 Ah, for the love of power, is there anything you would not do... how about if it was for just a "little bit" of power -- "because it would be in the best interest of the organization that you worked for?" Power, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad... rather, it is the use of power for both "control" and for "ego gratification" that is the real problem... the further problem of power lies in the huge list of "attachments to power" that drive our human temptation to grab onto any "little bit" we can wrap into our lives... All of this is "perfectly normal human behavior" -- but if our goal is both personal and social transformation, is it "good enough" to perpetuate these age-old patterns under the guise that change of any real substance is slow and therefore "we can put off until tomorrow work on this issue"?
Ah, now here is a rub that can produce an unlimited amount of friction! I know exactly what I am writing about -- because I've played the "power part" in ump-teen dramas for far, far, too long... but isn't that one of the essential points to life: we should learn something along the way? Be assured in the truth of this: the transformation that we all seek -- and the transformation that our precious blue Planet desperately needs -- is a re-alignment with every expression of power in our lives. Unless this re-alignment happens, persons, organizations, and societies will never get to the root of the dominator paradigm -- and transformation will not happen -- and the losers will be the future generations of children and the Earth itself. Here is the key question to ask which will enable us to create the necessary conditions -- the space -- to critique power and strive for transformation: Does this expression of power serve to liberate or to dominate? Other follow-up questions could include: Does this expression of power serve to unite or to divide? And, does this expression of power consider first the needs of the most powerless or most vulnerable among us or does it perpetuate differences and suffering? I am hopeful that you will consider the place of power in your life, in the organizations to which you belong, in your places of work, and in the larger picture of national and international relations -- I am hopeful, because the Holy One has intended us all for greatness and goodness -- for the kind of all-out radiant lives that could make of our world an incredible Paradise of Infinite Possibilities...  If hope rises with the sun, where must it descend for its complete actualization? Listen to this story...
There is a dinner party. It is quiet, for The Poet has just arrived: the One for whom the party is given... for the host is hoping for a word... The Poet is taken to the place of honor and the meal is ready to be served... Rising when the servants enter, The Poet assists them in distributing the food amongst all the guests: and then makes room at each table for the servants to sit and eat as if they too were honored guests... while he continues back and forth from the Kitchen... Finally, he is cajoled into sitting and eating... As The Poet does, the servants hastily leave their places and gather around him, radiant in the glow of fire-light and adoration... A woman comes out from the shadows, she quickly pours oil upon the feet of The Poet, massaging it deep into the caverns of his desert skin... and finally she dries his feet with her hair... The Poet adores her, caresses her with his eyes, and humbly mingles his tears with hers as they steadily gaze into each others eyes... no words are spoken... yet the host recognizes another perfect Poem has been written upon the hearts of everyone present... Some days later, The Poet learns of the death of his beloved Friend, Lazarus... Too late for the burial, The Poet arrives to kneel upon the rough rock before the tomb of his Friend... and then Mystery opens the tomb... ...Perhaps you might want to finish telling the story for yourself? You might know the version recorded in the Testament of Yeshua... But, what is the point of the story? Perhaps the point is really not about "a miracle" proving something or other: but rather the stunning invitation to embrace a mind-shattering truth: "Hope rises with the sun, but unless it descends into your very DNA and effects a total transformation in your being -- it is not yet really and truly hope -- for genuine hope is always a miracle"... You see, everyone is tempted to dilly-dally forever on the edges of "spiritual transformation" -- perhaps dipping their toes in those waters, but steadily refusing complete immersion. Unless one accepts, though, the sacred opportunity as it is given and presented by each moment of breath to surrender to the Only One, One Love -- all the way down into the "cave of our annihilation" (following the path of Lazarus...) -- and allow the Holy One to reconstruct our DNA into the Resurrection of a total-love-identification with One... we have not yet begun to live... Deeply encoded in our DNA, in the core of our very being, is: Shh... our Divine Secret, the Name the Holy One will call out to us to lead us forth from the "cave of our annihilation" -- (that could be our death, or that could be on the "Last Day"...) But then again, as The Poet dreams, it could be the "First Day", or tomorrow, or yesterday, or even one minute from now... The point is: "Hope is the Eternal Manifestation of Surrender", just as "Surrender is the Cave of Wonders"... We "surrender" as we live: surrender is the soup on the stove, ready to be freely shared, surrender is organizing for justice, surrender is flying a kite with neighborhood children, surrender is life-style changes for the stewardship of the Planet, surrender is forgiveness and the end of making and selling of weapons, surrender is a conversation with your beloved (in which the Holy Competition is for who listens more deeply), surrender is the daily practices of kindness and beauty... on and on: each "little practice", in imitation of Mary caressing the feet of Yeshua, carries one ever deeper into readiness for our personal and Planetary "Lazarus Moment": this is what YOU were created for!  "Strive to become the true human being: one who knows love, one who knows pain. Be full, be humble, be utterly silent, be the bowl of wine passed from hand to hand."
