Once we take on responsibilities outside of ourselves, we must find others who help support those new ways. We must begin building a caring community. This often precludes any involvement with those who only share in our childish ways.
It can be very difficult to grow up at the same time as we accept the seemingly unconditional love of those who knew us "back when." As we evolve, we "put away the things of a child." This does not mean that we don't still enjoy embracing the pure abandon of our youth, but we must step back and analyze whether that wild abandon comes with too great a price to ourselves and those for whom we are responsible and the members of our community who are committed to sharing in our responsibility.
All communities establish boundaries in which each member must operate. When we break with these boundaries, we become outsiders and cannot expect that the privileges and resources of community will continue to be expended on our efforts. This is a hard lesson for us to learn.
In healthy family systems, these lessons are learned as we go through our toddler tantrums and our teenage terrors. In communities, there will always be those who seek to test the limits. A healthy community has the strength of their convictions to back up their boundaries. They will turn away from those who seek to control the community, but with love and openness to eventual reunion.
We are told that the first couple on earth wanted to assume all the authority for themselves, and that they were allowed to leave the Great Garden to test their own abilities. In this manner, they were given all the responsibility accompanying their desired authority. We are told that our human struggles all go back to the desire to control that over which we have no real power.
When we continue to allow any member of our community to usurp the authority of our community without assuming responsibility, we weaken every other member of the community. Anarchy eventually ensues.
When we allow any member of our community to pretend that he or she has more ability than they do, we break down the strength that comes from synergy of combined honest efforts. False idols are allowed to ascend to their own pride-produced thrones. Dictators and other despots thus begin their reigns of terror.
In a fair family and community, growth of an individual is encouraged through the nurturing of all gifts, and the back pressure of the other members to help in facing our fears. There are no autocrats, but there are elders who act as guides and guards for the safety and success of the whole. These teachers must have a proven record of living within the laws and must have the humility to ask for help from other elders on issues in which they have no experience. Only then will the circle of life be closed, go back to The Garden, and continue to bear fruit.
I see salvation as a great gathering in an endless Garden where we find that we are all one fair family.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Balance and Blessings
"Life isn't fair." This may be true for most, but I believe that family, fellowship, and friendship are dependent on fairness for the balance of positive power on earth.
We are all the products of the grace given to us by birth and the influences upon us as we go through this life. Arrogance is the belief that our knowledge, wisdom, and other gifts exist in a vacuum of outside influence. Humility is the ability to recognize and respect our own talents and weaknesses, and those of others. Stewardship is the fair and responsible use of our talents in better balancing the energy on earth.
It is sometimes hard to believe that there is any hope of balance in our existence. We can't understand why one is given so many talents and privileges while another seems to have few to none. This has led us to erroneously believe that there are classes of chosen people and classes of the deficient and damned.
In a world bent on balance, we see each of our gifts as an opening to service of those with other or less privileges than we were given. And, in those who are given different, sometimes seemingly few gifts, this is an invitation to find the best ways to maximize one's contribution to our earth.
It does none of us any good to write down to zero any talent in ourselves or in another while simultaneously raising others above the ranks of the merely mortal. As the most ancient myths point out, great gifts are very often accompanied by equally strong temptations toward our own destruction and that of our society.
The caste system and many other methods of protecting dynasties, be they of families, political parties, or religious factions, seeks to have a predictable and orderly process of passing strengths from one generation to another. This is not the way of nature. What we call natural selection in animals of a lower order is in humans actually an opportunity to always have a purpose for every person, even if that purpose is the sacrifice of oneself for a higher ideal than individual life on earth.
We will not achieve balance as long as we allow ourselves or those we love to be less than the blessings that they were meant to be.
We are all the products of the grace given to us by birth and the influences upon us as we go through this life. Arrogance is the belief that our knowledge, wisdom, and other gifts exist in a vacuum of outside influence. Humility is the ability to recognize and respect our own talents and weaknesses, and those of others. Stewardship is the fair and responsible use of our talents in better balancing the energy on earth.
It is sometimes hard to believe that there is any hope of balance in our existence. We can't understand why one is given so many talents and privileges while another seems to have few to none. This has led us to erroneously believe that there are classes of chosen people and classes of the deficient and damned.
In a world bent on balance, we see each of our gifts as an opening to service of those with other or less privileges than we were given. And, in those who are given different, sometimes seemingly few gifts, this is an invitation to find the best ways to maximize one's contribution to our earth.
It does none of us any good to write down to zero any talent in ourselves or in another while simultaneously raising others above the ranks of the merely mortal. As the most ancient myths point out, great gifts are very often accompanied by equally strong temptations toward our own destruction and that of our society.
