.......                                                                                      

 

 

 

 

Serious Thoughts on Laws and Leadership

 

Cora E. Cypser

 

Published by KIM PATHWAYS

 

Copyright 2006

 

ISBN: 978-1-892063-17-4

 

 

...                                                                       CONTENTS

 

The Earth Is Alive-----1

The Thought Layer of The Earth----2

Oscillations-----3

Criminal Justice-----4

The Reason for Laws-----5

Woe to The Legislators of Infamous Laws! ---6

Rain-----7

Against Stereotyping-----8

Animals as Humane-----9

How Deer Talk----10

Fill Souls with Joy-----11

Leadership-----12

Great Souls-----13

Uriel The Archangel-----14

How Buddha Suffered-----15

Three Steps Out of Trauma-----15

Sad Facts (2005)-----16

The Wars our Leaders Wage? -----17

Who Is My Neighbor? -----17

Diseases of our Flesh-----18

The Birthing-----19

Healings-----20

Circumcision of The Spirit-----21

How To Rule The Earth-----22

Soldiers and Peasants-----23

The Spirit in All of Us-----24

Voting Problem-----25

The Donkey and The Elephant-----26

Spirea-----26

Difficulties-----27

The Spirit of The Messiah-----28

Builders-----29

Symbols -----30

Warriors and Mothers-----31

The Task Given to Adam-----32

Into The Wilderness-----33

The One God Has Many Names-----34

Before Abraham Was-----35

Folk Heroines-----36

The Sacrifice of The Lamb-----37

What Is Earth For?-----38

Exclusivity-----39

Brotherhood-----39

Prayer for Group Solidarity-----40

Mission-----41

Our Mission in Life-----42

Equality -----43

Ordained by God-----44

Consistory of Women-----45

Rape-----45

Up-Side-Down World-----46

On Community Guidance-----47

Proclaim Good News-----48

Failure of Our Species-----49

Search Out The Truth-----50

The Education of Our Children-----51

Threats-----52

Sharing-----53

Meteor Shower in December-----54

The Responsible and The Abusers----55

We Are to Help Each Other-----56

The Age of Aquarius-----57

Governments-----58

An Energy Exercise-----59

Myth of The White Bird on The Chinese Plate-----60

The Commitment -----61

Personal Renewal vs. Restorative Justice-----62

Evangelization-----63

The Word of Haggai-----64

Treatment of Prisoners-----65

Risking The Welfare of The Earth----66

A Time for Forgiveness-----67

Does God Hear? -----68

One Man or The Nation? -----69

Thanksgiving-----69

Tiresome Tyrants-----70

We Must Be The Change----71

Planning for A Positive Earth-----72

On Forgiving Terrorists-----73

The Pleiades as The Feminine Side of Divinity-----74

Venus at 6 AM-----74

Is Death A Destroyer or A Transformer? -----75

Blundering on The Budget -----75

The Poor Are Safer -----76

The Gifts Given to Us-----76

Cycle of Rebirth - Recycle of The Holy-----77

Transforming The World-----77

The Immigrant-----78

The Malignant Egophreniac-----78

Renewing The Mind-----79

The Call-----79

All Life Is Connected-----80

Hagar Weeping in the Wilderness---81

Alpha and Omega-----82

Judges, Be Fair-----82

Those Traveling in Boats-----83

Tsunami Thoughts-----84

Fireworks over Baghdad-----85

Information on 11/19/04----85

Terrorism and Abuse-----86

How to Fight Today's Battles-----86

Psalm 23-----87

Sonnet of The Spheres----87

The Good We Do-----88

Gate to Heaven-----89

Connections-----89

Observe, Feel, Note Needs, Requests-----90

An Historical Review-----91

Cell Towers in Rural Africa----92

Did You Know?----93

Why Women Can't Rule-----94

Give Fort Benning Back----94

Chains Will Be Broken ----95

 

 

 

Serious Thoughts

On Laws and Leadership

                                                                                                            

Cora E. Cypser

 

 

Variation on Matthew 5:44

 

Love your enemies

and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may be expressions

of the Great Compassionate Spirit.

 

 

 

 

The Earth Is Alive

 

Often when we think of the word, ALIVE

we picture a living human being.

We can admit that animals also are alive

but we do not credit to animals

the "educated" aliveness

that we allow to ourselves.

We admit that trees are alive

but we do not credit trees with "thinkability".

 

Trees are big and mice are small

but we seem to feel that human beings

are just the right size to think.

We might express our belief as

"Humans have reasoning souls."

 

Now the earth is much bigger than us

and who is to say that such largeness

excludes the ability to reason

or to have a spiritual component?

After all, the earth contains all of us

and if you put all our spiritual parts together

you obtain what Teilhard de Chardin called

the "thought layer of the earth".

 

1

The Thought Layer of The Earth

 

If I am to describe the thought layer of the earth

I must bring it down to size

so that you and I can understand its workings.

 

We are too small to understand

the minds of bigger elements than us

such as the mind of God.

 

Perhaps as being of the earth

we can make questionable sense

of what the earth is all about

but surely there will be

vast errors in our reasoning.

 

The thought layer of myself–

how to describe it?

I have my ups and downs.

Just as surely as I have an up

I can predict a down.

The earth is similar.

 

Earth has her hideous wars

and interspersed are periods of peace.

There are times of famine and of plenty.

For every bad, there is a good.

These oscillations are the way of earth.

So can I say, "The earth thinks thoughts like me;

has ups and downs like me;

the soul of earth is like the soul of me"?

 

2

 

Oscillations

 

However much time the process of new understanding, new love, new

security takes, the process must never be abandoned ... Joan Chittister

 

The pendulum goes swinging back and forth.

What goes up must come down.

Actions demand reactions

yet at some point energy runs out.

 

Governments come into power and fade away.

Death overtakes the military horde.

An untried generation takes the stage.

Humanity evolves, goes blindly forward.

 

Some human thoughts pierce the sublime;

some fall quite low.

I must remember that when days are sad

that joy is coming soon

is breaking in

like sunrise in the spring.

 

So too with earth.

There is wide room for renaissance–

for feeding all the earth

for giving human rights to all the people

for making earth a pleasant home

for all God's creatures.

 

3

 

Criminal Justice

 

The way the criminal justice system treats criminals is criminal.

 

The words we use describe the way we act.

Our actions often are too militant.

Laws oscillate from punishment to rehabilitation.

 

So when we see how humans torture fellows

we must remember that such deeds begin within

that unkind acts are birthed within the mind

prompted by other unkind acts or words or pictures.

 

It's easy to debase a little child calling him evil

or to label the adult as unforgivable.

 

How blind we are!

How selfish we become

when we protect our own.