-- Al-Ansari "If the deepest ground of my being is love, then in that very love itself and nowhere else will I find myself, and the world, and my brother, and Christ. It is not a question of either / or but all-in-one." -- Thomas Merton "It is our suffering, our broken heart, that gives us insight into the suffering of others." -- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan "We must penetrate into the interior of our heart if we are to find the door that opens on Paradise." -- St. Isaac the Syrian Yeshua the Poet was not a liar. When he said, "I was hungry and you fed me" he was declaring the Holy One's eternal solidarity with all those persons for whom to live means to suffer. He was stating with stark simplicity that the tender and merciful love of the Holy One is always approachable, always humble, and always filled with "pregnant anticipation" of our arrival at the places of the poor, and then the discovery of our own poverty in their hearts... As modern mystic-activists, our vision and steady practice is one of complete identification with the Other, with Every Other... It is not for ourselves that we meditate, it is not for ourselves that we serve free meals, it is not for ourselves that we revere the earth and practice harmlessness as much as possible, it is not for ourselves that we organize for justice and demonstrate for equality and peace, and it is not for ourselves that we enter into the mystery of prayer -- we are the bowl of wine passed from hand to hand... in imitation of the Poet who said "Take this cup, this cup of my broken heart, and drink." "If change is to come, it will come from the margins... It was the desert, not the temple, that gave us the prophets." -- Wendell Berry A Guided Meditation: As random thoughts enter your mind... gently return your attention to your Sacred Center -- that deep, interior, secret place within your heart -- when calmly centered, recite the Three Jewels of Refuge: I take refuge in the Holy One... I take refuge in Love... I take refuge in Service for Justice and Peace... and for this precious blue Planet... With each breath, love the Universe... love the Holy One, our Beloved Friend... With each breath, cease to exist in separation from any part or particle of the Universe... Only One, Only One, Only One... Let Light radiate outward from your heart-center, into the air about you, expanding to encompass this entire precious blue Planet, outward into the furthest reaches of the Universe, finally to merge with the Original Light, the First Thought: Only One, Only One, Only One... Hear the whirl of both atoms and time and the endless dance of creation... Only One, Only One, Only One... Surrender into Adoration: One Love, One Love, One Love... Slowly return to everyday consciousness... Breathe in Love, breathe out Blessing... Breathe in Love, Breathe out Blessing upon Everyone and Everything. Become an open channel of blessing upon the world. Rise up and take your Love into the marketplace... Start a revolution... Invite others into the Mystery... Teach: Kiss More... Resist power in all its manifestations... Practice Beauty... Practice Nonviolence... Imagine Paradise... Start a garden... Feed the hungry... Make art... Make love... Remember the children... Write creative new stories of possibilities... Don't wait for someone to lead you... You are the One we've all been waiting for... "Day and night, be aware with each breath, and live there." -- Lalla "Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many." -- Chuang Tzu "My occupation: love. It's all I do." -- St. John of the Cross "All creation is gifted with the ecstasy of God's light... Gaze at the beauty of earth's greenings..." -- Hildegard of Bingen There Is Only One! Love Every One! Feed Every One!  There is a House of Love. And in this House, there are many rooms... many rooms... And in each room there is a secret that is revealed to your heart... And you may stay in that room for as long as you desire... But, this House of Love is not Paradise... There is a hallway in this very same House of Love... few venture down the hall for there is no door at the other end: looking that way, you will see a wild garden... and you will see a large lion lounging in the shadows just outside... you will notice that he never turns his head, but continues, always, to stare intently into the hall... you can tell when his eyes lock onto yours... a chill goes up and down your spine as you beat a hasty retreat into the room that you had just left... you were safe... you were comfortable... you were well-fed and warm... you know that you can stay for as long as you want... perhaps you can be happy enough... And so it goes... for a very long time, and so it goes... until one morning you awaken to a stirring of discontent