 The Dream of Paradise Gives Rise to the Possibilitarian Spirit
Looking into the future, what do you see? I see a human community that has embraced the Earth as Mother, as "inter-being"... I see this balance tending all of us to a re-organization of our lives: where the divide between the rich and poor is reduced to no more than four to one... where there is a spiritual, economic, and political classlessness... where solidarity, each one with every other, is the social norm... where equality has become a "garment" of partnership... where the "paradise values" of compassion, kindness, justice, mercy, and reverence are, again, the social norm... where we no longer have anything to fear because we actually believe and practice the fully human "spiritual" life... The dream of paradise is willing to suppose it is true that the One is both transcendent and immanent: especially immanent in absolutely everything and everyone... A practiced spirituality of immanence will free us of the theological, political, racial, sexual, and national baggage that prevents us from loving one another: as we are loved. The dream of paradise is the freedom from time: there will be time for giving time to one another, for deep conversation and listening, for playing, for imagining, for delving deep into everything, for meaningful work, for passionate pursuits, for mentoring children and youth, and for loving our relationships.... Perhaps the gypsies, beats, and hippies had an inkling of these divine possibilities! Perhaps Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolence and intentional communities had it right... and Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin with their emphasis on the Works of Mercy and Justice and, again, intentional communities... and maybe Martin Luther King, Jr. really meant it when he said that our work was to be about building the "beloved community"... It really seems to be true that the ultimate nature of the Universe is as indicated by quantum physics: one thought expressed as light and energy... but what good is this "one thought" if we don't think and practice IT? The petty politicians and profiteers and preachers and pundits are all in service to power. It is clear -- for all who have eyes with which to see and minds with which to think -- that the Dominator Paradigm is not working (except for the very privileged few). So what to do? We have to cultivate a consciousness of bold exploration: it is not yet too late to transform either ourselves or this precious blue Planet! Spirituality and science both must come to the service of a Planetary regeneration and a rEvolution of the human person and all of our divine possibilities. And finally, with nothing to fear, we can return to a paradise whose door was never really closed...
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 The soul... forever and forever -- longer than soil is brown and solid -- longer than water ebbs and flows. (Walt Whitman) / Now I re-examine philosophies and religions, they may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents. (Walt Whitman) / undress my poems -- scatter them about the room -- drink deep my heart life... / a little boy looks -- through the eyes of a white beard -- time merges, and fades... / Will transformation. O be enraptured with flame, wherein a thing eludes you that is boastful with changes; that projecting spirit, which masters the earthly, loves in the swing of the figure nothing so much as the point of inflection. (Rilke) / sharpening the axe -- a ragged book of Basho stuck in my pocket -- old dreams curl and stretch by the wood stove... / so cold before dawn -- breakfast of black tea and bread -- the flavor of psalms... / I give you the end of a golden string, only wind it into a ball -- It will lead you in a Heaven's gate -- Built in Jerusalem's wall. (William Blake) / Vision uncreates evil by forgiveness. Imagination uncreates not only anger, but all the other seven deadly sins. A little of it mitigates evil. A little more forgives it. And still more uncreates it. (Paul Goddard) / After years and years of cooking soup: a slow emptying of self -- A slow reliance on grace -- One Love, ever so gently, over all the earth... / the death toll rises -- as violence stalks the earth -- the tears of Allah... / intently silent -- I hear the pain of this world -- the mountain dogwood... / "Hi babe", from Annie -- tugging at blanket and tarp -- winter rain... / the burn of Love's hand -- endless quest and consequence -- / living, yet I die... / I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition of mankind. And it is just this faith of mine that they laugh at. But how can I help believing it? I have seen the truth -- it is not as though I had invented it with my mind, I have seen it, and the living image of it has filled my soul forever. (Dostoevsky) / Across the lake -- to the North Shore -- Brown hills and gray pines -- Everywhere I look I see your face... / What would you say -- If I knocked at your door and said, "Two thousand miles of loneliness was too much for me to bear?" / Suppose that this paradise will never come to pass (that I understand), yet I shall go on preaching it. And 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. (Dostoevsky) / Have a good eye. Always see good in others. Spiritual awareness depends upon it. (Rebbe Nachman of Breslov) / Sometimes, to come to your senses, you must go out of your mind. (Alan Watts)
 Are You Divine?
According to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, "Take courage, the human race is divine." How can that "divinity" possibly be true? The three religions that trace their roots to Abraham -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- each to a somewhat different degree, disagree: and to prove their opinions, endlessly make war upon each other, burying the ridiculous notion of human divinity along with the collective dead... But: what if? What if, though, our essential nature is already and always One with the Oneness of the Universe? What if this "Real Reality" is just a removal of a veil away? Would you "take courage", and pull aside that veil to see for yourself? What if that "take courage" meant that you would have to take personal responsibility for the "dissolution of all categories of power that ignorance now keeps going, all ways of keeping people imprisoned, separated from their real and outrageous possibilities, political or religious"? (Andrew Harvey) Would you be interested? This insight into our divine nature by an ancient Greek philosopher, is worthy of our applied Sacred Imagination: because it just might be true! This "gnostic" -- or "wisdom school" -- supposes many "big ideas": because all of the little ones ask almost nothing of us: "belief" for the mind, and "submission" for the soul, and "paradise" -- after a Last Judgment -- for right belief and a correct or full submission. Sophia-Wisdom, on the other hand, is very feminine, very earthy, and full of an ever-expansive soulfulness: we are meant to co-create with the One -- the Divine "One Love" Consciousness -- the living reality of this Wild Divinity: in our lives, our work, our play, our leisure, our economics, our politics, our sexing, our culture, our every relationship, and in our actions for peace, justice, equality, earth reverence, and the well-being of all... In still other words, we are meant to become the Birthers of the Divine through our lives and our works: we are meant to bring forth from our hearts and souls the truth of whom we are / everyone is: we are divinely ordained particles of the One Love. This "Oneness" is still lying on the maternity bed of space and time, anticipating all of our quantum possibilities for the good, the kind, and the beautiful... Emphatically yes: you are divine! Your work is your life: meant to bring forth a flowering of Radiant Beauty... So gather together in Sacred Circles to meditate, discuss, imagine, anticipate, garden, play, plan, organize, work, and live, right now, the paradise that is most certainly possible: it is everyone's birthright! rEvolution forward!  What is the essence of prayer? Prayer is the silent bow of Universe and Soul to the One Mystery who dwells in the secret "within" of everyone and everything... Prayer is making love... prayer is chopping potatoes... prayer is intentional community... prayer is the activation of compassion... prayer is a life of radical solidarity with all beings who suffer... prayer is the practice of equality and justice... prayer is reverence for nature... prayer is organic, wild, and fully natural... prayer is the intention for the true, humble, good, kind, and beautiful... Prayer is naked: nothing but skin between you and your lover... Prayer is a festival of grand desires... Prayer is service learning... Prayer is social justice... Prayer is a symphony and a garage band... Prayer is the release of attachments and the conscious cultivation of liberation... Prayer is forgetfulness and surrender and remembrance... Prayer is laughter and the will to harmlessness... Prayer is the inability to pass judgment... Of course, prayer is Woman-Birthing-Life... the Beginning... and the Renewal... and the Last Word: awe... awe... awe... |
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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