace with your lives...
you will be known as the Lovers of Love!
Beautiful are you who suffer the truth for the cause of the Good, the Kind, and the Beautiful...
you will know the Bliss of Endless Possibilities!"
Beautiful are you... and Welcome Home!
"Beautiful are you" and "Welcome Home", five little words that effectively capture -- and release -- the living spirit of Yeshua the Poet: you have heard him called "Jesus" and "the Christ"... you have heard him called "Lord" as you have heard him called "Savior". But have you heard him called "Beloved", "Lover", and "Mother"? This may come as a surprise, like the fairly recent discovery that this precious blue Planet, as it hurtles its way across the Universe, is all the time making music and singing... but then, the mystics have been said to lean their left ear just a tad bit closer to their heart while in prayer... because they could hear the same music being played there...
Beautiful are you... if Yeshua the Poet were to look into every face and heart: he would see only the truth of who we are: for many, pride would raise its voice to protest, "If you say the same thing to everyone, how am I to believe that I am special?" For a few others, humility would summon its courage to whisper, "If you say the same thing to everyone, you need not bother with me." But still to all, there would only be the same, "Welcome Home"...
There is a Mystery to the Way that Love is animating consciousness and evolution... Mystery begins with adoration and surrender: when asked, "Will you teach us how to pray?" The Poet said, "You must pray the same way that you love, with no thought but of delighting of your Beloved. But if you must use words, say 'Beautiful are you, Beloved of the Earth and Sky! We cherish your Name like our breath: and how we bless your breath of love within us! May your love always encircle the Earth with mercy and compassion! May your love always feed us and all life with your Good. And may you bring us all into the safety of your rest.' Something such as this would be enough... But understand, prayer is really a movement, a whisper, of love... Prayer is like your lover's face nuzzling into your neck and the soft tickle of eyelash upon your skin... If you remember this, you will draw ever closer to the One who is Love."
Yeshua, or if you prefer the Greek, "Jesus", lived the life of a mystic: deeply in tune with the rhythms of both nature and life: "earthy" would be a good word to describe him: that what became the dominant interpretation of him would choose instead something like "celestial" clearly points to the divide between "the Poet" and "the Power"... Those on "the Power" side of the divide quickly translated the oral stories and myths, and then the earliest writings about his life into Greek, and on into a religion. The language (Aramaic) of the people with whom he lived, worked, loved, and spoke was soon to be completely ignored. Meanwhile, on "the Poet" side of things, the holy writings that remembered Yeshua kissing Mary Magdalene "on the mouth" and identifying her as his chosen "companion" (such as the Gospels of Phillip and Mary Magdalene) were hidden away lest they be destroyed as those who dared recount the stories were silenced. Yeshua and his followers spoke Aramaic: Europeans in all of their world conquering never regarded with reverence the language, customs, or cultures of those whom they victimized and oppressed (Read Constantine's Sword just for starters). So if we want to capture again -- to release upon the world -- the spirit of Yeshua, it is not only to the ancient Aramaic that we must turn to in study, but also to the tradition of the mystic and of the "midrash": the deep contemplation of myth and story to apprehend layer upon layer of meaning.
The reading of the Holy Books of the World from the perspective of feminism has been, and continues to be, of vital importance. Even a cursory glance at the traditional (the Power side) Christian scriptures, reveals a Jesus supremely attentive to the women in his company as well as those on the margin, such as "the woman at the well". Perhaps the most important Mary of the Christian scriptures is not the Mother: but the wife, Mary Magdalene! Margaret Starbird has a number of important books to her credit which explore this exciting theme: in an "absolute" sense no one knows with certainty the "facts" of this particular matter: the traditionalists (again, the Power side) having been philosophically informed by Plato and Augustine, and were thusly experts at division: body was bad, soul was at best potentially good, and spirit-that-denied-the-body -- and escaped from life untouched -- was best of all. These philosophical divisions extended well beyond the "bad" of sexual relations and with women into every aspect of human life and life upon this Planet: exploitation and oppression were justified as divine right (doesn't Power always say that?)... But on the other hand, "the Poet" side of things never completely disappeared: Mother Mary continued as focal point for the Divine Feminine in the people's hearts, Mary Magdalene devotion was also very widespread although a bit riskier as not enthusiastically endorsed by the Authorities, and popular saints such as Hildegard, Francis, and Louis de Montfort stoked the imaginations of the faithful and unfaithful alike. Modern feminism has challenged every justification of every established church with its radical critique: truth must include the fifty-percent of humanity that has long been excluded from Power... and slowly, as a result, we are beginning to emerge from the exploiter age of the "Dominator Paradigm" into the stunning Light of an "Earthy Holism" and an entirely new paradigm of the liberated feminine, reverence for Earth, the body, and pleasure, and a spirituality of inclusion, humility, harmony, gentleness, and mystic-oneness...
The ancient mysticism of mystic-oneness is perhaps rooted in the Tao of Lao-tzu (who was attuned to the even more ancient shamans): "Know the male, but keep to the female... so becoming the universal river-valley. Being the universal river-valley, one has eternal virtue undivided and becomes again a child." Yeshua mirrors the Tao with his, "Unless you become again like a child, you will not enter the Garden of Eternal Delight." We are supposed to live as "mothers" and "give birth to God" through our good works (St. Francis). This profoundly feminine outlook upon life and the universe is so radically different from that of the Dominator Paradigm that one can truly be said to be "born again" when once it is thoroughly interiorized... and then to emerge from the mystic-cave with eyes renewed with what William Blake called "four-fold vision" -- the opposite of the "single eye" of the ordinary eyesight of the rational man -- and into the supreme wonder of Sacred Imagination: God is Alive and Magic is Afoot! Everything is Holy: the body and every avenue for pleasure and mutual delight: the Earth and Reverence and Adoration: Community and Equality, Peace, and Justice: and the spacious fields of Divine Exploration, Intimacy, and Identification: all overflowing with Beauty and Service... Beautiful are you... Beautiful are you... Beautiful are you... And then to live everyday in the Holy Competition of striving to Love More than Love Itself: now that is life as the one who knows "Beautiful are you" is always true...
Home
Kindness extends a hand and lifts me up.
The door sways open, like
An exhausted dog I wander in.
Comfort is piled in pillows and books.
I would like to live like this.
Can I live like this?
I call out for companions: where are you?
I sit near an unfolded blanket.
I dream: I am invited into the fire
Where I burn like a prophet
With neither words nor life to show.
Another hand pulls me out
And I wonder at the meaning.
Tugging the blanket up to my chin
I will wait for you to come home
And bring with you our friends.
We will talk of revolution
And read our poems and untie the knots.
I will run my fingers through your hair
And know the wild hunger of your kisses.
Sanctuary
This precious blue Planet is our sanctuary... the Temple in which we live, move, and have our being. The reverence with which we show to every other form and being is a reflection of our core values. Sky, mountain, river, tree, bison, wolf, coyote, elk, moose, deer, beaver, owl, eagle, crow, otter, sparrow, tree, flower, wind, cloud... each and all are animated by the Great Spirit -- Wakan-Tanka in the language of the Lakota -- and are reflections of the qualities of the Divine Spirit. The archetypal qualities of the Spirit are the links between the divine and the human: the animal and natural world are witnesses to the grace and beauty of the One manifesting every difference from the abundant storehouse of Unity. "Peace... comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." (Black Elk)
We should allow our hearts and spirituality to expand beyond the limitations of historical doctrines and definitions to breathe the freedom-air, once again, of Divine Childhood. With Earth understood to be our sanctuary, our home, and our Temple, we might once again look out upon the really Real and begin to act accordingly: with reverence and beauty at the heart of all that we do. We might draw a mandala of the Universe with this tiny, yet infinitely precious, blue Planet as the shining light in the center: not with the attitude of previous generations who thought the Earth and Human as the be-all of the Universe: but as the awakened human who knows herself to be a part of all that is, and whose religion is the gentle surrender of loving adoration. Different words may of course be used, but there is a universally-understood mystic "knowing" of three essential stages of personal / social evolution: purification, expansion, and union. Purification means the "forgetting" of what needs to be forgotten: all the illusions of separation and the activation of the will to the Good, the Kind, and the Beautiful. Expansion means "remembrance" of the One Reality and of our condition of original oneness: with the One Love Consciousness and expanding into every part and particle of the Universe. Union means awakening into the One Bliss, the Ecstasy, of Only One: an awakening from which there is never again a "forgetting" nor even a "remembrance": but Only One...
