posted December 09, 2009 01:54 PM         

If you are not open to receive the message,
the message is not for you.

We must learn to realize the moment;
the gravity of a suggestion; the importance
of some seemingly random thought or word;
inspired by God and almost unsuspected.

You go a little deeper. There's just a cry, and a question. A reproach, and the call that keeps repeating; for silence. "My child, where have you been from yourself? Return, and hear news!" Gravity in your guts, like a fetus; impending responsibility; the weight of the newborn world; the soul, when you sanctify it, and you've got to follow thru. Where is attention? Wandering, exploring like a child, unaware that it is lost. By and by, remembering Christ, the center, and the magnificence of Being. And, with Christ, remembering the masses, in need of consolation; starving infants, and crowds too ignorant, frightened, paralyzed, preoccupied, amused, indoctrinated, to care.

Chissel and chip,
sand and polish, my heart, Lord;
and I will bear it in patience.

This world is not my home.
This self is not my Lord.

Oppose what is excessive,
and affirm what is deficient;
there are no higher absolutes;
every truth lives for a season.

If not for Christ, I might have been
a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh; but
my heart was stolen by the thorn-crowned
thief on the cross.

Christ is:
To love unreservedly; drunkenly;
sober to all things, save Love.

Christ is:
Love in action; vitalized;
made perfect, and made flesh.

Christ is: Salvation; The Creation, created; suffering, and surrendering in prayer; the eternal crucifiction unto life; joy in the accomplishment of immaculate intent; our solace, virtue.

Jesus, good genius, enlighten us! Devoted rebel, liberate us from the fallen world; -- not the natural world, but the world as governed by man; culture; tradition; heresay; speech.

Every individual inhabits a world of her own, with laws entirely unique to itself, only ostensibly resembling the laws of other worlds.

Having embraced my brother,
I go to my God.

Charity is the highest sacrament,
and the only ritual worth keeping.

Your comfort? Or your Lord?

What is the essence of Paul's interpretation of the doctrine of Salvation By Faith according to The Law of Grace? It is this: Inwardly, I am allied to Christ in the purity of my ultimate intention, but outwardly, I obey the law of my fleshly members, against my higher will. Recognizing, by faith, this perfect "inward man", I am absolved of responsibility for my sins. Absolved of responsibility, I serve the Lord by choice, without obligation, and for the sake of the greater glory of God; not my own.

God is good! His righteousness upon us! All praises to the Lord God!, who heals the sick and lifts the sinner up from out the pit. He chaperones the upright, who are privy to His presence, and works wonders in the depths of earth and soul. Lord God, who is within us and without, hidden and revealed, present and, yet, still drawing near, be praised! Be honored according to Thy goodness, which is endless and eternal. Thou Love, be blessed.

We bless God, as God blesses us.
We bless God, and magnify His light.

If the world were not a masterpiece, the choice for God would have no meaning. Who would cling to a deplorable miscellany of superficial phenomena, when there is God? And, yet, however magnificent the world may be, it is as nothing before the Lord. What makes our choice for God momentus, is equally the wonders, or temptations, of the world, and our ignorance of the greater majesty of God, -- the awareness of which can only be received on faith and by grace; the latter meaning grace proper, which is the ascending impulse, and not the more general grace, which is the descending power, permission, or given Word, that animates the whole of Creation.

The error of atheism:
You cannot prove that something cannot be proven.

Shallow meditations on deep themes:
what generally passes for deep.

As actions may be a form of communication, so, words may also be a form of action; thus it is that the one whose actions do not confirm her words, or whose words do not confirm her actions, speaks from two sides of her mouth.

Only one of the disciples, when asked, "Who do you say I am?", replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God", and, yet, the other eleven were still counted disciples. Yes, even Judas. But, how can this be so? It is so, because the Lord is salvation, not for the few who know him by name and recognize His ascendancy, but, for all. As the sun shines on us all, and as gravity holds us all to the earth, just so, the Lord is Lord of us all. Only by love and self-renunciation, may we enter into communion with God.

