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The Door

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 24, 2013| 6 Comments »

The Door

The Door

I am the Door of the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not hear them.

I am the Door.

Through Me if anyone should be entering, he shall be saved

And shall be entering and coming out and will be finding pasture.

The thief is only coming so that he should be stealing and sacrificing and destroying.

I came that they may have aeonian life and have it superabundantly.

After tackling the dominance of Pauline teaching in the day to day life of traditional Christianity I’ve decided to return to the somewhat quizzical sayings of Yeshua as found in John’s narrative of the Nazarene’s final weeks on earth.

The above saying is lifted from Yeshua’s discourse with the Jewish leadership team that hung out in the Temple court area looking for heretics to put straight.

I am the Door of the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not hear them.

The Nazarene outsider is clearly using metaphorical language here in his engagement with his theological adversaries. He’s been talking about sheep, sheepfolds, authentic and false shepherds in his discussions with his learned opponents. So what do such symbols mean?

Sheep

This somewhat humbling term refers to those folk who belong to God; in the immediate context of his discussions, Yeshua is talking about the Jewish race but in light of subsequent sayings he is clearly referring to all mankind, those who have come from and will return to Divine Source.

Door

This is the entrance into the sheepfold, the sacred place of belonging where true community is to be found. Is this sheepfold, a racial group or religious belief system? I believe not. It’s the place of Divine Presence, the very Cosmos itself and indeed, beyond. The realm of  Divine awakening and awareness. Yeshua sees himself as One through whom his followers pass into such an altered state. He’s suggesting that following or tuning into him is the key to a spiritual awakening. From a mimetic or imitative desire perspective Yeshua is claiming that those who are drawn into his Desire field will find themselves emerging into a new state of consciousness, the same consciousness that he himself experienced during his space-time sojourn.

Thieves and robbers

Yeshua uses this term for the mosaic of spiritual teachers whose motives are purely for self gain; those who see folk as a means to an end. The religious and spiritual world is full of such peddlers of metaphysical wares, but the Nazarene sees through their shepherd masks to the lurking ego violence within. The perceptive seer was clearly referring to the established teachers of the Law centring around the Jerusalem Temple cult of his day but such religious teachers are found the world over no matter what their cultural or temporal context.

Yeshua clearly states that we sheep will not stick with such religious or spiritual experts for long. Eventually the realisation dawns on us that the Divine Voice is not being heard through them; something in the ground of their being just doesn’t resonate with our inner vibration of spiritual authenticity.

I am the Door.

Through Me if anyone should be entering, he shall be saved

Here the Nazarene connects the idea of entering through him into the place of Divine Awareness to the common but often misunderstood concept of salvation. May I suggest, contrary to much theological thought, that this salvation primarily refers to a continual state of psycho-spiritual freedom, one in which we’re delivered from the effects of skewed desire and its resulting Model Obstacle relationships. In other words, not a future escape from wrathful Divine Judgement but a here and now state of well-being and psychic wholeness, one that we will carry with us into death and beyond!

And shall be entering and coming out and will be finding pasture.

 Here Yeshua promises a free-flowing life, one that links both our inner and outer worlds. At times we’ll focus on the mysterious immanence of Divine Presence; at others we’ll be engaged with the manifestations of Spirit Breath in our outer day-to-day encounters. One thing is promised though. Pasture or spiritual nurture will be ours, a constant provision for those of us free from the inner and outer tensions of desire rivalry and competition. In the letting go of our squealing ego needs we’ll discover a surprising new level of Divine provision, one required to maintain our newly acquired mimetic state.

The thief is only coming so that he should be stealing and sacrificing and destroying.

The Galilean prophet goes straight to the heart of all inauthentic religious and spiritual experts.

Seeing beyond the pietistic surface Yeshua reveals three aspects of psycho-spiritual malpractice.

1) Stealing

The ego driven teacher helps themself to something that belongs to both the Divine and the individual spiritual seeker.

From the Divine the rogue guru steals the worship or worthship due to the limitless Source of All.

From the ardent seeker the master robber subtly steals the gift of Will, the individual’s God-given ability to choose which Path to follow. The somewhat subliminal, hypnotic powers of the spiritual expert can lead the unsuspecting sheep into a cage  of  psycho-spiritual codependency.

2)  Sacrificing

This interesting choice of word reveals the hidden nature of much psycho-spiritual thought and practice. The  false religious teacher  will always require sacrifice of some sort from those who follow them. The shedding of much blood, sweat and tears in order to keep the guru’s god happy usually  lurks within the spiritual teaching of the believable spiritual thief . A little tip from my personal observations and experience. Beware of spiritual or religious leaders who subliminally or openly push self-sacrifice in their missional manifestos.

3) Destroying

The fruit of all false spirituality is eventual death. Often behind the impressive mesmeric powers of the religious or spiritual salesman lies a fragmented heart of violence and control, cleverly camouflaged by a great big beatific smile. Many are the unsuspecting victims of such false teachers. Great piles of spiritual corpses lie on the smouldering fires of religious disillusionment. How many burnt out believers hide away in dark sacred corners, nursing their wounded psyches, those damaged by the skewed mimetic game of zealous master-disciple relationships?

I came that they may have aeonian life and have it superabundantly.

Here Yeshua states that his mission was to restore a vigorous sense of life to those confused and damaged by the religious status quo. His followers weren’t to be characterised by puritanical piety and spiritual hoop jumping but by the very essence of Divine Source, viz. Life. Not the mere existence of those caught up in the skewed desire battles of human culture but the very Life of the Queendom to come, the Life of the new Jerusalem, a one to One Union with Ultimate Reality.

Now that’s what I call superabundant spirituality; the crazy Cosmic Dance through the Divine Door that was incarnated in Yeshua.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Paulianity?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on April 18, 2013| 11 Comments »

Paul ~ the chosen One or one among many?

Paul ~ the chosen One or one among many?

Some days I wonder what today’s Yeshua movement would be like if Saul, the persecutor Rabbi hadn’t fallen off his Damascus Road donkey. Suppose the Jewish scholar-policeman had just ‘pulled himself together’ and spurred his trusty ass on towards another religious roundup; how would the Way, later to morph into Christianity, appear in 2013? Call me strange but this somewhat unsettling quirky, what if thinking seems to be part of my Irish psycho-spiritual makeup, so please bear with me!

Many today believe the true Gospel or Good News to be the pure revelation of God as expounded in the writings of Saul. Their reasoning goes something like this:

Yeshua came to teach the Kingdom of God, it was largely rejected by his listeners, and so God and he switched to plan B, that had really been plan A all along viz. his death and resurrection. So far so good to a point. In the early days of the embryonic, Jerusalem, Yeshua community it would appear that his followers, including his ex-disciples didn’t get it quite right! Except for Stephen that is  for he, like Yeshua before him, drew the mob violence of the religious establishment upon himself, becoming the first so-called Christian martyr, for only Truth tends to draw the raging genie out of a highly polished sacred lamp.

Yet, the reasoning goes that God still hadn’t got His perfect message out! Even though the Jerusalem gang had lived with Yeshua during his space-time mission and had  been taught by him post resurrection over many days, a finer intellect was needed, one who would really get it.