As it is for the mystic, so it is for humanity as a collective: we have lived for ages now in "forgetfulness": we war, we pillage, we rape, we enslave, we oppress, we exploit, we dominate, we control, we manipulate, we deceive, we lie: oh how we lie and justify! But into this terrifying mix of an unreal "reality" there have always been the poets and the prophets, singing out however they might, "There is another Way. We need to change!" And the seeds of purification were planted: conscience lead to the abolitionist movement, the suffragist movement, the war-resisters league, the environmentalist movement, the rise of feminism, and on and on as more and more people took up the challenge: "There is another Way. We need to change!" Right in the body of the old, the new began to take root: the first steps in radical purification became the sacred path of a growing expansion or remembrance: eco-feminism, equality for all, occupy-everything-politics-and-spirituality, resurgent workers, indie-everything, sexual-soul acceptance and wholeness, and a wild freedom of spiritual exploration: all steadily unveiling a new understanding of our unity and essential oneness... Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Breathing
Breathing my way over your skin
and then on into the morning, and
another kiss as you walk out the door...
There is no longer a solitude
in being alone,
for alone is now a past forgotten
and this solitude is now breathing...
I walk into a river of thoughts
and words and lakes upon the pages
each and all breathing your ocean eyes:
take me there...
Wispy clouds are coalescing
into a possibility of afternoon snow,
my empty boots wait by the door,
breathing the minutes
till you return your hand to mine,
and we walk anywhere together...
Mystery
The mystery of our being is never revealed to us: until we cease to exist as individualized selves. Of course, it is required of us to individualize (like being a teen-ager), but to stay "there" is to really be "nowhere". The fullness of our mysterious being is only realized when we no longer cling to our "I" and instead actively dissolve into "We"... and "We" is the "I Am": which is an entirely different sort of Being... Mystery is not a thing but a relationship: Yeshua the Poet revealed the "nothingness" of the One: how else to explain the Child coming to rest in a food-bin for animals on the night the Universe truly awoke? Yet that "nothingness" of the One is our very deification! Our surrender and cry and tear of adoration is an encounter with "I Am" as Beloved Friend, as Lover, as Mother: being in love with Love reduces our multiplicity into "Only One", a living union as that of lovers breathing skin and writing poems upon the wind...
No matter how much we pretend otherwise, our divine mystery is the truth of our being, as well as our purpose and meaning. "I am a reflection of the Divine, even if I can no longer recognize my face." All of our attachments are as the dust and grime covering our mirrors: until the crud is wiped away and our mirrors are polished, we are all easily deceived by the sellers of "rags": which ones have you purchased? "Believe this", "Don't do that", "Place your donation in the specially marked envelopes": the strangest religious solicitation I ever received was from a now deceased
evangelist who mailed out tiny square-inch pieces of cloth... he asked that folks sit on the little piece of cloth that they had received, say a prayer, and then send it back to him with a donation... supposedly all those little pieces of cloth were to be sewn together into a huge "tapestry of prayer"... And yet, and yet: it is by loving, in fact and in deed, that we are transformed: meditate all that you can! But unless you become love... and love always shows itself in action! Our deifi-
cation is the work of a lifetime (in other words, all of our attachments keep piling on the crud): polish your mirror, polish your mirror: polish by acts of love, works of mercy and justice, building peace and equality, tearing down walls that separate people from every "other", and constructing a social order that prioritizes everyone's full development and liberation into the fullness of their possibilities: "May they all be one as You, O Creator, are in me, and I in you, so also may they be one in us." St. Maximus wrote, "We remain creatures, while becoming God by grace." The whole of our being: body, mind, and soul: sacred and beautiful through and through...
Yeshua the Poet, Rumi the Ecstatic, Hildegard the Singer, Francis the Servant of Lepers, Dorothy, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful... and on and on... workers for the transfiguration of life and matter into the fullness of Only One... Immanent in the Universe, One Song is being sung, even by the stars and planets spinning in their galaxies... even by the smallest particles of possibilities waving in potential delight everywhere and nowhere at the same exact moment: One Song. Our one task is to join in the singing! Delight -- utter delight -- is our essence: the coming home of Lovers: the Union of Two, of Many, and of All into One: join in the singing: Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
The Feather
Amazed,
I watched the feather fall from the owl gliding
to a branch of the tree just in front of me --
the feather
falling into a mass of brambles:
sacred feather
a word for which my intelligence
cannot make the sound, so like brambles
I merely accept,
that I too will turn to dust
indeed, I am already turning
which reminds me of how much I love
the scent of brown, still
I cannot say the word
so I shift to music instead:
the flute, hollow wood and wind
and the breath of spirit upon the body
and the moon rising and shining
through the tree in which the owl
has already left... wordlessly,
its secret,
only in the Mind of God...
Matter
No meditation can ever be completed (or even begin) without the "darkening": does "matter" in fact matter? Many philosophers and religious thinkers have taught that "matter": earth and body: are as "necessary evils", as "essential illusions", or, at least as "challenges to be overcome". The modern mystic, though, informed by a holistic approach to both spirit and senses, seeks the integration of body, mind, and soul into a Unity with both Earth and the Divine. The rich, dark humus of earth is similar to the rich, dark, "stuff" of our life experiences: blended within our minds to nourish our bodies and enlighten our souls: beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
In the new solidarity paradigm of the modern mystic, the old way of the Universal Wisdom Teachings is returning: "How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites our family. All things are connected." (Chief Seattle, 1848)
For perhaps two, three, or four thousand years an attitude and practice of "domination" has been the spirituality, economics, and politics of much of the world. The Sacred Feminine was eclipsed by the Warrior God: fertility cults surrendered to Sky Worshippers: "enlightenment" came to mean a certain "sloughing off" of the body for the purity of spirit: home economics became rapacious exploitation: and communities defined by neighborliness became free markets and cheap labor at the service of corporate entities. The "Word" no longer became flesh: the "Word" was resurrected into something much better than flesh: and we could live with the promise that our "new bodies" would be free of every blemish and our sinful urges: we would be free! Contrast the earth wisdom of Chief Seattle with this from President Reagan's Secretary of the Interior James Watt: "Jesus will return when the last tree falls!"