The Lord made His will known for us in the person of Jesus Christ, and we crucified him! How, then, shall I say to my Lord, "Lord, make Thy will known to me,"; for, if He makes known His divine will, what shall I do? Follow Christ, and be crucified? Or crucify our Lord, consciously and deliberately, in full awareness of my transgression?

Lord, humble me; be my only strength!

Even the words of the saints
may distract you from the still voice
of your own inner truth.

Sing a new song. If God wanted you to say
only what has already been said, He would
have made everyone identical.

If we are not edified by the silence of God, we will not be edified by His Word, -- and if we are not edified by the Word of God, we will not be edified by His silence. In spite of this truth, the Incarnation of the Word has profound significance as a testament to the greater glory of God. As it is written, "John forbade him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?' And Jesus answering said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now: for it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.'" Without silence, the Word could not sound, and without the Word, silence would not be silence; for the Lord is neither silence nor sound, but both of these are equally expressions of His Will.

God the Father has driven all things together out of chaos; suns and worlds to encircle them, and saints to inhabit the worlds. The name of the Lord is Order, but chaos is of the devil. Everywhere, we see the tension of these opposites; how we are constantly tempted to abandon the straight and narrow path to God, the summit, and, instead, to wander by our own imperfect lights in wayward paths down below. So well-ordered are the lives of saints and monks, the devil can find no way in. The personal will has been drawn within the gates of the spiritual life, lain at the foot of God, and exchanged for holy obedience.

We desire nothing for ourselves, nor even for the sake of others, -- nor even that we may reflect the grace of Our Lord, if it be not according to His will.

The soul can cling to a pin, as easily as to a treasure; the rich man will cling to his castle, and the poor man to his pot. For this reason, the true saints have abandoned everything for the sake of God. True poverty, such as was practiced by the Desert Fathers and Mothers, is to abandon all things, even God, for the sake of God. It is the Lord's will, that we cling to nothing, not even to His Word, in order that we may partake of the true and perfect freedom which is His.

If someone slanders me,
I should call myself blessed;
and if I judge any person,
I should judge myself cursed.

Have I been free, even for a moment?
Or always the slave of some impulse,
appetite, energy, or irritation?
Lord, show me a free man!

Not the cross, but the flesh, is burdensome.

posted December 09, 2009 02:51 PM         

Truth is always and everywhere the same, but the paths by which men seek to justify the mitigating of truth are various, and unique to them. It is believed that the ideal, though irreproachable, is beyond approach, and that, in order for perfect truth to be brought down to earth, it must pass through successive stages of compromise on the way to manifestation. Limits must be imposed, for that is the nature of manifestation. With this last part I am in agreement. But the ideal is not the thing which must be subjected to limitations, so that we may give license to the flesh; rather, it is the flesh which must submit. The greatness of Jesus Christ abides in this: That he chose rather to submit his own will to limitations than the will of God. And to justify the Lord's command, -- that it is indeed workable and just, -- and not to seek arguments in support of the flesh.

Silence, and abstinence from evil, shall prepare the ground wherein the higher virtues may be cultivated. We must cease to do evil, in order that we may do good without ceasing. Not indulging in, and thereby accustoming ourselves to, dissipating luxuries. Not partaking of substances or activities whose twin purpose is to stupefy the conscience and muffle the symptoms of dis-ease. Not giving way to idleness, or to preoccupation with idle concerns. Not giving expression to anger, whose only true consolation lies in peace and freedom from discord. Not frequenting those places and people liable to tempt us beyond our strength. But, hearkening to those things whereby our souls may receive true healing and edification. Seeking our joy in those simple pleasures which readily present themselves; sunrises and sunsets, and not costly representations of these. Accustoming ourselves to the fruits of the earth; unadulterated, uncontaminated, and uncomplicated by the greed of corporate men. And to the clear words of wise teachers, undistorted by the justifications of the fallen. Keeping ourselves active, that we may establish and fortify habits of activity in the service of God and man. Speaking words of love, understanding, sympathy, encouragement, and reconciliation, whereby we and our brethren are edified and purged of sinful affections. Visiting holy places and holy people, whereby the loftiest and most charitable impulses within us may be awakened and roused to action. This is how goodness is achieved.

