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Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

Suspicion

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2015| 3 Comments »

Suspicion

Suspicion

In the world of metaphysical thought there abounds the negative vibe of suspicion. For me, it’s clearly observed in the mutual wariness between the dogma-defined Christian Tribe and its experiential next door neighbour, the Spirituality movement. I picture these two clans of thought standing back to back at the garden fence, unwilling to acknowledge that the other may just have some valuable glimpse of ultimate Truth.

I guess we’re back into the analogy of blind men each having a hold on the Elephant of Mystery. Holding onto the Trunk, the Christians believe that they have it all worked out in the person of Yeshua and all his extrapolated  traditional add-ons. The Mind, Body, Spirit folk have their hands on the Ears, believing that they convey Cosmic Consciousness, the answer to all our dysfunctional ills. And the result? Separate teacher-gurus, publishing houses, conference circuits, rituals and sub-cultures.

I guess that I’ve jumped into the wide chasm of mistrust between both camps, in my desire to write for both. We do so love our sense of Divine ownership, our compulsive, obsessional belief that we have it all and don’t need to cross into the mindset of the other. All that I need is my big black Bible, a good church and, of course, Jesus. I’m saved and on my way to the sweet by and by, unlike the other lot! Alternatively, I’ve had enough of the Nazarene and the guilt trips of his hypocritical followers, for I’ve found my inner Self, the authentic home of Cosmic Love. I’ve finally cracked the Me thing and don’t need an external divinity, thank you very much. Just top up my supply of crystals and mantra chants and I’ll be fine with my free-flowing chakras. Let the other lot do the us and them thing, for I now love everyone even though I don’t engage with them.

And so the partially sighted march on into certainty, brushing aside the challenges and opportunities for further growth which the other tribe provides. The meeting of minds rarely occurs, though in the case of contemporary, Christian writer, Rob Bell, it has taken place, though at the cost of being demonised as a heretic by fellow admirers.

So, is there really anything to learn from each other? Well, I most certainly reckon that there is. I’d better explain.

The Christian Tribe

Can the Christian band of brothers and sisters learn anything from the Spirituality movement.? May, I humbly suggest that they can. Firstly, the generousity of Divine Love and its inclusive nature. We are all born in the divine image, despite the protestations of guilt ridden St. Augustine. Something deep within, very deep within in most of us, possesses the essence or imprint of Divine Love. Hidden by ego and its swirl of fear-fuelled defensive postures, there is a pearl of great price lying there in the sands of our pained psyche. Only ego sees and us and them – God or Cosmic Source sees all mankind through the Window of the incarnated Tao-Logos, the Beloved Son. We followers of the Nazarene can afford to be much more expansive in our view of the Queendom and who populates it.

The Spirituality Tribe

The SpIrituality Tribe tend to focus on the positive sides of life. All very good, methinks for such a take on Self and others is much-needed in our pessimistic media-driven world. I love the exhilaration of celebrating this mystery called Life. Yet, there is a brokenness in our space-time world that many spiritual folk choose to ignore. Violence isn’t one of the main topics at Mind, Body, Spirit conferences. The violent execution of the Nazarene is irrelevant to our Self growth and meditation, goes the party line. Sometimes the Galilean gets a quick acknowledgement as a spiritual, wisdom teacher, before being airbrushed out of the main tribal metanarrative. Yet, I reckon the tragic end, and claimed resurrection of Yeshua bar Yosef cannot be ignored. It challenges our cultural and metaphysical take on Reality, especially Source Reality. I’d love the Spirituality gurus to discuss the Nazarene more often, something that might help their ex-Christian followers reconcile with their religious pasts.

Of course, I could go on and on. It’s a topic for further discussion and mutual respect. Meanwhile I’ll continue to try to do my little bit in encouraging the estranged neighbours to look each other in the eye, for, it’s there that we can truly glimpse Other. Left to our own devices we head into exclusivity, together we get to have a clearer picture of the Mysterious Elephant in the Cosmic Room.

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Scared of Love

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2014| 9 Comments »

Scared Of Love

Scared Of Love

 

Let’s face it. Most of us are scared of Love, real love that is! Not the sentimental version that sloshes its way around most of our waking hours, but burning love, the real deal. The Love that sees us naked, warts and all and still embraces us with an altogether different kind of acceptance, the very acceptance of Source itself, the One who thought us up in the first place.

Yes, even in its manifested human form we run scared of its all-seeing glance in our direction, swearing as we run for cover in the assurances of ego. Let’s be frank. Most of us at some stage in our earthly sojourn have been terrified of the one they call the Christ. Even His followers are really terrified of Him, believing the sin narrative that Christianity has overlaid Him with. We’re never quite sure if He’ll lay a guilt trip on us in the heady environs of the next life, one that goes something like this:

‘Never forget that I died for you, you undeserving sinner saved by grace!’

No, in our more honest moments we are still wary of the Nazarene, believing religion’s spin on His life, death and claimed resurrection. Such an underlying fear is revealed in our day-to-day avoidance of Love, those times that we prefer the security of insecurity to the Presence of Spirit Breath bubbling up within.

