 A good -- very good -- vibration, is that of physical intimacy with another person: touching, kissing, massaging, and the gifting of sacred pleasure... The deep vibrations of cooking and gathering around a common table is of a very holy order... The contemplative vibration of friends huddled together on a wintry night, reading poetry and conversing with blankets, pillows, candles, and incense, is of a very special kind... One can easily imagine Yeshua, the Poet of Nazareth, enjoying and gifting within each of these sacred and profoundly human vibrations... Indeed, the deeper that one surrenders to the Mystery of the One Love "Vibration" and penetrates to the Mystic Core of "what is really Real", she will understand that That is All there Is...
Following the little creek of our desires we will each -- finally -- approach the Cave of our Heart: many (perhaps most) folks are utterly terrified of what may lurk within that darkness: and so seek any available alternate route going anywhere else. So we fill our minds and our days with a petty politics, divisive religion, and arrogant economics: wrapped all too often in cultures of waste, distress, and folly... Perhaps what most terrifies us is our own self-loathing: which is, of course, projected upon the chosen "objects" of our derision... And yet, and yet, that which we are actually most attracted to, and most desirous of, is the True Reality described in the first paragraph above... if only, if only... But why not? Really, why not? What are some of the ways in people self-identify? Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, believer / unbeliever, male, female, LGBT, conservative, liberal, old / young, rich, not so rich, poor, white, black, brown, red, yellow, intelligent, educated, homeless, alcoholic, addict, professional, unemployed, student, tired, gray, ill, and dying are but a few examples: now toss in our opinions and judgments... add all of our successes, failures, hurts, sufferings, prejudices, and fears... finally, add our reasons for whatever gratitude we can find, happiness, forgiveness, blessings, and love along with all of our dreams, both realized and unrealized: somewhere in that mix: we are. Or are we? We are really -- really -- not that! Oh, I know that we seem to be: we look around, we listen, we talk, and sure enough we are utterly convinced: yep, that is "us"... But what if, instead, we are the eyes, hands, heart, and consciousness through which the One looks upon "herself" and thereby may discover "her" Being? This is a secret: a Really Big Secret! It is discovered in the longing (not in the wanting) for One Love... it is the desire to completely merge within the Being of An Other... it is the First Kiss... it is the Naked Seeing... it is the Poem, the Song, and the Movement... it is the Music, the Cry, and the Choice to Disappear Completely Within the Other... it is contemplation, meditation, and the Discovery of the Heart-Cave: within which entire Universes spin in ancient wonder and fulfillment: it is the Welcome Home of the One to Her Self Who has been creating and wandering through the wasteland of Her own Seeking: until the Finding of Everyone and Everything and the Pouring out of the Mercy of Complete Worthiness into the empty bowls of our hands, minds, and hearts... This Earth, this precious blue Planet, makes music as it hurtles through space and time: everything that is in any way in Existence is a vibration of the One Song: minimally, at this very sacred moment in time, we are all being called to listen to: to hear within our heart consciousness, these sacred vibrations: our religions, politics, economics, and cultures are simply too small for the wonders that we are! We are the Eyes through which the One looks out upon creation: we are the Hands through which the One is building the Earth: we are the Heart Consciousness through which the One is manifesting the Love Possibilities of "Her" Heart: we have been created to reveal to one another the mercy, the forgiveness, the kindness, the justice, the beauty, and the love which is our destiny: to know this Oneness is to hear the Voice in our heart saying, "Welcome Home... and Thank You for bringing All the Others with You!"
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 Everyday comes with extraordinary possibilities: most especially, the opportunity to manifest your worth... Yes: to manifest your worth! For many, if not most of us, we hesitate to manifest anything that would compel us out of the ordinary... most of us are stuck on automatic... and so lead lives of a certain dread...