We smugly make our laws

to describe our human rights

the right to own our home

the right to educate, to vote

the right to oil to drive our cars

and heat our homes

the right to own and use a gun.

Unfortunately, such self-preserving laws

often deny the rights of others.

 

In consequence, our justice courts

are prejudiced against the lowly

and bow before the powerful and wealthy.

 

4

 

 

 

The Reason for Laws

 

The Son of Man [the human being]

is master of the Sabbath.–Luke 6:5

 

“Law, it would seem, is set up to work on the side of those who

wish to enslave the soul.” The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen King.

 

Laws must be made to help the people

 not enslave them.

The Sabbath law gave slaves a day of rest

much needed by them.

 

The turning of the earth upon its axis

is orderly and to be much admired.

Folk copied time as marked by moon and sun.

The phases of the moon divided into quarters

combined with the sun's horizon solstice settings

helped make a seven day week.

The order of the spheres passed down to earth

and influenced the ways of human beings.

 

Some laws are made for purposes of order.

 

No one set down the rules enforcing love

but busily listed punishments

which only serve to make for hatred

and encourage further violence.

 

Make laws that lead to love and restoration!

Make rules fulfilling earth and human beings!

 

5

 

Woe to The Legislators of Infamous Laws!

 

-to those who issue tyrannical decrees

who refuse justice to the unfortunate and

cheat the poor of their rights. - Isaiah 10:1

 

Unilateralism is not a gospel tradition.

The gospel advocates human security

as opposed to national security.

There is no need for a standing army

ready to overrun a neighboring country.

 

There is no need for a representational government

eager to please the rich and oppress the poor.

Daily our government makes choices of death or life

by the way it allocates money

by the way it regulates food and drugs.

 

There is no need for having political leaders

who do not understand

higher expressions of human consciousness

or the need for justice for all persons.

Dressing politicians in velvet robes

does not make them wise.

 

6

 

Rain

 

Droplets of rain

pattering on windows

setting the tree leaves chattering

droplets prancing on roof tops

with clattering heels

droplets gathering as storm rain

dashing, dancing

from gutters to ground

racing to the puddles

pacing a graceful design

through indifferent dust.

 

We are the rain.

We are proclaiming spirit

like storm rain gathering

holding our banners high

having our thoughts blow wildly

in a Kairos wind

as we pace out a graceful design

before indifferent legislators.

 

7

 

Against  Stereotyping

 

It is against human rights to label someone as violent

and thereby take away his right to a good name.

 

93.2% of those incarcerated

under New York's Rockefeller Laws

are minority Black or Hispanic

but they are no more violent than you or I.

 

Some politicians have agreed

to label those involved with drugs as violent.

 

Who is more violent–

the one who names another disgracefully

or the one who is so labeled?

 

Let us all speak

kindly and compassionately

to one another.

Then there will be

less violence in our world.

 

In a just and peaceful world

we will care for the needs of our neighbor.

 

8

 

Animals as Humane

I do not think dogs practice prejudice.

Black dogs and tan all settle down together.

Orange cats and black can come in the same litter.

Albino tigers are accepted by their mothers.

So why do human groups exclude the different?

We come in varying shades, shapes, and sexes

which influence us to poor reactions.

We have evolved by feeling threatened by unknowns.

 

Machiavelli, about 500 years ago

proclaimed the end can justify the means.
John Humbach  calls inflicting suffering wrong.

"It is to be avoided

unless it is an inseparable and unpreventable consequence

of an action that is honestly meant

as the most humane alternative that the situation presents,

giving due regard to the interests of everyone affected.”*

Machiavelli would doubtless have approved

of the 28,000 bombs rained down on Iraqi civilians

with the accompanying collateral damage

if a peaceful and united Italian society was the outcome.

The Humbach theory would see the Iraq war

and the treatment of Iraqi prisoners as excessively violent

and that restorative justice practices such as mediation

would have been a more acceptable solution.

Restorative justice is a system that responds to wrongs done

by using reparative practices

instead of reacting with simple punishment or retaliation.

 

Surely, the animals are more accepting of others

and more naturally restorative than many political leaders.

 

*John Humbach of Pace University

 

9

 

 

 

How Deer Talk

 

An uneducated king will be the ruin of his people. - Ecclesiasticus 10:3

Woe to you, country, when your king is a lad. Qoheleth in Ecclesiastes 10:16

 

The mother deer communicates her wishes to a fawn.

She visualizes him as napping

while she leaves to feed, and then returns.

 

When we talk, we can hear sounds

but we do not see the thought train

traveling from mind to mind, in human kind.

Thoughts are invisible in deer and man.

They are sent from patterns in a brain.

They transfer by vibrations to penetrate another brain

and register some similar patterns there.

But different brains interpret variously.

A thought that pleases you

may deeply offend me.

 

What happens when the fawn becomes defiant?

What happens when a teen believes he knows it all

when the young are not educated to be peaceful?

Be wary when the prince has a childlike mind

and his advisors have dollar signs in their eyes.

 

The male fawn has exploratory genes

that lead to disobedience. The ruler waging war

is making use of a backward and medieval process.

 

10

 

Fill Souls with Joy

 

So how does Spirit work?

This living, moving, swirling that we cannot see

can leap from mind to mind, body to body

can leap across the universe

can slide into the past or push the future

can bind all minds with tangling threads.

 

Do you believe that we have souls to fill!

To turn these souls

from hatred to compassion

let's put our lips to song

our hands to clapping

feet to dancing, stamping

for we are brothers, sisters

of the stars, the sun, the moon

and of each other.

 

Hold hands up high

and shout out praise to God

who sends good things to earth

making the lame to walk

helping the blind to see.

willing the prisoner set free

and having all the world experience

the saving power of spirit

flooding  into souls.

 

11

 

Leadership

 

Some follow leaders.

Some follow gods.

Some turn their fallen leaders into gods.

What are the gods anyway?

Are they dreams of what the human being might become?

It is impossible to know all about God.

Those who think they know how God thinks

are misled.

 

Some turn loving communities of people

into religious groups

who forget what it is like to love

and turn to hate

and vandalize outsiders.

Some oust women.

Some formalize caste systems.

What is the church?

What is community?

What is the place of empathy?

How can the human love another human

as he loves himself?

 

12

 

Great Souls

 

Some souls are filled with Spirit!

How is this?

Each soul being a part of One Great Soul

reflects such greatness in the plans it makes

to guide its fellows onward to fulfillment.

 

You can tell a great soul

by the words she speaks

by the thoughts she thinks

by the deeds she does.

 

The great soul is filled up

with qualities of God

and thus resembles God

and can be known as godly.

 

This does not mean the great soul is all just

and will never suffer harm.

Survey the universe!

Observe how stars go rattling from the sky

and disappear in the abyss.