And so we arrive at Saul, aka Paul and his stumbling attempts to understand the One who’d knocked him off  his perch as Temple sponsored Inquisitor in Chief. The big transformation in Paul however took place somewhere else, one where most of his old religious paradigm seems to have rapidly gone down the metaphysical drain. This Pauline womb of creativity appears to have been the Arabian, or more accurately, the Jordanian desert, where the new convert claimed to have been caught up into the Jewish Third Heaven and granted unspeakable glimpses of Ultimate Reality. This is where Paul professed to have gained his insights into the whole Yeshua phenomenon, later described by him as my Gospel or Good News‘.

Later writing to his fellow Yeshua followers in Galatia, the new apostle claimed not to have received his teachings from Peter and his Jerusalem friends  but directly from the risen Yeshua. Clearly then, the converted Rabbi was what is commonly called a mystic, one who receives direct revelation from Divine Source, rather than the status quo teaching of his contemporaries.

So what, if any, is the big problem?

Wasn’t Paul clearly sent along to lift the message of Yeshua and his former disciples to a whole new level, one that the Gentile would could accept without all those painful Jewish disciplines such as circumcision? Let’s face it; which of us men wouldn’t have signed up to be a Paulian?

Well, looking back at things from our 21st century perspective it’s hard to see the problems, but problems there certainly were once Paul added his mystical mix to the existing Yeshua mythology. Many of us have observed hints of the religious rivalry within the early Yeshua movement as described in the book of Acts, a Pauline stream account of the tensions between his followers and the fledgling movement’s elder statesmen back in Jerusalem with their particularly Jewish take on their risen leader. Let’s be honest: there must be a wee bit of Pauline propaganda in Luke’s Acts narrative; no-one writes to paint their charismatic leader as a ‘heretic’ but rather the bearer of a superior revelation, one that surpasses the previously accepted take on spiritual reality. Paul, In reality Paul was only one among many interpreters of the whole Yeshua event, those who jostled for the label of God sanctioned teacher. The early Yeshua movement was I’m afraid, not one big happy family but a collage of metaphysical takes on the revolutionary Nazarene, one with it’s all too obvious tensions and rivalries.

Three centuries on the Pauline interpretation of Yeshua’s execution and resurrection were later confirmed by the Constantine instigated Counsel of Nicaea as Christian with letters accredited to his authorship later included in the accepted Canon of Holy Writings, known as the New Testament.

So what’s the big deal you say?

Well, may I humbly suggest that Paul’s writings have gained a super status position within Reformed Theology and its modern love children viz. evangelicalism and its Pentecostal and Charismatic offshoots; one that is, all things considered, spiritually unhealthy. Having been raised to the level of Sacred Scripture, Paul’s metaphysical musings infer that the Gospel narrative accounts of Yeshua’s life and teaching don’t quite reveal the Mysteries of the Cosmos. The Tao/Logos in human form did not fully reveal all that needed to be revealed. Neither in fact do the other relatively recently discovered accounts of the early Yeshua movement, in the form of the so-called ‘Gnostic Gospels’.

Am I suggesting that we shouldn’t read Paul’s or his disciples’ take on Yeshua. No not at all. There is clearly something rich and unique within his narratives that reflect the awe and wonder of the mystical Yeshua, the Cosmic Christ to borrow a New Age term. Rather, what I am suggesting is that we have ignored the Gospel narratives, both canonical and excluded, at our peril. Our spirituality has been based on Pauline interpretation, giving us a one-sided limp on our pilgrimage home. Personally I believe that all that we require to come into mimetic salvation with the Divine Source is contained hidden within the overly familiarized Yeshua accounts within the accepted Gospels.

May I humbly suggest that God didn’t grab Rabbi Saul to be ‘the’ authentic interpreter or indeed founder of ‘Christianity’, as many modern Yeshua followers subliminally believe, but to paint a uniquely colored stroke on the multifarious canvas of Divine Truth.

So let’s dip into the rich variety of religious writings that abound around the person of Yeshua rather than remain Paul freaks. To do so will make us more sensitive to our own inner Journey and that of those around us. Life, especially the spiritual life, is full of surprises.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Bread of Life and all that!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Bread Of Life And All That!

Bread Of Life And All That!

I AM the Bread of life.

He coming toward me should under no circumstances be hungering,

And he believing into me will under no circumstances be thirsting……..

Everyone that the Father is giving to me shall be arriving toward me,

And those coming toward me I should under no circumstances be casting out,

That’s why I descended from the heavens,

Not that I should be doing my will but the Will of him sending me.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

In today’s post I wish to look at a mysterious saying of Yeshua that many of his present day followers find difficult to understand. I believe that many  Christian interpretations have missed the key to grasping the practical lessons embedded within this esoteric gem from the Nazarene. The key that I will use to reveal the hands-on applications that lie within this supposed mystical discourse is the recently discovered psycho-spiritual tool known as mimetic theory. Let me explain.

Yeshua has just fed the multitude with a multiplied sardine bread combo that satisfied their natural hunger. Having just discovered a new miracle worker in their midst the grasping crowd are now chasing him down for more of his mystical magic. However, the Galilean prophet isn’t carried away by the adulation of the throng as he engages them in discussion; a revealing heart to heart about their founding fathers’ eating habits on the way to the promised land. Back then, their starving ancestors were just glad to get their bellies filled with miraculous daily manna, a gift from their Deliverer God, YHWH. The Nazarene holy man hints that the Hebrew travellers had missed the whole point of their manna diet, just like his present audience, those baying for more Messianic thrills. This is where we encounter the above declaration from Yeshua.

I AM the Bread of life.

Most Christian comment claims that Yeshua is here declaring his divine nature, claiming that he too came from the Divine realm, like the supernatural manna of the wilderness. I have no problem with that but we can, if we wish, read it slightly differently, seeing YHWH, the I AM THAT I AM, as the Bread of life. Most interpretations perceive this life to be eternal in nature, the life of post death experience, yet surely this life is in the here and now, our day-to-day space-time adventure as lived through our soul-psyche. In the Eternal Now of Divine perspective perhaps both these forms of life are one and the same.

He, coming toward me, should under no circumstances be hungering,

 

Here Yeshua unpacks a great mystery, one with earthly applications. The Galilean realises that all human relationships are mimetic or imitative in nature. We find our perceptions of Self in the other, being drawn to the apparent metaphysical solidity of their personhood. The Self image that we currently hold is a collage of all that we have admired in others to date. No-one is truly their own man. The autonomy of the psyche-soul is a delusion, one that brings in its wake much psychological suffering and pain.

Understanding this, Yeshua reveals himself as an object of human desire. For those drawn into the sphere of his Being, those attached by a gut-felt, metaphysical desire, will not be disappointed. All human relationships of Model and follower eventually end in tears of separation and rivalry. Expulsion and broken relationship is the norm in the world of skewed desire. However, Yeshua claims that ultimately it won’t happen to those attracted to him. Ultimately, because it often happens to the most zealous of disciples along the Way. Simon Peter is a classic example of one who entered the dangerous role of Monstrous Double or Adversary, one who rivaled with his Master Model in attempting to stop him going up to Jerusalem to die. Yet, even such a head strong follower as the Galilean fisherman, finally got it, albeit after his Model’s future demise and unexpected comeback.

