Boo Theology!
Meditation is Timeless... even if five minutes is all that you can manage... even if one breath only -- in and out in a mindful tranquility -- is all that is possible for you in the midst of this day in your life...
Likewise, Compassion is Effortless... even if the adoration of one flower left on the stem, left on the plant, as you pause is all that you can do right now... even if it is only one bowl of soup that you cook, and that you take and give to the old homeless man in the park...
Do you remember the old childhood game of hide-and-seek? Do you remember a favorite hiding place --- perhaps you would hide in a dark closet and squirm as you listened to the approaching steps, daring to breathe in only the quietest, slowest, breath possible even though you were just this side of ready-to-burst -- and then suddenly the door opens and you rise and triumphantly shout "Boo!" -- do you remember?
In very much the same way, the Holy One, the One Love "Quantum" Consciousness, is on just-the-other-side of wherever we are hiding -- living our one precious life. The Holy One is "hiding in the closet" of our breath: waiting with pregnant anticipation of our opening the door so She can rise and shout Her ecstatic "Boo!" As our breath, so too our hearts: the Holy One is within our hearts, yearning for Her liberation in our activated compassion and love: Her very own essence and identity...
Cultivating the spirit of an awakening illumination, the practitioner of the Way of Love, lives a daily experience of "Anticipating Boo!". In reviewing a sequence of days -- not in the terminal disgust of sin, but rather in the enthusiastic search for delight -- it is possible to recognize those moments in which grace suddenly appeared, as an Angel in the Mundane... the scent of lavender on the morning breeze, the sound of children laughing as you walked through the park, the sight of volunteers working on a Habitat house, the kindness of a clerk in a local grocery store, or the responsive "Thank you" for the dollar you gave to the ragged-man on the highway off-ramp... or the two minutes between clients when you paused and centered your mind in your heart and breathed peace and goodness before carrying on with your work... or the feelings you had of a welcoming love and compassion when hearing a story on the NPR station about immigrant children on the border... or the words you penned and sent off to a local newspaper about social justice being a requirement for lasting peace... or the demonstration for equality that you marched in with your children because they needed to see you in action for the good of others... All of these -- and all of the many "incarnations" of the One Love Consciousness that can truly fill our days -- are the evidences of "Boo!" and the steady transformation of the mundane into the Radiance of life lived, closer and closer, to the Real Reality...
The essential wisdom of "Boo!" is the acceptance of the Mystery of the Universe and of Consciousness -- while many folks find the balm of quietude and certainty in a profession of faith, wisdom is, instead, a perpetual "shove out the door" and into the wild garden of wonder and doubt: the sacred twins of Imagination... Instead of locking the Divine in the box of our chosen definition, we can choose the alternate path of "not knowing", and so enter the freedom of "Boo!" Warring fundamentalists should really be all the proof that we need that we do not need them (any of them) anymore -- except as disarmed brothers and sisters -- (how we will disarm them is another matter altogether needing deep consideration)... For awhile perhaps, we thought we were part of the in-crowd with all of the right answers: now we know we are "outlaws" with Lao-Tzu, Siddhartha, Yeshua, Rumi, Mirabai, Lalla, and Kuan Yin: embraced by Mystery, we have decided that our one quest is our transformation into Love: and that is enough for a meaningful life! Not just in the midst of the suffering that is this world, but down deep into the rub of tears and grit, we may begin to choose a "free-flowing" perspective of spontaneous possibilities...
Mysticism: Proximity to Possibilities
The goal of the golden-mystic-thread sewn within the huge tapestry of religion is wisdom -- not so much "knowledge" as it is an "unknowing". Mystics, continuing the ancient insights of a Universal Gnosticism, re-read the stories of their respective faith traditions as signs -- or conjectures -- which were meant to point to the Wisdom Path and how one might begin to entertain the proximity to possibilities... Fundamentalists of every stripe, on the other hand, still stamp "Holy" upon their scriptures -- usually considering every other scripture to be "un-holy" -- and are always more concerned with obedience and submission instead of a humble adoration and surrender. Mystics concern themselves with the inspirations behind their myths, choosing the "uncertainty" of experience over the convictions and creeds of the official gatekeepers of God.
The initial intention of the mystic (or gnostic) is to free herself from the limitations of both religious creeds and cultural identities -- the common way of self-definition, and always in fundamental opposition to others. The mystic instead seeks the direct experience of the core of the Mystery of Unity or Oneness with and within the One and every existent creature or thing. It seems that the radical interior stripping that follows every asking of this, the first, Question: "Who am I?" The mystic intuits, "Not this" and "Not that" seemingly without limits. This is perhaps the most important initiatory exercise. Ramana Maharshi followed this question into enlightenment -- pure consciousness before thought: one can easily imagine him as following the path of annihilation tread before him by centuries of mystics...
