I am now posting primarily to HolySmokeOnTheWater.com because its structure is better suited to my rambling interests: theology, Christianity, my opinions, snippets of what I am reading and hearing,… NotesFromTheMargins.wordpress.com is where I put the dialogues I have with people. I will continue to post items addressing Teachable Moments here. Please join me on these other sites. I miss you.
Thank you. Catherine (Kitsy) Stratton.
Last night during Clemson’s heartbreaking loss to Alabama, Jesus reminded me that His followers are not the winners of the world. I railed against that and then was convinced to own the truth of it. My need for Clemson to be victorious has been my one blind spot in my personal crusade to rid myself of attachments and identifications and to complete my journey as a follower of Jesus…the kenotic path to union with God.
Last year, I boldly blogged about my fervent prayers during the National Championship because I felt the world needed to see a football program of coaches and players, who openly give credit for their lives and performance to God, be victorious. My prayers were not for God to favor Clemson but were toward the quarterback Deshaun Watson who seemed cowed by the physical hostility he was receiving from the Alabama defense; I prayed for God’s presence to get through to him…for Deshaun to remember Whose he is and to feel that power. I was not alone in my prayers and Deshaun rallied. Clemson won that game.
Last night, when Alabama was once again making it personal, I tried everything I could think of to influence a win…everything short of making a deal with the devil. But Jesus, in His gentle, tender way, reminded me, “My followers are not the winners of this world.” Dammit.
I was reminded of the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where one of the disciples took a sword to fight back the guards who had come to take Jesus to His crucifiction. Jesus corrected the disciple then and He corrected me last night. I argued, “But Jesus, don’t you want the world to see us victorious? Don’t You want to win?” Well, of course He does..just not in that way; that’s not how it works. I need to go back and read the Sermon on the Mount.
I worry about Dabo, too. I knew we (he and I) were in trouble when I saw the video clip of him dribbling grass from his fingers onto the playing field. I recalled how he picked Tulane for his practice field, and why, and the same hotel in New Orleans that he stayed in 25 years ago, and why. Those moves of superstition are no better than my daughter and myself donning every item of Clemson clothing and paraphernalia that we own to “set the mood,” a bit of juju, as one commentator put it.
Dabo is in a very difficult position…one of teaching these young men how to live a Christ-filled, Christ-guided life in a segment of the world where the goal is always to win…regardless. The biggest lesson Dabo has to teach is how to lose…and not just losing gracefully and the lessons to be learned from it, but also why losing self identity and self importance is key to having given your life to following Jesus. For a football coach whose job it is to teach them to win games, that’s tricky. You have to fight to win in order to learn from the loss. Jesus showed us this over and over. Even the Apostle Paul danced the tricky dance of “to lose oneself is Christ” but also to not only run the race but to finish it.
It’s a paradox. You must give your all to attain the goal but go through the ultimate loss at the pinacle to achieve the prize of salvation. It’s twisted but it works. If coached properly, this loss will be a huge gain for those young men…and the coaches. My prayers are with them now.
My prayers are also with me because I see that I have been holding out this need for Clemson to be victorious….holding it separate from everything else in my life that has been damaged or destroyed. I had a friend years ago who gave everything to God, except one area of his life. He lead several AA groups, coached children and adults in TaeKwonDo, but kept his multiple sexual relationships out of his commitment to God. That did not go well for him…or others.
Not only did I realize I was fiercely attached to and idetified with the need for Clemson to win, I found myself deeply hating Alabama’s head coach. Everything about his motives, values, and demeanor has been offensive to me…but I have no buseness hating on anyone !!! (God, forgive me.) Following the guidance of AA, I will pray for Nick Saban to be victorious and also for him to learn of the love of Christ…the love which motivates Dabo Swinney and the Clemson players.
Thankfully, much good came about last night: my daughter dug deep into her own well of wisdom to help me see all of the aspects of my blind spot and to lovingly help me deal with it. She pointed out how the unpalatable tenor of Saban does not necessarily extend to the team; we watched the small interview of the ‘Big Guy’ on the Alabama team who made the unexpected touchdown; his demeanor was just the opposite of Saban’s. Da’Ron Payne was modest, humble, and grateful for having been given the opportunity. Bless him. Perhaps he will be the spark in Saban’s camp that turns Saban’s influence from a cancer to something healing. Maybe. I will pray for that.
