 Subversive
By its very nature, "resistance" is subversive: so what could be more subversive than a "people's church": showing that theology is ours, not for the asking, but for the taking? When profits, privilege, and power are concentrated in but a few hands (billionaires, corporations, religionists), what could be more subversive than an "eyelash theology"? Huh? If the Unholy Trinity (profits, privilege, and power) requires of the "established order" it dominates a "consciousness and conscience contraction", then should not the goal of transformation require an equal and opposite action: into an expansion of awakening and compassion? To those who deny science because it serves to increase profits (like ExxonMobile) -- but who are nevertheless aware of the integral facts of science -- shouldn't there be a resounding chorus of a contrary visionary experience? Can there be anything more subversive than the living of a "counter culture" that proclaims, through its reverence for the ordinary (protection of soil, water, air), a grand regeneration of Earth and Spirit? The iconic photo of a "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange is an image of the new heaven and the new earth. The radiant splendor of Mother Love is the exact opposite of the Unholy Trinity: profits, privilege, and power go their "merry" way: perfectly exemplified by Mr. Trump and his Administration: while an "eyelash theology" continues to carry the world forward by countless acts of unlimited love: even in the face of poverty, injustice, inequality, oppression, and violence. As it was in the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression, is now in resistance, and ever shall be in the poverty of undying hope: goodness and kindness without end... Subversive is the visionary imagination that sees the interdependence of all peoples and creation... The stunning grace of "enough" can transform the world when inspired by an activated compassion. Angels are -- even now -- sitting on the roofs of the banks and towers of privilege and power: they are ready to bust down the doors: but only if we are ready to live differently than the billionaire, priest, or propagandist. That essential "difference" is the cultivated will to render what is due to creation: accept the requirements of "enough": equality, mutuality, cooperation, partnership, kindness, and justice... "Enough" is "eyelash theology": living intentionally at-one with one's place and environment: looking and serving seven generations forward: reverencing the "daily" and the "mundane" as the primary vehicles of growing awareness: sure, we should sit on our ass in serious mediation, but if we are too lazy to clean our toilets -- and protect our rivers -- what good is that meditation? Subversive is the visionary imagination that sees women and children as equal to men: that has cultivated the spirituality of hearing the heartbeats of the Holy One in the air, waters, earth, and creatures... An "eyelash theology" pursues the Divine in the sacred pleasures of relationship and community: as the Divine tickles our soul with sneaky kisses in the dark, so we eyelash-kiss our beloved: acres and acres of eyelash theology exploring the sacred flesh of our lover: it is exactly how we make love that the Holy One will be with us (Rumi)... Trees feel and think... rivers are conscious... everything is bursting with being-ness... Martin Buber observed, "Primitive man is a naive pansacramentalist. Everything is to him full of sacramental substance, everything. Each thing and each function is ever ready to light up into a sacrament for him." Ah, yes, the visionary imagination is powerfully subversive: "enough" to transform the Unholy Trinity by means of its "eyelash theology"...
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 Dr. Strange: Comic Book... or Mystic Teacher?
I didn't grow up with any sort of particular interest in comic book heroes -- besides, I would much rather have spent what little money I had on baseball cards. But with good intentions, I accepted an invitation from a good friend and local minister to celebrate his birthday by going with him to see the movie "Dr. Strange" -- released last year. Hunkered down with a bag of popcorn, I hoped for the best... When I got home, I couldn't wait to tell Michelle about the movie and hoped that she would go with me to see it. Oh, to be sure, the movie revolved around special effects and the classic "good (or the compromised good) versus the really bad evil". But in the not so subtle background were moments of profound mystic teaching: which made the movie a vehicle for supreme enlightenment... It is no exaggeration to say that I have been a life-long student of religion and philosophy: I consider them, along with poetry, love-making, and politics to be the highest of the arts. Poetry is about recognizing and honoring the everyday-sacred; love-making is about self-less surrender to the natural wonder of giving and receiving bliss; and politics is about the turning of all power to the service of justice... Each and all bold pursuits worthy of lifetimes of practice and devotion. And religion and philosophy: what are they? Of course, on the one hand, they are usually elaborate systems of "right belief" (and control). And on the other, they are simply mystic moments of awakening into the stupendous realization that none of it -- nothing at all -- "is about you". In the Dr. Strange movie, the "Ancient One" turns to the seeker, the student, the still "Doctor Strange" and says "It's not about you." And then she dies and he figures out how to save the world from complete annihilation: that would be another comic book ho-hum if not for the way of saving: he takes the lesson of "none of it is about you" and loops "evil" in the paradox of repeating the death of Dr. Strange endlessly... which Evil found to be incredibly boring... Dr. Strange, the realized mystic, awakened into the "life of the highest arts": his surrender into the necessity of "none of this is about me" opened a pathway into the impossible: and are we not all, right now, in that same / similar situation? Power does seem to be concentrating into fewer and fewer hands -- hands that give no evidence of concern for the well-being of any peoples nor the health of the Planet. The ever-expanding divide between the haves and the have-not's is mirrored by the divide between the rigidity of the international Right-Wing and the diminishing Left... But all of it: and especially including each and every human being still with a spark of independent awareness left: "none of it is about us"... "Us" as in isolated egos somehow separate from anyone / everyone / everything else. So here's the mystic-kick-ass-kicker: we awaken to the degree -- and no more -- that we learn to identify "ourselves" as every single "sacred Other": "I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together: One"... Of course, that awakening includes the Divine... a "Strange" mystic indeed! [This is known as the Tao, or Way...] |
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
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