"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
Matthew 5:5
And, the reverse might be, "Unhappy are those who are proud, for they have removed their hearts from the source and richness of creation," in their pursuit of temporal power and material gain.
Who are the meek? In our culture, sadly, meekness is not a valued quality. If you were to say in a job interview, when asked what are your best skills, "I am meek, soft, gentle, and sway in the breeze of life, allowing the Holy Spirit to move through me," the search committee might, with subdued smirks, glance at each other, and say, "That's an interesting response, sir. We'll keep you in mind for this position." And, you'll certainly not hear from them again. You know what they want, and it isn't meekness. That which they want is complicated from twisted thinking for so long that to step away from the world's table could be a financially strategic error. Can you hear the weight of our current corporate language, heavy laden with empirically tactical words, laced with military-sounding concepts, goals and objectives?
Do you hear the softness of the heart, the whisper of the breath of life in the intentions of the proud and worldly-successful ones in our corporate boardrooms? I doubt it.
"A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice."
"A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice."
Isaiah 42:3*
Is there an invitation in Isaiah's words, an invitation to be like a reed that bends in the wind, or a lantern with a softly glowing spirit?
I sense that Jesus' gentle, soft meekness is a quality that submits to life, becoming like Isaiah's bruised reed. And, since life itself is comprised of universal consciousness, we are strengthened by our willful surrender to it. The intentional surrender of humility to life, to the Spirit of life itself which is God, is what makes us authentically strong, and consequently inheritors of a rich interior life.
Is that openess to the Spirit, that flexibility and natural surrender to All that is, weakness, as one assumes the search committee might have thought, or as our culture does think?
Obvioulsy, Jesus and Isaiah would say no. They seem to say God is the All that is, and there is a brilliant intelligence in that All, in that great I AM, who is the ultimate consciousness of the universe, from whom we draw our consciousness. The gift God gives us is absolute access to that intelligence, but only when in alignment with the All who is spread out throughout the Earth in every atom or quanta in everything. It is in the air that is moved by the wind because it is brilliantly interconnected with everything on our Earth.
Why would anyone want to resist life, stiffen and structure one's daily existence to avoid this beautiful life? Fear, maybe, but brainwashing by the global machine, for sure. Our media has seduced our will by making it look attractive. (Remember that scripture that describes the powers and rulers of Jesus' time: "Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, pretenders, who are like white tombs, which from the outside appear lovely, but from within are full of the bones of the dead and all corruption!" Matthew 23:27**)
I see us living in a perfect habitat of life, truly a garden of life, with a fluid ingenius network of consciousness, all created by and reflecting a supreme conscious intelligence that is awe-some.
If we are relying on our own abilities, which are very well honed by our culture to market ourselves and each other to profit something, somewhere, how are we any different than an intelligent predatory animal, seeking to fill its belly only to sleep in the sun until he gets hungry again? How are we Divine beings of light and creativity if our lives and consciousness is so insularly and selfishly driven?
I hear in Jesus beautiful poetic language, a call to be like the golden grain in an American field, all of us flowing as one with the life all around us. I also think that God - the ALL - does flow through our lives even while in the grip of the globally collective mind game in which we're caught, like that random fly in a spider's web. But, that's if we are tuned in to lifes' invitation to open up to the flow of life, which is a heart-opening to others, loving each other equally to ourselves. However, the world machine is selfishly driven which is a survival-driven, low level of consciousness, which isn't listening to the intuitive, inspired flow of life in the mind or spirit. Yet, I think, if we listen to our lives, we can and will hear it.
I think the Spirit of the All is so absolutely everywhere that as much as it permeates the most infintesimal particle of matter, it also penetrates all of our minds and thoughts, choices, intentions, actions and waits patiently for us to surrender our will to life itself, to the wind, to the very life itself.