 

Some leaders are promoted to the heavens

and are translated into angels

by their followers

who judge with human judgment.

Only All-knowing God can tell

just who is saint or sinner.

 

13

 

Uriel The Archangel

 

The name Uriel means "Light of God" or "God is my Fire."

(I Chronicles 15:5)

 

Who is wise enough to be trusted

with knowledge of the stars?

Uriel is mentioned twice in Chronicles

as counted among the sons of Aaron and Levi.

He was the first named of the priests of Israel

a son of the obedient Kohath congregation

This chief of priests who ruled

with his one hundred and twenty kinsmen

dwelt in a sun-filled palace.

 

Priests used the gems of Urim and of Thummin

as aids for seeking out perfected truth.

These precious stones residing

on the breastplate of the high priest

indicated the divine will by a preternatural brilliance

or through rotation or movement

as in a divining rod or dangling crystal.

 

Who is wise enough to be trusted with truth?

Uriel, as one of the foundations of the Hebrew Midrash

is described as standing on the left hand of God

where he ministers to the wandering.

 

Newgrange in Ireland may be the early earthly temple

where Uriel communed with spheres and angels.

Can it be that a material temple

is accompanied by a spiritual energy

and that Uriel still ministers to those needing wisdom

in a spiritual place of golden fire?

 

Do saints return to help us on our pathway?

 

14

 

How Buddha Suffered

 

Alas for you who laugh now; you shall mourn and weep.–Luke 6:25

 

Do great men suffer?

Of course the Buddha suffered.

He did not merely sit in meditative mode

and dream sweet dreams of peace.

 

He agonized the whys of poverty and pain.

He processed kidney stones in anguish.

 

These kidney stones are preserved

in shrines throughout the world

as memorials to his suffering.

 

His thought is preserved throughout humanity

to be remembered as a prelude to nirvana.

 

 

Three Steps Out of Trauma

 

Culled from an article in the National Catholic Reporter

by a prisoner on Centering Prayer

 

First, empty your mind, so goodness can enter

invite the goodness through quiet

and through the repetition of a meaningful word

(thus forming a relationship with God).

 

Next, group meditation or prayer

on a calming short reading, with responses

(thus forming a relationship with others

in the presence of God).

 

Then, a teaching on forgiveness

in which we accept the common humanity

and problems of all around.

 

15

 

Sad Facts (2005)

 

There are one billion cases of malaria .

Three million children will die this year

of this preventable disease.

Wear red! Remember the dead!

 

Our 84 billion dollars for war in Iraq could save

one billion African lives every year.

 

More than 2000 American soldiers died in Iraq

with 16,000 wounded. How many traumatized?

100,000 Iraqi citizens dead plus many more wounded.

How many traumatized and provoked to counter-terrorism?

Wear red! Remember the dead!

 

Remember four women martyrs in El Salvador.

Remember 70,000 in the Salvadoran civil war

and millions from poverty and civil war in Sudan

four million dead in the Congo since 1998

86,000 dead in the earthquake in Pakistan

five hundred dead in mud slides in Central America

2,000 from the terrorism of 9/11

20,000 from terrorism worldwide

30,000 killed by handguns in the USA

42,000 in Brazil shot dead in 2004

30,000 tsunami victims

10 million AIDS victims.

Wear red! Remember the dead!

 

Also remember 2.3 million incarcerated in USA in 2004.

 

All these, our fellow humans, are worthy of our compassion.

Many of these tragedies were preventable.

Pray for our world!

 

16

 

The Wars our Leaders Wage?

 

Is the Drug War

a war against the misuse of drugs

or a war on impoverished minorities?

 

Is the War on Terror

simply a mobilization of the military

to harass or even bomb civilians

or could it be turned into a creative program

to build communities that support the oppressed

to give voting rights to the disenfranchised

to make gardens out of deserts

to encourages the use

of solar and wind power

instead of oil?

 

Who Is My Neighbor?

 

Every person on the earth

becomes my neighbor

by right of one creation

and one communion network.

We all are human beings

interrelating with one another

for better or for worse.

 

Prisoners are human beings.

We are to treat them as we ourselves

would like to be treated.

All human beings should receive an education.

All human beings should participate in their government

by voting or assisting in a responsible political office.

 

17

 

Diseases of our Flesh

 

Today most Americans would agree

that smoking leads to cancer and early death.

Why can't we also see

drug abuse and alcohol abuse as health issues.

Addiction is a disease

and should be treated as a disease.

The laws of New York State do little

to heal those convicted because of their addiction.

It has been rumored that monitored doses

of an anti-testosterone drug can curb

an inborn disposition to predatory violence.

Thus, it would be safe

to allow rapists using this drug to heal their affliction

to be released from prison

to rehabilitative communities

that understood their problem.

 

Likewise, if the violence enacted

in warfare, genocide, and terrorist situations

can be subdued by anti-testosterone treatment

why don't we give dosages to pornographers

or to over reactive police officers

or even to politicians who would rather go to war

than use mediation and consultation

or finally, to those citizens whose reaction

to violence and terrorism

is more violence and retaliation?

 

18

 

The Birthing

 

Tell me, little mother

was there pain?

Did you cry out in labor

or did the good God send

an angel to sit by

and help you breathe?

 

And mother speaks:

My baby is so beautiful!

I can't believe

he's mine to cherish

and to hold and guide.

He never cries.

He smiles and chortles.

Surely, such a wonder

will save our earth from troubles.

Surely, if we love enough

all our children

will save the earth from troubles.

 

How could I remember pain

when love is in my arms?

 

Will we recall the pain and horror of war

when a brave new world strides in?

 

19

 

 

Healings

 

Healings can be done by the mind anticipating.

When a friend speaks healing words

Endorphins in the brain

ooze out a substance that induces healing.

When doctors give placebos

endorphins in some people have reactions.

When Catholics view the Eucharist held high

their endorphins dance in sweet anticipation.

Some of us have endorphins

that dance more readily than others.

 

Make use of this wisdom

when confronted with the illnesses of society.

We have been using a pathology-based philosophy

when observing illness and formulating cures.

Instead, how about a fulfillment philosophy

visualizing personal sainthood

assisting our society to have the kindest

and most compassionate soul possible.

 

Let's search for the common ethical base of all religions

and respect each others' sacraments and symbols.

Let's build peace on the hilltops

hold councils to discover root causes

come to understandings about diseases

and thus bring on a positive future.

 

20

 

Circumcision of The Spirit

 

His disciples said to Him, "Is circumcision beneficial or not?" He said to them, "If it  were beneficial,

their father  would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in

spirit has become completely profitable."

Gospel of Thomas, Saying 53, (42:20).