Go TIGERS !
I’m torn…not between Clemson and anyone else winning the championship games, but between Clemson remaining special (if not unique) in its culture and other schools incorporating into their own programs what Clemson has had for a long time. Granted, it will take a while for these other schools to completely reform; it starts with recruiting the right sorts: players and coaches. But some schools are at least giving lip service to the change. Nick Saban of Alabama has begun saying the kinds of things Dabo Swinney says all the time; Saban just doesn’t know what he’s saying, yet. By that I mean Saban is intentionally using the same words but there is no deep knowing at the heart level, and you can’t fake the real thing. When Saban gets around to understanding what he is saying, then he needs time to cycle through the seasons to process out the players who were recruited for all the reasons Alabama has been recruiting players. Alabama’s criteria have not been the same as Clemson’s.
I don’t know the whole story, but a Clemson player recently transfered out of the program. I noticed that the story gave some statistics and then enumerated the accomplishments of the player’s father. I suspect this player came into the Clemson program for the wrong reasons. It occurs to me now that most Clemson recruits emphasize the attraction of the strong family feeling among the Clemson coaches, players, and staff. I have also noticed how often the opinion of the player’s mother is key. I suspect that one major criteria in whether Clemson wants a specific recruit or not has to do with how open the young man is to a new strong fatherly influence…which he will definitly be under once working with Dabo Swinney and the other coaches. You will be coached, taught, nurtured, encouraged, but also tested and held accountable. When you emerge from the other end of this journey…this education and training tunnel…you will be a man your mother will be proud of and the world will look up to.
I believe that as long as Clemson is special in this mind-set of selecting those open to the program; training, nurturing, and proving them inside then outside; and encasing the whole thing in love; Clemson will continue to be second to none and victorious to the end. This is business. This is the business that Dabo Swinney is in. This is the business of life and all institutions in the business of preparing young people for life would be wise to line their programs up with what Swinney has built. That includes schools, churches, youth programs, and the military. Commanders in chief, headmasters, scoutmasters, and head coaches should start with the heart and then work with the mind and body, instilling a culture of fierce love and tenacious grit, that does not tolerate indulgences of poor conduct born of fear (racism, abuse, disrespect, hatred,…)
Some aren’t called to such programs…but all could be. All should aspire to be.
So, I’m torn. Part of me wants Clemson to keep its culture unique like a secret..and to always win. The other part of me wants this culture to spread throughout collegiate sports into professional sports and out into the fandoms, neighborhoods, public schools, military, and beyond; all of them will benefit. In many cases, it isn’t possible to be selective in who you bring into a program but it is always possible to be selective in the leadership, instructors, and coaches. And it must always start with the heart.
Jesus came into the world without the generational issues that we have to deal with. Therefore, He was aware of… and showed… full Christ presence from the very beginning of His ministry. He did not have traumas, neuroses, and complexes that got in the way of His knowing His Father’s will at all times. Nothing hid His being Christ. We, however, need to do the hard work of stripping away the issues and distractions to reach that clarity.
I have known people who have died without reaching a clear awareness of Christ. I have known people who never even tried to address their issues at all, unaware that working out their own salvation is theirs to do. I have also known people who have reached that clarity and were able to live the last years of their lives in full Christ presence and in full service of the Father.
We have been given the means to do the hard work of shedding all of the interfering stuff. The Holy Spirit has blessed us with knowledge of dealing with addictions, resentments and hate, illness and diseases. We have psychology, spiritual healing, prayer, AA groups, solid advice on what to eat, how much exercise to get, the importance of spending time in nature, deep breathing, and good sleep. All of that knowledge and help has been provided to assist us in shedding our issues.
While working out our salvation, we can spend precious and protected moments in silent prayer and meditation…becoming familiar with that clarity. With enough consistent practice, we can carry that grounded Christ presence out into relationships, crisis moments, and the world.
But we must still do the work.
Jesus spent His life psychologically whole, unattached to possessions, and undistracted. He spent time in prayerful meditation to maintain His clear awareness of God. All other times, He was open to the people around Him and present, in the truest sense. He was attentive, aware, and conscious. Follow Jesus’ example.
