"LIVING THE SPIRITUAL LIFE"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

I remember attending a class some years ago on Bible when one of the students said that the church that they grew up in never talked about the Bible. Well, we were all astounded. The idea of church without Bible was kind of like a fish without water. Furthermore, the person in question claimed to have grown up in a Unity church up north.

Well, in my lifetime, I have run across critics of Unity and other New Thought religious movements who claimed that we are “not Christian.” The truth is, however, that, at its core, Unity was founded as a “continuation in the educational process initiated by Jesus Christ.” In harmony with the non-dogmatic teachings of Jesus, Unity has always allowed a great deal of latitude where the teachings of its ministerial and licensed representatives are concerned. This can result in an outside individual falsely judging the entire movement based upon their limited experience of the teachings of one or more few individuals whom they may have encountered, rather than taking the time to delve deeper into the teachings which allow for such a variety of spiritual perspective.

Although having grown up in Unity myself, it was not until I got ordained and was “preaching” weekly that I really delved into scripture at any great length. I initially did it because I realized that many in the congregation had grown up in more traditional Christian trainings and they still had some major issues with understanding scriptures that had been programmed into them in judgmental ways in their past, and with the part that scripture was “supposed” to play in their lives. But I also often immersed myself in a better understanding of scriptures because I was amazed by what they revealed to me. For those reasons, I will still often use Biblical scriptural references and readings as a part of my talks. I therefore admit that while part of me is “playing to a large segment of the audience,” there’s also that part of me which hungers to discover what will next reveal itself.

However, the Bible, contrary to the claims of some, is not the last word. Nor, I might add, is the Koran the last word. Nor is any other book or teaching the “last word of God.” For any teaching to be God’s “last word” is to imply that God is finite, that God is limited. Nothing could be further from the truth. God, by its very nature is constantly unfolding in infinite ways. Therefore our limited understanding and revelation of that infinite unfolding must be an infinite, ongoing process of realization without end. Furthermore, whenever one claims to have discovered “the last word,” what they are really telling us is that they have chosen to cease growing in consciousness and in a deeper understanding of the spiritual truths that underlie all of creation and existence.

With that in mind, I wanted to share some thoughts this morning around the words found in the gospel of Matthew 6 verses 24-34 followed by the same scripture as it appears in the gospel of Luke. This is from the King James translation.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

“Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

“Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

“And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

“(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Then we have the following from Luke 12:22-32.

“And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

“The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

“Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls?

“Which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

“If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

“If then God so clothes the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

“And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

“For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

“But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Lately I’ve been giving a lot of thought and prayer to the subject of the spiritual life. This is because I hear a lot of people talking about it. I also hear people talking about this physical life. And then there are people who talk about our mental life and people who talk about our emotional life. And all too often they talk about these various aspects of life as though they are separate and apart from one another.

A few years ago someone turned me on to Andrew Cohen’s magazine, “What is Enlightenment?” And, as usual anymore, when I took a look on the web, there it was, current issue and back issues. All of the articles and none of the ads. We are truly living in revolutionary times. The person who told me about this magazine bought all of the back issues. Now, it only comes out twice a year and only began in mid 1996, so there are only 8 issues, but at $6 a pop that’s $50. I can copy them all onto a one CD and still have room left to store an encyclopedia.

Anyway, many of the articles are very thought provoking. However, the thoughts which some of them were provoking within me are not what I think the writers and editors intended. You see, as I read through the articles, I began to notice an interesting thread running through many of them. It was a thread with which I am familiar for I have seen it weaving it’s way through some of the most supposedly esoteric lines of thought one might hope to encounter.

Now, I’m not into naming names, for the “who” identity of these people who are chosen as spokespersons in the search for enlightenment is of little interest. What concerns me is what they are saying and the way in which they are saying it.

My first contact was with an individual billed as, “A widely acclaimed scholar of Eastern religions,” who “laments the commercialization of esoteric spiritual teachings in the West.” During the first half of the interview, this individual criticizes those in the West who are taking ancient teachings and techniques, like various yoga practices, and teaching them as life experience enhancers instead of as strict spiritual disciplines. In all fairness, the interviewers questions set the interviewee up for making these critical judgements. But by the second half of the article, the subject says that it is not his intent to criticize others or to take away from whatever good they might be accomplishing with their heavily watered down teachings. And yet that is precisely what he has done, and it is those very sentiments that are used as the banners to sell this article.

In another issue there is an interview with a self-proclaimed “Tantric Master,” who, in fact, claims to be the “only” Tantric Master in the West. And he then proceeds to explain how the goal of Tantra is to escape the realm of the ego and merge into the one. Yet, here he is egotistically proclaiming himself to be the “one and only.”

An issue on female spiritual leaders talks about a couple of very famous eastern female saints who were reported to be very autocratic, and even selfish, in their dealings with devotees. And, there is even an issue that contains an article specifically dealing with the autocratic, even fascistic, aspects of some “spiritual leaders.”

Deepak Chopra was able to present himself very well in an interview that questioned whether or not his work is a distortion of spiritual teaching that ultimately leads people away from the higher goal of the search for enlightenment and truth. And they take on Tony Robbins and Jack LaLanne and many others.

Then, finally, there is an article entitled “Why I Hate The Celestine Prophecy.” Now, I wasn’t particularly personally moved by the presentation of the Celestine Prophecy. But using the word “hate” as a part of the title of the review of a book who’s purpose is to share principles for living a better life is a bit misguided.

Now, you might be prone to say, “Well, it’s obvious that this magazine is not out to discover enlightenment, but rather to expose all of the various proponents of assorted approaches to the quest.” But, that is not true. On the whole, the magazine is doing a very creditable job at examining its goal of asking the question, “What Is Enlightenment?”

My point here is that in the coarse of asking that question, one of the aspects of the spiritual quest is the revelation that quite frequently its most outspoken representatives are often the most critical, ego-centered, and autocratic people one could meet. And that persona seems, to me, to be in direct contradiction to their claim to be spiritually centered.

My brother, who was gay, was devastated when Unity teachers and ministers whom he had known for years became critical of him and even turned their backs upon him when they discovered that he was gay. One very famous minister even told him that she prayed that he would be “saved from going to hell.”

I had a Unity minister once say that she gave thanks to God that I had been saved from the devil when I shaved off a mustache and a goatee that I had grown. It reminded me of the old Burma Shave takeoff: “The Pope’s incensed, the clergy raves, but nevertheless, Jesus shaves.”

All of my life I have been exposed to people who have purported to know what spiritual goals exist for themselves and for others. And time and again, they ultimately succumb to that which they preach and teach against.

When it comes to spiritual matters and the spiritual quest, we must stop this ridiculous belief that spirit and matter are separate and in opposition to one another. Matter is spirit in expression. To condemn the result is to also condemn the source.

We have here a situation in which the God in which we profess to believe is reported to have created this universe in which we live. Now this is not just a run of the mill universe. As I have shared with you on previous Sundays, this is a universe in which we are presently moving in six different directions at once at a combined speed of over 2 ½ million miles an hour. This is a universe that contains over 70 septillion stars.

