In Yoke

Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached. – Simone Weil From E.E.: One of the profoundest laws of spiritual psychology is: you see what you are, and you are what you see. The observer cannot help conditioning what he or she observes. Those who cannot love see a world where love has little place. Those who live to enlarge their love, by contrast, see a world of hope: a world of men and women who, despite their failings, are capable of love in the core of goodness in their hearts. To see life from this lofty vantage, we need detachment, not from others but from ourselves. Good lesson.

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...

This past Sunday, my Bible class studied Acts 8. This account explores the evangelistic activity of   Philip , one of 7 deacons who were appointed by the Apostles in Acts chapter 2. He is also known as the evangelist, first in Samaria, home of the "half breed" culture derived from the Assyrian invasion over 600 years before. It is possible that he was the Apostle Philip- perhaps the Hellenistic supervisor of the deacons who were to minister to the Greek widows...in any event, he was quite a minister in his own right. The class discussion centered around how the Gospel was breaking down barriers, of race, as it had to do with Samaritans, and of material gain and personal profit, in the story of "Simon Magus" the locally famous magician who had a "going concern magic business" among the Samaritans. Then the chapter includes Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch who was riding in his chariot, heading back home after having gone to Jerusalem on a...

"I wish people would stop asking me, after church, how I liked the sermon, because I hardly ever do. In the other part of the service lies the thing we crave- contact with reality... In worship linked by silence to the great Creative Spirit who upholds all creatures in life, our personal preoccupations drop away. Pride and resentment disappear. We are no longer concerned about this and that. We are for the time being more than human, we are part of the Eternal Spirit, Strong, unafraid, sincere, serene. - Muriel Lester(1883-1968) Baptist female pastor, founder of Kingsley Hall, London. --taken from "Entempling"- edited by Blake Burleson, PhD, and Michael Sciretti, PhD

""The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they should see God, as if he stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge. " – Meister Eckhart In order to say that there is no one in our deeper consciousness, we have to go there, knock on the door, and find that no one is at home. Until he has made that journey, knocked on the door, and heard a voice saying “There is no one here,” no one should call himself an atheist. “Agnostic” is more correct. Of those who tell me they are atheists, I ask, “Don’t you believe in yourself?” Their answer is, “Of course.” “Then,” I say, “you believe in God.” When we use terms like “God” or “Lord” it is not referring to someone “out there.” We are invoking someone who is inside us all the time, who is nearer to us than our body, dearer to us than our life."" Meister Eckhart was labelled a heretic. There is a mystery about God. Holy Spirit. Groans. In words we cannot...

Nothing great is created suddenly, anymore than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.   – Epictetus ---From Easwaran, my principal teacher: All true spiritual development takes place little by little. From day to day you seem to make no progress, but when you glance back to the year before, though you have vastly farther to go, you realize that your nervous system is more resilient, your will stronger, your senses more responsive, your mind and relationships more secure; your goal is that much clearer before your eyes. It is not very helpful to ask, “Why am I not making much progress? Why are there still so many difficulties in my way? Why can’t I surmount them?” It takes time and labor, but the tree will bear fruit. Patience. Character. These are constant challenges for me. About two years ago, when I found out that our company, Vi3, had a suitor that ...

The more we have the less we own.   – Meister Eckhart and so... Sri Easwaran states: We have been ruthlessly conditioned to think we can find fulfillment in possessions, to love things rather than people – so much so, that when we feel an emptiness in our hearts, we go to shopping centers to fill it up. I am all for living in reasonable comfort, but when I go to shopping centers, I cannot help getting alarmed. Not at the money that is being wasted – there is enough money in this country to waste. But there isn’t enough will to waste. There isn’t enough energy to waste. When we hear of the energy crisis, this is it. All our vitality, energy, and drive is sapped and undermined by the constant propaganda: go after this, go after that, and you’ll be happy. Things are not meant to be loved. They are meant only to be used. People are lovable and loving. _________________________________________________________________________________ The adage 'using things and loving people' ...