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Ecstasy As the Way

9/8/2016

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        Exploring an Alternative To the Dominator Paradigm

What is an essential alternative to the prevailing dominator paradigm that infests nearly every social institution the world over? How might we actualize the spirit of compassion, equality, and justice? Was Yeshua just pulling our collective leg when he said something along the lines of "Love is all around you -- but you do not see"?

According to the mystics, we live, move, and have our very being immersed in One Love -- who / which is everywhere and everything -- nothing exists but this "Quantum Consciousness": on just the other side of the manifested Universe. If this is true, then perhaps ecstasy is the path forward into this rEvolutionary delight. Rumi talks about the reed pulled from the stream bed and of how it longs to return to its source. This longing for intimacy and identification with the Beloved is the key for unlocking the treasures of the heart -- and for the ecstasy that will power the transformation that this moment of time holds out for us. Ecstasy is the conscious, deliberate, cultivation of Sacred Imagination for the liberation of this Planet and the life that it supports. And ecstasy, as the activating energy of creative imagination, even offers the possibility of the redemption of Time itself by un-creating evil, the negative, the destructive, the oppressive and the "ugly"...

Ecstasy, as the Way, means to cultivate the longing of the reed: it means to risk everything for the chance / opportunity to love! This bowl of soup freely given with no expectations of "results" or of "success" is enough. This deep bow of respect for the "other" is enough: this welcoming of the illegal immigrant, of the LGBT, of the Muslim as equal: is enough! This kind word, this momentary embrace of a wounded being, this counsel in distress, this uplifting thought: it is all enough. Ecstasy is the deliberate removal of every barrier in our our minds and hearts, and then outward into our communities. Ecstasy can activate a sustainable rEvolutionary movement with which this precious blue Planet can be healed. Ecstasy is the mystical understanding that at the sub-atomic level, everything is very "loose". It all interpenetrates. It makes the rounds from star-seed to life-seed...

Ecstasy is the "Lover" hiding in your closet! On the other side of the perceptions of "men are meant for the domination of both women and planet", of "violence and exploitation are necessary to Christian values", and of "even heaven is for sale", is our vague spiritual remembrance of the paradise of possibilities that is our divine inheritance. This "remembrance" is ecstasy: this glance, this word, this touch, this kiss... this act of service, of mercy, of kindness and justice... this moment is pregnant with the possibility of transformation: and here's the key: "Only One". In every way let this become your prayer, your meditation, your religion, your politics, your passion, and your play... It's sort of like this: you are in a car going down the road, but the road is inside of you, and you've already arrived home... So get very loose! Get out of your skin and out of every other boundary or box in which you find yourself placed: get out, stay out, cultivate your bliss -- and become part of the gathering circles...  
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    Author

    Robert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in Salinas, California. Together with his wife, Michelle, they founded an intentional community called the 'Companions of the Way', also in Salinas. Robert and Michelle are community organizers, Catholic Worker renegades, sacred activists, writers, poets, artists, Divine Mother devotees, and practitioners of Kriya Yoga as taught by Rev. Ellen Grace O'Brian of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment. Michelle is also a Montessori public school teacher. Robert is also an ordained Interfaith Minister.

    ​"Currently living in the Midwest, we are imagining and preparing for our next adventure: beginning another intentional community modeled after the Franciscan / Catholic Worker vision, and the Findhorn Community in Scotland, and serving disadvantaged children and youth." 

    ​
    Might you share our passion for intentional possibilities, for the practice of beauty, and for living lives of deep purpose and a nonviolent kindness?

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