 As one plunges deeper into the One Reality, a spirit of reverence -- indeed, of adoration -- becomes the "eye" through which one sees: the Holy is not separate from the all of manifested creation! Everywhere one looks, there is "Only One" and that "One" is wholly Holy! Cloud, blue sky, movement of wind, swinging grasses, rising flowers, birds, animals, flowing waters, lakes, mountains, trees, and oceans: everything is a revelation of wonder and the presence of the One Love: transcendent and immanent: both at the very same time... The mystic continues through the creatures to the beyond: to the One without form, before ideas and thought: into the Garden of What if? Everywhere the One is Alive and Present: this mystic awareness is as the free flow of the breath: infusing being with essence and divinity: now identified by the uncreated energy of the One Love Consciousness: and evolving into a living paradise... this "knowing" puts an entirely different flavor into the debate about climate change and our human place and relationship to and with Nature... For millennia, humans have striven to dominate Nature: to get "it" under control as much as possible: eradicate the wild and then conserve the remnants into "parks" for viewing; dam (damn) the wild rivers; make "accessible" the highest peaks with tour guides, snack stands, or helicopters; manipulate genetics; decode the mysteries; and subjugate anything that didn't serve the obvious ends of industry-technology-consumption-dominator paradigm... Profit! Let us all bow and pray to the God of our Human Design (the best economic system and God ever)! Look and see how the so-called Conservatives scrape their noses to the ground before the Sacred Altar of Profit! Look and see how the so-called Liberals bend over backwards to keep their noses off the ground -- but how ironic -- look where they place them instead! Argue this and argue that: all for someone's entertainment! But wouldn't you just know it, there is always more to the story... On the margins -- always on the margins -- the Ancient Goddess, the Shaman, the Mystic, and the Prophet continue to give voice to the Right Relationship that is both our birthright and the original vision of Paradise... The impulse and drive to dominate is not the Way forward into our destiny: only the "right relationship" of mystic surrender and adoration will carry this precious blue Planet forward: so how to activate conscience and consciousness to the One Love of the Holy One? How to reconcile the human with the purpose of conscious evolution? These sacred questions are the heart of the "climate change" debate: without the deep thinking of mystic awareness, we serve only the continued expansion of the Dominator Paradigm: neither conservative nor liberal: but freely-human-to-the-perfection-of-love: radical -- "to the roots" -- compassionate activists for the liberation of All" "To adore now has come to mean pledging oneself body and soul to creative act.." (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)... "To pledge oneself to creative act" is to stand for that which is way beyond both conservative and liberal: it is to stand with this precious blue Planet and serve an entirely new and different paradigm. Why should we believe and support the justified destruction of this Planet because it fits the dominator model of religious and social organization -- in which a few men get to reap the spoils of our obedience? What is the latest statistic -- 85 individuals have the combined wealth of the "bottom" 3.5 billion persons on the Planet? Who's got the military and police? Who's got the governments and legislators? Who's got the technocrats and social servants? Who's got the media conglomerates? [Hint: it isn't the bottom 3.5 billion.] Ah, but who has the actual liberating power of Love for their creative use? Who has the mystic support of the life-systems of this Planet? And who has the power of every "What if?" and "Why not?" possibility? [Hint: it isn't the top 85.] Finally, give an attentive eye to the words of Pierre Teilhard once again: "Being resigned, formerly could signify passive acceptance of present conditions of the universe. Being resigned now will be no longer allowed, save to the warrior fainting away in the arms of the angel." In other words, it is time to stop buying what both the conservative and the liberal -- in service to the top 85 -- are offering for your purchase and obedience! It is time to become a Sacred Warrior of this Sacred Earth! It is time to energize and organize! It is time to accept nothing other than the Paradise that is Possible! Mystic-Activist awareness is the certain knowing that we are called to lives of radical faith: growing in the One Love Communion of Our Mutual Liberation: it is by our entrance upon this path that we may encounter every being as our Sacred Other and even discover our Place in the Living Web of Earth-Being... "Suppose that this paradise will never come to pass (that I understand), yet I shall go on preaching it. And yet how simple it is; in one day, IN ONE HOUR everything could be arranged at once! The chief thing is to love others like yourself, that's the great thing, and that's everything..." (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Dream of a Ridiculous Man). Now, Onward into the rEvolution!
