"Treat everyone you meet like God in drag." -- Ram Dass
For you, what do you consider the summit of wisdom? For you, what is the "highest" enlightenment? To whom, or to what, would you bend your knee and pledge and yield your eternal life -- if it was asked of you? I don't aim to merely push the boundaries of "acceptable" spirituality, but to erase them completely! Every boundary is artificial: someone's opinion held up as both the beginning and the end of wisdom. take sensuality as an example. Each of the dominant world religions begins with an assumption: there is a hugely significant divide between the "Divine" and the human... and then they take that assumption and make of it complete theologies of separation! God "there", human "here": and then all of the matter of course break downs: sacred / mundane, spirit / matter, soul / body, masculine (better) / feminine (worse), good / bad, sinner / saint, purity / indulgence, us / them, me / you... and on and on... into "Division" as justification for Domination: and thus we have Today: life from within the Dominator Paradigm... But, I ask, what if? What if there is an entirely different "Real" Reality? What if that Reality was Oneness: and all separation was only a Mask-of-the-Divine for an endless exploration into the infinitely possible experiences of Love? What if, in Oneness, we are all uniquely, divinely, One? What if sensuality was not "sinful" but instead an invitation to serve Love in one's every thought, word, and action: beginning with one's lover and then extending outward to encompass every being and all of creation? What if Oneness was understood to be our mutual liberation in kindness, gentleness, reverence, service, and compassion? What if all religion, economics, politics, and culture was only the holy competition of loving more and building the Earth in Beauty and Justice? What if we were all to practice the unity, or yoga, of Oneness: "I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together: One?" And what if each and every one of us could have our moment in the spotlight as the worshipped Drag Queen of the Universe? Do you think that you would look at yourself differently in the mirror? Do you think that you would want to go back to the old dominator paradigm-fake-reality? Do you think that, in the Real Reality that we really deserve, we would any longer waste our time with sexism, racism, militarism, injustice, inequality, exploitation, oppression, tax havens, gun worship, the manipulations of privilege and power, or all the horrible theologies and philosophies of division and separation? Oneness is the essential practice of the transfiguration that is our birthright. Leaving every thought / action of separation behind, breathe "Only One". Practice beauty by becoming that which you seek: be kind, be gentle, be sensuous, be just, be forgiving, be mercy, be surprised, be welcoming: in all things, be orgasmic with the ecstatic fullness of "One Love"! And then wake up into a brand new world in which "God is Alive and Magic is Afoot" (Leonard Cohen)...
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Love is beautiful! Love is good! Love is constructive of the society and dreams of humanity! That love is also challenging, and full of infinite possibilities for both bliss and despair, does not detract in the least from its beauty...
While many in the "traditional" religious category, whether Christian / Catholic, Jew, Muslim, or Hindu, view homosexual love as "sinful" and destructive of the "natural" family, ever increasing numbers of other folks are simply waking up: love is hard: pray for anyone / everyone stepping out upon the path of love: and bless and walk with them on their journey. Fear of the "different" or the "other" should not keep any of us from loving! And one more thing about the "other folks": we are Christian / Catholic, Jew, Muslim, and Hindu! We are just as devout and committed to our faith -- and oftentimes much more so -- than those who judge us as "liberal" or "deviant". Deviant: now there is a word to fully enjoy! Wouldn't it be great if we could all deviate from hatred and judgment? Wouldn't it be great if we were to deviate from gun-madness and learn to live in peace? Wouldn't it be great if our religions led the way into a daily practice of kindness, compassion, mercy, and beauty? Wouldn't it be great if all of the world's religious Right-Wingers all together had mind-blowing orgasms and simply fell into a blissful sleep for a few decades before waking up?! Then we could show them a brand new world where kindness and reverence had some real meaning... The entire Being of the Cosmos has not, and will never, forget you... Indeed, the deepest revelation of mystic truth is simply that: you are... The great Cosmic Fling points always to consciousness: you are... The Dance of Creation is a partnership of consciousness: you are... not because you think (although one should never take that for granted), but because you have within you the power of reflecting back to the Divine Consciousness the one pointedness of Love...