Finally, though, "matter" is beginning to matter to the modern mystic-activist! We want our "Word" with flesh! We like the forbidden story of Yeshua the Poet kissing Mary Magdalene on the mouth -- and who knows where else! We like the freedom to explore our senses as we explore our souls! We like the feel of the deep, dark, earth beneath our naked feet and naked buttocks as well! With an aliveness denied to us earth-dwellers for thousands of years, the modern mystic-activist is re-visiting ancient memories of place and tribe, of relationships blessed by living and expanding partnerships, and neighborliness defined by sharing: matter matters! Whew! Breath can actually be free! Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Sensual exploration, tolerated in the young and discouraged in the mature, is finally following everyone else stepping out of the closet. Sensual exploration: not as an end in itself, but in recognition that we are, after all, "Words made flesh": mirrors of the Divine, who surveyed Creation and laughed, jumped up and down, and said "Oh! This is so Good!" Sensual exploration: in the Divine Relaxation of Acceptance: I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together: Beautiful! When matter matters, delight and solidarity seek our liberation! This is a quantum shift from our history of denial and oppression: free to love, delighted to serve, aware of equality, and awakened into Namaste: my soul bows to, and honors, the Divine within you: a new age can begin! This essential recognition of the inherent Divinity within everyone, and within everything is the real rEvolution sought by the modern mystic-activist: everything else is mere dressing for the wounds with which the Dominator Paradigm has inflicted upon everyone.
Do you understand? With Divinity both your Source and your essence, how can you be anything but beautiful? How can anyone be anything but beautiful? In awed awareness: we are all beautiful: how can we any longer allow for the exploitation or oppression of anyone, anywhere? How can we continue to justify predatory economics and legitimize Greed? How can we perpetuate the machinations of War? How can we exclude or marginalize women from any hall of power, secular or religious? How can the differences between humans be anything other than sacred? How can we exercise any Power whatsoever that does not lift up and serve?
When Pleasure is no longer, ever, measured in inches but instead in Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Equality is no longer, ever, counted in votes but always in Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Justice is no longer, ever, a distant goal but instead an everyday Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Peace is no longer, ever, a secondary option but rather the institutionalizing of Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Matter is no longer, ever, marginalized as unworthy of Reverence and Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Religion is no longer, ever, a means or a tool for oppression or violence but always a revelation and practice of Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve... until then, the mystic-activist must join in Sacred Circles, organize, and practice: beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Every particle of our being cries out for Union! When all else is either written, said, or done: this single desire is all religion, all economics, and all politics: everything that nudges us, individually and collectively, into the conscious practice of Union -- Oneness -- is blessed and part of the Way. By the same token, everything that perpetuates the ideology of both division and domination is, at best, a relic of the past. The life of the mystic-activist is to expand her consciousness through contemplative practices and then to unleash the results through an activated compassion to build the New Solidarity Paradigm... Only One... One Love... One Love... One Love...
Red
Red is the sound I hear when I think of God
and the taste in my mouth
when I look out upon acres and acres of silence...
Turning in my sleep
it is your back that I curve into, a turning
attached to the red root of the world...
The sandy shore and the red waters
gave these stones into our hands, each
one for the pause between the letters of
I a m y o u r s a n d Y o u a r e m I n e...
I have been reading the book that you gave me
and on every page, sometimes jumbled, but
always there, red is the way you lift your foot
as you walk across the floor to me...
Sometimes I wonder, with the red
having years ago disappeared from my beard,
why it was that you stopped to look...
Peeling time like a blood-red orange,
I see everything pointing in one direction:
all along there was only you, and
the singular revelation of red...
Pregnant With Power
The world is pregnant with God. -- Bl. Angela of Foligno
From all eternity, God lies on a maternity bed giving birth. The essence of God is birthing. -- Meister Eckhart
We are all meant to be mothers of God. -- Meister Eckhart
Three quotations to spark a complete personal and global transformation! Attitude, perspective, and intention are literally everything in the development of the mystic-activist life: if one adopts the attitude that, indeed, the world is pregnant with God, then everything is a means of both grace and wonder. Every moment and every place is Temple. Every person and every thing exists as a revelation of Being and Love. This attitude compels in a gentle and transformative way, the annihilation of the "little self" of "me, myself, and I" for our much larger soul-self of We and All are One: this recognition of our Divine Unity changes everything: nothing is left untouched!
If the essence of God is birthing, then our perspective must undergo a radical re-orientation: our thoughts, words, and actions are sacred and the means given to us to manifest Paradise upon this precious blue Planet. By extension, all of our collective thoughts, words, and actions are as close to Paradise as we will ever get: in other words: everything now matters: everything hinges upon our new perspective to birth the Kind, the Just, and the Beautiful in all of our public policies and institutions: every justification for Greed, Exploitation, Inequality, Injustice, Oppression, and Violence is exposed in the light of the truth!
Finally, it is our intention to join together in the embrace of Love to give birth to Love through the "all" of our everyday lives: nothing is any longer under the veil of separation: everything is now "Only One". Finally living our destiny to become mothers of God, every step that we take is furthering this entire Planet upon the path of conscious evolution: we are choosing to cultivate bliss, reverence, beauty, harmlessness, and kindness: our surrender and adoration is to the One Love Consciousness who is Oneness. Everything fits into the completed puzzle of Compassion without limits. Every old religious division and every old political divide is bridged by our intention to outdo Love in loving: this Holy Competition (the only competition that is essentially meaningful) is the rEvolution of Yeshua the Poet and Rumi the Ecstatic! Our choice: attitude, perspective, and intention: and also the power of our possibilities!
Why? Why? Are you still wondering, why are attitudes, perspectives, and intentions so very, very, important? And why is the Holy Competition of Loving More so very important as life-style, economics, and politics? It is all so very, very, simple: you are worth the very best: you are worth Love... Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Soup Kitchen
Cooking soup -- a way of prayer:
Chopping vegetables.
Stirring and adding spices and herbs.
Aware of giving the slow breath...
Julio was murdered --
"A transient was found
By the railroad tracks."
Every breath is sacred...
Slicing bread.
Filling the water and juice pitchers.
Glancing at the clock -- one breath...
One minute
For breathing the beads in my hand.
Grace: silence and emptiness, waiting
For purity of heart...
The poverty of service:
Not looking for results
Beyond my own conversion,
One breath at a time...
Solidarity
Every spiritual practice and political action boils down to how do "I" -- not you, not a non-profit, and also not the government -- act towards those persons "who are the least among us". Every spiritual practice and political action is our specific and exact definition of "love your neighbor as yourself": there is neither religion nor a politics beyond this. Indeed, in mystical lore, the well-being of the entire Universe hinges upon but one act of Love: this act in this very moment: no one can take your place and no one can love in your stead: it is you: and it is always now.
The old Dominator Paradigm, of course, says otherwise: you are invited to pretend that you are free, that you are at liberty to choose: to act or not to act... to believe that you can pay someone to love in your place, or that you can believe in a "God" who has taken the responsibility for redemption upon his head and therefore you are free to hate, oppress, exploit, violate, or destroy: anyone or anything, because you are not responsible... you just need to donate some money and you just need to show up at Temple, Mosque, or Church... It is not your job...
On the other hand, though, that which is rising like bread all around us is the New Solidarity Paradigm: and the new invitation is not about redemption or responsibility, but about bliss and possibilities, instead. The New Solidarity Paradigm is the humble recognition that this precious blue Planet is our Home: we whirl somewhere in deep space, all together: woman, man, child, animal, water, soil, air, plant, and everything else that fills the Earth and our lives with wonder and hope. Oneness is our essential characteristic and the deepest truth of Reality. The New Solidarity Paradigm recognizes that this living web of inter-being defines the boundaries of life upon this Planet: we are all in this together: we need the bees to pollinate the flowers, just as the bees need us to save their species: we need the whales, dolphins, and fishes, because we really need the plankton to make oxygen for us to breathe. We need the children of the world to know that we are setting aside our models of domination and power because they are worth the very best! We need to accept that there is something so very much bigger and more important than any nation, than any religion, or than any economic system: we are -- all of us -- One. We rise and fall together: no one and no group progresses if anyone or another group falls behind...
