In Yoke

"The reason God is great, that is, what is Divine for us in Him is not his power in the sense that He is stronger than the totality of forces in the universe, nor is it His foreknowledge in the sense that He foresees, as a perfect engineer, the future functioning of the forces of "the world machine", pre-calculated and pre-determined, nor even the fact that He is absolutely indispensable as the center of all gravitation-spiritual, psychic and physical- of the whole universe. No, what is great and truly divine in God, i.e what makes every knee bow before Him, is His Faith, His Hope, and His Love. For just as we believe in God, so also does God believe in us---but with a divinely greater and more elevated faith, His hope with regard to this immense community of free beings that we call "the world" is infinite, just as His love for all these free beings is infinite. We do not worship God because He is able to do more than we are, or because He knows more than...

According to early twentieth century Russian Orthodox Christian Hermeticist Valentin Tomberg (d.1973) , there are several essential conditions to which any viable spiritual tradition must adhere. [ His perspectives on this and many other issues of vital importance to those who would intend to grow as one of those who follow seek to Christ are contained in his treatise—“Meditations on the Tarot”, published 1985, translated by Robert Powell.   A spiritual director recommended it to me in 2004 and I have read and reread it twice since then. I recommend this book to anyone who desires to dive deep into the practice of contemplation/meditation.] 1. It must be founded from above. That is, it must “come from either explicit revelation, or by direct action from above—acting with moral irresistibility.” Examples: The monastic orders of Benedictine, Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit, Cistercian…he goes on to say that “these orders have survived through the centuries because of explicit ...

It is permissible to take life’s blessings with both hands provided thou dost know thyself prepared in the opposite event to take them just as gladly. This applies to food and friends and kindred, to anything God gives and takes away.   – Meister Eckhart In order to live in freedom, we must learn to accept a temporary disappointment, if necessary, when it is for our permanent well-being. Sometimes, when we want to eat something that appeals to us, or when we want to eat a little more than is necessary, we can’t help feeling disappointment as we push away from the table. We cannot help thinking that we could as well have stayed on for five more minutes of pleasure, forgetting that it would probably be followed by five hours of stomachache at night. The right time to get up from the meal is when we want just a little more. This is real artistry, real gourmet judgment: when we find that everything is so good that we would like to have one more helping, we get up and walk away. Sri E...

  “My people are hell-bent on leaving me.    They expect their false gods to help. but they don’t lift a finger to help them. But how can I give up on you?    How can I turn you loose? How can I leave you to be ruined?    devastated like the luckless pagans all around you? I can't bear to even think such thoughts.    My insides churn in protest. And so I'm not going to act on my anger.    I'm not going to destroy you. And why? Because I am the eternal Creator and not a human.    I'm The Holy One and I'm here —in your very midst.”                                          ~Hosea 11:7-9, amended. from The Message Although the prophet Hosea is an Old Testament prophet—he seemed to “get” the concept and reality of the Holy S...

When life is heavy and hard to take,    go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:    Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.    The "worst" is never the worst.                                                       ~Lamentations 3:28-30-The Message Lately, the most consistent and overriding message I have received in my meditation time is the simple word : “Wait”. When I want things to change immediately, when I want to take matters in my own hands and “make something happen”, the Master quietly sits me down in my chair and says—“wait.” … those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They ...

Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to His good pleasure, and rest in Him.   – Saint John of the Cross I was drawn to this vignette from Sri (teacher) Easwaran, Fulbright scholar, 1958, of Kerala, India, was Professor of Meditation and  Transformational Spirituality, Cal Berkeley, 1959-to the late 80’s. “We have many stories from the Hindu scriptures about gambling, some about kings who lost entire kingdoms gambling at dice. There is the moving story of King Yudhishthira, who lost his kingdom and went into exile, and yet came back, after a terrible battle, to regain everything through the grace of Sri Krishna. Many people are tempted to gamble, to take risks, when the stakes are high. The mystics would ask us, “Why don’t you bet on goodness? Try to be kind to someone who is unkind to you, and look upon it as a gamble.” Of course we are not sure how the other person is going to respond – that is the thrill of i...

“This is God's Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: 'Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.' Jeremiah 33:2 I just finished reading Karen Armstrong’s 1998 book, “The History of God”, which is actually the overview of humanity's misconceptions about the Creator and about many of the explanations of who God is, and the cosmologies behind the general existence we all experience as the reality of life on earth. From one perspective, it is really quite depressing. So many egregious and dysfunctional human behaviors have been attributed to G-d.They cannot be counted. The G-d concept has taken many forms and constructs, all of which seem flawed. My mind is drawn to many versions of the Creator, some of which have been constructed by Israelites and Arameans, some of which have emerged from neighboring cultures, such as the Arabs. And thes...