The Artist's Way - The Blue Iris Garden

“The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist’s own spiritual nature.” – George Inness

I have been participating in a Zoom workshop based on the book I read several years ago titled the Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.  This workshop and recent changes in our world and my life has allowed me to focus on a new website and blog on WordPress that I am designing titled The Blue Iris Garden – Finding God in All Things.  The Blue Iris Garden is a platform where I will share my thoughts, teach and lead on God and higher consciousness, gardening and nature, art, and creativity to open our thinking, see possibilities to make constructive changes within our lives knowing that each of us affects the whole. 

 

The Artist’s Way which is based on God as the unlimited source of creativity with the power of flow that opens doors as we need them providing opportunities in our life.  It is very different than the corporate structural model I used to audit that sets objectives and constructs processes and controls to obtain them.  As I thought about my new journey, I wondered, are they two separate approaches to life or can or should they be combined?  Should and can I completely let go of one in order to achieve the other?  When I worked for the Jesuits, I was taught contemplative prayer (which requires emptying our mind and allowing direction to emerge), action (taken on the direction received in prayer), and reflection (evaluating our thoughts and results before prayer) which is a form of practicing the Artist’s Way.

 

But I know based on psychology classes that switching our minds between the Artist’s Way and a structured repetitive thought process is very inefficient and draining for the brain.  I realized that I do have to work primarily within the Artist Way and use structured thinking on a limited basis by beginning with the end in mind.  I have learned the importance of habits, routines, and scheduling blocks of time for dreaming, reading, thinking, writing, exercising, and completing tasks.  And I believe everyone needs a space that inspires them while they create especially for me because I not only write, but I am a visual artist.  

 

And I step back further and think about our Earth with billions of people connecting within societies acting in collectives, I ask how do we change given we have brought our existence to the edge of extinction with unsustainable populations and consumption, mass weapons and environmental destruction?  I realize that the answer is to raise our consciousness and focus on making incremental changes that impact the end while networking our ideas.  We need to make our changes locally, within a larger picture and vision of what we want to be universality while honoring the diversity of our cultures and environments.  And we recognize that each of us is uniquely gifted to serve differently. With faith, love, and hope knowing our creator is all powerful and his creation is miraculous we change the world spreading joy and kindness while holding ourselves accountable.  

 

As I thought, I realized that over my lifetime and especially within the last year, how much uncertainty I have been able to accept without stress has changed.  I can move between abstract questions and the big picture and the detail.  I can focus on the moment and what is immediate, while keeping the end in mind.  When I was younger, I was so busy and task focused, I didn’t think about the larger picture and consequences or trust my intuition and feelings about the choices I was making.  But now with the virus, climate change, political climate and social unrest I am far more conscious of the impact of my decisions and the need for individual and collective change.   With age, I am now aware of a universal consciousness that the Bible and spiritualists have been experiencing and writing about since humans were created.  I am aware that my individual thoughts and actions not only change my behaviors, but impact others' thoughts and behaviors.  I also know our collective thoughts and actions create a consciousness and spiritual energy that affects our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing  without being experienced through our five senses.  And I know the importance of the physical restoration of gardening and nature on Earth is required for our physical, mental, and emotional health because all of nature is part of the universal consciousness created through God as well as experienced through our five senses.

 

I realize that I need to lead through helping others visualize, be creative and step out to make a collective vision that is beautiful and intricate.   I will always love my personal exploration of God, higher consciousness and communication in Sacred Souls over the last seven years, but it is time to write, teach classes and network in my life and my new website and blog.

 

I hope you will join me in The Blue Iris Garden - Finding God in All Things as I begin my new journey on the first day of Spring, March 20th.    

 

 

 

 

Everything is a Miracle

“There are two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other as though everything is a miracle.”  Albert Einstein

This morning as the clouds cleared and sun streamed through the windows with still bitter cold and untouched white snow on the ground in my backyard, I sat with my coffee and looked at my yellow, blue and floral pillows glowing on my sofa I found myself in deep thought.  The first is that I am so incredibly blessed in my warm beautiful home with people and animals suffering and dying due to the frigid temperatures.  And I thought about all the problems in the world we are facing and that that those problems seem so insurmountable and outside our control.   My thoughts then wandered to last week when one of the men in my Christ based discussion group shared a book on faith he was reading.  As he talked, I realized he was discussing intellectual scientific and faith-based arguments on what is a miracle.  I felt the need to laugh because one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein suddenly came to mind.  He said, “There are two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other as though everything is a miracle.”  Everything is miraculous if you see and experience life through that lens, but the reality is a large percentage of our world is not because they are focused on surviving the next crisis including not freezing to death or baking in temperatures over 100 degrees.   And I realized the hypocrisy of even writing this blog entry when I live as I do safe in my beautiful home.  But I kept thinking….

Yesterday, I was listening to Bill Gates talk about global warming and he pointed out that a large portion of greenhouse gases are emitted by agriculture including cows.  And then I thought about the series on Magnolia network, the Lost Table where a small rural town restaurant in Freedom, Maine supports farmers who raise livestock, vegetables, fruit, and seafood in the area and how beautiful and amazing that life is, although not easy.  And then my mind flipped back to Bill Gates in his intellectual mode was talking about companies need to produce beef in the lab which is humane and how that was the future of mass produced beef.  Many Americans who regularly eat beef contributing to greenhouse emissions do not realize that other countries are replicating our diet with far reaching environment consequences.  And after reading the Fate of Food by Amanda Little, I know that feeding the growing world population in a warming climate has become a crisis that needs to be met with a variety of solutions, including choosing to eat less meat and grow meat in labs.  But underlying it all is that we have reached a world population number long ago that is not environmentally sustainable, and we need to recognize that fact in developing our solutions.  Do we want a world where communities like Freedom Maine cease to exist because we are developing technical solutions for a population that cannot be sustained by our Earth home given the way we want to live?  Is building electric cars and infrastructure using precious earth resources while we lack the systems to effectively recycle or reuse wise?  At what time in civilized world history do we run out of nonrenewable resources that we are consuming?   How do we reduce our world population to a sustainable level, without accepting mass deaths due to climate change and other causes?  It is a conscious decision, but one we can make.  We can choose differently, but we need to act individually and as a group in making our decisions and deciding what to sacrifice while developing innovative solutions.

And then I come back to my faith in God and my belief that everything is miraculous.  I thought about my Christian friend who spends time praying for miracles to extend the life and ease the suffering of his friends and family, while hoping to be accepted into heaven.  And I asked myself, is prayer without action enough?  I thought about the Christians who believe Jesus is going to come back and save the world they believe is unredeemable.  But in the Gospels Jesus said the kingdom is here and never promised to come back and save us in this existence.  Jesus’ point is that we are saved, but we need to live like it.

