I'm Singing Again

Body and Soul

(fatherdavidbirdosb)

"You don't have a soul; you are a soul.

You have a body."

C. S. Lewis

I was at a religious service this morning

that was wholly based upon the above quote.

And I can't agree with it more.

And I just had to post it here.

Those of you who have waded through

some of my past entries, may recall what I've said about our bodies

as our avatars, in the very same sense that humans slipped into other wordly

skin in the film Avatar.  

And that is, 

fundamentally,

what Lewis is saying above.

Specifically, it reminds me of something that I,

Makropoulos,

wrote in a much earlier entry on Second Life:

"You see, I feel that I'm already

in an avatar. 

This body,

I live in,

is my earthly

avatar,

it's the form I chose

to use for 

this stretch of time

on this earthly domain.

I have enough trouble,

and enough fun,

negotiating this earthly

avatar,

why the hell would I need another?"

(Who Needs A Second Life?)

 And I really believe this is true.

We are spiritual essences,

sent to spend a little time

in the material domain.

We're sort of sent on a mission,

the same way the humans were sent on missions

in the film Avatar.

This is why I thought that film

was pretty fabulous,

but also pretty funny,

because it had humans

getting into another form

so they could return to the garden,

so to speak. 

(I write about that elsewhere, too.  Please follow links

to the word "avatar" on the side or below

if you want to see more

of my rambling thoughts

on this.)

The humour of it all is two-fold:

#1: I really believe we are already in avatars,  Our avatar

is a human body.  My cat's avatar is a feline body.  But we are all 

part of the same shared spirit that is our origin.  (So why the hell put on 

another avatar, if you're already in one?)

#2:  Notably, when we were put into these human avatars,

we were already in The Garden. The problem is:

we got caught up in thinking that The Garden,

and Our Bodies (aka: Avatars) constitute Everything,

when in fact they're just constituents of a Larger Whole

(that no human could perceive.)  But of course

we as Humans

have fucked up our Earthly Paradise so much

thinking that we were the Be-All and End-All,

and so now we make movies about 

putting on primitive avatars

so we can live in The Garden,

again.

 ~ ~

"You don't have a soul; you are a soul.

You have a body."

C. S. Lewis

 

~ ~

At church (OK, yes, it was a church,

to be specific:

a Unitarian Universalist Church

)

this morning,

they welcomed a new child

into the assembly.

Now, as a 425 year old Greek Woman;

I was raised in a Christian Tradition,

being born into the Orthodox --

I have moved around,

from country to country,

and in each one, sought the Church

where I could celebrate my personal beliefs

publically, and comfortably:

I was only Orthodox until I discovered the Jesuits,

and then I had to become Roman.

I longed to be

a Jesuit Priest.

No, not a nun,

a priest.  I could tolerate not being able to marry

if I could think the thoughts of a priest.

When I told any Jesuit Priest my desires, they would always draw away in fear)

I was Roman Catholic for Centuries.

Then I married an Englishman and went Anglican;

then I lived in Turkey and contemplated Islam.

It did not frighten me.

In many ways, the study of Kabbalah and the Sufi tradition best

acknowledge my personal beliefs.

But for now, I'm trying Unitarianism,

occasionally visiting a Sufi group

nearby --)

Today, I witnessed for the second time only,

a Unitarian "baptism"

Yes, they use water,

but not in any startling way:

the Minister holds a white rose,

and presents it to the child

before dipping it into the water,

and touching it to the child's head.

Today,

as the Minister held the rose

out towards the baby boy,

the child reached out,

and grabbed the stem of the rose firmly.

He clearly knew it was for him.

And the Minister,

wisely,

said: "may you grab every opportunity life gives you

with equal energy and certainty."

And I thought:

that Child will, for

that Child's will 

is ingrained in

his Soul (Soul aka; Spiritual Essence),

that Substance that Combined

and entered

His Chubby Fleshy Avatar

is a bold one.

That is who he is.

Which reminded me

of another belief

that I firmly hold:

we are each our Essential Self

at the time of our birth,

and as children,

we act out our truthfulness

in every gesture and sound we make.

It is the Process

of becoming part of society

that messes us up,

beginning

with loving,

with parenting,

then schooling,

then friending,

then loving,

then working,

then hating,

then mating, 

then loving,

then reproducing,

then loving,

then playing,

then aging.

The soul inside of you,

the Spiritual Essence that is 

the Real You

(not to be confused with your body,

which is rather randomly chosen)

is the child in you.

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (The Bible. Matthew 18:3 ).New Living Translation (©2007)

The Child in Me is Gentle;

the Child

in Me is Quiet

and Kind.

