Category: Religion


Problems of The Second Coming

Filed under: Faith & Doubt, Religion
July 25, 2014

second-comingWhile having lunch with a client, we overheard the luncheon conversation from another table. Discussing an enigma in his life, the patron blurted in great anguish, “God I wish Jesus was here. If He were, everything would be perfect.”

“Hmm,” muttered my client. “What a load of crap.“

“I’m sorry,” I replied in astonishment.

“Jesus coming again,” he muttered. “You know, quoting the Bible, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.””

“Yeah, what about it.“

“Well, the Bible does the whole ‘second coming’ thing in a couple of chapters. Sounds pretty damn easy, right?“

“Yeah, I suppose some say that,” leaning back in my chair.

“Too damn easy. Too damn easy.“

“How so?“

Taking a sip of water, “Well, first off, just imagine Christ coming down in a chariot and some nut like Putin shoots a BUK SA-11 missile. God,” he laughed, “I would love to see to what happens next.“

Smiling, “That’s an interesting thought.“

“So Christ gets here, right?“

“Right,” I confirmed.

Continuing, “So, Christ is going to judge the living and the dead, right?“

“Right.“

“There’s currently 7 billion living people on earth. Even if He adjudicates everyone’s life in one minute apiece, it would take over 13,000 years to finish.“

“Never thought of it that way,” I nodded.

“Imagine, every living soul gets one minute to state their case … and then ‘pppppiiiiiffffffff’ … done. Pausing for a moment, “And those are just the living.” Yes sir,” he smirked with a ‘tonal’ computer voice, “your number is in year 14,072 …. Next?“

“Have a seat,” I chuckled.

“Exactly,” he sighed.

“Maybe Christ saves the 2.5 billion identified Christians and just summarily executes the rest. Then the whole process will only take a smidgen over 4,700 years.“

“Ah,” he pondered. “There’ll be other issues.“

“Such as?”

“Think about it,” he explained. “If Christ starts healing the sick, I’ll bet you dollars-to-donuts someone will sue Him for practicing medicine without a license. If He started turning water into wine, the wine conglomerate will sue for restraint of trade while simultaneously requesting an EPA toxicology report. Then He’ll have to mediate the Israel and Hamas Strip problem, Ireland’s Catholic and Protestant battle, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Catholic Priests and a host other nut groups. I guarantee you, some group will be extremely pissed when God doesn’t vote their way. So what’s He gonna do with them? And guess what? Once all the elderly start donating money to Him, the U.S. Government and IRS will sue Christ for violation of tax exempt organization regulations, infamously known as 501(c)3.“

“That’s quite a list.“

“There’s also the environmental thing.“

“You mean global warming?“

“No. I mean. What happens if people just quit their jobs because He decided to return? Think about it, nuclear reactors and power plants require daily, weekly, monthly care. Otherwise, kablooey! What happens when damns aren’t properly regulated and they fail? What happens to all those churches and jobs supporting evangelical missions, Bible publications and other items? Do children suddenly stop going to school because Christ came back? Does society stop working and wait for Christ to repair everything? What will people do? What will you and I do?“

“Man,” I said depressingly. “Now that I think about it, those few chapters in Revelations seems to gloss over it.“

“Yeah,” he said. “What’s that old quote,” as he searched his memory. “Be careful of what you ask for….”

“You may get it,” finishing his sentence.

“Maybe we don’t get Christ until we live like Christ. Maybe we just need to learn to live and love now while we have time,” thoughtfully opined.

“Amen to that!“

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Hobby Lobby – A Personhood Business

Filed under: Faith & Doubt, Life Lessons, Religion
June 30, 2014

imageIn 2012, the Supreme Court of The United States chose to reaffirm the conclusion of Citizens United ruling that corporations are people — at least as far as the First Amendment is concerned. The Supreme Court of The United States continued to reaffirm that decision today by stating some corporations have religious rights, that certain for-profit companies cannot be required to pay for specific types of contraceptives of their employees.

