Spirituality: Whence the Wind?

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The Common Language is Mystery.

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Note: This article was written for those desiring to increase their
skills in “Being a Spiritual Nurturer,” SGN workshop scheduled for
Nov 30-Dec 2, 2001, Knobs Haven, Loretto, KY. It is also a posted
paper for discussion in the :Finding a Common Language for Caregivers
Online Conference of the Wayne Oates Institute, Louisville,
www.oates.org Nov 1-16, 2003, for medical personnel, auxiliary staff and chaplains.

Away from Words: the Common Language is Mystery
(subtitles: Awareness of the Presence of Mystery
is More Important than Faith Concepts,
Or, Eastern, Orthodox and Celtic Influences: a Heart Wisdom.
Or, Is it possible that the Quaker view that theology and doctrine
are secondary to the primary experience of God within us, is valuable
in a culture that is increasingly pluralistic?)

c. Rev. Paschal Baute, Ed. D. Catholic priest and psychologist, 2001.
Co-facilitator, Spiritual Growth Network of Kentucky
www.lexpages.com/sgn.

“Concepts create idols, only wonder and awe
appreciate anything.” -Gregory of Nyssa, 6th century.

“Our first experience with God is not with concepts or belief.
It is with mystery.”
–Gordon Kaufman.

“The process of the desacralization of the world, of life, and of history, which triumphs today is due above all to our inability to grasp the mystery of the camouflaging of the sacred in the profane.” –Mircea Eliade, Journals.

“But most of all, above everything else, who in the Bible besides Jesus knew-- knew-- that we're carrying the Kingdom of Heaven around with us, inside, where we're too goddam stupid and sentimental and unimaginative to look.” --J. D. Salinger in Franey and Zooey

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
–Zen saying.

Synopsis. Too many people of faith say to someone hurting: “Here is the solution, take my prayer or belief about that, “let me pray for you,” Implying you will be better. In other words, “This is the answer I’ve found will work for you.” Just believe these things and you will be alright, (and a good Christian, Catholic, or whatever...)” That is, believing people tend to present their own beliefs as the answer to the another’s search for one’s own wisdom, for their place in the universe, for whether we can make sense of the mystery that surrounds us. I suggest that this common practice, as well as many others, undermines the call of the Spirit to each, and serves to sabotage a personal faith.

It is our aim to examine the priority of our experience of mystery because 1) this is the common experience of us all; 2) this is the very first step towards faith in a transcendent Being, and 3) we propose that those persons or religious organizations that offer God-concepts to others without helping them examine their personal spiritual journey are violating the natural process and integrity of the searching soul, at a time when he or she may be particularly vulnerable; 4) to assume that prayer meaningful to you will be also meaningful to the person you are now with is to miss the teachable moment. Filled with our own prayer habits, we can easily miss the opportunity for spiritual mentoring of the next step on the personal journey of another. Our purpose is to provide an awareness and beginning skills for those who seek to be spiritual nurturers in a pluralism of faiths and professional disciplines.
_______

We experience mystery before we have much ability to think, certainly before we have any notion of “God”. In fact we are born in mystery, surrounded by mystery, haunted by mystery and fascinated by mystery. Is it not this mysteriousness of life from every angle and corner that pursues us? We begin by examining the priority of our sense of the mysterious.

We experience this mystery in a number of ways. In childhood, our parents have a mysterious aura of omnipotence. My daughter Michelle, when age 5, was overheard in the nursery saying to her younger brother: “David, you don’t know anything. (Pause) I know more than you do. (Pause) Mommy knows a lot. (Pause) But Daddy--he knows everything.” Mother is the goddess of the nursery, and father, if he is involved with his children, may be regarded as next to God himself. Why? Possibly he is more mysterious than the mother. We are faced with the mystery of the great unknown world into which we are born. Our parents when we are small, seem to have extraordinary competence about that unknown world. We admire them immensely and they become our first idols. They become the ultimate arbiters of every dispute, the source of all comfort and reassurance. Our parents are our first experience of mystery. How can any person know so much? Trust in the protection and wisdom of our parents is the first act of trust that we make. That act is so central and crucial that if it is not made early, belief later in this mystery we call God may be nigh impossible. It is many years later before we begin to question their values. Sometimes we are afraid to do it openly, so we just go “do our thing.”

We are also fascinated with the natural world around us, the birds, the insects, the trees, the rain, the sun, thunderstorms, the signs of the seasons. Then we are curious where our home is on the street on which we live, and then where is that street in the town, village or city in which we grow up. We slowly discover the geography of our lives. If we are taken to religious worship, we are introduced early to some religious symbols, a pulpit, a cross, an altar, singing, preaching, or maybe just prayers at meals at home. We may be invited to believe in an ultimate being, a Father in heaven, by prayers at home. We also can be scared by preaching of hell or punishment when we accompany parents to church. When we look at the stars at night, experience the rythmns of night and day, watch sunrises and sunsets, and feel the burning sun at midday and evening fireflies, we are in the presence of much natural mystery. We are an island of self-awareness surrounded and even supported by a sea of mystery. Later, our teachers in school attempt to explain all these natural phenomenon. But school does not explain why any of these, or ourselves, are here at all. Seldom does any one offer any guidance concerning the greatest mystery of our lives: “Why am I here?”

Slowly we discover that these parents and other adults are limited, full of human faults, and we withdraw our automatic trust and easy reliance upon their authority. We awaken to a larger world, but a world that is still full of immense and unexplainable mystery. Early or late we discover an exciting attraction to the other gender. That tension is soon filled with promise and mystery, which we seldom relinquish even if we are shy, unpopular or unsuccessful in high school or college transitions. The major human need is to have another person who is there for us. After the importance of parents and relatives during childhood, the adolescent search begins afresh. Whether this is successful or not often depends upon the level of trust and love established earlier in the family. One needs a certain trust level about oneself to risk relationships with the mysterious other gender. Some trust in another is necessary for our survival, for any relationship. The erotic is God’s poetry of love, inviting us into transcendence, out of ourselves. (See my paper, “The Erotic as God’s Poetry of Love.”published privately, 1995)

Thus, we are born into a web of human connections that entrance, entice, coerce, enable, frustrate and unceasingly engage us all our lives. We are confronted repeatedly with loving nurture, disappointment, frustration, anger, some caring, joy, distancing, and jealousy. Sooner or later, for many of us, we experience some betrayal, or sense of abandonment. Born into such a confusing world, the trust we must make in others is the beginning of faith. It is in and through recognition by others that we discover ourselves. We do not come into the world with a owner’s manual or a user-friendly tutorial. We have to sort out these enormously confusing feelings and impulses while deciding who we can place our trust in and what behavior will secure for us some satisfaction of our basic needs. It is often an anxiety provoking, scarey, uncertain world when we are little. Which is one reason when we are small, that children need affection and love like a plant needs water.

Who helps us to discover an inside-out spiritual identity?

Surrounded by the mystery of life and relationships, we have to find a place for ourselves, where we are affirmed, loved, wanted, cherished. “Who am I?” and “what is the meaning of my life?” are quiet preoccupations that seldom get specifically addressed, except indirectly through romantic love. Mostly we are supposed to figure those questions out on our own. Even if our parents are regular church goers, it is assumed that we should accept and learn their faith, and that this faith will give us the comfort and security we need. Our rebellion against this parental faith is often the first step in searching for answers from within that can guide us with some sense of our own autonomy and integrity.