It is not necessary for us to be crucified on a tree in order to die to our distractions and issues. But what Jesus demonstrated was that once we choose to, after a time of grief, darkness, and confusion, we awaken full of Christ and ready to serve.
Follow Jesus.
…the Gift of Fore-Giveness
Okay I’m playing with the words, perhaps, but walk closely with me here, if you will:
It seems it is time to address dark generational issues in my life and in the lives of those close around me. During my work yesterday morning, looking at the evidence of painful and sensitive generational issues, I backed away from the specific situations for a bit and looked at the dynamics of incarnations and karma, in general. Whether or not you believe in reincarnation or even karma, I think you can accept that ‘sins of the father’ can be visited on the son.
So, I was thinking about how my mother treated me and I extrapolated that out to how she was treated as a child by her parents (based on stories she told us about her mother and father). Then I thought about how, if souls reincarnate, why they reincarnate: to either ‘get it right this time’ or to pay for what they did in their previous incarnations.
Without going into the details of the patterns, clues, and repeating tendencies, (and there are many) if I look at all of this from a distance, without attachment, I can see how one generation plays into the next and how the law of Karma explains why.
Then, it dawned.
What if I stand in the infinite, the eternal, the non-time space and…holding in awareness all of my incarnations through history…I forgive all those souls who have hurt me therefore owe me a karmic debt? Then, what if I ask those souls whom I have hurt through history, therefore those souls to whom I owe a karmic debt, to forgive me?
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
We’re talking a whole chunk of forgiving…past, present, and future. That, to me, would be a Gift that Counts. AND, if enough of us do this kind of work, that is how all souls can be forgiven.
After a lifetime of treading water over the dark end of the pool, after decades of working to stay above the murky deep, I now stop thrashing and slowly slip in. As the dark cold water closes in over my head I am at peace and expectant…listening: What do you have for me?
Voices travel well through water and fog.
Just as it’s the struggles that grow us up, it’s the dark that grows us deep. Choosing to not stay on the surface, choosing to let go of security and safety, lowering the eyes and dropping down is the nod of consent: I’m here…I know you’re here too. Tell me…
You help me because you hear what I am trying to say.
How do we get people to change their behavior?
They won’t understand until they are ready to; some people never do.
Why am I trying harder than the people I am trying to help?
She could get out of that, if she wanted to.
I want to help him; why won’t he let me?
They are not going to hear what you say until they wake up.
Do you hear me?
It will not happen until you are ready for it
If only my mother had known this before she died…
My goal is to find a way to raise their consciousness.
Lord, show me the way
All in good time…
They are at a higher level of consciousness; that’s why.
We haven’t got that kind of time !
Wake up and smell the coffee
He who has ears, let him hear.
We thought education was the answer, but it hasn’t changed their behavior.
I want the wisdom that is so highly praised in scripture.
If I only knew how to get through to him.
I tell them what to do but they just don’t listen.
It takes one to know one.
Why can’t I change?
Are you ready?
Ever since the beginning of Lent back in March, I have been studying the writings of spiritual teachers and mystics, contemporary to ancient. I have been accompanied by other pilgrims through an internet forum and through email. Since Easter, most of the original group has lost interest, leaving about 5 or 6 of us. The conversations have deepened and become more personal as we get to know each other.
This small group of us bring together varied spiritual backgrounds and life experiences and have shared where our understandings come from…books, doctrine, speakers, ancient texts, holy scripture,… As I learn from my friends, I naturally expand my interest to include their suggested ‘teachers.’ Then, as one writer recommends another, I have expanded the margins of my interest beyond my own spiritual heritage. I now find myself walking my spiritual path carrying about 12 books and as many websites.
I am a follower of Jesus, a true Christian. I am a constant seeker of Christ in life and believe Christ is what is sought, the ‘wisdom,’ in all spiritual practice. Christ guides me so I am able to find guidance in all areas of life. Each morning, I gather my ‘library’ about me and pick which ‘speaker’ will speak to me today … which teacher will tell me what to do. Well, that’s what I did, until today.