God is in the moment.  God is love.  We live in this amazing world and universe which is miraculous and proof of miracles to come.   We are on an eternal journey that does not end within this existence but requires us to make decisions to care for each other.. And we should find joy, chose differently, and have faith that with God and each other we can care for our Earth home.  The end is not certain because there is always faith, love, and hope.  Everything is a miracle.

   

A Winnie the Pooh Day

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.

“It’s today.” squeaked Piglet.

“My favorite day.” said Pooh.

 

Today was a sunny day and I set off for my three-mile walk around the neighborhood to clear the cobwebs and heaviness from my mind from our recent cloudy days at the end of January. As I walked clarity returned, and I thought about my Facebook post from Winnie and the Pooh about the simple joy of focusing on the moment.  And I agreed with Pooh, today is my favorite day.

As I sat down to write this, my cat Chloe is licking the remaining drops of potato soup from my lunch cup.  She really shouldn’t be in my cup, but I decided to let her have her moment. And several minutes after she finished, she is still flicking her tongue savoring the taste of each drop.  She then proceeded to clean her paws thoroughly while sitting on the desk in front of me.  And in the background on my favorite playlist Ed Sheeran is singing Perfect Symphony with Andrea Bocelli.  And as I listen, Chloe looks at me in adoration.

 

Let us remember to gaze at our loved ones in each perfect moment..  

 

In God We Trust - the United States of America Motto

Tonight, I decided to join a Raise the Bar group discussion on the topic of joy and how we find joy in tumulus times like this.  For me, joy is finding God in all things and appreciating my blessings.  This week has been very challenging for me due to my own health issues.  But I realized how lucky I am compared to others who have lost loved ones as the virus death toll reached over 400,000 today.   People have lost jobs and are without a roof over their head or food on the table and are dealing with grief or pain.  I know I am especially blessed because I am surrounded with loving, caring friends that were here for me this last week despite their own challenges such as severe physical pain and the loss of a father.

In the group discussion, it was apparent that members wanted to get their lives back to normal so that they can socialize and be together.  But when I pointed out there never has been a normal my comment was met with anger by one of the participants because of the devastation in his livelihood in the restaurant industry.  My point was that the last year has been a lesson in raising consciousness about how we relate to each other and underlying societal, environmental and government problems that can no longer be ignored.  God has been at work through it all because God provides light and hope that we can be better and do better individually and together.  But because we have been so unsettled, there is a longing to be in the moment and not constantly worry about our health and the future.  My statement that there never was a normal is because no life is worry free, but we do need and can find our moments of joy and peace in the presence of God.   

I believe with the Inauguration of President Joe Biden tomorrow we will be restoring the United States of America motto – in God We Trust.  To trust God, is to trust the Almighty creator of Heaven and Earth and to know love is the most powerful force in the Universe.  And by trusting God and his power to heal us, we can change our country and the world treating each moment as an act of love and demonstration of kindness.   And in that we can find peace and healing while rising to the challenge to make our country a more perfect union.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, 

But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, 

The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen. 

2020 Vision and 2021 Reflection

 “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”  Proverbs 29:18

“No problem can be solved by same consciousness that created it.”  Albert Einstein

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”  Romans 15:13

This week has been another emotional week for me, but then those weeks are the most enlightening for me requiring me to put together all the pieces in my mind.  I have been thinking very deeply this week about two of my favorite Bible verses and quotes – one from Matthew, one from Proverbs and the other by Albert Einstein, both which underlie much of my thinking.  But I need to articulate today other verses in my mind which I have known for a long-time, but I have always struggled to put in practice because I am human.

And that is the verse Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” And this is especially relevant in a society where the enemy’s purpose is to sow disinformation and take information out of context by hacking into personal, public and private systems. And this includes threatening people and their loved ones physically, eventually killing them when they will not remain silent or conform.  This creates an environment where we become fearful for ourselves and our loved ones not trusting the love and goodwill of others.  This has and is leading to changing words and images on the internet including the Bible.  This becomes gradual and then outright so we can no longer trust any documented source. This includes substituting original paper documents.  We are becoming paranoid, isolating ourselves and creating a fear of the “other” instead of seeking to understand, and then to evaluate and act.  We protect ourselves by distrusting everyone else and we react with emotions based on our perspective in the moment.  This can then be used to discredit us with others including our loved ones, destroying us because we are less than “perfect.”    

In a society based on the love of God where we recognize we are human and can be forgiven by others, we can do better.  But the ultimate purpose of the enemy is to keep us from recognizing the great gift of humanity – to love, feel all our emotions and be in union with God combined with an eternal life as a spirit knowing that with God all things are possible.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  

God protects us, when we love him and others acting with faith and hope. That is vision. The enemy cannot succeed because God and love cannot be defeated.  Jesus is love incarnate and all-knowing rising beyond death showing us the way.  

91 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the to most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. 

Psalm 91, King James Bible 

  

Awaken

 “Cogito, ergo sum.  I think therefore I am.”  0 Rene’ D’Escartes

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Hebrews 11:1 

 

In my home, I have a print of a painting by Monet in a muted gold frame in my dining room.  Monet had captured a moment in time of a woman standing on a doorstep with a young girl playing in the garden in the front of his house in Giverny, France.  

 

I woke up thinking about this print and began crying.  I was crying because in my mind, I was the woman in the garden in Giverny and the little girl is my child. It had been a dream I had working towards unconsciously for years.  And I was torn between the power of my imagination and all the possibilities and beauty for my life, and a reality that said it was no longer possible to have a child and that my time is limited.  A world where we are human beings looking out a universe never understanding that our consciousness and thoughts are part of God and that we are therefore God.  Not realizing we are focuses of light and energy with the power to transform everything around us. and that everything is thought.   “I think therefore, I am."  And because of it, we are trapped in a world with a raging virus and decaying environment of our own making bound by fixed physical parameters that we don’t believe we have the power to change.  

 

And it came to my mind previous flashes of insight seeing a deeper understanding that I and others have been fighting throughout eternity to awaken our spirits and unlock the doors that hold us within.  And I thought of my brilliant nephew who has been classified as developmentally disabled and autistic who told me once, “the door is locked, and I can’t open it.” And who played scenes from the movie Monster.com on his iPad for me where a little girl unlocked the doors to free the monsters who weren't really monsters at all.  I thought of the Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy who discovers she always had the power to go home in her ruby red slippers.  And I realized that the answer has always been within us, that everything we do is a reflection of the conscious and unconscious and this deeper order of truth we have kept from ourselves.  And I thought of Carl Jung’s quote “One does not become enlightened by imaging figures of light but by making the darkness conscious.”  

 

We are all Spirit.  We just don’t know it.  We are all part of God, but we don’t believe it.  With God, all things are possible.  