The caste system and many other methods of protecting dynasties, be they of families, political parties, or religious factions, seeks to have a predictable and orderly process of passing strengths from one generation to another. This is not the way of nature. What we call natural selection in animals of a lower order is in humans actually an opportunity to always have a purpose for every person, even if that purpose is the sacrifice of oneself for a higher ideal than individual life on earth.
We will not achieve balance as long as we allow ourselves or those we love to be less than the blessings that they were meant to be.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Rituals and Righteousness
"It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin." Luke 17:2
Does one's own inability to follow a faithful path justify suicide as a protection against the corruption of the innocent? And what of war? Are we justified in the killing of those who seek to lead our children away from The Almighty?
Does not the commandment to honor one's father and mother presuppose that the parents are honoring The Almighty? At what age are we not only free, but duty bound, to seek our own paths, even if it means a break with the faith of our fathers and mothers?
But, can we ever completely break the bonds of the "sins of the father?" How far can we actually get from our birth and upbringing? It seems that in times of stress, the natural tendency is to revert back to that which comes naturally. Genetic predisposition, combined with our upbringing, is what is natural to us.
I know that the Judeo-Christian message is one of redemption and starting fresh by walking with others on the Path back to Paradise. But can this actually be achieved in our lifetimes, or are we destined to carry the remnants of our parents' mistakes into the third and fourth generations? And will we not then hand these same sins down to three and four more generations? How do we break the cycles that obviously have been handed down since the beginning of time without walking away from all that is natural and comfortable to us?
It seems to me that none of us is expected to walk alone on this earth. We are meant to have others to accompany us on our journey. Adam and Eve had each other and their children. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses had wives, children, and many friends in faith walking with them. From this long line of the faithful, a family came that was given charge of Jesus as he prepared to walk his difficult path. When it was time for him to break free of the strictures of the old law, he was given companions, male and female, old and young, for his life of publicly living his faith.
Many Christians are taught that infant baptism washes away the sins of past generations. Others believe that we must each reach an age of discernment in order to freely choose our own path. When we baptize each other, we should not only be washing away the sins of the generations preceding us, we should also be pledging ourselves to walk the new walk with each other, holding each other accountable for the continuation of the way back to Infinite Unity.
I have been privileged to witness some infant baptisms in which the congregation was exhorted to protect the child in the ways that he or she should go, according to the customs of the congregants. This presupposes that all the congregants in attendance are true to the tenets of the collective faith. Instead of the child being consecrated to the congregation, it seems right that the congregation should be consecrated into the sacred trust of collectively protecting this child.
This communal consecration should, in no way, free the parents from primary protection of the child's soul, which presupposes discernment and discretion. Discernment is often impeded by deceit. Only in a community of confession and re-commitment can a person continue to trust others who profess to walk in faith.
We often give each other no option for a sense of community other than lives of dishonesty, which leads to toxic shame. Those who are ashamed will always find the company of like-minded, falsely faithful friends, and seek to gather disciples from among the vulnerable. How have we become so afraid to confess to each other, make amends, and recommit to each other and The Path back to Paradise?
It is unfortunate that we so often value ritual over righteousness, so that even when we know our leaders are corrupt, we still allow them access to the souls of our young. How can we ever hope for redemption when we are held in bondage by the persecutors and pettiness of our parents?
Does one's own inability to follow a faithful path justify suicide as a protection against the corruption of the innocent? And what of war? Are we justified in the killing of those who seek to lead our children away from The Almighty?
Does not the commandment to honor one's father and mother presuppose that the parents are honoring The Almighty? At what age are we not only free, but duty bound, to seek our own paths, even if it means a break with the faith of our fathers and mothers?
But, can we ever completely break the bonds of the "sins of the father?" How far can we actually get from our birth and upbringing? It seems that in times of stress, the natural tendency is to revert back to that which comes naturally. Genetic predisposition, combined with our upbringing, is what is natural to us.
I know that the Judeo-Christian message is one of redemption and starting fresh by walking with others on the Path back to Paradise. But can this actually be achieved in our lifetimes, or are we destined to carry the remnants of our parents' mistakes into the third and fourth generations? And will we not then hand these same sins down to three and four more generations? How do we break the cycles that obviously have been handed down since the beginning of time without walking away from all that is natural and comfortable to us?
It seems to me that none of us is expected to walk alone on this earth. We are meant to have others to accompany us on our journey. Adam and Eve had each other and their children. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses had wives, children, and many friends in faith walking with them. From this long line of the faithful, a family came that was given charge of Jesus as he prepared to walk his difficult path. When it was time for him to break free of the strictures of the old law, he was given companions, male and female, old and young, for his life of publicly living his faith.
Many Christians are taught that infant baptism washes away the sins of past generations. Others believe that we must each reach an age of discernment in order to freely choose our own path. When we baptize each other, we should not only be washing away the sins of the generations preceding us, we should also be pledging ourselves to walk the new walk with each other, holding each other accountable for the continuation of the way back to Infinite Unity.