Hobby Lobby and other small Christian based companies claimed the Affordable Care Act forced them to set aside deeply held religious beliefs by requiring them to provide contraception in their employee health plans. The owners said they cannot have any role in providing access to certain forms of contraception without having to violate those beliefs. Their attorney, former Republican Solicitor General Paul Clement, said that because the Obama administration has provided some exemptions to the rule — for churches and certain nonprofits — it should be willing to exempt companies, too.

In a nutshell, the Supreme Court affirmed that thought process.

The irony of Hobby Lobby is that not all Christian business leaders actually follow and apply Christian centered principles. The forefront of Hobby Lobby’s argument is as follows:

“Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one.“

The Green family may claim to honor the above principle, but like many Christian businesses, they send their “Christian” money overseas to China where its one child policy of and forced abortions is an everyday occurrence. China is one of the worst offenders of human dignity, unborn infant life, and economic justice anywhere in the world.  It’s also important to note Hobby Lobby’s 401(k) retirement plan invested $73 million in pharmaceutical companies that developed and produced various forms of contraception.

Are there other Biblical rules which aren’t followed? Yes. Here are a few.

  • Leviticus 19:27 – “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Most Hobby Lobby employees have no beards.
  • Leviticus 19:19 – “Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.” Most Hobby Lobby clothing consists of many different threads, manufactured in China with cheap labor.
  • Timothy 2:9 – “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.” Hobby Lobby sells a lot of ‘gold’ jewelry, mostly produced in China.

Since corporations are now considered people, they enjoy privileges those in the lower class cannot obtain. For instance, you and I cannot get tax incentive financing. If the corporation is involved in illegal activities, how does the court system jail a corporation? And of course, the average working ‘Joe’, such as you and I, will never spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for politically targeted television ads.

Jeffery Tobin (CNN) noted, the Hobby Lobby case is all about politics and little of religious principle.

As for me, I will never spend another dollar of my money at Hobby Lobby.

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Is the World Largely Dark or Just Me?

Filed under: Life Lessons, Religion
June 23, 2014

Olympic_TorchA friend often claimed her given name meant “light.” Accordingly, she was quite the scholar; with a near genius IQ who performed elongated math equations in her head. During her travels, she claimed to have found no one of equal. Thus, she fictitiously carried a lighted torch while claiming to “Light a world largely dark.”

One day, a wise man sitting in a darkened coffeehouse heard her words. “My friend, if your eyes are blind to the sight of the omnipresent light of the day, do not call the world dark. Your torch adds nothing to the glory of the sun and your intention to illumine the minds of others is as futile as it is arrogant.”

As Anthony de Mello would say,

“We all need to identify less and less with the “me.” By doing so, we’ll all be more at ease with everybody and with everything because we’ll no longer be afraid of being hurt or unlike. We need to reduce the desire to impress everyone. Can you imagine the relief when you don’t have to impress anybody anymore? Oh, what a relief.

So why do I refer to de Mello and being one of ‘true light?‘

While flying to upstate Washington over the weekend, a woman saw me reading de Mello’s work, ‘Taking Flight.’ Being a devote Christian, she claimed to know the true “Light” and opined that de Mello’s books did little to enhance one’s development in authentic Christian spirituality while simultaneously exposing the soul to serious spiritual danger.

Additionally, I should consider, “… that dabbling in Buddhism, Taoism, and other ideologies isn’t just a simple pastime. These practices could expose one to occult influences that could have lasting and damaging effects upon the mind, body and soul. So unless one is attempting to communicate with the One, Holy and True God – and in ways deemed acceptable – I need to understand I’m placing myself at enormous personal risk.”

Paraphrasing Dale Carnegie, I subtly responded, “The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in my life. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?”

“Oh,” she beamed with a broad smile. “They are worthy leaders.”

Leaning back and looking over Washington’s coastline, I muttered in thought, “Socrates would talk with people he encountered on the street, using the opportunity to question them about their views on justice, piety, courage, and other virtues by which human beings lived. His pointed questions–and the inability of his listeners to answer them satisfactorily–showed them that their knowledge was incomplete or tainted with faulty ideas. For this, he received a death sentence.”