The reason that we can desire what Yeshua desires and come into his freedom, is because the Nazarene will never rival back. He will never become a Monstrous Double, one fighting us for a share of Being, for all Being resides within him, the incarnated Tao-Logos. When we understand this newly revealed gravitational dynamic and its accompanying realignment process, we are free to move into a world of desire that is ‘vertical’ rather than remain in the horizontal version where rivalry and ultimate violence prevail.

And he believing into me will under no circumstances be thirsting……..

At first glance this little nugget only seems to echo the radical message of the previous hungering statement, yet there resides here a subtle but important further unpacking of the whole mimetic or imitative process. In this declaration Yeshua replaces coming to with believing into. Modern day Yeshua followers are frankly obsessed with belief. Doctrine and dogma have become the battle fields upon which much spilt spiritual energy and blood lies crying out from holy ground, like the blood of the mythic Abel, the victim of the Founding murder. For many of us intellectually believe the right things concerning the Nazarene has replaced the believing into of this poignant statement.

So what’s the difference?

Well, intellectual belief is always operates in the sphere of the psyche-soul, our interface with this space-time realm. Hence it always contains the potential to be a weapon of our defensive and often counter-attacking ego. In ancient Middle Eastern spirituality belief was a process of trust or letting go, a lying back into the object believed into. Yeshua’s words reflect such a release, with its resulting movement into the very essence of his Being. Like Han’s Solo’s Millenium Falcon being drawn into the hold of the giant Death Star, only flipped from the Dark Side!

I would suggest that such a believing into Yeshua releases something fresh and altogether other within our weary psyches; an unlimited watering from Divine Source itself, a thirst quenching drink of Holy Breath that heals our psychic pains.

Everyone that the Father is giving to me shall be arriving toward me,

Here Yeshua suggests that the mimetic process at work in his followers doesn’t originate with him; rather, all those drawn into his desire field have somehow been placed there by his God, the Father or ‘Abba’ with whom he himself was in mimesis. Once touched by Yeshua’s all-consuming desire matrix the only way to go seems to be towards him. Perhaps this gives a Divine slant on the whole free-will ~ destiny debate that continues to confuse those of a theological bent!

And those coming toward me I should under no circumstances be casting out,

 

This little phrase has been hijacked by many Christian interpreters to build a case for eternal salvation, the great escape from the dreaded fires of hell. Such a fundamentalist  fire insurance  take on Yeshua’s words  is, I believe, extremely wide of his original meaning. Here is what I believe he is saying.

‘Those who are realigned into my desire field and grow into my likeness through desire exchange will never have to worry about me turning on them. Even though they become like me, I will never expel them or do them violence, unlike human Models. I will never become your Model Obstacle, the one to scapegoat you out of my Presence and Being.’

In other words, the desire link up with Yeshua is the only truly safe relationship that we can have during our space-time journey.

That’s why I descended from the heavens,

Yeshua claims here that, like the miracle manna, his Being is sourced in the Divine. The psycho-spiritual freedom that he enjoys has its origins in his Divine connection with the Transcendent Father, the One who, being Being itself, doesn’t need to rival with anyone for a sense of Self. Such a Divinity has no need to measure itself against the creatures that it has birthed. It is supremely Self-defining, yet wishing to share this freedom with its mirror images. For such a mission was the Nazarene sent – an awakening to the possibility of a rivalry free communion with our Source Spirit.

Not that I should be doing my will but the Will of him sending me. 

In taking on this task Yeshua reveals the secret of his commissioning; he has voluntarily been absorbed by the mimetic desire or will of the transcendent Other, the very passion that holds the Cosmos together. In other words, Yeshua the man, demonstrated that once a desire connection is established with Divine Love, and the skewed desire of ego set aside, we can all return to the freedom of the sons and daughters of God. Realigned with Holy Breath, the Divine essence in space-time we can run through life, free from Model Obstacle and Monstrous Double relational constraints, loosed from the gravitational pull of others who vie for psychic clones. Now if that isn’t life abundantly then I don’t know what is!

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Divine Visitation

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 26, 2013| 4 Comments »

Divine Visitation

Divine Visitation

And the Tao Logos became flesh

And was tabernacling among us

And we were gazing at his glory,

A glory as of an only begotten beside Father,

Full of grace and truth.

John, the disciple beloved by Yeshua, had a great way with words, and an equally shocking take on the transcendence of Divine Love. In this post I want to look at this revealing little passage from the Johannine spiritual tradition.

And the Tao Logos became flesh

This declaration by John would have freaked out both the Greek philosophers and the Jewish theologians of his day. The Tao (Chinese) or Logos (Greek) referred to the transcendent organising principle of the cosmos to all who used the terms. An unseen mystery whose effects were only manifest in the visible world of Nature. Both the Chinese and Greek philosophers believed that this living force or energy underpinned all the material world, an ocean of sorts upon which the ship of our space-time world floated. It saturated the visible realm of all living things like water in a freshly drenched sponge, yet remained a teasing mystery to the mind of man.

John shocks us by suggesting that this Tao-Logos became flesh, in other words took on human form, or more startling become one of us! The Intelligent Mystery that upheld all things somehow poured itself or himself into a human being, in a unique Way.

And was tabernacling among us

The Presence of the Tao-Logos camped among us in human form. There is something very daring in such a risky venture on the part of the Source of All. How can the Divine Wisdom limit itself to an individual human Being. Stepping into the apparently dangerous, skewed world of form seems like a ludicrous plan for such an all-encompassing One. Why the visit? Why the intimacy of a shared human experience?

And we were gazing at his glory

The Johannine writer suggests that those who brushed up against this incarnated Tao-Logos were unknowingly given a chance to observe at close quarters the very manifest Essence of the Divine visitor’. In some strange way, the Tao-Logos could be observed face to face, rather than the rare glimpses that it previously revealed to the spiritual seekers of all cultures. The Shekinah Cloud of Presence that had previously visited Solomon’s Temple on rare occasions had now moved into the earthy area of human existence. Yet, unsurprisingly such a Presence was missed by the majority of the crowd, content to play the old religious games of their Jewish forefathers.

A glory as of an only begotten beside Father

The glory or shining of the visiting Tao-Logos was in some way unique. Not the reflected glory of all those made in the Divine image, but the glory of One intimately in on the God thing before the beginning of space-time. One birthed in some mysterious Way by the Creative Father Source outside the limitations of material cause and effect. One in companionship and partnership with the Divine Cause of All. A co-worker in the hilarious Dance of Creation and Being. One there to enjoy relationship within the Mystery that we call God.

Full of grace and truth

So what of the nature of the One who birthed Nature? The flow of Life known as the Tao-Logos knows only one direction, viz. that of giving. Secure in its own Being it pours out its Divine energy into the fabric of All Things, us included. A non judgemental Presence whose only aim is to heal and restore the psyche-soul of mankind.

