In my reflections, if a bona fide member of the academy comments that my reflection contains either an original thought or argument, I will note it in that reflection. Also, if it is brought to my attention that what I have said is also mentioned in another source, I will also note it. My intention in these reflections is to stimulate inquiry, imagination, and broadening of horizons.- JP
Note: The most recent reflection is at the top and my first is at the bottom. You can either start at the bottom of the well and swim up or start at the top and dive in, your choice. – JP
13 Hours
Christmas Tide 12/31/2015
I went out yesterday looking for the battlefield scars of the War on Christmas. I did not find any. What I did find were the standard store windows extolling the virtues of inundating your family with more presents than they will ever need. I also found plenty of Red Bucket bell ringers and people standing on corners with cardboard pleas. I did not find any immolated Christmas trees, decapitated Santas, or angels with their wings ripped off. Well, there was this one guy in a bar with his face planted on a table who was wearing a Santa suit, but that really doesn’t count. Here’s what I did find.
I found people going to midnight Christmas Eve service despite 70 MPH wind gusts and trees falling on the road. I found people of all ages gustily belting out Christmas hymns even though you could tell they were suffering from desert cough. I found people smiling and not sleeping during the sermon. I found people taking pictures of all sorts of decorations that I am sure will be on social media somewhere. So why all this and no bullet holes in the church or IEDs in the parking lot? Because hope, goodness, and light win! I know it sounds cliché, but consider what happened 2M years ago. A guy shows up who lives a life that people feel compelled to write about. Three aspects of that life stand out for me; Vulnerable, choice maker, unconditional love.
Vulnerable: The Gospel of John starts with, “In the beginning was the word…” The Greek word used is actually a verb form. The “word” is not a noun, but a state of being, action, and conscious. Why does this make a difference? As the story goes, Source, The One, Creator, God, could have appeared fully grown, but did not. God elected to incarnate as an infant, fully dependent on people for sustenance and protection. First lesson of Christmas, learn the benefits of being vulnerable. Also learn that vulnerable does not equal “door mat”. Vulnerability is an educator.
Choice Maker: God made the choice to incarnate as an infant and by doing so, set us on the path of learning that choices are not an option. You cannot avoid making choices. Saying that you have no choices in life and that what happens, happens, is in fact a choice.
Unconditional Love: “God is love” has become a clichéd salve. The phrase is used to escape from reality. The intention leaves us empty. “God is unconditional love” however, puts us face to face with the reality that love requires effort. To love unconditionally means you have to choose vulnerability and make a choice to let go. A gift is something freely given. You hope it is appreciated and used as intended, but if it is given with unconditional love, you cannot take it back if the receiver chooses to use it in a way other than what you expected. Unconditional love also means you don’t quit giving.
War on Christmas? The war is really an assault on unconditional love, but that is nothing new. If you really feel that there is a war on Christmas, rather than take to social media or write letters to the editor, find someone who is conducting the war and ask them why they feel the need to do it. When I went to Starbucks, I told them my name was Rudolph, ordered a Christmas blend eggnog latte, sat next to a lit wreath, and listened to familiar seasonal music which included several Christmas carols. I sat there reveling in the fact that a swarthy, dark skinned, Jewish guy lived a life that inspired, 200 years later, another dark skinned guy from Turkey to love children and inspire generations continuing to this day to make the effort to love unconditionally. Oh yeah, and decorate like there’s no tomorrow.
P.S. I also joined Opus’s 2 spaces campaign and signed the petition.
Sleeping Dog 12/07/2015
When I was in grade school, I was selected to talk to a person who came to our school to interview students. I can’t remember if everyone in the class was interviewed. I specifically remember two questions from the interview. One was the picture of a glass half filled with water and, of course, I was asked if it was half full or half empty. Being an eighth grader, I wasn’t aware of the psychology of how a question is asked might be leading you to answer one way or the other. I went with half full because it felt right. The next was, “Let sleeping dogs lie, what does that mean”? I can’t remember my exact answer. It was something to the effect of letting things be as they are because you can get bit if you don’t wake the dog properly. I did say that I was in the eighth grade. Then without prompting I said, “What if I don’t agree with that?” Had I lived in England my dad would have said, ‘you’re a cheeky little bugger aren’t you’, rather than, ‘don’t be a smart ass’. I did say that I was in the eighth grade. I did not realize I had stepped onto the life path of “Take no BS”.