Unfortunately, what we most often learn is a pseudo-identity, fitting in with our clique of peers in junior high and later senior high. We resist being compelled by other adults to “fit in”. We are encouraged by our families and our schools and churches, truth be known, to develop a pretending or false “public self” that may be different from my perceptions of myself and the world and others. But since we have no other choice except rebellion with the threat of withdrawal of all kinds of goodies, we usually decide to fit in, to be the kind of person others want us to be, more or less. We have adapted to a society based on individual accomplishment and merit. We are induced to accept the hidden idols, the assumptions and the addictions of our society.

Most people value themselves by the extent to which others in our society value them. Our culture alienates us from ourselves, does not encourage us to go inward to explore and decide and understand what is unique and unrepeatable about each of us. No agency, neither family, church, school, nor any place, teaches us how to begin from the inside out, valuing ourselves, valuing our own experience. We get caught up in the busy-ness of keeping up, performing, achieving, doing our own thing to pretend we are different. We get so caught up that it is often not until sometime in mid-life that we begin to wonder “Whose life am I living? How did I get to this place and time? Is this all there is? Only a few seem lucky enough to do deep wondering and searching early. Usually it will be some personal crisis that brings a person to examine one’s life and one’s assumptions.

Crisis is not the time to be given another’s solutions, prayers or creeds.

I suggest that the time of crisis, hurt, set-back, illness is not the time to receive someone’s else’s beliefs in the form of offered prayer. What needs to be encouraged at that time is the personal search, the awareness of the sense of mystery already present (which some of us believe is the motion of the Spirit) and the prayer of the heart. It is often crisis that brings us to the realization that our assumptions about the world are not working. Anxiety, depression, marital stress, or other symptoms may be a sign that our spiritual world has a void in it. Personal stress is often the threshold of a new examination of one’s attitudes and life style, a new beginning of wondering, “What is it I am about?”

Creeds, rituals, formal prayer, rehearsed prayer, led prayer can be a deterrent to prayer of the heart. Healing and guiding for the spiritual journey is an encouragement of the personal and the authentic response. I propose that this empowerment of the personal response is not done as much through any formal teaching or preaching or led prayer using concepts already known. Jesus said, when you pray, go to your closet. Prayer should lead us out of ourselves, even into a new space. When we believe that the Spirit of this mystery we call God is everywhere present, then words and concepts and creeds may be a deterrent for our grasp of this mystery.

Problems in naming “G*d,” the ultimate mystery

From here on, I prefer to use this spelling “G*d” as clearly implying that this word is unlike any other word. In thinking, praying, studying, and discussing matters of G*d, it is easy to assume that naming something helps us understand it. The opposite is true of G*d: names can have the strange power of hiding G*d. Whatever word or concept we use needs immediately to be qualified. No human word to describe this mystery we call G*d can be used without limiting G*d. Especially when we realize that G*d as masculine {Father and Son) has been employed historically to denigrate the feminine, to view women as second class citizens.

Think of how we satisfy ourselves with the name of something new, a strange bird or plant, or the name of some new law in nature, or aspect of being human. It is a mystery perplexing us before. As soon as we get the name, we fancy we understand something more than we did before. In truth we are MORE hopelessly ignorant. For before we felt that there was a something we had not attained, and so we inquired and searched. Now, because we have got a name by which it is known, we fancy we possess it. But the word actually covers over the abyss of our ignorance. And we often stop searching for further meaning, relieved of the discomfort of not understanding and no longer needing to remain in some awful wonder.

The truth is that this mystery we call G*d can never be understood by rational conception. It is approached more nearly by intuition, feeling and experience, in that which is indefinite than in that which is definite and distinct: in awe, wonder, and worship rather than in clear conception. By heart rather than by mind. A case can be made that our contemporary world has lost its sense of mystery. When the sense of mystery is lost, reasons and motivations for belief follow soon.

This Mystery we call G*d is more likely to be found in Darkness than in Light.

There is a sense in which darkness has more of G*d than light has. This Mystery dwells in deep darkness, in silence. In solitary, silent, confusing darkness, in fear, the Awful One is near, tender, vague mysterious presence, haunted by uncertain presentiments: the Mysterium Tremendum, Mysterium Stupendum. We need only to examine our own experience, which is where I suggest we start, with ourselves and others.

When we approach any encounter with our assumptions, our beliefs, our own frame of reference (“This person probably needs X”) we have already made the other into an object, an It. If we are to engage in an I- Thou relationship, we can only approach the reality of the other with respect, listening, openness and wonder. No preconceptions are to be confirmed. Many are still be waiting for that person who can invite them into an I - Thou relationship, where they feel respected and honored just as they are, without having to put on “Sunday clothes,” or to pretend anything.

To assume that we can bring some of our “wisdom” or G*d-talk to another’s unique life experience may be the height of arrogance. Yet so accustomed are we to our own G*d-talk that it may be difficult to realize that others do not have the same way of perceiving. Think of the easy way some ministers and devout people have of attributing something bad to G*d: “G*d must have a reason.” Maybe to assume any truth about this mystery we call G*d for another is pride-ful, and off-putting, most of all to someone who has not taken the first step in reflecting about the mystery of one’s own life.

I find sympathy with St. John Chrysostom that a conceptual knowledge of G*d is impossible, not only in It's Essence, but also in It's Works. This mystery is simply incomprehensible. It is wholly Other, something which not merely overtops our every concept but astounds us by its absolute and utter difference from our whole nature. Whenever I speak of G*d, I prefer to say "this mystery we call G*d."

The best reference in this matter is Rudolf Otto's The Idea of the Holy. Otto examines the Numinous in the Old Testament, New Testament, in Luther and it its processes of development. His is a classical approach finished well before the advent of the modern psychology of religion, but it permits us to see how many have viewed the Numinous. Another reference is The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, where the Orthodox have kept alive the sense that all theology is mystical.

All theology is mystical

Let us listen to a quote from Gregory Palamas, a Byzantine theologian of the 14th century....

"There is no name whereby it can be named, neither in this age nor in the age to come, nor word found in the soul and uttered by the tongue, nor contact whether sensible or intellectual, nor yet any image which may afford any knowledge of its subject, if this be not the perfect incomprehensibility which one acknowledges in denying all that can be named. None can properly name its essence or nature if he be truly seeking the truth that is above all truth..." (quoted in Vladimir above)

My own prayer life finds a resonance with my Eastern Catholic brethren and Orthodox, that the essence of the divine is shrouded in mystery, and that we should approach in awe, wonder and great respect and humility. As a psychologist fascinated with the psychology of belief, I also wonder if the great historical developments in theological doctrine have had the effect of alienating believers from a more inward spirituality, awe, wonder, and appreciation of mystery. "Concepts create idols, only wonder understands anything." Gregory of Nyssa, 4th century.

When we believe our concepts actually are synonymous with this mystery rather than merely represent it, always inadequately, we humans are too ready to judge others who have differing views of belief and too ready to believe they are further from G*d than we are because their beliefs are different. Has this making our very images of G*d into Icons become the root cause of much intolerance and persecution in G*d’s name throughout history? I have entitled one article: “Sin is Believing that G*d is on Our Side.” [Paschal Baute, 1985.]

