Tag: mystic

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The Epic Journey of Malcolm X

“Again, the actor Ossie Davis stood. His deep voice delivered the eulogy to Malcolm X which was going to cause Davis subsequently to be hailed more than ever among Negroes in Harlem: “Here—at this final hour, in this quiet place, Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes—extinguished now, and gone from us forever…. “Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain—and we will smile…. They will say that he is of hate—a fanatic, a racist—who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! “And we will answer and say unto them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him: Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves…. And we will know him then for what he was and is—a Prince—our own black shining Prince!—who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so.””

— The Autobiography of Malcolm X by MALCOLM X
https://a.co/5mZF8Oa

I knew about Malcolm as someone who grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s but I had the perspective of a white man. I saw him as a threat and frightening to me. I didn’t understand the back story until reading this book. I now know more about this amazing man who was truly a prophetic voice for all Americans.

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Expressing doubt is normal and healthy

Today I posted a picture of my rosary on Instagram and posed a rhetorical question about the effectiveness of that ancient prayer. The only way I learn is by experience and asking questions. That led one of my followers to respond that my family was healthy which indeed they are. I’m grateful for that. This month Pope Francis has asked us to pray the rosary everyday and pray that Mary intercede for us with the pandemic. I’m inclined to be a skeptic of rote prayers and particularly the rosary but I’ve been praying the rosary everyday since early March. It’s been part of a larger effort to seek and do God’s will. I usually recite the rosary when I’m walking. It’s a walking meditation for me but being a curious guy I wonder does it really accomplish anything. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Mary. After all I was born on a Marian feast and blue is my favorite color. I believe that doubt is integral to faith. They’re two sides of the same coin.


As Jesus was dying on the cross he is supposed to have said, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.” If the son of God can express doubt then isn’t that a sign of spiritual health. I hope so. Is everything so certain in your walk of faith that you don’t question the effectiveness of your prayer life? My life has been a series of conversion experiences. Dark nights and soul searching followed by metanoia.

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Help my unbelief

One of my friends read yesterday’s “Morning Thoughts” post and didn’t scold me for not having faith but instead said he was praying to help his unbelief. Questioning the existence of God is part of an mature relationship with a power greater than myself. A careful reading of the bible provides numerous cases where prophets despaired and called God out. My friend said he was following the example of Pope Francis and was praying the rosary every day in the month of May. I’ve been doing that too, but God wasn’t answering my prayers with the speed and accuracy I had been hoping for. God never does. One of my favorite biblical writers is David and throughout the psalms David battles with God. Jonah ran away and Job battled despair and depression.

“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” 

Job 3:11

Sharing your despair with others is actually the secret to emotional and spiritual maturity. We’re as sick as our secrets. Finding someone we can confide in and share our pain is the touchstone of progress. Do I see God in the sunshine, flowers, trees and the life that surrounds me? Yes, I do. Will I continue to pray the rosary even though I don’t see any results? Yes, because when I’m praying I’m not overthinking. Enjoy your day.

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All creation bears the footprint

Francis contemplated the footprints of God impressed on the things of creation, and he found God wherever he went in the world. As he experienced divine love within himself, so too he saw that same love throughout creation—in birds, trees, clouds, rabbits, even wolves. The world was the self-revealed gift of God, created to lead humans to what it signified, a deep, personal unity in love. Contemplation of the world was indistinguishable from the contemplation of God.”

— Making All Things New: Catholicity, Cosmology, Consciousness by Ilia Delio

Francis saw no dichotomy but saw the world as one. For too long Western philosophy and religion as seen the exploitation of the planet somehow disconnected from our spirituality. I don’t think that can continue in the post pandemic world. This is our common home and if we expect to live long and prosper we must take care of it along with each other.

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Spirituality

“Spirituality is not about feeling good about ourselves. It’s about doing good wherever we are. It’s about bringing good to everyone. It’s about becoming the good we seek. It’s about fashioning our souls in the kind of silence that enables the whole world to feel safe in our calm and quiet presence.”

— Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life by Joan Chittister

Spirituality is at the heart of good relationships. When folks think of spirituality they think there’s a connection to religion. There can be but it’s not always a given. I’ll always be more at home with the spiritual than the religious. Dogma, doctrine and rote aren’t for me.

