religion Archives - Beyond Spirit Education

June 13, 2019

Make a Joyful Noise

“By following through on conscious choices, we can rewire our responses toward love, trust, and patience. Neuroscience calls this ‘neuroplasticity.’”

~Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ

I watched a video by Jane Goodall this morning on YouTube called Mother Earth (https://youtu.be/48mxaQtbUdU) in which she spoke about the interdependency of all life on the planet. She spoke of how we, as a species have single-handedly in the last 100 years (my words) have managed to cause and continue to cause the mass extinction of many species of flora and fauna by not being the good stewards of the earth (again, my words) and have instead allowed or contributed to the destruction by either our direct participation or silence while it was allowed.

She spoke of how we have left a dire legacy to our children and the children of future generations.

Richard Rohr, in “The Universal Christ” speaks of how our brain can be rewired toward Love. It is my hope for the world and for humanity that the mindset of those who have the power in their hands to help all life thrive will come to the realization before it is too late to set aside their myopic views of this world and see beyond their coffers of riches reaped to understand their unconscious contributions to the imminent destruction of the planet, and know that their wildly excessive riches will turn their coffers into their coffins as well. If the planet dies, they die also.

There is no place to hide and without biodiversity, there is no future.

So, how do we change or reverse this trend or tendency? If we could learn too follow the tenets of the master teacher Jesus, the Christ Consciousness which he speaks to in “Love thy neighbor as thyself” could take us from triumphing over those who seem different from us to embracing all persons regardless of color, ethnicity, religion, politics or any other thing external to us. Our heart is the organ that can save us, if we but learn to control our ego, which keeps us separate from all of our good.

In doing so, we can begin to feel our connection with others and recognize the rights of everyone to a good and fruitful life. We must learn to live without the excesses we are used to. We need to stop promoting “Us before Them” and move into an “Us and them” or We’re all in this together” attitude.

Every religion in its purest, mystical form teaches that “Love is the Way.” This is the One commandment of Jesus, the gist of the teachings of Buddha, one of the core commandments of Judaism, and the basis of the teachings of Rumi and the other mystics of Islam. In addition, compassion is the “most fluently occurring word in the Quran.” In fact, at the center of the Muslim beliefs is the principle of “Oneness.”

If all this is really true, and in theory it is, then the only thing holding us back from embracing “LOVE” is “FEAR.” Fear of being less than! But, less than what?

If we are “LOVE,” we are not less than anything. We are then, what God is, and we have nothing to fear, only Joy to accept.

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” Psalm 100:1 (a bible book common to all 3 major Western religions)

~revjim

October 19, 2017

Happy Diwali!

What is Diwali?

Also known as Deepavali, a Sanskrit word meaning “rows of lighted lamps”, it is one of the most popular Hindu festivals celebrated across South Asia. But it is also celebrated by Jains and Sikhs.

The festival of lights that celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance.

It sees millions of earthenware oil lamps, called diyas, light up people’s homes, shops, public spaces and places of worship as part of celebrations which marks the start of the Hindu new year.

August 13, 2017

Man’s inhumanity continues . . .

As the Charlottesville incident is still fresh in our minds,I have to ask myself, Why?

First, why is there such a visceral reaction in me to this senseless violence , and second, what is it in me that creates a space that allows this to happen?

To the first, I just can’t understand what it is in people that brings them to such a place of loss that they see no other option than to do harm to another child of God. Where is the thought process that says this is an acceptable solution? In this country especially, where the standard of living, even for the poor and disadvantaged is so much higher than so much of the world, there is still a disconnect so deep that people would rather listen to others opinions, rather than discern any truth for themselves. Even self-proclaimed Christians seem to abandon the teaching of the man around whom the religion was born to resort inane acts, so out of character with their savior. Instead, they engage in hate mongering, acts of violence, discrimination, and other base acts of horror, in the name of religion.

Today, this is stretched to a breaking point by an ignorant, misogynistic and arrogant @POTUS and a militant, violence spouting media, that seems to have lost perspective as to their job of delivering the facts and instead incites discontent. This is not limited to the so-called alt-right. All the unknowing media is contributing to this base rhetoric of hate. Their opinions become the opinions of the unread, and self-absorbed everywhere and their untruths become rallying cries.

To the “What;” what can we do to alleviate suffering and maybe encourage a new and more loving behavior going forward?

To this, I can only speak for me. I can look inward to what it is in me that creates this reaction in the first place. I can look at my own thoughts of bigotry and hatred, however benign or repressed they might be. They must be there for me to react in the ways I do. I need to not only look at them, but I need to be aware that they are obviously somewhere in me, and in my awareness of them, do a healing process to bring them into my consciousness, so I can begin to release these thoughts.

In the Christian faith, Jesus’ teaching bring us to recognize the God within us, which is always there to guide us toward Love. In the Muslim faith, there is the inner struggle, jihad, which is our guide to bring us into the Love of God. In Buddhism and Hinduism, there is the desire to achieve selflessness, which brings us into communion with the universe.

Whatever the teaching, they are always toward Peace, inner and other. As Thomas Merton says, without a balance of the spiritual and the human, we are incomplete, not a “Whole Person.”

What does this mean for me? It means I need to do the deeper interior work every day. I need to be in greater awareness of all the exterior things that “effect” me, and I need to remember the Spirit moves in, through and as every living thing, always. If I can remember and live these principles, then I can remain in tune with the infinite, and I tune with Love, which God is, and I AM.

“To forget the self and its pettiness is to actually show up, open and embracing, in the present moment’s play of form and formlessness.
~ Kathleen Dowling Singh, Grace in Aging

from Love, in Peace,

rev jim

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August 8, 2017

God is God is God!

I shared this phrase not long ago online and was called “Satan Spawn.” I found that curious and somewhat perplexing from a Christian, as the God of the Christians into which I was born, evolved from the God of the Hebrews, and their God and the Bible stories evolved from the God of the Assyrians, and the God of the Muslims evolved through the same texts also. In fact our Bible in its present form was the product of the Council of Nicea, called by Emperor Constantine to bring all the minor Essene sects together as one under one religion governed by his empire. Religion has always been about control, not about the God of a religion. Religious differences and ambiguities have been the impetus for countless wars since man began to form tribes and socio-economic groups. Muslims, Jews, Protestants and Catholics, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus and others: religion still pervades governments and drives divisions within governments.

Fortunately for the world, as the centuries go by, ignorance and smallness has given way to reason, and the divide is shrinking as religious zealots become fewer and fewer. When will the many names for God be universally accepted by all? Maybe, when greed and self-aggrandizement no longer hides behind its moniker.

~revjim

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