Fragments

What first strikes us about God is not his love, nor any other attribute, but his incomprehensibility. First and foremost, God is mysterious; subtler than silence, deeper than space, more impenetrable than eternity. "His ways are not our ways." In a flash, he strides over mortal understanding and is lost in the mystery. Therefore, we ought to desire a respectful ignorance of God; not to overstep the boundaries of experience by laying claim to knowledge we do not possess. Even in the interpretation of experience, we must not hasten beyond what is there plainly given. Faith reaches into the unknown, and what it posits are merely footholds; clumps of cloud, temporarily solid-enough to serve as stepping-stones into a deeper experience of the ineffable. All supposed knowledge of God is kept in perspective, and the pride of man is held in check, by the constant recollection of one's ignorance of him; which infinitely transcends what one thinks one knows. We come closest to God when we have left all knowing behind, and entered firmly upon the way of the unknown; a realm of unspoken riddles, ghostly shades, fleeting glimpses, and forgotten dreams, charged everywhere with the unmanifested potentials of being. When we have shed a thousand ideas, a thousand skins, and become naked as the light, -- then, we may have some inkling of what "God" means.

The world is a deep pit, and who can fault a man for falling? But try to stand in the presence of the Lord. Recollect your soul into the presence, when you can. Do not wrestle with yourself, but give way to conflict, and discover that you have overcome. Seek peace. Seek it enough, and you will come to love it. Peace will attract you of its own accord, drawing you into the very heart and core of your being, that you might dwell in ever-widening oceans of bliss. For there is within you a still point, a calm in the eye of the storm. Here, one does not become drowsy with relaxation, but increasingly lucid. Keeping silent, one's soul vibrates to the most subtle, yet the most titanic, movements in the earth, sky, and spirit. There is a whole world to discover beyond oneself, within oneself; self-surrender IS self-realization.

Contrary to popular opinion, having an ideal and falling short of it does not make you a hypocrite. Too often, we see idealists discouraged from speaking their truth, on the grounds that they have yet to bring their lives into accordance with their visions. Is this criticism, this attempt at censure, specifically designed to prevent those in need of virtue from contemplating virtue? But how are they to become virtuous? And even if all they ever do is speak of it -- what then? At least, fine words are spoken. Would you rather they conform all their perceptions to what they can lay hold of, like blind men? Ah, but this is what the crowd likes to do. How many would rather compromise their ideals, and pervert their reason, in order to conform all things to their own level; so as not to be haunted by the recollection of what is greater?

We are rich with the spoils of spiritual warfare; for we are heirs to the saints, the prophets, and the Son of God. What priceless revelations of the Holy Spirit have come down to us! Behold, the inheritance which the Lord has delivered into our hands for safe-keeping. Unsearchable treasures of his wisdom.

"God is and is not." (~ Upanishads) My sense is that disputes between atheists and theists have largely revolved around semantic misunderstandings. The decision to adopt a religious viewpoint, and to make use of religious language, is inherently a value judgement; it is as if to say "this is worthy of being called holy", and "this is worthy of the name of God", for it seems no more exalted terms c

an be found to represent objects, ideas, and experiences which are themselves truly exalted. If we wish to understand religious matters, we must consult experts in religious matters -- i.e. MYSTICS; and not, by any means, fundamentalists. The mystics have always taught that religious terms are ultimately symbolic, and that the spiritual reality utterly transcends those names and forms we merely employ for the sake of convenience. Admittedly, we are dealing with the figurative, not the literal; "the spirit", not "the letter". Yet, according to this way of seeing, there is indeed such a thing as figurative reality. Christ, whether or not he exists in a more literal sense, or "merely" (one might rather say "purely") in a figurative sense, is no less real. As flesh and blood or as an idea in the hearts and minds of humanity, he is possessed of tremendous potency, and has undoubtedly influenced our history more than any other character we can dig up. Go figure.

Shall I tell you how I, as a Christian, reconcile with ease those contradictions arising from a comparison of the Old Testament with the New? It is simply this: The law is not a dead, but a living thing. That which is carved in stone (or printed in bibles) will fade in time, but what is written on our hearts must change and grow as we do. Revelation is ongoing; the law is not destroyed, but, rathe

r, it is fulfilled, by undergoing periodic evolutionary changes. As George Fox tells it: "You will say, 'Christ saith this', and 'the apostles say this', but what canst thou say? Art thou a Child of the Light, and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest, is it inwardly from the Lord?" The largest Christian hearts well know that Paganism provides (and has always provided) the foundations upon which their faith rests. Still, they are tolerant and inclusive with respect to those who have yet to embrace this fact. (("Receive him that is weak in the faith, but not to doubtful disputations... Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.")) One of my favorite pieces in the tradition of wisdom writing comes from radical Christian Leo Tolstoy; his essay 'The First Step', wherein he argues that a great error was committed at the advent of the Christian religion, when the Pagan virtues were disregarded in favor of the Christian ones. Basically, he says, one cannot even begin to practice Christianity in earnest until one has entirely mastered the Pagan virtues. We must be just before we can be merciful; champions before we can be martyrs. We must honor many gods before we can learn to honor the One in whom they live, move, and have their being. Christ might easily have recourse to the words of Isaac Newton, "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants." 

It takes courage to be sincere; to be serious, vulnerable, insightful, and to allow others to be serious, vulnerable, insightful; without immediately cracking some careless, stupid joke. Not everything is ironic. Not every reflective moment needs to be shattered with instant levity. Where did we ever acquire this notion that being cool means not giving a fuck? Fuck that! It's not cool to be flippa

nt. It's cool to care, to question, to teach, to share what you REALLY think and feel. All of my heart to the sincere, serious people. The ones who make you think. And, yes, I love the ones who make me laugh, but it would be nice if they knew when to stop; when not to make a joke out of everything; when to allow something to stand, a little awkward on the page, if need be, declaring something of substance. Jokes are easy. Apathy is effortless. Cowardice.