Most will not believe in the real God because they’re unable to broaden their minds past that of their own world.

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Can’t Fly on One Wing

Filed under: About Love, Faith & Doubt, Religion
April 21, 2014

One Wing“You Can’t Fly On One Wing.”

~ Scottish Proverb ~

As Easter weekend approached, I sat from a balcony overlooking Washington’s coastline. With Spring flourishing, I saw much life coming forth: bees, butterflies and birds fluttering about. When I crossed a child attempting to fly a paper airplane with a damaged wing, I repaired the man-made aircraft; and giving a gentle nudge, the plane soared high unto the prevailing trade winds of Orcas Island.

Looking unto the child of nearly eight, I said:

“Remember, much of life is like this paper airplane, one cannot fly upon just one wing.”

There will be many times when one believes they must do everything themselves. After all, “…it’s often the only way to get the right answer.” But in truth, I believe each of us needs a little luck … and the wings of God. And this past weekend, all of us, regardless of religion, regardless of faith, took some small amount of time to reflect upon the ‘cross’ and Christ’s life.

Many believe the cross first came into existence as a symbol associated with the Christian faith; but the cross existed before there was Christianity, before Moses, before Buddha and before any human written historical record. In fact, the cross can be found among the Aztecs and the Phoenicians culture. In some way, the symbol of a crucified savior or of a man crucified upon a cross, appears to have been known to many nations.

So there must have been a reason for the ‘cross.’ Personally, I tend to believe there is some natural association between a loving God and the human mind.  I do not purport people ever agreed that the cross was meant only for Christians, but I believe there is a God–human connection between all of us.

For instance, in every religion the power of the word is recognized. In Christianity, creation itself is said to have come out of the word. Thus, there is an external aspect of the thought of God resides within the Word, and, as God thought and willed, He created and creation came from the Word.

In our stress and hurried materialistic life, our nerves lose sensibility and we become hardened. We lose our connection to faith, a faith which bears us this second wing, a wing that allows us to fly. If our duty to others means helping others; can we always fly in this world without our second wing? Should we always try to help the world alone or unified in an eternal force? If we dare to consider, we’ll find greater success flying as an eagle, versus fluttering singularly.

I once read a sermon which stated, “All this beautiful world is very good, because it gives us time and opportunity to help others.” Still, while we cannot deny there is much misery; to go out and help others is therefore the best thing we can do. However, it’s imperative to remember that in the long run we shall find greater power in being an eagle.

The power of Easter is love and God wants each of us to soar. But remember, you can’t soar on only one wing.

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The Drive to Divide

Filed under: About Love, Faith & Doubt, Religion
March 30, 2014

religion-dividesI almost died several weeks ago. I do not remember much except hearing a voice saying I had to return. As I lay recuperating in the hospital for the past two weeks, I watched people go to and fro.

It became clear to me that as our world moves forward into the future, we are continually presented with significant amounts of division.  Secular, for-profit corporations are attempting to exercise unprecedented religious exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) “contraception mandate;” the continual battle against gay and lesbian rights, stripping unemployment insurance from the most needy, etc., etc., etc. Here are some samples:

  • Georgia lawmakers approved a bill allowing guns in bars, schools, restaurants, churches and airports, and also expands on the state’s “Stand Your Ground” defense.
  • A Georgia town passed mandatory gun bill. “In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore,” the ordinance said.
  • An eight (8) year who sported a short haircut, liked to wear jeans and T-shirts, and collects autographed baseballs was kicked out of a Christian school. It should be mentioned, the child maintained a 4.0 average at Timberlake Christian School and steered clear of any disciplinary issues, save for her desire to wear boy’s pants as part of her school uniform. Her sin you ask? Paraphrasing Principal Becky Bowman, “We believe … that God has made her female and her dress and behavior need to follow suit with her God-ordained identity.”
  • Alaska State Sen. Pete Kelly (R) is declaring war on fetal alcohol syndrome, and he’s proposing to place state-funded pregnancy tests in bars and restaurants so that women can figure out if they’re pregnant before drinking. But he also told the Anchorage Daily News this week that he opposes increased access to contraception, because birth control is only for women “who don’t want to act responsibly.”
  • Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld slammed President Barack Obama on Monday, saying “a trained ape” would have better foreign policy skills.
  • Former Alaska Governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin lashed out at President Barack Obama’s administration today for its handling of relations with Israel, taking to Facebook to air out her frustrations over what she called “junior high diplomacy.”
  • The first 60 seconds of this interview with Franklin Graham, the son of charismatic preacher Billy Graham, viewers were treated to his condemnation of gay adoption as “recruitment,” fear-mongering about a political gay agenda, as well as a strong endorsement of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s harsh policies towards LGBT individuals.

