We cannot speak unless we have listened, unless we have made our connection with God. From the fullness of the heart, the mouth will speak, the mind will think.
*Mother Teresa. Everything Starts from Prayer. Ed. Anthony Stern.
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9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
*Luke 18, NLT (Christian Scripture)
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Julia Cameron, in her Some People Say … God is No Laughing Matter, tells of meeting a woman who fits the type “Spiritual Expert.” Here is Cameron's anecdote:
She was wearing her ex-nun outfit – a boxy little suit and short hair – and I looked like Rita Hayworth in Gilda. … Well, we were both supposed to be lecturing on spirituality and she kind of looked me up and down and hissed – I mean hissed - “Why can't you dress like the rest of us?”
“Because I don't want to,” I told her. She did not want to hear that. It seemed to make her even madder and nastier than usual. She whipped out there and scolded that audience just the way Sister Very Nasty used to when I was little. According to her, they were really botching their lessons. And she knew … Lou Gosset's fanatical drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman had nothing on her.
She whipped right into the Sister Nasty Version, which uses a lot of sarcasm and cruelty “for your own good.” This version is all about lessons, and how you are doing them wrong. In this version, God is really not very fond of us. It's like He thinks we are social climbers trying to get to Him and He can see right through us and so can Sister Very Nasty.
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This expertistic attitude plagues much religion, and to transcend it in faith means, for almost all, to pass through it, not deny it within oneself. Yet, now we have a counter-expert coalition, an opposite Mr Very Nasty and Ms Very Nasty. This group of self-proclaimed experts includes persons who demean religion and praise what they call spirituality, or agnosticism, or atheism, or who are simply lost to believe anything beyond their paltry prejudices. Then, they have their tribes of those in the know, and all others are, pitifully and sadly, the uninitiated and unenlightened - the stupid -, so they think - while they gloat over demeaning all persons of faith and all religious faith of all time past to present - as is seen all over the web, where these anti-religion so-called-experts parade their supposed intelligence and look down nastily on all the supposed - usually Christians - stupid religious people. Ironic how persons can speak of the assumed self-righteousness and judgmental propensity of Christians - most of whom they have never met - , with such broad strokes as to be clearly untenable, while themselves being, in so doing, self-righteous and judgmental. How sad so many unthinking persons are impressed by such vapid nonsense, easily influenced by persons who know little, if anything, of what they proudly proclaim.
See, the problem has never been essentially religion, the problem has been essentially the human insecurity that leads us to want to be superior to others, and our group and way the only right one. One can be a Sister Very Nasty or Brother Very Nasty as a Catholic nun or monk, a Tarot reader, a Mormon, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Protestant Christian, a Pagan, an Atheist, an Agnostic, ... Why? Any group is made up of humans, and some humans simply remain asleep until they die. Thankfully, many choose to wake up and live with the eyes of the Heart open, growing in a beautiful humbleness.
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* * * CLOSING BLESSING * * *
Grace and Peace to All
The Sacred in Me bows to the Sacred in You
*Move your cursor over photos to see photographer and name of photo.
*Lotus of the Heart is a Work of Arem Nahariim-Samadhi. Bless You Each & All!
