The Light in the Woods

12/10/09 Inspirations              Given infinite time and resources, can science ever know everything? In even one small area, if we knew all there was to know, what we’d want to do with such knowledge would far surpass the ability of our hands to work or the Earth to supply the raw materials to take us from knowledge to usefulness. But beyond that – would we be comfortable, or even survive, without the mystery that keeps us striving and thriving?

I hope that we accept with gratitude the knowledge that is doled out to us. I hope we never despair to think that we’re not meant to know everything. Most of all in this matter, I hope we welcome that there will always be a mystery to life, a quality that cannot be supported by facts.

The cloud of unknowing is a gift; not a curse. It gives us something to aim for and something to occupy our minds. It assures us that no matter what we achieve, we can always become even more excellent. It keeps hope alive, and yet it keeps us humble to know we cannot have this knowledge without asking for it. It gives us joy whenever the fog of unknowing lifts a bit and lets in the tiniest ray of light.

There will come a time when we are gone from this Earth and no longer need knowledge in order to experience satisfaction. Until then, we need the mystery that keeps us centered while we wait for the promise. In keeping with the tenets of the subject of science, I haven’t mentioned God in this piece so far, but there isn’t anyone reading it who doesn’t know in their hearts that God is what this article, as well as the mystery of life, is about.

With the stupendous achievements we’ve experienced in science and technology, what would normally seem miraculous becomes commonplace. Supernatural miracles do not behave this way – they are usually not meant to prove a point so much as to enlighten our lives with joy. They appear when we are ready and receptive; that’s why they are not recognized by everyone or accepted by everyone in the same degree. But the best part is that they never become commonplace, because God has at His disposal infinite ways of communicating His miracles. We are blessed if we understand this, because the mystery keeps us looking. The next week, the next day, the next hour or the next minute may display something wonderful if we are watching.  Though we strive for knowledge, we thrive on mystery.

12/6/09 Inspirations                Belief or disbelief in God is probably the most analyzed issue in the world. It is of interest to everyone, it crosses national boundaries, it transcends the political, it concerns many parts of our lives, and it’s an emotional issue to anyone who has it brought out into the open. We all have an opinion about God, even if our belief system beyond that might be confusing and incompletely analyzed.

Even among those who believe in God, there is diversity of opinion, or maybe it’s better to cite a diversity of emotion. There are different gods, different paths to the same God, differently perceived attributes of God, different scriptures, different beliefs as to God’s interaction or disinterest in human affairs, and many other differences that make each of us unique.

I believe in the Creator because there’s no other alternative that I can find. We know next to nothing of all there is to know, so it stands to reason that somebody knows, and that somebody must be very powerful, because we are here. All we see for certain is that we are the most advanced civilization on Earth that’s ever been, and we did not and cannot create a planet, let alone the universe.

In mysticism, the theology is that God may make something of himself knowable if it fits His design, but as soon as we know something about Him we also come to understand how extremely far we are from even scratching the surface. This brings us reverence for the awesome work of God, and hope that when we return to Him we will be sharing in His greatness.

It’s as if someone were to put a pinch of sand under a microscope and tell you to count to see how many grains there are. No sooner do you come up with a number than they put a spoonful of sand in a bowl and request the same thing. Now you’re uncomfortable, because the job is hard and the hours are long. But you do it — and then they come in with a cup of sand on a plate. As you start in counting, you think of the Sahara and the nature of mathematics.  Even though more are being made as we work, there are a finite number of grains of sand in the desert yet an infinite supply of numbers with which to count them. In other words, the job is possible, but we can’t do it. We feel that God, on the other hand, is powerful enough to know the number of grains of sand in the universe. To mystics, this is a cause of great joy; not despair.

Yesterday I heard the results of a poll of those who believe in God. The question was: how big a part of your life does religion play? I’m sure everyone who answered the poll came up with a reasonable answer. But think about the question very carefully; mull it over a bit in your mind. Is anyone really qualified to say? Isn’t God the only one who actually knows?

12/3/09 Insights from Study           God became visible to us as Jesus. When we look upon Jesus we see God in a way we can understand. This is done because God wants us to share in His nature so that we may honor Him and take our rightful place in His kingdom with Him.

