Seeds
Religion: many are the religions of humanity, with several claiming to be the one "true religion": implying, or stating as a matter of fact, that each other religion is untrue.
The Scourge of Religion: is there a religion that steadfastly refuses its practitioners to kill, exploit, or oppress other human beings? Violence and sexism, with all of the justifications employed to pursue the gratification of power and privilege, are the scourge of religion.
Truth: what is truth? Truth must be the very opposite of much (most) of what passes for religion. If religion divides, truth must unite. If religion justifies violence and sexism, truth must be nonviolent and committed to partnership. If religion practices, through its economic, political, and cultural accomplices, exploitation, inequality, injustice, and oppression, then truth is harmony, equality, justice, and liberation.
Application: if one's heart is affected by the suffering of other human beings, creatures, and the Earth, then the practical application of that affection and concern is an activated compassion. Our most basic human desires are for happiness, safety, health, and the overwhelming spiritual condition of being wanted. Following the inevitable trajectory of these thoughts, we arrive at Oneness and Love.
How to Love: the spiritual acquisition of happiness, safety, health, and being wanted is the fruit of Oneness and Love practiced as religion, politics, and culture: we learn how to love by practicing kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. Love expands with each and every act of love. Transformation is as natural as the inhalation and exhalation of breath: when the small self is replaced by the One Self... Nonviolence is the talisman of transformation.
The Reservoir of Love: The Uncreated Creative Principle -- the One Love Consciousness -- is the Reservoir of Love: This is Being, Consciousness, and Bliss: That is our True Identity: without end. "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." (Simone Weil)
Oneness: our primal, unconditioned, nature is Oneness. We are each and all part and parcel of this same One Love Consciousness: the Divine Mother of All. Diversity is our appearance -- like the clothing and skin that we wear. Peace and happiness is the practice of reverence for and within the Beauty of Diversity: Unity is our great University, our School of Love...
Qualities: the One Love Consciousness is both without / with form, without / with qualities: this is a profound Mystery: that which is most beneficial to spiritual practice is meditation on "form and qualities" (without forgetting the "without" of both)... The "law of attraction" should be followed: Identification, Adoration, and Surrender are transformative tools for the intentional practitioner. Yeshua, the Poet of Nazareth, continues as a stunning representation of the infinite One Love Consciousness. The Mary's: Mary the Mother of Yeshua and Mary the Bride of Yeshua reveal the Feminine Face of the One Love. Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Siddhartha the Buddha are other manifestations of the Passionate One: pursuing us... The Great Spirit as Grand Parent, as Allah, and as the Divine Mother are "Mystic Indicators" of Love without Limits: cultivated devotion to one or more of these Beings / Names is the science of qualities: repeatable experiments in Truth...
Happiness: seeking happiness is our super-natural condition: it is religion and life. Happiness is found precisely in the conscious application of "giving happiness": causing no harm or the least harm possible is the foundation of "giving happiness". Practice is Oneness: devotion, meditation, chanting, affirmation, identification, service, and community organizing for justice, peace, equality, reverence, and harmony... Practice is Community: intentional cultivation of possibilities for networks of "light" -- one group with another and another -- is essential for the global transformation that is needed... Practice is Love: intentional formation of partnerships of passion and "giving happiness"; cultivating a partnership model for leadership and decision making; and a radical commitment to "becoming the change we wish to see in the world"...
Why?: why are these ruminations of possible importance? While much of religion has been a source of good (like Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement) and beauty (like Rumi and Hafiz), it must finally be unleashed from the "keepers of dogma and their corrupt justifications": from the Taliban to the evangelical "Reconstructionism" of Rushdoony and the "American Tea Party", religion continues to exploit and divide: justifying every sort of oppression, injustice, and violence in the "name" of both prophets and "God". A new vision of what constitutes true revelation is necessary! Likewise, a new politics of justice and peace is absolutely essential!
It is simply not true that women are in any way inferior to men: the Dominator Paradigm must be transformed into a new partnership, a "Solidarity Paradigm"; it is simply not true that "Jesus will return when the last tree falls" (according to President Reagan's Secretary of the Interior James Watt) -- the living spirit of Yeshua the Poet needs to be redeemed from the hands and minds of the privileged and powerful, to once again roam about free to seduce a world mad with violence into the loving-kindness of Oneness; and it is simply not true that Islam is something other than the great poet Rumi... and on and on...
