Episcopal Church elects new Presiding Bishop

Episcopal Church Elects Michael Curry,

First Black Presiding Bishop

(The following article is from the Huffington Post June 29, 2015)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Episcopal Church elected its first African-American presiding bishop, choosing Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina during the denomination's national assembly Saturday.

Curry was elected by a landslide in a vote at the Episcopal General Convention, the top legislative body of the church. Curry earned 121 of 174 votes from bishops on the first ballot. The other three candidates had 21 votes each or less. The decision was affirmed on an 800-12 vote by the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay participants at the meeting.

Curry's election is the second consecutive historic choice for the New York-based church of nearly 1.9 million members. He will succeed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who was the first female presiding bishop and the first woman to lead an Anglican national church. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. body of the Anglican Communion, an 80-million member worldwide fellowship of churches with roots in the Church of England.

At a news conference, Curry said his selection as the first black leader of the denomination was "a sign of our church growing more deeply in the spirit of God and in the movement of God's spirit in our world." He will be installed Nov. 1 in a service at the Washington National Cathedral, the day Jefferts Schori completes her nine-year term.

"We've got a society where there are challenges before us. We know that. And there are crises all around us. And the church has challenges before us," Curry told the assembly, when he was introduced as presiding bishop-elect. "We are part of the Jesus movement, and nothing can stop the movement of God's love in this world."

Curry was elected as the nation is grappling with the aftermath of last week's massacre of nine congregants at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and amid the Black Lives Matter movement over the deaths of black men in police shootings and in police custody.

. . . (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/27/episcopal-church-michael-curry-black_n_7679264.html

(This article is reprinted from the Huffington Post)

Happy Birthday to a Friend

Your wisdom is a gift of priceless value.  

Your kindness is proof of divine beneficence.  

Your life is a reflection of God's light in all of us.

Thank you for being so true to you.

Pope's urgent call for healing our Earth

The following are some of Pope Francis' statements in his important and urgent encyclical on Climate Change:

"The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish."

"Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years."

"We are not God. The Earth was here before us and was given to us."

"The idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology ... is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth's goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry at every limit."

"Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start."

"A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. ... A number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity."

"The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty."

"Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain."

"The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all."

"We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family."

"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."

"We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental."

"There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself."

"What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? The question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal."

"It has become countercultural to choose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology."

"Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way."

"When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload."

"We need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that the problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals."

"What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?"

(quotes are from CNN)

Universal love

Sometimes, the old words still speak truth, even if we have to unpack them just a bit to receive the rich fullness of their meaning. Those words are universal and eternal and meant for the whole world to hear.  They are not a religion or any rule of law.  They are the truth of who we are - all of us.

The holy Spirit is God's spirit breathed in us and into our world. It is that same Spirit that filled to overflowing in Jesus. He said we also could become filled and awakened into our real lives as divine beings. He showed us the way to the Spirit, which is the light in enlightenment, and authentic life itself.

It is the love contained in the Spirit that saves us, heals, empowers, enlightens, and knits us to the divine. In the stillness - beyond words and thoughts - our own nascent spirit waits to be ignited by the pascal fire of the Spirit. Until that happens, we are not fully alive. We are sleeping.

It is the universal and eternal destiny of mankind to be lit by that Spirit. The church won't save us, nor any religion on the earth. Rather it is the Spirit, the Breath - the Pneuma - of the Divine creator of all that is - that saves us by awakening us to our real life of joy beyond measure, wisdom and love, and which is waiting for us. 

We felt, saw and touched that divinity in Jesus. We still can as his Spirit is still with us. His love is, and always will be, unlike any other - just as God's love is unlike any other. Yet, there is only One Love, and only One God, so God's love in you is the same God's love in me.  We are all united by God's love and made one with God in that substance of love that fills us all.

Conscious creativity

We are all artists in some rare and wonderful way.  We all, from time to time, tap into a part of ourselves that sings, dances, designs, draws and lives in creative expression. 