The one pointedness of Love is the attraction for identification: "I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together: One". This exact one pointedness is the rEvolution that we seek: the leap forward into transformation: the attraction beyond all duality: good / bad, pleasure / pain, spirit / matter, body / soul, saved / unsaved is Divine Unity: the reconciliation of opposites: the marriage / merging of male / female energy... The one pointedness of Love is the divinization of Matter and Being: where cosmos is not just the background for the play of consciousness, but is another loving-guise for Divine Consciousness: and the soul, awakening into the one pointedness of Love, (close your eyes if the scandalous might offend you), becomes the Mother of God... Light impregnates matter and a rising of consciousness occurs into Oneness... Do you now see why meditation, identification, and the construction of a new solidarity paradigm is so important? We are meant to lift up into our consciousness the sacred reality of Unity: Energy and Consciousness... infinite worlds and being without end... Yeshua bar Alaha is an invitation into a mystic faith that is all about "heart stretching"... If you are comfortable in either the doubt or the certainty of your faith, then it is probable that you've missed something important in the mystery of that very faith. Clinging to a Holy Book and devoutly reciting the definitions of your faith is the beginning: not the end! Following the "rules", likewise, is a beginning... Wasn't it the Dalai Lama who advised, "Learn the rules so you can break them effectively"?
In my imagining, the religion that really matters is the religion of "heart stretching": most of the rest is the "beginning", regardless if it is Jesus / Yeshua, the Buddha, Allah / Mohammed, the Torah, the Divinely Blue Krishna, Shakti, or the Earth Mother... There are at least three keys to this heart stretching: the first is meditation: emptying the mind of all it's flags blowing in the wind of consciousness. The average person has around 65,000 thoughts every day. The bulk of the average person's thoughts tend to be negative: so replacing those blowing flags with a gentle silence and the grace of a "One Thought Prayer" (such as Abba, Amma, Om-Hu) for even twenty minutes a day will get you away from "the beginning of faith" and out upon the Way... The second key is identification: as with our mind, so too our actions. So long as we are stuck at the beginning point of faith, our actions will tend to be separated entirely from the Divinity we claim to adore. Take Yeshua bar Alaha (Aramaic for Jesus of the One, the language spoken by Jesus) as an example: can anyone really imagine him directing the flight of drones? Can anyone seriously square his teachings on wealth and poverty with global corporate exploitation and greed? Is there really someone who thinks that he would counsel a complete disregard for the well-being of the planet or of women and countenance the destruction of the environment and the oppression of women? And what about the stranger, the prisoner, or the homeless? Identification is the grunt work of transformation: taking the "is" and making of it a "was". Finally, the third key: solidarity. Now, well on our Way upon the path, we have come to an awakening: "I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together, One". Or, in the words of Jesus / Yeshua, "Whatever you do to the very least person among you or allow to happen to anyone on this precious blue Planet, you do the exact same thing to me". And again, "Love one another just as I have loved you"... and once more, "I was hungry and you fed me". Solidarity is the "get out of jail card": out of the jail of personalities, cultures, religions, economics, and politics: out of the jail of our "small minds and base actions" into the bliss of pursued justice for everyone: it is the bowl of soup, the shelter, the education, the dignified work, the living wage, the equal rights, the reverence for Earth, the nonviolent kindness, the cooperative spirit, the gentle village harmony of simple abundance for all that is the fruit of unlimited "heart stretching"... Ah so, each of the announced Republican candidates (and most probably the as yet unannounced) stretch just as far as they can into the realm of Christian fundamentalism: but imagine the real Jesus, Yeshua bar Alaha, lusting for war the way these true believers do! Imagine that same Yeshua bar Alaha dropping to his knees in worship of greed, privilege, and power like these apologists for the profiteers of the same. Imagine that, still the same Yeshua bar Alaha, hungering for the oppression of women, the opposition to the immigrant, and for the exploitation of the Earth... Are you willing and wanting to join in with these true believers and say and act as a "fuck it" to one and all?