where before, you were certain that you were happy... well, you were happy enough... And so it goes... on and on it goes... until a kind of madness settles into your bones -- it always goes for the bones first... then the madness creeps into your consciousness -- it always happens first when you are sleeping... and then it just sort of slips into your daydreams... and then, and then it is all that you can think about: that lion! that lion! that god-damn lion! you curse that lion without end... You wonder: what does that lion protect? What secrets, what treasures, lie hidden in the wild garden protected by that lion? You imagine every possibility.. and then you even create possibilities no one has ever thought of before: and then you awaken with a start: there are soft padded foot-falls coming your way down the hallway... the foot-falls stop outside your door... you wait: sweat trickles between your frozen shoulder blades onto the bed beneath your body: damn damn damn everything... bile rises and the taste of your mind fills your mouth... why did you ever enter this House, and why did you ever decide to stay? Day after day, and night after night, for so long that this House of Love has become for you the most hated thing in all of the universe... your laughter shutters your ears... until a new thought, and the last possible thought that you could ever think, enters your mind: you will give up, you will rise up with the courage you know that you do not possess, you will charge down the hall, and you will jump into the mouth of the lion, and you will feel his jaws close down upon you... and you will become the maddest of all the lovers lost, yet present, in the House of Love... you will, you will, eventually, you will... The foot-falls come yet again to rest outside your door -- or was that just your imagination at work again? The comfortable terror rises again and then descends with its predictable force: but it doesn't matter anymore: for this moment is yours: you rise up and you cross the room to your door. Your hand clutches the door-knob, hesitating for one eternal moment -- but this moment belongs completely to you: you are the master of the door: it opens. You walk across the threshold. You turn to the right, and you turn to the right again: you see the light outside: the waiting lion rises to face you: saliva drips from his open mouth onto the ground: not trusting yourself to think, you finally give up your every thought: you had planned to run down his throat: but now you wonder if in fact you could make love to the lion -- but the wondering is a thing of the soul, for your mind has closed down upon itself... there is now only one homeless mind left behind as you walk right past the lion and on into the sunlight and into the waiting, the wild, Garden of Surrender... the green leaves of the bowing willow trees caress your hands and your face... there is a Light emanating from within every flower, every bush, every tree, every rock, every thing that you see -- everything is in-filled with the very same soul that is filling you: you turn for one last, loving, look back: you bless and again you bless: warmth, and rain, and sun, and one one one upon everyone and everything in that beautiful, beautiful, House of Love: you turn again, and as you turn, you pick up the homeless mind you had left behind: and with the smile of perfect beauty, you thank the lion for his gift! And you simply walk the path before you... and you simply walk the path before you, and you listen to what everything sings: one song, one song... everything is one... and you feel yourself dissolve into the music of one love, and you fall completely and madly in love with Love, and in your falling, your mind finally serves its One purpose: it thinks the perfect thought: Everything is One: There is Only One: One Love...   Divinity is everywhere and within everything: it is the Holy of Holies, the Secret of Secrets... it is both above and beneath, within and without... it is before and it is behind: it lurks behind every veil -- always ready and waiting for the perfect moment, the surprise of the perfect pounce... The children's game of hide and seek and "boo" is not at all like this: this is the surprise of total ego annihilation -- and the only way through this devastation of "atomized love" is total, radical, non-attachment: "Not my will, but yours be done"... until... there is nothing between us: because there is nothing left of "me" -- there is "Only You"... (Only One)... The "emptiness" of total, radical, non-attachment is the perfect freedom of: existence / non-existence, life / death: it is all the Same: because there is Only One Being: in Surrender, in Adoration, in the complete Actualization of Love: Only Love remains... Only Love Is...
