There are real barriers -- even if only temporary. And then there are the "unreal barriers" under constant construction: mostly centered upon "How to Avoid God and Lose at Love": this we call Religion, Culture, Economics, and Politics, or "Progress in Civilization" or some such soul-masking advertisement... "Danger! Keep Out!" is the prescription offered by most of what passes for Religion, Culture, Economics, and Politics: "You should not desire more! You should accept our prescription for your happiness! And, our plan is The Plan!"
But for the aspiring mystic-activist, the conversation has to be about how to go around, over, under, or through the "unreal barriers" to get as close as we can to our own souls, to a soulful life, and to the soul-liberation of awakening into Oneness: you can be sure that if you are being told "Danger! Keep Out!" there is a cultural imperative to economic viability by means of power politics and religious super-fundamentalism... But what of the imperatives of your own soul? Start by immersing yourself in as much beauty as possible (there is not one definition of beauty): surround yourself with as much earth as possible: plant a garden if you can: volunteer in a community garden: listen to Beethoven's Eighth Symphony: soak in hot water: read the poetry of Walt Whitman, Rumi, Hafiz, Adrienne Rich, and Mary Oliver: sunbathe naked: take a walk in the rain: sit and listen to falling snow: massage someone if you can... the first unreal barrier that needs to go is your isolated sense of self: you are one with the Universe -- this is true -- whether or not you can feel it... Feed your soul by chanting the Divine Name: surrender to the "is-ness" of the One Within... Become increasingly aware of the possibility of life without barriers: all of the artificial constructs that prevent us from our destiny as explorers of the Divine Life -- Here and Now -- must be identified and set aside: nothing short of a total cultural transformation will save this precious blue Planet: if religious constructs identify "God" as "male", realize that they are not serving your liberation -- there is much more to the story: as a matter of fact, you should write your own story! Study, reflect, conversate, and meditate... "Remember the Mother!" This sage advice from the modern mystic, Fr. Bede Griffiths, is as important a bit of counsel that we will ever receive: "remember the Mother!" Most of what passes for religion expressly flows from theologies of division: Spirit / Matter; Male / Female; Good / Bad; Pure / Impure; Heaven / Hell; Divine / Human... and on and on.... Dualism is the root barrier to awakening... Until we confront the systems of domination and division, how will anything ever really change? Until we re-create -- re-imagine -- our essential spiritual insights and nature as already a practical manifestation of the Divine Life, we are acceding to the "Danger! Keep Out!" signs that are all around us. Immerse yourself in the music of Deva Premal and Miten and you will begin to recognize your divine nature as not something that settles on you "from above", but as something that wells up from within the blessedness that you already are. "Remember the Mother" is the essential awakening of the Divine Mother birthing every moment and every breath and every life and every part and particle of creation in every moment... as every moment passes into the birth of the next moment of One Now... This is Beauty: as this is a religion of Being Love; a culture of Being Kindness; an economics of Being Justice; and a politics of Being Solidarity: until all the barriers that have been erected to reign in our souls, constrict our hearts, shrink our minds, and eradicate our compassion have been creatively removed, we will never discover our real destiny.
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 As if frozen in time -- in timelessness -- are the dreams that we occupy... Dreams of love and lovers... and dreams of one who adores... and dreams of loving enough to massage every suffering and pain into a living bliss and radiance -- not just for one, but for everyone -- and dreams of a daily discovery of meaning and purpose in work, in passion, in creativity: in an increase of the beauty of the world... To have occupied one of these dreams, or perhaps more... perhaps even each of these dreams is to have been touched by wonder and grace: a deep satisfaction of soul that is life at its core: "Welcome Home!"