My sense of the undeserved nature of grace, the gift of faith, and my sense of awe in this mystery leads me to not want to assume that I know anything for certain about this mystery, even while my personal faith holds Jesus as the best translator for myself. To use the word “God” as so many do, even so many ministers, as if one had an easy familiarity with this mystery, does not respect the very nature of this mystery: that is, to be beyond all human understanding. It does not respect the fact that the best way to this mystery is not through the mind, but via the heart. Have we westerners over-rationalized our concepts of this mystery? Over-formalized, and forgotten the mystery and the heart–the mystical way?

The meaning of Yahweh: ancient and modern?

I have a deep sense of connection with the Israelites who believed that wherever the name of Yahweh was known and invoked, there Yahweh was present and active. Yahweh’s name is glorious (Psalm 72:19), great (Kings 8:42), awful (Deuteronomy 28:58), exalted (psalms 33:21, 89:25), etc. It was crucial of Moses’ mission that he should discover the name of G-d. “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘the God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ if they ask me, ‘what is his name?’ What am I to tell them. God replied: “I am who am.” (Exodus 3:13)

What Yahweh actually means is difficult to determine, The distinguished biblical archaeologist W.F. Albright suggests it is the first word of the entire name, “yawheh-‘aser’yihweh,–He who brings into being whatever comes into being” Others have suggested that the name means “I am who I will be,” thereby revealing a G*d in process, one who summons us to collaborate in the building of the future. “Birther of All Life would be a meaningful title signifying the creative power. I myself prefer a “G*d in process” more than a Supreme Being somewhere outside this cosmos, that is, a Creative Mystery that is always just happening, inside the universe, inside relationships, inside us, still creating, still inviting us to co-creation. “Relational Aliveness” is my own term for this mystery. Whenever we are in genuinely reciprocal relationship, we are inside the Mystery, in whom we live, and move and have our being. “I - Thou.”

I believe the historical Jesus taught the Spirit of G*d was already present, here and now, and that his followers did not need the purity code of the priests and pharisees, that “brokers” or mediators were not needed, that wherever there was hospitality, and welcoming the outsider, there was the Presence, the Kingdom. He taught no creeds. He preached no “official doctrine.” He led no community prayer. He opened hearts to a different kind of wisdom. He welcomed the stranger.

If I use the traditional spelling of word “God” this seems to imply that I accept the traditional definitions which are more closed, definitive, and finished, more masculine than feminine, rather than open, still just now happening, like Spirit. Yet G*d has to be more verb than noun. So it is with a deep bow toward my orthodox brethren, and another toward my sisters in their writing of womanist theology, that I prefer to use the spelling “G*d,” or “Godde.” –which is half way between God and Goddess, and preferred by womanist theologians. What is curious is that one Old Catholic priest thought I was being blasphemous in that spelling, as if this mystery had told us “G-O-D is the way I want My Name spelled.” Funny.

Recognizing the above, that is, how we are already shaped by our family, society, culture which may alienate us from a sense of mystery in our lives, and that all theology is autobiographical, that is , we cannot but help conceive of mystery except through our own experience which has been mostly programmed for us, that words themselves can alienate us from our own experience, dare we make any suggestions for a “common language?”

We shall dare. Suggestions for talking about this mystery we call G*d with others:
1. Consider that every human being has been given direct divine access. Accept the possibility that you are not called to pray on the behalf of others, without listening first, without inviting them respectfully into the experience of mystery already present in their lives.
2. Most believers have a hard time praying without using their favorite concepts. Do not assume that your favorite words mean the same to others as they do to you. The very first mentoring of the spiritual person is “Stop. Become aware...” Consider that openness to mystery is a form of prayer. The Buddhist concept of mindfulness is also appropriate here.
3. When unsure (and we should be most of the time since we are living in a pluralistic universe), then use the term “This mystery some call G*d..” and encourage the person to talk about their experience of mystery. How is it they experience mystery in their lives? Have they their own favorite images and names for this mystery?
4. If you are a prayerful person, you will realize the significance of silence and contemplative prayer in your life. You can learn to invite others into this sacred space, by simply inviting, “Let us (can we) pause to recognize the presence of this mystery some call G*d always around us, always inside us, and always speaking to us through each other, through the wonders of nature, and through happenings in our lives.” Then pause to let the heart speak, however quietly it will.
5. Then ask, if some dialogue seems appropriate, “Is there mystery in your life that you are part of that you have been not paying attention to?” Note: to carry a share in this dialogue requires some openness and vulnerability by the inquirer. Further questions might be: “ What opens your heart?” “What breaks your heart?” “What moves your heart?” Ask, if so led, “Could it be in some way that this mystery we call G*d is speaking to your heart through this recent experience?” If the respondent asks “what do you mean,” the inquirer should be prepared to share something of their own journey into mystery, even their own stumbling.
6. Teach others, by your demeanor and presence, the value of the silent prayer of the heart, or what others have called “Kything,” that is, heart to heart prayer with this mystery that does not need any words whatever. To teach it, model it, one has to do it.
7. Remember: heart-felt presence is itself prayer: mindfulness, attention, respect and listening are already a prayer, whether or not any words are said. What many need is the affirmation of the divine goodness that is already within, and the mystery inside which they live and walk. We don’t receive that well from others through mere words.
8. Heart murmurings overheard: “Who among my care-takers will open the way to my sense of mystery and Inner Light that I have probably neglected? Who will help me find it and show me how to nurture it?”

Epilogue: Our traditional images affect the way we pray. As an experiment applying what has just been suggested, here is a prayer with non-traditional images. Please notice the effect on yourself of these different images.

WHEN I THINK OF YOU
(when renewing a spiritual search)

When I think of you, Holy Mystery, as She Who Is,
I know instantly that you are turned toward me.
for the female persons I know
are consistently gifted with relatedness.
I also know instantly you are the kind of God
who would never ignore
even the most insignificant, powerless child of your womb,
and who burns with fury over the abuse of any that are yours.
When I think of you as She Who Is,
I feel your motherly exuberance and vitality
passing from you to me,
and the force of your patient loving-kindness
in urging my best self into birth and action.
You are the God “in whom we live and move and have our being,”
By that I implicitly name you Creator Mother and She Who Is
since mothers are the only beings we know
in whom others live and move and have their being.
Although I know almost nothing about you except that you must exist
and be reflected in your creatures,
each day I launch into the search for you full of expectations,
knowing instinctively that my quest
pleases you immensely.

Creative Mystery, birthing, guiding, freeing.
In you we live and move and have our being.”
–William Cleary. Prayers to She Who Is.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience
is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer
pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead:
his eyes are closed.”
-- Albert Einstein.

“We know the truth not only by the reason,
but by the heart.”
–Blaise Pascal

[The wise man] will ask himself: Who am I that all this should happen to me? To find the answer to this fateful question he will look into his own heart.” –C. G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy

“I don’t know enough,” replied the Scarecrow cheerfully. “My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am going to Oz to ask him for some brains.”
“Oh, I see,” said the Tim Woodman. “But after all, brains are not the best things in the world.”
‘Have you any?” inquired the Scarecrow.
“No, my head is quite empty,” answered the Woodman, “but once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart.”
–L. Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz.

