Small tree monkeys move and chatter constantly.
Must be why they call the plight “monkey brain.”
Sometimes you sit to contemplate. Or maybe to solve a difficult problem.
But your brain is restless. Chattering. More a source of irritation than a tool for enlightenment.
Your only recourse is to recognize the monkey brain. Then do something.
Take a walk.
Fix breakfast.
Change location.
Brute force will not work. This I know.
We recently saw the latest version of The Lion King. Before the feature began, they showed a trailer for the remake of Cats.
The Lion King is a classic coming of age story. Only the characters are animals. With human characteristics, emotions, yearnings. And they speak really good English. Thank you to computational advancements and high resolution digital graphics.
Similarly with the presentation of TS Eliot’s classic poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Humans have done that with God for millennia.
Even though God is spirit as defined many times in the Bible and other sources, we like to imagine God as an old white man. (That’s us, I have seen God in the image of whatever ethnicity imagines what God looks like.)
This becomes an audacious attempt to limit God. Even though this being created the entire universe, we attempt to limit “him” to just being one of us.
Then we attempt to limit grace to people like us.
The movement about Grace Turned Outward attempts to bring people to the understanding that it’s not all about our group. It’s about spreading this spirit of God and Grace among everyone no matter the ethnicity or geography or present beliefs or what they eat or how they dress.
Animals talking make for entertaining stories.
Limiting God to being an old white guy in the clouds threatens to reduce God’s power in our lives and inhibit the spread of grace.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow.
God is with us in the present moment. The decision about what to read. Or how to react to another human. Or where to go. It at this moment. That is where we find God.
And there is only the moment.
Moments in the past are gone. Learn and forget.
Moments in the future have not arrived. Why worry?
What we do in this moment determines much of what will come in the future.
Give us this day our daily bread.
We pause in the moment to be fed by God. We must renew every day. And be filled every day, for we will use up the portion in service to the Creator.
And forgive us our sins.
Just as we are filled each day by the bread of God, so we ask for forgiveness for the things done and left undone that were part of our mission.
Every day is a new day. We live only in the todays. We ask to be filled with God’s spirit with the rising of the sun. We ask to be forgiven for yesterday’s shortcomings so that today we begin fresh. A new day. And there is only the present.
Freud may have invented psychotherapy. Not sure about that. Some psychologists think that he could have used a little therapy himself.
Early Christian writers probed deeply into the human soul and the many emotions and drives and desires. Their language may be a little weird to the modern ear. But if you pursue their meanings without cynicism, you will learn much.
For example, try explaining how people can take a thought that seeming springs from sound Biblical advice and twist it into cynicism, hate, dissension, and the like.
The anonymous author of the medieval classic The Cloud of Unknowing translated writings from the earliest Christian sources into Middle English. Some of the essays are translated into modern English and compiled into a The Pursuit of Wisdom and Other Works.
He writes (allow for ancient words, probe for meaning) in Discernment of Spirits:
Writing about the spirit of the world–Hence it is very necessary and helpful to know his cunning tricks, and not to be ignorant of his crafty deceits. (He) will sometimes change his likeness into that of an angel of light, in order that, under the color of virtue, he may do mor mischief. However, if we pay careful attention, what he does is to sow nothing but the seed of bitterness and discord, though at its first appearance it seems ever so holy and good.
We need to discern, that is become aware, of when we or others cloak dissension, bitterness, discord, and other such thoughts under the guise of sweetness and light.
Are we sowing peace and love as taught by Jesus, or is it more like “peace and love for me, but not for thee”?
Thus began the social media post–This is going to tick some people off, but….
What a great place for a pause.
Before continuing, a moment of awareness.
Why would I continue to write something to intentionally upset other people?
As a Christian person, especially, why do something like that?
Check out the advice of the apostle Peter in his first letter who expressly advises against such behavior. “Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles…”
You could plead freedom of speech.
But the free speech movement from the late 18th Century presupposed rational and responsible discourse. Definitely not the volleying of inflammatory opinions back and forth like cannon fire in a 19th Century battle.
A pause for the rise of awareness of myself and how I affect others is often called for.
Of course, you could be like a friend who followed the “but” with “I put pineapple on pizza.” Now that’s just simply gross, not offensive. And yes, the pepperoni (sorry those of you in Italy, that’s an American attempt at being Italian) and mushroom fans rose up in rebellion!
And sometimes a good laugh, or even just a chuckle, is the right response.
When we hold an opinion with aggression, no matter how valid the opinion may be, we are adding to the total aggression of the world.
Sometimes opinion merged with aggressions leaves us open to the spirit of evil.
Perhaps we don’t believe in the spirit of evil. We can believe what we want, but it does exist.
And sometimes that spirit of evil fills our minds and hearts. And we pick up weapons and begin acting out our aggression against those of whom our opinion tells us are hurting us.
People who practice nonaggression spread peace. The era unfolding before us invites us to be open to the spirit of nonaggression and peace.
Martin Buber was a Jewish philosopher and one of my early mentors through his books introducing me to the contemplative life.
He said once, “God’s grace consists precisely in this, that he wants to let himself be won by humanity, that he places himself, so to speak, into human hands. God wants to come to his world, but he wants to come to it through men and women. This is the mystery of our existence, the superhuman chance of humankind.”
A saying becoming popular in certain evangelical circles challenges people to “become the hands and feet of Jesus.”
We are challenged to pause and look at what we have done over the past day, week, month, year.
What is it that we have done that brought God into the world?
What will we do today to bring God into the world?
We remember the words of Jesus, whatever you have done for the least of these, my brothers, you have done for me.
I spend very little time scrolling through Facebook any more. Recently I saw one of those picture things that pass around instead of personal updates. Upon reflection, I sensed that here was an opportunity to refer to both AC/DC and Led Zeppelin in the same blog post on spirituality.
Someone compared “Highway to Hell” and “Stairway to Heaven” to the relative traffic toward those two destinations.
It’s supposed to bring a knowing chuckle to the “saved”.
But let’s reflect for a moment.
Why should we get satisfaction that we are on the stairway while the majority of God’s children are on the highway?
Should not we instead pray for God’s grace on all of these people?
I also have a feeling that many of people that one group would assume to be on the highway actually feel the same way in reverse.
Think of Jesus’ time. There were two groups–Pharisees and “tax collectors and sinners”.
The Pharisees thought they were the chosen few for the stairway (metaphorically speaking). Jesus never let an opportunity to poke at them pass. He, instead, hung out with the sinners and tax collectors.
Yes, I think instead of delight that our side is on the stairway while all those not like us–the majority–are on the downward highway, we should feel sadness and remorse and pray for God’s grace upon those of us with prideful thoughts and upon all who need it. That would be everyone.
I thought of ways we could pray:
God, please have grace upon all sinners. (That would include the prayer!)
God, please cure me of a vengeful and vindictive heart. Instead fill it with grace.
God, cure me of the pride in thinking that I’m on the stairway when it’s possible I’m not.
God, heal us from the taking joy in others’ misfortunes.
John Fischer teaches “Grace turned outward”. That’s a great thought. And an even better practice. Grace is not something to be hoarded within our small groups. It is something to share with the world.
On my other blog, I wrote about things schools should be teaching instead of focusing on subject matter. Typically they teach obedience. But they could be teaching creativity, thinking, communication, and the like and then apply to subject matter.
This list was floating around LinkedIn. I thought it was worth sharing. These are personal characteristics that require no talent. No matter what job or profession someone pursues, these characteristics will carry you to success. Not necessarily riches, but definitely to a successful life.
Most of these characteristics are things I talk about when I’m training soccer referees. These are relevant to anything. People who embody these are people you love being around.
People have heard of the benefits that come from meditation.
Many say, “I try to meditate. It’s hard.”
Yoda says, “Do or do not. There is no try.”
I advise sometimes another phrase to turn the word try back on itself. Try easy.
Better is to consider meditation a practice.
Michael Jordan shot jump shots over and over. Every day. A golf pro hits a hundred shots out of the sand every day. It’s called practice. You begin with limited success until one day you make the shot almost in your sleep.
In Yoga, we come to practice, not to class. We practice our poses over and over. Then one day we realize that our hip muscles have stretched and we are effortlessly in the pose.
We sit to meditate. Or, we can lie on our backs. Or, we can even walk (just meditate with your eyes open if you try that one).
You don’t need a special meditation pillow to sit on. Or incense. Or a gong. Or special music. Or a dark room. Or even quiet around you.
Those are all nice, but not a requirement.
Gurus advise sitting erect in a firm (hard?) chair.
Why? So you don’t go to sleep.
But maybe what you need in that moment is sleep. What’s wrong with that?
Maybe it’s only a minute to start with. You don’t need two hours–but two hours is refreshing if you can do it.
All you need is to set aside some time and then practice. Just do it.
Gary Mintchell
Faith Venture 