The Scourge of Religion: is there a religion that steadfastly refuses its practitioners to kill, exploit, or oppress other human beings? Violence and sexism, with all of the justifications employed to pursue the gratification of power and privilege, are the scourge of religion.
Truth: what is truth? Truth must be the very opposite of much (most) of what passes for religion. If religion divides, truth must unite. If religion justifies violence and sexism, truth must be nonviolent and committed to partnership. If religion practices, through its economic, political, and cultural accomplices, exploitation, inequality, injustice, and oppression, then truth is harmony, equality, justice, and liberation.
Application: if one's heart is affected by the suffering of other human beings, creatures, and the Earth, then the practical application of that affection and concern is an activated compassion. Our most basic human desires are for happiness, safety, health, and the overwhelming spiritual condition of being wanted. Following the inevitable trajectory of these thoughts, we arrive at Oneness and Love.
How to Love: the spiritual acquisition of happiness, safety, health, and being wanted is the fruit of Oneness and Love practiced as religion, politics, and culture: we learn how to love by practicing kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. Love expands with each and every act of love. Transformation is as natural as the inhalation and exhalation of breath: when the small self is replaced by the One Self... Nonviolence is the talisman of transformation.
The Reservoir of Love: The Uncreated Creative Principle -- the One Love Consciousness -- is the Reservoir of Love: This is Being, Consciousness, and Bliss: That is our True Identity: without end. "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." (Simone Weil)
Oneness: our primal, unconditioned, nature is Oneness. We are each and all part and parcel of this same One Love Consciousness: the Divine Mother of All. Diversity is our appearance -- like the clothing and skin that we wear. Peace and happiness is the practice of reverence for and within the Beauty of Diversity: Unity is our great University, our School of Love...
Qualities: the One Love Consciousness is both without / with form, without / with qualities: this is a profound Mystery: that which is most beneficial to spiritual practice is meditation on "form and qualities" (without forgetting the "without" of both)... The "law of attraction" should be followed: Identification, Adoration, and Surrender are transformative tools for the intentional practitioner. Yeshua, the Poet of Nazareth, continues as a stunning representation of the infinite One Love Consciousness. The Mary's: Mary the Mother of Yeshua and Mary the Bride of Yeshua reveal the Feminine Face of the One Love. Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Siddhartha the Buddha are other manifestations of the Passionate One: pursuing us... The Great Spirit as Grand Parent, as Allah, and as the Divine Mother are "Mystic Indicators" of Love without Limits: cultivated devotion to one or more of these Beings / Names is the science of qualities: repeatable experiments in Truth...
Happiness: seeking happiness is our super-natural condition: it is religion and life. Happiness is found precisely in the conscious application of "giving happiness": causing no harm or the least harm possible is the foundation of "giving happiness". Practice is Oneness: devotion, meditation, chanting, affirmation, identification, service, and community organizing for justice, peace, equality, reverence, and harmony... Practice is Community: intentional cultivation of possibilities for networks of "light" -- one group with another and another -- is essential for the global transformation that is needed... Practice is Love: intentional formation of partnerships of passion and "giving happiness"; cultivating a partnership model for leadership and decision making; and a radical commitment to "becoming the change we wish to see in the world"...
Why?: why are these ruminations of possible importance? While much of religion has been a source of good (like Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement) and beauty (like Rumi and Hafiz), it must finally be unleashed from the "keepers of dogma and their corrupt justifications": from the Taliban to the evangelical "Reconstructionism" of Rushdoony and the "American Tea Party", religion continues to exploit and divide: justifying every sort of oppression, injustice, and violence in the "name" of both prophets and "God". A new vision of what constitutes true revelation is necessary! Likewise, a new politics of justice and peace is absolutely essential!
It is simply not true that women are in any way inferior to men: the Dominator Paradigm must be transformed into a new partnership, a "Solidarity Paradigm"; it is simply not true that "Jesus will return when the last tree falls" (according to President Reagan's Secretary of the Interior James Watt) -- the living spirit of Yeshua the Poet needs to be redeemed from the hands and minds of the privileged and powerful, to once again roam about free to seduce a world mad with violence into the loving-kindness of Oneness; and it is simply not true that Islam is something other than the great poet Rumi... and on and on...