The Wisdom of Children

I just finished a wonderful true story. It was in a book titled ‘Love Does’ written by Bob Goff.  

The story is about the day of 9/11.  Goff had gone home to tell his children what had just happened in New York City.  Trying to discuss with them “the presence evil and the presence of good and how good always wins.”

A hard concept to swallow in the midst of such awfulness.

Then he asked his children to think about what they would ask the leaders of the world if they had a chance.  

The seven year old would ask them to “come visit.”  

His older brother said he would ask them “what they were hoping for.”  

The oldest said she would “go to the leaders” and ask them individually what they were hoping for; and video the interview for other leaders to see.  

I’ll let you read the rest of this amazing little story; on how those three children acted on their adventure to find out what the leaders of the world were hoping for.

The story — and the possibilities it could accomplish — brought warmth and hope to my heart.

Just think about it for a moment:  If we could individually ask, every member of the United States government today, in a private friendly atmosphere; “what they were hoping for?”

Now remember, it would be children talking to complete strangers — adult to three children.   Children with no agenda except to understand what someone, they don’t know, is hoping for.

The adult, I would imagine, would be rendered vulnerable before such innocence.  Even the most fierce of leaders.  Allowed the freedom to just dream for a while. 

I wonder what we would learn.  

This profound short story, in search of friendship and understanding, reminds me of another true story about  finding understanding — common ground — between arch rivals.  It was in a moving title ‘Freedom Writers.’   I don’t know who wrote that story; but it left me overwhelmed actually.

Both stories demonstrate the distinct possibility to create a better understanding with those who seem to be our enemies — or at lease different.

25 At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;…(Matt. 11)

Original Sin continues

Teachings about original sin have created much un-needed confusion among Jesus’ follower down through the ages.  

Cynthia Bourgeault puts it this way:

“But what about: Jesus died for your sins?  Well, that foundational Christian statement is in fact completely and wholly true.  But not Individually,… but the human condition “collectively.” (p.107) 

I’ll paraphrase Bourgeault’s words here:  Jesus died for the part of the human nature — condition — that seems to, or tempted to, pull opposite of God’s plan for who and what we are intended to be. 

Here is where I believe the confusion comes into this historical misunderstanding; it is how we have been conditioned to think.

This is a huge fence to jump over for we intellectually formed beings.  Sometimes it is even impossible.  

Think about how difficult it is to accept a new idea — a completely new paradigm.  Especially in something as closes to us as our faith.  

We hold tight to what we have been taught about God/Jesus.

But let me assure you this one jump is worth life itself.

Because, when we are free to remove this complicated theological assumption, that we are ‘bad’ or not ‘perfect’ before God, it feels much less intimating.  Less guilt fill.

It feels like true freedom is meant to feel.

During a particularly stressful time in my ministry God gave me a great blessing.  He was a young pastor, right out of seminary, with a brilliant mind and ability to express himself.  

I’d have to say that his arrival in my life was a fresh light; and the beginning of a more refreshing adventure in ministry.

He gave a sermon one morning that brought all the trivial  parts of theology to one simple point:  “The Main Thing, is The Main Thing.”

I don’t remember what Gospel he was preaching from, nor exactly what he said.   But the point was made clear.  Love — Jesus — were the only essential thing we need to focus on.

If you and I could just empty our mind of all the stuff — loud noises  that blocks out what is important — our lives could be extraordinarily unlike we have ever known.

"Original Sin?"

What I have been playing with, the last few days, is the idea of “original sin.”

What exactly is original sin?  

And where did the idea of it come from?

Are human beings born with a sinful, unclean, nature?

Or, my soapbox question:  “Who is able to  properly define sin?”

I am discovering, after all these years, that so much of what we believe as biblical is not.

So yesterday morning I ventured, once again, into the large book on the Greek and Hebrew terms we read in scripture: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

It is, to this, day my most reliable source.  

Online sources are subject to so much misinformation.

The first  interesting thing I read is: “No uniform or self-contained concept of sin is present in the Old Testament…Root words “that carry the idea of sin have varied sense “negligence,” “rebelling,” “guilt,” and “error.”