“But the eyes are blind.
One must look with the heart.”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The Little Prince.

“Understanding and love are values that transcend all dogma.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ.

Recommended Readings:
The Education of the Heart. Thomas Moore, Ed. Harper Collins, 1996.
Kything (The Art of Spiritual Presence). Louis Savard and Patricia Berne. Paulist, 1988.
Idea of the Holy by Rudoph Otto. Oxford paperbacks, 1923
I and Thou. Martin Buber. Touchstone / Scribner, 1970.
In Face of Mystery. Kaufman, Gordon D. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard U. Press. 1993
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Vladimir Lossky, St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 1944
Prayers To She Who Is, by William Cleary. Crossroad, 1995.
She Who Is, by Elizabeth Johnson. Crossroad Herder Paperback, 1993.
“Traditions of Spiritual Guidance, the Real Presence, A Quaker Perspective.” Alan Kolp. The Way, July 1993.

Belief vs Spirituality, Fundamentalism and the Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:42:00 +0000

Fundamentalism is holding up Evolution

Diary Entry by Eileen Fleming

"I said, 'You are "gods": you are all children of the Most High God."-Psalm 82:6

::::::::

It has been said that evolution is being held up by fundamentalism and the surge of fundamentalism throughout all faith paths sends shivers through cynical atheists and mystics alike.

The bumper sticker actually did get it right: "We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

According to the 1987 classic, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, Dr. Scott Peck defines the spiritual life as fluid and that one may pass back and forth repeatedly through any of the four-probably more-stages of the soul.

Stage one upon this journey -that begins from within-is essentially our infancy in the spiritual life. Like a wild child, a person in this stage reflects the inner chaotic and anti-social, unregenerate soul that is interested only in its own self-satisfaction and ego, much like the stereotypical spoiled child. Stage one people may claim to love others, but their behavior reflects they love their own pleasure, money, power, prestige, and security above any other. For stage one people, it really is all about them.

The good news is that the vast majority of humanity responds to that inner tug which is God, for lack of a better word. Katherine of Sienna wrote that within us all is the divine diamond. But life and all our baggage dulls the flame of our divine brilliance. Stage two souls seek to "let their light shine" and will live virtuous lives and do many good works. They also can be judgmental of others, self-righteous, rigid of thought, cold of heart, legalistic concrete literal thinkers and may even be guilty of a lukewarm faith. They want to do right and they even may desire to love and please God, but have not yet fully opened up to the Inner Light, as Joan of Ark did when she challenged church and state and persisted that she had intuited God within -even while being fried.

Stage two souls have not yet been set fully free and prefer the security of a higher human authority than themselves for guidance. They submit to institutions, scripture, dogma, ritual, ministers, or gurus. This is the most appropriate stage for older children and most adults who live busy lives just trying to keep bread on the table and a dry roof above. The difference between a stage one and stage two soul, is that a one wouldn't even notice a neighbor in need, while the two has awoken to the fact that we are to be our neighbor's keepers and they will respond to a friend-and like the good Samaritan, even to a total stranger in need.

Most theologians would agree that the opposite of faith is not disbelief: the opposite of faith is fear. Stage three souls have not just fearlessly awoken, they have evolved! This evolution has led them to the realization of what Christ was really talking about in the Sermon of the Mount AKA:The Beatitudes which sound like crazy promises, but is the litmus test of how we will be judged, if we claim to be a Christian.

About 2,000 years ago, when Christ was about 33, he hiked up a hill and sat down under an olive tree and began to teach the people;

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."

In other words: it is those who know their own spiritual poverty, their own limitations and sins honestly and trust God loves them in spite of themselves who already live in the Kingdom of God.

How comforted we will all be, when we see, we haven't got a clue, as to the depth and breadth of pure love and mercy of The Divine Mystery of The Universe. God's name in ancient Aramaic is Abba which means Daddy as much as Mommy and He/She: The Lord has said, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not yours." -Isaiah 55:8

Christ proclaimed more: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

The essence of meek is to be patient with ignorance, slow to anger and never hold a grudge. In other words: how happy you will be when you also know humility; when you know yourself, the good and the bad, for both cut through every human heart.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled."

In other words: how happy you will be when your greatest desire is to do what "God requires, and he has already told you what that is; BE JUST, BE MERCIFUL and walk humbly with your Lord."-Micah 6:8

"Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy." In other words: how happy you will all be when you choose to return only kindness to your 'enemy.'

"For with the measure you measure against another, it will be measured back to you." Christ warns his disciples as he explains the law of karma in Luke 6:27-38.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God."

In other words: how happy you will be when you WAKE UP and see God is already within you, within every man, every woman and every child. The Supreme Being is everywhere, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Beyond The Universe -and yet so small; within the heart of every atom.

"Blessed are The Peacemakers: THEY shall be called the children of God."

Oh how wonderful the WORLD will be when we all seek justice and pursue it, for there can be no peace without justice.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires, their's is The Kingdom of Heaven." And one fine day the lion will lie down with The Lamb and man will make war no more and that is the Kingdom of God.

Now, a stage three soul may well reject Christ as God, but often agree with the philosophy of Jesus, which Thomas Jefferson laid out when he weeded out the miracle stories from the gospels and clarified the teachings and ethics of Christ in:

THE LIFE AND MORALS of JESUS of NAZARETH

1. Be just: justice comes from virtue which comes from the heart.
2. Treat people the way we want to be treated.
3. Always work for PEACEFUL resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with COMPASSION.
4. Consider valuable the things that have no material value.
5. Do not judge others.
6. Do not bear grudges.
7. Be modest and unpretentious.
8. Give out of true generosity, not because we expect to be repaid.
9. Being true to one's self in more important than being loyal to one's family...those who think they know the most are the most ignorant...

A stage three soul will see that a neighbor is everyone on the planet and not just those who think and look the same. Stages three's are seekers, doubters, skeptics, atheists, agnostics and frequently adults who grew up disenchanted with institutionalized religion. Their inherent intellectual curiosity leads them to seek their own way towards the Mystery of the Divine through philosophy and the study of multiple faith paths choosing and discarding according to their "inner light." Stage three souls often become activists for social justice and reform and the new wave of philanthropy from the blessed trio of Warren Buffet, Linda and Bill Gates fills mystics -and maybe some cynics?- with hope for a future that honors the unique sacredness of every life.

It has been said we are all called to be mystics in the market place and a stage four, such as Thomas Merton and Rumi give voice to that experience of the curtain being lifted and seeing through the glass a bit less darkly.

A mystic can best be understood as one who is in love with the divine mystery and is viscerally connected to the unity of all creation.

Mystics are not navel gazers, they feel the pain of the world within their hearts and grieve at what humans do to the other when they have no clue that The Divine is within the other as much as within themselves.

Mystics have detached from their concepts of God-not by their own efforts, but by the invitation and action of God upon a willing and simple soul in love with Pure Being, AKA:God.

The mystic fool, Saint Francis, the leper kisser of Assisi, was so head over heels in love with God in everyone and all of creation that most people of his time considered him crazed, or at least, extremely eccentric.

One needn't be a mystic or move beyond stage two on the spiritual journey to do what is good and right just because it is good and right.

On that foundation alone people of faith, atheists and agnostics can surely find something to agree upon.