Human beings wanted God’s intellect; to partake of the tree of knowledge. Jesus confirms how what is goodness is always known to us. God puts that in our hearts and through Jesus and His Holy Spirit God shows us how to live what is right. We are privileged to glimpse God’s infinite knowledge – some believe Jesus won this right for us; some believe that Jesus demonstrates this right. Whatever our belief, Jesus reminds us that God is knowable to us in the degree to which we can handle this knowledge.

We human beings also wanted autonomy; to feel the power of self-determination. God gave us free will and Jesus shows us how to give it over to God. Jesus is our affirmation that the Creator cares and, because He cares, He participates — in the universe and within each individual. We are worthy of our relationship with God – some believe Jesus won us this right; some believe that Jesus demonstrates this right. Whatever our belief, Jesus reminds us that God is personally and continuously involved in our lives, and we recognize this in the degree to which we welcome it.

We wanted the knowledge and grace that belonged to God. We didn’t exactly get what we wanted, because we wanted things that weren’t wholesome for us. So God gave us something better than what we wanted, and of course God does know what that is. God is still with us; it’s God’s Holy Spirit which gifts us with knowledge and grace as He sees fit.

11/21/09 Insights from Study         When Mysticism is practiced as an adjunct of one’s Christian beliefs, there can be a flood of understanding released that is nothing short of miraculous. Many report reading the gospels with such new insight that they feel they have finally seen them for the first time for what they are. When Mysticism is practiced outside of Christian beliefs, there is often a logical pointing to the gospel for those who can and will welcome the experience.

There is nothing inherent in Mysticism that deviates from Christian principles – one must have the open mind of a mystic to realize this. Even if you are just beginning the mystic path you will recognize in God’s will the principles of Jesus Christ. To Christians this might seem elementary because Jesus is, after all, God. To those who know only that Jesus Christ was a “good person”, the element of goodness resonates in the spirit in perfect harmony. “Goodness” is the same principle for everybody despite the different degrees we assign it to spin things towards our own human agendas.

So it’s often a natural progression from “God is good and Jesus is good” to “God’s will is Christ’s will”. It’s supernatural how unwavering the desire for Jesus is when He is met through the New Testament. Christians believe this is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is God as well. The mystical filling of willing spirits with God’s Holy Spirit is not only mysticism’s main premise, but Christ’s ultimate purpose. The Holy Spirit as bridging between man and God is surely Mysticism’s focus as well as one of Christianity’s most important dogmas.

The beauty of Mysticism’s association with God is pure in concept for anyone. It weaves in and out of organized religions and draws non-believers into its purity of divine love infused, empowering, and passed along. The association of Mysticism with the teaching of Christ is inescapable, because they have the same source and the same purpose.

8/30/09 Inspirations           It’s not about worshiping Jesus – it’s about worshiping God as Jesus did, for God has manifested Himself in Jesus so that we may know of our Creator. Day after day, in small things and large, Jesus lived with God as His focus – showing us the way to peace of mind for ourselves and all peoples. I often wonder what would be Jesus’ response to the way we conduct religious services these days. We worry more over the state of the church parking lot than the state of our souls.

I love my time alone with God. That’s the time when it doesn’t matter what any human, especially myself, brings to the altar. The real altar is my spirit; my sacrifice must be the only thing I really own outright – God’s gift of my free will. When I’ve given that, I’ve given everything; as long as I’m offering that to God, no other sacrifice is necessary. In fact, any other sacrifice would be a danger of cheapening my original gift to God.

I can worship God through prayer, reflection, and good acts, but these things only make the abandonment of my free will useful to my life on Earth. It’s the abandonment itself that is what God wants from me, and even this I couldn’t have initiated without God’s help.

This is how Jesus worshiped. He worshiped perfectly, because as God’s manifestation His purpose was to make our own perfect worship possible. So few of us have taken Him up on it; our human need to control things is overwhelming.

God doesn’t help us because we go to church or read the Bible or meditate or give to charity. And He doesn’t withhold his help because we don’t go to church or read the Bible or meditate or give to charity. God’s help is independent of reward or punishment for what we are or what we do. All we can really offer is our control over our spirit. This is hard for us, but it begins our sanctification – anything more serves to make it real for us, as Jesus makes God real for us.

