With a four-day massive headache in tow, what does a contemplative do?
As for me, I stumble out to my desk and pull from the shelf the February issue of Vanity Fair. (Nearly a year ago now, I received an offer in the mail for what I mistakenly thought was for the Atlantic: a magazine I had occasionally thought of subscribing to... Vanity Fair showed up with AOC on the cover... well, "This isn't so bad," I said to myself...) So, I have the current issue in hand. I read the cover article about Priyanka... turning the page... there is Hugh Jackman as The Music Man... And then I am crying over how beautiful we human beings can be... Of all things, crying Vanity Fair tears...
There is a line in the Hugh Jackman article that especially caught my eye. Here it is (out of context): Watching people try to cope with avoiding connecting. You get it, right? This is the beast that's loose in our hearts and in the world. This "avoidance of essential connectivity" is, first of all, the problem of the contemplative: if not us, who? If not now, when?
Connectivity is exactly how the world, all life, and the Universe work! Connectivity is the Quantum World 101. Connectivity is the heart and soul of the spiritual life as well. For whom do you pray? Whom do you love? For whom do you offer the free gift of your breathing? At its most fundamental level, contemplation is never about you. It is always about the other... And eventually, it is the explosive realization that there is no other! With ego smashed to smitherines, there only remains, the bliss of connectivity...
This there is no other is the open door to radical connectivity: this precious blue Planet is our Home (we will regenerate and protect it)... connected there is only One Mystical Body! (Again, it is never you, it is always us): war, nah. Who needs it? Racism, sexism, exploitation, injustice, greed, starvation, oppression? We definitely do not need any more of all that crap, do we? Connectivity nonviolently unravels all the myth-structures of patriarchy: who needs the Unholy Trinity of privilege, profits, and power?
Connectivity is the end of every fear-based story that we are told to keep us in line and paying our dues... after all, isn't freedom free-ingly free? Jesus said "I was hungry and you fed me" precisely as the centerpiece of the kingdom because, in the absence of fear, there is way more than enough food for everyone! (Remember the story of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes in Matthew's Gospel.) Connectivity is, as Dorothy Day would add, the action or root principle of compassion... Connectivity is the really real: compassion is the bridge that swings, sings, or dances us into the mystical realm of all the miracles that are the everyday possible...
Finally, with a four-day massive headache in tow, what does a contemplative do? Unwaveringly unveils the working truth: he / she / I am a shattering of broken pieces held together by the sweet gold of being loved, and then loving as best, moment-by-moment, he / she / I am able... And do you know what the contemplative heart-mind unwaveringly adds?
That is always good enough!
And the Spirit works in the mind-heart as Surrender and as Adoration... good stuff, indeed!
As for me, I stumble out to my desk and pull from the shelf the February issue of Vanity Fair. (Nearly a year ago now, I received an offer in the mail for what I mistakenly thought was for the Atlantic: a magazine I had occasionally thought of subscribing to... Vanity Fair showed up with AOC on the cover... well, "This isn't so bad," I said to myself...) So, I have the current issue in hand. I read the cover article about Priyanka... turning the page... there is Hugh Jackman as The Music Man... And then I am crying over how beautiful we human beings can be... Of all things, crying Vanity Fair tears...
There is a line in the Hugh Jackman article that especially caught my eye. Here it is (out of context): Watching people try to cope with avoiding connecting. You get it, right? This is the beast that's loose in our hearts and in the world. This "avoidance of essential connectivity" is, first of all, the problem of the contemplative: if not us, who? If not now, when?
Connectivity is exactly how the world, all life, and the Universe work! Connectivity is the Quantum World 101. Connectivity is the heart and soul of the spiritual life as well. For whom do you pray? Whom do you love? For whom do you offer the free gift of your breathing? At its most fundamental level, contemplation is never about you. It is always about the other... And eventually, it is the explosive realization that there is no other! With ego smashed to smitherines, there only remains, the bliss of connectivity...
This there is no other is the open door to radical connectivity: this precious blue Planet is our Home (we will regenerate and protect it)... connected there is only One Mystical Body! (Again, it is never you, it is always us): war, nah. Who needs it? Racism, sexism, exploitation, injustice, greed, starvation, oppression? We definitely do not need any more of all that crap, do we? Connectivity nonviolently unravels all the myth-structures of patriarchy: who needs the Unholy Trinity of privilege, profits, and power?
Connectivity is the end of every fear-based story that we are told to keep us in line and paying our dues... after all, isn't freedom free-ingly free? Jesus said "I was hungry and you fed me" precisely as the centerpiece of the kingdom because, in the absence of fear, there is way more than enough food for everyone! (Remember the story of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes in Matthew's Gospel.) Connectivity is, as Dorothy Day would add, the action or root principle of compassion... Connectivity is the really real: compassion is the bridge that swings, sings, or dances us into the mystical realm of all the miracles that are the everyday possible...
Finally, with a four-day massive headache in tow, what does a contemplative do? Unwaveringly unveils the working truth: he / she / I am a shattering of broken pieces held together by the sweet gold of being loved, and then loving as best, moment-by-moment, he / she / I am able... And do you know what the contemplative heart-mind unwaveringly adds?
That is always good enough!
And the Spirit works in the mind-heart as Surrender and as Adoration... good stuff, indeed!
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