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Of course, I enjoy meditation, but it leads me to love the world of Nature and Matter even more than I ever have before. For more and more I see it all shimmer with the Beauty that is what we call "God" and the Good that is Eternal Life: right here, right now, always, the Divine Luminosity loving us through what Love makes.
If I have a campaign, which I hope I do not, it would be, partly, to expose the reductionism of much religion. This religion thinks it is more holy because it sets itself off as the in-group, the superior species, and seeks to engage only in so-called sacred groups and their activities. It disdains that "worldly" half and seeks to stay with that "sacred" half.
Of course, like the prideful Pharisee in the Bible story, it will stand off and think, "Now, God, I'm so much better than those others, for I do not do the things they do. God, how dare they!" A holistic, or wholistic, view of God is a corrective to such religious reductionism ~ by the way, for those who might have trouble with what I am saying, the Church condemned Gnosticism in the second Century (i.e., an ancient form of this sacred-secular dualism).
I guess what I am trying to say is what the transpersonalist author Ken Wilber taught me ~ spiritual maturity leads us back to embrace life, nature, matter, and beauty in wonderment and appreciation and, yes, fun. This does not make what persons do with the world always edifying or proper. I do not espouse just dong what one feels like doing: Spirit gave us a neo-Cortex for a reason, mere instinct is not the basis of right living. Evil, indeed, is the misuse of the Good for selfish ends, and that can happen in church as much as in the bar on a University Avenue.
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Evil is not about what is in the Good Creation, it is about our intents and attitudes and, consequent, use of matter-energy. Jesus knew this when he taught, "Clean out the inside of the cup,…" That is, the problem is with the misdirected affections, not with the world outside. Dividing Nature into good and bad and seeing a devil behind every bush is just another superficial, inept attempt to resolve the real challenge: conversion of the human heart to live in alignment and appreciation of this Sacred-infused world and its Divinely-infused creatures.
What heaven will be, who knows ~ "eye has not seen, nor has it entered into the heart," wrote St. Paul. But, for now Christianity teaches an embodied state after death, not a disembodied state. We teach the Incarnation in Jesus, which implies the goodness of flesh, matter, and living things.
God bless you. God bless this world. And, now, I proceed to enjoy some Barry White.
"Luminous Spirit, show your Face in all things as good and holy form, open our eyes to your ever-present Presence. Remind us that the main purpose of life is the enjoyment of Emmanuel ~ Divine One with Us All, here, now, always."
Suggested Reflection
How did the readings today speak to you? Explain.
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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