First, I’ve lived in poverty myself–dirt floor house, not much food, electricity in one room, wood stove to cook on, raising our food to eat, no heat in the winter, etc. I believe that we were able to get out of that situation because my parents were white and they were educated.  (Unfortunately, the color of ones skin still makes a difference.) But the main reason, I believe, is because, to some extent, they chose that lifestyle.

In my work with a large child sponsorship organization in the 90s, I came to understand poverty, not as a lack of material things, but a lack of choice. People who are truly poor have no choices. That is what keeps them in poverty.

So, materially, there are two kinds of poverty. One is what Br. Ramiero Cantalamessa calls, in his book Poverty, “negative material poverty” and the other is “positive material poverty.” The negative is that which is dehumanizing and a social condition that is endured. The second is poverty which liberates and raises people (through what I would call “detachment”) and is an evangelical ideal which is to be cultivated.1

Real material poverty does not only dehumanize the person, but it is a reflection on the society that causes or ignores it. Tolerating poverty is unacceptable. We are to care for the poor in the sense of taking action not mere sentiment.

This poses so many problems. When communities were small and not linked together across the world via the internet, cell phones, etc., the ideal of almsgiving–making sure everyone within the community had enough, was a much more achievable goal than it is today.

Today the world suffers from “compassion fatigue”, a numbness to the overwhelming suffering in the world. Therefore, that state of mind, heart, and soul renders us an apathy that is far more deadly to those who suffer poverty than any other attitude, including hatred. But this numbness is due to the fact that our brains can only compute and process so much before it is overwhelmed with incoming information and shorts out.

But, there is a poverty that is chosen, perhaps better described today as simplicity. This type of poverty frees one from being owned by possessions and unnecessary excess beyond one’s basic needs. The spiritual and religious folks have understood this in all spiritual development and that is that one cannot draw deeper and deeper into the heart of the Absolute while attached to material, carnal desires.

It is impossible to completely give oneself over to the Christ requiring heart, mind, soul, Spirit, and strength, if one is holding onto to possessions.  Lest you think I have freed myself from possessions, let me be honest in admitting this is an ideal that is still unfolding for me. But, I have tasted a lack of possessions and also an abundance, and while the mind tricks one into feeling secure in material ways, my heart often longs for the days when I lived on faith alone. But, becoming free and detached from this world, and staying in that suspended place, is hard.

A more important reason in choosing poverty, is the connection it has with our brothers and sisters who suffer involuntary poverty. It is an acknowledgement that the resources, which are available to all, must be shared. The earth has given us all that is needed to sustain life, and like greedy children at a table, a few grab and steal all the food leaving the rest hungry. Who would put up with such a display of inconsiderate behavior? And yet we do, every day.

Living simply is a step towards leaving enough food on the table for others to eat. It also leaves us free and unattached, removing the barriers between us and God. It is a clean feeling compared to the sticky, groggy feeling of having had too much to eat or drink. It is the same with all material things, I am just using food and drink as an example. Too much of anything weighs us down and puts our hearts and souls to sleep–yes, lulling us into an apathetic state of not caring.

One must look at the goal of detachment in smaller bits that can easily be dealt with. Going from excess to bare minimum in ones possessions is to frightening and too harsh. I advocate a plan of breaking down the areas where one is obsessed or greedy. For example, I buy too many books. Using a library or book exchange is a first step towards breaking that need to possess. Honestly, if I just read every book on my shelves now, I would never need to own another one!

And in prayer and meditation, we begin again the inner work of letting go of the temptation, even addiction, to possess these material things, making space for the Sacred One.

More on poverty to come…

1. Rameiro Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, Poverty, (Alba House New York, Society of St. Paul, 1997) xi.

Laurence Freeman, in good company with many other spiritual leaders past and present, suggests that the secret of life is forgiveness.  Not very exotic, but extremely challenging.

Think over the course of your life and try to discern where the hardness of heart has set in, where you have been and remain unhappy, what has a hold on you that keeps you from inner freedom and peace? Has the refusal or inability to forgive played a role perhaps?