 

Circumcision is a cutting away of a protection

because the protection has become an entrapment

and a housing for germs which we have engendered.

 

Are we to cut away that which diseases souls?

Has our church become a foreskin that entraps half truths?

Has our government become a loin cloth covering corruption?

 

Our God  empowers us to choose life and truth.

We can cut away that which causes corruption.

 

Our people opted for a government by the people

who are ordained (and qualified) to rule the earth.

Fascists and Neo-fascists show an illness in society.

People often grovel before the government they establish.

They can seize on a charismatic leader

treating him as speaking for God.

Are we to cut away this quasi-protection

given us by leadership who make us fearful

and open the way to further disorder?

 

21

 

How To Rule The Earth

 

What has one who is not able to govern himself

to do with governing others?–Confucius (c. 551-479 BC)

 

The Bible says that humans are to rule.

We might read that as– we should get along

might better say we pacify the earth.

The earth has got a mindset of its own.

Earth is a holy place.

It has its ordered ways.

The seasons come and pass.

The daffodils glow bold in spring.

The trees proclaim the seasons variously.

 

Some argue that the trees should have their sway

although they shut out sun from smaller plants.

Others would trim the trees or cut them down.

Some cut them down for fuel or for a house

and thus denude the hillsides.

Then the earth reacts.

Rain falls; floods come.

Disasters may arrive

yet still the earth remains a holy place.

Some argue that leaders must be obeyed.

Others say ruling is not the game.

We must be compassionate cooperators.

 

How can we get the sun and rain to all the earth?

How do we help the lesser folk to grow?

Cooperation is the word.

Let's plant trees in the desert!

Send water to the earth instead of fire.

 

22

 

Soldiers and Peasants

 

"At times the mind is inflated with a renegade ego with self-importance, and identifies with its thoughts and ideas, and thinks itself indispensable and smarter than other minds it sees as separate from itself."  Evan Pritchard, p.125 of The Temple Within.

 

The way I worship

the God who speaks in me

and the way you worship

the God who speaks in you

may be completely different.

 

The words you hear from your God

may tell you to be critical of me

and not to trust me.

Yet at some point

we both believe in justice and compassion.

We both agree God loves us both

and wants the best for both of us.

We are the offspring of our Mother Earth

wishing for peace and order to prevail.

 

It is not you or I who think these thoughts--

It's all of us, the parts of that Great Mind--

the Mind of Earth?

the Process of The Universe?

We all are bits and pieces of the whole.

We need the wisdom of each other

the strength in others' hands

to grasp the tip of God's garment.

 

23

 

The Spirit in All of Us

 

When circumstances cause you to live with a stranger

as in a college dorm or a prison or a city shelter

recognize that your companion will have handicaps.

Their bodies will need healing.

Their minds may be entangled.

They may be paraplegics.

You are to accept them and encourage them--

not reject or discourage!

 

Keep in mind that we each have the mind of the Shell Woman.

We can walk in her wake in the rushing surf

until we are glowing with compassion.

We have for comrade the gentle Christ.

We are one of the friends of the Buddha.

We were in the cave with Mohammed

when the angel whispered words for him to write.

We have sat in the circle of relatives by the council fire

with Hiawatha and the noble Minnehaha.

 

We each are part of the splashing, spraying water of life

sending a sparkling mist of dew drops

to all those along our path.

We are water of life and carrier of Spirit.

Together with saints and Buddhasatvas

we  form the healing rivers of eternity.

 

24

 

Voting Problem

 

In 2005 there were 57,000 complaints

about election fraud, particularly in Ohio.

 

Are prisoners still citizens

although they have done wrong

according to the laws of our country?

 

Who is worthy to vote?

When the census was taken in 2000

prison inmates were counted

in the electoral district

where their prison was located.

 

In New York State

this gave some upstate districts 9000 nonvoters

When these citizens were counted in

with the rest of the district

it raised the amount of education money

granted to that district.

It lowered the amount of education money

in the poorer districts that they came from.

 

If these 9000 human beings were given

their constitutional right to vote

they might change the political situation

in that upstate district

or they might enable their home districts

to have better schools for children.

 

25

 

The Donkey and The Elephant

 

The wise ruler

comes riding on a donkey,

not on an elephant.

 

The donkey represents humility

at service to the poor

and lowly.

 

The elephant comes

trumpeting his power

across the hour.

 

His rider is too high

to hear requests from kneeling needy

but has great chests

to carry bribes

from rich and greedy.

 

Spirea

 

White blossoms clustered thickly on a stem

growing potential seeds for future full-bloomed plants.

Oh, what a job for overburdened bees.

 

Do we humans hang so close together

waiting for pollinizing angels to chose a winner

who will bring on new thought, new deeds, new world?

 

Each of us is given a star to follow.

Each given our own soul to hallow.

Each to bloom on the stem where we find ourselves.

 

Some flowers have more perfume.

Some communities are more accepting than others.

 

26

 

Difficulties

We do not yet know how to serve man. How can we know

about serving the spirits? –Confucius (c.551-479BC)

 

It is difficult

to build a global culture

based on fair rules

that encourage virtue.

The rules are there

both ethical and cultural

but something in our hearts rebels

at tracing other peoples rules.

We like our own

and children even stand against their parents

 

How to get guidelines accepted

is the problem--

how to do peacemaking

without forcing authority.

 

A temporary worldwide solution might lie in

multinational and non-governmental organizations

such as ecumenical and religious organizations

devoted to world ethics

organizations to uphold the rights

of women and of children

organizations to eliminate armaments.

These groups could guide world thinking

into channels of peaceful action

until these fairly powerless entities

become powerful and respected

and therefore subject to

authoritarian and charismatic leaders.

 

27

 

The Spirit of The Messiah

 

We belong to  the Spirit of the Messiah

who believes in the goodness of all of the earth!

 

Look around you!

See your brothers and sisters

all working for, believing in

the goodness of all.

 

But we are imperfect.

We have our idols that we worship.

We bow before the golden calf.

cow-tow to power

believe in righteousness.

Some put the other down

so they themselves can climb up higher on the ladder

and so we clash and fail in our pursuit

of truth and justice.

 

Some think that serving God is bombing others.

Bombing does not serve human beings.

How could such violence possibly please God?

How can one person know

what God is like?

 

28

 

Builders

 

Thomas Jefferson

thought he would spread democracy

across the world

and education for the masses.

He couldn't handle slavery.

The least he could do was free

his own sons and daughters.

End the curses of slavery and racism.

Do not build walls along borders.

 

Mohammed

thought he would spread true faith

across the world.

He believed that angels spoke to him.

Like prophets before him

he spread division.

Who of us knows good from evil?

End the evil of intolerance.

Build bridges to cross rivers.

Believe in what faiths have in common.