I had not encountered her

for a long time,

until a few years ago,

when I fell

childishly in love

with a man who

 appeared to do the same

with me.

But it was

a beautiful love

partly because it helped me rediscover

the Child in Me; I was

wholly and fully

myself

with him,

and I could not figure out

why I hadn't found My Inner Child before,

since I'd been there all along.

It was the simplest thing in the world,

yet it was the hardest.  Because society

would belittle, and does belittle, the 

Common Sense of The Child.

But in fact, 

the Common Sense of The Child

is equal to

the Common Sense of the Essential Spirit.

So,

to return to one's childishness

is to return

to one's Essential Self,

the Self

we were meant to be

in The Garden,

before we went and messed it all up.

 ( dailymail )

It's that easy:

find the Child in You,

and be True 

to it.

But it's also very very hard:

for to find 

The Child in You,

you must be able to distinguish Who

You were before

a parent first called you "stupid"

or told you not to pick your nose,

or reprimanded you for talking to loud,

or for chewing with your mouth

open.

That's right:

you must find the You

you were before

someone broke your heart the first time,

or lied to you,

or yelled at you for picking their flowers,

or raped you

or beat you

or didn't feed you

or locked you in a room.

I found my Essential Me,

My Child,

and Shared My Childish Love

with one who I thought felt the same

in return.

Unfortunately,

my lover

grew jealous and angry

and worked very hard

to hurt Me,

and succeeded.

(Yes, he acted like a child.)

And now my Child cowers

behind a door in my Heart,

afraid to come out again.

Any human who has had that experience

I describe above

has trouble finding their Child;

and if Your Child 

has been hurt many many times,

it is hiding even deeper inside of you

as a child would do.

But it's still there.

(And don't forget--

this Child is the Essential You,

the Spiritual You

that moved into your body

at birth)

Am I still angry at my lover?

No.

Only hurt.

Deeply hurt.

I don't blame him,

because I really believe

that the only way his 

Inner Child could Justify

hurting another Child

would be because he was

hurt so so much as a child.

He was abused

as no child should have been 

abused,

and in his knowledge

that the abuse he received

was unjustified, he feels a need

to impose it on Other Children,

so he won't feel so much

like a freak.

But he's not a freak.

He's a Child; he's a sad sad spirit

whose fate in this lifetime

was to live in an avatar

that others abuse

continually.

I don't blame him;

I can only love him

still,

and pray for him,

and hope his Inner Child

was not hurt so badly

that it is eternally lost to itself. 

"You don't have a soul; you are a soul.

You have a body."

C. S. Lewis

Here Comes The (Super) Moon; George Harrison

(Maybe this is why I've been so sick lately)

To The Breaking Point

Like a race car driver, 

like a runner, 

like a swimmer,

like a scholar,

we push

in all our pursuits

to exceed

the human made limits:

the limits of the body --

we strive to exceed the mortal, physical body,

and at the moment of

excess, 

we find freedom

                 and joy,

even a glimmer

                             of immortality.

~

Sex is one way,

one artifical way,

but the most sacred

artificial way

to use a technology

(the technology of our bodies)

to help us

exceed ourselves;

it teaches us how, but it is

only an intermediary.

( graphicsdb )

                          There is 

a route to excess

through the spirit

that is just as

                               excessive

as losing yourself to another person.

It is to loss

of self

to

sound

--not words--

but sound

(Are you willing to give up

your rational mind?

Are you willing to just

scream

or chant?)

Approach the sound

barrier

from the other side,

approach it

delicately

and you will find

the moment of breaking

and release

 into 

joy

.

Merry Christmas

On this day, we celebrate

his birth --

He whom so many call

the Savior of the World

While making cookies

tonight, I listened

to all the same old songs,

sung by aging rock n' roll artists

again, and I thought about

the mystery they celebrate:

If you can get past

the flashing lights

and the department stores,

it is a baby they celebrate:

an innocent child,

and this holiday nearly

fetishizes

the purity and truth

and innocence

of a newborn child.

Our favorite songs

speak of glory and majesty arriving

with a tiny child

But the problem with babies,

and Jesus was no exception,

is

that they grow up.

Jesus continued to answer

questions

with the blatant, even brutal honesty

of a child.

Through the stories we tell of him,

the grown-up Jesus

  has become the embodiment

of being strong enough

to stand up for what 

is good and true.

And His Life is theembodiment of how

the world will squash that,

over & over again.

Those who say the truth,

do it at the risk

of their own lives.

( sonofthesouth )

Most humans live a life of lies

and anyone who challenges

them to be more honest

is more of a threat

than a savior.

In the world today,

you're best to kill the honest one

than you are

to follow him

or her.