 

I believe it is possible for me to have a child and to live in a house with a beautiful garden.  I am brilliant with a light that cannot be contained.  I am of God.  And I am here to awaken.

 

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." Genesis 2:15 NIV

We ate from the tree of knowledge and we  no longer know.
Jesus was all knowing.
Sometimes I know.
Sometimes I don't know.
Sometimes I don't know and nobody else knows.
Sometimes I don't know and everybody knows.
Sometimes I know and others know.
Sometimes I know and everybody knows.
I always know.
Everybody knows.

  

 

 

 

 

The Essence of Leadership

 “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.  He or she does not set out to be a leader but becomes one by the quality of his or her actions and the integrity of his or her intent.  In the end, leaders are much like eagles…they don’t flock, you find them one at a time.”  Author unknown

I found this quote handwritten in a file I reviewed yesterday of my writings from 1997.  Along with an event last week that required me to process my thoughts from different perspectives, this quote caused me to reflect on what it meant to me and the history of my leadership roles which first began in 4th grade when I was elected class president.  Even at the age of nine, I learned that truth and integrity mattered both in intent and action.  I went on to be appointed editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper and remembered with a smile, a student who wrote a dissertation on his vacation and I had to drastically edit it curtailing his wish to name everyone he had met.  He was very upset with me, but he went on to be the editor the next year.  I also remembered running for senior class President, losing by a few votes even though my track (we had a year-round school with three tracks or groups in school with one out), was not given the opportunity to vote because they were out of school  during the voting.  I decided not to object, biding my time before running an editorial before the next year’s class elections, in which I pointed out that everyone should be provided the opportunity to vote to ensure a fair election.  The senior class advisor, a social studies teacher, who had told the year before I had lost, let me know personally with a subdued face that all four tracks would vote in future class elections.  The elected president, Natalie, did a great job and it ended up I was very busy with senior activities including the newspaper while working as a part-time secretary for a State Farm agent.  So, it all worked out.

My next leadership role was as President of the University YMCA student board.  While serving as the incoming president my junior year, I sat on a Board of Trustee search committee as one of the two student representatives to choose the next General Manager.  I opposed the committee’s decision to select an employee already working at the YMCA, arguing for several hours, because I knew that he was a liar and could not be trusted based on my experience with him, as well as stories told to me by other staff members.  I had to work with him during my term as president and it was challenging.  To make a long story short, two years after I graduated, he was finally removed because he was using funds that needed  trustee approval without seeking it.    

I thought of another leadership experience while at the YMCA because of events this week.  The student vice president, Kim, who graduated top of her journalism class was very smart, very outspoken and very opinionated.  I was intimidated by her and felt she was dominating the board, so I decided to have a side conversation telling her that she needed to tone it down so others would not be affected.  I was apprehensive about having the conversation.  After I said my piece, she looked at me, smiled, and said “I am going to be me.  Your job as leader is to manage me.”  I suddenly knew that she was right.  Her intent had always been positive, and the issue was within me because I was intimidated, and I needed to be more assertive in directing the conversation, but not by controlling her.  So, going forward, I leveraged her intellect and passion while making sure everyone had the opportunity to participate and the entire board benefited.  She was one of my bridesmaids seven years later.  I have to also add the previous board president, voluntarily resigned from the board when he realized he wanted to still run the board and that his anger with me because I would not date him had become a problem.  A number of years later when I saw him he admitted his enthusiastic support of the General Manager had been wrong and I was right in my opposition.

I have been pushed out of Bible studies, writer’s groups, jobs and other groups because the leader sees me as a threat to their expertise and agenda because I am creative constantly thinking outside of the box.  These leaders lacked the personal insight to evaluate their own emotions, confidence in their vision, or the leadership skill to leverage my intellect and creativity, my goodwill, and my perspective as I learned to do with Kim in order for the entire group to benefit.  What is sad, is that the actions of some of these leaders have been especially damaging to me.  A leader should always work to bring out the best in people, not by constantly praising them, but to challenge them and provide the opportunity for them to grow.  The leader of the memoir group pushed me out of her class this week because I read a blog entry on my vision of God. She had designed her program according a formula that she felt would allow an unprofessional writer to record their memories for their children and it did not include a reflection on God.  She angrily told me, you are confusing them (the other writers).  What I would have said to each writer to think about as they started writing – what are the lessons you learned in your life as you tell your story that you want to share with your family?  And how did your life shape who you are and where you are going from here?   Steven Covey in his Seven Habits includes the statement – begin with the end in mind.  And for me, my purpose in writing is to share my journey to know God and how it influences my future going forward. 

In conclusion, what I have discovered about me, is I cannot support a leader who lacks the characteristics in the quote on the essence of leadership.  I expect leaders to make some mistakes, but I judge them by the quality of their actions and the integrity of their intent.  But I would also add I evaluate them on their ability to self-reflect and improve their leadership skills.  I expect them to keep the best interest of who they are leading in the forefront of their thoughts and actions, always learning while achieving their objectives.   This reflection reminded me to strive to do this also as I move forward in my life.

 

 

Bars on Our Windows, Locks on Our Doors

 “I discovered windows one afternoon and after that, nothing was ever the same.” 

― Anne Spollen, The Shape of Water 

“Your gift will unlock doors that you prayed for God to open.” 

― Yvonne Pierre, The Day My Soul Cried: A Memoir

Today after another emotional week for me spent evaluating my thoughts and feelings, I sat down and looked through an old folder of correspondence from 1996-1997 to prepare to write today’s blog entry.  As I looked at my words, I was amazed at how my dreams and thoughts have expanded years later, but still are rooted in fundamental truths.  I had been thinking earlier today about how our minds can be prisons limiting our thoughts and actions, as well the physical prisons of our environments.  I saw in my folder I wrote a note in 1997 to myself concluding with the following, “Roberta, my neighbor, commented that people who have lived in East St. Louis and move to small towns, put bars on their windows.  This is evidence of the evil that grows in our environment.  We must no longer think of safety in terms of locks, but rather the absence of locks.”   

When I began my journey of writing in my blog SacredSouls almost seven years ago in February of 2014, my first entry was titled the Road Not Taken and ended with the following.  “God has provided me many blessings, but I am in a fork in my life where the unpaved and paved paths meet.   The beauty of the unpaved path calls to my heart and I can no longer deny it.  This is the beginning of my journey.  I trust in God that the unpaved path is my destiny.”  Similar to my words in 1997, my thoughts in 2014 were just beginning an exploration of my experiences over the last thirty years.

