The Gospel-Tao Blog
April 16, 2024
Gospel-Tao is a completely different -- radical-to-the-roots -- Way of Life: none of this "glory be" isolation from the mystic quest... "We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names." (Nikita Gill) While most religionists are theologically addicted to "sin", the mystic is most often very quietly going about the business of shedding one's cultural (socially constructed systems of conformity and control) addiction to ego consciousness...
It is likely that a significant majority (?) of Americans are / sometimes "Christian", those who identify as turning to Jesus as a Wisdom Teacher are, in comparison, few in number. Faith, for most, is sort of like an Easter Egg without the hunt... but identification is like an interior consciousness-explosion... both are accents upon belief, but only one is rEvolutionary... So I ask you what is the core "wisdom" of Jesus? The answer is a humble intimacy with gospel-tao: the Kingdom of Heaven is within you... our living is the mystic-door to identification... Identification is the slow work of ridding our consciousness of our ideas of separation: we are not separate from anything in the universe... empty-mind is a meditation practice that extends through our skin into life and into everyone / and everything we encounter...
More, "Empty yourself of everything, let the mind become still. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the self watches their return. They grow and flourisn and then return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness which is the way of nature." (Tao Te Ching) This is a mystic-correspondence with Jesus' the kingdom of heaven is within you... Coherence is the quantum way of saying the same thing: since no one is somehow separate from anyone else, "I was hungry and you fed me" is the practical "policy" of conscious-coherence, while "I was hungry and you did not feed me" is the egoic-consciousness that sees only separation, feeds upon it, justifies it, and implements it even as an article of faith!
Meanwhile, the sound of rain upon our roof is presenting itself as an opportunity to surrender into a stillness... in silent simplicity...
April 15, 2024
Wars-wars-wars... I continue sick in grief... grief does not make me better than anyone else, that much is for sure... but, though I have, throughout my life, pondered my very deep emotions-empathy for all those for whom to live means little more than suffering: there has proven to be no relief from my solidarity-suffering... no kidding, but I know with an intimate surety exactly why the Suffering Servant had no choice but to die in his evident solidarity with all of those who continue to live as the suffering poor: victims of violence, injustice, exploitation, and with every creature ever created... Every pain is the pain of this Suffering Servant... he may be "resurrected", but only into a resurrection of endless suffering: after all, he is the revelation of infinite Love... "one-and-done" is a theologians gaffe... We sad little humans (at least those living in adoration of the Unholy Trinity of Profits, Privilege, and Power) continue our sad little chant for his on-going crucifixion... by our silence, by our complicity, by our taxes, and by our votes...
We've no choice but to resist by loving as much as we can, as much as our courage will allow...
April 6, 2024
Greetings Friends,
My heart has been so heavy in recent months with the endless horrors of war that it has been difficult to write... nevertheless, I am going to try once more. Gospel-Tao is the root idea, or experiential philosophy, that deeply motivates my life / mind / heart. For years I struggled with my passions from the "either / or" perspective, but in my Thomas Merton studies, I've come to realize that, beyond the sectarian divides, there is an "earthy wholeness" to spirituality as it is lived, not necessarily as it is preached in the "one size fits all" churches. I look forward to exploring with you the heart-mysticism that is gospel-tao...
An essential aspect of gospel-tao is the Gandhian trinity of Truth, Nonviolence, and Simplicity... Can't you imagine how things would be so different if political, religious, economic, and cultural leaders and influencers were to sincerely practice truth, nonviolence, and simplicity? And yet, despite the fact that truth, nonviolence, and simplicity were at the heart of both the teachings of Jesus and of Lao Tzu, neither America nor China, nor most believers / followers, are particularly interested in this Gandhian trinity...
How can that be?
While the core teaching of Jesus was the kingdom of heaven is within you, similarly, Lao Tzu presented the case for the humble, simple, natural human being in tune with the Mystery of both Life and Things: inter-abiding as with every human and with the Invisible Way... this core teaching has been marginalized through the pile-on of theologies and justifications for not doing the kingdom of heaven: not-doing presents the non-way of an easy-way of worship and of not-doing-in-a-vapid-circle-of-endless-repeat... When belief became a legitimate substitute for lives of awakened intention, "correct belief" not only became fighting words, but worse, excuses for living lives of incredible meanness and dullness...
Tao is most often translated into English as "way", although Red Pine has made a case for "dark-moon-mother-rebirth": Te is understood to be "the way" or practice of and into the experience of Tao. Jesus identifies himself as Way as did his early followers, leaving little doubt that he and they were practicing the kingdom... The Beatitudes of both Matthew and Luke, along with the well-known parable of the "last judgment" (I was hungry and you fed me... or not) again indicate Way as both intentional practice and, as it were, a doorway into the kingdom of heaven life...
When the Anti-Trinity of Profits-Privilege-Power became the hidden "meaning" of both Gospel and Tao, we all have all suffered the horrible consequences and likewise confront a global future of horrible becoming horrific... Seeing this is to wonder with Dorothy Day as to how to bring about a true revolution of heart: if in fact Dorothy Day were here now she would, no doubt, ask why not cultivate a mass conversion into awakened intention and practice?
Indeed, what if?
So here is another "definition" of the Blessed Trinity: What if? Why not? What Next?