This is a complex universe. This is a growing and expanding universe. This is a universe of great beauty and power. This is a universe of exceptional possibilities and opportunities. This is a universe into which we have been born, been created, for a brief period of time. We are here deliberately. This is God’s will.

If the timeline of the universe were the distance from here to the sun, your life on that timeline would be splatzzzz. A fly speck. And yet so exquisite. To be born into this experience naked and alone. To be reared by those around us, most often in love. To grow and learn and share and understand and desire and wonder; how absolutely incredible.

And then there are people who, claiming spiritual understanding, somehow have a desire to second guess God, to imply that our being here on this level of existence is a mistake and that our goal is to ignore all of this, to shun all of this, to endeavor to escape all of this. In other words, our goal is to not be that which God created us to be.

The claim is that we can’t be in this world and also be spiritually aware. But if being spiritually aware means being unaware of this brief level of reality into which we were born with unlimited capabilities, then I question the definition of spiritual awareness.

I recently attended a memorial service where a minister quoted another very highly respected and influential minister who reportedly said, “I feel that God is too intelligent to make us come back here a second time.” This is not only an out and out denial of the concept of reincarnation, but it is also an indictment of this reality in which we live. Following the service I talked with the minister and said that I believe that God is too intelligent not to allow us to return to this level of experience as many times as may be necessary before we remember, once again, that this is the Garden of Eden and that our banishment from this Garden was of our own making when we embraced the judgmental thinking of dualism, thereby separating ourselves, in consciousness, from our own innate divinity.

The longer I am alive as this character known as Charles DeTurk, the more astounded I am by the infinity of miracles in this garden in which we all live. Just because we’re stupid and blind ourselves to the beauty that surrounds us and is us, doesn’t negate the fact that it is all God in expression.

This morning’s scripture is one that is often used to back up this escapist, defeatist view of our true spirituality. I would like to read that scripture again, but this time from the George Lamsa translation. I’ll then point out the subtle differences that can reveal a new perspective that spawns new beliefs and understanding. Matthew 6, verses 24-34.

“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and like the other; or he will honor one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (wealth).

“For this reason, I say to you, Do not worry for your life, what you will eat, and what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you will wear. Behold, is not life much more important than food, and the body than clothing?

“Observe the birds of the sky: for they do not sow, neither do they harvest or gather into barns, and yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not much more important than they?

“Who is among you who by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“Why do you worry about clothing? Observe the wild flowers, how they grow; they do not get tired out, nor do they spin.

“But I say to you that not even Solomon with all of his glory was arrayed like one of them.

“Now if God clothe in such fashion the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow falls into the fireplace, is he not much more mindful of you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, or say, What will we eat, or what will we drink, or with what will we be clothed?

“For worldly people seek after all of these things. Your Father in heaven knows that all of these things are also necessary for you.

“But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will look after itself. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.”

Then, from the Gospel of Luke chapter 12 verses 22-32.

“And he said to his disciples, Therefore I say to you, Do not worry for your life, what you will eat; nor for your body, what you will wear.

“For life is much more important than food, and the body than clothing.

“Observe the ravens: for they do not sow or reap, and they have no storerooms and barns; and yet God feeds them; how much more important are you than the birds?

“Who among you by worrying can add to his stature one cubit?

“So if you are not able to do the smaller thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Observe the flowers, how they grow; for they do not toil nor do they spin; but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these.

“And if God clothes in such fashion the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow falls into the fireplace; how much more is he to you, O you of little faith?

“So do not be anxious about what you will eat or what you will drink, and let not your mind be disturbed by these things.

“For worldly people seek after all these things; and your Father knows that these things are also necessary for you.

“But seek the kingdom of God, and all of these things shall be added to you.

“Do not be afraid, O little flock; for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.”

The key to understanding this scripture is in the words “do not worry” rather than “take no thought.” The later implies not even thinking about, or doing, anything that has to do with physical well-being. “Do not worry,” however, means do not let these things become a negative preoccupation. Why? Because “your father knows that these things are also necessary for you,” and “is pleased to give you the kingdom.” Food, drink, and clothing are necessary to our life and existence.

But how much? Aren’t we advised against too much, against mammon, or “wealth” as Dr. Lamsa parenthesises? Not exactly. What we are told here is that we have the choice of acknowledging God as the source of all that is, or of denying this reality and mistakenly thinking that the source is somewhere “out there” in the world of appearances, or in Mammon. Riches and wealth are not wrong or evil. It is, rather, when wealth becomes a god to us that we have strayed from the realization of all that the kingdom has in store for us. “All that the kingdom has” is a wealth beyond comprehension, a wealth beyond that of Solomon, a wealth that is embodied in the image of wild flowers.

To make wealth our god is to imagine that we can somehow figure out how to generate that wealth ourselves through diverse schemes and business maneuverings. This is the kind of wealth that often leads to empty lives. But that emptiness does not mean that the wealth is wrong. It only means that it was accrued through a basic belief in our separation from God and the resultant kingdom.

You are a spiritual being. You always have been and you always will be. For whatever reason, you are presently expressing on this physical place of experience. Everything in, around, about, and through you is an expression of God. It all has its source in spirit. If you can become aware of that, if you can recognize spirit in every aspect of your being and your experience, then you are truly on the way to living in the wealth of enlightenment. And anyone who says otherwise is a charlatan.

- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM

 
"ROOTIN' THROUGH THE TOOL CHEST"

We’ll begin today with the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

In looking around for a scripture as a takeoff point for today’s thoughts, I came across Matthew 18: 1-7.

“At that very hour the disciples came up to Jesus and said, Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
“So Jesus called a little child, and made him stand up in the midst of them,
“And he said, truly I say to you, Unless you change and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
“Whoever therefore will humble himself like this little child, shall be great in the kingdom of heaven.
“And he who will welcome one like this little child, in my name, welcomes me.
“And whoever misleads one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him that an ass’ millstone were hanged on his neck and he were sunk in the depths of the sea.”

Well, Easter is behind us. I realized this week that I had to regroup. I’ve been working up towards Easter and the resurrection for some time. Now that that’s behind us, what are we going to deal with next? Well, with a tip of the hat to Ken Kesey, I have entitled today’s talk, “Rootin’ Thru The Tool Chest.” I think we’ll do a little stream of consciousness today and see where it takes us.

Last week, I laid out some pretty heavy perspectives upon the resurrection of Jesus. I shared with you some ideas that might have been very radical perceptions compared to what you have been used to believing. I’m certain that there are some people who quit reading last weeks offering in disgust, without taking the time to consider all of the thoughts that I had to share on the topic. I’ve had people walk out on talks that I have given before.

There was a time in my life when that would have bothered me. At the same time, I used to find myself occasionally wishing that I had the guts to walk out on some of the talks by others that I ended up, instead, politely sitting through. In those days I was always concerned about possibly upsetting someone. I wanted everything to work out perfectly with everyone. You see, I had grown up in an environment where there was a lot of emphasis on good and perfection, and, being young, I interpreted that personally as a directive to which I must aspire to live.

Sometimes, when people hear that I have been in Unity all of my life, they’ll say, “Oh, how lucky. I wish that I could have grown up in this.” But, for me, certain aspects of my early positive upbringing turned out to result in a hell of insecurity. You may recall that I have shared with you that when I was 12 I went to my mother and wept because I didn’t know how to pray. Now, friends, that’s not what one would think someone growing up in Unity would feel. Not knowing how to pray is one thing. Crying because of it implies an inferior self-image.