What we discover, as we progress in the spiritual life, is that certain sins, or unhealthy and unprofitable behaviors, are prohibited, not because they are inherently wrong (although this is surely the case), but, because when a person is fully committed in devotion to God and His Word, there is not time left for sin! Who, giving proper attention to the purification of her own soul, and surrendering her personal will to this end, has the time or liberty to judge the spiritual condition of another?

Spiritual truth is easy to grasp, but hard to hold. Not the intellect, but the will, is confounded by the precepts of the wise; for it is easy to apprehend the highest truths, but difficult to practice them.

How strange it is, to regard the gifts we have received by the grace of God, and not the cross to which we are called. "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." Indeed, the man who is first shall be last, if he squanders the most precious gifts of the Lord; and the last shall be first, if he only makes good use of what little has been given him. Our gifts do not mark us out as spiritually progressed, so much as the use we make of them.

Responding at once and without delay to "the call of nature", as it has been delicately named, is just one way to train ourselves to respond to the promptings of the Word of God. We must be prepared to sacrifice our will, and to leave unfinished whatever work we have taken in hand, in order to take up the cross, and follow the Christ.

We punish ourselves for our lack of virtue because we expect ourselves to be virtuous without making any great effort to be so; we have not understood that great effort is necessary; also, time, patience, perseverance, and pain. Saints are not born saints.

posted December 09, 2009 03:05 PM         

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do you see the crucifixion as a negative event, valus? or the vehicle by which jesus very publicly proved death is illusory?

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I see it as many things. And I like the way you put it here: the vehicle by which jesus very publicly proved death is illusory? In a sense, we may say that He came into the word for this purpose, all along. But we may also say that He simply did what it was His nature to do (as His persecutors did what was their nature to do), by making the most of whatever befell Him here in the world. If He had not been crucified, He would not have proven the illusoriness of death, as you say, but, neither would He have needed to. That is to say, had He not been crucified, it would be because He had already been understood, without recourse to "stunts" like resurrection.

quote:

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i think jesus lost it for a few minutes, when he thought he had been abandoned...and that the crucifiers needed forgiving for giving him the opportunity of a lifetime, so to speak...

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posted December 09, 2009 11:35 PM         

but whether people were "getting" the message or not, he gave the ultimate performance to prove his point then and there. after all, a bunch of magic tricks are disputable, words are just words - faith without works is dead. whether he chose this or it was laid on him is probably irrelevant, but the fact that he KNEW he would be betrayed suggests the former.

posted December 10, 2009 12:11 PM         

quote:

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i feel the crucifixion had a lot of levels too; one being that jesus, apparently living on a level beyond harm and pain, might have been getting a bit bigheaded in his "guru-ness", as do most gurus at some point in their careers. so he manifested some pain to remind him a) that he was getting beyond himself and could make mistakes and b) to remind him that even seemingly horrific experiences lead to the same place - union with god.

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You may be right, kat. But we may never know if you are right. If we choose to take a position on this, I believe, it must be out of faith, and not knowledge of the facts. And I think that's okay, provided that the position we take is conducive to spiritual growth. In fact, our ignorance of the historical reality may even be helpful, in that we now have the option of believing whatever best suits our particular soul's orientation. There are so many ways to interpret it. I find it difficult to choose just one, and I begin to suspect that I don't need to choose just one. That it may be beneficial to view the crucifixion, not just from multiple angles, but, in ways that plainly contradict one another -- provided only that they do not contradict Love.