Regardless of faith, religious beliefs seems to do a very good job of dividing and creating a tremendous amount of hate. Yet, many have been known to cross society’s divide.

Biblically speaking, Christ’s conversation with a Samaritan woman one hot afternoon is mostly known for its reference to the “living water.” But Christ’s broader personal act have implications not often discussed. First, to get to Samaria, Christ had to walk through some of the most ethnically and racially challenged areas.  Secondly, Christ was seen talking alone to a woman. Third, Christ opened the door salvation to all, not just to those ministered to by the Pharisees and Sadducees. All of these acts crossed the boundaries of man-made bias and prejudices. Christ did His best to break down known barriers.

Similarly, Buddha gave up his wealth and attended to the poor. Same could be said of St. Francis of Assisi, Dr. Martin Luther King, President Abraham Lincoln, the Dali Lama and many many others.

As a Buddhist, I don’t want faith (in and of itself) to become such an ideology that divides and causes antagonism. The DNA of all living things are interconnected. We come from the very same life source that created the trees and sea turtles; the flowers and the birds; the planets and the moon. Thus, our conversation must be about how important we are to each other; the need to see how interconnected life is and think about how to really help each other. Staying together and living together is so important – more than we know. The human spirit is based upon deeper values: the inter-communal, the inter-cultural, and inter-religious.

We are in this together. Love unconditionally. This form of love cannot be stopped by differences, religious or otherwise, for love and understanding are two sides of the same coin.

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The Spirit Within

Filed under: About Love, Faith & Doubt, Religion
February 9, 2014

spiritLaying sick this past week, I had extensive conversations with a distant friend.  While unsure why she reached out to me at this particular moment, I have bathed in our renewed time together.  After conversing at all sorts of odd hours, one could find a sense of peace, a spiritual awakening. I felt amazingly refreshed.

Eckhart Tolle wrote, “That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”  This reminds all of us that one does not have to be terminally ill nor do you have to perform a bazillion hours of meditation to enter this peaceful state. However, once experienced, this spiritual awakening can become a part of your daily life.

Spirituality and religion belong in the healing paradigm and they factor significantly in recovery, well-being and longevity.  Jesus was once asked when the kingdom of God would come. The kingdom of God, Jesus replied, is not something people will be able to see and point to. Then came these striking words: “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21). Looking into peace via the eyes of a friend, I confirmed a long held notion: that every great religious, spiritual, and wisdom tradition have the same commonality— that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within us.

After experiencing such peaceful moments in the last eight (8) years, I remember St. Augustine’s thoughts:

I entered into the innermost part of myself. . . . I entered and I saw with my soul’s eye (such as it was) an unchangeable light shining above this eye of my soul and above my mind. . . . He who knows truth knows that light, and he who knows that light knows eternity. Love knows it. O eternal truth and true love and beloved eternity!

And I often do this. I find a delight in it, and whenever I can relax from my necessary duties I have recourse to this pleasure. {I experience] a state of feeling which is quite unlike anything to which I am used — a kind of sweet delight which, if I could only remain permanently in that state, would be something not of this world, not of this life. But my sad weight makes me fall back again; I am swallowed up by normality.

Find a slice of this heavenly peace and invite it into your life. It’s nice to be reminded that the “kingdom of heaven” has many doors. This same kingdom we’ve been hearing about for the last several centuries is “within you.” Within us all. Here and now.