My blog has been a tool for processing my thoughts and emotions based on my past and current experiences, so that I could understand my life and God’s role in it and to provide healing.  And I thought perhaps by publishing my thoughts in a blog, I could help others along their life journey. In writing, I let my mind wander, writing about whatever came to me.  Some entries focused on a very personal experience and emotion from the past or present.  And some were of how I saw God in my life and in creation.  And then I noticed that it was building to an image of God and who I am as a child of God.  And underlying it all, were symbols of birds flying between earth and heaven, unlocked from their cages.  To understand that symbolism of that image, I need to explain how I differ from many other people, but maybe others can learn from my thoughts and experiences, although they have different gifts.

As an INFJ mystic, (less than 1 percent of the population is classified in this category within the Myers-Briggs), I process the world very differently.  Susan Storm in a Close Look of the Mystic writes that brain scans by the neurologist Dario Nardi show a very unique brain activity for the INFJ.  She writes “INFJs enter a “zen-like” brain state when they are tasked to envision the future or solve a complex problem. Nardi conducted EEG brain-wave tests that showed that INFJs, when presented with a novel or complex problem, would harness all neocortex regions in order to “realize” an answer.”  As an INFJ, I would say based on my experience with this, I am not only realizing an answer from within, but also from a field of consciousness in which I am part.  I have experienced states of mind that while I am in it, I draw thoughts from the universal with can have positive and negative energy or thoughts.  While I am immersed in it, I know when I come out of that state, I will not remember individual thoughts, but will be left with an impression which will guide me in the future.  And in my everyday normal experience, I usually do not remember many details unless I write them down immediately. But if I experience an event that triggers emotions from a past trauma, the details can become very vivid.  

In addition, due to trauma in my twenties and thirties, my mind learned to escape the physical, emotional and mental boxes placed around me to abuse me.  I escaped with what I refer to as breakthroughs which made me aware of other “realities” within a field of consciousness which others were not conscious of as well as underlying truths.   Most psychiatrists classify my experiences that I have described as pathological, isolated to my brain requiring antipsychotic drugs.   A few years ago, I read an academic article on transpersonal psychology titled Psychosis or Spiritual Emergence ago which confirmed that my experiences should be viewed as part of a larger field of consciousness and treated in a supportive, loving environment.  For years, I had resisted psychiatrists classifying my mental states within DSM models instead reframing my mind as a gift that needs to be managed.  A lesson I actually learned from a communication professor who had a license plate “reframe it.”  By reframing my mental experiences, I learned to step outside of them analyzing them in a positive light which enabled me to manage my mind.  My counselor Pat years ago told me I could control my mind, but she also understood it would be a learning process over time.  I knew this would involve practice and therefore, risk.  This ran counter to the messaging by the psychiatrists that I could never control it because it is an involuntary cyclical chemical reaction.  But I realized this “chemical” reaction occurred under stress often connected to a metaphysical event.  I found psychiatrists dismissed this as nonsense.  But now I know as an INFJ, I am skilled in recognizing patterns, especially those in human thoughts and emotions.  And it has been said we see “the pattern of the pattern” within our own minds and can project how those patterns can play out in others.  I also see my insights as sometimes revealed by God through the field of consciousness which is not bound by what we know as sequential or Kronos time.    

The reason I am sharing this is to explain, my mind has experience working outside the normal mental boxes most of us operate in that we do not even realize we are in.  And as a consequence, I can see how paradigms and beliefs within our individual and collective psyche affect our behaviors, and why I challenge how other people think.  I was listening to a podcast with Dr. Illia Delio who is a nun with PhDs in theology and in science this week, and she talked about the fact that the reality is we operate in a quantum world there is no normal, only chaos.  And she said our quest to get back to normal will be our undoing.  This statement is a paradigm shift and the implications are tremendous.  I cannot even begin to contemplate at her intellectual level the ramifications.  But I know that to change and adapt, we must first recognize this reality to change our thought processes and resulting actions. 

Also, because I am an INFJ primarily driven by introverted intuition or analysis of perspectives, and because of my ability to transcend consciousness, I can experience multiple perspectives without being completely married to one.  Allowing me to go to the most abstract level  to summarize detailed thoughts.  That is why I say God is love.  God is the whole.  God is eternal.  Dr. Delio would state it in even higher terms.  She states God is a mystery.  The rest is our imagination and that is very hard for most people to accept.  But if you can accept that our thoughts or imagination is the basis for what we create, together we can become anything we imagine if we love, and provide hope and faith.  That is mind-blowing.

Which circles back to what I originally wrote in 1997 about people leaving a violent city for a safe town, still feel the need to put bars on the windows to protect themselves. Fear and trauma have lasting impact on our ability to trust others and imagine positive outcomes.   Because I have been told I am psychotic and because I have been abused for my thoughts almost physically losing my life, sharing my thoughts is not easy because rejection opens up trauma feelings that I cannot be loved or accepted for who I am.  I relived this trauma again this week after sharing one of my blog posts with a group writing memoirs I had trusted.  My blog entry elicited anger from the leader whose resentment had been building because she felt I was resisting and challenging her authority, expertise, and structure as well as purpose for writing a memoir which I found limiting and not applicable to me.  And although it was made clear I was not welcome in that group, like my other experiences, it will only strengthen my resolve to break open mental, physical and emotional prisons - by taking each bar off window by window, and lock by lock from each door holding us in.   Even if it takes an eternity.

 

Thoughts on a Movement of God

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

It has been another tumultuous week with Trump refusing to acknowledge the election results and the virus raging through the country. But there was respite with the decisive results of the election, a vaccine closer to distribution, and positive news from the Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act.  And I realized that God’s grace and timing has been at work through all of it.  This has not been solely a human battle, but one fought on a spiritual level where the enemy seeks to kill, steal and destroy our joy by dominating our consciousness with fear and rage.  But with love, faith, hope, joy and hard work we will prevail. And although I know that God gifts and directs our path individually, today I pictured a flock of birds rising together in formation in the sky.  I thought about what my priorities need to be in this ongoing spiritual battle, and I considered the role of my church.   Although individual churches and denominations have their strengths within their congregations, I thought the following elements for a movement based on God should be in place to thrive and grow.

A universal love for God, each other and creation supported by an uplifting worship service that renews and strengthens the spirit within us so that we can spread the love and joy of God to others.  A study of the Bible which deepens our understanding of God and directs our spiritual journey as a disciple of Jesus. An understanding that we are not destined to be sinful, but need to be self-aware and reflective knowing that we are accepted and loved as a child of God. A ministry that recognizes that as humans we can be broken and hurt both emotionally and physically by others, and we need healing through the presence of prayer and the witness by others of God’s love.   A collective movement that addresses poverty, discrimination, and environmental issues not isolated to a single church or denomination but is in solidarity with all who fight for social justice.  And a universal prayer focus that sustains both individuals and the church.