Has the sense of: “missing” e.g., the way.  “going astray”……transgression of custom, or law, or a treaty, or obligation, with guilt that this implies….”

“For the Old Testament as a whole, then, sin is a legal and theological term for what is against the norm.” 

The assumption: 

 “If God’s will is the supreme law of life, apostasy from God has come to expression in error….violation of God’s norm is the substance of the knowledge of sin.”  (p. 44 &45) 

What I am thinking is that for centuries the egoic mind has made multiples assumptions on the subject of sin.  And, multiple assumptions on how the Almighty dealt with, and still deals with, such assumptions.

Assumptions, both theological and secular, are  dangerous.  Not to say misleading.

So what I would like to do here, is to limit all the historical assumptions to only what Jesus came to model and teach. And how Jesus dealt with those who were labeled “sinner,” or "unclean."

I am not saying the the Old Testament is in anyway unimportant to our faith.

What I am saying is that with the first books of the Bible -- the Old Testament -- come with a huge amount of baggage.  Baggage, that in many ways, has misled the world as to God’s character. That part of history is encumbered with egoic traditions, ritual and beliefs that no longer fit into Jesus’ presentation of God.  

As a matter of fact he came to call into question that baggage.

For that reason I am wanting to focus on nothing but the love, and genuine character, of God that Jesus — physical being — bought to attention as he walked upon this earth.

As Cynthia Bourgeault puts it:  “There is no monster out there; only love waiting to set us free.” (p. 107)

When questioned about what commandment was the greatest, Jesus responded:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matt. 22)

If we just focus on God in Jesus skin — and only that.  We will discover that we will have a much more accurate and precise picture of what is essential in our faith walk.

God Doesn't Promise Perfect Peace

This morning I would like to revisit this readers wonder:

“After reading your blogs on resonance: I was thinking there could be resonant evil as well a good.  Resonance  works in all ways some positive and come negative.”

As we reflect, on the many volatile situations in our world today; this reader’s wonder is very relevant to anyone’s faith. 

Relevant because the questions are multiple. 

People are wondering where God fits in so much conflicting confusion on the national scene, as well as  across the world.

Or, how can there really be a steadfast, faithful and actually active God in a world like ours. 

Or, to keep it on a more personal level, concerning the huge and small hurts of everyday life that never seem to quiet.

By the way these questions are not just questions for today — 2020.  They have been asked for centuries.

I am remembering a conversation, that my friend and I were having with her mother, in the early 1960s.  We were both just married and talking about having children.  

Her mother’s voice raised an octave:  “How can you even think of bring children into this awful world?”

Cynthia Bourgeault has something interesting to say about such things:

“Could it be that this earthly realm, not in spite of but because of its very density and jagged edges, offers precisely the conditions for the expression of certain aspects of divine love that could become real in no other way?  This world does indeed show forth what love is like in a particularly intense and costly way.  But when we look at this process more deeply, we can see that those sharp edges we experience as constriction at the same time call forth some of the most exquisite dimensions of love, which requires the condition of finitude in order to make sense — qualities such as steadfastness, tenderness, commitment, forbearance, fidelity and forgiveness.  These mature and subtle flavors of love have no real context in a realm where there are no edges and boundaries, where all just flows.  But when you run up against the hard edge and have to stand true to love anyway, what emerges is a most precious taste of pure divine love.  God has spoken his most imitate name. 

“….I am not saying that suffering exists in order for God to reveal himself.  I am only saying that where suffering exists and is consciously accepted, there divine love shines forth brightly.” (p 99 - 100 ‘The Wisdom Jesus)

I had a dear friend, once, who thought that since she was a believer — a Christian — that bad or unfortunate things were not suppose to happen in her life.  

That, is just not true.

Is it?

What Was Jesus Really Saying?

Very early this morning I remembered:  

                                                                         

^“Let anyone with ears listen!”

Now I am thinking:  We haven’t been such great listeners since those moments when Jesus walked on the earth.  

We weren't, such good listeners; because we didn't know how to listen to what Jesus was actually saying and doing.