My soul at once becomes recollected and I enter the state of quiet or that of rapture, so that I can use none of my faculties and senses . . . . Everything is stilled, and the soul is left in a state of great quiet and deep satisfaction.

~Mother Teresa~

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Guided By The Spiritual

Filed under: About Love, Religion
January 29, 2014

waterA Catholic acquaintance recently asked about the purpose of reincarnation. “… do Buddhists want us just to be zombies, no desire or wishes? They simply continue to be born again.”  To which I replied, “Good question. At a very high level, I believe the purpose is to end suffering.”

My response really didn’t address his question. But internally debating, could one presume that organized religion (regardless of faith) changes human conduct towards the better on a global and statistical scale? To me, this very idea is replete with examples tending demonstrate otherwise. Not even Buddhism. So if people hold Buddhism on higher regard compared to other religious faiths it has to be for other reason.

For me, it’s about being guided by the spiritual. While I am conscious of this physical world, I am more influenced and moved by the spiritual. Simply saying we are a spirit in a body says little, but believing there is a spiritual side to which all of us can connect, where thoughts and feelings are freely exchanged just as you and I converse is powerful.

The reason most of us cannot hear the spiritual side is that many people who, in the face of an incredibly complicated world, are absolutely convinced that they alone understand the way that the world works. Unfortunately, the world is simply far too complex to understand in such a manner.  They miss the key of humility, a willingness to abandon complex vision of religion and live in faith. Once one accepts the humility of faith, we can find and understand the spiritual form of compassion.

In our daily life, compassion too often comes in the form of feel-good news feature pieces or sidebars about heroic people most could never become. Our cultural representation of compassion has been deadened by idealistic images and misses the beautification many spiritual leaders exuded. The real compassion of Christ, the real compassion of Buddha, the real love of Gandhi crosses religious, spiritual and ethical traditions while simultaneously transcending them.

This deep well of spiritual compassion is intertwined with clemency and reunion. And in this light, God invites us to live and communicate compassionately, to bathe in the face of Christ or to absorb the love of Buddha in everything and everyone. Doing so allows us to live a life in the spiritual.

Galileo said, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same god who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.” Those classic scientists believed that understanding the natural world was the best way to understand the mind of its maker. But to live in a spiritually connected world means we understand that there’s more to simply living. We begin to appreciate that we’re the only creatures with the capacity to possibly have a deep interconnected relationship to God and perceive life in greater depth.

This is the way I choose to see the world. I want to live with those friends, present and passed, in front of my eyes and in my life. It’s about absolute love. It’s not always about religious things and not always about spiritual things. More importantly, it’s living each moment in spiritual compassion, a simply reality that’s rendered time and again.

Compassion and love are the real reasons I live in Buddha and reside in the moment.

How about you?

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The Only Guarantee

Filed under: About Love, Faith & Doubt, Religion — 2 Comments
January 22, 2014

imagesWhile purchasing a set of Klipsch S4A headphones, the salesperson inquired about purchasing an extended warranty, a two-year guaranteed replacement. Having worked for the Better Business Bureau some thirty years ago, there are many calculations, that from a purely economic standpoint, that confirms there’s no economic sense to purchase one.

Yet today I burst out laughing heartily at a Pella Windows sales representative, who quoting windows for my home, queried whether I wanted an extended warranty above and beyond Pella’s 10 year limited warranty. The poor man must have thought I was nuts. When I explained that thirty years ago this April, I received a diagnosis providing an additional 25 quality years.  Thus, I am past my due … and all the medical events of this past week indicate I am nearer transition.

So at my stage of life, why buy anything? Certainly one can’t pass on or pay forward anything, let alone an extended warranty. Humorously, I wondered whether God offered anyone an extended warranty prior to our arrival on this island earth?  Or are we just a set of souls with an implied warranty?