Lately, I have been struggling with insecurity in discerning my personal path. The varied sources describe the same journey but with different sign posts, markers, and itineraries. In truth, for most of my life I have not followed any prescribed path but some of my fellow pilgrims have, and I have wanted to know, “Where am I on the map? How am I doing?” In fact, for the past 12 days I have felt I have lost my way, lost sight of the trail, and may have lost my right to be on the path because I had lost faith. One of my online friends sent me several passages from a teacher he highly regards and between the passages he included simply, “Ask Jesus.”
This morning, I picked up The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo and before reaching today’s meditation (October 7), my finger stuck in the page for September 9. Making a quick promise to myself to go back to September 9 next, I moved on to October 7,
It is so tempting to want the answers before we begin the journey. We like to know the way. We like to have maps. We like to have guides. But we are more like a breathing puzzle, a living bag of pieces, and each day shows us what a piece or two is for, where it might go, how it might fit.
So many of my questions were answered by that alone, yet because a promise is a promise, I returned, smiling, to September 9:
If at times you feel numb or distanced from the essence of what you know, perhaps your mind, like the sage’s teacup, is too full.
Information is not wisdom. If you cannot speak when your mouth is stuffed with unchewed food, how can you think clearly if your mind is stuffed with undigested information.
Then, without even thinking about it, I took up Thomas Merton:
The purpose of a book of meditations is to teach you to think and not to do your thinking for you. Consequently, if you pick up such a book and simply read it through, you are wasting your time. As soon as any thought stimulates your mind or your heart you can put the book down because your meditation has begun. To think that you are somehow obliged to follow the author of the book to his own particular conclusion would be a great mistake. It may happen that his conclusion does not apply to you. God may want you to end up somewhere else. He may have planned to give you quite a different grace than the one the author suggests you might be needing. (emphasis mine.)
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So, my two dozen references are just that….references. Seeds. Bread crumbs…suggesting the path…not a loaf to be my whole meal. I will trust. The lesson is in the living of life. The next stepping stone will appear beneath my reaching foot and I will know where I am going…when I get there.
And so, as my friend suggested that I ask Jesus, I now do…
Sometimes I read something and there is no purchase. Know what I mean? The hooks aren’t in place or I have yet to have ‘taken the prerequisite?”
Last night I started rereading The Meaning of Mary Magdalene by Cynthia Bourgeault. In Chapter 4 of TM3, “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene,” I ‘got it’ at a level I hadn’t before. Here are some notes I took and my thoughts on them:
p.46 (bottom) – Jesus: “find contentment at the level of the heart, and if you are discouraged, take heart in the presence of the Image of your true nature.” I receive that as instruction…and as significant as if it were one of Jesus’ commandments. A few thoughts: 1) it reminds me of something my priest said at the beginning of my desire to ‘return’ to God. I had said, “I’m not sure I believe,” and he replied, “For now, just know that your friends and I believe enough for you.” In other words, trust that there is more connecting you and securing you than just your sense of your faith.
2) It points out the REASON for habitual contemplation and centering prayer…to reinforce one’s dwelling at the level of the heart. Abide there and find contentment there. (Again…my profound grasp of the obvious.) and 3) Back in 1979, several things happened: I graduated from college, my sister suffered her stroke in Germany and was moved to DC after her surgery, I chose to go to DC to help care for her rather than go to grad school. While in DC, I became interested in Christian faith and theology. I read a lot of CS Lewis, at first. I also read some deeper theologians (Karl Barth, was one) but I’m not sure who I was reading that addressed this same concept of the presence of one’s Image in another realm and the importance of being aligned with it. I recall waking in the wee hours because I heard the ‘heavenly host’ singing; they were rejoicing in my spiritual ‘turning’ or arriving or in-turning. I’ve always referred to that experience as my ‘being saved,’ if I was ever asked about being ‘saved.’
p.47 Jesus: “the Son of Humanity already exists within you. Follow him, for those who seek him there will find him.” I wrote in the word “in” after the instruction to “Follow him” because it behooves me (and might behoove others) to realize that He is not saying to walk the paths of the Holy Lands or even my neighborhood, but to follow Him inward because I will find Him there…within me. It is not so much ‘What would Jesus DO?’ as it is ‘How did Jesus BE ?’ He, too, went inward. He dwelt inward. He abided inward.
p.47 Jesus: “do not lay down any further rules.” I don’t think the “lest you…” is even necessary.