"I said, 'You are "gods": you are all children of the Most High God."-Psalm 82:6

Or would only a mystic see that?

Eileen is an activist, author, poet, reporter and editor of
wearewideawake.org

She has been reporting from the Occupied Palestinian Territories since June 2005.

Her first novel "Keep Hope Alive" was released in August 2006. 100% of all proceeds go to provide olive trees for peace in Israel Palestine, through the 501 3-c Olive Trees Foundation for Peace.

Her second book, "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" will be released February 14, 2007.

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 23:22:00 +0000

The editors of America are pleased to present the winner of
the 2006 Foley Poetry Award, given in honor of William T. Foley, M.D. It was published in America, June 5-12, 2006.

Covetous

By Erin Murphy

After Eamon Grennan's "Start of March, Connemara"

You ask how the gulls find the right angle in the gale,
how they adapt to the current and let it take them

the way they were going. I could ask the same of you:
how do you find thumbed and wind-scumbled,

thrusting them together like lost lovers,
letting them glance off each other, polished stones

on our tongues? Or glitterwings making their mark,
a dance linguists call the fricative,

a word I love because it is what it means,
unlike palindrome, which resists mirroring itself

and sends me, instead, to a girl I knew in college,
the one from Glenelg -- g-l-e-n-e-l-g, the same

forward and back. She had hips that looked good
in boy jeans and a way of making the professor

believe she'd done the reading when she hadn't
even bought the book. Do you see what just happened,

how I started in your lyrical world of shorelines
and wave-peaks and wound up recording

slumber party giggles through a thin wall? Your gulls:
maybe they don't harness wind after all.

Maybe they give in to each gust and forsake their plans,
having learned long ago to want what they have.

Erin Murphy is the author of Science of Desire (Word Press, 2004) and a second poetry collection, Too Much of This World, forthcoming from Mammoth Books. She is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Penn State University–Altoona.

On Writing and discovering your heart.

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 01:10:00 +0000

June 21, 2006

Some tips on writing with your heart and your head

By Rob Kall

Pick a topic you care about. Start writing. Assume that what your first write is just that, a first draft. Give yourself permission to heavily edit it, or even to throw it all out. Expect to keep just a percentage of your "first dump." That's what it is-- a dump, dredged, pulled, teased or seduced from your inner self, the deeper the better.

Sometimes it takes a few or numerous false starts to really hit paydirt, to reach down deep enough to find some truths worth telling. Sometimes you just spew out a quick rant. Sometimes you dig deep, write for a while, going even deeper, and find, in an accidental word or phrase, turn of a few words, which express something that has deep meaning to you. These moments sometimes come easily and naturally and sometimes only come after writing pages of what will eventually be thrown away. It's like searching for gold.

Once you feel you've struck some gold, touched a nerve, a heartfelt place, a lightbulb moment, then, when the momentum slows, pull back and start editing. See if the sequence is the best one. Sometimes the best ideas come later, even though they should be earlier in the piece.

One way to make sure your writing has the ability to touch others is to include stories, real stories, anecdotes that go into detail, not just about time and place and things, but feelings, facial expressions, reactions... They can be very brief, but a poignant story can turn an average article into a memorable, extraordinary one. The Introduction to Story CD course is an excellent resource.

Are the words spelled properly, even the ones the spell checker ignores? Are your apostrophes on all the words that need them? Read it out loud. Does it flow? Is all the grammar correct? Fine tune it. Polish it up. It's more important for you to read it to yourself than for other people to read it. Dont' expect the people you live with to give you much useful feedback. Some will edit minor typos. Some will tell you it's wonderful. It's very rare to have someone you live with who can really help edit your writing. If you do have such a person, you're very lucky.

Once you are finished, and only after you've finished, start thinking about the actual title. It's okay to come up with a tentative title when you start writing, though I rarely do.But don't stay committed to it. Try to pick a short title that really does say what the article is about.
Avoid cliche phrases that don't say anything that clearly describe the contents of the article. A lot of novice writers are tempted to use such phrases. It's a mistake, because they don't really attract the reader and are only witty or cute once the article has been read, which is less likely, with this kind of weak title. On the other hand, a witty title that includes phrases, but that tells the key elements of the article can be excellent.

Next, create a description that starts the article or diary, and for articles, is used as a teaser to tell the reader more about what the story is about in brief few sentences in a paragraph or two. You don't have to end the description with a period. You can end with...
three periods, suggesting more to come.

Once you've written the article, or blog diary, you can paste it into the OpEdNews Content management system

If you want to include an image with your article, you first log in, then click on the images tab then upload the image so it is available when you are submitting the article. Do that BEFORE you start posting the article.

You'll paste your title into the title field, the description into the description field. Your name should be filled in already. If you are going to submit an article, you need your real name, not a user name. Articles are spidered by news sites, like google news, and we want legitimate names on them.

Next, click on the subject field and select some subject categories that are relevant to your article. You can pick up to a dozen. The more you pick, the more inside pages your article will appear on. Then, if your article is related to a locale, click on the locale field or fields that apply. You can always click the locale field where you live. If we don't have a subject or locale that you wanted, click on the suggest subject or suggest locale link at the top of the box. Click on the red X to close the subject or locale selection boxes.

If you would like your readers to take an action, you can create an action page that your article will be linked to, which will enable your readers to send a message to their federal legislator and or local daily newspaper. Type the message you want the legislator to get, which will become the title of the page, like "Oppose bill number 123 enslavement of non-believers." The page will be created when your article is published, along with another page, linked to from your article, that is a log of the most recent 25 messages sent via the action page in response to your article. At the time of this writing, OpEdNews is the only site on the planet that offers this capability.

Next, click on preview. A new page will appear. Click on the link to see what the page looks like. If it looks good, go to the other page and click publish. If it doesn't look quite right, or you need to make a modification, click on revise. Once you click on publish, your diary will be published, live. If you decide to publish as an article, it will go into the editor's queue. If you start out submitting it as a diary, you can proceed to publish it as a public diary, or, you can change your mind and publish it as an article, probably in the OpEdNews Op-Eds category or as a news or life/arts/science sections.

That's it. If someone comments on your article or diary, you'll get an email notifying you. It is proper netiquette to respond to comments. ONe of the best parts of blogging is the conversation that develops. This is particularly true for blogging diaries.

You can also blog to your personal diary. When you do this, no link to the blog is posted in the diaries column. Only people who come to visit your blog home page will see these postings. Soon, we'll have the site set up so you can adjust setting so only friends can see your personal diaries. Later, we'll allow you to adjust settings so you can decide which people can see your diaries, even in columns. Later, you'll be able to see the demographic characteristics of the people who comment on your writing and later, you'll be able to see the demographics of the people who check out your article and blog pages.

Authors Bio: Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, and organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. He is a frequent Speaker on a wide range of subjects. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.

Back to Art

From my Wedding Ritual, June 14, 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:40:00 +0000

Words from the Wedding Ritual, pronounced after the vows are made:

This marriage is but an event in the lifetime of a love. Neither we nor all society can join these two lovers today. Only they could do what they have chosen. They have joined themselves, each to the other. As they have found union with one another, they proclaim that union today and pledge its future.

We by our participation in this celebration do but recognize and honor their intention to dwell together as husband and wife. Our presence here honors their love. We recognize that
love is a mystery in which we live and breathe and have our being.