I always remember my response to that question when I am presented with a situation that requires I make a decision to walk on by or stop and pay attention. The degree of the situation does not make a difference, the decision I make about it does. I also have to remember that there is a consequence to my decision. The decision I have in front of me is to decide how involved I want to be in a task force about youth suicide. Am I going to listen and comment or am I going to go all in and attack regurgitating education and promote development of critical thinking? Am I going to fully engage how to get “Eighth Graders” to accept that they have worth? Am I going to find a way to get people to ask not ‘what are you afraid of’ but ‘why are you afraid?
Am I going to find a way to get people to understand that these questions are not new and were asked in one form or another by a pretty savvy person around two thousand years ago? GOTTCHA! You expected a Christmas season message in the form of another Santa Clause rant, not a reflection on Jesus not letting dogs sleep (the next reflection is the Santa Claus rant).
I imagine Jesus was kind to actual dogs. The figurative dogs, however, are another story and it wasn’t only the ones sleeping, he got in the faces of the ones who were barking and barked back. His barking may not have been loud, but it was definitely pointed (go ahead, moan, it’s a bad dog pun). And there are some barking dogs today with which I am sure Jesus would converse. He would not ask them why they are barking, but why are they so afraid they feel they need to bark?
Jesus told his audience at every opportunity to ‘not be afraid’. If you ascribe to Jesus’ teaching and are shuddering at the projectile vomit fear that is inundating the media and conversations today, step back, take a deep breath, and decide if you are going to embrace the message of Christmas or join the projectile crowd.
Personally, I’m going with smiling at my two wet dogs and two wet cats sleeping in front of the fireplace and being available to invite anyone to come in and get warm.
Santa Rant (3rd in the series) 12/07/2015
Yesterday, December 6th is celebrated as Saint Nicholas day in the calendar of saints in the Christian church. One of the Bishops in The Church of England had a young girl wear his miter and carry his crozier in procession. A lot can be said about the symbolism of his choice of not only a child, but also a girl child to represent leadership in the church. Jesus not only told his disciples to not keep the children away, he also told a woman to be the first to let the disciples know he was not dead.
At this point I could go into the rant about material Christmas excess, emotional violence, and theology run amuck, but I won’t. Rather, I remind you of what I mentioned in an earlier Christmas post, about how a Jewish friend rescued me from the Christmas merry-go-round. Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, lasts eight days. A present is given each day starting small and ending with the Jaguar on the eighth day. I don’t know if he was pulling my leg about the Jaguar, but I did get the message about celebrating. We have ‘Unplugged the Christmas Machine’ (great book) and do a present for each of the twelve days of Christmas (Christmas thru January 5th). This approach definitely reduces the angst, although December 24th between the hours of 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM in any store in America is the best time to see collective male humanity go bat s*%& crazy shopping, and gives some perspective.
I cannot but stand in awe of the incarnation of Source choosing to be vulnerable and totally dependent on two people for safety and sustenance. When the tree, the gifts, the music, the people are viewed with this lens, Christmas is a time of wonder and should be embraced with a smile. That being said, I’m still going to put on the red speedo (see rant from last Christmas) and go in the hot tub with some eggnog.
One of Us 10/06/15
The first parish I served was fewer than one hundred members ranging in age from six to ninety-six. The building was appointed with artistic windows made from colored glass formed in chunks that were descriptive of the surrounding landscape of woods and lakes. The altar, pulpit, lectern, and pews were from a parish that had been remodeled and refurnished. The four rank organ was new. The appointments were a contrast with the architecture of the building. The one piece I did not use was the pulpit. I preferred to preach from the center aisle.
After about a year, the Bishop was preaching from the pulpit and leaned forward for emphasis. It was then I realized that not only was the pulpit too close to the ceiling beam for anyone over six feet tall, it was also kept from tipping into the front pew by six carpet tacks, three of which came out during the Bishop’s sermon. I had a choice, either more carpet tacks and padding for the beam, or reconfigure the pulpit.
My neighbor happened to be a fantastic wood worker. She made some of the best furniture and cabinets I have ever seen. I showed her the pulpit. Easy, she said. We take off the pedestal and turn it into an oblations table for the entrance and put the pulpit on a solid base. This was on Monday and by Thursday the project was complete. On Sunday I stepped into the pulpit and gave the sermon without fear of demolishing the front pew. It would have only been the pew because no one ever sat in it unless they were the last people to come to the service. “The first shall be last and the last shall be first” really wasn’t meant to be a seating direction.
When I was greeting people as they left church, the lady who was our oldest member present came up to me and said, “Now you’ve gone too far. You brought God down to our level, and I don’t like it.” I replied that I did not see myself as God. She said, “You’re the priest, not one of us”. Fast forward 21 years to Pope Francis’ trip to America.