As we spread our wings creatively to release our inner artist from the confines of a hostile, oppressive, and controlling world, we seem to flow in sync, in harmony, with life itself, with the spirit that is life, resonating with something greater than us, a being, a presence, an alive intelligence. 

Flowing with that creative life force, that muse, might be likened to riding a feather on a softly gentle summer breeze.  It is fragile, yet powerful.  It is delicate, yet strong.  It is like a whisper in a large crowded room which stills the crowd.  It is precious and yet, tragically, could be easily destroyed.  But, with an understanding of the rare beauty of a creative person, we can become aware of the destruction criticism and judgment inflict on our creativity. 

That awareness is important because it allows us to remain free of judgment's destruction, and continue to create, rising higher into greater expressions of creativity, bridging worlds, and ultimately surging in union with the creative forces of life itself. 

The fear those abuses create in us attempts to diminish our inner creative potential. Constant criticism disempowers the creation by casting a shadow over our self-confidence, muzzling our creativity. It blocks and stifles the imagination where creativity plays and thrives. Any form of judgment is destructive, violent and oppressive to the gentle unfolding of a creative response which is our natural way of living in love.  So, where there is judgment there is no love. Period. Judgment is a violence against the soul - of both, really.

As we look at systemic poverty, oppression, exploitation all in an effort to remediate a broken world, we have to look at our "justice" system, which is a projection of what is happening in our homes, schools and local communities. When we seek freedom (which is also a healing) for the imprisoned - in a myriad of different levels of imprisonment - either actual incarceration or the stifling and limiting of creativity itself - we are calling for a spiritual awakening, and a creativity revolution. 

The world needs us to rise up the spiritual ladder, from the lower levels of emotional, psychological, spiritual powerlessness up into the higher levels of courage, intelligence, love and the outpouring of divine compassion on ourselves and each other, all in a spirit of mutual respect and unconditional love.  And, we do that through our creative expression which needs to be set free from judgment and criticism.

Obviously, unconditional love does not co-exist with judgment and prejudice, which are the barbarous activities of the unenlightened which would lead us back into a dark age, back into the cave.  Today, as we reach for the light within us, we ascend into our higher natures and simultaneously drawing the entire human race and all the life on the planet into that peaceable kingdom within and among us described in Isaiah 11. 

It begins with a decision, a choice, an act of the will to live with more integrity, more love, more honest self reflection and mindfulness, to listen more deeply and more carefully for the heart and intention in each other. It asks us to step into forgiveness, rather than judgment, to allow us to remain free of the spiritually reductionist effects any judgment would have on us.  This is a high spirituality, above morality, as it demands we literally rise above that which would judge us as we would judge the other.  It is another arena entirely.Once you've breathed that peace, that sweetness, that blissful spiritual abundance, you cannot go back down to the dark madness of judgment. 

There are many forms of judgment - and many forms of freedom and creative expression.  Awareness brings a consciousness and freedom to create with more power, effectiveness and vision.

So what happens energetically - to yourself, another and the world - when you judge, gossip or criticize someone? It is a spiritual violence against them, it is an attempt to subdue and kill them. 

When someone is repeatedly criticized, judged and punished by a cruel parent, spouse or boss, if they're unaware of what's happening, their inner energy plummets below their creativity level. In that moment, they are split apart, cut off from their source. 

And - since creativity can only occur at a certain spiritual vibration that means there is a certain consciousness stratum at which creativity occurs. 

Frequent criticism lowers a person's self-esteem, constricting their spirit, limiting their confidence in their own imaginative process, dropping them below their creativity strata. The unfortunate result, despite how hard they may try to please their highly critical boss, parent, teacher, spouse, or even child, is their goal seems to always exceed their reach because the abuse has reduced them, trapping them at a lowered vibration, a lower inner level of light.    

The good news is that the reverse is true. The more you praise and encourage your child, student, worker or spouse, the higher they rise, expanding their soulfulness, confidence and self-esteem, and consequently the more likely they are to reach that higher creativity strata. Also, the more confident and more motivated, the more inner power they have to fuel and empower their vision, resourcefulness, intelligence which lead to more positive, life-giving and life-affirming creative outcomes. I think this could be imagined as an ever expanding Infinitum of levels of an ascending creativity strata.  