If you need all the bells and whistles of religion, you might consider that what God has done for you is, in your opinion, not enough. No amount of outward worship will fix this delusion.  Only doing what God asks of you will please Him – shut everything else out and you will hear His call. Answer His call and your worship will be perfect.

6/26/09 Insights from Study                So often we worship Jesus as man instead of God. Son of God? In the kingdom of reality there are no fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, spouses, cousins, aunts or uncles. All are of one mind and that is the mind of God. Jesus is God – plain and simple. God comes to us in any form He chooses; as a hummingbird like the one this morning looking through my screen, or as Jesus 2000 years ago. It is God, coming to interact with us out of love, out of His care for us, out of His desire to usher us peacefully into His kingdom, purified by death to this world. The father/son thing – it’s an analogy anyone who has a relationship with God does not really understand because the fact that Jesus is God is so ingrained in them. It’s a prop for people still so obsessed with life in this world that they must gauge everything by human standards.

Religion is ruined for me because of its labels – once we label something we claim to know it to the point where we can judge it. Who cares about human constructs, human likes and dislikes, human judgments and condemnations, human laws and legislatures, human wants and needs, human sins and weaknesses and failings and misunderstandings? God cares for none of this so much as for even the most sinful of us. He could eliminate any of this or any of us all in the wink of an eye. God cares for each of us alone as a beloved creation – beyond that we are not labeled, because beyond that there is nothing of importance.

If only we treated God as faithfully – to know what He’s saying to us as much as we can and loyally assuming the rest as something God does to our benefit. Then labels wouldn’t be needed to prop up our love for God because God’s love will come through loud and clear. It’s not a formula devised by humans to prove you are saved — it’s a connection desired by God and put into force in you by His wishes. It’s this relationship you must claim in order to experience the fullest joy you can obtain, and when you make it all there is in your life, you are as complete as you can be.

4/25/09 Inspirations              God doesn’t share with us all He knows. First because He is already here for us; we don’t need to know all because God does the providing and protecting. Second, it isn’t in our makeup to be able to know God completely, any more than your dog can absorb the ramifications of gravity on the Frisbee you’ve thrown for him — it affects him greatly, but it just is; not needing to be understood in order for him to play the game.

But God does share His mind with us. You can’t separate His whispers from the reflection you yourself produce through reason, because it’s all one in the same creation. Analyze anything you like – it all comes back to the Creator; He is the reason anything exists. The atheistic belief that anything we see can exist without being created is the greatest leap of faith of all. At least faith in God is based on possibility.

The point in this is the very underpinning of devotional mysticism. Though we can’t know the mind of God, we are intricately wound up in it and captured by it’s desires. You can set aside human considerations anytime to be with God and accept what part of His knowledge and grace He wishes to share with you. You don’t need crystals or tea leaves – just a humble willingness to listen to what God wants you to hear. You don’t do it to further your self-assurance, self-awareness, or self-worth; you do it because it’s what the Creator asks. You don’t make up rituals or rules and partake in group hysteria; you just go quietly to one side and pray.

None of it is very impressive to the rest of the world, but its very humility defines what’s best about it — devotional mysticism is between God and you. How powerful this relationship is when undiluted by unimportant, worldly concerns. God and you – unreserved exchange of love independent of anything else to hold you back and keep you away from each other.

When you do this, you find out what joy and peace is really about.  You understand which gifts are the most cherished, which relationships the most beneficial, which desires the most satisfying, which laws the most liberating. You discover the spark of God which has always been in you, waiting to be recognized and appreciated.  And best of all, you find that you’re worthy of God’s love and promise of perfection, which makes what you do in this life a beautiful expression of assurance and gratitude.

4/18/09 Reflections                  Dear God, I realize You know all things from within eternity and that all things move about within Your eternal plan. But sometimes the need to apologize for the human race is overwhelming.