Hang on to resentment for too long and you will find a cancer growing in you, eating a way at peace and one’s ability to love. When we allow negativity to take root in our minds, we find they lock into our hearts, minds and soul like cement which is almost impossible to break free.

In meditation and prayer one learns the work of attention–and that attention is Love. Silence is the work of meditation. Catching those negative thoughts before they cement themselves in us is tackled in meditation and they are sent away as we guard our hearts.

We are careless with our thoughts, we are careless with our hearts. Individually we allow negativity to take root and then we carry this into our communities. We wrap God in our group identity making our group identity an idol. God is not a puppet in our arsenals, Freeman reminds us, and yet we brandish God like a gun. We can see in our own times, as well as the past, that we continually succumb to God wars, making God in our own images.  When those images don’t all look the same, then someone has to have the best God, and so history repeats itself.

Jesus the Christ taught forgiveness, but often we take the banner of religion to justify revenge. It’s downright primitive when we use God to justify the sacrifice of our enemies. Yet, forgiveness is the highest of all human ideals in all the wisdom traditions and Jesus makes it an absolute commandment. But, I again remind the reader, that without prayer, meditation and the true grace of God, forgiveness will be a fleeting ideal.

In fact, it is so difficult for we humans to let go of our hurt, anger, frustration, resentment, and fear–and often these are natural and reasonable responses to the harm we have experienced–that to suggest anything less than divine assistance is naive. In meditation we detach from these fears and our selves and let Love begin the process. It is a difficult, scary undertaking and requires the courage and the desire to let Love win.

Following are some suggested steps to forgiveness, also presented as stages of the heart. I hope you will find them helpful and will think about them before dismissing them after one skim through.

1. Acknowledge feelings of hate and revenge.
2. Become aware that this state of mind is like a poison likely to spread.
3. Ask if you really want to stop it and detoxify or do you want to hang on to it?
4. If you really want to stop it spreading–call the enemy to mind.
5. Ask yourself–what led the person to do what they did? Don’t expect an answer.
6. Meditate–take attention off self and the situation.
7. Reality check–how do you feel?
8. Persevere with practice (now one could blog for weeks just on this step!)
9. You will find, over time, that anger and hurt and pain and desire for revenge has been replaced by compassion.
10. You will eventually find you are free from imprisonment.

I ask you to meditate for 20 minutes, 2 times a day, for two weeks before you dismiss this idea. Forgiveness is not so much about letting the other person off the hook, but about setting yourself free.

A Royal Wedding

The Mystical Christ | May 1, 2011 at 12:51 pm | Categories: Lessons | URL: http://wp.me/p14ZKN-9I

The highest form of love in Western Christian Mysticism is romantic love. Its correlate in yoga is "illicit love." What? Yes, that’s right. Bhakti yoga, according to mythologist Joseph Campbell, has five levels of spiritual devotion, each level bringing one closer to the realization of the God Self within:

Loving God as a servant loves his master

Loving God as a friend loves a friend

Loving God as a mother loves her child

Loving God as a spouse

Loving God as a lover

Arthur and Guinevere

When one chooses to love another freely, without being impelled by tradition or the rules of the social order in which he or she lives, this is considered the highest form of love, because it is of the heart, not of the mind. The mind loves rules; the heart loves love. The mind seeks to justify its own imaginings; the heart seeks balance through union with God, to be in sync with the entire cosmos. And it is this union that brings fulfillment of life, without which there can be no spiritual realization.

Lancelot and Guinivere

Principal among the foundational myths for Western Mysticism are the Arthurian Legends. The marriage of Arthur and Guinevere is arranged by the Court. They love because it is politically expedient. The love between Guinevere and Lancelot is illegal; it is outside the bounds of the social order. The legend, whether literal or not, is a symbolic representation of the principle of romantic love. Romantic love was considered "illegal" because it could not be controlled by society and therefore threatened the cohesion of the clan or state. It posed all sorts of legal problems concerning property and inheritance, and it undermined the authority of the political leaders. Loving God as a "lover" undermines the authority of the religious leaders (even those within our own head) because it implies a direct relationship with God, not one that can be mediated by the Church. Internally, the mind wants to control the heart, allowing only those feelings that conform to its predetermined "truths."