To clarify, implied warranties are unwritten promises that arise from the nature of the transaction. It means when you purchase product, the seller basically says, “Yeah, it works and good luck.” For you and I, it means when born our creator breathed life into us and said good luck. There are no known guaranties. It’s the cosmic equivalency to a used car “Purchased As-Is.”

Of course there are expressed warranties. An expressed warranty is a verbal or written statement that guarantees a product will work in a certain way or for a certain amount of time, say one year, five years, ten years, etc.  Some could represent the Bible as an expressed warranty. But technically, that doesn’t count. I presume to say the Bible guarantees only that we will experience joys, sorrow, sickness and death. Hard to believe, that as a spirit, one actually agreed, for I have no direct knowledge of some hierarchical contract signed, sealed or delivered.

Seriously, at the end of the day, for me it doesn’t matter. Paraphrasing the character Red in The Shawshank Redemption, I would love to find the youth of myself and “… try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.”

There’s no warranty for any of us. I know the abundance of my days is pain-filled and moving toward a series of rather distasteful health events. I will never ever hold the hand of the one I truly love. I won’t see the Alaskan Glaciers again nor see the sunset from Upper Grinnell Lake.

But as a Buddhist, I know the only guarantee allowed: our present moment of love; to have peace of mind and heart and to feel good about our own existence and to be love to all those around us. We … yes us … must live out of this present moment. Write a heart of love on everyone met and as Henry David Thoreau wrote, “… find your eternity in each moment.”

This very moment is the only guarantee we have. Make each one count.

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I Am Well, But The House …

Filed under: Faith & Doubt, Life Lessons, Main, Religion — 1 Comment
January 18, 2014

john-quincy-adams-2About a week ago, I awoke suffering from tremendous vertigo, blurred vision in one eye, tremors, and a stiff neck with pain in the jaw.  Some might say, “Hell of a night Mr. Buddha.” Truthfully, this is just a part of the disease I must endure to the end.

Waiting for the usual plethora of tests, I’ve been asked several times about how I’m doing. When queried in such a manner, I internally reflect upon Quincy Adams last letter and quote, The Buddhist “… is well, but the house in which he lives at the present time is becoming dilapidated.”

I know the real battle is the not the disease, it’s within the mind. As CNN anchor Zain Verjee described her battle psoriasis, “My mind is living a separate life from the body beneath it.” Many sitting in the impractical and uncomfortable hospital lounge chairs understand the ocean of pain and fear crushes far worse than the disease. That fear slaughters and drives many from their faith. Likewise those clutching rosaries, religious revivals have swept through thousands of new converts.  Yet death’s angel culls both faithful and unfaithful equally.

All of us will stumble upon someone dying. Technically speaking, life itself is both sexually transmitted and terminal. But as we meet those transferring from this life to another, it’s important to remember: this is not about you. It’s about the person with the illness. If you are a friend you will need to get over your discomfort or get out of the way. Those dying really don’t want to console their visitors. For those suffering, romantic conceptions of the battle and gallant heroes riding to save day rarely come. No one visiting someone’s personal battlefield should ever regard life in quite the same fashion as before. Doing otherwise catapults one to being worse than the enemy.

If I can be so bold as to speak for others, being a compassionate and caring friend does not require personal experience identical to what I am living. Don’t disappear. Sure I represent your fear, but I also represent God’s love. Check in with me. Remind me that I’ve not been forgotten. Remind me that I’m your friend.

I will close with an excerpt from When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner:

“Life is not fair. The wrong people get sick and the wrong people get robbed and the wrong people get killed in wars and in accidents. Some people see life’s unfairness and decide, ‘There is no God; the world is noting but chaos.’ Others see the same unfairness and ask themselves, ‘Where do I get my sense of what is fair and what is unfair? Where do I get my sense of outrage and indignation, my instinctive response of sympathy when I read in the paper about a total stranger who has been hurt by life? Don’t I get these things from God? Doesn’t He plant in me a little bit of His own divine outrage at injustice and oppression, just as He did for the prophets of the Bible? Isn’t my feeling of compassion for the afflicted just a reflection of the compassion He feels when He sees the suffering of His creatures?’ Our responding to life’s unfairness with sympathy and with righteous indignation, God’s compassion and God’s anger working through us, may be the surest proof of all of God’s reality.”