Love, summoning the hearts of each of us, has no bounds of time, no limits to its generous outpouring, no fears to make it weak. Our own loves are our great adventure of faith, our lifelong giving and receiving of the unending blessings of life. Our presence here today honors that Love in this pledging and in our own lives.

Living Reflectively

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:44:00 +0000

When we live reflectively, with awareness of the precious giftedness of every day, every moment, every relationship, then all things and all persons begin to speak of the awesome beauty of this Mystery we call God and by other names, Wisdom, Creator, Jahweh, Allah, or "The Old One." (Einstein).

Then we tend to live more humbly, more gratefully, more aware of our absolute dependence on Providence. We tend to find and enjoy miracles everywhere, the birdsong at daybreak, shadows and sunlight across the landscape, a particular loving friend or mate or child or grandchild we have. Everything begins to speak to us of the Magnificant Loving that we are part of. Such an indebtedness we can begin to feel that we can never give enough in response. Noblesse Oblige. To whom more is given, more is expected.

May 29, 2005.

What is the meaning of "faith" and "God"?

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Thu, 19 May 2005 13:57:00 +0000

"Faith is a quality of human living, which at its best has taken the form of serenity and courage and service; a quiet confidence and joy that enable one to feel at home in the universe, and to find meaning in the world and in one's life, a meaning that is profound and ultimate, and stable no matter what may happen to oneself at the level of immediate event. Men and women of this kind of faith face catastrophe or confusion, affluence or sorrow, unperturbed, face opportunity with conviction and drive, and face others with self-forgetting charity." -from Wilfrid Cantwell Smith, quoted in Why Doctrines, by Charles Hefling, Jr. Cowley Publishing, 1984.

"Having faith is being certain that there is something to live for, some purpose or direction or goal, a reason why life goes on and should go on. There are, of course, many things to live for, such as family, nation, job, other people's esteem, justice, pleasure, knowledge, or property. Any of these can be what Paul Tillich calls an ultimate concern, and in that sense become the object of faith.

"In the religious sense, however, faith is something more. It is knowledge that depends on conversion, knowledge apprehended in the light of love, knowledge that is conscious yet not the self-generated product of conscious reasoning. It is the knowledge not only that life is worth living but also that it is made to be worth living. Hence, in H.R. Niebuhr's words, "to have faith and to have a god is one and the same thing." .

"Why? In the first place, to be in love is always to be in love with someone. In the second, love without restrictions or qualifications can only be the love of someone who is similarly unrestricted. In the third, to know as a result of such a love that life is meaningful and the world is good is to know and rely on this transcendent someone as the bestower of significance and worth. And these three implications of religious conversion, taken together, yield a rough but recognizable definition of deity. 'A transcendent, personal source of being and value' -that, to borrow Thomas Aquinas's famous line. is what everyone means bv God."

from Why Doctrines? by Charles C. Hefling, Jr. Cowley Publishing, 1984. ISBN 0-936384-09-3, p. 22.

The Inner Landscape, O'Donohue

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Thu, 12 May 2005 03:32:00 +0000

John O’Donohue: THE INNER LANDSCAPE,
Audio Tapes
On Contradiction as Invitation and the Hidden Blessings
of Pain and Suffering: Wisdom from the Celtic World.

From Ireland’s Celtic Tradition, Teachings for welcoming the Difficulties in Life.
A series of audio tapes.

“Our bodies are mere outlines of a vast and complex interior world, a landscape of contradiction and immense mystery. This Celtic view of the human condition predates Christianity, yet survives to this day as part of Ireland’s unique spiritual tradition.

Poet and Catholic author, (Anam Cara, Beauty) explores the themes of self-exile and hardship, and the Celtic way of welcoming paradox and finding precious light in the darkest valleys of our inner terrain. Instead of fearing the contradictions of the outer world, the Celtic people welcomed them.

When one learns the Celtic “secret of equilibrium”--how to see every difficulty as a threshold of possibility, one renews life with unending possibilities.

Despite our vast technology, O’Donohue says, our real knowledge is minimal. Only within the “Inner Landscape,” with which each of us is blessed can true knowing take place.

Paschal rates this 4.5 stars out of 5 for Listening Power and Hope and Spur to Change.
We will listen together, then journal with ourselves, then share.

In the Flow, Inside the Mystery, Downhill Skiing as a Metaphor, and Listening

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 03:30:00 +0000

What message would you have for young people?” asked Carl Stern of NBC in concluding a television interview with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel shortly before his death on December 23, 1972. The following from a book on Servant Leadership.

“Rabbi Herschel replied: ‘I would say: Let them remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Let them be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, and that we can–every one–do our share to redeem the world in spite of all absurdities and all frustrations and all disappointments. And above all, remember that the meaning of life is to build a life as if it were a work of art.’

“...Hershel was a thoroughgoing mystic in his insistence on the primacy of unique present existence, no two moments alike. ‘True insight,’ he once wrote, ‘is a moment of perceiving a situation before it freezes into similarity with something else.”

from Robert K. Greenleaf: Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitmate Power and Greatness. Paulist, 1977.

My Comment:
For me this part of the uniqueness of Jesus, that he could be totally present to the moment, was maybe partly what he meant when he taught us there was a realm of the Spirit already present among us, although hidden from most. Most of us have difficulty being fully present to any person or situation without bringing some expectation or assumption or some readiness to compare it with other experiences. We are so full of our history that experience itself loses its freshness.

[Some personal crisis, either our own, and that of someone close or proximate to us, is often necesssary to snap us out of our ordinary waking-walking-talking-to-ourselves everyday trances: pain, hurt or setback.]

In Buddhist meditation we learn to become aware of our ego-attachments, and Centering prayer can help us do the same. Until we develop this ability to reflect on our experience in the process, we are subject to (and often prisoners of) our reactions, whims, expectations, and all the Blindness of our accustomed way of viewing reality. And we will tend to protect our comfort zones and avoid newness.

Take skiing, for example, standing at the top of the mountain. If I approach this day, this slant of slope, this kind of snow-surface, this weather and skiing with these particular people, with the memories of other fonder experiences, then I am immediately comparing this experience with other and losing the opportunity of experiencing the uniqueness of this very moment.. Don’t we tend to do this with both persons and situations.

To experience the wonder of anything we must be fully present to the experience, inside it, in the flow, not partly outside of it, attempting to judge or compare it with other experiences. The really neat thing about skiing, for us crazies who enjoy it, is that it forces one to be fully present to every aspect of one’s surrounding and company and skill level, and conditions of surface, snow, and one’s own body. And further, to throw oneself into it (with balance), because the natural thing to do when sliding down a hill is to lean back, but as soon as we lean back on our heels, we are more likely to fall. So one must lean forward into the skis, scary at first, actually leaning downhill over the skis.

To ski well one must challenge the environment, push the edge, and ‘no balls–no blue chips, no guts–no glory, no pain–no gain” (and I have had my crashes). Downhill skiing trains one to live in the present moment and to embrace the total Being of the Moment, with total readiness to bend and adapt, outdoors in the snow, surrounded by a winter wonderland, often with good company.

