“God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God's purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.
All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.
As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.”
― St. Ignatius of Loyola
For the past few years I have been worshiping at a Methodist Church pastored by an Evangelical minister. I have found remarkable, loving, spiritual members in my small group. However, I have decided to separate from that church and find a centering prayer group and to stay connected with my Ignatian Spirituality group. I think I need a small group who sees God as love who is in all things and practices traditions and rituals because those rituals bring us closer to God, not set us apart from others. There is too much of "the other" in todays society and churches often participate in that division.
I believe Jesus saved, through grace, all of humankind and that our role is to spread his love through example. I don't agree with the Evangelical pastor that you must declare Jesus Lord and Savior to be saved. I think Jesus decides who is saved and we are not to judge others, but to lead by loving others and wishing our neighbors well. The Bible is the living word inspired by God. It is not meant to be interpreted literally to predict the end times, but to speak spiritual truths to strengthen our relationship with God to be as one. I believe that Jesus has given us everything we need to succeed if we believe in him who is love.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Monday, January 21, 2019
Open Doors and Dreams
"Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity." Khalil Gibran
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Sea of Consciousness
Matthew 10:7 (KJV) - "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) - "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
What if the cosmos and everything in it is a sea of consciousness or energy? What if humans actions are guided by this sea of consciousness most of which is not known to us, but believe we think and act based only upon what is conscious to us? What if this sea of consciousness reflects eternity where Kronos (entropy) time does not exist? Perhaps this kingdom of heaven is near to us, but we are unconscious of it except through faith and intuition, This is the difference between knowing and knowledge. Knowing requires faith and intuition. Knowledge is obtained through sensory experience. Knowing is eternal and infinite. Knowledge is finite. When we ate of the tree of knowledge, did we lose our connection to God and eternity through the gift of knowing and now rely on knowledge? By focusing on an outcome, can we bring the unconscious to the conscious and bring about the Kingdom of God?
The Power of Observation
"What you believe in and focus on becomes your reality. It can be no other way." Albert Einstein
I wrote in the Sacred Souls post titled Spiritual Singularity:
"Sister Ilia Delio postulates the universe could not exist without an observer or consciousness existing first – and that God is intimately intertwined in his creation. "Some scientists speculate that without consciousness, the universe would exist indeterminately as a sea of quantum potentiality." Without consciousness there is no matter. She further writes that creation is an expression of God's love and he is moving us forward to a greater consciousness to be shared by humans."
As I pondered this thought further I realized that not only is God intricately intertwined in his creation through observation, we are also intertwined in creation through our own observations. Quantum mechanics postulates that the behavior of light particles changes through the act of observation by a consciousness. So how much of our world is created because we are individual and collective consciousnesses observing creation versus physically interacting with creation? If God's observation of the quantum sea of probabilities brought the cosmos into being, how much is influenced by human individual and collective consciousnesses?
Einstein said what we focus on, becomes our reality, it can be no other way. We know we think and then act even even when our actions are based on our subconscious. What if our individual and collective thoughts without actions can change our world? If we focus our thoughts in prayer, can we change the outcome? How powerful a force can our consciousnesses be if we collectively visualize a specific outcome? By visualizing an outcome can we transform matter into energy and back again?
I wrote in the Sacred Souls post titled Spiritual Singularity:
"Sister Ilia Delio postulates the universe could not exist without an observer or consciousness existing first – and that God is intimately intertwined in his creation. "Some scientists speculate that without consciousness, the universe would exist indeterminately as a sea of quantum potentiality." Without consciousness there is no matter. She further writes that creation is an expression of God's love and he is moving us forward to a greater consciousness to be shared by humans."
As I pondered this thought further I realized that not only is God intricately intertwined in his creation through observation, we are also intertwined in creation through our own observations. Quantum mechanics postulates that the behavior of light particles changes through the act of observation by a consciousness. So how much of our world is created because we are individual and collective consciousnesses observing creation versus physically interacting with creation? If God's observation of the quantum sea of probabilities brought the cosmos into being, how much is influenced by human individual and collective consciousnesses?
Einstein said what we focus on, becomes our reality, it can be no other way. We know we think and then act even even when our actions are based on our subconscious. What if our individual and collective thoughts without actions can change our world? If we focus our thoughts in prayer, can we change the outcome? How powerful a force can our consciousnesses be if we collectively visualize a specific outcome? By visualizing an outcome can we transform matter into energy and back again?
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
The Place Where Lost Things Go
Definition of Lost - "1. Unable to find one's way; not knowing one's whereabouts. 2. Denoting something that has been taken away or cannot be recovered."
In the movie Mary Poppins Returns, Emily Blunt sings a lullaby to the Banks children to remind them their mother who has passed away, can be found where the lost things go. This song and scene gave me pause to think more deeply about loss and our society now that my parents, part of the greatest generation, are gone.
So much of the turmoil in our country is that we believe we are losing who we are in the transition to the new. We no longer recognize the values taught to us in our youth as we struggle to emerge into the twenty-first century. We have become a nation of transactions, not of collective values and vision.