As Quincy Adams wrote, “Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it; its roof is pretty well worn out.  Its walls are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind.”

But I my friends … I am having a great day.

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The Search for God

Filed under: Faith & Doubt, Religion, Technology — 1 Comment
December 29, 2013

pillars-of-creationWatching the Hubble Space Telescope at the planetarium gave some great and wondrous insights to our universe.  One photo pictured a small segment of space, about one 24-millionth of the whole sky. Within it, almost all of the 3,000 galaxies could be seen, some of which are among the youngest and most distant known. Each of these galaxies contains over 100,000,000 stars (i.e., solar systems). Multiply all that by 24,000,000.

On face value, the chances “we” (this island earth) being the only planet supporting life seems shockingly remote. However, Hubble’s discoveries do leave questions. First, if we are products of the universe, where does the universe come from? How do we solve it? Second, where is God? Third, how do I fit into this potentially vast universe?

One could take a ‘scientific’ or ‘religious’ view of our world, dividing the world into believers and nonbelievers. From a straight scientific perspective, religion is wrong. Believing in spirituality is flawed. For those of the moralistic side of religion, one can visually conceptualize God, but simply cannot tolerate the written word as inscribed by leaders of the past. And there are those who believe every word of the Bible is verbatim, every sentence is sacred.

I believe we do this because we are guided. For instance, much of modern day life is run more from an Apple iPhone than by spirit. Think about it, we structure everything, including time. We synchronize encounters. We are a culture of repetition. Our world is an endless cycle of calendars; a way of ensuring each year repeats the same patterns, same themes, same ideas, and same messages. For instance, the Super Bowl occurs in February; NCAA holds it’s madness in March; Thanksgiving in November, Christmas in December; Easter around April; businesses financially budget in either fiscal or calendar years; vacations occur around the same time of year; morning starts early, sleep starts late; seasons occur yearly, etc., etc., etc.

We forget to remember that we are not simply bodies in motion. We are spirit. And when the hand of God or the body of life teaches us lessons, it’s commonly done via the spirit. For instance, the Hubble Space Telescope cannot conceive of the idea of forgiveness, tears of the heart, falling in love, starting anew, starting afresh. You cannot immerse yourself in the water of love when only a physical action backs up a philosophical idea. God is neither.

There is nothing about space itself that offers any insight to the power of humanity or love. Hubble makes no make a room for love. There is no room for generosity. You cannot measure the fulcrum of agape love in a stellar explosion. It’s impossible to understand the mystery of faith watching two solar systems collide. How eerie our world mirrors the universe. The same violence and warfare in the universe affects everything we do – our hopes, dreams, aspirations, fantasies, relationships — and our religion.

Transcending the world of Hubble, the world of God, Nirvana, Allah or Dao lies beyond the reach of words. In our world, only our collective humanity prevents us from bringing faiths (scientific and religious) together. To do so requires a level of compassion far greater than the universe, far more powerful than even the Bible’s written word.

Our view of Santa Claus matures from a byproduct of knowledge and age, whereas our ideas of God remain at a rather infantile level. Selfishness, greed, envy, self-preoccupation and our engrained ability to make ourselves the center of the universe prevents us from the reaching the level of love necessary to create the universe or the very level of love God intended for you and I. We remain woefully ignorant of the hatred produced each and every day.

Buddha had a monk who pestered him constantly about the existence of God and the creation of the world. The Buddha told him that he was like a man who had been shot with a poisoned arrow but refused to have any medical treatment until he had discovered the name of his assailant and what village he came from: he would die before he received this perfectly useless information. One could, the Buddha said, spend many pleasant hours discussing these fascinating topics but this would distract a monk from his main objective: “Because, my disciples, they will not help you, they are not useful in the quest for holiness; they do not lead to peace and to the direct knowledge of Nirvana.”

The quest for God comes from our ability to love one another. Real love transcends everything.

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