 

Presidents, prelates, and politicians

think they can spread freedom

across the world

Such cannot be forced down people's throats

by  military weaponry.

A leader is not God.

Who among us knows God's will?

End the need for wars and retaliation.

Build beloved community.

Do not build barriers to keep others out.

 

29

 

Symbols

 

Jesus as symbol of God and man-

Jesus as prototype–

"I am in the Father and the Father is in me."*

Jesus comes clothed in golden gossamer

with a plenum of spirit that flows out freely.

He does not come with power

but with layers of love that reach across time

and cover over inflammations of many nations.

 

We do not see this Jesus

but we sense the reality of his personality.

Love is greater than fear.

Forgiveness is greater than hate.

Love and forgiveness keep us safely

in the arms of our creator.

 

Symbols keep us from hurting ourselves

and from destroying another

from aborting the innocent

abusing the children

punishing the addict

using the death penalty

bombing and terrorizing

and the full-birth abortion

which is war.

 

Until you can re-create the human being,

you must not take his life.

Symbols help to keep us sane.

*Gospel of John 14:11

 

30

 

Warriors and Mothers

 

How did Tiamat, old mother goddess of Babylon

feel about Marduk, the new young god

out to use his war machine–

the powerful horse, the chariot wheels, the iron sword

on all the opposition?

Marduk, Royal Duke, Noble Lord

got tired of the maternal stance of Mother Earth

carved her up and cast half of her body

into the sky, thus displacing the matriarchal system;

killed her consort, mixed him with clay

and made us human beings.

Thus we are both God-Spirit and material flesh.

 

The Duke of Mars still shines blood red

and kings and rulers still send fellow men

to wound and to be wounded, to kill, and also die.

And Mother Earth with half her body in the sky

still weeps with tears for the young men who kill

and for the innocent who bear the battle scars.

 

How can the wealthy justify the raping of the earth

the staging of the hideous weaponry drama

their bragging about justice and freedom

as they encourage police states and solitary confinement?

 

God weeps, "What are you doing to my people

my little ones, your sisters and brothers?"

 

31

 

The Task Given to Adam

 

God shouts down from heaven

"Adam, care for my earth!

I've gone to a lot of trouble

to make you wise and adjustable."

God has plans for us.

We are designed to be,

to multiply, to live, to dream.

God watches. God queries,

"What have you done to my earth?"

 

God meditates,

"You have siphoned oil from deep holes

leaving vast empty spaces.

The ground shifts and quakes

shaking down houses and hills.

You have shipped this oil to far away cities

to heat homes of rich people,

to run cars which pollute the air I created.

You have cut trees from the mountains

so when the rains come

landslides roar down burying villages.

Streams flood.

Huge waves crash into unprotected land"

 

"Adam, what are you doing?

Why are you hiding from me?"

 

32

 

Into The Wilderness

 

Christ entered the wilderness of the world

and was tempted to exchange

humility for pride

respect for others

for power over others

spiritual freedom and wisdom

for material surplus and satisfaction.

 

We follow Christ into the wilderness

divesting ourselves of rage and weaponry

leaving behind the politics

of success, glamour, charisma

carrying the water of life to parched places

where we can plant trees and quiet thoughts.

 

We try to interpret the Messianic message

of justice  beyond charity.

Many believe in charity

but cannot bring themselves

to forgive those who have offended them.

 

If we follow in the footsteps of Christ

we will learn about justice and forgiveness.

 

33

 

 

The One God Has Many Names

 

Great god is called by many different names.

What’s in a name, the many divine names?

When we beseech Earth’s goodness

By an unfamiliar name

It does not nullify our prayer.

 

What does it matter

The name you implore for assistance?

Each age and tongue calls out in a unique way.

Noah and Miriam, Sarah and Abraham,

in their abundance, and in their lack

shouted prayers out to the blackness

and the blackness answered them back.

Their names and the way they lived

are carried on in our myths.

 

The woman Isis wandered by the Nile.

When Divinity revealed its name to her

she acquired courage, wisdom, and power

which she used for the good of her people.

 

May all our prayers be heard by holy ears!

May we use all our power for good!

We each have special roles to play on earth.

It helps to name our God and call out to that name.

 

34

 

Before Abraham Was

 

Before the Jews proclaimed their specialness

before the Bible and the Ten Commandments

God was the God of earth and of the heavens.

The Jewish faith does not depend on words.

The Christian faith does not depend on church

and Islam serves a God beyond The Book.

All faiths believe in goodness of the person.

 

Ancient traditions have their flaws.

No one person, no book, is infallible.

Doctrines made by people

or depending on the word of a person

or translated by a person

are liable to create confusion.

 

Do we see Islam and Christianity

as rivals for peoples' souls?

Have religious bodies stooped so low

that they think souls are prizes

in a power game of sorts?

Which group claims souls existing

before the time of Moses?

 

Names, historical concepts, tribal movements

myths circulating in the Asian world

gave birth to three great faiths that formed beliefs

to fit their various systems of worship.

Is that what people were created for–

to be pawns in politics or war–

thrown in a fire for sacrifice?

Or were we made for trust

and for forgiveness?

 

35

 

Folk Heroines

Husbands, love your wives.-Ephesians 5:25

 

Fatima, daughter of the prophet

scolded her sisters:–

"If you knew how God dwells in your menfolk

you would serve them, oh, so diligently!"

 

She is seldom quoted as saying:–

"If your husbands knew how God dwells in you women

they would treat you, oh, so reverently!"

 

If all God's created people

believed in the equality of women

and the rights of women

to pursue right livelihood and self-respect

then men might cease their militant ways

and follow the guidance of gentle women.

 

36

 

The Sacrifice of The Lamb

 

(They saw) a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to His disciples, "(Why does) that man (carry) the lamb around?" They said to Him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse." They said to Him, "He cannot do so otherwise." He said to them, "You too, look for a place for yourselves within Repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten." Gospel of Thomas, Saying 60, (43:15-20).

 

Will the social system kill us

and then deviously devour us?

Do prelates and politicos

plan a feast on our disposal?

Have we believed in a deception

thinking those who lead would love us?

 

Where is this Repose we're promised?

We must be diligent to find it.

Did the good and gentle Jesus

find a place to dwell in safety

or did social systems grab him

twist him, make him suffer?

 

May we follow gentle Jesus

and go forward on our journey!

 

37

 

What Is Earth For?

 

The human has not evolved to destroy the earth

but to care for earth. In caring for the earth

the person serves himself. Without an earth

how could the human being, be?

The earth was made to help folk live.

In learning how to care for earth

the earth and all our kind will live.

If we destroy the earth, we die.

 

What are songs for?

Voices were made to sing.

Without the magic of a song, what would we be?

