Tag: mystic

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No reality fits an ideology

This came by way of Gerry Straub’s blog and like much I’ve read of Anthony de Mello it is right on target. Ideology from left, right, center, or whatever all miss the point.

As soon as you look at the world through an ideology you are finished. No reality fits an ideology. Life is beyond that. That is why people are always searching for a meaning to life…. Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning. Life only makes sense when you perceive it as a mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.”-Anthony de Mello, SJ
Awareness
[New York: Doubleday, 1990 – page 148]

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Found him not

All this talk about Islam and Muslims has awakened a hunger within me to know more. One of my favorites is a Sufi mystic, Rumi. Rumi lived in the 13th century and though they were thousand of miles apart he was a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi.

I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not. I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there. I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not. With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only anqa’s habitation.

Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even. Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range. I fared then to the scene of the Prophet’s experience of a great divine manifestation only a “two bow-lengths’ distance from him” but God was not there even in that exalted court.

Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.–Rumi

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Ave Maria

Long a favorite of mine is this short prayer. Today I carried a rosary in my pocket for protection from darkness. St. Francis had a special devotion to Our Lady. The mother of Jesus holds a special place in the Roman Catholic Church. It’s the missing element in fundamental Protestantism. Why this mystical element is removed is puzzling. Women are central to creation. The Jewish Ruach Hakodesh is a feminine spirit. The Jews fully appreciated the mystical significance of women in the creation. Women are relegated to lesser roles in many of the world’s religions despite the fact that if we didn’t have women we wouldn’t have any children. Men aren’t made to bear or even to raise children. Women are the nurturers. There are feminine elements in men as there are masculine elements in all women, but women excel at nurture.

Mary was the ultimate woman having born the Christ who came into the world not so much to save as to demonstrate how we were and are to live in relationship with each other. The world killed Christ as it did Gandhi, Martin Luther King, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and others who chose to model and follow the example of Christ. Sarah Brightman does a splendid rendition of the Ave Maria. The monks at Abbey of the Genesee end their compline prayer with a special prayer to Mary.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXuw9icKXnU&feature=related]

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

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Mystery makes us humble

One day you may say, “I found God, I know him, he is so and so, he is there and there, he is in me, in creation, in the eucharist …” That is a day of disaster for you because you will have found your God, your own projection, so pitiful and small. These gods – these idols – in turn keep us pitiful and small. We would fight for them … They can be terrible … Mystery does not require defenders. Idols do. Mystery makes us humble.–Anthony De Mello, SJ.

I came across this quote in my reading tonight and it took me back to something that I had written on Thursday on “Merton and Me.”

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Paradox

I purchased a book from Amazon the other day and read it today not three hours after opening the package. It’s the first book I’ve read in awhile and I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s the “Promise of Paradox“and it’s more than timely. Too much of our packaged culture is set up as either/or when life is really about both/and. I read one of Parker Palmer’s other books, “Let Your Life Speak,” about three years ago. This is easy reading but full of insight. It’s actually the republication of a book originally published in 1980.

The book helped me to put some flesh on thoughts I’ve had lately about the paradoxes in my own life and my surrender to them.  The foreword is written by Henri Nouwen and Parker speaks often of Thomas Merton and St. Paul. I recommend it to you.

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Pentecost

Today was the Feast of Pentecost. At Mass today Fr. Lou’s homily was about the Holy Spirit and about how much of theology is spent on Jesus and God the Father, but almost nothing on the Holy Spirit. He drew our attention to a print near the rear of the chapel today that is a depiction of the Ruach. The depiction is of a feminine spirit breathing life into the earth from the cosmos. Today was also Mothers Day and as I looked at this depiction I thought of the parallels between the Ruach and mothers. We come to life in our mothers and it is through the love, action and attention of our mothers that our early lives are animated.  We cannot see the Ruach but it is the breath of God that gives us life and gives our lives direction and purpose.  Mystics whether men or women are always in touch with the sacred feminine which is very much within the holy spirit. Those who deny this feminine are really out of touch with the Holy Spirit.

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Website of Unknowing

Last night following a search for more contemplative reading material I came across a truly lovely site that I’d like to draw your attention to. It’s author works in the bookstore at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, GA. It’s title, Website of  Unknowning, invited me to explore it in some detail. It’s author, Carl McColman has authored a number of books. After visiting the site and reading his insights I’d like to travel to Conyers, GA and visit the monastery.

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What is a contemplative?

Last Saturday my son asked my wife and I if we could define mysticism. I did my best but it’s like trying to define what strawberries taste like to someone who’s never tasted one.  This morning I decided to give one of my extra books to our school library but before I did, I looked inside one last time to see any notes I may have left. I found a note on page 81 of “The Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light,” by Joan Chittister, OSB.

To be a contemplative we must become converted to the consciousness that makes us one with the universe, in tune with the cosmic voice of God. We must become aware of the sacred in every single element of life. We must bring beauty to birth in a poor and plastic world. We must restore the human community. We must grow in concert with God who is within.  We must be healers in a harsh society. We must become all those things that are the ground of contemplation, the fruits of contemplation, the end of contemplation.

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His voice

Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.–John 18:37

What is the truth? I don’t hear the voice, but I sense it in the silence of my prayers and in the silence of my life. Martin Luther King heard his voice. All the great prophets have heard that voice and it has moved them to speak. From silence they have been moved to act and speak. I think Mahatma Gandhi must have heard that voice too.

I think Jeremiah Wright heard that voice too. Pastor Wright spoke prophetically about an America that the status quo doesn’t want to see or maybe they can’t see. The pundits and the politicians have reduced life to a sound bite. Mysticism is seeing with the eyes closed. In the 81st chapter of the Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu writes:

Sincere words do not sound nice,
Nice-sounding words are not sincere.
Good men don’t argue,
Argumentative men are not good.
The wise are not learned,
The learned are not wise.

Wisdom does not inspire the accumulation of goods;
Living for others makes for a full life.
The more you give away, the richer you are.

The Tao of heaven is to benefit, not to harm.
The Tao of wisdom is to do your thing, but not to compete.

It seems to me that those who criticize Jeremiah Wright do so because of blindness. They are not at fault. They cannot see nor can they hear.

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Awaiting on you all

One of my favorite musicians is and was George Harrison. He was the mystical Beatle. Harrison more than Lennon and McCartney seemed to be most in touch with the world around him.  That might be very unfair to Ringo Starr and if so I apologize. One of my favorite Harrison lyrics is “Awaiting on You All.” Last night I was listening once again to the Concert for Bangladesh and the song played. Lent is a time of renewal for many people and those lyrics speak volumes to me about renewal.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P-2MthG190] Continue reading “Awaiting on you all”