 

 

 

The Freedom of the Holy Spirit

“It's not about finding ways to avoid God's judgment and feeling like a failure if you don't do everything perfectly. It's about fully experiencing God's love and letting it perfect you. It's not about being somebody you are not. It's about becoming who you really are.” 

― Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Woman

I am an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs personality profile, referred to as the mystic. I am a person who sifts through perspectives evaluating my emotions and actions, as well as understanding the possible perspectives and motives of others.  I am always seeking a deeper truth, but it can be exhausting. Another INFJ I know refers to it as the monkey brain – constantly swinging from one idea and perspective to another with a focus on understanding the whole.  In addition. I was raised by a mother who lived in the 1950s generation that judged women on their social manners and appearance, and the perfection of their household and children.  I learned as a child the importance of not making a mistake.   During my childhood we did not attend church consistently and I never learned verses from the Bible.  At the age of ten I went through confirmation, rote memorizing creeds without understanding.  And I practiced rituals, including taking communion weekly confessing our sins before God.  This experience left me spiritually empty and for years I never felt the need for God until I was thirty when I experienced a crisis.  What did stay with me from my childhood was the beautiful Christmas celebrations at home when I was very young.  My parents would attend Christmas midnight mass and ring the sleigh bells and play music upon arriving home.  As a consequence, I moved through my life without a faith in God, but loving the joy of Christmas.  

We often do not recognize the impact of the societal norms of our generation until later in life, and how it affects our image of God as either punitive or loving.    In the last thirty years in my journey to know God, my perspective has changed, and I have come to believe that our focus must be on a loving and universal God or Christ, as well as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.  I believe as the Franciscans Richard Rohr and Ilia Delio do, that the concept of original sin “first put forward by Augustine in the fifth century but never mentioned in the Bible is damaging.” (The Universal Christ, p. 61).  Richard Rohr points out that the creation story within Genesis is about beauty, and Genesis 1:31 says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”  He also discusses the harm of theology that explains the crucifixion was required to pay a price for our sins before a perfect God. This creates an image of a judgmental God needing atonement, instead of a loving and forgiving God who does not require perfection. 

 

It is evident as human beings we have done a lot of damage to each other, and as a consequence that pain reverberates through generations.  But I would ask is it better to raise a child believing they are destined to be sinful needing atonement before God?  Or to raise a loving human who will sometimes make mistakes that can have consequences, but can be forgiven and who is accepted as they are by God?   Is it healthier to provide an environment where a child is loved, and taught how to understand their own emotions while reflecting on how their actions can affect themselves and others?  Can a child feel loved, if they don’t feel accepted without perfection?  We live in a society of human judgment.  Is it also necessary to be judged by a punitive God?  

 

I also know that when I was damaged, the witness of the love of God and acceptance by others was the healing force in my life and I am forever grateful.  I have also learned in the process of my healing not to dwell on guilt of my own past actions that had consequences and sometimes hurt others, but to do better.  This is to know the forgiveness of God. My emotions, actions and reflections will never be perfect, but God does not require perfection and what is in my heart cannot be hidden.  I know God’s grace and favors are constantly at work in my life.  And I smile now when he sends gentle reminders through others to do better. I know God loves and accepts me as I am and does not require atonement.  My focus is to spread the joy and healing power of God’s love to others.  This is to walk in the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Our Eyes and See

“And whem Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.  And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.  Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.  And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.”  Matthew 9:27-30 KJV

 

Recently I decided I needed to read through the New Testament on my own with fresh eyes starting with the Gospel of Matthew.  I had been part of Bible study led by our interim priest who is well versed in biblical history and the Jewish and Roman culture in which Jesus and his disciples lived.   Our priest led the study by examining the historical context of the verse as well as relating it to other parts of the Bible.  This included reflecting the deep symbolism and practices of the Jewish faith and how it related to the growing revelation to humans of God throughout the Bible.  I knew I could never absorb the lifetime learning and study of the Bible our priest possesses, and I appreciated his intellect and knowledge.  I realize that studying historical theological interpretations can enlighten and open my mind to other perspectives.  

 

But the reason I decided to read the Bible with fresh eyes was because my sense of the spiritual was lost in the intellectual study which emphasized correct cultural and historical interpretation as promulgated by theologians in the past. Symbolism is powerful because of the many layers of meaning and perspectives within it that comprise the greater whole and interpretations in the past do not always perceive other meanings revealed with time.

 

As I have written in other posts, we are both spirit and human, energy and matter.  And for me the question is from which perspective do we start in understanding our relationship to God?  Spirit or human?  Spirituality is the mystery of consciousness or intangible that cannot be grasped by understanding human biology and culture.  And as a modern society our knowledge of the nature of creation including physics and our humanity has changed dramatically. It is becoming apparent to me that looking at our relationship with God from a historical or literal perspective defined by words within the Bible and sanctioned theology or interpretations has its limits.

 

It is appropriate that the last book in the Bible is titled Revelation.   As I have said in past posts, revelation is not solely symbolizing a final judgment or reveal.  Revelation is an ongoing process throughout the Bible and because God is in all things within his creation, God also reveals himself in our ongoing exploration of science and knowledge around us and within us. But true understanding of our spiritual nature comes from intuitive knowing, which is our spiritual connection to God, that cannot be defined with knowledge.   But we can consider how science is shedding new light on Jesus’ ministry and the Bible’s message about God.  And our focus on sanctioned historical interpretation can prevent us from considering that Jesus was challenging the fundamental paradigms by which we think and our perception of reality which holds us back from knowing God.  

 

In the Garden of Eden, humans are separated from God because the eternal spiritual link to God is severed, and we focused on our human mortality (we saw we were naked and vulnerable).  This alienation from God cloaked our eternal nature and has influenced our human behavior ever since our separation from God or the whole.  Jesus ministry included a reconciliation of us to God and our eternal nature, but we haven’t absorbed that lesson.  We still believe in original sin and have not embraced the freedom of spirit.   And science tells us that our brain constructs much of our reality.  And Einstein told us “the reality we focus on is the reality we create.  This is not philosophy, it is physics.”  Deep within our collective psyche lie sets of beliefs about our reality and who we are that we need to change to see the world as it truly is – the Kingdom of God.  

 

Jesus told us as in John 18:36 “My Kingdom is not of this world.”  In the time of Jesus, no one knew about quantum mechanics or dimensions and how they may affect us.  We understand gravity and other macro physics because we can physically observe their effects. But the effect of a quantum universe which is unseen requires imagination.  But if we look at Jesus’s words, he is challenging us to question the world we perceive or see right now.  He is asking us to use our imagination and change our beliefs.   Why did Jesus and his disciples have the power to perform miracles?  Because their minds were not bound the physical limitations perceived by others.  This is emphasized in the Christian belief in the power of prayer.  “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.  Mark 11:24. 

