Life is a Journey, Why Not Share it?

Why is it that religious zealots always give god credit for the good things, but never the bad? Seems one sided, don’t you think?

The story of Supply Side Jesus actually shares an important message we can all learn from. In the end it has what I would consider overall to be a “Pro-Christian” message, but more importantly, it demonstrates the hypocrisy and greed that has consumed American Christianity as a whole. Seemed to me that there would be no more appropriate day than Christmas to share such a video. Enjoy, Learn, Think!

Comments always welcome.

If you ever feel like you are trying too hard, you probably are! Who said that effort and striving are the keys to success? I think the Beatles were on to something in their classic song when they advised that we simply “Let It Be.” Verse 47 of the Tao Te Ching suggests that effort and striving, along with the struggling, worrying, stressing, fretting and agonizing that we can’t seem to resist, are behaviors that actually keep us from experiencing the harmony and sense of completion that are part of our connection to the Divine Order. What if we learned to live by being rather than trying? “Without going out the door, know the world. Without looking out the window, you may see the ways of heaven,” says the Tao. For example, consider how the beating of your heart, the inhaling and exhaling of your breath, and a myriad of other life functions take place without effort from you, even as you are reading these words. You are a single beat in the one heart that is humanity. The Divine is at work within you, moving you toward your life purpose. Let yourself be guided and see what happens when you simply “let it be.”

Namaste

I had to smile at a friend’s response to the recent scary rollercoaster of economic news that people are facing these days. “Chill out and go to work!” It’s a great way of reminding us to take a deep breath and focus on what’s really important. Here’s something to think about: There are no times of financial crisis. It’s just the way the world is, and you always have a choice about how to react to it. Don’t listen to negative news and don’t be consumed by the worry, the fear, the anxiety, and the anger. Go within and know that you don’t need another penny to have a fulfilled and happy life. To believe that you need what you don’t have is a definition of insanity. Go within your own heart and don’t allow yourself to be brought down by the negativity.

There are only two emotions—fear and love. Go with love. Love yourself, love others, and know that you have within you the capacity and the power to weather through all times, not only to weather through but to make them work for you, and to turn them around. If enough of us begin to act and believe and live this way then negativity and fear will no longer be part of our consciousness. You can live peacefully even when there is tumult around you. Just know that you have the power to weather anything.

Namaste

One of my favorite quotes is this: “The law of floatation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things.” Think about this observation by one of the great philosophers of the early 20th century, Thomas Troward. In the early days of shipbuilding, ships were made of wood, and the reasoning was that wood floats in water and iron sinks. Yet today, ships all over the world are built of iron and steel. As people began studying the law of floatation, it was discovered that anything could float if it’s lighter than the mass of liquid it displaces.

The key word in Troward’s quote is contemplating, or what you’re placing your thoughts on. You can’t discover the law of co-creation if you’re contemplating what’s missing. You can’t discover the power of awakening if you’re contemplating things that are still asleep. The secret to manifesting anything that you desire is your willingness and ability to realign yourself so that your inner world is in harmony with the power of intention. Every single modern advance that you see and take for granted was created by someone contemplating what they intended to manifest.

The way to establish a relationship with Spirit and access the power of this creating principle is to continuously contemplate yourself surrounded by the conditions you wish to produce. Dwell on the idea of a supreme infinite power producing the results that you desire. This power is the creative power of the universe.

The Wright brothers didn’t contemplate the staying on the ground of things. Alexander Graham Bell didn’t contemplate the noncommunication of things. Thomas Edison didn’t contemplate the darkness of things. In order to float an idea into your reality, you must be willing to take a flying leap into the abyss of the inconceivable and land on your feet, contemplating what you want instead of what you don’t have.

Namaste

A Christian friend of mine recent made the following post on FaceBook,

“The thing that gets me is that so many Muslims are willing to die for their faith, yet Christians are afraid to live just as radical. I’m not saying Christians should become suicide bombers, by no means. But Christians should be willing to die to their flesh”

This statement nicely sums up everything that absolutely terrifies me about faith, and the faithful. To me it is a horrifying notion that someone would espouse belief to the point of being willing to die for your faith as virtuous. It is not. This sort of zeal can only serve to divide people. It serves to draw lines and separate us into groups so that we might side us, versus them, and frankly, I think it is disturbing.

When we begin to have faith in our beliefs that are so strong, that we become absolutely convinced that we are right, then we also make concrete in our mind the notion that all others must therefore be wrong. This leads to hate, violence and civil unrest. America is a melting pot, we are a society made great by our diversity, by our differences, to discourage that weakens the very fabric of our society.

Why should someone be disappointed that more people of their faith are not willing to “die of the flesh”? (Side note: Is there any other way to die?) I would contend that it is a good thing that most Christians are neither willing to die nor kill for their beliefs. To claim that the willingness of radical Muslims to martyr themselves is a virtue, is to discredit the fact that Christianity is nearly 800 years more advance in it’s evolution than Islam. It is saying that the progress of the last 800 years should not have happened. It flies in the face of a peaceful and tolerant society. Let us not forget that 800 years ago Christians were burning “witches“, making use of slave labor, and beheading people for the “crime” of heresy.  Would anyone actually want to return to that? Certainly no sane person would.

Over the last 800 years, Christians have grown, matured and become more tolerant, which is a remarkably positive change that has been embraced by society with the exception of a few right wing radicals who have become more vocal (mostly thanks to the internet) supporters of fundamentalism. It is almost always these fundamentalists who are the loudest, and bring the most discredit and shame to their faith, these are the people who kill doctors and blow-up abortion clinics. Is that something people do in a civil society? Honestly, would the Christian deity Jesus Christ have condoned the killing of people? Since when is it the place of mortals to pass judgement upon people, isn’t that the purview of god himself?

Judaism is even older than Christianity, and generally even more tolerant. You don’t here much about too many radical Jewish organizations, and most radical Jews are political radicals more than religious radicals.  The evolution of the Abrahamic religions is clearly evident.

I think the primary thing that all people should understand is this… Your faith does not invalidate the beliefs of anyone else. Nor do their beliefs in any way invalidate or lessen your own beliefs. Tolerance, peace and goodwill are all virtues which lead to a strong, prosperous and civil society. Is it sad that more people of faith are not willing to “die of their flesh” for their beliefs? Absolutely not, it’s a good thing. It’s a sign of progress. Because people can be very strong in their personal beliefs without having to force them on others, and without living in a homogeneous culture.

Question faith, and question authority ALWAYS.  I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes…

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. ”  ~Buddha

As always, comments are welcome, please let me know what you think!

by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
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This text was kindly supplied on 17th May 1993 by Phil Calvert

Reprinted, with permission, from the Spring 1993 issue of Snow Lion Newsletter and Catalog.

Rinchen Dharlo, the representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama in N. America asked to have the following article printed. It is very relevant for Westerners to consider these thoughts carefully and for all of us to do what we can.

I am very happy today to communicate with all of you American Buddhists from [the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center], the oldest of the Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers in America. It is encouraging to note the present spread of  Tibetan Buddhism, some 1000 centers around the world with over 250 in the United States alone. As I often say, Buddhism has a special gift for helping people calm their minds and learn to live more happily. In the midst of what can accurately be called “the Buddhist holocaust” of the 20th century, we Tibetans were forced into exile by the Chinese invasion of our homeland. Since then, we have been privileged to share the gifts of Buddhism with fellow beings of other nations, who all must face the countless difficulties of life in our restless, anxious, modern world. Perhaps the only good thing that has come from our tragedy is the spread of the teaching and practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

Read more

by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche

Many great Buddhist masters have prophesied that centuries from
now, when the forces of aggression amass on earth and no reason can
turn them back, the kingdom of Shambhala will open its gates and its
enlightened warriors will come forth into battle. Whoever they
encounter will be given a choice–turn away from non virtue to virtue
or, by direct, wrathful intervention, be liberated into a pure land
beyond suffering.

A Buddhist story tells of a ferry captain whose boat was carrying
500 bodhisattvas in the guise of merchants. A robber on board planned
to kill everyone and pirate the ship’s cargo.

The captain, a bodhisattva himself, saw the man’s murderous
intention and realized this crime would result in eons of torment for
the murderer. In his compassion, the captain was willing to take
hellish torment upon himself by killing the man to prevent karmic
suffering that would be infinity greater than the suffering of the
murdered victims. The captain’s compassion was impartial; his
motivation was utterly selfless.

Now, as I write this, the Middle East is inflamed with war.
Watching the television news, I pray that this war will prevent
greater wars, greater suffering, and that those opposed to war develop
the skills to bring about authentic peace. We cannot fully discern
the motivation of any participants involved in the conflict, but it is
unlikely that many have the ability to bring about ultimate liberation
for friends and enemies alike, or that they will be able to sustain
the bodhisattva’s impartial compassion as they engage in conflict.

What we can know is our own minds. We can adhere to Buddhist ideals
in our activities, whether we are combatants, protestors, decision-
makers or concerned witnesses. We can pray that whatever virtue there
is in the situation prevails, that genuine peace be established. The
Buddha has taught that throughout countless lifetimes all beings have
been our parents and have shown us great kindness. Now they have
fallen under the sway of the mind’s poisons of desire, anger,
ignorance, and they suffer terribly. Could we exclude any from our
compassion any more than the sun could exclude any from the warmth and
radiance of its rays.

As we aspire to peace, now and in the future cycles of our
existence, we cannot deny the possibility that each of us may be
confronted with the need for wrathful intervention in order to prevent
greater harm. May the spiritual mining we undertake now allow us to
enter such situations free from the delusions of the mind’s poisons.
May we act with spontaneous compassion to bring ultimate liberation to
all alike, both victims and aggressors.

Now destined to make its way across the Internet: a new (and highly subjective) list of the top 10 worst Bible passages, as suggested by readers of Ship of Fools and announced by the webzine’s editor, Simon Jenkins, at the recent Greenbelt festival. The list was reported first by the Telegraph and then made its way, via some cyberintermediaries, to Episcopal Cafe, where I spotted it. I chose verse translations from the New American Bible. Without further ado, the list:

1. “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet.” (1 Timothy 2:12)
2. “Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.” (1 Samuel 15:3)
3. “You shall not let a sorceress live.” (Exodus 22:18)
4. “Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock.” (Psalm 137:9)
5. “When the men would not listen to his host, the husband seized his concubine and thrust her outside to them. They had relations with her and abused her all night until the following dawn, when they let her go. Then at daybreak the woman came and collapsed at the entrance of the house in which her husband was a guest, where she lay until the morning. When her husband rose that day and opened the door of the house to start out again on his journey, there lay the woman, his concubine, at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, ‘Come, let us go’; but there was no answer. So the man placed her on an ass and started out again for home.” (Judges 19:25-28)
6. “And the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.” (Romans 1:27)
7. “Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,’ he said, ‘whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord. I shall offer him up as a holocaust.’ … When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came forth, playing the tambourines and dancing. She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her. When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, ‘Alas, daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the Lord and I cannot retract’.” (Judges 11:30-1, 34-5)
8. “Then God said: ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you’.”(Genesis 22:2)
9. “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22)
10. “Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and equitable but also to those who are perverse.” (1 Peter 2:18)

What are your thoughts? Is the effort offensive? Instructive? Are there passages you would add to, or subtract from, this list?