 ( scienceblogs )

And so it was with Jesus:

the man who challenged us

to be true to ourselves

and to our neighbors.

The man who challenged us

to love

and forgive

all --

if we met Jesus on the street

could we tolerate

the honesty we'd confront

in the penetrating mirror

of his gaze?

Or would we kill him

again?

Over and over

again

would we kill him?

~~~

indeed, we do

( telegraph.co )

~~~

On this day, we celebrate

his birth --

He whom so many call

the Savior of the World

 

And yet

we keep killing Him

again and again

in the vicious circle

of human history.

(sciencenotes)

 Each year the celebration

of His birth comes around

and brings with it

the challenge

t truly live by His words

And we always abide by that challenge

for a week or two,

then return

materialistic lives,

poised to annihilate

or discredit

any Jesus

who dares to challenge us

( africawithin )

( smashinglists )

I've asked this before;

I'll ask it again --

because our time

is growing short:

why can't we truly 

listen and live

by the words of Jesus?

This Christmas,

why can't we

do it differently,

and truly put on his robe

and walk

His 

walk?

Another Trinity -- from "God the Infinite" by Hazrat Inayat Khan

(photo by Makropoulos)

". . . the Spirit of God is incomprehensibe

because that which comprehends itself

is intelligence, God's real being;

and comprehension has nothing to comprehend 

in its own being.  No doubt, in our usual terms

it is the comprehending faculty in us which we call

comprehension; but this is not meant here, for intelligence

is not necessarily intellect.  Merit is something which is comprehensible;

it is something which is clear and distinct, so that it can be made

intelligible; but intelligence is not intelligible except

to its own self.  Intelligence knows that I am; 

but it does not know what I am.

"Such is the nature of God.  Intelligence would not have knows its own power

and existence if it had not known something besides itself,

so God knows Himself by manifestation.  Manifestation

is the self of God, but a self which is limited, a self

that makes Him know that He is perfect when He compares

His own Being with the limited self which we call nature.

Therefore the purpose of the whole of creation is the realization

which God Himself gains by discovering His own perfection

through his manifestation.

"Among Christian ideas there is one which, if we can solve its riddle,

helps us to discover the truth of life.  It is the idea of the Trinity.

What keeps the soul in perplexity is the threefold aspect

of manifestation, and as long as the soul remains puzzled

by this, it cannot arrive at the knowledge of the One.

These three aspects are the seer, sight, and the seen;

the knower, knowledge and the known.

In point of fact, these are the three aspects of life.

One aspect is the person who sees; 

the second aspect is the sight, or the eyes,

by the help of which he sees; 

and the third aspect is that which he sees.

That is why one cannot readily accept the idea

that what one sees is the same as oneself,

nor can one believe for a moment that the medium

by which one sees is oneself, for these three aspects

seem to be separate and to be looking at one another's faces,

as the first person, second person, and third person

of Brahma.

"When this riddle is solved by the realization that the three are one,

then the purpose of the God-ideal is fulfilled. . . . "

(from: The Unity of Religious Ideals,

by Hazrat Inayat Khan)

(If you have time, read this alongside

some of my entries about 

the Creation,

the Palindrome,

and God's Desire

to See Himself)

thank you for reading 

this blog--

The Rarest Emotion (a.m. channelling)

*

The word of Christ is that God is love;

and if God is love,

then we,

every one of us,

can prove God in us 

by expressing God in our life.

(from: Hazrat Inayat Khan: The Unity of Religious Ideals)

The rarest emotion

is love

We talk of it

     We sing of it

        We long for it

rarely

do we feel it.

The pessimists and skeptics would call

the quest for love

unrealistic.

But it's only unreal

to them

because it's so rare.

But it is real.

Saying that love

is a fiction

is like saying

that we're the only planet

in the solar system

that can support

life

( washingtonpost )

~ ~ ~

Now, jealousy 

=

we can do that;

it's easy because

it's based on what we see

in the material world

(which we live in)

So, too, is

desire

lust

and 

wistfulness.

~ ~ ~ 

Hatred

is easier 

than love

because it's born

in the place where

the material bound emotions

meet the metaphysical

ie:

the spiritual.

You see,

because 

some emotions are

             body born

                          and some

are not.

~ ~ ~ 

Emotions are the fruit

of the interaction

between

the material

and

the spiritual;

the mortal

and 

the immortal.

Some are more in

one domain,

some 

in the other.

And there are various

gradations

in between.

( AstronomyPictureofDay  

6 October 2010)

Love 

is the only pure emotion

lodged

solely

in the spiritual,

the immortal

domain,

and in that sense

it is the rarest emotion

and

the one

to strive for.