A lady was asked by a reporter why she was so ecstatic to see the Pope. “He’s one of us!” she replied. Quite a contrast. And in the contrast is the question of whether God is imminent with or separate from us. If you have read my previous reflections, you know where I stand, but some background first.
When God told Adam and Eve they couldn’t live in the garden anymore, he did not quit talking to them. According to Genesis, he made a covenant of reconciliation with them. Moses and God had face to face conversations. The people knew it because Moses’ face shone with the light of God, shekinah (which by the way is feminine, not male or neuter). Now they did ask him to put a veil over his face, but they also did not put him on a pedestal. The priesthood put them selves on a pedestal and fabricated separation from the people. It took several centuries, but it was effective. It was so effective that Jesus was very pointed in his words to let them know that they built the pedestal, not God. Which leads to the point of this reflection.
If you want to keep God at arm’s length or want to be the ‘god guy’ on a pedestal, it’s your choice. The choice I make to not be on a pedestal, for both safety and theological reasons, is obviously seen by some as a diminution of the sacred and by others as a refreshing approach. Several people have commented they like the center aisle approach because it is, ‘not preaching at us, but with us.’ Every once in a while you throw the spaghetti against the wall and it sticks.
Pope Francis was identified by his community to perform specific functions and he is functioning as he believes Jesus functioned, as a servant. Jesus was very specific in teaching that to have any credibility as a guide, you have to be a servant and you can’t serve if you are separate.
I was disappointed when I was told I was wrong in trying to be ‘one of us’. Disappointed because I had not been more cognizant of the effect of my actions, but also disappointed that I would most likely not be able to get my point across that believing you are separate from God is the only sin.
Jesus understood how far people who believed in separation would go to prove their point and was willing to go along to ultimately show there is no separation.
One of us? One of us.
Joy, Wisdom, THPFFFBT!! (Bill the Cat) 09/07/2015
Three months ago, I began a meditative discipline, HoloSync. If you are also using it, I hope this reflection resonates. If you are not, and curious, go to CenterpointeResearch.com or Google holosync. This reflection is based on thoughts I had during the meditations.
Several people, including my web master who keeps ‘poking’ me, want to know what I think about the current political season and specific events. A reflection format does not allow for the detailed and often rambling discussion that would ensue, so if you need specifics, I would be happy to respond to emails. For this reflection, I offer a broader view.
Joy is. All Wisdom is available to everyone. In the face of unbridled and unfocused angst, THPFFFBT!!! is the best response.
Illusion 06/30/2015
For your consideration, a spiritual pep talk. The events of the last week generated many conversations, the positing of myriad opinions and a whole lot of angst. Angst for those who see the world coming to an end and angst for those who are now riding a skateboard going sixty miles an hour into the future. Either way, it is going to be a wild ride if all that is considered is the ride.
The wild part comes from what I consider to be our greatest weakness, the ideas that we are in control or have no control. To hold the position that you can control events and make outcomes predictable, is an illusion. The idea that we are living in a dream that god is having or that nothing really exists, is an illusion. So where are we, really? I believe we are exactly where we are supposed to be, in a reality where we can live an illusion.
The illusion is really very simple. But before I get to the illusion, please stick with me while I offer for your consideration, what is not illusion. Pick up any object within your reach that has significant weight. That object feels solid, I’m sure. It feels solid because its constituent atoms are vibrating at a frequency which gives it heft. Taken to its sub atomic level, it really is like you and me, mostly empty space. So if it is empty space, it should pass right through your empty space. Go ahead, drop it on your foot. NO, you say, that would really hurt! And you are correct. So much for the “in a dream” position. Accepting that we are not in a dream leaves us with what? It leaves us with the question, how is this reality supposed to work? This is where we confront the illusion.
I believe the Hebrews are correct, there is only one sin, one illusion. The illusion is believing you are separate from God, Source, the One creator. Believe that separation is a real condition and you are entrenched in dualism. Not to make light of the tomes written on the dualistic perspective, either or, good bad, victim perpetrator, suffice it to say, for me, dualism pretty much sucks. Dumping dualism and its source, belief in separation, doesn’t get me off a hook, but does bring to my reality a method on how to approach the concept that everything that is, is connected. I am now confronted with the position that I cannot say it’s all an illusion and what I do doesn’t make any difference. The non-separation position means that I have to accept responsibility for my actions, be they small or large. Everything I do has a consequence. Living non-separation means that I can only best get along by treating everyone the way I want to be treated.