In Matthew 13 Jesus speaks to this problem:

10 Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ ¹¹He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ¹³The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” ¹⁴With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

“You will indeed listen, but never understand,

   and you will indeed look, but never perceive. 

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull,

   and their ears are hard of hearing,

     and they have shut their eyes;

     so that they might not look with their eyes,

   and listen with their ears,

and understand with their heart and turn—

   and I would heal them.” 

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.(Matt. 13)

When someone is speaking we often hear, what our minds are saying about, what we think we are hearing.  

I think maybe Jesus was talking about, that natural human habit, in this section of Matthew; because what he was really saying was missed because he was saying things that the people listening didn’t want -- or didn't know how -- to hear.  

They didn’t want to hear it because it meant that they would need to make adjustment in their thinking or behaving — or both.

Because what he was asking, or suggesting, was too difficult.  Or, at the very least, it was so foreign to what had always been. 

Jesus’ suggestions not only covered individual thinking, speaking and behavior; he also included many Jewish religious traditions and rituals as well.

And It very well might be; because what he was saying and asking was — to the egoic intellectual logic and reasoning mind — just didn’t not compute.

Here’s the deal:  They were listening — hearing — words, ideas, concepts.  

They were not listening to the tiny currents, vibrations and wave links that carry the positive ways of thinking, speaking and being.

They were not able to use their hearts -- only their minds.

2 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ³the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. ⁵I have led you for forty years in the wilderness. The clothes on your back have not worn out, and the sandals on your feet have not worn out; ⁶you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink—so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.(Deut. 29)  

God’s OWD (Original Wireless Design) surpasses all language barriers, all former things that were, all around the world.

"Blessed Are The Peacemakers"

A reader responds

“After reading your blogs on resonance: I was thinking there could be resonant evil as well a good.  Resonance  works in all ways some positive and come negative.”

You are absolutely correct.

“Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” ²⁸He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” ²⁹But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Mt. 13)

In the very first blog, on this amazing subject, I mentioned that In Jesus Wisdom Cynthia Bourgeault introduced me to a quantum physic concept called “Planck’s Constant.”  

“Planck’s Constant” is: “of constriction and density that comes as part and parcel of this human realm and is the necessary precondition for the full revelation of divine love.” (p.107) 

She continues this discussion on page 120.  “Only  at this particular density, within these sharp edges and term limits (the ultimate one, of course, being death) do the conditions  become perfect for the expression of the most tender and vulnerable aspects of divine love. Built right into the deep structure of this realm, then, is a “Planck’s Constant” of darkness and density.  It belongs to the warp and weft of creations itself, and to dissolve it is to cancel the very conditions through which this realm makes its uniquely important contribution to the divine fullness.” (p.120
  

In this world there is good and bad, ugly and beautiful, light and darkness.  That is just the truth.  

Why? 

I do not know.

However, think about this:  God came, in Jesus' skin, purposely into this conditions of darkness, to shine his light upon the need to change what was a most disturbing ingredient of the human being.

Read Isaiah chapter 9.

² The people who walked in darkness

   have seen a great light;  (I invite you to keep reading)

This dark side of life is, Carl Jung describes as, “the excluded shadowland of the fourth.”(152 Second Simplicity)

As we read throughout scripture we are constantly faced with the “darkness” — the sharp craggy edges of human nature. 

We experience this tendency, of good and not-so-good, in nature, weather, wind, volcanos, hurricanes, floods and fire.  

And in all of those kinds of terribly destructive occurrences there is divine possibilities of new life, new growth, comes into being within humans, animals and nature.

We experience this sharp edged way in:

 Musical arrangements.

      Poetry,

         The Psalms,

Jeremiah,

      Isaiah,

                         The story of Job, 

        Jesus’ parables

  and everyday life still today.

“Like any good Zen master, he (Jesus) is out to completely short-circuit our mental wiring so that we are catapulted into a whole new way of seeing and being.” (p. 39 Jesus Wisdom)

Jesus bring it all together:   

                                       “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

The Most Amazing Gift

So I have come to, what I think is, the last blog on resonance.  