This means, in short, there aren't many poets, artists, or musicians languishing in despair for long.  If they ever did touch down in the darkest of all inner places, the agony of being separated from their inner creative muse, would be so debilitating, they would naturally seek a solution, which ultimately would lead them onto the paths to enlightenment and into the higher levels of light, wisdom, love and ultimately creativity. 

There, in the radiance of consciousness, of awareness, flow rivers of creativity.  It is the love, ecstasy and bliss the mournful poet had sought all along.  That's if he perseveres. The path is hard, but a most worthy one.

I truly believe this is what Jesus meant when he said, "Seek and ye shall find."  He wasn't talking about a material finding or even job finding, but about enlightenment.  He is the way, as he shows us the way to love which is the way to creativity. This is the only truth because love is the way to creative and physical life, and what could be more true than life itself.  It all sounds almost circular, and it is, spiraling, ascending deeper and higher, both simultaneously. As the Milky Way spins from its inception, reaching outwardly, so, it seems, does the spiritual life and on-going creation fueled by love.

If we seek it, despite the hardness and darkness of all the challenges we face, it will be found.  And, it is that light, that enlightenment that flickers and glows in the creativity resulting from our increased consciousness. 

An important tip on the way is to open your awareness to any criticism in your life.  Recognize the arrows of degradation in the criticism, judgment, deceptive betrayal, dark controlling, debilitating treatment by others. When you see it, you've stopped its stealth power to degrade you.

Also, when Jesus warns us against judging others, it is for this reason.  Any form of judgment is a detour away from the light. It is the fastest way into the dark, empty, lifeless void.  And, if we cast judgment on another, it reveals we are also judging ourselves, limiting our own light, binding our own souls out of the higher realms where creativity lives.  

It seems that some of the world's greatest artists, poets, writers, and musicians have walked the tortured path of non-conformity until they found another way. That is the way to peace where criticism and judgment are rejected. Once the artist is conscious of the effect any negativity has on his art, he will be alert to it, steer clear of it and rejoice in his empowerment and expand into greater clarity and creativity. 

What's interesting here, is the scriptures are not exclusively about making us more moral or socially responsible, as we once thought. They are not about living within a strict legal system. They are about helping us grow up spiritually, rise and ascend to higher levels to become co-creators. They serve as a guide for us to evolve our creative powers by maintaining and increasing our creative integrity, in an effort to reach the higher and finer levels of enlightenment.

If this path is evident on our lower human everyday levels, it tells us something more profound about our Divine Parent, our creator, who would create and exist in absolute total non-judgment, and in realms of unconditional love.  

It certainly seems divinity lives and thrives on love in order to create.  And, the more love, the greater the creation. All of creation points to a most awesome Divine creator and lover, beyond anything we know.  His/Her footprints are in our own self-discovery of his/her creative power buried mysteriously within our own.




Post script:

I wonder if - in the future - our inner energy levels might be measurable thus allowing us to determine our level of creative energy? So, say our creative temperature begins at 72 and abuse lowers our inner temperature below that, then we are going to be less creative and productive. 

This might mean that in our efforts to assist people in raising their creative temperature we would employ more "love." What if a brilliant medical breakthrough occurs at 100, then if we're lingering at 89, we're not going to realize that breakthrough. 

I think enlightenment might be very high on a creativity level as well, as might be a mystical breakthrough. Unconditional love might also even be measurable some day. I assume it would be high on the creativity strata. And, an encounter with the Divine Creator would be highest on the empowerment creative strata.  

It would seem that empowerment (and the increase in creativity in general) would require a strong conscious and intentional detachment from all the negativity that surrounds us like a toxic spiritual fog.  

Since it is unlikely the world is going to become less critical or judgmental, the path to creativity would be in detaching mindfully from all of the negativity around us. We might sculpt a beautiful life for ourselves first in our minds, and then detach from the dream killers out there. 

* Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh, September 1888.