 

Quantum mechanics teaches us that by merely observing or thinking about a particle, a particle’s trajectory changes without a related physical cause.  The power of prayer as well as the ability to anticipate an event before it happens, has been confirmed in well controlled psi experiments.  Dr. Dean Radin in his book Entangled Minds postulates our consciousness does not exist solely in our brains but is part of a quantum universe.  And transpersonal psychology which challenged the medical model of our consciousness being relegated to our brain, states that the consciousness or spirit is inherent in the universe.  Our brains are the lens by which we experience and interact with consciousness as biological beings.  When we die, our brain ceases to be that lens as a human, but our consciousness is still present.  These ideas and theories only increase our wonder at the unknown, unseen and the possible combined with the theory that our thoughts are energy, that with faith, can bring about change.  “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. “2 Corinthians 4:18. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1

 

Einstein said imagination is more powerful than knowledge.  In Matthew 18:3 KJV, Jesus says “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  The Gospels are full of symbolism, parables and metaphors because Jesus was referring to a deeper meaning, not a literal meaning and those meanings change with time or perspective.  We know children are different from adults because of the power of their imagination and unquestioning belief of what they are told.  Traditional teaching is that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven after death, but the Kingdom of God is already here, and Jesus asks us to see it.  ^“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  Luke 17:21 KJV. The beauty of this passage is that Jesus is referring to both our ability to love God and each other with our spirit within, resulting in the power to transform the Earth and our reality with our thoughts and our love.   

 

As a human, I have a deep appreciation for the study of the Bible based on historical and Biblical tradition, but as a spirit I know that there is so much more.  It is not about choosing to be human or spirit, it is about being both.  I believe that mainstream churches like mine are losing relevancy with a younger generation who is more universal in thought. It is because the church is married to a historical and Biblical tradition that has lost its relevancy  because it has not expanded with our human knowledge.  Younger people reject dogma, morality and judgment as the face of religion. They are motivated by acceptance, service, and the love of others.   ^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22-23.  

 

Inclusion into the Kingdom of God is not whether you declare Jesus your Lord and Savior, have been baptized, and take communion.  But rather whether you perceive and live within the love of God and serve others as Jesus did and recognize that only God can truly see in our souls and judge us.    Rituals such as baptism, prayer and communion can renew our focus on God, but also become mechanical or empty when practiced as dogma.  We are all children of God and all of our Earth is sacred and worthy of veneration, not just the congregations and churches we worship in.   The Garden of Eden is our entire Earth home, but because we have separated our spirituality and eternal nature from our humanity, we are destroying the Earth and ourselves.    

 

As a church we need to look at our teachings and traditions with a fresh perspective.  There is wisdom and spirituality within our church which has aged, but perhaps we need to balance the intellectual with the spirit.    I personally believe that there is a spiritual awakening which can only be completed by God, but I am not waiting for Jesus to come back to judge the living and the dead.  My focus is the spirit within us and practicing a universal love and eternal link to God that is available to all of us.  Christianity in its present form did not exist when Jesus was human which  has evolved to become exclusionary and hierarchical instead of universal.  

 

God is love. God is the whole.  God is eternal.  

 

Perspectives

 “The right perspective makes the impossible possible.” Anonymous

"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." ... "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37, KJV. "And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."

During my quiet time, early in the morning, I think about the breathtaking beauty of the Earth, and I am overcome with the sense of heaven within and around me.  In those moments, I imagine my neighborhood filled with tree lined streets, neighbors looking out for one another, laughing together, having block parties, gardening in their yards with a sense of time standing still.  I also imagine living in eternity on a farm in a beautiful valley filled with vineyards, crops, and old-fashioned gardens with children running through the lime and emerald green grass. A farmhouse lost in time with a fireplace, warm and inviting and  trees changing in the autumn into burnt and bright oranges with variations of reds.  The farm is filled with animals including cats and dogs running freely.  All my loved ones gathered in dinner laughing and talking while enjoying our favorite recipes.

Our only limits are those of imagination.  If we can conceive it, we can create it.  There is so much diversity within our imaginations reflecting the beauty of God or the whole.  It is not about the world I imagine, but what our collective imaginations and spirits can conceive with love.  As I think about the people in my life, I know there are many facets within them, but in moments of God I can see their whole spirit and humanity.  But in this reality in times of anger and despair, we limit each other and ourselves, by not dreaming and seeing the possible, not seeing the whole instead reducing each other to a single characterization or perspective.  The gift of spirituality is the ability to see the whole, a unification of perspectives in order to focus on the beauty within our humanity.  To see what is possible.

 The power of Jesus’ ministry is that he walked in spirit, knowing he was not bound by this reality and he could perform incredible miracles.  His core message is that the eternal Kingdom of God is within us and around us and that with God nothing shall be impossible.    God is love.  God is the whole.  God is eternal.

Believe.

John 3:15-17 KJV

 "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

The Battle for the Soul of Our Nation

"He that dwellers in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God in him will I trust."  Proverbs 91 KJV

This morning I awoke from a long, deep sleep feeling relaxed and rested after a tumultuous week with several late nights.  It was a chilly morning with a temperature of 45 and I turned on my gas fireplace then sat in my robe and began to think about this last week.   I journaled my thankfulness for all the people I felt blessed to have in my life, as well as those who have been fighting so hard with love and determination for the soul of our country.  I decided to get dressed and drive to Sandy’s Back Porch to get Fall decorations, drop of my ballot in the county box, and pick up birdseed for my front feeder.  As I got ready to depart, I connected my iPhone into Apple play in my car and selected my Christmas playlist.  

My childhood is filled with memories of music, especially the music of my parents who were part of the Greatest Generation.  My Christmas playlist includes music from the Robert Shaw Orchestra, Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and other greats from the 1950s, as well as contemporaries such as Michael Bublé.  As I began to drive, I turned up the volume and listened filled with joy.  Music from the 1950s has a special quality to it, a sense of peace, joy, optimism, and love.  It reminded me that after a horrendous time in our country with the Depression and World War II, there was a spiritual awakening and a thankfulness that better times were present.  

I am aware of the realities and history of the 1950s, including McCarthyism, nuclear weapons and the beginning of the civil rights fight that would lead to activism of the Supreme Court and passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s.  But progress as humans has always been an ongoing spiritual fight, and my parents’ music reflected the goodness and triumph of love after a horrifying period in our world history.