The second intention of the mystic is the cultivation of beauty and the contemplative life. The great pagan philosopher, Pythagoras, initiated the creation of schools of life, or contemplative communities that "actively" fostered beauty, music, science, and the satisfaction of "enough" (later copied by Christian monastics). Nature, or the Universal Mother, is understood by the mystic as the Great Teacher whose wisdom is best approached through attunement (at-one-ment) -- not through either definition or domination. This intentional cultivation of beauty and contemplation makes for the creation of a sanctuary for the exploration of the next two fundamental questions: "How is it that we all ended up in this perpetual mess of conflict?" and "Is there any way out?"
The third intention of the awakening mystic is the centering of the active will in the heart -- and the individual heart within the Cosmic Heart. Only when the active will is intentionally placed in the service of the Holy Other, as represented by Every Other, can the mystic transcend his identity as a self for the liberation of the Self. How is this transcendence accomplished? Transcendence only "awakens" or "appears" through the practice of an immanent compassion: "First, live in a compassionate way, and then you will know." (Siddhartha, the Buddha). Awakening is the steady, daily, moment-by-moment, surrender to an ever-expanding heart of compassion: one loves the Holy One in exact proportion, and no more, than the person (or group) that one loves the least. This is the essence of the mystic-science. There is nothing "higher" that one can learn -- compassion isn't another rung on the ladder of enlightenment: it is the entire ladder, and the one who steps and the one who falls and the one who rises: the beginning and the end.
Boo Theology is the awareness that adoration and surrender are, as it were, the "two hands of awakening", just as service and justice are the hands of compassion. One could say that these "hands" are the spokes of the Great Wheel of the Way of Love... Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave us a clear vision of where this Great Wheel is turning: "Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community." King also clearly articulated the how of getting there: "Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice; justice at its best, is love correcting everything that stands against love."
Conversion
So, where do we go from here?
I think that to ask this question is to ponder, first of all, the meaning of conversion: fundamentally, conversion is not a turning away from one's past or erroneous thoughts (although that could be helpful). Instead, conversion really means to turn one's face -- one's entire being -- and affections toward that which one wants to become. The unconditional love of the Holy One is the pole-star of conversion: we are meant for That, to become That! Our conversion is activated -- not by a change of opinion -- but by every act of kindness, mercy, and caring that we practice in our everyday moments and equally in our public politics. Conversion is enlivened by every act of service, justice, and compassion -- connected, in fact the world over -- to every other act of service, justice, and compassion: and becoming ever-renewed in the Great Turning towards the Beloved Community.
Conversion is the passionate pursuit of Love / Self Realization through an activated will for the good and beautiful. Conversion is never about the convenient or the comfortable: rather, it is the steady dis-comfort of loving more than a slogan ever anticipates. Conversion is the unbinding of the human heart to love like Lazarus: awakened to the New Morning of a brand new Sun: Leap! There is nothing holding you back now! You are Lazarus -- we are Lazarus the moment we look into the Face of Love and accept every radical consequence of Being Love Now: know that you are worthy of everything, of Love, and of dying again into the arms of Love: you can serve, you can build justice, and you can become the living embodiment of compassion... This is the rEvolution of awakening: of Boo!
Didn't the Master say something like, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? That is the entirety of Boo! That is the Way of Love and the mystic-awakening: here's the thing: the Holy One, the One Love Quantum Consciousness, endlessly invites the Holy Competition of Loving More... "Love one another as I have loved you" is the challenge tossed down: all religion, all economics, all politics, and all culture is meant to be an enactment of this Holy Competition: who can / will love more: us or the Holy One? Who will search out the lost, lonely, and broken and say "Boo! Welcome Home!"? Who will arrange their national / international economics to facilitate the full development and liberation of every person? Who will unleash the collective will for saving and serving this precious blue Planet? Who will creatively construct a nonviolent social order based on our mutual solidarity, service, and equality? Who will, finally, open every door to women and girls into equal privilege and full partnership with men and boys? All of this, and more, is totally about love-in-action and not love-in-dreams...
Thus, there are two essential aspects to conversion and liberation: one is our turn towards that which we want to become, and the other is our commitment to the rEvolution: building resistance and alternatives to social injustice, oppression, exploitation, and violence. Conversion and liberation are absolutely meaningless if they are not experienced as a consequence of compassion and directly linked to the liberation of every other person in equality and justice. All privilege and power must submit to the absolute necessity of building the Earth for the Common Good: no one has an inherent right to either privilege and power so long as other human beings needlessly suffer. Liberation is the super-natural consequence of conversion: it is only out of a new Solidarity Paradigm that an expansion, or evolution, of consciousness can arise...