Somewhere around 35% of eligible voters actually got up the gumption to exercise their right to vote (of course, it was a Republican strategy to place as many barriers to voting as they could get away with... still, the overwhelming majority of voters simply chose not to show up: Republicans are emphatically stating that "the will of the people has now been heard"... I think it much more likely that "the will of the people" is to be found in those who didn't vote... What might that will be? I am certain that the actual will of the people is that we be summoned to greatness: with an endless opening into our possibilities... It isn't that we want to be led, so much as we want the boots removed from our throats! We want to believe again that we all matter, that we count, that our lives are worth living, and that by our actions we can make the world a better place... There are those who have chosen to serve privilege and power: they are most often the folks who do the bidding of their corporate donors and masters: they are the ones who lie about the "socialism" of "Obama Care": while it is instead, "capitalism on steroids": but FOX Not News cultivates the socialism meme and so their 35% voters really believe... "Repeal and Replace" is their mantra handed to them by their masters who want not the least limitation placed upon their privilege and power... So what are we to do? We are to manifest our worth: in every way we can imagine: manifest our worth! For example: we need to mentally "repeal and replace" every notion that anyone has tried to convince us that we are not worth the very best: we are worth infinite Love: always! In every way we are all equal, deserving of a social system that liberates everyone into the fullness of their possibilities: no it is neither true nor is it good the idea that we are meant to individually carve out our destinies. No: we are supposed to organize our lives to serve the common good: and all power exists to serve and the only real privilege is to be an agent of compassion and justice through our lives, our businesses, our religions, and all of our associations: this is the very heart of true religion, succinctly summed up by Yeshua, the Poet of Nazareth, who said, "I give you a New Commandment: love one another as I have loved you!" Free health care, right?! Equal rights for women! Everyone has equal standing and a seat at the table of the Master! Peace is the way: nonviolence is the practice! We are all responsible for one another! When the dinner bell is sounded, no one is ever left outside or without! This is the Gospel of the Poet! Contemplative prayer is how we hit the refresh button in our minds: we first "change our minds" so that we can "drop" them into our hearts and surrender... rising up from our prayer, we re-create our daily lives to the construction of a solidarity culture and economics: this is the democratic action the rest of the world yearns to see in and from America: this is what we are all worth! Billionaire thieves and their "entertainment" spokespersons require our full presence and participation in all the great issues of our times: life upon this precious blue Planet is @Risk: many species go extinct every single day: tens of thousand of children starve to death every single day: women in very few places have equal rights: LGBT folks are still frequent victims of abuse and violence: our natural resources serve only the profit of the few: weapons of war and the calculations of the mad are still a threat to everyone: and there are more guns than people in this "greatest nation on earth": we are suffering from depression, drugs, alcoholism, racism, unemployment, under-employment, sexism, every-phobia-ism, and manipulative religions... It really is time to activate both our compassion and our contemplation: there is no time to waste!  We want to begin this reflection with two quotations: the first is from Matthew Fox in his book Creation Spirituality, "Beauty, and our role in co-creating it, lie at the heart of the spiritual journey"... And secondly, "What does God do all day long? He/She gives birth." (Meister Eckhart). These two quotes could be considered the book-ends to all that is written in these pages... Surprise! But we are each and all invited to a spectacular possibility: to truly activate our lives as an exploration into deep purpose...
