Only those who suffer can Love. Suffering teaches us the importance
of the work Love invites us to do to alleviate that suffering, enabling us to
experience the Joy that arises in that process. The transcendence of our suffering
is a great gift to the world.
We cannot define a human because a human extends---beyond
any words that could be spoken---outward, toward, and perhaps already at one
with infinity. Anything that happens to that human happens within the context
of this infinity; this eternity. And once we get beyond our fear of it ever
ending, we can get on with the important work of Love. As we accept deeply that
this journey was not meant to be easy, we relax into it peacefully, becoming
much better students of the lessons our sufferings teach. We realize that we
are being transformed by these blessed lessons into everything that we truly want
to be. Every death, every betrayal,
every rejection, every abuse has within it a precious diamond, ruby, emerald or
pearl of wisdom, enlightenment and strength. And we become true warriors. We do
not often look like warriors. As Goliath mocked and scorned David, the world
mocks and scorns. We do not have the power that they covet, so they don’t
respect us. But we are not seeking the respect of man---we are working for his
healing. We know that he does not know---as Christ proclaimed from the Cross,
praying for their forgiveness (our forgiveness). But we are indeed warriors because
we have the fire of Christ’s Divine Love burning within us; and it will never
be quenched. And we see the desperate need of the world for it. But we are not
desperate. Because we have been to the mountaintop, we are peaceful. We know
now, as Moses knew, as MLK Jr. knew that the dream will be fulfilled. And it IS
being fulfilled, one generation to the next. We recreate the same sequences,
but we learn something new (and ancient) each time. Something new and farther
along gets wired into our DNA and passed down to the next generation. They
start farther along than we did. We get collectively wiser. And we progress in
Loving each other, which is the fruit of wisdom.
Our human evolution may appear, at some angles, as a repeating
circle. We do repeat some history. But it is actually an upward
spiral---something that is starkly evident in the material world. But the final
frontier---that which will get us to the top of the mountain and somehow redeem
all these messes we have made---that frontier is Love. The primary challenge
that humans face---the primary question we must answer by the way we live our
lives---is can we love each other? All other endeavors are secondary and
meaningless without that one, because we are facing global, not just tribal or
national challenges. And we must not fear them. As we become unified in Love, those problems
will cease to exist---at least those that we create, which is most of them. And
the others---those we did not create—will be handled compassionately and
effectively without ego entanglements. The Love that will unify and liberate us
can only be pure, which means free from the desire to impress people or to
control them. Many people already know this (thank God!) and many are awakening
to it. We seek to peacefully facilitate this awakening. This might be called “evangelism”,
but the word has taken a bad rap. There’s really no need to label it. We just
want people to be free in this Love—which is the only true freedom. Our lives
become a wonderful process of allowing this Light to shine through us. We
become who we truly are. And we experience inwardly, palpably, the blessings
that Jesus promised: Peace, Joy, Abundant and Eternal Life.
We only become as
loud as is necessary to expose evil and to protect the powerless and (to the
world) unattractive. The rest of the time we live peacefully and quietly in our
tribes, like macrophages prepared to attack the bacteria and viruses that invade
and destroy life.
Whatever we encounter within ourselves when we “Be still…”
and open ourselves to the inner world, and bring into the Spirit, becomes
something beautiful and useful for the Kingdom.
It could be a deep sadness (and He will place His loving hand underneath
it—underneath your heart—and sustain you through it into a brighter Light than
you have ever seen.) It could be feeling alone and unloved, hurt, guilt, fear, anger,
frustration, feelings of failure, having been betrayed, or to have betrayed. Only
those who are willing to go to the top of the Mountain will face those demons
within themselves. Jesus will cast out every one of them. Without fail. And He
will replace that place in your soul where they resided with Divine Love. This
is the top of the Mountain.
Lynn and I watched the Adele concert aired from the beautiful Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles--beautiful sunset, night sky coming alive with the city lights around her and the stage lights behind her. It was an impressive concert. It was interspersed with segments of an interview with Adele and Oprah in which she spoke of some of the pain that fueled her forlorn music. Most recently [in the last few years] she had felt compelled to divorce her husband and father of her son, not because of any pathology on his part, but in order to “find [her]self”--to “find happiness”. Oprah asked her what it was like for her when her son asked her why she “didn’t love daddy any more.” She said that she told him “I do love him. But I’m not in love with him.” She confessed that she was dealing with some guilt at having “dismantled his life” and “hurt the two people I love the most in the world” in order to find this “self” and “happiness” she was seeking. {I think that guilt is healthy. But I pray it will be healed in her spiritual growth.} Oprah and her spoke of the importance of being able to “love yourself” before you can love others or, by implication, basically do any good in the world. I’m not criticizing Adele when I say this---she has suffered enough without my or anyone’s criticism—but it seems that Adele, [along with probably thousands of others] are chasing the feeling of being “in love” and the elusive butterfly of “happiness”---and hurting people in the process. Or else they are living, as the ladies also alluded to, in the dark, self-generated shadow of staying in an unhappy relationship because of obligation and the desire not to hurt their loved ones. They feel that they are “caving in”, so to speak, to a second-rate life to avoid hurting their loved ones. I’ve had some clients who are chasing this elusive butterfly of needing to be in the state of being “in love”, or who are unhappy and mistakenly believe it is because they married the wrong person—someone who is basically ok, not abusive or addicted to anything, is faithful, etc., but “just not the person who can make me happy”. More than one of my clients have said something like “if I knew then what I know now, I would never have divorced my first spouse.” What they had come to learn was that happiness is an inside job---that it is primarily the by-product of loving people with a deep and committed love; that the “in love” feeling is always time-limited and chasing it is similar to chasing the feelings provided by certain drugs, and that the love that ultimately generates happiness and self-love is sacrificial---the taking up of a cross, as Jesus said [and did!]. This is the Love that brings joy into life—rather than the sorrow so beautifully expressed in Adele’s songs. She looks great, has lost a hundred pounds, works out regularly. Her artistry seems darn near perfect. But she admits that she is not quite there yet as far as happiness is concerned, and she wept [reluctantly] when speaking of some of the sorrow she has generated in her pursuits. Oprah, with her typical keen insight, asked her, “Will you be able to write music when you are happy?” She seemed hopeful but uncertain that she would be able to. The high profile audience loved her performance. They drank deeply from the wine pressed in the crucible of her sorrows. There were numerous standing O’s. But I bet her son still wishes his mom and dad were together.