At this moment in time, I find it edifying to reflect upon the doctrine that Christ was equally God and man. And that this is nowhere more clearly symbolized, or epitomized, than by his time on the cross. If he did not suffer and cry out, then, true, people would have been impressed by this as much, or almost as much, as by his resurrection. But, then, where would be the sacrifice? Where would be the proof of his love? Or the work that proves his faith? This idea of suffering for the sake of others is central to Christianity, but how could that be so, if Christ did not suffer? Who would listen to one incapable of suffering, when he tells them to suffer? What right would he have to impose such a burden on us, if he had not shown that he could, and was willing to, carry it in full himself? His life is as much a part of his teaching as his words, if not more. Only the crucifiction, down to the last bloody detail, makes this abundantly clear.

quote:

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but whether people were "getting" the message or not, he gave the ultimate performance to prove his point then and there. after all, a bunch of magic tricks are disputable, words are just words - faith without works is dead.

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Precisely. Well said.

quote:

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whether he chose this or it was laid on him is probably irrelevant, but the fact that he KNEW he would be betrayed suggests the former.

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According to the story as it has come down to us, he certainly made the choice. At any moment, he could have fleed his persecutors and sought refuge in another land, or else, given them the lie they so desperately demanded. But then he would not have been the Christ. The way I see it, it was both chosen and thrust upon him. The sins of man were such that they could not have reacted otherwise than by crucifying him. This is what he knew beforehand. We are told that he prayed to God, "If it be your will, take this burden from me. Not my will, but Thine, be done." So, if we take this as a true account, it is clear that he was hoping there might be another way to make God's Love known to mankind. He was asking God to show him another way, if indeed another way there was. But as he could not discover any other way, he accepted crucifixion as the will of God. If indeed he was betrayed, -- that is, if he did not in fact conspire with Judas to make it look like he was betrayed, -- then I would think he would be able to foresee this much on account of his spiritual gifts. Though he may not have been able to read the future, he would certainly have been able to read Judas's heart.

quote:

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as someone said judas may have been his BEST disciple...he played straight man leading to the biggest demonstration of jesus' life.

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I have considered that possibility. Also, that he chose Judas because he knew that Judas would betray him. Or, -- what seems most likely to me, -- that he could not refuse anyone from following him who wished to follow him, and, so, he received Judas as a disciple. Probably he knew full well that this would result in his betrayal, but, as he would have understood it, there was no other way to fulfill the law of Love.

posted December 10, 2009 12:36 PM         

"The monk must die to his neighbor and never judge him at all, in any way whatsoever. If someone does not think in one's heart that one is already dead three days and in the tomb, then that person cannot attain to this saying."
~ Abba Moses

Consider yourself a ghost, observing the activities of the living, without power to intercede or give censure. Imagine that the world and those who inhabit it have lost all relevance for you. Pass by without attachment.

Bear humbly the insults of others and regard this as their proper use; as the business of a wheel is to roll, or a chair is to be sat upon, so, the business of insults is to be endured.

Be angry with no one, but always reflect that sin is a sickness, and endeavor to feel compassion for all who suffer from it; the more offensive their sin, the more progressed their disease, and the more dire their condition.

The empty room is still, but the one who enters it then fills it with the agitation of a restless soul. Humble yourself to the stillness of the room before you enter therein.

Humility is one with Grace. In humility, we move gently, deliberately, imposing ourselves as little as possible upon the sanctity of silence. In this way, our eyes are openned to the quiet meaningfulness of our surroundings. Every object, especially every religious object and every work of Nature, is imbued with a subtle, yet potent, spiritual force. Only in humbling ourselves, may we come to witness the exalted state of others, of Nature, and of God.

posted December 12, 2009 10:34 AM         

Death is transgression, and the shame, guilt, desolation, and loss of grace we experience, and must pass through, when we have transgressed is "the valley of the shadow of death". On the heels of every truly wrongful act -- which is to say, every wrongful act done in awareness of its wrongfulness (a relative awareness, since full awareness does not accompany transgression), -- there follows a shadow; a time of rebuke, weakening, and isolation from God. We should learn to accept this shadow as a natural, necessary, and just consequence of our transgression, and pass through it; not dwelling in "the valley of the shadow", but accepting it with a contrite heart, and persevering with hope toward the light, which always returns, provided we do not linger.