Passersby

Jesus said, "Be passersby."

This life and this world are temporary. Let them go.

Something Nice

Some time ago, a Catholic priest was interviewed on a TV program. The host asked him about the nature of Jesus. Instead of lecturing him on theology, the priest asked if he could tell a true story.

He told about a woman who went to her priest and told him she thought her father was dying; would the priest please come by to see him?” He promised he would when he was in the neighborhood. “I’m sometimes out to run to the store,” said the woman. “I’ll leave the door open. If there’s no answer to your knock, just go on in. You’ll find my dad’s room in the back.”

One day the priest stopped by. There was no answer to his knock, so he went on through to the father’s room. When he got there he found a chair pulled up close beside the bed. “Ah, you must have been expecting me,” said the priest. No, said the man, the chair hadn’t been put there for the priest. “I’ll tell you, father,” said the man, “I’d been having trouble praying. But a friend said if I would put a chair there for the Master, and pretend he was sitting here, I could talk to him more naturally. So I placed the chair there and tried it, and it really works.” “That’s fine,” said the priest. "Anything that helps.”

A few days later the woman came to the priest and told him her father had passed away. The priest expressed his sympathy and asked if her father had died easily. “Oh, I think so,” she said. “A little while before, he had called me in to show me something in the funny papers, and we both had a laugh over it. Then I went out to the store to get some milk, and when I came back he was dead.”

“I’m glad it was easy,” said the priest.

“There was just one odd thing,” said the woman.

Oh?” said the priest.

“Yes,” she said, “Apparently he had pulled a chair over to the bed and was struggling to get into it, or to use it to stand up, because when I found him he had pulled his head and shoulders over to the chair and died with his head in it.”

-same sermon from previous post

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

Welcome

But we will never say to an outsider, “We welcome everyone as long as you are willing to become like us.” To do that would be reducing God to our understanding of God. And God is bigger than all of our ideas about God.

-from a sermon by Gary A Wilburn posted on The Center for Progressive Christianity site

The Illusion, And How to Kick It

Shall we admit, finally, what the sufis, buddhists and gnostics before us knew? The world we live in, the Material, is Illusion, maya. We are trapped in a cycle of birth, death, rebirth, called by the people of the Subcontinent, samsara. The Illusion is designed to keep us from breaking that cycle, and ascending to Light, or the real world which is beyond the Illusion.

It is the stated purpose of Satan, the God of This World, to keep us from breaking the cycle, and finding nirvana. Nirvana is described by the Buddhists as "the blowing out of the fires of greed, hate and delusion" (wikipedia article, "nirvana"). It is Oneness with the Most High.

Satan's power lies in his ability to control humanity by pounding people with sufferings such as pain, hunger and disease. Then, he compounds these things by inciting us to fight among ourselves, presenting many temporary remedies for suffering, and making those remedies scarce. We fight wars over fuel and faith, thinking that by defeating our "enemies" we will become free of our sufferings.

"Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: 'I have seen the Lord!'..." -John 20:18

Many of the disciples (some say Peter, some say Thomas, for instance) didn't believe St. Mary when she said this. If even the disciples didn't believe, at least at first, what chance do the rest of us have?

The answer is this: We all have the same chance. Every single one of us can escape samsara. This is how:

Follow the Lord Jesus Christ

Listen to His words, both in the old books, and in your heart

Take good advice, from the ancients and from those around you

Do good works

Love those around you

Be calm and composed

"Do not do what you hate"

When you see suffering, try to help

If you cannot help, don't compound it

Remember: all things are temporary, this will pass

Light of the Heavens and the Earth

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp [is] enclosed in Glass: the glass [is] as it were a brilliant star: lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil is well nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men and Allah doth know all things.

-Quran 24:35

Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light!