Once we come to the liberating realisation that Truth is not a set of beliefs our world is turned upside down. To discover that the Tao-Logos is just not an impersonal force as in Star Wars, but a Presence that manifested itself in the person of a Man, is a psycho-spiritual shock to our systemized world view. That which was Mystery has made the quantum leap into humanity to demonstrate its Nature in a way that we can easily understand viz compassion and unconditional love for the creation it has birthed.

So, if we wish to discover the invisible Tao-Logos, or Way-Word for ourselves, let’s look no further than the Nazarene, Yeshua Bar Yosef. In observing him, we may surprisingly get in touch with our own inner chamber, our sacred space within where the Mystery of Mysteries has also come to dwell; the Spirit Breath that unites us with the timeless Life Flow between Father and Son.

Dylan’s Author page ~ http://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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The Mysticism of John

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

The Mysticism of John

The Mysticism of John

‘In beginning was the Tao/Logos

And the Tao/Logos was toward God ……..

All was coming into being through it

And apart from it nothing has yet come into being …..

In it was life

And the life was the light of humanity.

And the light is appearing in the darkness

And the darkness grasped it not.’

John ~ the Beloved

In today’s post I wish to revisit some well-known words accredited to the Johannine stream of the early Yeshua movement, hopefully opening them up to a broader and more exciting take on the Mystery that is the Godhead.

In beginning was the Tao/Logos

And the Tao/Logos was toward God ……..

Outside space-time there is no beginning as such. Was the writer referring here to the timeless Eternal Now where Divine Love dwells or just is? Or is he alluding to the beginning of space-time itself? Either way, he seems to suggest that the Creative Intelligence or Organising Principle of Chinese and Greek philosophical thought is the great Constant in what we perceive to be existence. The Tao/Logos always was and in some strange relational way constantly gazes into the face of Divine Love itself. This mysterious connection and directional flow of life appears to be central to all that the writer goes on to expound.

All was coming into being through it

And apart from it nothing has yet come into being …..

All that exists outside this Eternal Essence is birthed and continues to have its being in and through its Divine Self. Nothing lies outside its Organisational Mind and Creative Energy. Everything that truly is hangs on the transcendent coat stand of its Being.

In it was life

And the life was the light of humanity.

Life, whatever life truly is, finds its origins in the Tao/Logos. It is the womb from which this consciousness that we call life has emerged. In some mysterious way there exists a deep union between life and light. In our space-time world light is a must for the propagation of life. In Ultimate Reality, the Divine Life reveals its Presence as Light, a Light that is meant for the spiritual eyes of mankind; a Divine radiance that targets the heart of humanity.

And the light is appearing in the darkness

And the darkness grasped it not.

Where does darkness dwell but in the fragmented psyche of our inner self? Does darkness have any independent existence apart from our wounded souls. Is it real as the Tao/Logos is real. Or is it a virtual reality dream world created by the trauma of withdrawn love. Whatever its essence it is impossible for such darkness to keep Divine Light at bay. Once it has decided to shine the Light of the Tao/Logos can enter the world of our psychic darkness at will. Yet if we cling to the inner darkness that promises to protect us from further rejection and psychic wounding we can remain blind to the revelation of Ultimate Reality via the ever-present Light. Preferring to remain in the apparent safety of our programmed darkness we miss the liberating life and wholeness of the visiting Light.

There’s one thing for sure: we cannot escape the Presence of the Tao/Logos even if we bury our heads in the psychic sand of our fragmented self. When we chose to open our eyes to Ultimate Reality, tired of our days of darkness, our whole world will take on a new splendour. Like a previously shuttered window now opened to the stream of sunshine and its generating warmth, our cold, dried out soul will welcome the transforming Life of the Tao/Logos. No longer will life be a struggle to survive in the jungle of our misperceived reality but a joyful Dance in the Eternal Light, a wild abandon to the underpinning Love that holds the whole space-time thing together. A Presence that now carries the illusory load of our fear filled psyche, One in which we can lie back and kick off the shoes of Self Effort and religious duty.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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A Shepherd’s Song

Posted in Uncategorized on March 13, 2013| 2 Comments »

A Shepherd's Song

A Shepherd’s Song

In my last few posts I’ve been focusing on the fanaticism and spiritual abuse that often lurk within our commonly accepted religious mindsets and practices. It’s a message that I felt nudged to write about since the tragic dynamic of such experiences is constantly at work the world over. Even though I personally walked away from such abuse way back in 1986 I still observe it and sense its destructive psychological effects in those in regular contact with me. Yet, thankfully there is a spiritual baby left to enjoy in the world of faith, once we’ve thrown out the putrid bath water of spiritual abuse and religious mind-control. For me that baby is communicated as the Divine Presence, known simply by Yeshua as ‘Abba’. In this and future posts I wish to delve into the psycho-spiritual truths that often lie hidden under the traditional readings of some well-known passages from both Jewish and Christian holy writings.

Today I start with an intimate ancient God song penned by a famous Jewish shepherd boy:

‘I AM that I AM’, my Shepherd 

I shall not lack’

When we are connected to the ‘I AM’, both within and without, we travel on the river of Divine Being, a flow of wholeness and Union, a place of knowing that we are not alone; a place where all we need is given in its time.

‘He makes me lie down in pastures of tender grass:

He guides me beside the waters of rest’

At times Divine Love over-rides our supposed free will, orchestrating circumstances whereby we’re gently, or not so gently, made to take a break from our desire wars and lie down in a place that will feed the spirit ‘I AM’ within. Once back in touch with what’s really important we are taught to walk in ‘Spirit’, the Divine Flow that always brings a sense of ease and wholeness to our daily psycho-spiritual experience.

‘He restores my soul:

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his names sake’

Divine Presence is a healer; One who heals our wounded psyche, reintegrating our defensive sub-personalities into the wholeness of Self. As this process continues we shall begin to live as we were designed to live, in harmonious relationship with God and man. When folk observe our new way of being, they will wonder if there is a God after all.

‘Moreover, though I’m walking through the Valley of the Shadow,

I will fear no evil’

Even though I’m experiencing the darkness of depression and psychological turmoil, even to the stage of fearing my insanity and premature death, I have no need to be afraid. The perceived brokenness of my psychological disintegration is not the highest reality.

‘For You with me;

Your rod and your staff comfort me.’

In the darkness of fear’s grip I am not alone. The I AM is with me, indeed a part of me! The Voice of Wisdom will keep me walking in psychological health, the Divine Presence will give me its transcendent perspective on what my fear fuelled sub-personalities are screaming at me.

‘You continue to prepare a table for me in the midst of my adversaries’ 

When my Model Obstacle and Monstrous Double relationships try to pull me back into desire rivalry, you provide an alternative; a sacred space where I can commune with You, free from their aggressive gravitational pull.

‘You anoint my head with the oil;

My cup is always running over’

You pour Spirit Breath in and through my mind, giving me a clarity and authority to Be my Self. My psyche always has a fresh supply of psychic energy running through it, to enjoy for my Self and to inspire others on their Journey.