In the early days of my life, I heard so much about good and perfect aspects of life that it seemed, to my young mind, to be in direct contradiction with natural drives in my growing body, so that I was torn. This led to comparisons between what I felt and what I thought I was supposed to feel. The result was a personal agony and a desire to hide certain parts of myself from others.

Now, if I were growing up in a structured, orthodox home, one would expect that kind of a reaction to be natural. But mine was not such a case. However, I was growing up in a structured, orthodox culture. And that had a profound effect upon me in spite of the influence of my home life and of my church.

And so, even though I grew up in Unity, still I had a low self-image. And that caused me to try to keep a low profile. I used to say that I learned at a very early age to be a fast dancer. And I figured that as long as I kept dancing I could dance my way out of any situation. So, even with this positive thinking background, the normal circumstances of growing up as a human being in a plethora of social situations led to my feeling less than I wished to feel about my own self worth. And I know that you probably relate very personally to what I am talking about today. For as I have grown older, I have discovered that almost every one has the kind of feelings of insecurity that I had while growing up. It’s only natural.

My insecurities hung on for many years. In fact, some of them are alive and well even today. From the age of 15 through the age of 20 I was very active in the Youth of Unity, the Y.O.U. I started out sitting on the back row at activities like the annual conference at Unity Village because I felt so insecure. Three hundred and fifty teenagers and I was concerned that I might be noticed. I didn’t want to take the chance that anyone would call upon me to say anything at all. And, being tall, I would scrunch down in the back row to be as invisible as possible. It was a very lonely feeling. Five years later, I was standing in front of those 350 Y.O.U.ers as their annually elected International President. From the back row to the front of the room in 5 years, and yet I felt just as insecure and alone in front of everyone as I felt on the back row. But I danced real fast so no one would know.

Twenty years old and I hadn’t gotten it yet. I grew up in Unity and I still didn’t understand what it was all about. But I figured that as long as I kept everyone else happy, they wouldn’t think too much about me and eventually one day I might figure it all out and start becoming a healthy me. And so, if I said anything that might offend someone, I was very concerned about doing whatever I could to “make the situation right.”

My mother used to have a man in her congregation who would periodically get up in the middle of her talk on Sunday morning and storm out of the building, muttering stuff like, “that’s a bunch of crap,” and slam the door behind himself. And mother would say, calmly to everyone, now don’t let Ed bother you. You just listen to me. He has the right to disagree if he chooses. Just bless him and let him go. And you know, he’d always come back and apologize, and he and his wife were quite active in the church until the day that he died.

Don’t let it bother you. Just bless them and let them go. And isn’t that what Jesus told us to do? Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you. Whatever happens, remember that you are in charge of you and you decide how you choose to respond. So just keep giving out love. When I was a kid, we used to say, “I’m rubber; you’re glue; everything I say sticks to you; everything you say comes over, hits me, bounces back, and sticks to you.”

So finally I have gotten old enough that I’ve begun to understand what this is all about and I have therefore decided that my choice of action is to share the truth as I perceive it and not to worry about how others respond to that. Now, I didn’t say, “not to care,” but rather “not to worry.” My purpose in life is not to confound or to upset people. My purpose, rather, is to help others to discover truth for themselves in whatever way is most meaningful to them. There are many ways of doing that.

But whatever way we discover truth, or truth discovers itself for us, one thing is certain: the discovery is most often a shock. I don’t recall the source, but Marshall McLuhan once quoted a noted sociologist who said that all major breakthroughs essentially all but destroy the culture is which they are discovered. We human beings, on the other hand, live lives dedicated to creating a stability that is in conflict with a reality in which the norm is change. And if that stability is threatened, we feel threatened personally.

What am I trying to say here? Well, as I was preparing this talk, that is precisely the question that occurred to me. What am I trying to say here? And I typed it out, and went to bed, rather than struggle in an effort to “figure out” the answer. You know, Deepak Chopra teaches that we need to determine what it is that we seek and then turn it over to the universe to provide the answers and opportunities necessary to assist us in achieving that which we desire. So Friday night I asked the question, turned it over to the universe, and had a good night’s sleep.

Just before going to sleep, I read a few pages from a book on Gnosticism. Then when I awoke in the morning, after doing a few chores around the house, I went to clear the dining room table for some light breakfast and the top book of a stack that Sherri had bought the other day caught my eye. It’s Jane Hamilton’s book, “A Map of the World.”It’s has been a part of Oprah’s Book Club. On the cover is a quote from the San Francisco Chronicle, “Jane Hamilton has removed all doubt that she belongs among the major writers of our time.”

I opened the book at random to see if I could quickly determine how a major writer writes. I opened the book to the second chapter, page 27, and this is what I read: “She was just beginning to speak in short sentences. She was at the juncture in her babyhood when it was possible she knew everything worth knowing. She understood the texture of her family; she understood territory and rage and love, although she couldn’t say much more than ball and moo, I want, pretty girl, and bad dog. As her language shaped her experience and limited her ideas, she would probably lose most of her wisdom for a time. Watching my own children grow had reinforced for me the notion of Wordsworth’s, that a child’s knowledge of infinity escapes him as the years pass, perhaps, I thought, through a little pinprick at the nape of their necks. Lizzy, at two, was on the brink, between stations. It was tempting to think that if only they could speak, infants could take us back to their beginning, to the force of their becoming; they could tell us about patience, about waiting and waiting in the dark.”

This reminded me of a line that I had quoted just the other day from J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called “father of the atomic bomb,” who said, “there are children walking the streets today who could solve some of my most difficult problems because they have not yet lost the necessary modes of thinking.” And I remembered that just the night before I had given a passing thought to finding the scripture which I have used today. And my direction for our time together today returned.

I spend a good deal of my time now with people who are on the cutting edge of change. As a result, I have become one of those people myself. I am now marketing myself as an expert in Internet Surfing who can teach others how to maneuver the web and find what they are looking for with greater ease. Now one might think that the people most in need of that kind of coaching would be those people who don’t even have computers. But that is not the case. If they don’t yet have computers, then they don’t yet have a need for learning to surf efficiently. No, it’s much of the top management of major corporations who haven’t a clue how to find their way around the new electronic ocean.

It’s funny, when I was younger, the first record album which I bought for myself with my own money was the Beach Boys, “Surfin’ Safari.” Only one time in my life did I ever get the opportunity to try to surf in the ocean and then the board sank. Now, here I am an Internet Surfer out there hanging ten. I still love the Beach Boys music. Guess that’s why one of my web sites is called Surf City.

Now, the point of all of this is that I have come to realize increasingly that many of us are looking at these new changes in our lives through the cloudy glasses which were given to us way back before we can remember. As an example, a couple of weeks ago I wrote here about a new world order that is coming into being. There are many people who are diametrically opposed to the NWO. To them, it is just a way for the people in power to gain more power over the rest of us. And, as a possibility, that’s true. However, those in power weren’t intelligent enough to create this New World Order, and the only way that they’re going to control the NWO is if we, the people, give them the power to do so. The NWO is coming into being of its own accord. It could just as easily be the golden age, if we should choose to stop acting combatively.