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The new reality of the nones

“I find a tremendous yearning among Nones and the millennial generation (born between 1982 and the early 2000s) for a more just and unified world. Many of the millennial generation are wholemakers involved in greening the earth, immigration reform, peace and nonviolence, economic justice, and environmental sustainability. They seek authentic community life, ways of meditation, and alternative gift economies; they believe that institutional religion is out of touch with the world. Like transhumanists, the Nones long for religious ideals without the institution.”

— Making All Things New: Catholicity, Cosmology, Consciousness by Ilia Delio
http://a.co/j9EYNyA

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A Sacred Path

More than a month ago I wrote about taking a picture of the labyrinth at Mt. Irenaeus and how that invited some comments from friends that sent me on a journey that included reading Dan Pink’s, “A Whole New Mind.”  Actually, I downloaded the book and listened to it on my iPod Touch. I listened to it more than once and went so far as to buy a finger labyrinth from the Labyrinth Company. The labyrinth arrived this week and in the past several days I’ve used it a number of times.  The very first time I used it I had the sensation that there was some movement in my brain. I could almost feel my brain move. I know that sounds strange and I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not experienced it.

Yesterday, while visiting a friend’s home and returning a computer to her that I had recently restored to original condition for her I shared this story. She didn’t think I was losing it and instead recommended a book which I began reading last night. The book is, “Walking a Sacred Path,” by Dr. Lauren Artress. I’ve only read a couple of chapters, but I am really enjoying this and from the stories therein I realize that my reaction to the labyrinth was anything but strange. I intend to keep using the finger labyrinth and see where it leads me. Each time I experience the labyrinth it is a bit different but each time I come away renewed.

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Epiphany

Maybe most people already knew this and maybe I’m just catching up but Daniel Pink’s book has been a real insight for me.  What chance that I would take a picture of the labyrinth at Mt. Irenaeus, upload it with my Blackberry to Facebook an that it would invite a conversation that would lead me to read and listen to “A Whole New Mind.” If people like me will rule the future that’s great, but its less important to me than the fact that this book and some of the concepts in it help explain a lot about me that had puzzled me for years.

My brother is very left brained at least according to the book. He’s even got an MBA. I enrolled in an MBA program a couple of years ago and then un-enrolled before classes started because the whole idea of learning about what was being offered really didn’t appeal to me. I’ve always been the dreamer and the contemplative. I read Carlos Castaneda thirty-five years ago when few had heard of him. I remember reading Sri Chinmoy, Edgar Cayce and other mystics when I was serving in the US Navy.  It is simply amazing to have this book handed to me as it were as I’m ready to embark on more graduate learning. The program I’m entering would seem to be more left brain oriented but my own approach to learning and even educational leadership is decidedly right brained according to Daniel Pink. Whatever the outcome of my studies “A Whole New Mind” has set me on a path to look at myself and life itself with a whole new set of eyes.

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A way forward

My sister sent me a Youtube video which reminded me of the work and writings of John Duns Scotus. I like to remind myself that all theology is theory and that no one really knows what is going on. But, first as a person and then later a person being formed in the Franciscan tradition the idea of a sin centered universe was counter intuitive to me.  I have many reasons for saying that, but most of all my own experience dictates that God is love and that love surrounds me and us at all times and does not have to be earned.

Franciscan Spirituality sees the Incarnation as the guarantee of union with God. It is not something to be hoped for or to be looked forward to – it is something, which is happening NOW. God is Love and that Love is our redemption and redemption is not primarily being saved from sin, but is rather the gift of the possibility of openness to the experience of the divine Other in our life. How can it be otherwise when we posit the notion of the divine and human in Jesus? Scotus’s doctrine of the absolute centrality of Love is both timely and profoundly needed by our world. Men and women cry out for an experience of hope in a world which has lost direction – in the teaching of Duns Scotus, Franciscan Spirituality has within its hand that hope-filled experience and the end of that longing. For if God willed the Incarnation from all eternity, then it was always his intention to become part of sinful creation – sin determines the manner of that becoming, but it does not determine the fact that it was going to be….Br. Seamus Mulholland