‘Only goodness and Divine Love will follow me all the days of my life:

And I will dwell in I AM that I AM’s house to the length of my days’

I cannot get away from Divine Love nor the beneficial psycho-spiritual aspects of its compassion and acceptance. Even on the day of my last breath, the Divine Presence will be still be the same as it has always been viz present. Until then I co-habit with Spirit Breath and She with me. My healing psyche now has a live in Presence that roots me into my Divine destiny; one that extends beyond my space-time experience into the mysteries of the Divine plan.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Spiritual Abuse ~ The Great Escape

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 27, 2013| 3 Comments »

Spiritual Abuse ~ The Great Escape

Spiritual Abuse ~ The Great Escape

In my previous posts I looked at how we enter into spiritual abuse and how we are locked into it, through a desire matrix and its covering narrative. Today I want to look at how we get out from under such abuse and its controlling mindset.

Let’s face it; it’s not easy to pull off The Great Escape; many of us remain in such abuse environments for decades of our precious space-time existence before finally leaving. What I wish to do is look at the dynamics of our departure and help explain our sudden shift into freedom.

In theory our Will or free Will should help us break away from both the spiritual abuser and his abusive group. In this ideal world we just decide to walk away having coolly examined the facts of our emotional imprisonment. Yet in practice this is far from the case. We are puppets pulled by the subliminal desire strings of the abuser and their metaphysical vision. In such a closeted setting our will appears to miss the point completely, having come into subjugation to the feel good factor of belonging to such a committed group of fellow believers.

Let me suggest that our awakening to the reality of our religious involvement can come in only one of two ways.

1) Expulsion

2) Transpersonal Crisis

Expulsion

The psychic hold that operates through desire transference between Model and Disciple is an extremely strong bond, giving us a sense of social belonging and involvement in a higher purpose. It works well for a time, producing the illusion that we are bang in the center of the Divine Will; a garden of metaphysical pleasure where the religious roses seem to be permanently in bloom. However, as we press into our Model and their infectious desire, a strange metamorphosis begins to take place. Birthed by sincerity and mimetic imitation we gradually become clones of  our chosen Model. Unity within the group is initially strengthened by such a process but eventually our Model begins to take fright, alerted to the fact that they are now surrounded by mirror images of their inner Self.

Such reflex fear leads to a psychic distancing from the Disciples in question. No longer seen as aids to their hidden narcissism, the follower clones are now perceived as rivals for the position of spiritual top dog. In often hasty but subtle defensive measures the Disciple who felt so wanted by their Model now begin to sense an undercurrent of emotional rejection. Believing themselves to have done something to displease the Model the sensitive disciple redoubles their efforts to be like their leader idol. Such a response leads to a further withdrawal of affection or acceptance by the Model who on the surface keeps up the charade of loving all within their care. And so, the spiraling scene is set, that will eventually lead to the expulsion of either Disciple or Model from the group or family in question.

Usually, it is the devoted Disciple who leaves the group, finally realizing that they are no longer wanted. Immediate disillusionment sets in as they gain a glimpse of  what has been going on in the subliminal realm of desire control and conscious group myth. Often anger bursts forth, maintaining the rivalry from afar or from the vantage point of a new group built around a new Model. Such an opportunity for awakening from the religious dream is often delayed as the Disciple replaces one Desire Model for another. Unfortunately history will repeat itself until the Disciple comes to a realization that the religious desire game is the same the world over, morphing itself to the cultural shape of each new group joined.

Yet this psychic expulsion from one’s historical group provides a great opportunity to sit back and examine the process that one has been involved in. Religious ego will want to wage a scapegoating guerrilla war against one’s ex-Model and their flock, but it is a waste of the little psychic energy remaining in one’s emotional tank. A cold turkey phase of withdrawal has kicked in, one which will need much compassion and non judgement for recovery to take place. The battlefield of religious dogma and ideology is not the place we want to find ourselves. Rather we need to step away from all things religious and let reality kick in no matter how painful it is.

Only in facing up to our own woundedness and analyzing our group desire journey can we begin to make sense of it all, a prerequisite to permanent healing and wholeness. So simply put, best not to jump back into a religious pot of metaphysical desire having been thrown out of a spiritually abusive frying pan! Rather be compassionate to your Self and let the dust of God desire settle; avoid religious desire transmitters for a while and enjoy being outside the psycho-spiritual desire field of flock membership. Remember, faith groups do not hold a franchise on the Divine Presence; Spirit Source is all too willing to begin the healing process in the so-called desert of non church attendance!

In my next post I will look at how a Transpersonal Crisis can surprisingly lead to our Great Escape from the abusive world of model driven religion.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Living With A Religious Junkie

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on January 23, 2013| 30 Comments »

Religious Junkies

Living With A Religious Junkie

Let me start this wee post by saying that my wife Zan should really be writing it. This wonderful lady had to put up with my religious zeal for most of the formative years of our 32 year long marriage. It’s not easy living with a Jesus Freak, especially an Irish one with a big black Bible and a devotion to a radical  charismatic church.

Anyway, in this post I’d like to explore some of the difficulties encountered in attempting to relate to an extremely zealous believer, whether within marriage, family circle or workplace. Let me say that the task isn’t an easy one, not easy at all. Perhaps this is why so many divorces eventually occur in marriages where either one of the partners suddenly finds religion, or finally admits to agnosticism.

What is it that makes a religious believer so hard to relate to?

Here are a few simple ideas:

1) They tend to have a one-track mind.

The believer sees absolutely everything through their version of Truth. Nothing is seen as having being or value in itself but is always hooked up to their God agenda. A walk in nature ends up with a pietistic sermon rather than a wondrous encounter with snow filled trees or melodious birdsong.

2) They see the world as black and white

No grey areas exist in the believers vision. The Holy Book says this so there is no discussion and no compromise. The Sacred Writings don’t need interpretation for they are written by God Himself.

3) Behind the black they see the Satan.

If we haven’t signed up to the believer’s particular formula for salvation then we are puppets and by inference allies of God’s enemy. Not an easy role to take on!, especially within a family. Alternative takes on the Satan as a psychic disease of the human condition are quickly dismissed.

4) Everyone they meet is a potential convert.

Evangelism or the proclamation of Good News is reduced to a proselytising, recruitment process, to place paying bums on the seats of their tithing faith community of choice. Fellow human beings, even those closest to them are stamped with a sinner label that quickly blocks the mutual exchange of human vulnerability.

5) They perceive themselves to be closer to God than the non believer. 

Sinners saved by grace tend to quickly forget that grace, believing that their belief somehow makes them a bosom buddy of the Divine; a member of His ‘In Group’. The non believer easily senses this us them dichotomy even in the closest of families.

6) They believe that God is a quality controller.

Believing themselves to be ever under the watchful eye of the Divine Inspector, the zealous believer usually takes on this role with those whom they attempt to relate to. God’s will and standards are the benchmark by which the life of those closest are judged. The upholder of God’s Law can easily slip into a self-righteousness that quickly turns others off.

7) They believe that being right is of supreme importance.

It is amazing the lengths that the religious junkie will go to defend their metaphysical patch. God is frequently hauled onto their side of a discussion through the use of texts skillfully drawn from the Sacred Writings of choice. They know that whatever side God is on has won the argument – end of story. It is unthinkable for the zealous believer to acknowledge that they may be mistaken or to allow others a different mindset space.