0 Comments
 The calm serenity portrayed in many statues of the Buddha begs the question, "What is enlighten- ment?" In this world of woe, what does it mean that a person is said to be "calm and serene"? How can one be either with around 30,000 children starving to death every day of the year? How can one be calm with thousands of women being raped every day? How can one be serene in the knowing that the world over men make war and then profit from the mayhem and destruction? And then, of course, there are the many endless tribulations of love struggles, work struggles, health struggles, home struggles, and dream struggles: so indeed, how is one to be "calm and serene" -- let alone "enlightened" living in the midst of all this mess? Or is this talk of enlightenment and serenity just another way for folks to make a living by selling spiritual tactics and bull? What if "enlightenment" is re-defined in our mind's eye as a "passionate engagement in loving service" -- and not first as tactic or bull, or calmness and serenity? Think about it... according to the stories handed down to us, yes the person Siddhartha "cultivated enlightenment" in his being: but upon his enlightenment, what did he do? He "passionately engaged in loving service" for the rest of his life. What about Yeshua the Poet, revered by his followers as the Incarnation of the Holy One? He "went about doing good": in other words, he was "passionately engaged in loving service". There might actually be something here... What if "enlightenment" is in fact the daily practice of love-without-limits? What if compassion and mercy are the factual essence of this enlightenment? What if this "enlightenment" were not seen as the result of transformation, but instead as the on-going practice of "being who you want the other person to be"? Ah, then from this perspective, "enlightenment' becomes a way of life: deeply engaged, the enlightened being serves in solidarity all other suffering beings, and surrenders into the mystery of life lived at its core... So the "calmness and serenity" of the Buddha and the Christ is not that of "difference" from the rest of us, but the living truth of our essential nature... When our essential nature is revered and cultivated through loving compassion, the practice of beauty, and the deep interior mindfulness of surrender and adoration, a certain "calmness and serenity" can settle in and begin to manifest the truth of who we are: not as a result of any sort of "separation", but instead as the surety of Oneness. When we live in the mystic-realm of "Only One", the tragedies of life are understood to be part of the temporary nature of all life-experience: subject to the possibilities of substantive change and ultimately of a re-creation that includes all of the manifested Universe... There is a mystic tradition in certain Sufi teaching circles which says that with every breath we take, the entire Universe is re-created... and that upon our remembrance of our divinity and our practice of love, we share in the ultimate enlightenment and liberation of every being and all of matter... not believing: but knowing This: is the source of the Buddha's and the Christ's "calmness and serenity"... and humor as well...  What is meditation?
How about, before answering that question, I ask one, "What is a human being?" One must first be able to answer this question before entertaining the first... What do you say? Various intellectual, scientific, and religious disciplines will give their answers... but really, what is a human being? I tend towards a playful mysticism because I am honestly comfortable with not needing to pretend that I "know" all that very much... so I tend to enter the realm of Sacred Imagination and go way, w-a-y, back: back before anything: back to the Original Question of "What if?" "What if?" required an answer, which was, "Why not?" I follow these sacred imaginings into the words of Simone Weil: "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love"... and I merge into this: "What if?" in the sudden awakening of Need, pondered "Why not?" which was one-heck-of-an-orgasmic thought: science conveniently calls it the "Big Bang"... "Why not?" was the seed that became energy... became light... became atoms... became all the many manifestations of possibilities... All for the expressed purpose of "What if?" and "Why not?": we were created by Love, for Love, to become Love... In the gathering of the mystics, the silent acceptance of "not knowing" is enough... and when words must be used, they are used sparingly (unlike Scriptures)... a few of the sparse words go something like this: "Love is All", "Love is Enough", "Love needed to forget so She could remember in Us", and "In remembrance we know the Welcome Home"... Perhaps a human being is That! Perhaps we are aspects of the One in the Play of Love, simply for the Delight of Love, and for No Purpose other than an Awakening into Only Love... If even a smidgeon of this is possibly true, that very little bit of truth answers the question of "What is meditation?" Doesn't it? If you want a little extra help, dig out an old Bible... look into the Hebrew Scriptures for the "Song of Songs": don't read it! Instead, caress it with your mind... let the words flow over your skin like the warm waters of the tropics... let the words drip off your tongue like honey you would drip upon the tongue and skin of your lover... let the words seduce your being into the rich possibility that you are -- right now -- infinitely desirable and worth every loving move of the Universe... this is meditation... Meditation is the slow seduction of the mind into the Infinite Possibilities for Being in Love... meditation is the surrender of lover-into-lover... meditation is every kindness and evidence of appreciation and adoration... meditation is awakening into gratitude and the corresponding gift of service... meditation is transformation into the simple bliss of "this moment is perfect for Love"... And yes, like other forms of love-making, there are certain postures and hand movements and means of union that are more or less effective for loving in a particular moment... but it is really all about the mutuality of surrender: this is key: the Divine Love comes to surrender to you... and wants only the mutuality of your complete, open, honest surrender in equal measure... again, this is meditation... Finally, as in love-making, the delight and pleasure of one's partner is equal to one's own delight and pleasure... this, once more, is key: as in love-making, surrender means non-attachment to any desire to possess or control one's partner: loving is always about the liberation of the "other": we discover our own liberation within the liberation of those whom we love-in-liberation... While the word may sound somewhat out of place here, nevertheless it is important because meditation is always about the "other": meditation is the living of "solidarity": "I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together One": the old Dominator Paradigm which has made a science of "use, abuse, and throw away" is being transformed into the New Solidarity Paradigm ("I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together One)... I suppose that one could say that meditation is both the "rEvolution of transformation" and the "Kama Sutra of the Stars and Whirling Galaxies"...  Like everyone who lives life as a response to grace, Martin Luther King, Jr. progressed in his understanding of his vocation: at first, he was a preacher -- like his father before him... Then circumstances propelled him into the pursuit of civil rights: braving the firestorm of opposition that he and his fellow "uppity" blacks engendered, he linked civil rights with the moral vision of nonviolence...