Songs give us comfort in our hearts

lift us from pain to hope when grave disaster strikes

when politicians hurtle bombs

when tsunamis hit the coast line.

 

What are souls for?

Without a soul, what are we?

Souls are made to interact together.

Together we make Holy Spirit.

We hold our hands up high.

We shout our praise to God

who sends good things of earth to us.

The way to thank God

for our belonging to the earth and God

is to raise a song of praise.

 

38

 

Exclusivity

 

Some of us find ourselves uneasy.

We cannot join a group and rest in comfort.

Covenanting with others makes us queasy.

Community is not proclaimed by many groups.

 

Each group should try to be an All-Are-Welcome.

Some have been hurt by groups that are exclusive.

It's good to give the reasons why we come.

Reasons that lie inside ourselves can be conclusive.

 

We could ask for each meeting and each moment

“Why did Great Spirit gather us together?”

We may be glue that's needed to cement

the words and actions tying all together.

 

The group depends on every individual.

We strive for solidarity over exclusivity.

 

Brotherhood

 

Spit-brothers

spitting into each others hands

as a pledge of support.

 

Blood-brothers

gouging each others veins

and mingling life blood

to emphasize brotherhood.

 

Spirit-brothers

guiding each other to great thoughts

to bring fulfillment to all.

What a circle of gems!

 

39

 

Prayer for Group Solidarity

 

Loving God, we are gathered together this day,

because we believe that you have called us

to serve humankind and to serve one another.

We want the best for our family, friends, and community.

We want the best for our world.

We want to be made whole by your love.

Loving God, we ask you to infuse our relationships

with compassion and kindness. We trust you

to help us rise above any challenges to our unity.

Loving God, when there is friction in our community

we ask you to turn such frictions into peace.

When there is illness, let there be healing.

When there is distrust, help there to be forgiveness.

Loving God, in our seeking for the good that we desire

the blessing of health, the blessing of education,

the blessing of safe housing, the blessing of fulfillment,

help us to look to you for support and encouragement.

Help us to remember that you will supply all our needs.

Loving God, let us put you in charge of our lives.

Help us to recognize our importance

in our ability to spread compassion on earth.

Loving God, help us to heal those with trauma and in despair

by helping them to perceive your goodness,

to perceive the goodness of others,

to recognize their inner strengths and their ability to forgive.

Help us to spread Jesus' message of forgiveness.

Loving God, help us to change the world.

Help us to recognize our gifts and to cultivate our gifts

and to help others to cultivate their gifts.

Loving God, we make these requests

remembering the life, death, and resurrection

of Jesus Christ, our savior. Amen.

 

40

 

 

Mission

 

Jesus said, "Blessed are the solitary and elect, for you will find the Kingdom. For you are from it, and to it you will return."          Gospel of Thomas, Nag Hammadi Library. Saying 49, (41:30).

 

The mission of a Universal God

is universal love.

The transformation of a reckless universe

to one of order

is done by Infinite Mind

which has decisive plans

for nebulae and solar systems

and for persons.

 

We see God's footprints

in the stars strewn through the heavens

and God's plans in meteor showers.

We also find God's grace

 descending into human hearts.

 

Mission by men and women

follows the footprints of Loving Spirit

that rules the heavens

and the hearts of persons.

 

41

 

Our Mission in Life

 

The Mission of St. Joseph's Church is to be a welcoming, caring, Christ-centered Catholic Community. We desire to experience and share God's unconditional love. Inspired by the example of Jesus, we strive to lead all people to wholeness and fullness of life.

                                                            St. Joseph's Church, Croton Falls  NY

 

The mission of every church, religious institution

 community group, and political organization

should be to be welcoming and caring.

 

The mission of every person, including ourself

should be to lead all people (singly or collectively)

to wholeness and fullness of life.

 

This should be easy

for each and every one of us

desires what is good for herself.

We realize that what is truly good for us

is good for others.

Thus, if we treat our neighbor

as we ourselves would like to be treated

we fulfill the whole law

and the dream of  prophets

and we act in the flow of the Spirit of Compassion.

We help the earth to turn.

 

42

 

Equality

 

Material bread that gives us life

and wine to change the ordinary

into extraordinary

are excellent symbols

to remind us

that we share God's love equally.

 

Unfortunately

due to cultural hang-ups

we find that such tremendous love

is not shared equally

and many men proclaiming ordination

find women quite unworthy

to share this ordination

to bless this bread

hold high this wine

or speak out words inspiring others.

 

Women are left to weep

beside the waters of Babylon

and commemorate the love and wisdom

brought into the world by Jesus

with their tears.

 

43

 

Ordained by God

 

It is ridiculous to think that a human being

such as a man-ordained pope or cardinal

can prevent you, a woman

from being an able servant

of the most high God of Love

in the holy community of the world.

 

When you sense in your inner being

that you are ordained to a particular ministry–

you are to enter that space

and speak God's words

think God's thoughts

and do God's deeds.

 

You do not excuse yourself from doing your duty

by saying that men have prevented you from serving

for God has ordained you.

You are therefore to go forth

to serve all humankind

with justice and compassion.

 

As a Christian I believe

that God would not withhold ordination

from those who desire it.

 

44

 

Consistory of Women

 

I am a cardinal in a long red robe, one among many.

My many sisters and I have come together to consult

the loving spirit that resides in each and every heart.

We publish love upon the earth

 each sister in her own tongue and culture.

The men do not see us as humans

capable of wise solutions to the wars they have made.

 

Rape

 

Rape is when one group or genus or sample

forces its way into another.

Rape is abuse of authority

or of the natural process.

The result of rape can be disastrous.

 

Rape seed is seed that will take over

and cause the fall of

what was originally prospering.

 

The earth is being raped.

We greedy people have raped Bolivia for her silver.

We are raping Guatemala for her gold.

Let the indigenous people live.

Let the rape seed bramble in its own plot of ground.

 

45

 

Up-Side-Down World

 

Nag Hammadi Library: Authoritative Teaching VI, 3, Ch. 24. "For death and  life are set before everyone. Whichever of these two they wish, then, they will choose for themselves."

 

We have here a map of the world.

You can see North America is in the center top of the map.

It is obvious that this map was published in America.

When I turn the map up-side-down

 our world becomes less recognizable.

A map published in Australia

might have the North pole where the South pole is.

Those of us used to our right-side-up view

have trouble reorienting ourselves to this new idea

of South America, Africa, Australia, and even Antarctica

in the more dominant location. One’s perspective

when looking at the world, is very important.

 

The same is true with our outlook on society.

We in the United States are used to a justice system

that believes in punishment.

When someone harms us, we feel justified in retaliating.

I want to tell you that retaliation is not the only option.

We are not obliged to return evil for evil.