The list could go on and on.

When I was on my mission for God all those decades ago, folk were hurt by my fiery psyche and I wasn’t even aware of it. Such is the blindness of the zealot in their attempt to save the world whilst ignoring the relational pain of those around them. Hell indeed for those hauled along for the heady religious ride.

In my next post I hope to look at some coping mechanisms for dealing with the religious junkies in our midst; those among whom we live and move and have our social being. Hold on ~ help is on its way!

http://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Religious Attachments Again

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 16, 2013| 18 Comments »

Religious Attachments Again

Religious Attachments Again

I’ve been amazed over the last few days at how many folk have visited my old Post ‘ How To Recognize Dysfunctional Religious Attachments’. One commentator thought the title a bit of a mouthful, better used for the title of a thesis perhaps! Don’t I just love honesty on the blogosphere! Of course the young lady in question has a valid point, so from now on my post titles will be much shorter and snappier!

So why more on dysfunctional religious attachments?

Well, simply because many of us still appear to have a psycho-spiritual itch that no-one has dared put a name to. To do so would risk immediate expulsion from the religious flock of choice. Since I’m long gone from the power plays of Sunday morning faith life I’ll step forward and put my Irish spiritual neck on the religious block. So, here goes:

Attachments are the invisible chords that hold us into a psychological dependency on a group, person or thing. Usually though they operate best on a person-to-person basis, often in the disguise of undying love or admirable commitment.  They appear to be the chords of love but are far from it, for true love is cordless, releasing the beloved to roam at will. You can see why these attachments attach themselves to the matters of religious belief and practice. It’s a great breeding ground for them as they try to hide in the respectable setting of God and His people.

Attachments are clever little creatures. They can adapt chameleon-like to whatever surroundings they find themselves in. There are Catholic attachments, Protestant attachments, Orthodox attachments, Pentecostal attachments, non denominational attachments etc, etc. Even in the heightened environs of those who claim to practice authentic Christianity in their recovered New Testament church models lurk the dreaded attachments with their insidious attempt to lock up sincere folk within the Matrix of metaphysical desire.

Matrix? Where did that come from? Well, if you’ve seen the movie you’ll remember the shocking setting; rows and rows, tier after tier of embryonic bodies having the life sucked out of them by the merciless machines, as they dreamed of normal life. So to in our religious life?

I believe so.

As we sit in our pews or cushioned plastic seats each Sunday morning we’re lining up to suck a metaphysical certainty of sorts out of our pastor, preacher, priest in exchange for our loyalty. In other words, he/she dishes out the faith and we keep coming and perhaps more importantly, paying.

The psychic glue that keeps the whole sacred attachment show on the road is of course desire and its insidious offspring expectation. We want to know God. Wonderful! Yet this is not a desire in isolation – it has a not so hidden context. We want to know God like Pastor Joe or Rev. Jones or Sister Mary or ……….. This is the key to our dependency, the attachment that locks us into a quasi-like devotion to those who appear to dispense the very life of God. Of course any of us who’ve willingly played the role of spiritual dispenser on a professional basis knows that although we work for God we are in fact chained to our people for both authentication, approval and cash flow. Like a quick-sand that pulls one down into the darkness of death, the ministry game, whether paid or hobby-like in nature has many skeletons in its white-washed cupboards.

Well Dylan, that’s all very well but thankfully I only depend on Jesus!

Wonderful, but may I humbly make a couple of perhaps pointed observations:

1) If you genuinely depend on Jesus why not try giving up attendance at religious services or meetings for the next three months. I respectfully suggest that you might experience some cold turkey symptoms linked to people or group dependency on your newly acquired, quiet Sunday mornings.

2) I wonder if Jesus, or Yeshua as his Jewish mum called him, wants you to be dependent on him. Was the goal of the Nazarene to have a multitude of followers trailing like little puppy dogs or a band of brothers and sisters to join him in the Divine Dance?

Sadly most of us only realize our addictions when we try to give up the substance concerned. I’m sitting here in Cafe Nero, ( I know, not a great name for Christians!), my local coffee shop with my regular Americano in hand. If I’d skipped it this morning I’d most certainly have a headache by 1 p.m. So too with our religious habits.

What is it in our spiritual life that deep down we suspect we’re dependent on? What has hooked us into a religious dependency that we just can’t admit? Many of us, fueled by a fear of rejection, will fight tooth and nail for our spiritual fixes in the guise of zealous God lovers.

As we let go of our various religious Attachments it can appear that our spiritual life is about to rapidly go down the drain of non belief.

Not so.

Alone in our vulnerability we shall feel the Divine Hand reach out to lead us in the Dance of Life. The Dancer and the Dance, a celebration of Union and freedom; the freedom to be and to give Love, no strings attached.

http://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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The Divine Touch

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2013| 19 Comments »

The Divine Touch

The Divine Touch

Throughout history, the mystics of all religions have experienced a Divine Communication beyond words. Today we in the Western, and indeed world-wide, religious environs are constantly bombarded by a multiplicity of words. The proliferation of mass media has been an answer to the spiritual teacher’s prayer. Literally, millions of books, pod-casts, blogs, sermons, costly seminars, YouTube videos, CDs etc, are regularly hawked to help us get in touch with God. It would appear that God needs a major commercial helping hand in order to communicate the message of Divine Love to His word hungry kids, but that’s a post for another day.

But what if instead of learning how to tune into an occasional message from God we learned to continually relax in Divine Presence by totally changing our perception of Spirit and how or why it communicates. If we underwent this seismic shift in our transcendent thinking our wallets would be a bit more available to the poor and a lot less open to the ‘professional’ religious or New Age gurus who enjoy the money driven high-life.

So what am I suggesting?

Well, as we all know, a good relationship depends on clear and consistent communication. So if our Source hopes to enjoy one with us then such a clarity of dialogue must surely issue from the Divine Heart.

Ah, but God has already spoken in the Sacred Writings you say! ‘I believe every jot, word and tittle of the Holy Bible, Koran, Vedas, or Book of my choice.’ Well OK, I can go along with that but does that mean that in pursuing intimacy with us Sacred Breath only spouts Holy Texts. If we want to hear the Divine must we study and limit ourselves to the sacred texts? If a young man is deeply in love with a young woman is he limited to reading her love letters, rather than calling her on the phone or even better, meeting and embracing his beloved cheek to cheek? Somehow I suspect that such a letter reading relationship wouldn’t last for long.

It’s here that Christians step in to say that God has also spoken to mankind by visiting us in the form of Yeshua, the Nazarene prophet-teacher. Yep I can also go along with that. The Logos, the Greek designed Word or expression of the Divine animating principle of the Cosmos, became flesh and dwelt among us. A fleshed out expression of the Divine Nature. Yet, he is not with us in visible form today. How do we have a relationship with a Master that we can no longer feel and touch? Some have suggested ‘obedience’ to his teachings as the key, but is that authentic relationship or just another religious duty to the unseen and distant God.