But we must remember that past generations have faced crises and overcome their obstacles changing and moving society forward to be more progressive, inclusive and diverse.
As I think about the values of my parents, they were not lost when my parents moved on. Those values are here inside me and, in every person, I touch when I practice my parents’ lessons. In an age where we are driven by rapid change, economic inequality, and threats to our existence, we need to visualize what our world can be collectively and work towards it. We can find our way, and what we feel we have lost, can be recovered.
As Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins) sings, the lost things never really left.
The Place Where Lost Things Go
"Do you ever dream
Or reminisce
Wondering where to find
What you truly miss
Well maybe all those things
That you love so
Are waiting in the place
Where the lost things go
Memories you've shed
Gone for good you feared
They're all around you still
Though they've disappeared
Nothing's really left
Or lost without a trace
Nothing's gone forever
Only out of place"
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Mary Poppins Returns
"You've forgotten what it's like to be a child." - Angela Lansbury in Mary Poppins Returns
Annabel Banks: "Everything is possible."
Mary Poppins: "Even the impossible."
The first theater movie I ever watched was Mary Poppins when I was four with my mother, father and brother. This Christmas morning I made a solo trip to the theater to see Mary Poppins Returns, my parents long gone and my brother, nieces and nephews now dispersed throughout the country. As Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) descended from the sky tears trickled down my cheeks. I did not expect such an emotional experience at seeing Mary Poppins return. The movie set and score were beautiful and took me back to my childhood, but also caused me to reflect on my life today. As Emily Blunt sang "The Place Where Lost Things Go" as the children mourn their mother, I was reminded my parents and other loved ones were now gone, but still close in my memories. As they sang "Can You Imagine That" I remembered how powerful my imagination has always been, but lately I have been putting my dreams aside as an adult is expected to do. I have been feeling that labels, like the cover of a book in the song "A Cover is Not the Book," are often misleading and lack the depth of the person or the book itself. Sometimes I think we need to turn our world upside down like the scene and song "Turning Turtle" to see life as it really is. I have been saving dance videos because I needed to "Trip a Little Light Fantastic" to feel joy in my life and reflect the light in our lives. And sometimes we need to realize there is "Nowhere to Go but Up" when we are feeling down and our dreams are out of reach.
In the beginning of the movie, Mary Poppins says she will stay with the Banks family until the door opens. In the final scene, as Michael and Jane and Michael's children approach the front door to their home, Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins and Angela Lansbury observe the adults are remembering Mary Poppins and her magic, but will soon forget as all adults do. The front door blows wide open with a huge gust of energy, Mary looks surprised. She then realizes now is the time she should go with a knowing smile on her face. I started to cry in earnest as I realized that a door once chained and locked had been blown open for me, if only I would walk through it.
A door or doorway symbolizes the transition and passageway from one place to another. A door is often used to symbolize the passage from one world to another in religion, mythology, and literature. In our passage from childhood to adult, we forget that "everything is possible, even the impossible." Jesus said to come to him like children. Jesus blew the door wide open, if only we believe.
Annabel Banks: "Everything is possible."
Mary Poppins: "Even the impossible."
The first theater movie I ever watched was Mary Poppins when I was four with my mother, father and brother. This Christmas morning I made a solo trip to the theater to see Mary Poppins Returns, my parents long gone and my brother, nieces and nephews now dispersed throughout the country. As Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) descended from the sky tears trickled down my cheeks. I did not expect such an emotional experience at seeing Mary Poppins return. The movie set and score were beautiful and took me back to my childhood, but also caused me to reflect on my life today. As Emily Blunt sang "The Place Where Lost Things Go" as the children mourn their mother, I was reminded my parents and other loved ones were now gone, but still close in my memories. As they sang "Can You Imagine That" I remembered how powerful my imagination has always been, but lately I have been putting my dreams aside as an adult is expected to do. I have been feeling that labels, like the cover of a book in the song "A Cover is Not the Book," are often misleading and lack the depth of the person or the book itself. Sometimes I think we need to turn our world upside down like the scene and song "Turning Turtle" to see life as it really is. I have been saving dance videos because I needed to "Trip a Little Light Fantastic" to feel joy in my life and reflect the light in our lives. And sometimes we need to realize there is "Nowhere to Go but Up" when we are feeling down and our dreams are out of reach.
In the beginning of the movie, Mary Poppins says she will stay with the Banks family until the door opens. In the final scene, as Michael and Jane and Michael's children approach the front door to their home, Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins and Angela Lansbury observe the adults are remembering Mary Poppins and her magic, but will soon forget as all adults do. The front door blows wide open with a huge gust of energy, Mary looks surprised. She then realizes now is the time she should go with a knowing smile on her face. I started to cry in earnest as I realized that a door once chained and locked had been blown open for me, if only I would walk through it.
A door or doorway symbolizes the transition and passageway from one place to another. A door is often used to symbolize the passage from one world to another in religion, mythology, and literature. In our passage from childhood to adult, we forget that "everything is possible, even the impossible." Jesus said to come to him like children. Jesus blew the door wide open, if only we believe.