The pronouncements of the world coming to an end because we are going to go broke paying for everyone’s health care or marriage is going to collapse because we have forsaken our morals or that the best thing to do is immolate ourselves in protest, oh wait, he went back on that promise, guess he only had a flare for the dramatic, are mired in the dualistic perspective. Living the axiom, ‘my up can’t come at the expense of anyone’s down’, brings us face to face with the fact that our basic character is cooperative, not competitive. Being cooperative means we can only be completely honest, empathetic and responsible.
In non-separation I can’t blame anyone. I am where I am because ‘it is what it is’ (Jerry Seinfeld, if you are reading this, I couldn’t resist) and the choices I have made and make brought me to this moment. Being a steward (non-separation perspective) rather than a possessor (separation perspective), opens up creation. Being able to partake of the excitement of the tactile and spiritual at the same time seems like a much better way to live than being limited and disappointed that it isn’t working out your way. Knowing I affect my environment with my words and actions is both sobering and exhilarating. I believe in non-separation, not because it easy, but because I am not overcome by the ‘not easy’ and am thoroughly enjoying the non illusion.
Easter Season 2015
We went to a Johnny Mathis performance last week and it was spectacular even though I had some trepidation. Now if you do not know who Johnny Mathis is, go to iTunes, download The Twelfth of Never and Ninety-nine Miles From LA and then come back to the reflection.
My trepidation came from the fact that I do get emotional. I even get choked up at beer commercials. Not just the Budweiser ones that make everyone shed a tear, but also the one from 1984 about the Olympics. Two guys driving tractors in the middle of nowhere, stop, get off and walk to the fence by the road. They look down the road and after a pause begin clapping slowly. As the camera pans down the road, a single runner comes into view carrying the Olympic torch. As the runner passes by, the two men look at each other, turn around and get back on their tractors. Five minutes later I was able to start watching TV again.
We found out about the performance late and when we called the theater, were lucky enough to score box seat tickets that had been turned in. As I sat in the box seat looking out over the theater and watching the very eclectic mix of people being seated, I was hoping they would turn the lights down really low so people wouldn’t see me going for the Kleenex. Then I asked myself, why do I get emotional at the seemingly mundane along with the spectacular? While looking through the program at the pictures of the people who support the theater and all the people being seated, it hit me. The emotion is not from sad, but from happy. Not only ‘Gru’ happy, but also an all inclusive happy that is joyful.
It is easy to bemoan how ‘bad’ things are and profess that the world is in a downward spiral. I don’t see it. I see all the people, chronologically old and young who comprise a myriad of ethnic, cultural, economic, religious and political ideologies coming together to enjoy hearing a seventy-nine year seasoned singer engage them. And enjoy we did; four standing ovations.
Those standing ovations were not a theater of some 1500 people deciding individually to stand, they were born of a collective feeling, a shared recognition of what was being experienced. They were Easter ovations. Not in a theological sense, but in community sense. And for me, that is the hallmark of Easter: Community. When you realize you cannot celebrate Easter as an individual because one of the main tenants is to spread the ‘good news’, the notion that community is pervasive, settles into your psyche. You cannot, not be in community.
Bold statement that! Think about it, however. Even a hermit can only be a hermit because other people allow it by not dragging him back to the village. You only get to ‘go off the grid’ because the community chooses not to follow. If they choose to follow, you are not really ‘off the grid’, you are just one step away from community. It seems to me, then, that the universal characteristic of existence is community.
Seeing the joy of that universal characteristic does make the emotion well up. A broad smile ensues contemplating all the wondrous facets of life. I find it extremely disappointing when any part of the community seeks to take advantage of or attempt to eliminate any other part of the community no matter how large or how small. I am also disappointed with myself when I do the same knowingly or unknowingly. All that being said, I can put the emotion in perspective.
The smile will be broader and the blubbering will be decidedly less, but there will always be joy that community is not only an Easter event, it is an Existence event.
Easter 2015
SAVING JESUS FROM THE CHURCH: How to stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus
By Robin R. Meyers
Chapter Four
Word!!!
Lent 2015
Lent, from the Middle English meaning Spring, is the season in the Christian Church between Epiphany and Easter. So much for what is accepted about Lent by those who do or do not acknowledge it and the rituals and practices associated with it from its ‘color’ to significance. As with any defined time associated with any religious, spiritual or non religious or non spiritual practice, Lent shares common themes. Focus, discipline, and expectation are at the beginning of a long list, which is as many in number as there are people participating. That makes it rather daunting to think that in a short reflection I can make any sense of Lent or come up with a snappy one liner. So I won’t even attempt it. What I will say is that I spend Lent as a time of focus.