Is it possible that the pursuit of happiness and being “in love” can become an idol: an altar upon which we sacrifice marriages, covenants, families, childrens’ stability and security? To whatever extent it can, and to whatever extent it is indeed idolatrous, it will lead either to more unhappiness or to an awakening and a turning in a new direction that reveals that much of that sorrow, generated in the delusional state, was unnecessary. Hopefully this awakening, engendered by Christ, can occur without the generation of too much of that sorrow. At any rate, when that awakening happens, we see that all the suffering is miraculously redeemed. All of it. This is Grace. Amazing Grace.
Dreams. I’ve been thinking about dreams. I like dreams. I rarely have a “bad” one. But when I do, it’s good to remember that it is just a dream---something you wake up from. I think that in some way we are God’s dream. {He/She can do anything!} And just as we can be dreaming and know that we are dreaming, I think God, since He/She knows everything, knows in some part of His/Her consciousness, that S/He is dreaming, but S/He allows this dream to continue. And in it, just as in ours, “good” and “bad” things can happen. But at some point S/He will wake up, and all of us who are in the dream will awaken also [even as we are now awakening]. And what we awaken to is that we are at one with the most benevolent, Loving, powerful and creative Personage imaginable---a Loving Consciousness that fills up the entire universe, capable of dreaming countless dreams throughout eternity from which we always awaken.
I don’t know about you, but these days, in order to keep peace within my soul, I need a lot of quiet time; meditation and prayer; being still. A friend told me just today about having been invited to tour the floor at the N.Y. Stock Exchange building on Wall Street. When I asked him what was the primary out-take or impression he took away from the visit, he answered in one word: “Pain.” What was that pain, I asked him. “There was too much energy in that place.” A missionary who had spent years in a remote Alaskan town told of how, after returning to the Lower 48 and walking into a Walmart store, she felt so overwhelmed she had to walk out. We live with much stimulation—more than ever before perhaps in human history. We have the noise of this world swirling in our brains, even when we are still. But if we sit long enough in that stillness, getting down to the place where we touch the eternal “I Am”, we are reminded that all is well. The universe is in the hands of the omnipotent, all-wise Love Who has brought All into existence. We rest there with the calm realization that our part is simply to peacefully love all the people in our sphere of influence. Peacefully. Love. That is the very best we can do to bring about the good that we desire for the world. Without the deep stillness we can get lost in this noisy and busy world.
Here’s a meditation for some of my elderly brothers and sisters:
Get into a quiet place where you’re unplugged and isolated from anything that could distract you.
Take some comfortable breaths and settle into your body.
Take your time with this. Read each statement and pause to let the truth of it settle deeply into your consciousness.
“My body is getting weaker. I cannot do some of the things I used to do.
I accept this. Deeply. It is ok for me to be tired.
I rest in my tiredness. In this moment, I do not resist it.
As I go deeper, underneath the tiredness, I become aware that I am not my body. I am IN but not OF my body.
I, my soul, lives temporarily, in this body. My soul resides partially and temporarily in this body. My body has been a wonderful “temple”, and I am thankful for it; but it was destined from birth to return to the earth. I am perfectly ok with this.
In my spirit I hear Jesus say,”Do not allow that which is temporary [your body] to take precedence over that which is eternal [your soul].” I let His words sink into my deeper consciousness. I turn the light of my awareness away from my body and shine it upon my soul; finding there that I am a “Fountain of living water welling up into eternal Life”---a constantly renewed freshness. I realize that I am, in my essence, this Fountain and the Light of awareness that is shining upon it. I am this eternal awareness. I am the Logos, the pre-existent Living Word, that became flesh, dwelt with us as a human, entered into me through faith, and is perpetually awakening me to the fact of my atonement [at-one-ment] with Him and the Creator. I awaken to this Reality now---this “Truth that sets me free” from any worries about my declining body. I am experiencing, more and more, my soul arising up out of my body like new life arising out of a decaying seed. I am thankful and free, as I rest peacefully in this tired body.