That which passes for the religious imperative in "religion", culture, economics, and politics is a mockery of the Living Spirit: but then, religion has been, for thousands of years, mocking the Beauty and Compassion of "It" who is Love-without-Limits... and so with John Lennon, I think it long past time for "and no religion too"... And a resurrection of genuine spirituality: a spirituality emerging from the "cave" of the Dominator Paradigm and returning to the truth of Original Blessing: we live in the inter-section of the Divine and Human; we find our purpose through Service and Creativity; and our greatest good is to Be Love Now... The religion of patriarchy is a complete failure: the proof is in the pudding of the Republican candidates for President (although to be fair -- ? -- that same pudding mixture most often includes the candidates of the Democratic and other parties, with a few notable exceptions...). The Natural Way is the potential for active grace: the witness of Yeshua bar Alaha is for this "religion before religion: the "no religion" of mysticism and of the Divine Feminine. The renewal of the sensual and the contemplative as the "two hands of God" is a beginning point. A second is like the first: constructing a world-wide "community of relations" capable of nurturing all the children: around all the children of the Earth. Every system must become fully engaged in this nurturing: every power must come to bend its knees before the Child (oh Christians of America: you claim to worship the Child Jesus but you starve thousands of children everyday and harm millions / billions of other Children through policies and practices of neglectful idiocy...). Transformation -- the transformation that is of vital importance to the evolution of our species -- is but the conscious decision to cross the threshold of faith: the faith that we humans are truly worthy of the focused Love of the Holy One, the faith that every Good desires our good (the Universe is Conscious and Benevolent), and that the faith that is required of us is not "right belief" but an actively cultivated Wild Ecstatic Love... Accessing the Divine is sort of like crossing a bridge... from one side to the other... what is that bridge? It is the bridge of our chosen definitions... the more committed we are to our definitions and perceptions: to our demand that Reality conform to our faith, to our opinions, to our culture, to our gender, to our race, to our politics, to our needs, and to our fears: the more challenging the crossing... Do you feel that you are persecuted -- that your religion is persecuted -- that your opinions are unjustly and incorrectly marginalized? Ah well, welcome to the Club of Your Way...
The Club of Your Way will take you there! Whew! What a relief! (The unfortunate problem is simply that most everyone is a member of the same Club... which means that you all experience a whole lot of pushing and pulling... "This way!" "My turn!" "My way or the highway!" "Your way sucks!" "Well, your way swallows!" And pretty soon there is a free-for-all-which-you-really-didn't-have-in-mind...) This is what is known as the "human condition"... Our perceptions and opinions become our reality: which we vigorously feed everyday in any way that we can... So to cross the bridge... from one side to the other... is to advance our steps by dropping our perceptions and opinions -- or even more exactly, dropping our need to dominate or control outcomes, especially the people in our lives. Much, if not most, of what passes for both religion and politics is about the "need" to dominate or control outcomes, especially the people in our lives and of Planet Earth... But to shift from domination and control, slowly and steadily, is to advance step-by-step: and to leave behind the "Club of Your Way" for simply "Way"... Lao-Tzu recognized the "how" of flowing water and of a child's joy and dropped his perceptions and opinions and chose instead to advance his steps, simply and harmoniously, according to "Way"... Yeshua the Poet of Nazareth, likewise dedicated long hours to the observation of nature and persons and concluded that the "Kingdom of God" was within everyone and everything and he lived and taught according to "Way"... "Beautiful are you..." Our human needs are simple and few: we seek happiness, safety, health, and the pleasure of being wanted: accessing these is, in Reality, "Way"... Dropping the desire to dominate or to control others as the means to acquiring our "four" needs, and we discovery a vibrant abundance, known as "Way"... Dropping the desire to manipulate desired outcomes, we are free to drop "original sin" and greed both, and we discover a gentle harmony, known as "Way"... Dropping the desire to divide reality into "good and bad", "sinner and saint", "flesh and spirit", we awaken into pleasure and delight, known as "Way"... "Way" has been likened to a remembrance of the Divine Feminine and the Ancient Mother before the advent of the dominator paradigm: but what matters is our awakening into the global shift of "accessing the Divine" through "Way": "I am You, You are Me, and We are All together: One"... |
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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