This is an important issue. It has always been an important issue. It was an issue for the disciples in Jesus time. What do we do about the Romans? What do we do about the New World Order People? Jesus’ answer, of course, was to “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to render unto God that which is God’s.” To some people, that’s pretty cut and dried. After all, what is Caesar’s is definitely not God’s. Or is it. What is Caesar’s? What belongs to the New World Order of people who wish to rule the lives of others?

To understand what I’ve talking about here, it might be good for us to remember what reportedly happened in Denmark over 50 years ago when the Nazi’s invaded. In other countries, the Nazis rounded up the Jews and other people whom they chose to condemn, and those being rounded up often cooperated as though they were sheep. And, of course, the people not being rounded up did their best to look the other way and not get involved. And who could blame them? What else was there to do?

Well, in Denmark the people tried to respond in a different way. The Nazis ordered that all Jews were to wear a yellow Star of David sewn on their clothes so that they would be readily recognizable. Well, the very next day, the King of Denmark walked out with the Star of David sewn on his chest. And so did the other citizens of Denmark. And you know what? The Nazis were never able to exercise the control over Denmark that they did over other countries. You see, the people of Denmark refused to play the game.

What is Caesar’s is the game, itself. Everything else is God’s. To render unto Caesar doesn’t mean to play the game. It means to let Caesar play the game if that’s what Caesar wants to do, but don’t participate. Don’t help. Don’t give it power by fighting it.

Back at the first big anti-war demonstration at Berkeley in the 1960’s, Ken Kesey was one of the speakers. The rally’s organizers had chosen Ken because he was involved in drug experiments at Stanford University and he had written some highly acclaimed books. When it came time for Kesey to do his piece, he walked out on the stage followed by a bunch of people whose bodies were painted all psychedelic. It was a band and they began playing. And they played for awhile, and Ken played “Home On The Range” on the harmonica, and then Ken walked up to the mike and he said, and I paraphrase, “if you want to put an end to war, you have to turn your back on it and say, ‘the hell with it.’” Then the band played more. And then Ken said the same thing again. And then the band played some more, and the rally organizers came up and kicked them all off the stage. The rally organizers were furious. They wanted Ken to rant and rave and call for action against the state.

But Ken was right. If you want to bring an end to the game, then you have to refuse to play the game. Let Caesar play Caesar’s game. You play God’s game. Too often when we consider the Caesar/God scenario, we get all caught up in trying to sort out all of our responsibilities to Caesar. And we never get around to God. If we were to turn the equation around and render unto God FIRST that which is God’s and let Caesar haggle over what’s left, Caesar would very quickly disappear due to boredom.

The closer we get to God, the more we will return to that pristine state of childhood to which Jesus alludes in our scripture this morning. We give far too much power to Caesar by giving far too much attention to Caesar.

In the 1960’s there was a singer/guitarist named Lee Michaels. One of his albums was entitled “Recital.” I’d like to share the final song from that album for you. It’s short. I collect short songs. I don’t recall the title of the song, but the lyrics go like this:

“See the man in the plain clothes,
He wants to take us all to jail;
But the thing that he doesn’t realize
Is the whole world’s out on bail.
What can he do, what can he do, what can he do?”

To which I reply, “Who cares what he does. Surely not I.”

You know, friends, the problem with Jesus’ teaching is that it’s too easy for most people to believe. The church has tried to complicate it over the years in an effort to make believers out of us. But I prefer to believe without all of that extra baggage.

If we’ll just become as little children, regain those abilities buried within us to wonder and to see and to believe, the kingdom of heaven will consciously become our home. Home on the range. God bless you.

- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM

 
"ARISE, CHILD OF GOD!"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

Today is the day known as Easter, the day celebrated throughout the Christian world as the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This story brings all kinds of images to people, depending upon their own particular background and experience. However, perhaps the most common threads that run through these images are found in the telling of this story in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 1-10.

“In the evening of the Sabbath, when the first day of the week began to dawn, there came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary to see the tomb.

“And behold, a great earthquake took place; for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and went up and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.

“His appearance was like lightning, and his garments were white as snow.

“And for fear of him the guards who were watching trembled and became as if they were dead.

“But the angel answered, saying to the women, You need not be afraid; for I know that you are seeking Jesus who was crucified.

“He is not here, for he has risen, just as he had said. Come, see the place where our Lord was laid.

“And go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead; and behold, he will go before you to Galilee; there you will see him; lo, I have told you.

“And they went away hurriedly from the tomb with fear and with great joy, running to tell his disciples.

“And behold, Jesus met them and said to them, Peace be to you. And they came up and laid hold of his feet and worshipped him.

“Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid; but go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they shall see me.”

On Good Friday, the day on which we remember the crucifixion of Jesus, now forever sado-masochistically etched in the minds of millions through the passion of Mel Gibson, I was asked by a Baptist friend if I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Of course, I answered in the affirmative. However, I didn’t let it go at that. I went on to say that I believe in the Divinity of everyone. I told him that I believe that Jesus recognized His own Divinity, perhaps more than any other human being, and thereby allowed that perfect man, the Christ within, created in the image and after the likeness of God, to express itself completely through Him. And I believe that when Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, said “the mystery hidden from ages, and now revealed, is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” that Paul was recognizing that same truth and telling us that we are all Sons and Daughters of God. God is our Father.

Then, my inquisitor asked if I believe in the Virgin Birth. And again, I applied in the affirmative. However, I didn’t let it go at that. I went on to point out that I believe that God is present and a part of every conception, and that therefore every conception is immaculate. And I went on to say that this must be so if we are to be able to follow Jesus’ words in John when he says that “the things that I do, you shall do also, and greater than these shall you do.” How could we do greater things than Jesus if we weren’t also children of God? Jesus spoke of God as “Father,” and admonished that we should do the same. This is explicitly evident in the first two words of The Lord’s Prayer. That we are all children of God is a belief of the Jews that can be traced back at least to the book of Chronicles.

And my friend said, “Well, I disagree with you.” And I responded, “that’s alright, the church has been arguing about that issue for 2,000 years now and they haven’t resolved it yet.”

Now I relate these events to you because some people think that I should best keep my mouth shut and not expose these believers of a different stripe to my own beliefs. Besides, to paraphrase Lenny Bruce, “I have to do business with these (people).” And there was a time when that was the course which I would take when talking with those whose beliefs were more orthodox than my own. But that was before I really knew what it is that I believe. For once we know what we believe, and know that we know, then we discover a new confidence within and we see the arguments of others dissolve as if mere mist which disappears into nothingness.

I say these things today in preparation for the thoughts that I would share with you on this beautiful Easter morning. I am going to pull out the stops this morning. I am going to share with you what I truly believe. These ideas seem very radical to some.

Now, hear me well. What I am sharing with you is my belief and my perception. It is my perspective. I have told you before that there are at minimum 12 different perspectives for every event. They are all valid. They all give a different view. This morning I wish to share what may be a different view for you. If it is too radical to your current way of seeing things, do not let it bother you. It’s just my perspective.