While our Oneness is seemingly simple and obvious, it cuts to the very heart of the Dominator Paradigm which has given liberty to Power to wreak its will upon everyone and everything: separation and division are its calling cards: exploitation and oppression are its means: and the ends? The concentration of all "wisdom and power" into the "technique of the very few": a few corporations-become-persons-for-the-rule-of-the-world... aided and abetted by complicit politicians from every nation-state, the Dominator Paradigm continues to thrust ahead with vigor: crafting economic and trade treaties that destroy traditional cultures -- and not in the abstract, but in the control of seeds, soil, and water -- and that further concentrates rights into the corporate "hands" of the few... While this is the "reality" of the Dominator Paradigm, our genuine humanity is a much deeper "Reality" and so much more attractive! Justice for all and the practice of Beauty in acts of Kindness and Creativity are sources of life and are radiant with possibilities: economic democracy is the wave of the future whose time is already upon us...
Resistance to the Dominator Paradigm must become broad-based and enlightening: enlightening is the key! The way of separation and division will not yield the results we seek: we must be creative, like farmers who give life to seed by good stewardship: Oneness must be both the means and the ends! Enlightening means to build alternatives in the very midst of the dominant culture: Gandhi taught that a "constructive program" is the heart of nonviolent revolution and so it is the way forward into the New Solidarity Paradigm. "Indie" and "occupy" everything: but especially in neighborhoods and in service: this is why so many movements have either failed or been co-opted! Solidarity has to be neighbors who care about one another, about intentional communities, and about service for the wider common good: love is the most contagious force in the world! When the wider culture takes notice of hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of neighborhood communities constructing a nonviolent economic democracy -- that works -- in the here and now and that those people involved are happier and more creatively satisfied with life than before than the rEvolution will already be won! And the hallmark of the New Solidarity Paradigm? Why not the "Holy Competition of Love"? What do people hunger for? Do not we hunger for "bread, blankets, and roses"? Think about it... and then "Love Loudly!" And pass it on: beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you... Welcome Home!
The Magnificat of Mary
My heart surrenders unto the One!
My being expands to embrace the stars!
I am happy in this vibrancy that knows no limits,
and in my dreams that are also unbounded!
The One has shared a glance with me,
like the Sun at mid-night.
I know this: for all time
I will be remembered as Love's Delight!
For the Holy One has done marvelous deeds for me --
holy, holy, do you not see that everything is holy?
Mercy and Kindness are the raiment of the One,
and the gift toward all those with hearts shattered by life.
Look! Do you not see the Compassion
of the Holy One falling like a soft rain
upon the drought-stricken fields?
The One scatters the strong, the rich,
and the powerful as chaff upon the wind!
Arrogance and violence
cannot open the door to Paradise!
Thrones will be emptied and courts torn down!
The assemblies of the mighty
mean less than nothing to the One!
Ah, but the lowly, the homeless,
the poor, and all those pushed
to every margin will be brought back
into the Center of the Sacred Heart.
The hungry will have their fill,
while the rich with their plans and schemes
will be reduced to nothing!
The One is here! The One is Alive!
Now watch me!
(Resplendent In Rags)
The Divine Feminine
"When we speak of divine matters, we have to stammer, because we are forced to express our experiences in words."
-- Meister Eckhart
"God is voluptuous and delicious." -- Meister Eckhart
"In compassion justice and peace kiss." -- Meister Eckhart
The Dominator Paradigm effectively eliminated the common sense of the Mother present in Nature and separated the Divine from creation. With the marginalization of the Divine Feminine, there began the near universal oppression of women: endorsed by religion, the oppression of women also had the effect of denying Nature, soul, the body and sexuality, and imagination. When Oneness was forgotten, Technique became both means and ends with the great harvest of suffering and sadness that the 21st century has inherited...
But like a great underground river, the Divine Feminine never ceased its steady, though hidden, flow to the Sea. Mystics of all the world have been embraced by the Divine Feminine: "Know the male, but keep to the female" wrote the Chinese sage Lao-Tzu. "True divinity is female" also wrote Ibn 'Arabi perhaps the greatest Sufi-Muslim philosopher ever. Rumi, Francis, Hildegard, Juliana, Ramakrishna, and Aurobindo are others of note who experienced the Unity of the Holy One as both / neither male and female. The resurgence of the Divine Feminine in the latter half of the 20th century coincided with advances in psychology, inter-faith spirituality, feminism, gay rights, environmentalism, organic agriculture, nonviolent thought and action, and the re-reading and re-imagining of Sacred Scriptures through many relatively recent discoveries of long-hidden Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Mary Magdalene... The works of Riane Eisler, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Rosemary Radford Reuther, Karen Armstrong, Caroline Myss, Elaine Pagels, and Margaret Starbird from among many others have energized a spirituality that is holistic: embracing the insights and gifts of both men and women...
Deeper than insight is Divine Truth: not the "truth" that brings with it the force, either covert or overt, of domination. Divine Truth has no need to manipulate or to terrorize. If "Truth" purports to be "Divine" than it must be obviously better than the very best humanity or nature has to offer: so what would the best of humanity be? Of course, we have start with the "least": women the world-over and throughout time who have suffered and struggled through labor and child-birth: Divine Truth would have to be even more so generous and gracious! Then we would, I think, jump to nature: say, the glory of the Amazon rain forest: Divine Truth would have to be sublimely and wondrously beautiful! Next, let's think of music: perhaps Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, "Ode to Joy", could represent our human love for music: Divine Truth would not only be music to our ears and souls, but it would make our very hearts both shatter and heal at the very same time: Divine Truth would sing! Perhaps then, of all of our human activities, we could think of play: playing is not unique to humans, but perhaps the passion with which we play is! Therefore, Divine Truth must be passionately playful! I think next of work: creating and sustaining a Universe might require some sort of "work", and the Universe certainly gives evidence of a studious, if wild, craftsmanship... but let's focus on the work and gift of food and the great human art of creating a wonderful meal for family and friends and the profoundly human connection to sharing meals with those we love: Divine Truth must likewise be humble, good, joyous, and perhaps very edible. Finally, of everything else we could think of, let's lastly settle for sexual: humans, both male and female, are through and through sexual beings: some of us can make love to a tree or a table or a stranger just through a passing glance or touch: some of us have skins that stretch over acres of Light: some of us have awakened into life as very willing students... our hearts have become the textbooks that we read and share: some of us have learned that every human encounter is a form of either "making love" or a waste of time: in other words, some of us have awakened into the possibility of Love-Without-Limits, which must surely be another trait of Divine Truth! You might have noticed that here there has been no reference to the writing of a scripture: too many wars have been -- and are still being fought -- over scriptures: perhaps it could finally be enough if Nature and Every Human were "scripture alive and present": read this for awhile and appreciate your possibilities! If I would add just one more thing, sort of circling back to where this particular paragraph began and considering the very best of our human characteristics, skills, gifts, and passions: and then magnifying all of those without end, I would have to conclude that Divine Truth would best be described as simply "Mother": the "Divine Amma", breath of our breath, and love of our love... endlessly...
So we can all put down our theologies, our politics, our justifications, our manipulations, and our penchant for domination: and breathe the free air of Divinity Pregnant with Endless Delight: endlessly giving birth to all that is and Imagining all that Might Be: and Imagining us too as Possibilitarians Loving Without Limits and building the Earth with Kindness, Compassion, Justice, Equality, and Peace for All and Everything. We can call, once again, upon our Divine Mother to inspire, to feed, and to guide us on our journeys through life... Amma with our every breath... beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you... and, forever and always: Welcome Home!
you are, even now, Welcomed Home!
Beautiful are you who cry for the suffering of others...
you will know the Bliss of an always Opened Door!
Beautiful are you who practice everyday kindness...
you will yet create Paradise upon this Earth!
Beautiful are you who awaken every morning with a passion for justice...
you will be like the first who discovered Fire!