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Spiritual Singularity
"No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it." Albert Einstein
I am reading a short book titled a Hunger for Wholeness by Sister Ilia Delio. She currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University and has earned doctorates in both theology and science. She is an expert in the theories of Pierre De Chardin Teilhard, a paleontologist and theologian, and she has expanded on his thoughts based on discoveries in science subsequent to his death in 1955.
Sister Delio explains there is an inner universe and an outer universe. Science can explain the outer universe through observation and by math, but the inner universe is experiential. Science can describe the construction of an atom, but cannot describe an what an atom can experience.
There are also two forms of energy in the universe – axial energy which is increasing and irreversible and the other which is peripheral or tangent, constant and reversible. Axial energy is the force that expands the galaxies through attraction, connection, complexity and consciousness. We can see axial energy at work in the Big Bang and the combining of the simplest of elements which ultimately formed humankind. Peripheral energy results in entropy, the deterioration of our bodies.
Axial energy and quantum mechanics behave differently than the peripheral energy and behaviors in Newtonian physics. In quantum mechanics, the presence of an observer changes the action of light waves or particles. This leads us to the question, is anything is really material and concrete irrespective of what we observe? The answer is not at the quantum level. In addition, in quantum mechanics, particles are interrelated often in unexpected ways. The turning of a particle in one part of the universe can affect another light years away instantly. For instance, the flapping of a butterfly wings can change a star across the galaxy.
Sister Ilia Delio postulates the universe could not exist without an observer or consciousness existing first – and that God is intimately intertwined in his creation. "Some scientists speculate that without consciousness, the universe would exist indeterminately as a sea of quantum potentiality." Without consciousness there is no matter. She further writes that creation is an expression of God's love and he is moving us forward to a greater consciousness to be shared by humans.
Pierre De Chardin Teilhard wrote of spiritual singularity or reaching the Omega Point. In my mind (my theory), spiritual singularity is similar to sharing the inner energy and joy of a musical concert through telepathy. You don’t just feel the noise and physical movement of the concert participants, you share an elevated inner joy and connection collectively, increasing the power of consciousness and love within each person. When there is a sufficient concentration of consciousness and joy we will reach the Omega Point, the complete body of Christ.
I also theorize, when spiritual singularity or the Omega Point is reached collectively (transcendence of the mind), all that is not of God (love) or is sin will be wiped from consciousness shared by the body of Christ. This will result in the ability to transform matter into energy and back again escaping the reality of our mortal existence in this temporal plain.
I am reading a short book titled a Hunger for Wholeness by Sister Ilia Delio. She currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University and has earned doctorates in both theology and science. She is an expert in the theories of Pierre De Chardin Teilhard, a paleontologist and theologian, and she has expanded on his thoughts based on discoveries in science subsequent to his death in 1955.
Sister Delio explains there is an inner universe and an outer universe. Science can explain the outer universe through observation and by math, but the inner universe is experiential. Science can describe the construction of an atom, but cannot describe an what an atom can experience.
There are also two forms of energy in the universe – axial energy which is increasing and irreversible and the other which is peripheral or tangent, constant and reversible. Axial energy is the force that expands the galaxies through attraction, connection, complexity and consciousness. We can see axial energy at work in the Big Bang and the combining of the simplest of elements which ultimately formed humankind. Peripheral energy results in entropy, the deterioration of our bodies.
Axial energy and quantum mechanics behave differently than the peripheral energy and behaviors in Newtonian physics. In quantum mechanics, the presence of an observer changes the action of light waves or particles. This leads us to the question, is anything is really material and concrete irrespective of what we observe? The answer is not at the quantum level. In addition, in quantum mechanics, particles are interrelated often in unexpected ways. The turning of a particle in one part of the universe can affect another light years away instantly. For instance, the flapping of a butterfly wings can change a star across the galaxy.
Sister Ilia Delio postulates the universe could not exist without an observer or consciousness existing first – and that God is intimately intertwined in his creation. "Some scientists speculate that without consciousness, the universe would exist indeterminately as a sea of quantum potentiality." Without consciousness there is no matter. She further writes that creation is an expression of God's love and he is moving us forward to a greater consciousness to be shared by humans.
Pierre De Chardin Teilhard wrote of spiritual singularity or reaching the Omega Point. In my mind (my theory), spiritual singularity is similar to sharing the inner energy and joy of a musical concert through telepathy. You don’t just feel the noise and physical movement of the concert participants, you share an elevated inner joy and connection collectively, increasing the power of consciousness and love within each person. When there is a sufficient concentration of consciousness and joy we will reach the Omega Point, the complete body of Christ.
I also theorize, when spiritual singularity or the Omega Point is reached collectively (transcendence of the mind), all that is not of God (love) or is sin will be wiped from consciousness shared by the body of Christ. This will result in the ability to transform matter into energy and back again escaping the reality of our mortal existence in this temporal plain.
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