"Welcome Home!" And how to let go of a dream... How to say goodbye to that which was that satisfaction of soul: the work that was one's meaning and purpose? The only thing that works is a redefinition of "the work that was one's meaning and purpose" into a genuine spirituality of non-attachment: the steady purification of means and ends into -- solely -- "My occupation is love. It is all I do." (St. John of the Cross) As the saying goes, "the rubber hits the road" exactly here, in the recognition of one's ultimate powerlessness. So, for me, for thirty years I "worked" feeding the hungry: and steadily expanding that definition to include shelters, outreach projects, summer camps for children, micro-enterprises, tutoring, health clinics, art galleries, and finally, the "Dorothy Day House of Peace"... For better than two years, a changing core of community workers engaged with Soledad Street Homeless to "increase their capacity for life": planning for the "homeless solution" of permanent supportive housing. I've written about it a bit in the page entitled "Organizing". What a blessing it was to begin moving folks from the street into their home -- talk about "occupying a dream"! Pam thought we were lying to her, "You don't really mean that I get a home again do you?" "Yes, Pam! This is your home! We've written our Charter together! You just have to follow through, just like us!" The few months that Michelle and I and our children, along with community members Brittany and Audrey, lived in the House of Peace were the best months of my life! Holy Moly, "love is all I do"! And then the blessing of a sabbatical -- and saying goodbye... I thought that I'd be back -- I needed the break, as the organization needed some time without "Robert"... Eventually, "going back" proved to be an impossibility: but the House of Peace had Brittany and Audrey and my 30 years "in the bank"... And as in all things, changes happen: organizations re-invent themselves... Grace and charism: change? Do they move on? Perhaps to also re-invent themselves... So from partnership and collaboration to the hierarchy of "Executive Director": from intentional community gathered around a common vision, to paid employees with exact job descriptions: so giving a day to getting an addict to the hospital and staying with him so he doesn't run away back to the street no longer "justifies on-going employment"... and "permanent supportive housing" is suddenly just a temporary shelter (the current fundraising gold-star): and it turns out that Pam was right after-all: we were lying: for she now has a transition date back onto the streets of Chinatown... Engulfed with sadness and a depressive sense of failure, it is all that I can do to surrender to the Spirit that prompted those first 65 sandwiches that began the "work of feeding the hungry in Salinas"... There is no "rubber to hit the road" here... there is only a shattering that leaves me to simply occupy a dream... But I remind myself that love is not, ever, to be judged as either a "success" or a "failure": that is way to easy, and that is not how the Spirit moves. Instead, the Spirit is all about every very simple act of loving: without needing anything in return: love can be what we do... our one occupation... Not needing to justify the hours given to "just one" addict to an "Executive Director", we are freed to love to the best of our ability! Looking around, it is obvious that a very great many people do not believe in love -- as it is also obvious that this world is being torn and raped by folks who pursue power and privilege: from the small-scale of local non-profits to vast systems of violence and oppression -- and yet, and yet... Michelle and I still occupy the gift of our love and our dreams: so, who knows? Maybe some one or two others will want to "occupy a dream" with us and we'll begin something new here in the Midwest? In any case, so long as "love is our one occupation", we will continue the one task that is the destiny of every human being: becoming love... In the long run -- even though the Chinatown streets can never be for anyone a "Welcome Home" -- this Love is the only home worthy of Pam... and you... 
The "Secret Garden" explored by mystic-activists is that of "Oneness"... that we as human beings are taught through our cultures, religions, economics, and politics to see only those things which divide and separate us from the Divine, others, and with this precious blue Planet is the root problem that we face as individual persons and as peoples. To see only division when the real "One Reality" is Unity is to "live" a schizophrenia of the heart: it is impossible to be happy under this condition: and yet, there is no better description of our current state of collective being. Mystic-activists intuit there is another Way...
Dropping the schizophrenia of the heart for the liberation of Love, the mystic-activist chooses to live "I am You, You are Me, and We are All Together: One"... Whew! What a relief! The phony world of retail politics, religion, and "love" can be up-ended by a completely different interpretation of life: an interpretation based on actual reality. not the world of domination, exploitation, injustice, oppression, and violence. The ends simply do not justify the means! Means and ends are, as Gandhi taught, identical; they are one and the same. Whew again! That means that we can actually regain our integrity as a civilized people! And what rEvolution this means for faith and spirituality! If means and ends are the same, then perhaps we can really take that mystic-leap and realize that the Divine and Human are also intimately united from cell to consciousness! The Divinization of Human isn't some sort of "top-down" affair: but we are born into It: we breathe with the breath of the Divine: we drink the Mother's Milk of Divinity: we caress and kiss Divinity in our lover: and we give Birth to the Holy One through our every act of Love, Compassion, and Justice! There is no separation: God is not over there, up there, or anywhere other than right here, right now: in you, in me, and in our exploding atoms popping out all over the place: the only substantial Reality is That One and We are It as It is Us and We are All Together: One... this is what is known as bliss... We can't grab it, put it in a box with a price tag, and begin some sort of successful marketing campaign! But we can volunteer in a Soup Kitchen. We can write a poem and post it on a café bulletin board. We can make free art. We can cherish our lover. We can organize a demonstration. We can vote the separatists out and the progressives in. We can practice our freedom to become the person we really wish everyone else would be! We can become Love-in-motion: living everyday to love a little bit more... we can surrender to the Absolute... we can adore the Holy... and we can remember who we are and become That: the Bliss of 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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