Some of these beliefs got their start several decades ago when Dr. George Lamsa shared his perceptions upon the resurrection of Jesus with Dr. Rocco Errico. At the time, Dr. Lamsa swore Dr. Errico to secrecy. Now, as the reception of people to new perspectives has expanded, some of those special perceptions are finally beginning to come to the light of revelation.

Dr. Errico alluded to some of these secret teachings from Dr. Lamsa in his book, “Let There Be Light.” I highly recommend Dr. Errico's books, "Let There Be Light" and "And There Was Light" and advise reading them slowly, savoring Dr. Errico's carefully selected words. I’d like to share with you this morning Dr. Errico’s view on “Jesus’ Death and Resurrection” from "Let There Be Light."

“Jesus death was the key to open the door into liberty, not only for his apostles and immediate followers, but for all humanity. His death transcended all physical limitations and extended his spiritual influence throughout the world. The late Near Eastern scholar and Aramaic Bible translator Dr. George M. Lamsa explained Jesus’ death in poetic, metaphoric language as follows:

‘A glass of water placed in the Sahara contains all the qualities of water, but it is isolated. Ships cannot sail over this small amount of water nor can fish live and swim in it. The moment this water evaporates it becomes an integral part of all water in the air and the ocean. Such is it with man who is alive physically but is isolated spiritually until he comes in contact with other spirits. This is how Jesus thought of his death. It was an ending of his physical part, but a larger beginning of his spiritual personality, which was to break through all barriers of isolation and win for him a following of loyal souls from every country and century forevermore. This is what brought him to Jerusalem. His death was the fulfillment of his destiny.’

Dr. Errico continues: “New Testament experts usually interpret gospel writings concerning Jesus’ victory over death, his resurrection from the tomb, and his ascension into heaven as narratives of faith and theological compositions. Other scholars believe it is legend. Again, some authorities claim that the disciples were experiencing visions of their resurrected Master and Teacher.

“We must also consider the influence Jesus exerted upon his disciples while he was still with them. There is no doubt that his impression upon the disciples went deeper than they were conscious of. So powerful was this impression upon them that it could not be effaced from their hearts and souls.

“Jesus’ physical presence only half revealed the ultimate meaning of the supreme ethical ideals that he embodied. Human experience teaches that we never fully spiritually possess the embodiments of excellence in those whom we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands until they are no longer with us. What the physical presence only partly suggests, the spiritual presence fully reveals.

“The loss of a beloved in whom the highest ideals were embodied stirs and illumines the memory. It also gives free and stronger wings to the soul’s most powerful faculty, the imagination. However, we must not think of the imagination as merely a faculty for fanciful flights or absurdities. It is the imagination that has the power to connect us with the spiritual genius of our humanity.

“The answer to understanding the resurrection of Jesus lies with the apostles and disciples themselves. After all, they were the ones who reported the astounding event. Before Jesus’ death, the disciples did not fully grasp the depth and meaning of his mission and teaching. They had dreams of a messianic kingdom in which they and their lord would rule the nations.

“But when the crucifixion took place, all their dreams and political aspirations shattered. Their broken hopes and the painful loss of their teacher were so great that they soon returned to their old occupations. Nevertheless, Jesus’ death began to bring about deep mental and emotional changes within the consciousness of his disciples.

“His death began to liberate and expand their reasoning and visionary powers. Because of this devastating loss, the disciples would soon experience visions of a resurrected teacher. They now could transcend their former reasoning and begin to perceive things spiritually.

“When this transformation started to take effect within their souls, Jesus, as a numinous presence, could appear to them in visions and dreams. They saw their lord and teacher as the glorified Messiah. He was with them and would infuse them with power and courage.

“This spiritual influence was so powerful and gripping that the disciples knew Jesus had conquered death. So profound was their experience that they were willing to face death and martyrdom. The Semitic Aramaic expression kam leh, ‘He is risen,’ means ‘He has succeeded,’ ‘He has come through,’ or ‘He has achieved his purpose in life.’

“I believe the human Jesus was a simple man. His source was God and his religion was the faith of Israel. His spiritual insight continues to ignite the hearts and souls of men, women, and children the world over.”

In understanding the Bible and its meaning for us, it is often necessary for us to remember that these events happened thousands of years ago to a people who’s lives were so radically different from a sociological and a cultural standpoint from our own lives that I would venture to say that beyond the basic physical human functions, we only share about 1% of our current reality of existence with the people of those times.

I want us to think this morning about Jesus’ disciples. I think one of the reasons why I like Martin Scorcese’s presentation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s “Last Temptation of Christ,” is because the disciples become real. They’re sometimes whiney, sometimes vain, sometimes clueless, and sometimes impossibly loyal. In other words, they’re people, so unlike the presentations of Biblical personages so often offered to us by the church. These were real people wrestling with real issues. They are Jews, with a cultural heritage that says that although life is an ongoing struggle, that someday a Messiah, a Savior, will come and establish God’s kingdom on earth. As a people they had been subservient to the Egyptians and the Babylonians and the Romans. They were ready for the kingdom of God. And many of them were ready to help bring that kingdom about, even if it meant taking up arms.

Then they come to Jerusalem for Passover and Jesus tells them that he will be leaving them. But they don’t really yet understand. They have not yet comprehended what Jesus has been sharing with them. They do not yet understand that the kingdom of God is something beyond a kingdom of appearances. It is a kingdom of being, of a way of life, of an awareness, of a consciousness, of a perception. It is a spiritual kingdom that then manifests itself. It is not a manifested kingdom that is gained through struggle. It is spirit. It is life eternal. But the disciples don’t yet understand that. Their hopes, founded in centuries of cries of “Adonai, Adonai, How long, How long,” are focused on the outer. They have struggled for so long that they cannot see the Promised Land when it is laid out before them.

And so Jesus accepts his destiny, is crucified, and that’s it. The ministry is over. All hope is gone. Sure, he might have actually said that he would rise on the third day, but the reality of appearances makes that hard for them to believe. If he could raise himself, then why didn't he go ahead and save himself. The disciples, following the crucifixion, in their emotional agony, even deny ever having had anything to do with Jesus. Now, that’s a case of heavy denial. But it tells us how shattered the disciples were by the crucifixion.

What were Jesus' followers to do, now their master had been taken away from them? And yet. That’s right, and yet. And yet, there was still hope. You see, Jesus had planted a seed. Have you ever planted a seed? It doesn’t spring up right away, does it? Have you ever planted a seed and had it spring up out of the ground right at you? No, of course not. We plant the seed and then we nourish it. It needs time to germinate before it is ready to spring forth. Well, in the case of this seed that Jesus had planted, it required some very dramatic nourishment. And so he allowed his body to be sacrificed that he might demonstrate what he was teaching about the kingdom.

Jesus is your brother. And he gave his life that you might see. He sacrificed his physical life that others might discover that their own true lives are spiritually eternal.

And so we have the disciples, torn in anguish. But on the third day following the crucifixion, Jesus appears to Mary Magdala. Mary, the alleged former adulteress. Mary, whose sins were forgiven, and who obviously still believes. She comes to the tomb and Jesus is no longer there. He has disappeared, physically.