We have a choice. We can turn society up-side-down.

 

I would like to describe how a system of punishing justice

can be transformed into a system of reparative justice;-

a system of restoration which is more healing

for victims and those harmed by aggressive actions;-

a system which can help cure addicts and mentally ill

who are now caught up in imprisonment.

Turn the map and the system upsidedown;

perhaps we will see what's wrong with the world.

 

46

 

On Community Guidance

"When you see one who was not born of woman, worship him.

That one is your father." Gospel of Thomas, Saying 15, (35:30).

 "Call no man Rabbi or Father or Teacher." Matthew 23:9-12.

 

Be wary

about giving authority and worship

to any human being!

There is no man

who was not born of woman!

All men should face this fact

they owe their lives to women

receive their nourishment from women.

Men are not wise enough

compassionate enough

to be the godlike father  of community.

Communities need a woman's smile

a woman's tenderness

to help in guidance of the world.

The warlike force of leaders

such as Hitler, Caesar, Alexander

is doomed to fail.

The children

frightened by the tromping boots

and bursting bombs

huddle behind a mother's skirts.

Be wary of a mother bear with cubs.

But call no woman Mother, Teacher, Goddess!

We are all brothers, sisters

of the same creator.

Call us, not Teachers, Leaders.

We are Servants and Facilitators.

 

47

 

Proclaim Good News

"I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God

to the other towns, too." –Luke 4:43

 

Come sing the Good News!

God has made us like the winged warbling birds

who make sweet harmony together.

We proclaim good tidings, welcome words.

 

The song we're given to sing is just so beautiful

it makes the old world catch its breath

if ears would only listen.

How fortunate that we have ears to hear!

How marvelous that we have lips to sing!

 

We sing Good News in this choir loft of earth.

We share with one another, the pains, the jubilations.

We soothe each other with soft murmurings

for both the good news and the bad.

 

Come, sing with us! Proclaim compassion!

Don't thrushes do the same?

 

48

 

Failure of Our Species

 

The Pentagon Office of Net Assessments says that by 2020

there will be mega droughts and mass starvation.

Ethnicians see global warming as an impending disaster.

God has given us charge of the earth. Are we failing?

One way to fight back is to plant trees.

 

Ethnicians see suspicions of the other

as one of the major problems of the world.

Blacks, browns, and whites

religions, sexes, are all the same species.

All deserve equal rights to earth, air, water.

One way to show unity is to share.

 

What reason have we to fight one another

for the goods of the earth?

Will we let the military-industrial-media complex

sell us a bill of goods? As a buy and sell society

we must not be deceived into buying death.

One way to bring peace is forgiveness.

 

Are the people of the world willing to forgive the politicos

for what those blinded ones have done

to the people of the world?

 

49

Search Out The Truth

Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves." Gospel of Thomas, Saying 39.

 

Neither the privileged or the unprivileged

are called to rule the world.

We can choose to be music

or we can choose to degrade each other.

 

Our calling is

to be agents of transformation

to each other

so that all may unite

in spite of diversity.

 

White North Americans

Black South Africans

neither possess absolute truth.

Each person is empowered to search

but does not acquire perfect knowledge.

 

50

 

The Education of Our Children

 

There are good fathers in the world

who can quell rebellious sons by one stern look

that can remind such sons that justice

and responsibility are guiding norms.

Can we feel the eyes of God resting upon us

beseeching us to nobleness and truth

drawing us back from violence and sword

urging us to teach all people ways of peace?

 

Who teaches Darfur boys to hold a gun

to kill their parents for no purpose?

Who taught the guards at Abu Ghraib

to torture and demean the prisoners?

Who sold the poison gas

and weapons of destruction to Sadam?

Who planted land mines in far countries

which fell into the hands of children?

Who manufactured land mines?

Who designs the bombs

that cause grief to civilians?

What army schools teach torture tactics

to soldiers from far countries?

What TV stations glorify this violence

and justify it as a path to freedom?

 

With so much violence in our world

how can we keep in mind

that this earth is a path to heaven

for those who seek peace?

Help us to teach all people ways of peace?

 

 

51

 

Threats

 

How can the US and Israel

demand that Iran close down its nuclear plants

devoted to peaceful purposes

when they are using their nuclear refuse

and depleted uranium for weaponry?

 

Despotic threats do not endear U.S. people

to other nations in the world.

"Take out the mote in your own eye

and then you will be able to see clearly

to take the mote out of your brother's eye."

Don't do your own nuclear proliferation

and condemn someone else for uranium possession.

That's like the pot calling the kettle black.

Why should we be trusted with nuclear power

that is such an easy target for terrorists?

 

Not signing the Kyoto treaty

is another case of avoiding reality.

If we want a viable world

we should agree to lower acceptable pollution levels.

We should curb our dependence on fossil fuels.

This is the only earth we have.

 

The message of Jesus is to respect all people.

Suspicious vote tallying in 2002 Florida and 2004 Ohio

reminds us that the United Nations advises

prisoners should have the right to vote

and not be subjected to torture.

 

Those opposed to non-diplomatic threats believe

"War with all its moral implications, is too important

a subject to leave to our elected officials alone."

 

52

 

Sharing

 

"All that inhabit this great earth,

Whatever be their rank or worth,

Are kindred and allied by birth,

And made of the same clay."

from Keramos by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

This was my mountaintop vision-

that those who had lost life and land would return

would find solace and comfort

would plant their fields and vineyards in safety

the Sudanese, the Irish, the Hutus, the Tutsis,

the Native North and South Americans,

the Palestinians and the Jews.

 

Come, share the goods that are excess;

divest us of what we possess.

For we are one, one family.

 

Whatever on earth is good for me

is good for you and others, too.

Guns do not help the world to share.

Bombs show that someone does not care.

We must respect folk everywhere.

 

53

 

Meteor Shower

in December

 

They said

"This night the stars will fall.

The God who made the light

is ready to destroy it all."

 

They said

"The earth will end.

The sun will die;

its pieces flow across the sky."

 

I threw myself into the dark

and searched the heaven above.

Three stars rained down.

One was called faith

one was hope

the last was love.

 

We cannot live

without faith, hope, and love.

 

The sun, the moon, the stars, the earth-

they need us to believe

that they will live.

 

54

The Responsible and The Abusers

 

To rule the world

to rule a country

to lead a community

a person must be able to rule herself

and not be vengeful.

 

The World Jewish Congress believes:

All Jews Are Responsible for One Another.

They might rather affirm,

All Jews Are Responsible

for All People on The Earth, or

All People are responsible for All People.

 

Am I a responsible person?

How can I recognize when I am the abuser?

I am an abuser when I do harm to others.

 

Is making weapons to kill, a human right?