Beautiful are you who become a living mercy for everyone you meet...
you will receive more than you ever give!
Beautiful are you who remember there is Only One Love...
you will kiss face to face!
Beautiful are you who build peace with your lives...
you will be known as the Lovers of Love!
Beautiful are you who suffer the truth for the cause of the Good, the Kind, and the Beautiful...
you will know the Bliss of Endless Possibilities!"
Beautiful are you... and Welcome Home!
"Beautiful are you" and "Welcome Home", five little words that effectively capture -- and release -- the living spirit of Yeshua the Poet: you have heard him called "Jesus" and "the Christ"... you have heard him called "Lord" as you have heard him called "Savior". But have you heard him called "Beloved", "Lover", and "Mother"? This may come as a surprise, like the fairly recent discovery that this precious blue Planet, as it hurtles its way across the Universe, is all the time making music and singing... but then, the mystics have been said to lean their left ear just a tad bit closer to their heart while in prayer... because they could hear the same music being played there...
Beautiful are you... if Yeshua the Poet were to look into every face and heart: he would see only the truth of who we are: for many, pride would raise its voice to protest, "If you say the same thing to everyone, how am I to believe that I am special?" For a few others, humility would summon its courage to whisper, "If you say the same thing to everyone, you need not bother with me." But still to all, there would only be the same, "Welcome Home"...
There is a Mystery to the Way that Love is animating consciousness and evolution... Mystery begins with adoration and surrender: when asked, "Will you teach us how to pray?" The Poet said, "You must pray the same way that you love, with no thought but of delighting of your Beloved. But if you must use words, say 'Beautiful are you, Beloved of the Earth and Sky! We cherish your Name like our breath: and how we bless your breath of love within us! May your love always encircle the Earth with mercy and compassion! May your love always feed us and all life with your Good. And may you bring us all into the safety of your rest.' Something such as this would be enough... But understand, prayer is really a movement, a whisper, of love... Prayer is like your lover's face nuzzling into your neck and the soft tickle of eyelash upon your skin... If you remember this, you will draw ever closer to the One who is Love."
Yeshua, or if you prefer the Greek, "Jesus", lived the life of a mystic: deeply in tune with the rhythms of both nature and life: "earthy" would be a good word to describe him: that what became the dominant interpretation of him would choose instead something like "celestial" clearly points to the divide between "the Poet" and "the Power"... Those on "the Power" side of the divide quickly translated the oral stories and myths, and then the earliest writings about his life into Greek, and on into a religion. The language (Aramaic) of the people with whom he lived, worked, loved, and spoke was soon to be completely ignored. Meanwhile, on "the Poet" side of things, the holy writings that remembered Yeshua kissing Mary Magdalene "on the mouth" and identifying her as his chosen "companion" (such as the Gospels of Phillip and Mary Magdalene) were hidden away lest they be destroyed as those who dared recount the stories were silenced. Yeshua and his followers spoke Aramaic: Europeans in all of their world conquering never regarded with reverence the language, customs, or cultures of those whom they victimized and oppressed (Read Constantine's Sword just for starters). So if we want to capture again -- to release upon the world -- the spirit of Yeshua, it is not only to the ancient Aramaic that we must turn to in study, but also to the tradition of the mystic and of the "midrash": the deep contemplation of myth and story to apprehend layer upon layer of meaning.
The reading of the Holy Books of the World from the perspective of feminism has been, and continues to be, of vital importance. Even a cursory glance at the traditional (the Power side) Christian scriptures, reveals a Jesus supremely attentive to the women in his company as well as those on the margin, such as "the woman at the well". Perhaps the most important Mary of the Christian scriptures is not the Mother: but the wife, Mary Magdalene! Margaret Starbird has a number of important books to her credit which explore this exciting theme: in an "absolute" sense no one knows with certainty the "facts" of this particular matter: the traditionalists (again, the Power side) having been philosophically informed by Plato and Augustine, and were thusly experts at division: body was bad, soul was at best potentially good, and spirit-that-denied-the-body -- and escaped from life untouched -- was best of all. These philosophical divisions extended well beyond the "bad" of sexual relations and with women into every aspect of human life and life upon this Planet: exploitation and oppression were justified as divine right (doesn't Power always say that?)... But on the other hand, "the Poet" side of things never completely disappeared: Mother Mary continued as focal point for the Divine Feminine in the people's hearts, Mary Magdalene devotion was also very widespread although a bit riskier as not enthusiastically endorsed by the Authorities, and popular saints such as Hildegard, Francis, and Louis de Montfort stoked the imaginations of the faithful and unfaithful alike. Modern feminism has challenged every justification of every established church with its radical critique: truth must include the fifty-percent of humanity that has long been excluded from Power... and slowly, as a result, we are beginning to emerge from the exploiter age of the "Dominator Paradigm" into the stunning Light of an "Earthy Holism" and an entirely new paradigm of the liberated feminine, reverence for Earth, the body, and pleasure, and a spirituality of inclusion, humility, harmony, gentleness, and mystic-oneness...
The ancient mysticism of mystic-oneness is perhaps rooted in the Tao of Lao-tzu (who was attuned to the even more ancient shamans): "Know the male, but keep to the female... so becoming the universal river-valley. Being the universal river-valley, one has eternal virtue undivided and becomes again a child." Yeshua mirrors the Tao with his, "Unless you become again like a child, you will not enter the Garden of Eternal Delight." We are supposed to live as "mothers" and "give birth to God" through our good works (St. Francis). This profoundly feminine outlook upon life and the universe is so radically different from that of the Dominator Paradigm that one can truly be said to be "born again" when once it is thoroughly interiorized... and then to emerge from the mystic-cave with eyes renewed with what William Blake called "four-fold vision" -- the opposite of the "single eye" of the ordinary eyesight of the rational man -- and into the supreme wonder of Sacred Imagination: God is Alive and Magic is Afoot! Everything is Holy: the body and every avenue for pleasure and mutual delight: the Earth and Reverence and Adoration: Community and Equality, Peace, and Justice: and the spacious fields of Divine Exploration, Intimacy, and Identification: all overflowing with Beauty and Service... Beautiful are you... Beautiful are you... Beautiful are you... And then to live everyday in the Holy Competition of striving to Love More than Love Itself: now that is life as the one who knows "Beautiful are you" is always true...
Home
Kindness extends a hand and lifts me up.
The door sways open, like
An exhausted dog I wander in.
Comfort is piled in pillows and books.
I would like to live like this.
Can I live like this?
I call out for companions: where are you?
I sit near an unfolded blanket.
I dream: I am invited into the fire
Where I burn like a prophet
With neither words nor life to show.
Another hand pulls me out
And I wonder at the meaning.
Tugging the blanket up to my chin
I will wait for you to come home
And bring with you our friends.
We will talk of revolution
And read our poems and untie the knots.
I will run my fingers through your hair
And know the wild hunger of your kisses.