Meditation is Timeless... even if five minutes is all that you can manage... even if one breath only -- in and out in a mindful tranquility -- is all that is possible for you in the midst of this day in your life...
Likewise, Compassion is Effortless... even if the adoration of one flower left on the stem, left on the plant, as you pause is all that you can do right now... even if it is only one bowl of soup that you cook, and that you take and give to the old homeless man in the park...
Do you remember the old childhood game of hide-and-seek? Do you remember a favorite hiding place --- perhaps you would hide in a dark closet and squirm as you listened to the approaching steps, daring to breathe in only the quietest, slowest, breath possible even though you were just this side of ready-to-burst -- and then suddenly the door opens and you rise and triumphantly shout "Boo!" -- do you remember?
In very much the same way, the Holy One, the One Love "Quantum" Consciousness, is on just-the-other-side of wherever we are hiding -- living our one precious life. The Holy One is "hiding in the closet" of our breath: waiting with pregnant anticipation of our opening the door so She can rise and shout Her ecstatic "Boo!" As our breath, so too our hearts: the Holy One is within our hearts, yearning for Her liberation in our activated compassion and love: Her very own essence and identity...
Cultivating the spirit of an awakening illumination, the practitioner of the Way of Love, lives a daily experience of "Anticipating Boo!". In reviewing a sequence of days -- not in the terminal disgust of sin, but rather in the enthusiastic search for delight -- it is possible to recognize those moments in which grace suddenly appeared, as an Angel in the Mundane... the scent of lavender on the morning breeze, the sound of children laughing as you walked through the park, the sight of volunteers working on a Habitat house, the kindness of a clerk in a local grocery store, or the responsive "Thank you" for the dollar you gave to the ragged-man on the highway off-ramp... or the two minutes between clients when you paused and centered your mind in your heart and breathed peace and goodness before carrying on with your work... or the feelings you had of a welcoming love and compassion when hearing a story on the NPR station about immigrant children on the border... or the words you penned and sent off to a local newspaper about social justice being a requirement for lasting peace... or the demonstration for equality that you marched in with your children because they needed to see you in action for the good of others... All of these -- and all of the many "incarnations" of the One Love Consciousness that can truly fill our days -- are the evidences of "Boo!" and the steady transformation of the mundane into the Radiance of life lived, closer and closer, to the Real Reality...
The essential wisdom of "Boo!" is the acceptance of the Mystery of the Universe and of Consciousness -- while many folks find the balm of quietude and certainty in a profession of faith, wisdom is, instead, a perpetual "shove out the door" and into the wild garden of wonder and doubt: the sacred twins of Imagination... Instead of locking the Divine in the box of our chosen definition, we can choose the alternate path of "not knowing", and so enter the freedom of "Boo!" Warring fundamentalists should really be all the proof that we need that we do not need them (any of them) anymore -- except as disarmed brothers and sisters -- (how we will disarm them is another matter altogether needing deep consideration)... For awhile perhaps, we thought we were part of the in-crowd with all of the right answers: now we know we are "outlaws" with Lao-Tzu, Siddhartha, Yeshua, Rumi, Mirabai, Lalla, and Kuan Yin: embraced by Mystery, we have decided that our one quest is our transformation into Love: and that is enough for a meaningful life! Not just in the midst of the suffering that is this world, but down deep into the rub of tears and grit, we may begin to choose a "free-flowing" perspective of spontaneous possibilities...
Mysticism: Proximity to Possibilities
The goal of the golden-mystic-thread sewn within the huge tapestry of religion is wisdom -- not so much "knowledge" as it is an "unknowing". Mystics, continuing the ancient insights of a Universal Gnosticism, re-read the stories of their respective faith traditions as signs -- or conjectures -- which were meant to point to the Wisdom Path and how one might begin to entertain the proximity to possibilities... Fundamentalists of every stripe, on the other hand, still stamp "Holy" upon their scriptures -- usually considering every other scripture to be "un-holy" -- and are always more concerned with obedience and submission instead of a humble adoration and surrender. Mystics concern themselves with the inspirations behind their myths, choosing the "uncertainty" of experience over the convictions and creeds of the official gatekeepers of God.
The initial intention of the mystic (or gnostic) is to free herself from the limitations of both religious creeds and cultural identities -- the common way of self-definition, and always in fundamental opposition to others. The mystic instead seeks the direct experience of the core of the Mystery of Unity or Oneness with and within the One and every existent creature or thing. It seems that the radical interior stripping that follows every asking of this, the first, Question: "Who am I?" The mystic intuits, "Not this" and "Not that" seemingly without limits. This is perhaps the most important initiatory exercise. Ramana Maharshi followed this question into enlightenment -- pure consciousness before thought: one can easily imagine him as following the path of annihilation tread before him by centuries of mystics...