It used to be that my focus was on giving up something, chocolate being the easiest to start with, until the second day. As the years progressed and I experienced both extremes from successful denial of something to not even bothering at all, I finally had to ask myself, ‘Why even bother?’ I mean I never got zapped by a lightning bolt for not sticking with it or was awarded a medal that said ‘Forty days without …’ Is that what Lent is about, punishment and reward? And then it hit me, if I am focused on punishment or reward, I miss what Lent can be.
What ever your perspective is about Jesus, one thing has to be acknowledged. Two thousand years ago, something happened that changed the world. Lent is the time I take to more intensively focus on that happening and unlike the ‘happenings’ of the ‘60s, a happening that has staying power. That staying power is the driver of how I ‘celebrate’ Lent. Is it celebration to quit doing something for forty days that I will do for the other 325 days of the year? That question is my guide for what I do now.
If I give up something, am I learning from not having it or learning from the discipline of forgoing that which I gave up? Which leads me to seeing Lent as a time to take on something that I should be doing all the time, or at least for a year. Saint Francis was once asked, ‘If you knew the world was going to end in two weeks, what would you do differently?’ His response was, ‘If I have to do something different, I should have been doing it all along’. Lent is about ‘doing it all along’.
Lent precedes the celebration of a happening that changed the world. It is a time to focus on what you want to do that could change the world. I do not see it as a time to focus on punishment for your action, which there could be coming from those who don’t like what you are doing, or reward, which there might be from those who do like what you are doing, but a time to focus on doing the right thing with no regard for punishment or reward. It is a time to acknowledge your passion. It is a time to find a way to live your passion. It is a time to let your chocolate mustache shine!
Epiphany 2015
I almost wrote this reflection on February 1st at 1900 Hrs. It would have been one word in length. CRAP!!! But, being the Season of Epiphany, I had an epiphany. How appropriate. My epiphany was not how to use the word epiphany in the first paragraph as many times as possible, but to wait. Wait to comment. That’s the thing with epiphanies, they make you pause.
I’m glad I paused because a post on Facebook showed up; Annie Reneau – The 10 things your kids should learn from the Seahawks’ loss.
When I was in the Eighth grade, our basketball team went undefeated and won the city championship. Our reward was to play the championship junior high team, 7th through 9th graders, really big 7th through 9th graders. We lost the game by two points. Not because they were that much better, but because our coach told us to draw as many fouls as we could so we could shoot free throws instead of trying to drive to the basket against those really big 7th through 9th graders. We scored as many field goals as our opponents and had twice as many free throw attempts.
During the season we shot the lights out of free throws and it seemed like a good strategy. That game, however, we couldn’t, as is said in the locker room, hit our ass with the ball on the line. It was like calling a play that had produced multiple first downs on short yardage and touchdowns. And in both instances, same result, CRAP!!!
What my eighth grade classmates and I share with the Seahawks’ players, coaches, and fans is that we did not quit after that loss. We all went on to participate in high school sports as I am sure the Seahawks will continue to put their efforts into going to the Super Bowl in 2016 and will have the support of the 12s. Sometimes good strategies work, sometimes they don’t. That doesn’t mean they were stupid when they didn’t work or that God saw they were stupid and decided to make you pay for them. It simply means that sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
My Eighth grade classmates and I went on to kick butt in baseball and track the rest of the year and learned a great lesson from that one game. As Annie Reneau says in her blog and as the Seahawks are saying, one game does not define your complete existence. So what does define our existence?
For me, the definition is a compilation of attitude and actions. I will listen to what you say, but if your attitude and actions don’t match what you say, listening is as far as I will go with you. If you don’t want to get back in the saddle or make it possible for someone to get back in the saddle, that’s your choice. And that is what defines our existence, our choices. When and where our ability to choose originated is a matter of interpretation of our circumstances. Is there a ‘choice’ we can make that is consistent with interpretation? I believe there is.
The choice, is any choice which results in you being complete. ‘Complete’ obviously can have many specifics, but the overarching goal seems to include the effort to reduce lack. Lack of passion, opportunities, resources, the list can go on and on, but addressing lack of any kind requires action. It also requires recognition of responsibility. Responsibility has many faces.
Owning the decision is a face of responsibility. Getting back on the practice field is a face of responsibility. Renewing season tickets is a face of responsibility. Planning the Super Bowl party for 2016 is a face of responsibility. Going to puppy training class is a face of responsibility. Get your game face on, be responsible.