It is such a spiritual experience that I sometimes feel as if the Divine, the Holy, the Sacred, the great Mystery is to be found in every snowflake. My term for this is living “in the flow” of immediate experience. Or simply, Being Present. One can also dance the same way, with the same surrender to the experience, being totally in the flow. One can also learn to live this way.

To live in this kind of flow is to live inside another reality along side the “normal, everyday, surface” reality. It means seeing the miracles in everyday life, always just happening, God’s creativity, always just now happening. When he said that the domain of Godde is within us, and when he had such great respect for his friends that he invited them into this awareness by parables, and metaphors, never forcing it (at least in the synoptics) then I believe, that this quiet sensitivity both to ourselves and to others and to each new moment is already inside the Mystery, is actually part of the Mystery.

When we fully listen to another human being, really, truly listen, in such a way to allow their experience to be experienced here within, as it is, without judgment, we have entered that mystery of Being Present. We can begin to hear the other at such depth that they can begin to feel heard, truly heard for the first time in their lives. When we do this we are living on the “spiritual edge,” inside the flow of the immediate present. We are also most vulnerable because we cannot predict what will happen next. I propose we are most beautiful as human beings, and maybe even most fully human, when we do this. I think Jesus taught us how to do this.

Paschal Baute, 1/21/99, edited 2/25/05

LISTENING IS CRITICAL

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 02:48:00 +0000

Today, I find listening to be critical for spiritual growth. Of itself listening requires a quiet on my part, time free of distraction and busyness so that the Spirit may speak. Listening for and to the Godde in my life carries with it a willingness to sense a direction and to follow where it leads.

Many years ago my husband and I agreed that we would not push ourselves into what we might like to do. Rather, we would wait and see what was asked of us. We have found that responding to a call demands certain things: a willingness to forgo the present situation--either to enlarge its sphere or to close it out; a generous response to those who are asking for our help--not setting our own conditions and circumstances, but rather accepting the circumstances and conditions posed by the seekers; and, finally, a willingness to leave the service behind when our presence is no longer required. This has been a tough road. It has brought great joy, tears and growth.

This Spirit has led us to establish a small faith community, to edit a Ministry Journal and to national gatherings of Spirit-led folk. The journey continues to be many faceted. At times it is exciting, profoundly emotional, glowing in warmth.

It is easy to hear the Spirit in times when we experience Eucharist with our community using our own liturgies or we celebrate a wedding, a baptism, a funeral. There are other times when the sheer loneliness is overwhelming, frightening, casting shadows of doubt about us. At these times we reach out to be in contact with others who are journeying in a similar way.

Consequently, communicating and networking have become very necessary to keep the whole in balance.

The ship analogy you outlined is quite on the mark. It describes well those of us who live in the uncharted waters of faith, subject to both its beauty, serenity, peace and its overwhelming storms.

--Name withheld on request

MANY OCCASIONS, but not by human effort. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:51:00 +0000

"Let me just list a few situations, occasions, environments, stimulations which help to evoke this mystery or presence, though these themselves are not identical to it. Walking, preferably in the woods or by a lake or in some other scenic areas.

Listening to music, sacred or secular, but in either case, melodic and harmonious. Sitting quietly in an attitude of devotion. Conversing with others on matters concerning the deeper meaning of life. Actually, any occasion, any activity, any experience whatever, provides an opportunity ot find the spirit as long s one’s full attention is devoted to it. However, many experiences in this life make it difficult to break through to the spirit, because they are dark, opaque or otherwise impervious.

"But there is something beyond the immediate situation, whether that situation be conducive to meditation or not, which has nothing to do with sensory experience. Nor is it an extrasensory experience. It is not experiential at all. Yet, it is real. The testimony of sages throughout history attests to this through meditation practice. Meditation can be compared to opening the window. By doing this one will not necessarily feel this breeze. But when the breeze blows one has at least prepared a place for it to enter. The breeze, of course, is only an analogy for those rare moments which are less than micro-seconds, yet seem like eternity, due to the intensity of presence and bliss which they bestow on those who are open to them. These moments cannot be willed, but they can be prepared for, and sometimes they occur without any apparent preparation at all.

"One of the best accounts of this in spiritual literature is presented in the 19th chapter of 1 Kings. Elijah has been threatened by Jezebel, Ahab’s wicked queen. What a terrible moment for the prophet!
In great fear he rushes off into the wilderness where he cannot be found. He comes to a cave where he spends the night. Then the word of the Lord comes to him, saying,
"What are you doing here, Elijah?" To which he responds "The Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." Then the Lord says, "Go out and stand on that mountain, for the Lord is about to pass by."

"Now there was a great wind, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, a sound of sheer silence.

When Elijah heard it he went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then the Lord again said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" The prophet;s immediate response was the same as before. But he is suddenly given a new initiative at this point to go and complete the work which the Lord had prepared him for. The fear which had previously gripped him no longer held away over him.

"I have elaborated on this portion of scripture, because it speaks to me as well as any and better than most about the Spirit’s true abode. I like the NSRV translation of this: "The sound of sheer silence." The older RSV, as well as the AV and numerous other translations, render this as "A still small voice", or "a gentle breeze" which is not nearly as powerful in its effect.

"No sound, small or otherwise, can truly convey God’s Presence. No sensory conception can actually encompass the path along which the Spirit moves. The Spirit is compared to the Wind, but it is not the wind per se. It is like the wind, however, in terms of how it generates our lives. The Wind moves; the Spirit is still. "Be still and know that I am God," (Ps 46:10)
Only in moments of perfect stillness is it possible to be in direct contact with the mysterious presence which we call God, Spirit or whatever. It is that stillness or silence which truly renews a person and allows one to move on.

"Now as I indicated there is no way to find the spirit or the wind in one’s life by an act of will. But the exercise of will in this regard is nonetheless essential, because it is only the exercise of will that one learns the futility of will. And when one truly becomes aware of the will’s futility, one comes to a point of surrender in which one discovers what one had been willing in the first place. This is akin to the Chinese Wu Wei, the path of effortlessness. I may spend much effort in the attempt to find the Spirit or the Wind in my life. But when all is said and done, it is not found by effort. It is simply there when all effort to find it ceases...."

--Contributed by a regular member of SGN of Kentucky, on June 20, 1997.

The Wind blows where it wills. . everywhere?.

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 17:40:00 +0000

I was just outside standing in the wind & praying. That still small voice suggested that I might go online & search "the wind blows where it wills." At the top of the list was your site. Your survey questions are wonderful but numerous.
I'm not sure that I can answer in any meaningful way...

I feel the Spirit blowing through my life in many ways. I am reminded of a quote my wonderful wife provided me ..."Every bush is afire with the presence of god. Only he who takes off his shoes sees."
God is always near & sometimes I see.

Where?...
...in the trees, in the sun peeking through storm clouds & in the storm clouds themselves, in the playful smiles of my grandchildren, in songs, in movies, in the grocery store, on tv, at dawn & dusk, in people I love..like...& dislike, in my wife's caring & even in her condemnations, in art, in overheard conversations, in my children--their plights & victories, in quiet streams & busy streets, in silent fields & rock & roll.

When I See, I see God everywhere I look. When I feel, I feel wind blow & know His presence. When I hear, the angels sing. Still there is an indescribable state in which God's spirit & my own can exist in near unison. I can't remember when or where I've been "there", but I know I
have. It gives me a fervent desire for complete reunification with "ONE"- all there is & will be... The Great I AM.