Sanctuary
This precious blue Planet is our sanctuary... the Temple in which we live, move, and have our being. The reverence with which we show to every other form and being is a reflection of our core values. Sky, mountain, river, tree, bison, wolf, coyote, elk, moose, deer, beaver, owl, eagle, crow, otter, sparrow, tree, flower, wind, cloud... each and all are animated by the Great Spirit -- Wakan-Tanka in the language of the Lakota -- and are reflections of the qualities of the Divine Spirit. The archetypal qualities of the Spirit are the links between the divine and the human: the animal and natural world are witnesses to the grace and beauty of the One manifesting every difference from the abundant storehouse of Unity. "Peace... comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." (Black Elk)
We should allow our hearts and spirituality to expand beyond the limitations of historical doctrines and definitions to breathe the freedom-air, once again, of Divine Childhood. With Earth understood to be our sanctuary, our home, and our Temple, we might once again look out upon the really Real and begin to act accordingly: with reverence and beauty at the heart of all that we do. We might draw a mandala of the Universe with this tiny, yet infinitely precious, blue Planet as the shining light in the center: not with the attitude of previous generations who thought the Earth and Human as the be-all of the Universe: but as the awakened human who knows herself to be a part of all that is, and whose religion is the gentle surrender of loving adoration. Different words may of course be used, but there is a universally-understood mystic "knowing" of three essential stages of personal / social evolution: purification, expansion, and union. Purification means the "forgetting" of what needs to be forgotten: all the illusions of separation and the activation of the will to the Good, the Kind, and the Beautiful. Expansion means "remembrance" of the One Reality and of our condition of original oneness: with the One Love Consciousness and expanding into every part and particle of the Universe. Union means awakening into the One Bliss, the Ecstasy, of Only One: an awakening from which there is never again a "forgetting" nor even a "remembrance": but Only One...
As it is for the mystic, so it is for humanity as a collective: we have lived for ages now in "forgetfulness": we war, we pillage, we rape, we enslave, we oppress, we exploit, we dominate, we control, we manipulate, we deceive, we lie: oh how we lie and justify! But into this terrifying mix of an unreal "reality" there have always been the poets and the prophets, singing out however they might, "There is another Way. We need to change!" And the seeds of purification were planted: conscience lead to the abolitionist movement, the suffragist movement, the war-resisters league, the environmentalist movement, the rise of feminism, and on and on as more and more people took up the challenge: "There is another Way. We need to change!" Right in the body of the old, the new began to take root: the first steps in radical purification became the sacred path of a growing expansion or remembrance: eco-feminism, equality for all, occupy-everything-politics-and-spirituality, resurgent workers, indie-everything, sexual-soul acceptance and wholeness, and a wild freedom of spiritual exploration: all steadily unveiling a new understanding of our unity and essential oneness... Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Breathing
Breathing my way over your skin
and then on into the morning, and
another kiss as you walk out the door...
There is no longer a solitude
in being alone,
for alone is now a past forgotten
and this solitude is now breathing...
I walk into a river of thoughts
and words and lakes upon the pages
each and all breathing your ocean eyes:
take me there...
Wispy clouds are coalescing
into a possibility of afternoon snow,
my empty boots wait by the door,
breathing the minutes
till you return your hand to mine,
and we walk anywhere together...
Mystery
The mystery of our being is never revealed to us: until we cease to exist as individualized selves. Of course, it is required of us to individualize (like being a teen-ager), but to stay "there" is to really be "nowhere". The fullness of our mysterious being is only realized when we no longer cling to our "I" and instead actively dissolve into "We"... and "We" is the "I Am": which is an entirely different sort of Being... Mystery is not a thing but a relationship: Yeshua the Poet revealed the "nothingness" of the One: how else to explain the Child coming to rest in a food-bin for animals on the night the Universe truly awoke? Yet that "nothingness" of the One is our very deification! Our surrender and cry and tear of adoration is an encounter with "I Am" as Beloved Friend, as Lover, as Mother: being in love with Love reduces our multiplicity into "Only One", a living union as that of lovers breathing skin and writing poems upon the wind...
No matter how much we pretend otherwise, our divine mystery is the truth of our being, as well as our purpose and meaning. "I am a reflection of the Divine, even if I can no longer recognize my face." All of our attachments are as the dust and grime covering our mirrors: until the crud is wiped away and our mirrors are polished, we are all easily deceived by the sellers of "rags": which ones have you purchased? "Believe this", "Don't do that", "Place your donation in the specially marked envelopes": the strangest religious solicitation I ever received was from a now deceased
evangelist who mailed out tiny square-inch pieces of cloth... he asked that folks sit on the little piece of cloth that they had received, say a prayer, and then send it back to him with a donation... supposedly all those little pieces of cloth were to be sewn together into a huge "tapestry of prayer"... And yet, and yet: it is by loving, in fact and in deed, that we are transformed: meditate all that you can! But unless you become love... and love always shows itself in action! Our deifi-
cation is the work of a lifetime (in other words, all of our attachments keep piling on the crud): polish your mirror, polish your mirror: polish by acts of love, works of mercy and justice, building peace and equality, tearing down walls that separate people from every "other", and constructing a social order that prioritizes everyone's full development and liberation into the fullness of their possibilities: "May they all be one as You, O Creator, are in me, and I in you, so also may they be one in us." St. Maximus wrote, "We remain creatures, while becoming God by grace." The whole of our being: body, mind, and soul: sacred and beautiful through and through...
Yeshua the Poet, Rumi the Ecstatic, Hildegard the Singer, Francis the Servant of Lepers, Dorothy, Saint of the Gutter Beautiful... and on and on... workers for the transfiguration of life and matter into the fullness of Only One... Immanent in the Universe, One Song is being sung, even by the stars and planets spinning in their galaxies... even by the smallest particles of possibilities waving in potential delight everywhere and nowhere at the same exact moment: One Song. Our one task is to join in the singing! Delight -- utter delight -- is our essence: the coming home of Lovers: the Union of Two, of Many, and of All into One: join in the singing: Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
The Feather
Amazed,
I watched the feather fall from the owl gliding
to a branch of the tree just in front of me --
the feather
falling into a mass of brambles:
sacred feather
a word for which my intelligence
cannot make the sound, so like brambles
I merely accept,
that I too will turn to dust
indeed, I am already turning
which reminds me of how much I love
the scent of brown, still
I cannot say the word
so I shift to music instead:
the flute, hollow wood and wind
and the breath of spirit upon the body
and the moon rising and shining
through the tree in which the owl
has already left... wordlessly,
its secret,
only in the Mind of God...
Matter
No meditation can ever be completed (or even begin) without the "darkening": does "matter" in fact matter? Many philosophers and religious thinkers have taught that "matter": earth and body: are as "necessary evils", as "essential illusions", or, at least as "challenges to be overcome". The modern mystic, though, informed by a holistic approach to both spirit and senses, seeks the integration of body, mind, and soul into a Unity with both Earth and the Divine. The rich, dark humus of earth is similar to the rich, dark, "stuff" of our life experiences: blended within our minds to nourish our bodies and enlighten our souls: beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
In the new solidarity paradigm of the modern mystic, the old way of the Universal Wisdom Teachings is returning: "How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites our family. All things are connected." (Chief Seattle, 1848)
For perhaps two, three, or four thousand years an attitude and practice of "domination" has been the spirituality, economics, and politics of much of the world. The Sacred Feminine was eclipsed by the Warrior God: fertility cults surrendered to Sky Worshippers: "enlightenment" came to mean a certain "sloughing off" of the body for the purity of spirit: home economics became rapacious exploitation: and communities defined by neighborliness became free markets and cheap labor at the service of corporate entities. The "Word" no longer became flesh: the "Word" was resurrected into something much better than flesh: and we could live with the promise that our "new bodies" would be free of every blemish and our sinful urges: we would be free! Contrast the earth wisdom of Chief Seattle with this from President Reagan's Secretary of the Interior James Watt: "Jesus will return when the last tree falls!"