Then, on her way to tell the others, Jesus appears to Mary. This has been a cause of consternation in the church ever since its occurrence. The idea that Jesus appeared first to a woman rather than to one of the twelve disciples caused a great deal of difficulty amongst the early organizers and protectors of the ongoing ministry of Jesus’ teachings.

But what was it that Mary and the other disciples saw? Was it the resurrected body of Jesus, as the church teaches, or was it a vision? Well, I believe that it is somewhere between those two extremes. And I like one of the words that Dr. Errico used in his book. It is a word that I believe he got from Dr. Lamsa. The word is "numinous." How many of you are familiar with the word "numinous?" Some people with whom I have shared these perspectives like to claim that "numinous" is a word which is one of those borderline words which doesn’t have much usage because it doesn’t have much credibility.

Well, let’s take a look at “numinous.” I did some delving into the connections generated by the word “numinous.” First, let’s look at it’s definition. What I share with you here is from the “Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary” on the Internet. “Numinous,” originating from 1647, is an adjective with a Latin derivative. It means “Supernatural, Mysterious.” It is “filled with a sense of the presence of divinity;” in other words, “Holy.” It is also “appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense.” It is “Spiritual.”

Now if we let it go at that, we would have a great deal already. Supernatural, Mysterious, Holy, and Spiritual. But I’m not one to let things go with a superficial consideration. I like to delve deeper. What would we find if we looked to the meaning of those four words that sum up the definition of Numinous? And what about some of the definition's other words therein, like presence, divinity, and aesthetic? Well, I followed those leads to where they led me. I have an outline of where it took me for each of you this morning, posted following this talk. These are merely words contained in definitions leading to other definitions. Six pages. For the actual definitions themselves, I’ll leave that for you to look up. Suffice it to say that this is a listing of what I found. I call this the Etymological Numinous Tree. I guarantee that if you look up all of these words and examine their definitions, you’ll have an understanding of numinous beyond that of 99.99% of the rest of humanity.

How this relates to our resurrection story this morning is that it very clearly describes, in one word what happened in the resurrection of Jesus. Now, remember, this is my current perspective. You can take it or leave it. It makes no difference to me. I’m merely here to share with you what I have discovered in my quest to better understand the truth of my being.

Because of the tremendous impact that Jesus had upon the lives of his disciples and other followers, they discovered that his death could not be dealt with like they would deal with the death of others. In other words, they found that they could not go back to their lives, as they knew them before Jesus walked into their lives. It’s kinda like the old World War I song, “How Ya' Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On The Farm After They’ve Seen Paree?”

Whether they fully comprehended it or not, Jesus had shared with the disciples the true kingdom of God within each and every one of us. That was the purpose of his ministry, to reveal that the kingdom of God resides within us for we are God's children. Jesus taught that life is eternal, and then to demonstrate that fact, he gave up his body through an agonizing death to prove that the death of the body has nothing to do with the eternality of life. Although the physical Jesus was gone, yet the disciples and followers discovered that the real Jesus still lived.

This awareness on their part was gradual. At first, they didn’t recognize Jesus when he appeared to them. And he would appear in ways that were completely in opposition to a physical presence, like appearing suddenly in a locked room, implying walking through walls, or perhaps materializing out of thin air. And then he would not allow them to touch him, at first.

Jesus appeared to the disciples and the other followers because they were so shocked by the death of the body that their desire for Jesus stirred the things that he had taught them, the seeds that he had planted and nourished, and caused them to rise up in their own consciousness to a place where they could actually see Jesus. Jesus appeared as a numinous being: an apparently supernatural, mysterious, holy, spiritual presence of divinity that could only be recognized by the higher emotions or aesthetic sense.

When we look at it that way, then we realize that the true resurrection was not in Jesus' raising his body from the dead, but it was in the ascension in consciousness, the resurrection of the consciousness of those followers who believed. And when they raised their consciousness, Jesus appeared to them and once again became real for them. And the more they believed, the more real he became until they could finally touch him and eat with him. The body was not any longer necessary. It was not a factor in the equation. Jesus no longer needed the body. He was manifesting the eternality of life itself and could thereby manifest in whatever form he chose or in whatever form true believers sought him.

Jesus is the wayshower. What he can do, we can do. And we don’t have to suffer and die in order to achieve this ascended state of consciousness in which we are consciously tuned in to the eternality of life. Jesus already did that for us, he died that we might live, that we might see that life is eternal. He did not die to the body to imply that that is the path to the consciousness of life eternal. He sacrificed the body because that’s what it took for us to take notice of what he was teaching and to believe.

We are spiritual beings and life is eternal. In his book, “The Prophet,” Kahlil Gibran says,
“And it is with this belief and this knowledge that I say,
You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields.
That which is you dwells above the mountain and moves with the wind.
It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety,
But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether.”

So, on this beautiful Easter Sunday, we give thanks that life is eternal. We are grateful to Jesus for the lessons that he shared with us, the example that he set, and the fact that He is here with us this very day. I invite you to “arise, child of God.” Go forth and let your light shine as you express that eternal life which is the reality of your being. God bless you.


- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM

 
"ETYMOLOGICAL NUMINOUS TREE"

Numinous (presence, higher emotions)
. . . Supernatural (existence, transcend laws of nature)
. . . Mysterious (wonder, curiosity)
. . . . . . Wonder (awesome)
. . . . . . . . . Marvel
. . . . . . . . . . . . Astonishment
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amazement
. . . . . . . . . Miracle
. . . . . . Mystifying (perplex)
. . . . . . . . . Bewilder (complexity)
. . . . . . . . . . . . Puzzle (challenge)
. . . Holy (exalt, devotion, righteousness, sacred)
. . . . . . Whole (healed, complete, entire, perfect)
. . . . . . Divine (savior)
. . . . . . . . . Deity (nature, good)
. . . . . . . . . . . . Divinity (being)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theology (faith, practice, atonement)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Experience
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . God (2)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Goddess (adoration)
. . . . . . . . . . . . God (1) (power, wisdom, creator, ruler, eternal, Spirit, infinite)
. . . . . . . . . . . . Supreme Being
. . . . . . . . . Superb
. . . . . . . . . . . . Over
. . . . . . . . . . . . Be
. . . . . . . . . . . . Splendid (splendor, magnificence)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shining
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brilliant
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glittering
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Striking
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distinctive
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Illustrious
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eminent
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conspicuous
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prominent
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grand (comprehensive, definitive, incontrovertible, chief, principal, lavish, sumptuous, lofty, wonderful)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excellent
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Singular (superiority)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exceptional
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unusual
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uncommon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remarkable
. . . . . . . . . Heavenly
. . . . . . . . . . . . Celestial
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethereal
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unworldly
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unearthly
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preternatural
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extraordinary
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nonrecurring
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychic (immaterial)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychogenic
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ideal
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Archetype
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Idea
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Transcendent
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perfect (pure, certain, complete, absolute, total, unequivocal,)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Immaterial
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intangible
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Otherworldly
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Supreme
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Superior
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Better
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Good (attractive, profitable, pleasant, agreeable, virtuous, true, wholesome, honorable, benevolent)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ultimate (eventual, best, fundamental, original)
. . . . . . . . . . . . Beatific (beatitude)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bounty
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Generosity
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abundance
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Profusion
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extravagance
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Affluence
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Influx
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wealth
. . . . . . . . . . . . Delightful (gratification, satisfaction, pleasure)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Delight
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joy
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bliss
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Happiness
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prosperity
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Felicity
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paradise
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eden
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heaven (everlasting, communion)
. . . Spiritual (phenomena)
. . . . . . Incorporeal
. . . . . . . . . Corporeal
. . . . . . Spiritualistic
. . . . . . Sacred
______________________________________________________________________________
Synonyms:
Numinous
. . . Miraculous
. . . . . . Marvelous
. . . . . . . . . Astonishing
. . . . . . . . . . . . Astonish
. . . Superhuman
. . . Arcane
. . . . . . Secret
. . . . . . . . . Esoteric
. . . . . . Obscure
. . . Cabalistic
. . . Impenetrable (inaccessible)
. . . . . . Impervious
. . . . . . Inscrutable
. . . . . . . . . Scrutiny
. . . Unaccountable
. . . . . . Inexplicable
. . . . . . Strange
. . . . . . . . . Unfamiliar
. . . Unknowable
. . . Understanding
. . . Guess
. . . . . . Believe
. . . . . . . . . Love
. . . . . . . . . Think


- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:00 AM

 
"GLORY, HALLELUJAH!"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

I’d like to begin today with some scripture, specifically from the book of John, chapter 12, verses 44-50:

“Jesus cried out, saying He who believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me.

“And he who sees me has already seen him who sent me.

“I have come into the world as the light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.

“And he who hears my words, and does not obey them, I will not judge him; for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

“He who oppresses me and does not receive my words, there is one who will judge him; the word which I have spoken, it will judge him at the last day.

“For I did not speak of myself; but the Father who sent me, he commanded me what to say and what to speak.

“And I know that his commandment is life everlasting; these things therefore which I speak, just as my Father told me, so I speak.”

Today is what is known in the Christian church as Palm Sunday. This is Easter season. It is a time of year that is very important to Christians. In fact, if it were not for the rituals and beliefs that underlie the Easter season, there probably would be no Christianity to speak of today. "Well, how can that be so?" you might ask. Well, at one time the largest religion in the world was Zoroastrianism. It was a phenomenal influence in the world. Yet today there are fewer than 30,000 Zoroastrians throughout the entire world. The religion lost its importance after the death of Zoroaster. Rituals were created to perpetuate the faith, but they didn’t have enough foundational meaning to keep the beliefs alive and growing. To this day, thousands of years later, the rituals are misunderstood and Zoroastrians are still persecuted for their beliefs.

It’s amazing that human beings seem to have such a propensity for condemning one another for our differences when we were created by God to be different. Researchers in the field of genetic cloning have discovered that in spite of their ability to create apparently exact physical duplicates of animals, nevertheless the animals are not the same. They are different. We are all different. We are all unique. We are all special creations of God.

What a miracle for us to realize our uniqueness during this season of miracles. Probably about 80 billion human beings have lived upon this planet, of which 6 billion are alive today, and yet no two of us are alike. Nor have there ever been any duplicates. Remember the old line about how God must have thrown away the mold after making you? Well, it’s true. Every mold is destroyed after just one use, so to speak.

And so, 2,000 years ago, we find a simple, unique, individual human being growing up in the squalor and the political hard times of what we refer today as the Middle East. The center of what’s referred to as the fertile crescent. Within the crescent formed by the eastern end of the Mediterranean Ocean we have the Romans, the Greeks, the Turks, the Jews, the Egyptians, and, later, the Muslims. Such an incredible heritage of questing for knowledge and understanding. A hotbed of ongoing struggle that continues right up to this day.

And in the midst of that seething searching for the truth, the son of a simple craftsman grew up intuiting an inner knowing of his true spiritual origins and the reality of his being. Have any of you ever read anything by Nikos Kazantzakis? In Greece, Kazantzakis is almost like a national hero. He was a writer of great renown in this past century. He produced incredibly beautiful novels dealing with a wide array of philosophical ideas. Even if you don’t know about Kazantzakis, you know of him if you have ever seen the movie “Zorba The Greek,” for Kazantakis wrote the book. And then there is his book, “Saint Francis,” which carries the following dedication from Dr. Albert Schweitzer, “Dedicated to the Saint Francis of our era.” In Greece Kazantzakis is a national treasure on a level like William Faulkner or Walt Whitman is in the United States.

But Kazantzakis will perhaps best be known, at least in this country, because of Martin Scorsese’s adaptation to film of Kazantzakis’ book, “The Last Temptation of Christ.” Those who condemn it usually are those who not only haven’t seen the movie, but even more, haven’t even read the book. I’d like to share the beginning of the prologue to "The Last Temptation of Christ," with you this morning:

“The dual substance of Christ – the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain to God or, more exactly, to return to God and identify himself with him – has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. This nostalgia for God, at once so mysterious and so real, has opened in me large wounds and also large flowing springs.

“My principle anguish and the source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh.

“Within me are the dark immemorial forces of the Evil One, human and pre-human; within me too are the luminous forces, human and pre-human, of God – and my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met.

“The anguish has been intense. I loved my body and did not want it to perish; I loved my soul and did not want it to decay. I have fought to reconcile these two primordial forces which are so contrary to each other to make them realize that they are not enemies but, rather, fellow workers, so that they might rejoice in their harmony – and so I might rejoice with them.”

This is the battle we all fight in reconciling the spirit expressing through this physical form. And it is a battle expressed very beautifully and forcefully in Scorcese’s movie and, of course, in this book.

Kazantzakis finishes the prologue by saying:

“This book was written because I wanted to offer a supreme model to the man who struggles; I wanted to show him that he must not fear pain, temptation or death – because all three can be conquered, all three have already been conquered. Christ suffered pain, and since then pain has been sanctified. Temptation fought until the very last moment to lead him astray, and temptation was defeated. Christ died on the Cross, and at that instant death was vanquished forever.

“Every obstacle in his journey became a milestone, an occasion for further triumph. We have a model in front of us now, a model who blazes our trail and gives us strength.

“This book is not a biography; it is the confession of every man who struggles. In publishing it I have fulfilled my duty, the duty of a person who struggled much, was much embittered in his life, and had many hopes. I am certain that every free man who reads this book, so filled as it is with love, will more than ever before, better than ever before, love Christ.”

It’s hard for me to understand why so-called Christians objected so much to Scorcese’s motion picture adaptation of Kazantzakis’ homage to the Christ. Though not a biography of Jesus, it is a perspective of Jesus as seen through the eyes of a man who is searching for his own identity, meaning, and a relationship to the man Jesus and his teachings. From that struggle and search has sprung a beautiful story of a man who, like each of us, had to struggle with temptation and the desire to run from the true self, but who, unlike us, set the supreme example and overcame the fear and the struggle.

So here we are in the season in which the institutional church marks this final sacrifice, this final testament, of one man to the truth of his being in a way which has affected the lives of millions of other people for thousands of years. Over the years, a number of rituals have formed around these events. For many people, the rituals have become so intertwined with the original events that it’s hard for them to sort through the ritual and rediscover the principles that the rituals were created to protect and perpetuate.