Jesus said "The wind blows where it wills" & "I am the door."
I am one who opens the door to stand in the wind. When I do not see, I am blind... & also very thirsty for my own reality in Him. It is in Him that I find who I am....I am his Light, His Love & this manifestation of God in 3-D.....when I see every bush afire with the presence of God.
In the wind I stand and walk and live.

-Anonymous

In Nature, Music and . . a new puppy.

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 12:36:00 +0000

I find the Spirit blowing in my life in the grandeur and the simplicity in
nature.

The crispness of a Spring breeze, fluttering all the tiny green
leaves just so.

I feel the Spirit when I write music that I feel conveys His
message, His love.

And when I play those songs and those of others, I feel
the Spirit.

Also in marriage, deep, true intimacy, in a new puppy (in spite
of poop!), in a funeral that has helped send a loved one home...

The Mariner is tuned to wind changes. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 17:01:00 +0000

Paschal, I like the metaphor.
The only thing I can say about where I find the wind is everywhere. Like a sailor who simply senses the way the wind is blowing. The sailor never sees the wind but is always aware of it and its effects. The effects are obvious but the mariner often senses a change before the effects are manifest and can initiate action to take advantage of the change or to ward off adverse consequences.

"It is an ill wind that blows no one good", so some of the effects of the wind may appear disadvantageous, yet a skilled mariner is able to sail on course even in the face of an apparently contrary wind - but it requires some changes, subtle or large, in that case. So the wind is all round and its effects visible everywhere we look. At least, this is my experience.
Regards, Cara

When I said: "God, you have control!"

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 04:58:00 +0000

Paschal, let me tell you where I found the wind.
Many years ago, everything around was collapsing out of control. I had two young children; a wife who was mentally ill but living at home (she had been hospitalized seven times and on one occasion certified as insane). I was out of a job, thousands of dollars in debt, and about to be evicted from my home for non-payment of rent. Because of all this and more, I was hanging on by my fingertips. I don't mean I was suicidal, that's not my style, I was just unable to find a solution to my problems.

One evening I sat contemplating my situation looking for a way to deal with it. It was hopeless. I could not find a solution. For some reason, I remembered a time a few years earlier when I had been flying as a pilot in the Air Force.

I recalled my time in pilot training. Initial flying training was done on Harvard aircraft at the Gimli airforce base in Canada. The Harvard trainer was a piston engined aircraft with dual controls. The student would sit in the front cockpit and the instructor in the rear cockpit.

The first rule of flying training was drummed into every student before the first training flight. If the aircraft got into difficulties while under the control of the student, the instructor would say to the student through the inter-com, "I have control". The student would respond, "You have control." The student would then let go all controls. The student took his hands off the throttle and the control column and took his feet off the rudder. The instructor would then fly the aircraft from the rear cockpit.

This rule was important. Many students and instructors had been killed because students had panicked and frozen on the controls when an aircraft being flown by the student got into difficulties..

Another aspect of the rule was, when the student felt himself getting into difficulties, the student would say to the instructor through the inter-com, "You have control". The instructor would reply, "I have control", and the student would then take hands and feet off all controls.
Now getting back to my problems, remembering my time in the Air Force, I could see no way out other than letting God take control of the situation. So, in absolute faith, I said to God, "You have control". By virtue of my faith, God replied, "I have control."

My next step was to let go all controls. I stopped looking for a job and for a new home. I stopped worrying about my debts. I let go of trying to control my situation.
Very quickly, things started to happen. The day before I and my family were due to be evicted from our home, a neighbor, who was a complete stranger, called by the house. He had heard of my situation and had a very nice, vacant house he would let me have at a nominal rent. I could move in next day.

When I had been working, I had a good reputation for the quality of my work. I had been forced to quit my job only because of my domestic situation. No sooner had I moved my family into the new home, than I was head-hunted by a company who was looking for a good man in my field of work. I was offered a salary MORE THAN TWICE what I had earned ever before in all my life. With the good salary, I was soon able to pay off all my debts. And so it went on.

This is how I found the wind when I needed it. It seems to me life can be very difficult at times but God is always there to help us if we go after him with humility. I believe what God was teaching me above was the importance of humility. It's not a new lesson, just a different way of illustrating it.

Thanks for asking. Best wishes in this project.
Graham.

Friends, Lovers, Seekers, Searchers, Listeners,--also on the journey:

noreply@blogger.com (Paschal Baute) — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 04:39:00 +0000

Where do you find Mystery in your life, the Presence of what Christians call the Holy Spirit? I am not asking for what you believe or even how you come to believe. In order to understand what I am asking for, let’s consider the metaphor of a sailing vessel.

Think of a sailing vessel with no true permanent port. It sails on the open seas and is subject to the force of the elements. God is not on board this ship (altho many would like to think He is), but God propels it, draws it forward, as the Wind blowing into its sails. On most points of the sail, the Wind is ahead of the ship, pulling it forward through the vacuum,--a negative force--generating on the leeward side of the sails. Let’s say the sails are your faith, and the wind, the breeze what moves your faith. The ship is a metaphor for your life, or your goals, or your own journey.

This mystery we call God is not essentially objectifiable, controllable, or a predictable object but the Wind / Breath / Blowing / Living Spiritual Presence, always ahead of theology (and church). The wind would not be "caught", its redemptive power would blow only for nature except for the human endeavor of fixing and adjusting the sail.
Wind or breath is the root metaphor present in the word "Spirit," so to think of this mystery as the Wind blowing into the sails is to understand God as Spirit, the most unrestricted of the Trinitarian symbols. Like the wind, the Spirit of God generates a mysterious attracting-propelling power in the world. Every sailor knows how alert one must be to the wind, and the slight variations of breeze and ship that are constant in the blowing. I am not asking for a discussion of the metaphor.

The question for your journey, please, is WHERE DO YOU YOURSELF FIND THIS MYSTERIOUS PRESENCE TODAY IN YOUR LIFE--THIS BLOWING/ATTRACTING /PROPELLING WIND, BREATH, SPIRIT, GENTLE PRESENCE?

Another way of asking yourself this questions is: where do I find awe, a sense of wonder, the need to "take off my shoes?" maybe a compulsion to whisper rather than talk out loud, because this seems to be a sacred moment, or place, or person, perhaps a sense of undeserved and overwhelming giftedness. Where do you find the Wind, the Breeze for the sails of your faith? Where is your own "field of dreams"? Where do you find "amazing grace?"
Find some time for yourself. Think about your life, past and now. Where in the past have your found the Breeze for your sails, where now do you find the Wind that moves you to a sense of mystery, of the giftedness of your life, or where do you find amazing grace?

Go inside and listen carefully and become exquisitely aware of what your experience tells you. .If you write about it, you will ground it, establish it, own it, remember it, celebrate it, and it will nourish you on your journey.

Paschal Baute is welcoming your answers below with the aim of exploring the use of the internet for the sharing of our journeys and learning from one another. A group of us in Lexington have been engaged in this process now for 15 years (see web site: www.lexpages.com/sgn ) and part of our mission is to empower others by our own sharing.

Below you will find responses posted earlier in this gathering and sharing of stories. Copyright, Paschal Baute, 1997, 2004