This linkage of nonviolence with the pursuit of civil rights eventually compelled his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War and to the arms race... his "uppitiness" was growing... Then, that same ability to make connections, struck again: the war-making machine was intimately connected to the oppression of American blacks as it was to all the oppressed peoples of the world: witness the recent revelation of the "green light" from Henry Kissinger for the brutal oppression that was to take place in Argentina: but King kept probing deeper and faster than most of his contemporaries: he realized that social injustice and violence both are supported and sustained by economic exploitation and injustice... Martin was planning a "Poor People's March on Washington" when he was assassinated: so much for his "uppitiness"... and yet, and yet... people are still following the path that he charted: civil rights, violence, and economic injustice are still the core causes that require a "rEvolutionary" response! It is shocking that 85 of the richest people on the Planet possess as much wealth as the "bottom" 3.5 billion! It is shocking that the richest 1% of the world's population own 110 trillion dollars or 65 times that of the "bottom" 50%! Of course, they also control the militaries and police and media of the world... as they control the land, water, and seed... All of this -- and this day -- begs the question: What kind of world do we want? It seems there may be a spokesperson in Pope Francis to remind the powerful and greedy that their wealth and power makes them responsible for the well-being of every fellow human being: every government and social institution exists for the purpose of facilitating and developing the well-being of every person on the Planet: not for the acquisition of endless wealth and power! The proper use of both power and wealth is service and liberation! Hoarding, exploitation, and oppression are not the proper use of either wealth or power! Those with both are called upon to surrender their use to the common good! How much is enough? Can there ever be enough of love, or kindness, or of justice, or of compassion? These qualities are worth cultivating endlessly: wealth and power, on the other hand, are meant to be the means for creating a Paradise upon this precious blue Planet: for everyone to share in and for everyone's utter delight! Finally, what is your place in the building rEvolution? How are you beginning to pray, to think, to engage, to organize, and to transform? Now is the time to practice a whole-lot of "uppitiness": there is no other way of celebrating the life and memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Community is the evolutionary principle of our essential nature as "One"... this primal Unity is also an awakening into the enlightened awareness of our essential divinity...
Community is the recognition that an activated will to "remembrance" and "transformation" requires a network of intentional relationships... each of which acts to facilitate both, for the individual and the group as a whole... community is the activated intention to live daily in "service, surrender, and solidarity"... Community is "Oneness" expanding out upon the lived experience of a Path: the Path is the practice of service: individually and as a group engaging in actions that give evidence of compassion: for those who suffer, for the well-being of creatures, and for the well-being of the Planet... the Path is the practice of surrender: individually and as a group engaging in the cultivation of adoration of the Divine and the practice of Beauty in a daily rhythm of mindfulness and meditation... the Path is the practice of solidarity: individually and as a group living in such a way that there is less and less of a divide between ideals and action, and living in concert with all those who struggle for equality, justice, kindness, peace, and the health and well-being of the Planet... Community is the building of networks of mutual aid and support... community is the co-creation of networks of alternative institutions (political, economic, cultural, educational, and religious): community is beginning to live the future we dream of for our children... community is the will to create effective alternatives to domination and violence... community is the will to practice gender equality and the will to equality between all peoples: community is the intention of tolerance, kindness, and compassion...  Transformation: how to effectively facilitate both personal and global transformation to the Good, the Kind, the Just, and the Beautiful?