Too be sure, most of us are aware -- to one degree or another -- of who we are: but how many of us are at all aware of who we could become? There is a Sufi tradition that has wondered if it might be true that the Holy One initiated Being and Creation in order to discover Who She Is: through us... We are at our very best when we mirror back to the Holy One all the beauty, wonder, compassion, and graciousness that we have received: this one essential mutuality is what we have named "Love"... Being "in Love" is the condition of revealing the Holy One to all the world: and then back again to the One... The picture at the top of this blog posting is a sort of visual scripture: two volunteers are on each side of two formerly homeless volunteers who were cooking the meal of the day in the Soup Kitchen: there were many people -- usually led by Board members -- who would question our sanity because of our desire to include people "like" Eleanor and Jose in our vision of community. But we had found that we were "lovertarians": the more that we loved -- without expecting or requiring anything in return -- the more likely that folks would "self-heal". Or, as in the words of Lao-Tzu, "By doing nothing everything gets done"... This "doing nothing" is a great wisdom teaching: by the simple, very simple, act of "only loving", Eleanor and Jose (and countless others) were able to begin the discovery of their self-worth: now someone who has had only the experience of life as comfort, would always look in dismay at the working-chaos of our Kitchen Love (and oftentimes demand that the homeless be fired): but we had already discovered that it was by loving that we were somehow "made okay" ourselves! In the mutuality of Love, there was revelation... everyday... (Eleanor's Page will be posted again for you to take a look at)... There is nothing else like created a little haven (heaven?) for folks who previously had only known life as a raping, a humiliation, and a failure: the Beauty of This made dealing with a Board of Directors, endless fundraising, public speaking, personal breaking, community failures, and all else that goes into organizing, not just endurable, but a steady stream of blessing... When someone has $25,000 to give, that is something really special: but when someone has Nothing to give but their broken heart: now That is Seeing Directly into the Face of the Holy One... That Seeing is a form of Divine Birthing: we become mid-wives to the Divine giving birth to Herself within all creation: and most especially within the very brokenness of all those persons for whom to live has meant only to suffer... Are you attracted to a life of contemplative prayer and social action for Love and Justice? That very same attraction began in us as the tiniest of sparks: only Mystery kept that spark alive (and only Mystery continues to inspire us today)... It is our hope that you might decide to commit and to act: Dorothy Day used to say that "Beginnings are always exciting": may YOU surrender your heart to an activated pursuit of all of your Divine Possibilities! It really is an exciting way to live! And one more thing, you will be guaranteed to meet your version of Eleanor and Jose: if you can, please remember tell them that we love them too...  Synchronicity: in the midst of a politics of division -- deep in the underground -- there is a continuing movement towards Oneness: this is most often experienced on the political "left"... perhaps because the left traditionally represents the under-class, the working class, youth alive, and all those for whom justice is yet a distant possibility: "Occupy" is an example, as is the increasing numbers of folks who practice yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Divine Goddess devotion, and interfaith spirituality... the environmental movement -- spurred by the scientific conclusions concerning climate change -- and the general interest in sustainability, local food, and farmer's markets are other examples of the same...and none of this is a phenomenon of the United States alone: it is world-wide: there are many reasons for hope! Those persons who are consciously committed to this path of "synchronicity" are reflecting a growing awareness of how we -- and everything and everyone -- are connected. While privilege and power depend upon division for their pursuit of unlimited profit, the rest of us intuit that everything could be so simply arranged in harmony if we just thought for a moment upon the question of "How much is enough?" "Enough" is a home and work; enough is education and healthcare; enough is time for leisure, dates, and child care; enough is the satisfaction of an ordinary life of caring for oneself and compassion for others. Amassing fortunes and power up the wah-zoo is way beyond "enough" and a waste of time, energy, and life for that matter... It is all about the interior qualities that we choose to cultivate: can you imagine the interior anguish of folks like the Koch brothers who hope to seduce enough power to eliminate environmental protections, social security, Medicaid, the ACA, the Departments of Education and Energy, and on and on? Only people with no idea of our Oneness and the goodness and grace inherent within every expression of kindness and justice could will the worst for others and this precious blue Planet! "Enough" is an essential quality of soul that makes for a human being... to seek, instead, to hide trillions of dollars in off-shore tax-free havens is just a different kind of war-making: it's in our face just the same, though... Synchronicity is the awareness that we are all living in the intersection of the Divine and the Human: it is precisely there in that place that we find our purpose through service and creativity: and it is there in that place that we understand that our greatest good is to love always... Contrast this with the folks who claim that Michelle Obama is a transgender person and that the Obama's have adopted their daughters as part of a scheme to destroy America -- yes, I actually have read this as the opinion of not a few people! Clearly they have way too much free time -- but still I wonder why it seems that so many folks need to despise others: Obama, Bush, "illegals", blacks, Muslims, Jews, Baptists, liberals, conservatives, farmers, artists: and the list goes on... I invite you: where you see division, turn your heart towards unity: when you hear divisiveness and hate, turn your heart towards unity and kindness: whenever someone tries to convince you that anyone is unworthy of occupying space upon this Planet, turn your heart towards unity and compassion: and the live, organize, and vote with all of your life for the steady expansion of justice, peace, food, homes, education, health care, equality, opportunity, and liberation for all... |
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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