It is from this "Place" of "Only Love Is" that Yeshua the Poet uttered the sacred words that molded the Key to Paradise: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"... The mystery of this Key is that it is Always Free for the Giving... it is meant to be taken up and used by everyone to unlock each and every door that has closed down our hearts... Everyone -- every single human being -- carries around with them -- oftentimes buried deep under layers of consciousness and into the very depths of their heart -- all of the ways that we have been hurt and, most especially, all of the ways in which we have hurt others: we carry each and every hurt with us as the most essential part of our being -- even to the point of it becoming our very self-identification: that is, until we surrender into forgiveness, into the Adoration of "Only You"... One Being in the cosmic Actualization of Love... In surrender, we begin to will the very best for everyone and everything... and then, through forgiveness, we can even enter into and become an "actualizer" of the Holy One's love-feast and make love to time itself and assist in the "un-creating" of every hurt, all suffering, all evil, every act of violence, oppression, injustice, and un-truth any human being has ever perpetrated upon another person, any creature, and this precious blue Planet... This is the Mystery of the Christ Consciousness let loose by Yeshua to liberate All and Everything into One Love... [Look to the Page "Divinity Is Everywhere" for a brief description of two core practices essential to the cultivation of forgiveness in your life and the complete Actualization of Love...]  "The way of love is not a subtle argument. The door there is devastation." -- Rumi The Heart of the Matter: 1) We are Love. 2) The power of kindness, the perfect beauty of every act of love, awaits our activation in justice, compassion, and harmlessness... this is the total revolution that will unlock the door to paradise upon this precious blue Planet. 3) We have been created to revel in the radiance of our divine beauty. 4) With every breath, with every thought, with every word, with every action: One Love Blessing... and we will finally become instruments, channels, of the Lord's Peace... and all will be well, and all manner of things, well. 5) To live is to inevitably experience pain, suffering, and death. The key to our divine actualization is our complete identification and total solidarity with the Other and with Every Other: solidarity with / in the Other to the point of radical ego annihilation: the surrender of the illusion of being a separate self... (this is the "devastation" that Rumi wrote of)... These five summary points are the very heart of the mystic-activist journey. To walk through life awakened to the essential beauty of the universe is possible! When the power-interests of our "little selves" are left behind (because we are no longer dominated by our fears), then suddenly every moment becomes pregnant with paradise possibilities! When paradise possibilities become our defining characteristic, the One Love lets loose a riot of Imagination -- how else do you think the Universe was born? Sacred Imagination is another Name for the Holy One... Sacred Imagination is the root of "Boundless Compassion and Boundless Mercy and Beauty within Beauty within Beauty"... Sacred Imagination is the Active Power of the grace of forgiveness (an absolutely essential practice of the mystic-activist)-- but it is also how the Holy One makes love to time and un-creates every evil, and all violence, oppression, and injustice. Our awakening into Sacred Imagination is the enlivening force of a solidarity spirituality -- side-by-side we can walk with all those for whom to live means to suffer: but it is not an aimless meandering! No, for we are intent upon paradise! Everyone together, hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm, is the only way anyone enters Paradise... and it is all of us together... or no one at all... "Suppose it never, ever comes true, and there is no paradise... well, I'll still go on preaching. And yet how simple a matter it is: in one day, in one hour it could all be brought about at once! The chief thing is to love others as oneself, that's the main thing, and that's it -- absolutely nothing more is necessary: you would immediately discover how to bring it about." -- Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Dream of a Ridiculous Man)  "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love". -- Simone Weil
"The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love... It must lose itself in love." -- Mechthild of Magdeburg The "spiritual life" (if it is truly a life at all), is a journey into the mystic -- into the deep interior of one's being to encounter one's Self-Within-The One Self. The world around us is ever changing -- quantum physics is the revelation that everything exists within a web of inter-being, of inter-penetration... in other words, our atoms come and go, now here -- now there, for a while a star, for a while mush on the bottom of a pond, for a while a grand work of art, for a while the soft green moss supporting the play of lovers... but underlying all the changes around us and within us, there is a core Reality existing in a steady-state of "Is-ness"... the Holy One, the Only One, the One Love... This mystic journey is into and through the layers of consciousness that "is us" -- at that core of "is us" is our identification as one with the Holy One, the eternal flame of divinity which is our true Self... The Only One is much closer to us than the blood coursing through our bodies, and indeed, even much closer than the thoughts within our minds... The great news of the mystics is that this is No Secret! We can know this as a direct personal realization and It can become our conscious identity, our character, and our blessing upon the world around us... And finally, this realization is the One purpose of every human life. It is possible to live life within this Oneness, this essential Unity that co-exists "within and without" all of creation... the practices that enhance and liberate this realization is the Way of the Mystic -- which is also the very heart of every religion, and really the only cause for being of every religion... The next bit of very good news is that no one has to run off to the desert to discover these truths for herself! We enter into Love the very moment we intend with our whole being to Love -- and then following upon that initial intention, to place no limits upon our Love. The "two hands of Love" are meant to massage our hearts into the fullness of One Love: to become the very Love with which Love loves everyone and everything! The "first hand" is the interior journey: meditation, intention, affirmation, contemplation, and identification. The "second hand" is the outward flow of loving: direct service through the works of mercy, justice, and peace, and a fully activated compassion that compels a generous and concentrated sacred activism for all life and for this precious blue Planet. This is the essence of the mystic journey and of a new life of radical sacred activism... and this is the great need of our time and of this century: will you give yourself over to your sacred destiny and become a mystic-activist for the service of Life and the saving of this Planet? Or will you turn aside from these, your glorious opportunities, and be "normal", and so for the remainder of your days live in regret? |
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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