The second intention of the mystic is the cultivation of beauty and the contemplative life. The great pagan philosopher, Pythagoras, initiated the creation of schools of life, or contemplative communities that "actively" fostered beauty, music, science, and the satisfaction of "enough" (later copied by Christian monastics). Nature, or the Universal Mother, is understood by the mystic as the Great Teacher whose wisdom is best approached through attunement (at-one-ment) -- not through either definition or domination. This intentional cultivation of beauty and contemplation makes for the creation of a sanctuary for the exploration of the next two fundamental questions: "How is it that we all ended up in this perpetual mess of conflict?" and "Is there any way out?"
The third intention of the awakening mystic is the centering of the active will in the heart -- and the individual heart within the Cosmic Heart. Only when the active will is intentionally placed in the service of the Holy Other, as represented by Every Other, can the mystic transcend his identity as a self for the liberation of the Self. How is this transcendence accomplished? Transcendence only "awakens" or "appears" through the practice of an immanent compassion: "First, live in a compassionate way, and then you will know." (Siddhartha, the Buddha). Awakening is the steady, daily, moment-by-moment, surrender to an ever-expanding heart of compassion: one loves the Holy One in exact proportion, and no more, than the person (or group) that one loves the least. This is the essence of the mystic-science. There is nothing "higher" that one can learn -- compassion isn't another rung on the ladder of enlightenment: it is the entire ladder, and the one who steps and the one who falls and the one who rises: the beginning and the end.
Boo Theology is the awareness that adoration and surrender are, as it were, the "two hands of awakening", just as service and justice are the hands of compassion. One could say that these "hands" are the spokes of the Great Wheel of the Way of Love... Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave us a clear vision of where this Great Wheel is turning: "Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community." King also clearly articulated the how of getting there: "Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice; justice at its best, is love correcting everything that stands against love."
Conversion
So, where do we go from here?
I think that to ask this question is to ponder, first of all, the meaning of conversion: fundamentally, conversion is not a turning away from one's past or erroneous thoughts (although that could be helpful). Instead, conversion really means to turn one's face -- one's entire being -- and affections toward that which one wants to become. The unconditional love of the Holy One is the pole-star of conversion: we are meant for That, to become That! Our conversion is activated -- not by a change of opinion -- but by every act of kindness, mercy, and caring that we practice in our everyday moments and equally in our public politics. Conversion is enlivened by every act of service, justice, and compassion -- connected, in fact the world over -- to every other act of service, justice, and compassion: and becoming ever-renewed in the Great Turning towards the Beloved Community.
Conversion is the passionate pursuit of Love / Self Realization through an activated will for the good and beautiful. Conversion is never about the convenient or the comfortable: rather, it is the steady dis-comfort of loving more than a slogan ever anticipates. Conversion is the unbinding of the human heart to love like Lazarus: awakened to the New Morning of a brand new Sun: Leap! There is nothing holding you back now! You are Lazarus -- we are Lazarus the moment we look into the Face of Love and accept every radical consequence of Being Love Now: know that you are worthy of everything, of Love, and of dying again into the arms of Love: you can serve, you can build justice, and you can become the living embodiment of compassion... This is the rEvolution of awakening: of Boo!
Didn't the Master say something like, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? That is the entirety of Boo! That is the Way of Love and the mystic-awakening: here's the thing: the Holy One, the One Love Quantum Consciousness, endlessly invites the Holy Competition of Loving More... "Love one another as I have loved you" is the challenge tossed down: all religion, all economics, all politics, and all culture is meant to be an enactment of this Holy Competition: who can / will love more: us or the Holy One? Who will search out the lost, lonely, and broken and say "Boo! Welcome Home!"? Who will arrange their national / international economics to facilitate the full development and liberation of every person? Who will unleash the collective will for saving and serving this precious blue Planet? Who will creatively construct a nonviolent social order based on our mutual solidarity, service, and equality? Who will, finally, open every door to women and girls into equal privilege and full partnership with men and boys? All of this, and more, is totally about love-in-action and not love-in-dreams...
Thus, there are two essential aspects to conversion and liberation: one is our turn towards that which we want to become, and the other is our commitment to the rEvolution: building resistance and alternatives to social injustice, oppression, exploitation, and violence. Conversion and liberation are absolutely meaningless if they are not experienced as a consequence of compassion and directly linked to the liberation of every other person in equality and justice. All privilege and power must submit to the absolute necessity of building the Earth for the Common Good: no one has an inherent right to either privilege and power so long as other human beings needlessly suffer. Liberation is the super-natural consequence of conversion: it is only out of a new Solidarity Paradigm that an expansion, or evolution, of consciousness can arise...
