Secular thoughts

Lately I’ve read a number of posts on Twitter and some of the more prominent blogs about secularity. Those thoughts along with some of my own have led me to speculate that it is man who has created this division. All that is created is created by a supreme being whether you call that being God, I Am, Yahweh, Allah or whatever sacred name. That which some would name as secular is in fact divine because it was created by humans who didn’t create themselves, but are instead manifestations of the infinite.

The false dichotomy of secular and sacred allows some men to regard what they call secular as lower and therefore un-holy and un-worthy. This allows men to regard each other as less than holy, to regard nature as less than holy and to exploit that which is regarded as secular. Western thought seems permeated with this argument over secular vs. sacred when in simple fact all is sacred. If we really saw all as sacred, how would that impact our decision making. Scientific or so called rational thought is just a sacred as those words written in the most sacred texts. What sets the sacred apart and and who gets to decide what is sacred? We accept what is sacred because somebody else told us it was sacred. But, is it really sacred to us. All life seems sacred to me, even rocks in the field were created. Squirrels, mice, snakes, insects, fish, people, grass are all created. In Franciscan terms they bear the imprint of the Most High.

Touch my body

Recently I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for the feminine spirit in my life. I recently wrote about the Ruach and how the Hebrews long ago realized that the spirit of God was feminine or at least that’s how they depicted it. One of the lines in the Tao te Ching says, “the soft overcomes the hard.” Lao-Tzu knew way back then that the most powerful forces in the world were feminine.

A week ago my wife got a present from our son for Mothers Day and it was Mariah Carey’s latest Album. I was somewhat surprised. I’ve been a Mariah fan since I first heard her in the early 1990’s. My wife told me that she had heard Mariah perform on Oprah Winfrey’s show and had really liked one of the songs. My daughter was playing the album last week in our home and we both like “Touch my Body.” In fact every since I heard the song I can’t get the melody out of my head. The video on Youtube is very captivating and highlights much of Carey’s mystique as a performer, but it also touches on the larger theme of the powerful feminine spirit which animates so much of my life and our lives in general. Returning from my workout this morning I mentioned to my wife about the song and about how this had gotten me to thinking again of how much we need the feminine and sacred feminine in our lives. It is women after all who give us life, who nurture us and protect us when necessary.

Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Gandhi, the Dalai-Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King were all leaders who understood this very well. Gandhi brought down the British by receiving their anger and turning it against them. Jesus said, “resist not evil,” “love your enemies,” “do good to those who persecute you.” It all flies in the face of the masculine war and endless war. I mentioned to Diane this morning that I think gay men are more in touch with the feminine and that is what is really unsettling to those men who haven’t accepted their own femininity. I hope you enjoy the video and song I can’t get it out of my head. You can view it here on Youtube.