Well Yeshua himself seemed to suggest some answers to our predicament in the form of Sacred Breath or Spirit Wind. No-one can see wind but they can certainly feel it. Is there some way that we can feel Divine Presence where words become almost irrelevant. Like two lovers sitting and holding hands, reading each others thoughts through some form of love-struck telepathy may we not also feel the Presence of  Sacred Unity, the One who has chased us down through the years. That sense of knowing that we are loved, rather than the forced mind games of believing that we are loved.

So are words important?

Well yes and no!

God is a God of few words but also One of overflowing Presence, a companion who takes us to a place where speech becomes almost unnecessary. A state of confidence birthed by Divine initiative, the fruit of Divine longing, a longing to embrace and saturate the Sons and Daughters of His Desire. Many claim to have come home to God. Perhaps it is God who has come home to us, his chosen resting place in the unbounded open spaces of our multidimensional Cosmos. It’s what Source has always longed for; an extended expression of itself to Love and Nurture, a companion to ride alongside on the Spirit Plains of Being, the great expanse of Divine Communion.

Queen’s Freddie Mercury once sang, ‘I need somebody to love’. Perhaps the greatest Lover of all is in the same boat, which might just explain why we’re here at all, waiting in the Spirit of saturated Silence.

https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Belief or Trust?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 2, 2013| 8 Comments »

Belief or Trust?

Belief or Trust?

The religious word faith carries so much metaphysical and cultural baggage that it’s now a hindrance to those looking for the big answers in life. The original Greek word pistis as found in the New testament can mean, faith, belief or trust. So let’s start 2013 by stripping away some of the spiritual clutter. I wish to set aside the over-used word faith and chose a more meaningful replacement. However should I go for belief or trust?

1) Belief

I’m often asked what I believe. A good question that I’m not sure I can answer in the affirmative. I guess I can tell you what I no longer believe. For many years following my initial Divine encounter I jumped on and successfully clung to the evangelical band-wagon. It didn’t take long to pick up what I was supposed to believe; there were plenty of zealous teachers out there to ‘feed’ me in the basics of the faith. All my beliefs were to square with the Bible, the Spirit inspired Word of God. This is where I took my first wrong turn. The complexities and paradoxes of the Scriptural accounts of God’s dealings with the Jewish and Christian tribes were ignored by my evangelical educators. Being new to the faith,I was fed the simplified version that God had forgiven me my sins by a blood sacrifice that had been set up by God Himself, that I had the bible as a handbook and that if I joined a good church then I would remain on the straight and narrow. As time progressed more and more little extra beliefs were added to the tenuous tower of dogma that was quickly becoming Truth, the lens through which I was to view the world in all its fallen state.

The trouble with belief is that it was never designed to remain constant. It comprises thoughts and concepts that change over time adjusted by the experiences of life. It’s a bit like going for one’s annual eye-test. As the optometrist places various lenses in front of our eyeball she sweetly asks ‘Which one is clearer? This one ….. or that one?’ As we embarrassingly blurt out our answer, totally unsure of the correctness of our answer, we are well on the way to our new pair of specs through which we will perceive our world for the next year. And so with belief. The belief system or dogma of our post conversion indoctrination does a good job for a while. For some it is months, for some years and for the stalwarts of the prevailing orthodoxy a lifetime.

The mind is a great tool for dealing with this material world that bumps into us as soon as we wake each morning. Its powers of analysis are a wonderful asset in deciding whether to buy a PC or a Mac, a hotdog or a cheeseburger, a Ford or a Toyota. It’s a complex computer through which the operating system of our belief makes sense of the slow energy or matter that we encounter. Yet like all good software, regular updates are needed as we encounter new problems, unable to be solved by the old version. Beliefs are a skeletal structure on which we hang our broken humanity, yet they are not the channels of spiritual reality, of Divine Life. They are psychic signposts, pointing backwards to a place we have been, not to a destination as yet unvisited.

Beliefs are the bulwark of religion. Without beliefs the whole edifice of religious structures come tumbling down. ‘We believe this. The guys down the road believe that. Come and attach yourself to us for we have captured the Divine Mystery in our body of teaching. We teach only what the Bible says.’ And so the religious games continue until we can no longer wear the specs that were given us on our initiation into the sect of our choice.

So where does that leave us? On the rocks of atheism or a post religious agnosticism. I don’t believe so. Beliefs were never meant to communicate Divine Reality. They are a by-product of our wonderful brain CPU. Like clouds rolling along in the highest heavens, they are interesting to behold, admire and even discuss but too ethereal to cling onto. No, we need something much more substantial at the core of our being, a connection with Divine Love that won’t let us down.

2) Trust

Trust is the real deal, a gift that is able to carry our sanity to the very gates of Heaven. Altogether different from belief, trust is made of some kind of substance that doesn’t originate in the supercomputer of our brain-mind. It appears to flow from a higher Source, an I-Am-ness that lies beyond the mind tricks of our consciousness. Trust can carry the weight of our existential angst, the gnawing unknowing of the sojourner as he plods wearily through space-time looking for answers. A faithful companion trust is ever-present at our side willing to lend a helping hand as we stagger under the weight of thought and shifting belief. Trust is an emissary of Divine Love, one sent to navigate us through the swirling waters of life’s pressures and loneliness.

OK, so how does this most precious of spiritual commodities arrive on our psychic doorstep?

Simply put, trust is a gift. It is given, neither earned nor achieved, contrary to the prevailing religious mindset that asks us to jump through the hoops of spiritual discipline to find it. No, the shocking truth is that it seems to be a part of  the Divine Essence itself a little spark from the Eternal Flame that catches fire in the dry tinder of the broken psyche. Trust appears to come from outside space-time, an eternally benign virus that is thankfully hard to shake off. Once we’ve been infected we can never be the same again. Belief, the previous controller of our destiny is consigned to the back seat, where it can rant and rave for all it’s worth before falling asleep in the quiet security that trust knows the Way.

Trust manifests itself in the darkness of adversity; the silent traveling companion who takes over when the chips are down. When life pitches an unexpected ball of circumstance at us, it is trust who bats for us in the psychic game of confusion. Trust is not stoicism, the religious substitute that promises to deaden the pain of reality. No, trust works quietly in the midst of our pain and sense of desolation, in the all too real screams of our frightened psyche. Trust will not place the lid of denial on our inner terror, but will sit by holding our hand as we vent our anger on ourselves, others and the Divine itself. When the pain subsides, trust takes our hand like a kindly nurse and leads us on into healing, a place of deeper wisdom where we know we are Loved.

So how is trust strengthened?

Simply this. When we hear the Divine Voice, the well of  trust is replenished and filled. Trust is a reflex action to the hushed tones of Spirit Breath. Thankfully God is a God of few words, unlike many of His kids. When a Divine message arrives  it is usually short and sweet. Straight to the point or heart of the matter. Divine Wisdom knows that a multiplicity of words will only open us up to the misinterpretation of our belief obsessed minds. Divine messages are primarily aimed at the heart or spirit, not the analysis of our so-called rational minds. So how do I tune into these Divine transmissions?