A Pure Heart

Create in me a pure heart, O my God,
And renew a tranquil conscience within me, O my Hope!
Through the spirit of power confirm Thou me in Thy Cause,
O my Best-Beloved,
And by the light of Thy glory reveal unto me Thy path,
O Thou the Goal of my desire!
Through the power of Thy transcendent might
Lift me up unto the heaven of Thy holiness,
O Source of my being,
And by the breezes of Thine eternity gladden me,
O Thou Who art my God!
Let Thine everlasting melodies breathe tranquillity on me,
O my Companion,
And let the riches of Thine ancient countenance
Deliver me from all except Thee,
O my Master,
And let the tidings of the revelation of Thine
Incorruptible Essence bring me joy,
O Thou Who art the most manifest of the manifest
And the most hidden of the hidden!

- Bahá'u'lláh

The Lord is on my head like a crown, and I shall not be without Him.

-The Odes of Solomon, Ode 1, verse 1

Your Spiritual Practice Is Your Life

Make Your Life Your Practice

"If 'doing the work' means going to church on Sunday or meditating once a day, then 'doing the work' becomes completely useless, because the whole point of the spiritual teachings of Jesus and the Buddha is to make your entire life your practice."

This is good advice.

The Path and the Goal

He strives with might and main along the Path, searches it out, accustoms himself to it; to that end does he make firm his self-possession, to that end does he hold fast in effort, to that end does he remain steadfast in love towards all beings in all worlds; and still to that does he direct his mind again and again, until gone far beyond the transitory, he gains the Real, the highest fruit. And when he has gained that, the man who has ordered his life aright has realized nirvana [oneness].

Milindapanha IV 8, 84

The Good Man

The good man, O King, perfect in uprightness, is like a medicine to men and gods, an antidote to the poison of evil. He is like water to men in laying the dust and impurities of evil dispositions. He is like a treasure of jewels to men in bestowing upon them all attainments in righteousness. He is like a boat to men in conveying them to the fur her shore of the four swollen streams of lust, egotism, delusion and ignorance. He is like a caravan owner to men in that he guides them beyond the sandy desert of rebirths. He is like a mighty rain cloud in that he fills their hearts with satisfaction. He is like a teacher to men in that he trains them in every good. He is like a skilled guide to men in that he points out the path of peace to them.

Milindapanha IV 4, 14

Come to me for 
my yoke is light, 
my rule is mild and you shall
 find repose.
-Gospel of Thomas v.90

Adoration and Serenity

"For it is only in relationships that we humans adore, and it is only in adoration that we learn the lessons of the gods: to live in friendship with ourselves and others, to attain a sense of justice in our actions, and to surrender to serenity."

-Vamsee Juluri @ huffpost

Mr. Juluri was speaking of the Hindu gods, but the same may be said of God. We have little chance of serenity without a relationship with God. Adoration of God leads us to that serenity.

The Jesus Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

The Lord's Prayer

"Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen."

The Beatitudes

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Just a Thought

The Buddhists say that all life is suffering. We are trapped in the cycle of incarnation, moving from mortal life to mortal life. If the Buddhists are right, then we suffer on in all of those lives. Keep this in mind as you deal with the people around you. Have compassion, because, whether they realize it or not, they are suffering, too.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, i would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. -John 14:1-4

In Hope.

The Creed

I believe in God, Father Almighty.
I believe in Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Genesis,
And born of the Mother Mary.
He suffered, was crucified,
Died and was buried.
He rose again,
He ascended to Heaven,
And is seated on the right side of His Father.
He has saved us from Darkness.
I believe in the Holy Genesis,
The Holy Church within,
The Communion of Saints,
The Forgiveness of Sins,
The Resurrection of the Soul,
Salvation from the Darkness of Estrangement
And Life Everlasting.

The Experience of God

Jesus said, Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. -Gospel of Thomas, verse 2.

The idea of seeking God has been around for a very long time. The search for the source of all things, for the meaning of those things, is the reason for the existence of religion. To seek God is to seek an understanding of what lies behind existence. What we find there is disturbing. To make contact with the source of all things is a shattering experience. It is the experience of God.

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. - John 17:25,26

We experience God through Jesus Christ, whose continuing revelation brings us ever closer to Him. Christ is our saviour, who redeems us by acting as a conduit through which we may feel the presence of God. That he continues to reveal God to us means that there need be no physical succession from one human teacher to another. The "Apostolic Succession" is unnecessary. In fact, the experience Christ offers is available, right now. No mortal must feed it to you. Only open yourself to it.