Written in Stone

Jesus made the distinction between following the Commandments out of duty and following them out of love. Actions mean nothing if they do not arise out of the heart. When the young rich man told Jesus that he had followed all of the Commandments since birth, Jesus told him he had to let go of his ideas about what the Commandments mean, to strip his heart of the vestments of the mind before he would be admitted as a disciple. He had to want it not as an ideal but from an ardent desire.

This latest marriage of a member of the Royal Family to a commoner symbolizes this principle of "illicit love." It has captured the collective unconscious as no fairy tale ever could, because of the way it shadows deeper symbols. The word "royal" is mystical jargon for the throne of God, the Christ. Kings and Queens symbolically represent God’s presence on earth, which is the source of their "divine right." Mystically, it is the Christ within us, our direct connection with God, that enthrones our conscience as the highest authority in our life. This is why the individual is so important in Western Christian Mysticism. Here, a person must act in accordance with his or her highest knowing and not out of the need to conform to society’s rules. Here, we transcend the lower ego by purging it of the base metals of animal desire, revealing our true nature as Christed beings. The animal becomes human, and the human becomes God. This is the divine alchemy of transformation.

Though arranged marriages have long since vanished in the West, one has to ask whether it has merely slipped below the radar. What kind of relationship with God do we allow ourselves to have. Can we have the experience of being the object of God’s desire? Can we let God want us? The key to this is how we see ourselves. Are we commoners unworthy of love, or can we see through our limited self to the Divine Self within? What is It that seeks to express Itself through this mortal coil? And what is our relationship with It?

Cosmic Egg

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It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you god?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said.

“What about them?”

“Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”

“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.

“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”

“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”

“Where you come from?” You said.

“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”

“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”

“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”

“Just me? What about everyone else?”

“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations of you.”

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human being who ever lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

You thought for a long time.

“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”

“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”

“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way.

“Be still and know that I am God;” Psalm 46:10

While modern-day Christians often scoff at the suggestion of demons or evil powers, there are others who feel very certain that the presence of evil is a very real force in the world. It is easy to be cynical about the idea given that too often “the devil made me do it” mentality has afforded men and women the opportunity to deny responsibility for his or her actions. I’ve seen many abuses and rouses regarding “satan”.

Whatever your esoteric view of  ”evil”, though–a real presence or a degree on a scale, I have seen some pretty strange things in my travels around the world. I’ve had some firsthand encounters with voodoo, curses, walking into walls that do not appear to exist, shapeshifters, wrestling with strange beings, and a list of other phenomena. I learned from others who have dealt with this part of life on earth the power of prayers, rituals, disciplines, and more, to counter these events…and they worked.

But, what I find interesting is why the Christians and other religious were so terrified of folks who seemed to know a lot about these things and burned them at the stake? Is not an incantation a prayer? Can one who has been ordained into Holy Orders not discern words and actions and vibrations? I fear the church has murdered many who sought to protect her and her loyal servants because of fear of the unknown.

The Order of Exorcist is, in my opinion, a very valid and necessary function and this office should not, in any way, be taken lightly nor should it be regarded as an office of ancient significance rendering its present day functions as obsolete.

The ordinand is given a sword and a book as symbols of this office–symbols of defense and wisdom. “The book of exorcism, [which is no longer used], was handed to the candidate with the words: ‘Take and commit this to memory, and receive the power to lay hands on demoniacs, whether they be baptized or catechumens.’”

It is important that the ordinands rid their own minds and bodies of all uncleanness and darkness, but also taking up means of protection, creating a shield about one’s own heart and outer bodies. It is not an office for the weak of heart, but as the protection comes not from one’s own ability, but that of the Divine, it is possible.

Now that exorcisms are performed by ordained Priests, this is the time to begin to learn the art of dealing with the dark side of nature and principalities. Do not be tempted to see a witch behind every tree, however. Fear has no part in this role.