In my next post I’ll look at how the Divine talks to us without us realizing.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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The Truth Behind The Myth

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 18, 2012| 16 Comments »

The Truth Behind The Myth

The Truth Behind The Myth

As I sit here in my local coffee shop staring out at the shoppers passing by with their heavy bags of ‘stuff’ for the celebration of Christmas, I really do wonder what the Nazarene would make of it all. Struggling shopkeepers trying to make a living in the midst of deep recession, try to tempt us into the commercial Yuletide spirit, with copious amounts of fake snow and semi glittering tinsel, all undoubtedly birthed in the great Chinese manufacturing drive for world domination.

Many dread the big day with its pseudo celebratory take on the birth of Yeshua, a working class Jew who, if many of us were totally honest, would have no place around our festive Christmas table. Family smiles often disguise deep hurts and wounds from years gone by. Presents are given to hide the hidden agendas of our rivaling relationships. Food and drink together conspire to drug us into the illusion that all is well with the world whilst the poor continue to be just that….poor. Cable TV transmits its fake take on the Season, as James Stewart, once more decides not to jump! B and C list personalities smile with broader smiles than usual, whipping up our manufactured feel good factor for the big day.

Yes, in the darkest days of Winter we humans love a good party, something to give our psyche a leg up in the sun starved days of  cold December. Once upon a time it was Paganism, closely followed by Christianity who authenticated our annual knees up but now its Amazon and  Apple who lend their commercial clout to our mythical merriment.

Am I a bit of a Scrooge or a sour faced, joyless Northern Irish Puritan? Well, no. I’m just a recovering religious junkie who yearns for authenticity and peace in the midst of our lemming like rush to the stores. May I be frank? Is there actually anything to celebrate under the orgasmic, multi-layered religio-commercialism that worships at the glitzy altar of trans- global Capitalism?

Thankfully, I believe so.

No matter where and when he was born, it appears that Yeshua, the Nazarene, really did emerge onto the world stage in first century Palestine. Forget the mythical donkey and the myrrh bearing magi. Such sweet icing on the metanarrative religious cake doesn’t actually matter. What matters is whether Yeshua really lived and what his teaching revealed about the mystery of Divine Source, the birth point of the Cosmos, and, more importantly, our purpose within it.

Many have tried to deconstruct the Nazarene from the pages of human history. They’ve almost managed it but good old Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, in the pay of the Romans, just won’t let them get away with it. No friend of the early Yeshua movement, the literary historian fleetingly refers to the ‘Christ’ in two separate references. No it would appear that Yeshua was a real fresh and blood guy, albeit one with a radical take on the nature of Divinity that set him against the status quo religion of his day.

So what is there to celebrate?

Simply put, two things!

1) Yeshua lived.

Think of a world without the Nazarene’s character, compassion and teaching. A much poorer place leaving the spirituality of man in the prophetic hands of the Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tze and other enlightened souls.

2) God is not obsessed with ‘sin’ or human dysfunction.

Yeshua’s view of a welcoming Divinity who doesn’t listen to the ‘sinners prayer’ before authenticating us is surely something worth celebrating. If this sounds too good to be true do have a wee reread of the parable of ‘The Prodigal’ – the returning son couldn’t get his rehearsed ‘repentance’ out before being smothered in Divine generosity and acceptance.

So, in this season of silliness and over indulgence, may I wish you all a blessed moment of Divine revelation. When we’ve had enough to eat, tire of our family and friends and are fed up with the saccharine TV fare let’s go into the solitude of our sacred space and wait for Divine Presence; an authentic Breath that longs to touch our saturated psyche in the bleak Mid-Winter.

Dylan’s Author page ~ https://www.amazon.com/author/dylanmorrison

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Cultural Band-Aids

Posted in Uncategorized on October 5, 2012| 4 Comments »

My latest YouTube video exploring how we try and stem the flow of our inherent violence.

Please feel free to share with others who might be victims of violence

Blessings

Dylan

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A wee hello from Dylan

Posted in Uncategorized on September 5, 2012| 2 Comments »

Hi folks

Here is a wee clip I’ve put up on YouTube to explain where I’ve come from and why I write!

Please feel free to share with anyone out there who may have walked a similar journey.

Blessings

Dylan

 

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Glossary

Posted in Uncategorized on August 23, 2012| 5 Comments »

Big Words Explained

Some folk have suggested that I produce a glossary to explain what I mean when I use particular terms in my writing. It’s easy to forget what I’ve written in my past blogs so here’s the beginning of a short, and hopefully useful, glossary.

If you come across any terms in either past or future blog posts that need further explanation, please do use the comment section below to let me know what they are. I’ll try to get them added to the glossary as soon as possible.

Blessings

Dylan

GLOSSARY

Mimesis = the ability to copy or imitate one outside the Self.

Explanation: mimesis is a subconscious imitative ability that we’re equipped with in order to learn, e.g. from our parents’ actions etc as infants. All learning comes through copying. I believe that we’re also wired to pick up a Divine desire frequency or Will and become like it. Yet, something has gone wrong, whereby we subliminally absorb others desires, and possessing them, believe them to be our own. This dysfunctional process initiates the process of rivalry which usually ends up as some form of expulsion or violence.

Skewed Desire = a horizontal or angled desire that latches onto the desire of another human being.

Explanation: The target may be someone on the same level, e.g. a brother/sister/friend or an authority figure, someone we look up to e.g. parent, teacher, sports star, film star etc

Scapegoat Mechanism = The means whereby individuals and communities release the build up of rivalry tensions within themselves.

Explanation: A victim or subgroup is chosen, often at random, to take the blame for the flaws appearing in the social life of the individual or community. Such a selection is often arbitrary, although one that appears different is always an attractive selection. The process may go through various stages, e.g targeted humor, gossip, verbal and often physical violence before the ‘other’ is psychologically or physically expelled from the community. The sending away may even ultimately take the form of murder or community sanctioned killing. Once the victim is gone a cathartic peace returns to the community reinforcing their belief that their problems were indeed the fault of the other.

Sacrificial Religion = A belief system whereby a victim is killed to please an unhappy divinity.

Explanation: Such a victim of the scapegoat mechanism may inadvertently take on the nature of a divinity themselves. If their departure has brought peace,  then they are looked upon as a god, the dispenser of peace or have pleased the god whose anger has led to the cracks appearing within our individual lives or community. The victim may become a devil-god, one who causes the problems but also one who fixes them through their death.

Culture = a way of thinking that has emerged to cope with the violence and rivalry of skewed desire.

Explanation: Culture comprises, rites/ritual, myths, laws, structures. All culture is a form of religion and all religion cultural.

Rites/Ritual = re-enactments of the original violent ending of the victim

Myths = the story of the scapegoat and its expulsion as described by the scapegoating community. The scapegoat may have another version of events.

Laws = A system of regulations to curb the excesses of human desire and its mimetic transfer.

Structures = Organizations and institutions that form hierarchies to let folk know their place or station within the community. e.g. family, government, courts, faith groups. The aim of these is to enforce laws,spoken and unspoken by means of distancing us from our desire models. The greater the distance the more unlikely we are to absorb or steal the desire of another.

Queendom of God = Commonly known as the Kingdom of God in traditional Christian thought, this is the inner space where we enter into mimesis with Divine Love, thereby disengaging from humanity’s skewed mimesis, viz  the absorbtion  of another’s desire, and the resulting rivalry.

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