…there is something inane about chaining one’s God (whatever one’s understanding of this is) to something empirically falsifiable. We used to think the world was flat. We used to believe in a terracentric universe. We used to think Newtonian mechanics governed the cosmos. I hardly doubt that quantum physics will be the be-all and the end-all of scince, and if one hopes to validate the mystical by bringing in quantum theory, one had better be prepared to lose both in the long run. The Buddha was not talking about subatomic particles when he spoke of the nature of oneness. The subjective is not reducible to the objective.
At so searching a question from one to whom it was impossible to make a light reply, Jolyon stood for a moment, feeling his back tried by the digging.
‘What do you mean by God?’ he said; ‘there are two irreconcilable ideas of God. There’s the Unknowable Creative Principle — one believes in That. And there’s the Sum of altruism in man — naturally one believes in That.’
‘I see. That leaves out Christ, doesn’t it?’ Jolyon stared. Christ, the link between these two ideas! Out of the mouth of babes! Here was orthodoxy scientifically explained at last! The sublime poem of the Christ life was man’s attempt to join those two irreconcilable conceptions of God. And since the Sum of human altruism was as much a part of the Unknowable Creative Prinicple as anything else in Nature and the Universe, a worse link might have been chosen after all! Funny — how one went through life without seeing it in that sort of way!
I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, as a messenger of wonder, as an architect of peace.
Did Jesus Christ come to form an exclusive community called Christian, or Buddha to found a creed called Buddhism? Was it Muhammad’s ideal to form a community called Muhammadan? On the contrary, the Prophet warned his disciples that they should not attach his name to his message, but that it should be called Islam, the Message of Peace.
–Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid `Inayat Khan
From: A Meditation Theme for Each Day
Selected and arranged by Hazrat Pir Vilayat `Inayat Khan
Several days ago I posted a rant/request by my friend, Marta, encouraging people to read more, and specifically to read a novel by someone unheard of, someone who doesn’t have the marketing machine promoting the book. Ever the cooperative friend, I wandered into Waldenbooks with Siona today and searched. It was a challenge to find a book; in small corporate bookstores, most of the fiction on the shelves are bestsellers or serials. There were many authors whose work I haven’t (and probably won’t) ever read, but of whom I’ve heard, so I passed them over. It took awhile, but I managed to find The Rice Mother, a first novel by Rani Manicka. I look forward to diving in. Of course, I’m reading two other fiction books, as well as a nonfiction book or two. And if I spent less time on the Internet, I might get more read! So off I go.
This is a sagacious explanation for one of the “whys” of blogging:
So I asked my therapist why, and her explanation astounded and scared me more than a little bit. To paraphrase: “Everyone needs to ask the universe a few questions now and again. Some people call that prayer, some people call that meditation, there are different words and different methods but the goal is the same. We come to places we can’t figure out on our own, and even our friends and family can’t really help. So we ask the universe — the larger power, God, what have you. And I think your Web page, that act, that place, that’s your larger power. You launch the questions out there and sometimes you get a response, sometimes not. It’s the act that’s important. You’ve just chosen a unique and very public God to question.”
If there are times when things go terribly right in the inner worlds and you’re beginning to think you might be pretty hot stuff, or when things go terribly weird in the inner worlds and you’re beginning to wonder how your sanity’s going to survive, remember this is why humanity was given a sense of humor. To get back to living in balance and harmony, step back, take a good hard look at everyday life, and put your spiritual development in perspective (an excellent reason for keeping little kids and critters around). For heaven’s sake, don’t take life (or the afterlife) too seriously. It’s a journey. As long as our hearts are in the right place, things will work out in the end.
Look at the shit that’s passed off as food these days. Look at the sugar-soaked, over-fatted (or defatted), over-preserved, artificial, neonized, irradiated, modified, processed, pesticide-smeared crap that’s fed to children. Look at the non-food that wrapped and packaged and stamped with a decade-long ‘sell-by’ date. Look at the tallow-injected, deep-fried, fortified, refined and shrink-wrapped products in our supermarkets. Who would eat this?
I’m passing along an email I received from my friend Marta a few days ago. In addition to being a mother, she is a teacher, artist, and first-rate writer. Here is what she wrote (and gave permission to reprint):
People are not reading as much as they used to — not literature anyway. And when folks are reading, they’re reading the same book — hands up for who has read The DaVinci Code! The Red Tent! Bridget Jones’ Diary! You get the idea. (I myself have read two of those, and that Code has been recommended to me by at least a dozen people. I’m sure I will read it eventually.)
Here’s my challenge. Go to the bookstore and buy something you’ve read heard of. No one has recommended it, you haven’t heard about on NPR or Fresh Air or on Oprah or some morning show. You’ve seen no review in the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, or whatever. Be crazy.
And why, you may ask, am I waxing hysterical? Because I’m sitting there thinking that I am writing a book that will be terrible and no one will read. I need some good book karma. So give some money to some poor writer who can never hope to have a vast marketing machine behind them.
*Sigh* I suppose in the interest of friendship, I shall drag myself to a bookstore (horrors!) and spend time browsing, then *gasp* purchase a book. I cannot imagine a fate more terrible. š
Too many people wander about the everyday world in a partial daze, wishfully dreaming about the difference in seeing spiritual worlds. If you can’t notice the beauty, the wondrous patterns within the everyday world, how do you expect to be aware of the more subtle patterns in higher dimensions?
Open yourself to what’s right in front of you. Quit insisting that you see a sign from beyond or that you hear God’s answer to your prayer (and that the sign or answer appear in the same form as you’ve read about or as you’ve seen in the movies). Start instead by looking more deeply at the world in which you live. Answers will come when we shift out of long-established mindsets and open to new relationships and interactions. Think of it as seeing between the lines.
Even if you have a lot of work to do, if you think of it as wonderful, and if you feel it as wonderful, it will transform into the energy of joy and fire, instead of becoming a burden.
— Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, The Practice of Dzogchen
I wrote an essay in 1998 for one of my graduate classes that dealt with legal and ethical issues in my profession. At the time I was battling an episode of major depression which was made more acute that year by: a significant loss, and an unwisely created emotional attachment to someone completely unavailable as I grieved that loss.
I’m pondering issues of life and death again, in part because my fiancé’s father is gravely ill, and also because transitions of any kind — even good ones, such as my move — bring reminders of the ultimate passage we humans face. I’m applying to volunteer at The Centre for Living With Dying. Answering the application questions reminded me that I’d written a paper on the topic. Since a blog is the writer’s forum for inflicting expounding one’s views, I’m laying it out here. It’s very long (don’t say I didn’t warn you). I’m also closing comments due to the personal nature of this essay. Comments can be emailed to me directly. Without further ado… Continue reading →