God’s wireless communication that has for centuries been perceived as something we just don’t get — don’t comprehend.  And actually doesn’t make too much sense to human logic and reason.

It is interesting, to me, that our modern world of wireless-bluetooth, which has endlessly confused my mind; yet has actually helped me to finally see more clearly God’s most precious gift.  

The gift that He came in Jesus’ skin to give us — show us.  The blest power to have a two way conversation with the Almighty God Creator of all that is.  

A communication that is possible through the Advocate, The Holy Spirit.

When I read Cynthia Bourgeault’s assessment of the heart my entire body became tenderly moved.

She is discussing the difference between our intellectual minds and our preceptive heart. 

“The egoic operating system is particularly related to the mind, to the ‘binary operator’ built right into the human brain. The heart has a different way of perceiving.  Rather than dividing and conquering, it connects with a seamless and indivisible reality through a whole different way of organizing the informational field….In wisdom, the heart is primarily an organ of spiritual perception, a highly sensitive instrument for keeping us aligned, as we journey along the horizontal axis of our life in time, with the vertical axis of timeless reality; the realm of meaning, value, and conscience.  The heart picks up reality in a much deeper, more integral way than our poor Cartesian minds even begin to imagine…..The heart picks up from the emotions, from our sense of proportion, from  intuition, from images and archetypes;..…and keeps us aliened with our innermost, with what we truly know. (p. 35-36

And my mind went WOW.

⁹ With you is wisdom, she who knows your works

and was present when you made the world;

she understands what is pleasing in your sight

and what is right according to your commandments. 

¹⁰ Send her forth from the holy heavens,

and from the throne of your glory send her,

that she may labour at my side,

and that I may learn what is pleasing to you. 

¹¹ For she knows and understands all things,

and she will guide me wisely in my actions

and guard me with her glory. 

¹² Then my works will be acceptable,

and I shall judge your people justly,

and shall be worthy of the throne of my father. 

¹³ For who can learn the counsel of God?

Or who can discern what the Lord wills? 

¹⁴ For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,

and our designs are likely to fail; 

¹⁵ for a perishable body weighs down the soul,

and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind. 

¹⁶ We can hardly guess at what is on earth,

and what is at hand we find with labour;

but who has traced out what is in the heavens? 

¹⁷ Who has learned your counsel,

unless you have given wisdom

and sent your holy spirit from on high? 

¹⁸ And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,

and people were taught what pleases you,

and were saved by wisdom.’ (Wisdom of Solomon 9)

Thanks be to God

I would be remiss if I didn’t end this incredible gift, I have been so recently been given, in the works, God enabled Cynthia Bourgeault and Bruno Barnhart to express in their writings.  

I am most grateful to God for the way He works in all of us.

OWD -- Original Wireless Design

We live in a world that has invented the amazing technology called “wireless” transmission.

No more messy cords,

No more telephone poles lining our highways,

Now we count on this thing called “bluetooth.”   A magical little device that move the sound from our wireless smart phones, tablets and computers with sounds that fill our car, and homes and ears with music, news, sports and anything we want to listen to.

Well guess what, God has the copywriter on wireless communication.

It is true!

And yes you know where I am going don’t you?

It is the transmission, energy, vibrations, electrical currents,  entrainment (the rhythms of our bodies’ environment), synchronization, magnetic fields-- resonance of the Holy Spirit.

I am thinking that God uses all of those avenues to communicate with us every minute of our lives.

This I believe with my entire being.

Now let me tell you what I learned this last month and half, about the word resonance, that sent me on this extraordinary journey. 

First a caution, what I am about to write is totally left brain stuff.  But I understood enough to get me pretty excited.

Resonance occurs when the amplitude of an object’s oscillations are increases by the matching vibrations of another object.

Resonance is a condition that exists when the inductive reactance and the capacitive reactance are of equal magnitude causing electrical energy to oscillate between the magnetic field of the indicator and the electrical field of the capacitor.

Resonance is used for tuning and filtering, because resonance occurs at a particular frequency for given values for inductance  and capacitance.

The Holy Spirit is the conduit,  channel of transmission — a currant that flows from God to us.

More tomorrow