I have been privileged to witness some infant baptisms in which the congregation was exhorted to protect the child in the ways that he or she should go, according to the customs of the congregants. This presupposes that all the congregants in attendance are true to the tenets of the collective faith. Instead of the child being consecrated to the congregation, it seems right that the congregation should be consecrated into the sacred trust of collectively protecting this child.
This communal consecration should, in no way, free the parents from primary protection of the child's soul, which presupposes discernment and discretion. Discernment is often impeded by deceit. Only in a community of confession and re-commitment can a person continue to trust others who profess to walk in faith.
We often give each other no option for a sense of community other than lives of dishonesty, which leads to toxic shame. Those who are ashamed will always find the company of like-minded, falsely faithful friends, and seek to gather disciples from among the vulnerable. How have we become so afraid to confess to each other, make amends, and recommit to each other and The Path back to Paradise?
It is unfortunate that we so often value ritual over righteousness, so that even when we know our leaders are corrupt, we still allow them access to the souls of our young. How can we ever hope for redemption when we are held in bondage by the persecutors and pettiness of our parents?
Monday, June 6, 2011
A Faithful Family
I have been pondering the message we are to take away from the account of this observant Jewish family when their son, twelve-year-old Jesus, attempted to enter manhood prematurely.
His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:48-52
I think it is important that we see that it was the mother of Jesus that reprimanded him, in solidarity with Jesus' father. Does Jesus' submission to her will not indicate that a young man is still to submit to the teaching of his mother? I can find no reference to Jesus indicating that women had no authority to teach men. I think it's also important to realize that Jesus' parents were submitting to the authority of their spiritual community, to which Jesus returned with his mother and father.
Even though Jesus was obviously a learned young man, we don't see him in a leadership role until he is in his thirties. Did Jesus spent the intervening years in scholarly study, along with his submission to the leadership of his parents? In faithful families, is this the model that is to be followed? Are our future leaders to submit to the authority of their spiritual parents while they are amassing the knowledge and wisdom that will, one day, become the authority to lead?
Are we, as parents, taking our roles as spiritual leaders seriously enough? Do we go after our children with a united front when they seek to join the ranks of the leaders before they are ready? Do we teach them by our examples how to live the lives that our faith demands of us? Or, do we tire of the rigors of our responsibility and leave them to the wiles of those who would allow them to prematurely carry an adult load?
How do we know when they are ready to be let go?
His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:48-52
I think it is important that we see that it was the mother of Jesus that reprimanded him, in solidarity with Jesus' father. Does Jesus' submission to her will not indicate that a young man is still to submit to the teaching of his mother? I can find no reference to Jesus indicating that women had no authority to teach men. I think it's also important to realize that Jesus' parents were submitting to the authority of their spiritual community, to which Jesus returned with his mother and father.
Even though Jesus was obviously a learned young man, we don't see him in a leadership role until he is in his thirties. Did Jesus spent the intervening years in scholarly study, along with his submission to the leadership of his parents? In faithful families, is this the model that is to be followed? Are our future leaders to submit to the authority of their spiritual parents while they are amassing the knowledge and wisdom that will, one day, become the authority to lead?
Are we, as parents, taking our roles as spiritual leaders seriously enough? Do we go after our children with a united front when they seek to join the ranks of the leaders before they are ready? Do we teach them by our examples how to live the lives that our faith demands of us? Or, do we tire of the rigors of our responsibility and leave them to the wiles of those who would allow them to prematurely carry an adult load?
How do we know when they are ready to be let go?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Dance of Divinity
The dance of Divinity seems to play out
In the duet of my daughter and me;
She still seems to want to come back
And see what it is that I see.
Our essence seems so different,
But our ties are still so strong,
That we can't for long bear the thought
That the other is entirely wrong.
Our faith must allow for the bonding
That shared responsibility engenders,
Not only the individual glory
That greed and competition renders.
So, why is it that the face of God
Is so often the face of a father?
Isn't it possible that Eternal Joy
Is also The Love of a mother?
In the duet of my daughter and me;
She still seems to want to come back
And see what it is that I see.
Our essence seems so different,
But our ties are still so strong,
That we can't for long bear the thought
That the other is entirely wrong.
Our faith must allow for the bonding
That shared responsibility engenders,
Not only the individual glory
That greed and competition renders.
So, why is it that the face of God
Is so often the face of a father?
Isn't it possible that Eternal Joy
Is also The Love of a mother?
Hoping for Harmony
The common mistake I think that we make in coming back to the path of Holiness is believing that we can push others off the path by our behavior and not have any responsibility to hold out a hand to help the harmed back onto the path. We do not exist in a vacuum; we are accountable to each other for our actions toward them. We are also accountable to Our Creator for the way we impact the earth. As creatures of a vast community, we must look past our own fear and greed to the rest of the earth's need.