I just went through the December edition of a well-known magazine. Eight and a half by eleven inches, 266 pages of the “holiday” issue and not one mention of Jesus. “God” and “prayer” each had an appearance, but only within quotes from interviews concerning matters other than faith. “Christmas” appears a few times but only as an adjective because Christmas trees, Christmas wreaths and Christmas day can be said quickly without any pesky religious overtones getting in the way. There was even a paint ad that made the connotation that the cows You’ve provided us for meat and drink are evil creations, so it’s not that the magazine is too timid to offend people. But the words, “church” (twice), “Advent”, “nativity”, “Christmas” (twice), and “reason for the season” showed up in a 710-word, full-page advertisement – I can just imagine the executive meetings to discuss whether the magazine could accept an ad containing such words. The top eleven catchy Christmas carols? Jesus didn’t make the grade here either — just snow and Santa. A good four-page article on the charitable things readers do doesn’t make the connection between our giving and God’s. But oh! the overpriced stuff you can buy! It reminded me of why I let my subscription to this magazine expire. Initially it was a good magazine but as time went by I was paying good money for lots of advertising and very little content.

I’m not naive – I “get” marketing, satire, diversity, market idols, activism, and political correctness. I know that in the court of public opinion the squeaky wheel gets the grease and with all the squeaky wheels the only way to reach quiet is for us to stand united on the issues the media has told us to embrace.

But not me, Lord. I’m sorry that we have let them create an environment where turning our backs on You is not only accepted, but mandated. If Your plan includes the logical outcome of such arrogance, it will be no surprise to me. How else will a prideful people learn about reality? But I refuse to get swept up in this societal tyranny, and I will continue to worship You the way You taught me. I just feel sorry for those who are missing out on the joy of loving You and who are making sure no one else gets exposed to it either.

4/12/09 Inspirations                         It’s not for the reasons you may think . . .

I’ve read my Bible as a historical treatise; I enjoyed that, but it didn’t seem relevant. I’ve read it as the holy word of a God we can’t come close to understanding, and was frustrated by the mystery of it all. I’ve read my Bible literally and felt that anyone who could swallow that stuff was mighty gullible. Then I quit reading my Bible myself and listened to Bible commentators, whose interpretations made a lot of sense overall, but never touched me personally.

But after I set my Bible aside and wasn’t looking there anymore, I was hit hard by the gift of spirituality. Knowledge and grace came flooding into my spirit. Conviction and elation filled my days. Intuitions and miracles paraded before me. I found out that God was not at all like what the Bible writers said, but all about what they inferred. In other words, what God is saying to me between the lines of my Bible is the same thing He’s saying to me in contemplative prayer, where I know Him as well as He wishes to be known by me.

Now I can pick up my Bible at any place, and because God has touched me personally and I have welcomed His gifts, I find seeds of reflection scattered everywhere, and the realization comes easily and clearly. Like birchbark in the presence of a match, words of my Bible are a catalyst for what I already have been taught by God. Put together, the effect is explosive, sure, and predictable.

1/23/09 Reflections          There is one great error from which all others evolve – the foolishness of loving something more than we love God. It’s no wonder we are all sinners, for opportunities to put something worldly ahead of God are plentiful and alluring. God knows this, and He forgives. But do we know it?

When do we ever stop what we’re doing and ask ourselves if this thing we do is honoring God? The good things we do are in effect pleasing to God, but do we do them for God’s sake or ours? The bad things we do may produce guilt, sorrow, shame, fear, and a feeling of helplessness, but do we regret them for what they do to God or for what they do to us?

If only we would put as much enthusiasm into loving God as we put into adulating worldly people and things! People of God have been called delusional for giving glory to the Creator by the same people who swoon over a celebrity at a rock concert, Hollywood awards ceremony, political rally, or basketball game. People of God have been quietly giving and volunteering for ages and have been sneered at by the same people who swell with pride over a new car, gourmet dinner, house with a pool, or big bank balance.

You can enjoy nice things and still put God first. There’s nothing inherently wrong with worldly matters, but when the pursuit of them makes us demote the Creator of all of this to irrelevancy, it’s just plain wrong. Maybe to you God isn’t as entertaining, charismatic, pleasurable, or glittery as these Earthly wonders, but Earthly life doesn’t last long and God lasts forever. So do you – long after the things you pursue now no longer exist. What is important then is as important now in God’s eyes. He’s been telling you what’s good and right and joyful since you were born – haven’t you been listening?