Jeff Foster, in his podcast with Sounds True, described how to discover one’s true nature by honoring what ‘comes up’…what one feels (pain, fear, anger,…). By allowing and respecting one’s feelings and reactions, one opens them to the elements and one’s clutching of them dissipates. You own it….and that’s all. It goes. No struggle, no force, no clutch, not really any striving. When the cap is released and the fumes dissipate, one’s true nature is all that remains and one is able to ‘rest,’ as he put it. This…sans fumes…is one’s true nature…one’s origin or at least one’s transmitted or analogue Image. ..how one is.
p.48 CB relates: “…ignorance of one’s true nature, is to blame for the suffering of this world. Acting in ways that are ‘adulterous in nature’ (stems from) a failure to stay in alignment with origin…with the ‘root’ of one’s nature.” …again, the REASON for frequent and habitual contemplation and the regular practice of centering prayer.
This morning, Mark Nepo reminds me of Lao-Tzu’s wisdom:
I have just three things to teach
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These are your greatest treasures.
Patience with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Nepo elaborates:
Fear wants us to act too soon. But patience, hard as it is, helps us to outlast our preconceptions. This is how tired soldiers, all out of ammo, can discover through their inescapable waiting that they have no reason to hurt each other.”
Given enough time, most of our enemies cease to be enemies, because waiting allows us to see ourselves in them.
Richard Rohr, in this morning’s meditation, puts today’s political tensions in similar perspective:
I know the situation in the world can seem dark today. We are seeing theological regression into fundamentalist religions which believe all issues can be resolved by an appeal to authority (hierarchy or Scripture) and so there is no need for an inner life of prayer. In the United States we have seen the rolling back of a compassionate economic system and the abandonment of our biblical responsibility for the poor, the sick, and refugees. Fear and anger seem to rule our politics and our churches. We see these same things in many parts of the world.
The negative forces are very strong, and the development of consciousness and love sometimes feels very weak. But a “Great Turning” is also happening, as believed and described in many ways by such people as Teilhard de Chardin. There is a deep relationship between the inner revolution of prayer and the transformation of social structures and social consciousness.
The Apostle Paul has a marvelous line: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). In so many places, there are signs of the Holy Spirit working at all levels of society. The church might well have done its work as leaven because much of this reform, enlightenment, compassion, and healing is now happening outside the bounds of organized religion. Only God gets the credit.
The toothpaste is out of the tube. There are enough people who know the big picture of Jesus’ thrilling and alluring vision of the reign of God that this Great Turning cannot be stopped. There are enough people going on solid inner journeys that it is not merely ideological or theoretical anymore. This is a positive, nonviolent reformation from the inside, from the bottom up. The big questions are being answered at a peaceful and foundational level, with no need to oppose, deny, or reject. I sense the urgency of the Holy Spirit, with over seven billion humans on the planet. There is so much to love and so much suffering to share in and heal.
So how are we to be patient if so much is wrong? By keeping today in perspective of a long view of mankind and by tending to our own “solid inner journeys.” Krista Tippett, also guided by Teilhard, shares in Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, that he foresaw that the “realm of human intelligence, information, and action…like the Internet…would drive the next stage of evolution–an evolution of spirit and consciousness.”
Tippett makes clear, however, that “Teilhard thought in slow, deep, geologic time, and so must we. A long view of time can replenish our sense of ourselves and the world. We are in the adolescence of our species, not by any measure in full possession of our powers. The twenty-first-century globe resembles the understanding we now have of the teenage brain: dramatically uneven; immensely powerful and creative at times and in places, reckless and destructive in others.”
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Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening is an excellent guide book for one’s “solid inner journey.”
Richard Rohr’s daily meditations are solid gold wisdom found at Meditations@cac.org .
I’ve just started Krista Tippett’s book, Becoming Wise, but it looks to be the exact book I need to be reading right now.
My thanks to Ansel Adams for beautifully depicting visually, the massive stable strength that stands behind all of what we know as life. Also, my eternal thanks to Lao-Tsu.
Today's Teachable Moment 