Finally, though, "matter" is beginning to matter to the modern mystic-activist! We want our "Word" with flesh! We like the forbidden story of Yeshua the Poet kissing Mary Magdalene on the mouth -- and who knows where else! We like the freedom to explore our senses as we explore our souls! We like the feel of the deep, dark, earth beneath our naked feet and naked buttocks as well! With an aliveness denied to us earth-dwellers for thousands of years, the modern mystic-activist is re-visiting ancient memories of place and tribe, of relationships blessed by living and expanding partnerships, and neighborliness defined by sharing: matter matters! Whew! Breath can actually be free! Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Sensual exploration, tolerated in the young and discouraged in the mature, is finally following everyone else stepping out of the closet. Sensual exploration: not as an end in itself, but in recognition that we are, after all, "Words made flesh": mirrors of the Divine, who surveyed Creation and laughed, jumped up and down, and said "Oh! This is so Good!" Sensual exploration: in the Divine Relaxation of Acceptance: I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together: Beautiful! When matter matters, delight and solidarity seek our liberation! This is a quantum shift from our history of denial and oppression: free to love, delighted to serve, aware of equality, and awakened into Namaste: my soul bows to, and honors, the Divine within you: a new age can begin! This essential recognition of the inherent Divinity within everyone, and within everything is the real rEvolution sought by the modern mystic-activist: everything else is mere dressing for the wounds with which the Dominator Paradigm has inflicted upon everyone.
Do you understand? With Divinity both your Source and your essence, how can you be anything but beautiful? How can anyone be anything but beautiful? In awed awareness: we are all beautiful: how can we any longer allow for the exploitation or oppression of anyone, anywhere? How can we continue to justify predatory economics and legitimize Greed? How can we perpetuate the machinations of War? How can we exclude or marginalize women from any hall of power, secular or religious? How can the differences between humans be anything other than sacred? How can we exercise any Power whatsoever that does not lift up and serve?
When Pleasure is no longer, ever, measured in inches but instead in Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Equality is no longer, ever, counted in votes but always in Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Justice is no longer, ever, a distant goal but instead an everyday Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Peace is no longer, ever, a secondary option but rather the institutionalizing of Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Matter is no longer, ever, marginalized as unworthy of Reverence and Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve. When Religion is no longer, ever, a means or a tool for oppression or violence but always a revelation and practice of Kindness, we will be manifesting the change that we deserve... until then, the mystic-activist must join in Sacred Circles, organize, and practice: beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Every particle of our being cries out for Union! When all else is either written, said, or done: this single desire is all religion, all economics, and all politics: everything that nudges us, individually and collectively, into the conscious practice of Union -- Oneness -- is blessed and part of the Way. By the same token, everything that perpetuates the ideology of both division and domination is, at best, a relic of the past. The life of the mystic-activist is to expand her consciousness through contemplative practices and then to unleash the results through an activated compassion to build the New Solidarity Paradigm... Only One... One Love... One Love... One Love...
Red
Red is the sound I hear when I think of God
and the taste in my mouth
when I look out upon acres and acres of silence...
Turning in my sleep
it is your back that I curve into, a turning
attached to the red root of the world...
The sandy shore and the red waters
gave these stones into our hands, each
one for the pause between the letters of
I a m y o u r s a n d Y o u a r e m I n e...
I have been reading the book that you gave me
and on every page, sometimes jumbled, but
always there, red is the way you lift your foot
as you walk across the floor to me...
Sometimes I wonder, with the red
having years ago disappeared from my beard,
why it was that you stopped to look...
Peeling time like a blood-red orange,
I see everything pointing in one direction:
all along there was only you, and
the singular revelation of red...
Pregnant With Power
The world is pregnant with God. -- Bl. Angela of Foligno
From all eternity, God lies on a maternity bed giving birth. The essence of God is birthing. -- Meister Eckhart
We are all meant to be mothers of God. -- Meister Eckhart
Three quotations to spark a complete personal and global transformation! Attitude, perspective, and intention are literally everything in the development of the mystic-activist life: if one adopts the attitude that, indeed, the world is pregnant with God, then everything is a means of both grace and wonder. Every moment and every place is Temple. Every person and every thing exists as a revelation of Being and Love. This attitude compels in a gentle and transformative way, the annihilation of the "little self" of "me, myself, and I" for our much larger soul-self of We and All are One: this recognition of our Divine Unity changes everything: nothing is left untouched!
If the essence of God is birthing, then our perspective must undergo a radical re-orientation: our thoughts, words, and actions are sacred and the means given to us to manifest Paradise upon this precious blue Planet. By extension, all of our collective thoughts, words, and actions are as close to Paradise as we will ever get: in other words: everything now matters: everything hinges upon our new perspective to birth the Kind, the Just, and the Beautiful in all of our public policies and institutions: every justification for Greed, Exploitation, Inequality, Injustice, Oppression, and Violence is exposed in the light of the truth!
Finally, it is our intention to join together in the embrace of Love to give birth to Love through the "all" of our everyday lives: nothing is any longer under the veil of separation: everything is now "Only One". Finally living our destiny to become mothers of God, every step that we take is furthering this entire Planet upon the path of conscious evolution: we are choosing to cultivate bliss, reverence, beauty, harmlessness, and kindness: our surrender and adoration is to the One Love Consciousness who is Oneness. Everything fits into the completed puzzle of Compassion without limits. Every old religious division and every old political divide is bridged by our intention to outdo Love in loving: this Holy Competition (the only competition that is essentially meaningful) is the rEvolution of Yeshua the Poet and Rumi the Ecstatic! Our choice: attitude, perspective, and intention: and also the power of our possibilities!
Why? Why? Are you still wondering, why are attitudes, perspectives, and intentions so very, very, important? And why is the Holy Competition of Loving More so very important as life-style, economics, and politics? It is all so very, very, simple: you are worth the very best: you are worth Love... Beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you...
Soup Kitchen
Cooking soup -- a way of prayer:
Chopping vegetables.
Stirring and adding spices and herbs.
Aware of giving the slow breath...
Julio was murdered --
"A transient was found
By the railroad tracks."
Every breath is sacred...
Slicing bread.
Filling the water and juice pitchers.
Glancing at the clock -- one breath...
One minute
For breathing the beads in my hand.
Grace: silence and emptiness, waiting
For purity of heart...
The poverty of service:
Not looking for results
Beyond my own conversion,
One breath at a time...
Solidarity
Every spiritual practice and political action boils down to how do "I" -- not you, not a non-profit, and also not the government -- act towards those persons "who are the least among us". Every spiritual practice and political action is our specific and exact definition of "love your neighbor as yourself": there is neither religion nor a politics beyond this. Indeed, in mystical lore, the well-being of the entire Universe hinges upon but one act of Love: this act in this very moment: no one can take your place and no one can love in your stead: it is you: and it is always now.
The old Dominator Paradigm, of course, says otherwise: you are invited to pretend that you are free, that you are at liberty to choose: to act or not to act... to believe that you can pay someone to love in your place, or that you can believe in a "God" who has taken the responsibility for redemption upon his head and therefore you are free to hate, oppress, exploit, violate, or destroy: anyone or anything, because you are not responsible... you just need to donate some money and you just need to show up at Temple, Mosque, or Church... It is not your job...
On the other hand, though, that which is rising like bread all around us is the New Solidarity Paradigm: and the new invitation is not about redemption or responsibility, but about bliss and possibilities, instead. The New Solidarity Paradigm is the humble recognition that this precious blue Planet is our Home: we whirl somewhere in deep space, all together: woman, man, child, animal, water, soil, air, plant, and everything else that fills the Earth and our lives with wonder and hope. Oneness is our essential characteristic and the deepest truth of Reality. The New Solidarity Paradigm recognizes that this living web of inter-being defines the boundaries of life upon this Planet: we are all in this together: we need the bees to pollinate the flowers, just as the bees need us to save their species: we need the whales, dolphins, and fishes, because we really need the plankton to make oxygen for us to breathe. We need the children of the world to know that we are setting aside our models of domination and power because they are worth the very best! We need to accept that there is something so very much bigger and more important than any nation, than any religion, or than any economic system: we are -- all of us -- One. We rise and fall together: no one and no group progresses if anyone or another group falls behind...