When I got to Sandy’s Back Porch, with the help of the staff, I selected corn stalks with ribbons, three pumpkins (two orange and one white), with a beautiful deep orange chrysanthemum.  We somehow fit the long stalks into my car.  I set off to submit my ballot and pick up bird seed.  At the Wildlife shop, the owner and I talked about her gay sons and the need for all people to feel loved and accepted for who they are and whom they love.  After getting into my car and connecting the music, I turned onto Route 159 with a Trump parade passing by with waving American, Trump 2020, and Make America Great Again flags attached to their pickups while they honked their horns.  A surreal contrast to the beautiful Christmas music coming from my stereo speakers, and I was reminded again that we are in a battle for the soul of our nation.  

As I have written in past posts, our thoughts and feelings as well as our spoken words and our actions affect the greater consciousness in creation.   The essence of the battle is that those who seek to instill and spread hate and fear, target those who generate and move love forward in the Universe.  And their weapons include chaos, division, fear and hatred of “the other.”  But as I have written before, God and love will prevail in the end even as some sacrifice their human lives in the fight, because love is the most powerful force in creation.

It was not a coincidence that the New York Times published articles on Trump’s tax returns Sunday night. And that Trump self-destructed hideously in the debate Tuesday and the negligence and his callous attitude about the coronavirus effect on everyday Americans had hit home with the Republican Party.  We have not seen the final impact, but I admired the decision of the Biden campaign to pull negative campaign ads, although the Trump campaign did not.  Biden knows, as my parents learned in their generation, the fight is not over, but we cannot forget goodness and love and aspire to something greater for ourselves and others.  

In the middle of all this week was my 60th birthday and although I felt the presence of God and the love of others, it was an emotional week for me in several personal ways.  I was again reminded, that my introverted intuitive feeling approach to thinking and writing is not shared by others.  I again felt pressure  to conform to an extraverted sensing world or face rejection and punishment, as I have many times before for my thoughts.  My counselor Pat said to me in my thirties, “maybe you are the normal one and everyone else is not.  Maybe you can help others be more like you.”  For me, my life journey is not told by describing what I observe around me or what I do, but to incorporate my life experiences with my journey to know who I am as a spirit connected to a higher power.   And to explain how my growth has occurred within me, so I can help others.  The fact is I have the power to operate in a much higher consciousness and spirit as do others, but the enemy pulls us downward.  We are birds meant to fly between earth and heaven, but the fowler aims to kill and cage those who can fly the highest.  

But as Richard Bach, writer of Jonathan Livingston Seagull said so beautifully in 2006.

“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!” 

“There

On a distant shore

By the wings of dreams

Through an open door

You may know him

If you may

Be”

The lyrics from Jonathan Livingston Seagull

 

 

For They Existed

 It has been a dry August and September here in the St. Louis area, the remnants of the hurricanes adding to the humidity but the rain passing to the south and east of us.  As I worked in my yard this evening, I could see the edges of the Hosta and patches in the lawn turning brown, along with the spent limelight hydrangea blossoms.  The yard looks tired and parched, a drastic change from this spring when the entire landscape was a lush emerald green.  We were blessed to have a wet summer up until August, but the last four weeks I have been watering bushes, plants and trees leaving my lawn to go dormant.  

As I worked in my yard, I thought about the stress in our country and the loss of Justice Ginsburg.  A friend had posted on Facebook Maya Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall” and I thought of the stanza “Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us.  Our souls dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened.”  In a time when truth and integrity seem so lost, the falling of this tree or soul was especially hard, and we felt it collectively because of what the life of Justice Ginsburg represented.  Her life is about the power of an individual to perservere against great odds with integrity and in doing so, change the world.  But she also represented something else so dear exemplified in her and Justice Scalia’s friendship.  Their ability to argue the law in a court where the outcome is not predetermined, but based in the end on the merit of the argument.  Their friendship shows us, that diverse perspectives when respected and balanced, move our society forward.  It represents our ability to see celebrate our differences, to put ourselves in other people’s shoes, while staying tethered to a greater truth – our constitution and rule of law and the importance of rituals.  Something lost in the current battle over stacking the court in order to dictate the outcome before the arguments by the justices even begin.

As I watched the private service of Justice Ginsburg and listened to the Rabbi’s haunting voice singing a chant in Hebrew, I felt the ancient call to God and the need to be enfolded in ritual.  In a time when we are fighting over an underlying narrative for the country, we have become ungrounded from a shared reality and the importance of our rituals, norms and processes.  And this is even harder in a time when nothing is normal in our daily lives due to the coronavirus and constant climate disasters.   

But as I thought further, I realized that in this week as a nation we are seeing more clearly.  Our first priority must be our constitution and our norms which have become distorted. As Vice President Biden said Americans when told the truth, have always risen to the occasion. The birth of our nation was not easy, and neither was the Civil War, Great Depression, World War II, Watergate and other crises, but we are at a precipice of making a great change to more closely realize the dream of those who came before us.  People like us who were imperfect but saw a vision greater than themselves and worked together.  They lived in a time when their mistakes were not amplified millions of times or their words taken out of context in soundbites.  They took their time and chose their words carefully with purpose, reimaging a new narrative for our country building on the vision written in the Declaration of Independence.  

As a county we need a leader who will bring us together imaging our country based on our aspirations, reality and ideals.  We can honor and celebrate the genius and ideas of our founding fathers while recognizing the limitations of their society, and the fact they were imperfect like us.   And we can recognize the contributions of those Americans who have been minimized and subjugated for so long.  Much of what we believe as Americans is based on myth.  But myths and stories are important because they can bind us together in common purpose, but they must be true to those ideals that are good and honorable.  So often, these stories and visions were spoken in great speeches by our presidents and other leaders.  At other times through general impressions left on us in common culture.  But in this critical time, we must not allow lies, false narratives, and conspiracy theories distract us from what is good and true.  Let us follow the example of those like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and all those who came before, although flawed, knew what was good and true and aspired to be better.

“Our senses, restored, never


to be the same, whisper to us.


They existed. They existed.


We can be. Be and be


better. For they existed.”  Maya Angelou

     

   

   

Bible Translations Inspired by the Holy Spirit

 Recently, in reviewing a verse within the Bible I examined different translations.  Most of the Bibles composed in the twentieth century translated the verse along the same lines as the NIV Bible in Romans 13:1 “Let everyone be subject to the governing authority, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.”  Verses 2-7 define those authorities as rulers who are “God’s servants for your good.”  So, this verse implies all rulers or those in authority are servants for our good and as Christians we need to obey them.   Of course, with known authoritarian leaders like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini as well as other authoritarian leaders who have murdered millions, we cannot that believe they are “God’s servants for your good.”   For this passage to make sense in this translation, we have to consider other Bible verses such as Jeremiah 23:1-4, Proverbs 29:2, and Proverbs 29:12 which call out wicked rulers.  