This season begins with Lent, a time of fasting, a time of concentrating on the truth of our being rather than being enslaved to the world of appearances. But the demands of Lent sometimes become so powerful that they come to have the same control over us as the appearances. We are more interested in the guilt and absolution surrounding the things which we are denying than we are with the principle behind the act of self-denial. And isn’t this the way we so often are around any new endeavor.

Now, I’ve never been one who was very good with classic ritual. Oh, don’t get me wrong, even though I grew up in Unity, the pomp and the circumstance and the music of the more orthodox church fascinates me. But I’m not really up on all of the ins and outs of these age-old religious habits. A good example of that was when I was 30. I had gotten a temporary job with a company that manufactured medical products. I was working with the comptroller on the end of the year financial statement. One afternoon, he was gone a longer time than usual around lunch, and when he returned, he had a smudge of dirt on his face.

The rest of the afternoon I had a running battle within myself about whether or not I should point out the dirt on his face. But no one else said anything about it. So, neither did I. The dirt, of course, turned out to be ash, and it was on his forehead, and the day was Ash Wednesday. But I had never seen anyone with ash on their forehead before, nor have I seen the sign of the ash in the 25 years since that experience. Guess he was just very committed to the ritual. But it was an alien experience to me.

The time of self-denial is to prepare us for the final week of the season leading up to Easter. This is the time when Jesus and his disciples return to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. And that time is, of course, for Jesus, a preparation for the crucifixion to come. Jesus is aware of what awaits him in Jerusalem. His words and his works have spread and they have been determined by the institutions of the time to be a treat to their continuation with “business as usual.”

You know, Jesus’ teachings were a threat to both the political and the religious institutions of his time. And that hasn’t changed. His teachings are just as much a threat to those same institutions today. Actually, even more so. And the reason is that the institutions have become more polished. Therefore they have much more to lose.

That’s something that the church doesn’t deal with very directly: the incredible gap between the teachings of Jesus and the structures of our society. That’s why the orthodox church’s emphasis has always been in the “afterlife,” sometime after we leave this physical plane. And that’s because the church doesn’t believe that the teachings of Jesus can work in the here and now. (Oops, I think that was probably some form of blasphemy, a “sin” once resulting in death for the sinner.) Now, I realize that that’s a pretty harsh accusation, but when we look at church history and church actions, it’s hard to come to any other conclusion.

But things are beginning to change. Pope John Paul has had the courage and the insight to declare that heaven and hell are states of mind, rather than places, and he has further admitted that the church has committed horrendous crimes against humanity over the centuries, for which it is now finally ready to admit and seek forgiveness.

Why is this happening finally, now? Well, dear friends, for whatever reasons, we are each of us present right now as witnesses to, and participants in, an accelerated growth period in the unfoldment of humanity, and which is of unprecedented proportions. We have recently mapped the entire genome code. That means that we now can know the relationship between the encoded instructions of our DNA genetic makeup and the final product that each of us is. With that knowledge, it will be possible to alter human beings in what were, up to now, unimaginable ways.

Computer speeds are advancing at a rate that is beyond the market’s ability to keep pace. It won’t be long before people will have computers strapped to their wrists just like a watch. Yeah, the days of Dick Tracy and Diet Smith have finally arrived.

Alternative sources for energy are beginning to make their way into everyday technology. When the momentum of that change takes off, the pollution created by fossil fuels will begin to disappear. The damage that has been done to the environment will be cleaned up.

Coinciding with the introduction of unlimited renewable energy sources will be breakthroughs in anti-gravity. In our children’s lifetime it will be possible to visit the stars. That’s right. Star Trek is your grandchildren’s legacy from you and your ancestors.

The economy of the world is undergoing tremendous growth mixed with artificial fluxuations. This will be superceded by a new economy based upon metaphysics. The tremendous wealth that is currently being created by the information age will begin to be distributed to the peoples of the world. Standards of living will rise at a phenomenal rate all over the world. It will be impossible to deny equal opportunity to everyone.

Education will leave the static classroom and enter the home through the world’s internets. That’s right. There is more than one internet, already. Everyone will have the opportunity to become a student and return to whatever studies they choose. Current school buildings will become community centers where people will come together and work with one another on projects that emerge from their new educational efforts.

To facilitate the social impact of these changes, whole new areas of working with other people will offer people the opportunity to help others to discover and develop their unique potential.

But that’s all just the superficial stuff of appearance. The reason behind all of this incredible growth and change is the incredible rise and expansion of human consciousness. If you do not believe that statement, then you are devoting far too much time to watching television, listening to the radio, and reading newspapers and magazines. Look around you. Talk with others. Listen to what they really have to say. You’ll discover, to your extreme pleasure, that the desire to discover one’s true self is more alive now than ever before. It is even there in those who appear least interested in expressing their hidden potential.

There are breakthroughs being discovered and work being done in treating the numerous maladies that have accumulated over the years in these bodies of appearance which we all inhabit. There are incredible approaches in physical work, energy work, mental work, emotional work, and spiritual work in assisting people to free themselves from the bondages of appearance.

There is an amazing explosion in spiritual awareness currently taking place all over the planet. If you are not aware of that, then you need to get your head out of the sand. Stop kidding yourself. Stop concentrating on the world of appearance. Recognize and accept the Christ within yourself and within others and you will see wonders beyond your wildest imagination.

After 2,000 years, the second coming of Christ is finally upon us. But it is not here in the arrival of a revelational sword swinging Jesus on a horse leading the hordes of heaven. It is here in the subtle awareness of each individual of the Christ nature within each of us and the resulting efforts to allow that Christ nature to come into fuller expression in one’s life and affairs. And if you don’t see that, then you’d better wake up or you’re going to find yourself increasingly isolated from those around you.

Now, this phenomenal transition is not easy. Every new breakthrough in life essentially destroys the culture from which it springs. That’s happening right now. We are moving towards a unified world. There are people who are opposed to that. You know them. Each of you knows someone who is opposed to what they call “the new world order.” But they’re caught up in the appearances. If you, or anyone else thinks that the people who call the economic and political shots in the world have even the slightest inkling what is going on, think again. They are clueless. They’re just thrashing around in an effort to not be sucked under by the churning of change.

For those living outside of major industrialized cities, it’s possible to lose touch with the pulse of what is going on in the rest of the world. The media offers a glimpse of what is happening, but it is a clouded, slanted glimpse that is designed to appeal to the naturally curious, prurient nature that hides within each of us. Don’t be fooled. Keep alert. Avail yourself of whatever opportunities present themselves to help you understand the positive aspects of the changes which are taking place.

Jesus gave his life that we might live in the light of his teaching. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Upon this foundation rest the other commandments.

Next week we will be examining the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is a story that has been distorted for thousands of years. Next week I will tell you what I believe really happened, both the gory and the glory. You, too, can experience a resurrection in your life this year.

It’s all merely a matter of choosing to be and then following through with the choice. The rest takes care of itself.

In his book, “St. Francis,” Kazantzakis writes: “I said to the almond tree, ‘Sister, speak to me of God.’ And the almond tree blossomed.”

And so I say to each of you this morning, “Brothers and sisters, speak to me of God.”

- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM