Why do we often wait until have no choice to do something nice and enjoyable for ourselves? This weekend millions of people across the northeast and down the coast were forced to stay in their homes. It was not only too bad to be out and on the roads but in some cases there were official orders to stay inside. The powers that be didn't even want people out walking on the sidewalks and streets.
It's very possible that many people didn't like that situation at all. But I would think that many more took full advantage of the fact that they had nowhere to go and nowhere to be for several days. In the ultimate sense of togetherness, maternity wards are full to overflowing nine months after a storm like this. Many hospitals play along with sleepers for the infants inscribed with Blizzard Baby.
But that aspect of togetherness is not really the point I'm trying to make. I just wonder why we wait until we are forced to, to stop and do the things that we really enjoy doing.
I know everybody thinks their dog is the most special dog that ever lived. But obviously not every single dog can be the world's greatest dog. Only one dog can be The World's Greatest Dog. Our late great Maggie was in fact the world's greatest dog that ever lived.. My son and I had wanted a dog for quite some time. So the day finally arrived that we drove to the Chattanooga Humane Society to rescue a puppy. He was dead set that he didn't want "no girl dog." He wanted a male. That was ok with me. We both walked through and endured the most horrible stench of our lives to get to the cage to see these dogs. We stood and stared at two black balls of newborn fur all snuggled up together. The nice man separated them and said "This one's a male and this one's a female." With no hesitation my son said, "I want the girl dog." We took our black ball of fur home, bathed her several times and decided on Maggie. Over the next several months she grew into the most beautiful mixed shepherd that you can imagine. Being part Australian shepherd and part husky, she had one sky blue eye and the other was half brown and blue. And she had a beautiful black coat with perfectly uniform brown and white markings on her face and feet. Maggie had a sweet, mild temperament and was adored and loved by many.
Maggie was our treasured pet until she died with a brain tumor thirteen years later. She had filled our hearts and lives, as pets have a tendency to do, with love and laughter. I was with her when she breathed her last and I miss her to this day.
I had certainly spent a lot of time with our dog before this happened, but it ended up being one of the most special times with her of all. Somehow I had managed to lock myself out of the house. My wife was at work and my son was at school. I had locked my cellphone inside with the key. For over two hours I had nothing better to do than to lie in the grass with Maggie. She seemed to enjoy the experience as much as I did. While I scratched behind her neck and rubbed her coat, we both just watched the clouds go by. The more relaxed I got the more relaxed I became. It's amazing how different the neighborhood and the sky looked while lying on my back for that long. I was almost disappointed when my son got home from school.
I would like to tell you that I then did that on purpose no less than once a week until Maggie died. The truth is that I never did it again. There was just too much else I needed to do than to lie in my own front yard for several hours.
About twenty five years ago I read an article entitled "How to Stay in Bed All Day." The gist of the article was that nobody stays in bed all day unless they're sick. There's no enjoyment involved because they're sick and miserable. So the writer gave step-by-step instructions on the preparations necessary to successfully pull off such a day. I have never wanted to stay in bed all day, but I have certainly learned how to stay home all day. I spend many blissful days with nothing better to do than whatever I want to do. And nothing more. And there are even more days like today when I had one trip I needed to make. I made it. It's done and I'm back home. So am I retired? No, I'm not "fully retired" but I'm practicing as often as possible. Anything worthwhile requires effort and dedication.
As all the people across the country are digging out this week, I hope that they have learned some lessons about the things that really matter. I hope that they, like I, experienced how much they enjoy being in their own home with their own family. Unfortunately, like was the case with me and my dog, most of us have to be reminded again and again. No worries. The weather man's calling for snow.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Saturday, January 23, 2016
The Morning Constitution
The morning constitutional or morning constitution, as I heard it, was a common phrase of my childhood. Literally, the morning constitutional was a brisk morning walk to get the blood flowing. But then the phrase became associated with the day's first bowel movement because that involved a morning walk. By the time the phrase got to me, it included the indoor trip as well as an outdoor one.
The Constitution, or The Constitution of the United States of America, is neither a morning walk or a bowel movement, but an important document in American history and in American politics today. The document was signed on September 17, 1987 eleven years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In a nutshell the document established the government, fundamental laws and guaranteed basic rights for all US citizens. Specifically, the first two amendments, are all the Constitution most Americans are familiar with. And they generally are only familiar with what they hear and have never read them for themselves.
The first amendment, commonly known as The Establishment Clause, states that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Because these 45 words mean different things to different people, it has been up to Congress and the Supreme Court to interpret and to enforce this law.
The amendment appears to protect the religious freedoms of all Americans of all religions. The amendment not only protects the church from the state, but the state from the church as well. Regardless of what the words appear to say to me and what the courts have mostly concluded, in today's political discourse there are many religious leaders and politicians who say, "America was founded on the Bible and Christian principles, the Establishment Clause only protects Christians and nobody else". Erecting monuments of the Ten Commandments in public courthouses such as Montgomery, Alabama and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has been particularly troublesome. To protest this intrusion recently an atheist group in Oklahoma petitioned the courts and won the right to erect their own monument beside The Ten Commandments. The courthouse decided to remove their monument. Another group, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, became a satire religious group to make the same point. These members have recently won the right to wear colanders on their heads in official documents such as driver's license photos and to perform weddings. To date the courts continue to say "Yes, you too are protected by the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States". If the Congress and the Supreme Court move further toward the religious right, these freedoms may be drastically redefined.
Dare we even delve into the second amendment? Yes, let's do. This amendment simply reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Whatever the founding fathers intended, keep in mind that although the country had enough of a fighting force to win a war, they did not have the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard and the National Guard. They did not have state patrols, county deputies, and city police. They did not have automatic rifles and semi-automatic rifles. They did not have Stealth fighters, attack helicopters, jump jets, tanks, drones, long-range nuclear ballistic missiles, and hundreds of other weapons of mass destruction. To the founding fathers, a militia was probably a good idea.Today, unless you are honestly concerned that US Military is going to invade your town and take all your guns, a militia is probably not all that necessary. This issue is playing out in Harney County, Oregon even as we speak. Nobody knows how this unlawful occupation is going to end, but it doesn't look like it's going to end well for anyone. It's not going well for anyone to begin with. The leaders of the militia are saying that they are exercising their first and second amendment rights to occupy the wildlife preserve. They believe that they have more right to be there than anyone else--Federal, state or local. We'll see.
But what most people know of "my second amendment rights" is that "the Constitution protects my right to buy and own guns". And it does. But does it protect your right to own a few equivalents of AK-47s? Does it protect your right to carry a gun with you to school, to church and to Walmart? Does it protect your right to take matters into your own armed hands if the situation calls for it? Have you read the statistics of the number of people killed as intruders each year versus the number of children killed accidentally with their parents' and grandparents' legal firearms? This is an argument for Congress, the courts, the federal, state and local police, and the NRA, it is not for me. But if you're asking for my opinion, I think you can catch my drift.
Many of us in grade school were required to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution which begins "We the People of the United States." Regardless of our differences, in our homes, in our work and our play, in our churches and synagogues and mosques, we all have so much in common. If we found those things and celebrated those things maybe we wouldn't need so many laws. Maybe we wouldn't need so many courts. Maybe we wouldn't need so many guns. And no matter what our religious and political stripes, we all begin our day together in the same way-- with our morning constitution. If only we could live out our days in mutual understanding and peace.
The Constitution, or The Constitution of the United States of America, is neither a morning walk or a bowel movement, but an important document in American history and in American politics today. The document was signed on September 17, 1987 eleven years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In a nutshell the document established the government, fundamental laws and guaranteed basic rights for all US citizens. Specifically, the first two amendments, are all the Constitution most Americans are familiar with. And they generally are only familiar with what they hear and have never read them for themselves.
The first amendment, commonly known as The Establishment Clause, states that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Because these 45 words mean different things to different people, it has been up to Congress and the Supreme Court to interpret and to enforce this law.
The amendment appears to protect the religious freedoms of all Americans of all religions. The amendment not only protects the church from the state, but the state from the church as well. Regardless of what the words appear to say to me and what the courts have mostly concluded, in today's political discourse there are many religious leaders and politicians who say, "America was founded on the Bible and Christian principles, the Establishment Clause only protects Christians and nobody else". Erecting monuments of the Ten Commandments in public courthouses such as Montgomery, Alabama and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has been particularly troublesome. To protest this intrusion recently an atheist group in Oklahoma petitioned the courts and won the right to erect their own monument beside The Ten Commandments. The courthouse decided to remove their monument. Another group, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, became a satire religious group to make the same point. These members have recently won the right to wear colanders on their heads in official documents such as driver's license photos and to perform weddings. To date the courts continue to say "Yes, you too are protected by the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States". If the Congress and the Supreme Court move further toward the religious right, these freedoms may be drastically redefined.
Dare we even delve into the second amendment? Yes, let's do. This amendment simply reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Whatever the founding fathers intended, keep in mind that although the country had enough of a fighting force to win a war, they did not have the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard and the National Guard. They did not have state patrols, county deputies, and city police. They did not have automatic rifles and semi-automatic rifles. They did not have Stealth fighters, attack helicopters, jump jets, tanks, drones, long-range nuclear ballistic missiles, and hundreds of other weapons of mass destruction. To the founding fathers, a militia was probably a good idea.Today, unless you are honestly concerned that US Military is going to invade your town and take all your guns, a militia is probably not all that necessary. This issue is playing out in Harney County, Oregon even as we speak. Nobody knows how this unlawful occupation is going to end, but it doesn't look like it's going to end well for anyone. It's not going well for anyone to begin with. The leaders of the militia are saying that they are exercising their first and second amendment rights to occupy the wildlife preserve. They believe that they have more right to be there than anyone else--Federal, state or local. We'll see.
But what most people know of "my second amendment rights" is that "the Constitution protects my right to buy and own guns". And it does. But does it protect your right to own a few equivalents of AK-47s? Does it protect your right to carry a gun with you to school, to church and to Walmart? Does it protect your right to take matters into your own armed hands if the situation calls for it? Have you read the statistics of the number of people killed as intruders each year versus the number of children killed accidentally with their parents' and grandparents' legal firearms? This is an argument for Congress, the courts, the federal, state and local police, and the NRA, it is not for me. But if you're asking for my opinion, I think you can catch my drift.
Many of us in grade school were required to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution which begins "We the People of the United States." Regardless of our differences, in our homes, in our work and our play, in our churches and synagogues and mosques, we all have so much in common. If we found those things and celebrated those things maybe we wouldn't need so many laws. Maybe we wouldn't need so many courts. Maybe we wouldn't need so many guns. And no matter what our religious and political stripes, we all begin our day together in the same way-- with our morning constitution. If only we could live out our days in mutual understanding and peace.
Friday, January 22, 2016
What the Bible Says
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet." Jesus
The older I get, the more I enjoy observing human behavior, especially human religious behavior, I am amused and amazed at how Christians pick and choose which parts of the Bible they decide to believe and to practice. Over the years I have heard hundreds of times someone tell me the basis of their belief on some particular thing is because of "what the Bible says."
The Bible says a lot. I am not the first to notice that you can pick any issue--moral, social, political, sexual and find a Bible verse for or against it. And then the Christian public chooses the verse or verses that support that point of view. For those people who cherry pick a few verses to be against homosexuality, for example, they either overlook or ignore other verses that are direct commands. If you look, you will find particular verses in both the Old and the New Testaments that forbid a man to lie with another man. And even in Leviticus that such behavior is "an abomination to the Lord." So yes, that's "what the Bible says." But the Bible says a lot of things. A few verses from this abomination is that it's an abomination to eat anything that lives in water. And then in the same book that it's okay to own slaves of foreigners, but not of the people of Israel. It's even okay to "pass them down for generations." The New Testament says for women to keep silent in the church. For women not to cut their hair. For women not to wear jewelry. For women not to wear a man's clothing. And much for men to do and not to do. Shouldn't we be just as concerned about "what the Bible says" about all that as we are about homosexuals? Is it possible that our opinion has much more to do with our own discomfort with homosexuality than with "what the Bible says"? Am I just as uncomfortable eating fish?
And then for those who take specific direct commands to heart, instead of seeing the command as a metaphor and as a possibility, they see it as doctrine to be followed religiously and fundamentally.
Most modern versions totally leave out Mark Chapter 16 as material that was added later. But in the many versions you will find in that chapter a command to "take up serpents and drink poison" in Jesus' name. Thousands of Appalachians, especially in rural Kentucky, have taken this as a literal command. They base their entire doctrine and services of worship around the practice of handling poisonous snakes. Although many have reached a state of ecstasy, many "snake handlers" have died in the process. These people preach that this is "what the Bible says." And it does.
Jesus didn't suggest we wash each other's feet as He had washed His disciples' feet; He commanded us to do so. This is not only "what the Bible says", it's what Jesus Himself said. So a few churches and even entire denominations carry out this commandment literally. They not only incorporate foot washings into their worship, but practice this ordinance every Sunday as a commandment of the Lord. After all, it was a commandment of the Lord.
Here again I think they miss the point which is a metaphor. In that barefoot or sandal clad culure involving hot and dusty roads, having your feet washed by your host was a soothing and comforting thing. In our culture there are better ways to put our guests at ease and to make them welcome. "Here, let me take your coat." "Would you like something to drink?"
When I was a teenager koinonia broke out in our town involving youth groups of many different churches. Then the experience spread to neighboring towns and cities. We couldn't get enough of each other. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatics and more. We met. We sang and swayed to "Pass it On" and "One in the Spirit" We attended both formal meetings in churches and informal gatherings around evening campfires.
If we were not having enough fun already, a trio of two young women and a man came to our town fresh from the Jesus Movement in California. Kim, Pat, and Skip were three marvelous people and were a literal trio bringing the latest of Jesus music to Enterprise, Alabama. One afternoon a few of us found ourselves praying together in the beautiful sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church. Joe,their youth director, was a part of our movement and was our hook up to that particular place of worship. Pat left the room and returned with a handful of wet paper towels. She asked us to take off our shoes and socks, and proceeded to wash our feet, praying for each of us one by one. I don't know what it was like for anyone else, but I found the experience to be comforting, loving and even somewhat sensual. I didn't then and there decide to find a foot-washing church, but for that moment it was one of the most endearing acts of love and kindness ever given to me.
Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I don't think that's just a good idea. I think that is the only way that humans will learn to live with each other in love and peace. After all, "that's what the Bible says."
The older I get, the more I enjoy observing human behavior, especially human religious behavior, I am amused and amazed at how Christians pick and choose which parts of the Bible they decide to believe and to practice. Over the years I have heard hundreds of times someone tell me the basis of their belief on some particular thing is because of "what the Bible says."
The Bible says a lot. I am not the first to notice that you can pick any issue--moral, social, political, sexual and find a Bible verse for or against it. And then the Christian public chooses the verse or verses that support that point of view. For those people who cherry pick a few verses to be against homosexuality, for example, they either overlook or ignore other verses that are direct commands. If you look, you will find particular verses in both the Old and the New Testaments that forbid a man to lie with another man. And even in Leviticus that such behavior is "an abomination to the Lord." So yes, that's "what the Bible says." But the Bible says a lot of things. A few verses from this abomination is that it's an abomination to eat anything that lives in water. And then in the same book that it's okay to own slaves of foreigners, but not of the people of Israel. It's even okay to "pass them down for generations." The New Testament says for women to keep silent in the church. For women not to cut their hair. For women not to wear jewelry. For women not to wear a man's clothing. And much for men to do and not to do. Shouldn't we be just as concerned about "what the Bible says" about all that as we are about homosexuals? Is it possible that our opinion has much more to do with our own discomfort with homosexuality than with "what the Bible says"? Am I just as uncomfortable eating fish?
And then for those who take specific direct commands to heart, instead of seeing the command as a metaphor and as a possibility, they see it as doctrine to be followed religiously and fundamentally.
Most modern versions totally leave out Mark Chapter 16 as material that was added later. But in the many versions you will find in that chapter a command to "take up serpents and drink poison" in Jesus' name. Thousands of Appalachians, especially in rural Kentucky, have taken this as a literal command. They base their entire doctrine and services of worship around the practice of handling poisonous snakes. Although many have reached a state of ecstasy, many "snake handlers" have died in the process. These people preach that this is "what the Bible says." And it does.
Jesus didn't suggest we wash each other's feet as He had washed His disciples' feet; He commanded us to do so. This is not only "what the Bible says", it's what Jesus Himself said. So a few churches and even entire denominations carry out this commandment literally. They not only incorporate foot washings into their worship, but practice this ordinance every Sunday as a commandment of the Lord. After all, it was a commandment of the Lord.
Here again I think they miss the point which is a metaphor. In that barefoot or sandal clad culure involving hot and dusty roads, having your feet washed by your host was a soothing and comforting thing. In our culture there are better ways to put our guests at ease and to make them welcome. "Here, let me take your coat." "Would you like something to drink?"
When I was a teenager koinonia broke out in our town involving youth groups of many different churches. Then the experience spread to neighboring towns and cities. We couldn't get enough of each other. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatics and more. We met. We sang and swayed to "Pass it On" and "One in the Spirit" We attended both formal meetings in churches and informal gatherings around evening campfires.
If we were not having enough fun already, a trio of two young women and a man came to our town fresh from the Jesus Movement in California. Kim, Pat, and Skip were three marvelous people and were a literal trio bringing the latest of Jesus music to Enterprise, Alabama. One afternoon a few of us found ourselves praying together in the beautiful sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church. Joe,their youth director, was a part of our movement and was our hook up to that particular place of worship. Pat left the room and returned with a handful of wet paper towels. She asked us to take off our shoes and socks, and proceeded to wash our feet, praying for each of us one by one. I don't know what it was like for anyone else, but I found the experience to be comforting, loving and even somewhat sensual. I didn't then and there decide to find a foot-washing church, but for that moment it was one of the most endearing acts of love and kindness ever given to me.
Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I don't think that's just a good idea. I think that is the only way that humans will learn to live with each other in love and peace. After all, "that's what the Bible says."
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Something Happened
"The mystical theme of the space age is this: the world, as we know it, is coming to an end. The world as the center of the universe, the world divided from the heavens, the world bound my horizons in which love is reserved for members of the in-group; that is the world that is passing away. Apocalypse does not point to a fiery Armageddon but to the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end. Our divided, schizophrenic worldview with no mythology adequate to coordinate our conscious and our unconscious--that is what is coming to an end. The exclusivism of there being only one way in which we can be saved, the idea that there is a single religious group that is in sole possession of the truth--that is the world as we know it that must pass away. What is the kingdom? It lies in the realization of the ubiquity of the divine presence in our neighbors, in our enemies, in all of us." Thou Art That, Joseph Campbell, p. 107 New World Library, 2001
On a cold wintry February day in 1979, at the request of an editor of The New York Times, Eugene Kennedy interviewed Joseph Campbell. He said that it inspired a "happy, providential outcome" from an interview that was "in itself its own reward." The resulting article appeared on Easter Sunday entitled "Earthrise--The Dawning of a New Spiritual Awareness." Bill Moyers read this article and set the wheels in motion for what became a PBS special in 1988. In 1991 a transcript of these six sessions was published in the now famous The Power of Myth. The soon to be world-renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell became a household name.
The book found me at a decisive crossroad. I was not going through a crisis of faith; I was going through a crisis of belief. I hear so many people talk about their "faith" when all I hear are their rigid beliefs. Why do you need faith if you already know everything? Faith can only exist in an atmosphere of doubt. The Power of Myth didn't save my faith, but it helped me to redefine my beliefs.
During this crisis I no longer believed the Bible of my childhood. I still believed the Bible, just not that one. I no longer believed that God created the earth in six twenty-four hour days. I no longer believed that all the animals in the world marched in pairs onto a boat where they somehow survived together for a year. Don't wild animals get hungry in a year? I no longer believed that God caused the sun to stand still in the sky so that Joshua could continue the slaughter of his enemies. I no longer believed that God told Moses to stone a man to his death because he was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. Having a day to chill is important, but to torture a man to death? I no longer believed that when Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me", that He meant, "If you don't accept me as your Savior, you're going to burn in hell." I no longer believed a lot of it. It was indeed a crisis of belief. But it was not a crisis of faith. Whereas my relationship with the spiritual trappings of my youth was shaky at best, my relationship with God was unwavering. My faith had never been stronger.
What I did believe about the Bible is what I still believe. The stories of the Bible, though not literally true, are very true. These stories have the power to change our lives. "Myth" doesn't mean "false";myth means truth, the ultimate truth beneath the story. God may not have created the world in six days, but something created it because we're still here. Every civilization has offered its "creation myth." The Judeo-Christian creation myth as recorded in Genesis may not be the only account, but it is certainly as important as any other. Maybe thousands of animals didn't live on a boat for a year, but the "flood myth" exists in hundreds of cultures from the beginning of recorded history. Something happened. Why not there was a big flood and God spared a lot of people so the world could go on?. Surely God didn't tell Moses to torture a man for working in his yard on Saturday. But maybe God is telling us that it's essential for us to have a day or at least an hour in the day to call our own, to do the things we really enjoy doing. Who knows? Maybe some people enjoy picking up sticks. When Jesus said "I am the way" maybe He meant "My way is the way" which is to say "Love is the way; you won't see the Father accept by love."
I have a good minister friend who told the story of a little boy's reaction to standing beside the Grand Canyon for the first time. He said, "Something happened here." That for me is the essence of Joseph Campbell. Who knows what actually carved the largest canyon in the world and exactly how it came to be, but something did. Sometimes all we can do is stand and marvel. Sometimes all we should do is stand and marvel.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." "In the beginning God created..." "In the beginning God..." "In the beginning..." If the heavens and the earth were created at "the beginning" where does God come in? Before the beginning? Joseph Campbell would tell me, "David, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that God was there and God is here. Something happened."
On a cold wintry February day in 1979, at the request of an editor of The New York Times, Eugene Kennedy interviewed Joseph Campbell. He said that it inspired a "happy, providential outcome" from an interview that was "in itself its own reward." The resulting article appeared on Easter Sunday entitled "Earthrise--The Dawning of a New Spiritual Awareness." Bill Moyers read this article and set the wheels in motion for what became a PBS special in 1988. In 1991 a transcript of these six sessions was published in the now famous The Power of Myth. The soon to be world-renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell became a household name.
The book found me at a decisive crossroad. I was not going through a crisis of faith; I was going through a crisis of belief. I hear so many people talk about their "faith" when all I hear are their rigid beliefs. Why do you need faith if you already know everything? Faith can only exist in an atmosphere of doubt. The Power of Myth didn't save my faith, but it helped me to redefine my beliefs.
During this crisis I no longer believed the Bible of my childhood. I still believed the Bible, just not that one. I no longer believed that God created the earth in six twenty-four hour days. I no longer believed that all the animals in the world marched in pairs onto a boat where they somehow survived together for a year. Don't wild animals get hungry in a year? I no longer believed that God caused the sun to stand still in the sky so that Joshua could continue the slaughter of his enemies. I no longer believed that God told Moses to stone a man to his death because he was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. Having a day to chill is important, but to torture a man to death? I no longer believed that when Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me", that He meant, "If you don't accept me as your Savior, you're going to burn in hell." I no longer believed a lot of it. It was indeed a crisis of belief. But it was not a crisis of faith. Whereas my relationship with the spiritual trappings of my youth was shaky at best, my relationship with God was unwavering. My faith had never been stronger.
What I did believe about the Bible is what I still believe. The stories of the Bible, though not literally true, are very true. These stories have the power to change our lives. "Myth" doesn't mean "false";myth means truth, the ultimate truth beneath the story. God may not have created the world in six days, but something created it because we're still here. Every civilization has offered its "creation myth." The Judeo-Christian creation myth as recorded in Genesis may not be the only account, but it is certainly as important as any other. Maybe thousands of animals didn't live on a boat for a year, but the "flood myth" exists in hundreds of cultures from the beginning of recorded history. Something happened. Why not there was a big flood and God spared a lot of people so the world could go on?. Surely God didn't tell Moses to torture a man for working in his yard on Saturday. But maybe God is telling us that it's essential for us to have a day or at least an hour in the day to call our own, to do the things we really enjoy doing. Who knows? Maybe some people enjoy picking up sticks. When Jesus said "I am the way" maybe He meant "My way is the way" which is to say "Love is the way; you won't see the Father accept by love."
I have a good minister friend who told the story of a little boy's reaction to standing beside the Grand Canyon for the first time. He said, "Something happened here." That for me is the essence of Joseph Campbell. Who knows what actually carved the largest canyon in the world and exactly how it came to be, but something did. Sometimes all we can do is stand and marvel. Sometimes all we should do is stand and marvel.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." "In the beginning God created..." "In the beginning God..." "In the beginning..." If the heavens and the earth were created at "the beginning" where does God come in? Before the beginning? Joseph Campbell would tell me, "David, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that God was there and God is here. Something happened."
Thursday, January 14, 2016
A Dance of Light and Shadows
"Receive, O Mystery, the words of our hearts." Lindsay Bates
Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings keeps finding me. The first time this music found me was in September of 1971. I was in the small listening room(closet) of the music suite of the Enterprise State Junior College, Enterprise, Alabama. I pulled the album of the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy off the shelf. I removed the album from the cover and gently placed it on the platter. I put the headphones over my ears, lowered the needle to the record and was immediately transfigured.
Traveling on I-24 west yesterday morning out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Adagio for Strings found me again. Well, it didn't literally find me on either occasion, did it? I played that music in 1971 and I played it in my car yesterday morning. But the music has a way of surprising me in ways that I could never expect and could never put into words. At the junior college in that very moment "Classical music" suddenly became something powerful and beautiful instead of something to just be admired and appreciated. Since I had declared myself as a music major, it couldn't have happened at a better time. Yesterday morning this same music transformed me in a different way.
It is the nature of a "mystical experience" that it can't be put into words. If you could explain it then it wouldn't be mystical. If the most incredible mystical experience I have ever had was a 10, then I would only rate the one yesterday as about a 2. But it was powerful enough. The thing that made this experience unique is that it reminded me of another experience with Adagio for Strings that happened years ago. So I was simultaneously experiencing something new and remembering again what happened twenty five years ago. Since my conscious brain doesn't know the difference between a live experience and a memory, it became a stereophonic enigma.
About twenty five years ago I was leaving my church on Signal Mountain, Tennessee heading for home in Ringgold, Georgia. It was about 8pm in a drizzling rain. When I got to the foot of the mountain and started across Chattanooga, I put in my cassette tape of Adagio for Strings. Then something happened. As the music started so did a dance of light. Beams of light shown down from street lights and distant buildings to my car. As my car moved, the beams of light moved with it. As one of the beams let go the next one reflected from water droplets on my car to the source of the light. It was if one beam handed itself off to the next one. The beams surrounded me and were in constant motion. The light was choreographed with the incredible music. Who or what was the choreographer? The phenomenon continued for several minutes and several miles. As soon as the piece was over, the light show disappeared.
Yesterday morning the sun was just peeking over the horizon flooding the landscape with orange splendor. As Adagio for Strings began playing the light danced in a new and different way. The interstate was flanked by a multitude of tall trees and the rising sun was out of sight behind the trees. The light and shadows alternately bombarded me in rapid fire fashion. At 65 miles per hour the frequency of the exchange of light and shadow was dramatic. Although I simultaneously recalled that night in Chattanooga, it was the dazzling orange light demanding my attention. I don't know if the light affected the music or the music affected the light. Whichever happened, the combination of these stimuli and the transcendent beauty of the morning sun reflected from Tennessee River was ethereal.
Barber composed Adagio for Strings in 1936 for a string quartet. He later transcribed the piece for full orchestra. This piece is usually performed world-wide for a full orchestra. In 1967 he transcribed his music for a cappella chorus using the text Agnus Dei from the liturgical Latin Mass. Agnus Dei is what I was listening to yesterday. "Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi (Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world)". I can't think of a better way to begin a trip and start a day than by having my sins bathed away in a canopy of music and light.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Home on the Range
There are good reasons, both health and humane, to be a vegetarian. We might all be better off and I'm sure the animals would be better off if we didn't eat meat. I guess we all rationalize our carnivorous appetites in various ways. My wife and I ate at a marvelous restaurant in Santa Rosa, California three years ago. Although they served delicious meat dishes, especially pork, the owner/chef was a staunch vegetarian. They even had their own pig farm. We asked her how she dealt with that. She said, "The way I see it, I give those pigs a really good life. And one very bad day."
We would also reconsider our eating habits if we knew how animals were raised, transported and slaughtered. I know very little about that and I've never bothered to find out. And how do I rationalize all that? My thought processes are along the lines of "If we didn't eat beef, pork and chicken then the cattle, pigs and chickens wouldn't have been alive in the first place. The animals are born and bred for consumption."
But to all of us who consume meat,, we shouldn't kid ourselves about the awful conditions these animals endure from birth to a sometimes gruesome death, I was reading about so called"free-range chickens" and "cage-free chickens." If you want to know the gory details read Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry by Karen Davis PhD. If you want to know just enough just Google it. You'll find out more than you want to know, like I just did. But if you don't even want to do that I'll tell you this much. The only restriction the USDA makes to call a chicken a "free-range chicken" is that a door gets opened and they have access to the outside. They do not tell the farmer either how long the chicken has to stay "outside" or what "outside" is supposed to look like. It could five minutes in a slightly larger pen. Just get over your image of a pristine meadow full of chickens roaming free.
So you're thinking that I'm headed toward some New Year's Resolution of dramatic dietary proportions. No not today. Another way I rationalize my diet is what I read a while back, "If God wanted us to be vegetarians, why did He create so many animals with so much meat?" I've said all this to tell a personal story. Today, as happens from time to time, I got behind a chicken truck. I guess you call it a chicken truck. That's what I call it anyway. It's one of those flat-bed eighteen wheelers with hundreds of cages full of chickens headed to their final resting place, then to the grocery stores and eventually to our tables. What I'm going to say about this truck you may find to be horrendous considering all that I have alluded to above. I know that they have not had a pleasant life and it's not about to get any better for them. But that truck fills me with an indescribable joy that bubbles up from deep within me.
You see I had a relationship with that truck long before I had any reason to think bad things about it. My mother gave me a chicken truck for my fifth birthday. This metal eighteen wheeler was about a foot and a half long. It had a cab and a detachable flat-bed trailer. On that trailer were dozens of separate plastic cages, each containing a plastic chicken. I could remove and replace each of those chickens and each of those cages as often as I wanted. Then I could push that truck load of chickens all around the house delivering them to my family. I did all of that for many wonderful hours and many happy miles over a period of years inside 102 Glenn Street. That's all I've got to say about that truck.
But I do wonder if there's a lesson here? I think there is, but frankly I can't come up with it. The lesson has something to do with the Bible verse "Happy is the man who does not condemn himself in the thing he allows himself to do." Romans 14:22. Except for the chicken truck of my childhood, I'm quite sure that my visceral reaction to that truck I got behind today would be quite different. But because of that experience from such a completely innocent age, my psyche reacts before my analytical mind can form an opinion. So the lesson I can't quite come up with involves "are there other things that bother us, we think for good reasons, that we shouldn't let bother us at all? For that matter is it possible that this thing that we let bother us could actually bring great joy?" But my analytical brain is shouting, "No! No! It should bother you that you eat chicken when you get behind all those hundreds of cooped up chickens on their way to be slaughtered ! You should never eat a chicken or a cow or a pig."
For today I'm not making that decision. That's for another day. For today I'm going to keep wrestling with that lesson I'm trying to formulate. Once I understand it I think my road to happiness will be quite a bit shorter.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
In the Name of God
"All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all mothers and the Earth is the Mother of all people and all people should have equal rights upon it." Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
El Shaddai. El-elyon na Adonia : God almighty. God in the Highest O Lord.
For some reason we get all hung up on the name(s) of God. If you think about it, "God" is just one other name among thousands for this "Supreme Being" who cannot be named. But in the English speaking Judeo-Christian world, most who worship this Deity, worship "God."
In the Judeo-Christian Bible there are hundreds of names for God. The first Hebrew name for God in the Holy Bible is Elohim. Elohim is then used over 2,300 times for "God" in the Old Testament. Let that soak in. They didn't use "Elohim" as another name for "God"; they called this Deity they worshiped --Elohim. So their blessing at the table might have been "Elohim is great. Elohim is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Thank you Elohim for daily bread." I jest but you get my point.
There is another name for God in the Old Testament--the unspeakable name.. In Hebrew, with only consonants, vowels understood, the name is YHVH. We know this Being as "Yahweh".Over thousands of years there have been tens of thousands of names to try to define and honor this "Great Spirit." In modern times in the Christian world,"the Holy Spirit" as part of the Trinity is a common name for God. There again many Christians are uncomfortable with the American Indians' "Great Spirit" but have no problem with "the Holy Spirit" or even "the Holy Ghost". AA, which is not a Christian organization, but includes a spiritual element, invokes the "Higher Power" in their meetings and 12-step recovery program. The list goes on and on.
Don't we all go by different names? My granddaughter's first name for her father was Gah Gah. We still often call him Gah Gah. My name is David. So as you would guess, my mother called me David. But my father called me Crockett. My brother calls me Brere. My sister calls me Habib. My son calls me Dad. My granddaughter calls me Big Dave or Biggy. My wife calls me David and Dad and Big Dave and Biggs. Although none of these names define me, they all point to me. And I'll answer to any of them. It doesn't matter all that much to me what they each call me. Does it matter to God what we call Him?
The American Indian I quoted Nez Perce name was pronounced Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain, He was also known as Joseph the Younger. I don't know if he had a preference. I would think hearing his Nez Perce name in his native tongue was very satisfying. But in his later years he answered to just "Joseph".
Of all the names of God that I know of, the God of Islam, Allah, seems to be particular troublesome in today's religious, political, cultural and militarian climate. It doesn't seem to matter that Christians, Jews and Muslims all share father Abraham and that Abraham worshiped one God. It doesn't seem to matter to American Christians that there are about 10 million Muslims in the United States. That's nearly as many Muslims as Southern Baptists. And don't Allah and Yahweh sound a lot alike? Just three weeks ago Augusta County in Virginia closed all their schools and threatened to fire a teacher for using the name of Allah. As I understand it, the teacher is not a Muslim. Maybe she is a Muslim. I really don't know. What I do know is that she gave an assignment out of their world religions textbook. She lifted the assignment right out of a student workbook which was approved by the state and the county. The assignment included the students copying something in Arabic. She was trying to help them to appreciate how hard it is to make those characters with calligraphy. You know, education. The markings are loosely translated, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His messenger." Oops. The stuff hit the fan! To be fair to those who were so upset, this particular Arabic calligraphy appears many places in the Middle East including on ISIS flags. I'm sure the teacher could have chosen less volatile words for purposes of her assignment. I would think that any Arabic lettering would have been upsetting enough in today's anti-Muslim atmosphere.
One of my personal favorite names for God is Wakan Tanka of the Lakota Sioux. I learned of Him through Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux medicine man. I often invoke Wankan Tanka in my own prayer and meditation. So why don't I just pray to "God" like you're supposed to? In the first place "God" has already been taken by all the football players and their coaches. Instead of thanking God for the big win, shouldn't the quarterback thank the offensive line who sacrificed their bodies to protect him for sixty minutes? Or maybe he could thank his kicker who practiced all season to make that last second field goal. Did God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, actually cause his team to win a football game? And I just like the way Wakan Tanka sounds and rolls off my tongue. It's beautiful and musical, the way I imagine God to be. So am I praying to an Indian god? A foreign god? A false god? How can I be if there is only one God? Wankan Tanka may not be the real name for God, but since there is no one true name, isn't it as good as any?
Many Christians begin their prayers with "Dear Lord" or "Dear Father". Others say "Our Heavenly Father" or "Father God." Certainly all of these are legitimate and meaningful invocations. Each of them is another name for God. The point I am trying to hammer home is that God's name, even for Christians, is not just "God." God is not a "Him" or a "Her". God is not human. If God is just human, then God's not God. In Taoism it is said that if you can name the Tao, then it's not the Tao. You many never ever be comfortable addressing "God" as "Elohim", "Yahweh", "Wakan Tanka" or, god-forbid, "Allah". But try addressing Him from time to time in some other way than you normally do and see what it feels like. See if S/He responds. Several years ago Amy Grant made "El Shaddai" rather popular, but you can choose your own name. Wouldn't it be great if after winning the game that coach said, "I just want to thank El-elyon na Adonai and give Him all the glory."
I have a friend named Monica who lives in Sandnes, Norway. She is a gifted artist. Her work is displayed in homes and galleries all over the world. Monica is also a Reiki healer. Some dismiss Reiki as so much new age hocus pocus, but there is much more to Reiki than that. The practitioners invoke the energy that created and sustains the universe and use it for health and for healing. They also use the force of all living things, the air we breathe, food and sunshine--the Light. Many Reike practitioners refer to the source of this power as a Higher Intelligence. I asked Monica what she calls this power she invokes. She said "I call this power my Supreme Being. You know--God."
El Shaddai. El-elyon na Adonia : God almighty. God in the Highest O Lord.
For some reason we get all hung up on the name(s) of God. If you think about it, "God" is just one other name among thousands for this "Supreme Being" who cannot be named. But in the English speaking Judeo-Christian world, most who worship this Deity, worship "God."
In the Judeo-Christian Bible there are hundreds of names for God. The first Hebrew name for God in the Holy Bible is Elohim. Elohim is then used over 2,300 times for "God" in the Old Testament. Let that soak in. They didn't use "Elohim" as another name for "God"; they called this Deity they worshiped --Elohim. So their blessing at the table might have been "Elohim is great. Elohim is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Thank you Elohim for daily bread." I jest but you get my point.
There is another name for God in the Old Testament--the unspeakable name.. In Hebrew, with only consonants, vowels understood, the name is YHVH. We know this Being as "Yahweh".Over thousands of years there have been tens of thousands of names to try to define and honor this "Great Spirit." In modern times in the Christian world,"the Holy Spirit" as part of the Trinity is a common name for God. There again many Christians are uncomfortable with the American Indians' "Great Spirit" but have no problem with "the Holy Spirit" or even "the Holy Ghost". AA, which is not a Christian organization, but includes a spiritual element, invokes the "Higher Power" in their meetings and 12-step recovery program. The list goes on and on.
Don't we all go by different names? My granddaughter's first name for her father was Gah Gah. We still often call him Gah Gah. My name is David. So as you would guess, my mother called me David. But my father called me Crockett. My brother calls me Brere. My sister calls me Habib. My son calls me Dad. My granddaughter calls me Big Dave or Biggy. My wife calls me David and Dad and Big Dave and Biggs. Although none of these names define me, they all point to me. And I'll answer to any of them. It doesn't matter all that much to me what they each call me. Does it matter to God what we call Him?
The American Indian I quoted Nez Perce name was pronounced Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt or Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain, He was also known as Joseph the Younger. I don't know if he had a preference. I would think hearing his Nez Perce name in his native tongue was very satisfying. But in his later years he answered to just "Joseph".
Of all the names of God that I know of, the God of Islam, Allah, seems to be particular troublesome in today's religious, political, cultural and militarian climate. It doesn't seem to matter that Christians, Jews and Muslims all share father Abraham and that Abraham worshiped one God. It doesn't seem to matter to American Christians that there are about 10 million Muslims in the United States. That's nearly as many Muslims as Southern Baptists. And don't Allah and Yahweh sound a lot alike? Just three weeks ago Augusta County in Virginia closed all their schools and threatened to fire a teacher for using the name of Allah. As I understand it, the teacher is not a Muslim. Maybe she is a Muslim. I really don't know. What I do know is that she gave an assignment out of their world religions textbook. She lifted the assignment right out of a student workbook which was approved by the state and the county. The assignment included the students copying something in Arabic. She was trying to help them to appreciate how hard it is to make those characters with calligraphy. You know, education. The markings are loosely translated, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His messenger." Oops. The stuff hit the fan! To be fair to those who were so upset, this particular Arabic calligraphy appears many places in the Middle East including on ISIS flags. I'm sure the teacher could have chosen less volatile words for purposes of her assignment. I would think that any Arabic lettering would have been upsetting enough in today's anti-Muslim atmosphere.
One of my personal favorite names for God is Wakan Tanka of the Lakota Sioux. I learned of Him through Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux medicine man. I often invoke Wankan Tanka in my own prayer and meditation. So why don't I just pray to "God" like you're supposed to? In the first place "God" has already been taken by all the football players and their coaches. Instead of thanking God for the big win, shouldn't the quarterback thank the offensive line who sacrificed their bodies to protect him for sixty minutes? Or maybe he could thank his kicker who practiced all season to make that last second field goal. Did God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, actually cause his team to win a football game? And I just like the way Wakan Tanka sounds and rolls off my tongue. It's beautiful and musical, the way I imagine God to be. So am I praying to an Indian god? A foreign god? A false god? How can I be if there is only one God? Wankan Tanka may not be the real name for God, but since there is no one true name, isn't it as good as any?
Many Christians begin their prayers with "Dear Lord" or "Dear Father". Others say "Our Heavenly Father" or "Father God." Certainly all of these are legitimate and meaningful invocations. Each of them is another name for God. The point I am trying to hammer home is that God's name, even for Christians, is not just "God." God is not a "Him" or a "Her". God is not human. If God is just human, then God's not God. In Taoism it is said that if you can name the Tao, then it's not the Tao. You many never ever be comfortable addressing "God" as "Elohim", "Yahweh", "Wakan Tanka" or, god-forbid, "Allah". But try addressing Him from time to time in some other way than you normally do and see what it feels like. See if S/He responds. Several years ago Amy Grant made "El Shaddai" rather popular, but you can choose your own name. Wouldn't it be great if after winning the game that coach said, "I just want to thank El-elyon na Adonai and give Him all the glory."
I have a friend named Monica who lives in Sandnes, Norway. She is a gifted artist. Her work is displayed in homes and galleries all over the world. Monica is also a Reiki healer. Some dismiss Reiki as so much new age hocus pocus, but there is much more to Reiki than that. The practitioners invoke the energy that created and sustains the universe and use it for health and for healing. They also use the force of all living things, the air we breathe, food and sunshine--the Light. Many Reike practitioners refer to the source of this power as a Higher Intelligence. I asked Monica what she calls this power she invokes. She said "I call this power my Supreme Being. You know--God."
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