As for those who don’t give religion a second thought! Well, they’ve clearly had enough of the Jesus of Christianity. They’ve observed the Nazarene’s supposed reflection, the Christian believer, from a safe distance and decided, ‘Thanks but no thanks!’ The person of  the Christian Christ terrifies the free running ego. It spells entrapment and a suffocating confinement, a control that they can do without. It’s weird how multitudes quickly proclaim the Nazarene to be a ‘good’ Man before hiding him away in a religious cupboard that they vow to never visit. Yet apart from the religious caricature, there is something that scares folk stiff about the Galilean prophet. Maybe, we suspect that He was onto something regarding our inner life, something that asks us to travel through inner angst into a New World, a World of  reunion and contentment. ‘But He, asks too much,’ declare our wounded egos, those defenders against further rejection and pain.

Yes, this Man certainly rocks our inner and outer worlds. No wonder we run to hide in the Edenic bushes of our misperceived shame. Yet, we run from Love, a Love that has never rejected us nor called us sinners. Hasn’t ego done a great job in keeping us far from Divine Love, shepherding us into the sheep folds of zealous religion, or the hedonistic cities of  quick fix pleasure.

Time perhaps to revisit the Nazarene, on the neutral hillsides of our weaker moments. One Touch is all it takes.

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I Am The Vine

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on July 8, 2014| 1 Comment »

I Am The Vne

I Am The Vne

 

Yesterday, I was privileged to visit the Walled Garden at Clumber Park, Sherwood Forest. At present a 19th century long greenhouse is being lovingly restored to its former glories. Yet, for me it already is reflecting a glory of sorts in its large collection of grapevines.

After much pruning and tender attention for the last six months or so the white grapes now hang there for all to see in their bounteous manner. Ripe for the picking and awaiting their edible fate!

So why write about it here. Well one of the Nazarene’s most famous sayings came to mind as I stared in wonder at the paradox placed before my eyes.

“I am the vine, you the branches; he who is remaining in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from me you’re not able to do anything.”

In the past I sat around long enough in church circles to hear numerous talks on these words all taking the same theological tact, viz. using Yeshua’s words as proof texts for his Divinity. Yesterday though, it was different as I focused on the wizened wood on which the abundant fruit chose to hang. It got me thinking.

Having passed through a PTSD period, where one’s psyche is stripped bare, I now look for the psycho-spiritual insights of the Nazarene’s teachings and this one is, I believe, a wee gem.

Let me start by suggesting that the litle phrase, “I AM”, one frequently used by Yeshua, is a teaser of sorts. He is pointing to the Transcendent Source of All, the One who just is, depending on nothing else for Its existence. In applying this term in His sayings the Galilean is opening up to us the world of Spirit, the higher realm in which we were spawned to swim. He is trying to unveil the mysteries of how and why we tick.

The Vine represents Source and all that It has birthed, the whole God filled shebang. We can only understand our being in the Light of the I Am transcendence. The Nazarene, may I suggest, isn’t pointing primarily to Himself but to the Cosmic Parent who holds together all in all.

So where do we come in. We are the space-time channel of the Divine Life, the branches if you like. Like old wood we don’t look that special, even to ourselves but we contain within ourselves the Divine sap that will manifest Itself in Its fruit of choice. May I go even further and suggest that the old wood of the branches is none other our psyche-soul, that part of us that weathers the storms and wounds of life.

In other places I have written of how the Nazarene is a transmitter, perhaps a unique one, of all that flows from Divine Love. In doing so He is, or becomes a microcosm of the Vine Itself. In asking us to remain in Him, the Nazarene is asking us to stay within the desire field that emanates from him, that Divine magnetic field that realigns our battered psyche-souls with the Divine Flow. We are mimetic creatures here in space-time. We were designed to absorb desire and follow its leading. The Nazarene is challenging us to remain within the Divine desire flux, to allow ourselves to be drawn into the very heart and mind of Divine Love, as He did. He isn’t a Model that will not reject us as we become like Him. Rather He will rejoice and bless Source for the familial extension of the Divine Image. He will remain in us as a magnetic Presence, one that leads us out of the captivity of ego and into the very I AMness of Source.

The plans and purposes of Divine Love, the Source script of the Divine Drama, will come to pass, way beyond our widest imaginings, as we remain under the influence of  the creative Spirit. Fruit will pop up without any religious or moral effort, without the strains and efforts of ego sponsorship. Divine Love can produce fruit with ease; all its asks is to remain, and to be open to Its inflow of Life. Of course the annual pruning will be the surgery of soul-work, when Love has a word with our restless sub-personalities, all hot and bothered in their doubts of Divine approval. Best to let the  Spirit vine dresser do Its thing without fuss; the sooner our psyche-healing gets going the sooner we will feel the joys of connection with Life-bursting Source.

If we try to step out of the Nazarene’s desire field, we will return to the manipulation of skewed desire and all its resulting inter-personal problems, viz. Model Obstacles and Monstrous Doubles. Even though we sweat blood in the mimetic realm of man we won’t produce anything of real worth, for all will pass and disappear into the mists of time.

The fruit of Divine Purpose will remain, in some shape or form way beyond the mystery of death. Perhaps it will be served up in a special cup, as the Wine of our Journey, at the Wedding Feast of I AM and Its reunited Lover.

I guess we’ll find out one day!

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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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