Interior Climate Change...

                                                            Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk, Writer, Poet

I suppose by now it is an evident axiom that in every spiritual study and practice to pray means to change... could that be the reason why we, individually and collectively, create the conditions which very nearly make change impossible? If, as William Blake said, we are put on earth for a little space that we may learn to bear the beams of love, shouldn't we wonder at our perpetuating wheel of uncontrollable fears, hatreds, violence, and greed? Isn't it increasingly obvious that we are, individually and collectively, in dire need of an interior climate change?

I do not subscribe to the idea that prayer begins with either our sufferings or our desires. Instead, I am certain that prayer actually begins with wonder and celebration... oh, we do tend to "throw up" a prayer before a job interview, if there is an accident involving a loved one, or we are in a "church, temple, mosque, or forest"... Emergency or "required" prayers can be likened to the lowest rung on a ladder... But we only enter genuine prayer when we have already forgotten ourselves and are simply jumping for joy or exploding with the delight of wonder... 

The revolution of Jesus is that horrible! thought / conviction: the kingdom of God is within you... and, obviously by extension, the kingdom of God is among you... And there I was -- and you are -- wanting the safety of a completely different time and place! The very last thing that any of us want is to have to look into the mirror of our mind and see, looking back at us, the truth of our lazy cowardice: we have likely become the very antithesis of the One Whom we have claimed to love... How many years, now, have we gone faithfully to Mass, to Temple, or to wherever, and we are still filled to overflowing with a will-full refusal to become a saint?

To be "saved" is a lousy theology and a lousy response to the absolute wonder of being alive! Our absolute astonishment to the wonder of life should / must absolutely convince us to create the conditions necessary for every human being to thrive and reach her / his full development (read Matthew 25)... Whatsoever you do to the least among you, you do to me, because the Kingdom is always right here, right now... This whatsoever you do is the Works of Mercy, the Works of Peace and Justice... But we only see this, and only to the degree, that we are intentionally cultivating an interior climate change... 

We need a ruthless honesty: the world situation sucks! Predatory capitalism is raping the entire Planet: greed is consuming resources, species, and human beings: violence is justified, especially by Right-Wing governments and Neo-fascist groups: religions are the opiates of the people (to either shut us up or create rabid fanatics): women are still not equal: racism is rampant: children are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves: and the world is, all at the same time, burning, flooding, drying up, and scaring the shit out of scientists and thinking people... 

Our existential situation requires a rugged commitment to prayer, change, and a new kind of sanctity. Rabbi Isaac the Blind taught the inner, subtle essences can be contemplated only by sucking, not by knowing... This is fundamental to the rungs on the ladder of prayer! Each step is a step into the "sucking" of lover-to-lover... (Now would be a good time to go back and read The Song of Songs in the Hebrew Scriptures.) Sucking is the kingdom of God within you... All sorts of "knots" have tied us all up: fear of women, fear of God, fear of change, and the fear of death are at the top of the list: prayer is the un-tying of the knots that constrict our minds, hearts, and bodies... Genuine prayer liberates us from all those things that keep us living small, measly, and mean...

​Prayer is... Come my Beloved, this is the hour and the life of loving... Whew! This is getting a tad bit long! I'll try to bring this post to a close by way of a few suggestions... I need the "scaffolding" of certain regular "rituals" or practices -- you are likely the same, so, here goes: I use Celtic Daily Prayer by the Northumbria Community, Celtic Benediction by John Philip Newell, and Whispers From Eternity by Paramahansa Yogananda as primary "go to" guides into cultivating an interior climate change... A prayer rope, or beads, are almost always in my pocket: recite the Name of the Divine Beloved with the beads (often)... Learn and practice meditation: Thich Nhat Hahn has written excellent books on meditation and spiritual cultivation... Don't ever again listen to Rush Limbaugh (if you ever have!), instead, read the lives of the Saints, like Hildegard, Francis, Eckhart, Rumi, Abraham Heschel, Teresa of Avila, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Merton... Read Mary Oliver and Rumi! Read Riane Eisler, Ram Dass, Andrew Harvey, and Matthew Fox: make the necessary connections between your liberation and the liberation of every other human being and this entire precious Blue Planet!

​Come, my friends! 'Tis not too late to seek either a new 'you' and a new world!