But what I find interesting was one Bible translation of Romans 13:1-7 that read very differently – the Kings James Version first published in 1611.  “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained by God.   Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute  also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”

It wasn’t clear to me what the word “powers” was referring to in verse 1.  Although I am not a student of linguistics, I researched through an online dictionary the origin of words used in the NIV versus the King James Bible.  The word power is from the Latin word posse – to be able.  The word ruler is from the Latin regula meaning straight stick and the word minister in Latin means servant.  The word authorities in Latin means someone who creates or initiates something.  The original of the word soul is Germanic from the Middle Ages and the word everyone has no Latin root and was not widely used until the 20th Century.  

The NIV Bible is referring to the powers (the ability to act) wielded by authorities and cites in verse 7 one example as taxes.  In the King James Bible, it is to give ministers (from the word servant in Latin) their dues (from the word meaning owe in Latin) not necessarily meaning to owe taxes.  Therefore, the King James Version translation can emphasize several different meanings.

In thinking further, I asked, if there is no power but that ordained of God, what specific power is being attributed to God?  Is power referring to a person or an ability?  Since, all of creation is from God, we can conclude that everything within creation is ordained by God. And therefore, within his dominion including our power to exercise to free will and our ability to think and act.  This would include those who act from love and those who act to invoke fear.   And nothing within creation can be made without the substance formed by God.  Then is creation itself God’s higher powers?  But when I contemplate the meaning of higher powers, I wonder could it also mean powers such as God’s ability to love and grant grace, healing, favor, and redemption?   Not the specific power of Roman emperors and other governments in the 1st Century AD as indicated in the NIV translation?  Could the minister referred to in the Kings James Bible mean servants of God?  

In reviewing this Bible passage, I learned that some Bibles such as the NIV take a very specific interpretation consistent with a human perspective.  Other translations such as the King James Bible require the reader to think deeper within the spiritual.  And while I do not have the education to know why these translations are so different, I think those translations such as the King James Bible that ask us to consider both the spiritual and human perspectives are closer to an understanding of God as inspired by the Holy Spirit.  

Where There is No Vision the People will Perish

"Where there is no vision the people will perish."

 - Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

This week I was asked by my church to prepare a question to ask potential candidates for our new priest.  When I was called by the search team member, who is an amazing leader and servant in my church, I said how do we combine the intellectual, the heart and the universal in a time where many people no longer see Christianity and the church as relevant?  I based this question on the fact that the Episcopal Church in which I am a member, as well as other major denominations are declining in membership.  And some like our church home, may not survive once my generation and the generation before me is gone.

Six years ago, at a Catholic Women’s Retreat, I was told by another participant that I was a Christian voice for the 21st Century, and that I needed to write.  So, I began my blog Sacred Souls and slowly started to develop my voice.  Several weeks ago, I sent my last blog entry titled Walk in Spirit to my 83-year-old former mother-in-law with whom I often attend services at a Baptist church.  She texted me back, “you need to be a minister.”  My response back to her was that her pastor would not agree with her, as well as many other priests and pastors.  I am an “out of the box” thinker whose writings sometimes challenge mainstream biblical and theological interpretations. I do know that there are some Christians such as Fr. Richard Rohr and Sister Ilia Delio, who are  Franciscans would probably agree with many of my thoughts.  They hope to move the Catholic Church into a universal thinking of Christ as love within all of creation with less focus on sin.  My spiritual advisor, who is Catholic, has discussed with me whether it is possible to transform an institution as large as the Catholic Church which is immersed in historical theology and male dominated hierarchies.   My thoughts are no - it must come from smaller denominations with a spiritual awakening.  

The reason I believe that Christianity and mainstream churches in the United States are declining in membership, is because the focus is on an individual path for salvation as a human being, not focused on spirit and universality.   Many churches are vested in a hierarchy and doctrine developed over many centuries.  I was reminded in last week’s Bible Study on 2 Peter by our interim priest, to be Christian is to be baptized and believe in the resurrection, not to walk in the spirit of Christ.  Our interim priest made it clear not adhering to established church theology of Biblical interpretation is heresy. He said that Peter was addressing attacks from within Christianity and that we have two choices - eject dissenters or repudiate them in church.   I was reminded during that study that my thoughts on the universality of love and Christ, may be viewed as an internal attack from within the church.   I am very aware I could lose my church home and the love from others if I question the theological interpretation as explained by the priests and other religious authorities.  

Last week, my thoughts on some churches losing relevancy because of the focus on salvation not love was touched upon in a recent On My Mind podcast with Diane Rehm, in which she discussed racism in Christianity with Robert P. Jones.  He is the CEO and Founder of PRRI and a leading scholar on religion, culture and politics.  He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University, a master’s in divinity and a B.S. in computing science and mathematics.  PRRI conducted a survey with over 6,000 participants to compare attitudes between white Christians and white non-Christians about white supremacy and racism.  He found that white Christians in all denominations, were more racist by a 20-30 point difference over white non Christians.   For example, white Christians were more likely to believe police killings of blacks are isolated incidents, not part of  widespread discrimination.  When asked why would white Christians be more racist?  Robert Jones responded he believed it to be that white Christianity focuses on individual salvation.    Many white Christians may do acts of charity such as feeding the hungry and homeless, but do they change the underlying system causing the hunger and homelessness in the same light as Reverend Martin Luther King did with poverty, voting rights and segregation?  

I am not discounting the importance of the Bible and the contributions of Christians to theology and rituals over thousands of years. This is the intellect of Christ.   I know in my spiritual journey as well as the testimonies of others, that Christians modeling the love of God saved me when I was in despair and helped me to realize the goodness and love of God.  This is the heart of Christ.  But to become relevant in a time when our awareness of the global is increasing due to modern transportation and communication we need look at our theology, rituals and the Bible through different eyes.  Sometimes the same Bible verses, prayers and rituals interpreted, emphasized and acted upon in a new light can change everything.  The spirit and the unseen hand of God is more powerful than our humanity.  Perhaps that is why a growing percentage of people in the United States say they are spiritual, but not religious.  And why mainstream churches emphasizing doctrine over  universal love, spirit and action are in decline.  

In my March 21, 2016 blog entry titled A True Work of Art Is but A Shadow of the Divine Perfection, I wrote this – 

"Where there is no vision the people will perish." - Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

“For years I had an unframed print in my office at Saint Louis University of the portion of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting of God reaching out to touch Adam's hand with Michelangelo’s quote, "A true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection."  Most interpreters would say that we could never perfectly replicate or reproduce what God creates.

I believe that this interpretation of Michelangelo's quote does not reveal the full genius of his insight.  True art comes from the soul and changes not only "what we see" but "how we see."  In the Bible it is the sight of the "unseen" that is divine, and a true work of art is but a shadow of the divine.  It is the unseen hand of God touching us.  Without this vision, the people shall perish.”