If Sadam had no right to weapons of destruction

how can we condone our use of weapons?

How can we encourage Congress to make

more gruesome weapons and build a more militant

and more aggressive military force?

Are we abusers? Are we irresponsible?

 

Forgive us all for harm that we have done.

All people made by God are surely holy.

All the earth is holy, not to be bombed or harmed.

 

55

 

We Are to Help Each Other

 

What is the origin of the Jewish people?

Like all of us, they are a part of the creation of God.

Their particular ancestor Judah

came from the hills of Mesopotamia.

The Gudeans were rulers in Babylon

before they migrated westward

forced from their homeland

by invading tribes, some of whom

were noble herders from India

sons of the River Brahmaputra

who believed in a river god

who nurtured land and people.

 

The Jewish people won't have

a peaceful home, country, or world

until all the persons that God created

have a peaceful home.

It is not enough to say

“Each Jew must help his brother Jew

when he sees him in need.”

Each Jew must realize

that he is to help

all those in need of help

or in need of a peaceful homeland.

 

56

 

The Age of Aquarius

 

We are all Aquarians

all bearers of the water of life

to one another.

So we plead to Loving Spirit

who has created each one of us–

"Help us to transform our culture of death

to a culture of life.

Help us to change the social systems that tell us

it's allright to drop bombs on our neighbor-

systems that approve the death penalty-

that deprive the poor of just wages

health care, meaningful education."

 

Loving Spirit does not desire our death

but  desires our fulfillment.

Loving Spirit is not a God of the dead

but a God of the living.

God who made all life

is pleased when we exercise

compassion and forgiveness.

Let us immerse each other

in living water.

 

57

 

Governments

 

My tax money does not go

where I want it to go

which is to help the suffering.

My tax money goes to bomb and maim

because this is not a democracy

but a representational democracy!

 

Being representational, the system is open to greed.

Many members of Congress

flourish when the bribes roll in

so the majority does not make laws to restrict itself.

We do not need such representatives

in this modern world

which is very communications capable.

The public will can be made known

almost instantaneously by opinion polls.

 

Church governments could be led in like manner.

Now pastors are chosen or appointed

to rule over their congregations.

Some are worthy and just

but others succumb to the lure of power

and cause harm to those who trust them.

 

Under God's rule, those ordained

serve by love.

 

58

 

An Energy Exercise

 

The sun radiates light to the moon.

The moon radiates the same light to the snow

and I see sparkling pieces of sun in the snow.

I do not think too clearly of the source of this beauty.

I do not think of where the sun gets its energy

or who I am indebted to, for my energy.

 

In the beginning

God created the heavens and the earth.

God's energy is through the whole creation

 all around us.

Let us absorb this gift.

 

Stand up!

Raise your hands to heaven.

Praise God!

Now draw down energy from heaven

by bringing your hands towards you.

Reach down to earth.

Feel all the energy rising.

Encourage it by waving your hands to draw it in.

There is energy all around you.

Draw it in from in front of you

from behind, from your left, from your right

from east, west, north, and south.

 

What can we do with all this energy?

Give it out to others

by waving it towards them.

 

59

 

Myth of The White Bird

on The Chinese Plate

 

The egg, the serpent

and the great white bird

all gather on the golden plate together.

 

The egg is guarded by the bird who laid it.

She is a great white bird

whose wings protect the world egg.

She is spirit giving life to all the souls

and to the great soul energy

pervading all the world

pulsing inside the egg.

 

Then there is the wisdom of the serpent

the material knowledge

giving to humankind the gifts

of comfort, food, the building of great buildings

bridges, highways, roads to peace

laws made for justice, rehabilitation

and wisdom's darker side

punishment, miseducation, trauma

misdirected power, abuse.

 

How sometimes wisdom feeds the world egg

then seduces it

then eats away at it.

Greed for the material

can oftentimes displace

the dreaming of the great white bird.

60

 

The Commitment

 

Jesus said, "Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening

until morning about what you will wear." Gospel of Thomas, Saying 36, (39:25)

 

How do you change the material mindset

to one of spiritual feasting

so that the mind no longer craves

the stimulus of TV

the raucous music

the power of possession?

How do you turn desertification around

control population growth

encourage the use of solar energy

use military money for welfare

build communities to support the poor?

 

To build prisons and detention centers

is a waste of human energies.

Rather, help the displaced and jobless

to construct their own homes

and service their own communities.

Then there is less time to think about material things

like "what shall I wear?"

 

Encourage spirituality in thought, word, and deed.

Let everyone speak with empathy

 listen with understanding

 accept indignities with forgiveness.

 

Then we will see (with gratitude)

that our relationships

with the people in our world

are gracefully transformed.

 

61

 

Personal Renewal vs. Restorative Justice

 

Does my freedom to live and serve remain secure

if the king does not act justly

if the king in his freedom and power

does not understand the needs of widows and orphans?

 

How can I tell the king

he is killing the goose

who lays the golden eggs?

 

How can I talk to a soldier

and remember that I am talking to a human being

and not a uniform

who will answer me according to which button is pushed-

his polite one if I am his superior

or his authoritarian one if I am an ordinary citizen

or his cruel one if I am poor or black

a soldier, a machine

who will enter my name in a data bank-

who is capable of kindness or gross evil

such as bombing a building

elsewhere (or here).

 

Noah was told to build a boat

to preserve the species living on the earth.

We are told to build justice

for present and future generations.

Like Noah, we must build.

The rains will come, but the rainbow

representing the cooperation of diverse cultures

is God's promise that the flood of power and greed

will not overcome the earth.

 

62

 

Evangelization

 

The first task is evangelization of ourselves.

Why waste our energies

complaining on another

when we have such  infirmities within?

Let's make ourselves into the model we perceive

and let the neighbor labor on his own enhancement.

 

The second task is to evangelize the churches.

Let each one list his reasons for belief.

Why should we try to make our friends believe

 just what we feel and think?

Let's listen kindly to the opposition.

Let's gather in communities of freedom

where understanding and compassion

are the keys to entry.

 

The third task then is to describe a dream

of what we want society to be.

Do we want crass corporate power to rule the world?

Do we want women to have equal rights?

Do we want war and weapons through the earth?

Do we want health or drugs with side effects?

The  blueprint of our future world is up to us.

Let's make a world with human rights for all.

63

 

The Word of Haggai

 

Is this a time for you to live in your paneled houses

when God's temple lies in ruins? – Haggai 1:4

 

The time to rebuild the temple is now.

We ask, "What temple?

The temple of pillar and stone?

The temple of our physical body

where God's life dwells?

The temple of our soul as it joins with other souls

to form a community of caring and understanding?"

 

Jesus spoke of the temple of his being saying

"Destroy this house and in three days I will rebuild it."