The longer I live in this rural community deep in the Allegany mountains, which look more like hills when compared to the majestic Cascades of Oregon and Washington, the more aware I am of the ineffable beauty and genius of nature, and that all of it is both a gift from God and a reflection of God's Beingness. I know also that real power, real genius, is knowing that we are limited in ourselves, and that to surrender our need to control to the flow of life, the flow of life on the Earth, is the way to life. To even use religious language is like using military language, it's too structured, too intellectual for the experience of life itself which is more like a whispered awareness, a dim mysterious light that flickers and catches our attention in its softeness. It's there, in that bending reed or softly flickering candle light, that the portal to ultimate wisdom, which is ultimate life, is accessed. Sadly, we miss it in the loud, cacophanous world of the global machine. I guess, we're lucky if we don't get that call back from the search committee.
By alignment with that gentle place in us, we discover - after the noise of the world is finally silenced in us - and not necessarily through meditation, but through surrender - that we can step softly into consciousness. There, the love flows, life peaks, and no longer do we care about weak or strong, success or failure, or obtaining anything. Just being is the ultimate experience of life. And, that gift is right here in our beautiful garden which begs us, and is begging us, to protect it. I guess we will protect it, when we value it. But as long as we're caught up in this non-living proud pursuit of selfish power, will we see its value?
Why would anyone want to resist life, stiffen and structure one's daily existence to avoid this beautiful life? Fear, maybe, but brainwashing by the global machine, for sure. Our media has seduced our will by making it look attractive. (Remember that scripture that describes the powers and rulers of Jesus' time: "Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, pretenders, who are like white tombs, which from the outside appear lovely, but from within are full of the bones of the dead and all corruption!" Matthew 23:27**)
I see us living in a perfect habitat of life, truly a garden of life, with a fluid ingenius network of consciousness, all created by and reflecting a supreme conscious intelligence that is awe-some.
If we are relying on our own abilities, which are very well honed by our culture to market ourselves and each other to profit something, somewhere, how are we any different than an intelligent predatory animal, seeking to fill its belly only to sleep in the sun until he gets hungry again? How are we Divine beings of light and creativity if our lives and consciousness is so insularly and selfishly driven?
I hear in Jesus beautiful poetic language, a call to be like the golden grain in an American field, all of us flowing as one with the life all around us. I also think that God - the ALL - does flow through our lives even while in the grip of the globally collective mind game in which we're caught, like that random fly in a spider's web. But, that's if we are tuned in to lifes' invitation to open up to the flow of life, which is a heart-opening to others, loving each other equally to ourselves. However, the world machine is selfishly driven which is a survival-driven, low level of consciousness, which isn't listening to the intuitive, inspired flow of life in the mind or spirit. Yet, I think, if we listen to our lives, we can and will hear it.
I think the Spirit of the All is so absolutely everywhere that as much as it permeates the most infintesimal particle of matter, it also penetrates all of our minds and thoughts, choices, intentions, actions and waits patiently for us to surrender our will to life itself, to the wind, to the very life itself.
The longer I live in this rural community deep in the Allegany mountains, which look more like hills when compared to the majestic Cascades of Oregon and Washington, the more aware I am of the ineffable beauty and genius of nature, and that all of it is both a gift from God and a reflection of God's Beingness. I know also that real power, real genius, is knowing that we are limited in ourselves, and that to surrender our need to control to the flow of life, the flow of life on the Earth, is the way to life. To even use religious language is like using military language, it's too structured, too intellectual for the experience of life itself which is more like a whispered awareness, a dim mysterious light that flickers and catches our attention in its softeness. It's there, in that bending reed or softly flickering candle light, that the portal to ultimate wisdom, which is ultimate life, is accessed. Sadly, we miss it in the loud, cacophanous world of the global machine. I guess, we're lucky if we don't get that call back from the search committee.
By alignment with that gentle place in us, we discover - after the noise of the world is finally silenced in us - and not necessarily through meditation, but through surrender - that we can step softly into consciousness. There, the love flows, life peaks, and no longer do we care about weak or strong, success or failure, or obtaining anything. Just being is the ultimate experience of life. And, that gift is right here in our beautiful garden which begs us, and is begging us, to protect it. I guess we will protect it, when we value it. But as long as we're caught up in this non-living proud pursuit of selfish power, will we see its value?
* English Standard Version
** Aramaic Bible (in English)
** Aramaic Bible (in English)
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