Another wise caution is given in the Charge read by the Bishop. “People of old thought of temptation as being due to the attacks of demons from without…[t]here lies behind each one of us a past which, since we are growing in grace, must have been less desirable that the present.” Do not  shirk responsibility of one’s own thoughts, desires, and actions. These battles may be greater than any outer “evil” you encounter. One’s will is to be developed to tackle one’s own selfishness and arrogance.

An exorcist is also a healer, and training oneself to be a channel of the healing power from the Holy Ones, is quite possibly the best training one can receive as an exorcist. Through the healing energies, one is able to alleviate much suffering and affliction. And, as one advances towards the office of a Priest, one grows in the ability to offer healing for all, as the Eucharist itself is the powerful outflowing of all “Love and Light and Blessing through all the worlds which You have made.”

Wise women also came.
The fire burned
in their wombs
long before they saw
the flaming star
in the sky.
They walked in shadows,
trusting the path
would open
under the light of the moon.

Wise women also came,
seeking no directions,
no permission
from any king.
They came
by their own authority,
their own desire,
their own longing.
They came in quiet,
spreading no rumors,
sparking no fears
to lead
to innocents’ slaughter,
to their sister Rachel’s
inconsolable lamentations.

Wise women also came,
and they brought
useful gifts:
water for labor’s washing,
fire for warm illumination,
a blanket for swaddling.

Wise women also came,
at least three of them,
holding Mary in the labor,
crying out with her
in the birth pangs,
breathing ancient blessings
into her ear.

Wise women also came,
and they went,
as wise women always do,
home a different way.

Progressing through the levels of one’s being, an ordinand begins with control of the physical body, then trains the emotions for service, and now must tackle the daunting task of training one’s thoughts.

We are not who we think we are, especially when we begin this path of service, a path that leads beyond this earthly veil. We are not our bodies; we are not what we feel; we are not our mind.

We can become quite enamored with our thoughts; it’s very seductive–those thoughts we think distinguish us. But, there is nothing new under the sun and our thoughts are to be given for service, once again. Thoughts can be very powerful, both interiorly and exteriorly, and we can become enslaved by them. They can be as tempting as gold and our greed for cleverness can consume us, if we are not careful. The more clever, the more we know of the danger of enslaving others or using our words as weapons.

To this end, the training of one’s thoughts is imperative if one desires the way of holiness. Humility is hard-learned when one’s thoughts charm the way one thinks and speaks. Our thoughts are not to edify us, but God.

There is new scientific evidence that the heart does indeed, as mystics and teachers have said for centuries, have its own brain. In fact, this brain controls a more powerful nervous system that the one controlled by the brain in the head. When one learns to “breathe” and “think” through this heart-brain coherence, one is able to control ones thoughts and reactions.  (See the Institute of Heart Math and the Global Coherence Initiative.)

Careful training of one’s thoughts comes through meditation and prayer–learning to listen. In mediation, one becomes acutely aware of the wandering mind, the mind’s fight for control, and the need for concentration. One must put to the test all one studies and writes and thinks and speaks through care-full attentiveness in silence.

As with the emotions, repressing and resisting undesirable thought only leads to it taking a stronger hold. One must, again, face full-on what one fears. Again and again, holding out these thoughts to be cleansed, unafraid of retaliation for they are given into the hands of Love. The pure energy of Love absorbs what we despise and makes all things new.

We learn, then, to seek the “gems” in each person we meet, and let go of the selfish ego tendency to hunt for flaws. We no longer need to feel above another. What a freeing step this can be, but one that needs continual attentiveness.

The path of Holy Orders demands that we take this Office of Reader very seriously. To learn the control of one’s thoughts and the expression of them, one will be fit to “help train and develop the minds of others”. More precisely, one can more helpfully guide another to learn this discipline.

The final charge given by the Bishop after having admitted the candidate into the Order of Reader underscores the importance of the charge: “Study diligently the sacred science, that thou mayest the better be able to devote thy mind and all its powers to the service of God.”

So be it!