Amma, the great saint of India, is now famous as the "hugging saint"... in India especially, but now through her world tours, Amma gives herself over to entire days simply hugging the throngs who come to receive her touch and blessing... of course, she is also instrumental in many works of mercy in India and around the world... But that which she teaches is the importance of attitude and intention... Attitude and intention: are primary tools for the transformation we and the world are in such desperate need. Our minds and hearts -- which each of us are responsible for -- either serve as a means of our liberation, or as excuses for our oppression. That which we bring to our days is of fundamental importance! Let's "pick on" Rush Limbaugh as an example: what do you suppose his daily attitude and intention is? Do you think they are facilitating his (or anyone else's) happiness? Do you think that Mr. Limbaugh is ever really happy? Can you imagine him being kind to a homeless person he might pass on the street? Can you imagine him caressing a lover? Can you imagine him playing T-Ball with children? Well, enough of picking on poor Mr. Limbaugh... This is the very thing that is most important: the "seeds" that we sow in our mind through our attitudes and thoughts, and the "seeds" that we sow in our hearts through our intentions and feelings, will grow! Will those growing "plants" become fruitful and yield a harvest of happiness? Or are those "plants" becoming a field of brambles choking out the possibilities of anything nourishing growing? Attitude and intention: we create our days through how we activate both (or not)! For the mystic-activist, we must give serious attention to this foundational principle of transformation: everything hinges upon our will to work this principle into our system, all the way down through blood and bones! Nothing will change "out there" if our "in here" is not changed: the fact of there is "no difference" between the out there and the in here must be understood: this is the core task none of us can skip out on... not if we really love our families, our friends and neighbors, and this precious blue Planet... Here is a simple practice to help bring into focus this basic teaching: the One Love Blessing. As you rise in the morning and as you proceed through the course of your day, give the One Love Blessing to as many of the folks you encounter in your day: cultivate in your mind the thought, "I will act as blessing upon all I meet today"... cultivate in your heart the feeling, "I will care as blessing upon all I meet today"... Did you catch that? "I will act and I will care as blessing upon all": not, "I will give blessing", but "I will be blessing"... from that "being", we are made ready to give: either mentally or verbally simply say, "One Love Blessing" while looking at anyone / everyone: will blessing, and then think blessing, and then follow that will and thought by act: be blessing. Genuine transformation must be built upon our attitudes and intentions for blessing: how else will it be Good, Kind, Just, or Beautiful? We are responsible for the change that is going to happen! We have, through our attitudes, intentions, and blessings, the power to effectively write a new story for humanity and this precious blue Planet... the activated compassion and love with which we live our lives will become an unstoppable force when we collectively end all the ways we curse one another: and instead think, speak, and act as One Love Blessing...  How is your heart captured?
What sets your spirit free to soar, where perhaps before, fear kept it limited and bound? Why not awaken to the possibility that you are infinite? The mere fact of your very next breath should stun you with absolute wonder! To live intent upon wonder, surprise, delight, and an everyday-bliss is to proclaim by your very being: I am ready to love! This intention is the seed of Divine Life within you! This intention holds within it an unlimited capacity for grace, for good, and for beauty: this intention unlocks the Sacred Meaning of the Universe: "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." Our daily lives are meant to be lived as "Schools of Love", where everyone is our teacher, and where the conscious courses of study are always "Love's Lessons"... a caress is soft and gentle, a massage is deep and sensual, and work for justice and peace is conflict and struggle: but each and all, are filled with aspects of "Love's Lessons"... Who is going to teach enough men -- so the world can change -- how to caress, how to massage, and how to build peace and justice? Is it really the task of women to kiss the world's brutes and change them into true human beings? What is the "idiot-spirit" that possesses so many men to set out upon the path of brutality -- what "idiot-spirit" convinces so many men to abuse, rape, shoot, bomb, exploit, oppress, manipulate, and justify? What is the "idiot-spirit" that allows so many men: in the finest of suits, uniforms, and robes: to give orders to maim and destroy? What is the "idiot-spirit" that drives so many men to live for the power in Greed: when billions of their fellow humans suffer incredible poverty and tens of thousands die of malnutrition and starvation everyday? Having deeply pondered these questions -- and many others besides -- the great wisdom teachers of the world, like the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hahn, and Amma, each in their own way teach that "Love is the only force of transformation"... only Love can crack open the tightly sealed doors of the heart to let in the warming light of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness... only Love is capable of transforming an enemy into a dear companion... What can bring rich and poor together in justice? Only Love... What can reconcile Jew and Palestinian? Only Love... What can heal the world's racial divides? Only Love... What can open the doors of equality and opportunity to women and minorities? Only Love... In Love is our human liberation: not, of course, the "love" memorialized in a Hallmark card: but the Love that is big enough to stand for a total and complete rEvolution: the Love that is big enough to demand that a new history of humanity be lived and written: the Love that shouts, "We are each and all worth the very best: and we will not settle for anything less!" The Love that is small enough to cherish the flutter of a hummingbird's wings... and expansive enough to embrace every being, and time and space as well, with the practical liberation of possibilities... "Love's Lessons" are ready for distribution and for practice: who will declare as a student? |
AuthorRobert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in California. He is living now almost within shouting distance of the Twin Cities. He is a poet, artist, writer, and long-time Companion of the Way still dreaming... Archives
May 2022
|
RSS Feed