While our Oneness is seemingly simple and obvious, it cuts to the very heart of the Dominator Paradigm which has given liberty to Power to wreak its will upon everyone and everything: separation and division are its calling cards: exploitation and oppression are its means: and the ends? The concentration of all "wisdom and power" into the "technique of the very few": a few corporations-become-persons-for-the-rule-of-the-world... aided and abetted by complicit politicians from every nation-state, the Dominator Paradigm continues to thrust ahead with vigor: crafting economic and trade treaties that destroy traditional cultures -- and not in the abstract, but in the control of seeds, soil, and water -- and that further concentrates rights into the corporate "hands" of the few... While this is the "reality" of the Dominator Paradigm, our genuine humanity is a much deeper "Reality" and so much more attractive! Justice for all and the practice of Beauty in acts of Kindness and Creativity are sources of life and are radiant with possibilities: economic democracy is the wave of the future whose time is already upon us...
Resistance to the Dominator Paradigm must become broad-based and enlightening: enlightening is the key! The way of separation and division will not yield the results we seek: we must be creative, like farmers who give life to seed by good stewardship: Oneness must be both the means and the ends! Enlightening means to build alternatives in the very midst of the dominant culture: Gandhi taught that a "constructive program" is the heart of nonviolent revolution and so it is the way forward into the New Solidarity Paradigm. "Indie" and "occupy" everything: but especially in neighborhoods and in service: this is why so many movements have either failed or been co-opted! Solidarity has to be neighbors who care about one another, about intentional communities, and about service for the wider common good: love is the most contagious force in the world! When the wider culture takes notice of hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of neighborhood communities constructing a nonviolent economic democracy -- that works -- in the here and now and that those people involved are happier and more creatively satisfied with life than before than the rEvolution will already be won! And the hallmark of the New Solidarity Paradigm? Why not the "Holy Competition of Love"? What do people hunger for? Do not we hunger for "bread, blankets, and roses"? Think about it... and then "Love Loudly!" And pass it on: beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you... Welcome Home!
The Magnificat of Mary
My heart surrenders unto the One!
My being expands to embrace the stars!
I am happy in this vibrancy that knows no limits,
and in my dreams that are also unbounded!
The One has shared a glance with me,
like the Sun at mid-night.
I know this: for all time
I will be remembered as Love's Delight!
For the Holy One has done marvelous deeds for me --
holy, holy, do you not see that everything is holy?
Mercy and Kindness are the raiment of the One,
and the gift toward all those with hearts shattered by life.
Look! Do you not see the Compassion
of the Holy One falling like a soft rain
upon the drought-stricken fields?
The One scatters the strong, the rich,
and the powerful as chaff upon the wind!
Arrogance and violence
cannot open the door to Paradise!
Thrones will be emptied and courts torn down!
The assemblies of the mighty
mean less than nothing to the One!
Ah, but the lowly, the homeless,
the poor, and all those pushed
to every margin will be brought back
into the Center of the Sacred Heart.
The hungry will have their fill,
while the rich with their plans and schemes
will be reduced to nothing!
The One is here! The One is Alive!
Now watch me!
(Resplendent In Rags)
The Divine Feminine
"When we speak of divine matters, we have to stammer, because we are forced to express our experiences in words."
-- Meister Eckhart
"God is voluptuous and delicious." -- Meister Eckhart
"In compassion justice and peace kiss." -- Meister Eckhart
The Dominator Paradigm effectively eliminated the common sense of the Mother present in Nature and separated the Divine from creation. With the marginalization of the Divine Feminine, there began the near universal oppression of women: endorsed by religion, the oppression of women also had the effect of denying Nature, soul, the body and sexuality, and imagination. When Oneness was forgotten, Technique became both means and ends with the great harvest of suffering and sadness that the 21st century has inherited...
But like a great underground river, the Divine Feminine never ceased its steady, though hidden, flow to the Sea. Mystics of all the world have been embraced by the Divine Feminine: "Know the male, but keep to the female" wrote the Chinese sage Lao-Tzu. "True divinity is female" also wrote Ibn 'Arabi perhaps the greatest Sufi-Muslim philosopher ever. Rumi, Francis, Hildegard, Juliana, Ramakrishna, and Aurobindo are others of note who experienced the Unity of the Holy One as both / neither male and female. The resurgence of the Divine Feminine in the latter half of the 20th century coincided with advances in psychology, inter-faith spirituality, feminism, gay rights, environmentalism, organic agriculture, nonviolent thought and action, and the re-reading and re-imagining of Sacred Scriptures through many relatively recent discoveries of long-hidden Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Mary Magdalene... The works of Riane Eisler, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Rosemary Radford Reuther, Karen Armstrong, Caroline Myss, Elaine Pagels, and Margaret Starbird from among many others have energized a spirituality that is holistic: embracing the insights and gifts of both men and women...
Deeper than insight is Divine Truth: not the "truth" that brings with it the force, either covert or overt, of domination. Divine Truth has no need to manipulate or to terrorize. If "Truth" purports to be "Divine" than it must be obviously better than the very best humanity or nature has to offer: so what would the best of humanity be? Of course, we have start with the "least": women the world-over and throughout time who have suffered and struggled through labor and child-birth: Divine Truth would have to be even more so generous and gracious! Then we would, I think, jump to nature: say, the glory of the Amazon rain forest: Divine Truth would have to be sublimely and wondrously beautiful! Next, let's think of music: perhaps Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, "Ode to Joy", could represent our human love for music: Divine Truth would not only be music to our ears and souls, but it would make our very hearts both shatter and heal at the very same time: Divine Truth would sing! Perhaps then, of all of our human activities, we could think of play: playing is not unique to humans, but perhaps the passion with which we play is! Therefore, Divine Truth must be passionately playful! I think next of work: creating and sustaining a Universe might require some sort of "work", and the Universe certainly gives evidence of a studious, if wild, craftsmanship... but let's focus on the work and gift of food and the great human art of creating a wonderful meal for family and friends and the profoundly human connection to sharing meals with those we love: Divine Truth must likewise be humble, good, joyous, and perhaps very edible. Finally, of everything else we could think of, let's lastly settle for sexual: humans, both male and female, are through and through sexual beings: some of us can make love to a tree or a table or a stranger just through a passing glance or touch: some of us have skins that stretch over acres of Light: some of us have awakened into life as very willing students... our hearts have become the textbooks that we read and share: some of us have learned that every human encounter is a form of either "making love" or a waste of time: in other words, some of us have awakened into the possibility of Love-Without-Limits, which must surely be another trait of Divine Truth! You might have noticed that here there has been no reference to the writing of a scripture: too many wars have been -- and are still being fought -- over scriptures: perhaps it could finally be enough if Nature and Every Human were "scripture alive and present": read this for awhile and appreciate your possibilities! If I would add just one more thing, sort of circling back to where this particular paragraph began and considering the very best of our human characteristics, skills, gifts, and passions: and then magnifying all of those without end, I would have to conclude that Divine Truth would best be described as simply "Mother": the "Divine Amma", breath of our breath, and love of our love... endlessly...
So we can all put down our theologies, our politics, our justifications, our manipulations, and our penchant for domination: and breathe the free air of Divinity Pregnant with Endless Delight: endlessly giving birth to all that is and Imagining all that Might Be: and Imagining us too as Possibilitarians Loving Without Limits and building the Earth with Kindness, Compassion, Justice, Equality, and Peace for All and Everything. We can call, once again, upon our Divine Mother to inspire, to feed, and to guide us on our journeys through life... Amma with our every breath... beautiful are you... beautiful are you... beautiful are you... and, forever and always: Welcome Home!