My father had a violent temper, which gravely harmed many of his children. In his last years of life, I've heard that he attempted to make amends to many that he harmed. I don't know that they were completely healed, but at least I hope it gave them an opening to begin the process. My mother and I had a very distrustful relationship; just before her death, we made inroads into a form of communication that seemed to have promise for openness and honesty. This small step has helped me to get past many of my fears of becoming my mother so that I can embrace that which is good in me that comes from her. Maybe in their children and our children, my parents can finally have harmony.
Harmony does not require absolute agreement, but it does require respectful engagement. I have even been told by our professional singer friend Sweet Mary that dissonance is what makes for interest in orchestral performance pieces. What a wonderful world it would be if we could learn that we are all different and equally important parts of the same chorus, rather than trying to drown others out because we think our beat is best.
My father had a violent temper, which gravely harmed many of his children. In his last years of life, I've heard that he attempted to make amends to many that he harmed. I don't know that they were completely healed, but at least I hope it gave them an opening to begin the process. My mother and I had a very distrustful relationship; just before her death, we made inroads into a form of communication that seemed to have promise for openness and honesty. This small step has helped me to get past many of my fears of becoming my mother so that I can embrace that which is good in me that comes from her. Maybe in their children and our children, my parents can finally have harmony.
Harmony does not require absolute agreement, but it does require respectful engagement. I have even been told by our professional singer friend Sweet Mary that dissonance is what makes for interest in orchestral performance pieces. What a wonderful world it would be if we could learn that we are all different and equally important parts of the same chorus, rather than trying to drown others out because we think our beat is best.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Truth, Justice, and the American Way
A good friend with whom I share many hours of philosophical discussion responded to my last entry. She diligently studies Biblical history, and gave me several insights. I believe that our values are the most important things that need defining, demonstration, and articulating to others, I so appreciate help in my continued quest to answer these moral issues that sometimes seem so contradictory.
She pointed out that the Israelites had no central earthly authority. I had never thought about that before. What faith that must take, to follow the commandments without a central body to enforce them on earth. Perhaps they were the first followers of democracy, which seems to be dependent on people accepting rules that promote the common good. (It is important to look at this in the context that the Chosen People were the least powerful in earthly terms, so their common laws are what bound them.)
My friend also pointed out that Jesus defended the weak against those who unjustly enforced the law, and that he was willing to be persecuted and even lose his life for his beliefs.
I seems important that Jesus upheld and defended the values of the Ultimate Authority with the strength of his personality and reputation as a person who himself followed the law, not with an army or any other form of brute force. This seems to be the way to lasting change. We may get the attention of the bullies with brute force, but we can only change hearts through honest and loving example. This is why it is so important that our troops show Americans to be compassionate and fair-minded people. It is also why the continued fight for social justice and individual accountability to the Higher Power and each other is so crucial.
We mistake unfettered capitalism for democracy at our own peril. We also accept the notion that all power comes from God at our peril because so many have accepted that "might makes right" based on this concept. To die defending one's principles and protecting the weak seems honorable to me. But, I believe that we are manipulated with the words of our deeply held beliefs by those who seek to protect their own property and power . Until we follow righteous people (in the words of King Arthur in Camelot, "Right makes might.") rather than politicians who are controlled by unregulated capitalists, justice will not prevail.
She pointed out that the Israelites had no central earthly authority. I had never thought about that before. What faith that must take, to follow the commandments without a central body to enforce them on earth. Perhaps they were the first followers of democracy, which seems to be dependent on people accepting rules that promote the common good. (It is important to look at this in the context that the Chosen People were the least powerful in earthly terms, so their common laws are what bound them.)
My friend also pointed out that Jesus defended the weak against those who unjustly enforced the law, and that he was willing to be persecuted and even lose his life for his beliefs.
I seems important that Jesus upheld and defended the values of the Ultimate Authority with the strength of his personality and reputation as a person who himself followed the law, not with an army or any other form of brute force. This seems to be the way to lasting change. We may get the attention of the bullies with brute force, but we can only change hearts through honest and loving example. This is why it is so important that our troops show Americans to be compassionate and fair-minded people. It is also why the continued fight for social justice and individual accountability to the Higher Power and each other is so crucial.
We mistake unfettered capitalism for democracy at our own peril. We also accept the notion that all power comes from God at our peril because so many have accepted that "might makes right" based on this concept. To die defending one's principles and protecting the weak seems honorable to me. But, I believe that we are manipulated with the words of our deeply held beliefs by those who seek to protect their own property and power . Until we follow righteous people (in the words of King Arthur in Camelot, "Right makes might.") rather than politicians who are controlled by unregulated capitalists, justice will not prevail.
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