So I'm still thinking about this bubble of spacetime we live in. And I'm thinking about it in correlation to the end of the world (the end of timespace and matter). And this is where my thoughts are getting me to (in addition to probably getting me into trouble!) :-)
When we die, when we slough off this mortal coil, we enter the realm inhabited by God: the realm of no spacetime (or at least no spacetime in the physical sense that we are used to working with). That means we leave the flow of history (the arrow of time) and enter into a timeless realm.
I take it to mean, then, that when we enter God's presence, we enter it at the same time (if I can use that word) that everyone else does - *everyone* - everyone that has ever lived, is living now, and ever will live. In a very real sense, then, the end of the world - the end of everything - happens when we die - when each person dies.
I imagine a shimmering curtain millions of miles long, and at the instant of our death we step through. And as we do, we look to the left and to the right and see millions upon millions of people also passing through. Each of them has died at some particular point in the history of humanity, but all are crossing as one. We all enter the Kingdom of Heaven as one body - as one people - and await our judgment and our mercy at the hands of our Creator.
Since I'm Catholic, I firmly believe in the resurrection of the body - the sense that it's not our souls that goes to heaven, but everything about us - body, mind, soul & spirit. Every piece and part of who we are - everything about us - is refined until our selves are post-resurrection selves just like Jesus when he appeared to his apostles after his death and resurrection.
I think that is what happens upon our death - upon our entering the timeless Reign of God. Again, since I'm Catholic, and since I've diverged into a rant over what happens at death, I think that the familiar concept of purgatory (familiar to Catholics @ least) fits in well here, too. Everyone goes through a period of purgation as we enter death.
If I were to die right now, I know I'm not ready to leave my life. I'm attached to my wife and son, my relatives, my friends, my ministry, my music, my hobbies, my computer :-) I want to cling to them and to the things of this life - I'm not ready to die. And so as I die, I think I would experience pain, not only in a physical sense, but in a total sense - the pain of refinement, of purification, of transformation and renewal - the pain of transcending my mortal desires and attachments and turning my gaze towards the Divine. That, in a conceptual framework that does not include any sort of tie in heaven, is what purgatory would be - not a physical place, but a soulfull process that we must go through where our eyes and heart and mind and soul and spirit and flesh are acclimated to our new dwelling place in heaven.
And again, that's all for now - gotta get some food in my son again (the boy is going through another growth spurt . . . again!)
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
1.30.2005
1.29.2005
The Bubble of Time
A reply I left on another blog (http://mattandrews.blogspot.com/) prompted me to get off my tush and write in my blog again (illness & work & just plain laziness being the demons keeping me away from posting!).
So here goes . . .
I've been reading up on my theoretical physics (yes, I am a geek - even my wife and boss agree!). And it's interesting . . . and I think there are implications for theology and spirituality in there . . . so I'll try to tease some out as I talk about free will and choice.
Theoretical physics tells us that space and time and bound together. They form the dynamic background in which all of creation (all matter) lives out its life. God, being the genesis of creation, in my humble opinion, must be outside of time - otherwise, he would be bound by the same laws of physics that we all are.
Since God is outside of spacetime, God is a timeless now - a state of being where there is no past or future, only present - a "God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow" kinda thing.
I like to imagine all of creation (all of spacetime & matter) as a bubble. Inside the bubble is everything - spacetime, matter, alternate universes, etc.. Outside the bubble is God. Now, since God can see everything (being omnipotent, omnipresent, etc.), I like to believe that God can literally see everything. Everything that has happened, that is happening, and that will happen, but also everything that did not happen, that still might happen, that may have happened, etc.
God can see every single consequence of every single action and choice ever made, as well as the consequences of all the choices/action that were not made. So God could see a world where WW I did not happen, as well as a world where it did. God can see a world where I was aborted, and one where I was not. Every choice, no matter how insignificant it appears to us, can be seen by God in a separate thread - a separate world/parallel dimension kinda thing (if you remember the TV show Sliders, it can help you get an idea of what I'm thinking about).
Theoretical physics even intimates that every choice we make may actually split off into another dimension - which by this time means there are countless worlds in existence, and every second there are countless more being born.
But I digress. :-)
I like to imagine God whispering to every single one of us to make the right choice, to make good and holy choices, to make choices that will serve others and not selfishness.
So God can see every eventuality, but God does not predestine/foreordain that there is a thread to our choices and actions that we must follow - God gives us the free will to choose which one to take. God may *want* us to take a particular thread (or one among several holy threads) - but God will not force us to do so, and God will not send us into our lives with one mapped out that we must follow. God is not a dictator, but someone who offers us the freedom to bring light into the darkness of the world around us.
One last thought - the book I'm reading right now (The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene - only into it on the 2nd chapter), says that for quantum physics, and for the movement of the smallest particles that make us matter, time is not an issue. Past and present are equally unneeded for them. (I hope this makes sense - I'm always reminded of the "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" quote!) Another way of saying it is that through mathematical experiments, it looks like when dealing with quarks and gluons and what have you, time can flow either forward or backward and it doesn't matter to the operations of the smallest bits of matter.
Which brings me to the question of prayer.
Can we really influence events through our prayer? Augustine wrote somewhere that God does not need our prayers. God does not need our praise, our petitions, our thanksgiving, our wonder and awe, our adoration - none of it - god is secure in Gods'self, God is complete and whole - no need for our prayers. God gives us the gift of prayer *for us* - not for God.
So when we pray, our prayers are for us - for us to change - for us to wrap ourselves to situations and people, not for God to be warped and influenced. I believe that God listens to our prayers, and I believe that God responds to them, but I think that it's more of a personal response. *We* should be changed and challenged by our prayers, not wait on God to produce a miracle and do the work for us. God does not want to crush us with displays of Divine Power - God wants to move us and put divinity to work through us.
That being said, I firmly believe that prayer can work both ways - we can pray for future events, we can pray for current events, but we can also pray for past events. We can strive to send our spiritual influence to give strength to others, to help shed divine light on problematic situations, to bring the presence of God to those in need, to move the hearts and minds of others who are perpetrating injustice and harm . . . and we can do this irrelevant of spacetime - our prayers can go around the world and beyond, because they are not limited by the spacetime we find ourselves limited to.
I'll write more later - it's time for a late breakfast, and my son wants waffles and eggs. :-)
Blessings & Peace to everyone this fine Saturday morning,
Hugo
So here goes . . .
I've been reading up on my theoretical physics (yes, I am a geek - even my wife and boss agree!). And it's interesting . . . and I think there are implications for theology and spirituality in there . . . so I'll try to tease some out as I talk about free will and choice.
Theoretical physics tells us that space and time and bound together. They form the dynamic background in which all of creation (all matter) lives out its life. God, being the genesis of creation, in my humble opinion, must be outside of time - otherwise, he would be bound by the same laws of physics that we all are.
Since God is outside of spacetime, God is a timeless now - a state of being where there is no past or future, only present - a "God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow" kinda thing.
I like to imagine all of creation (all of spacetime & matter) as a bubble. Inside the bubble is everything - spacetime, matter, alternate universes, etc.. Outside the bubble is God. Now, since God can see everything (being omnipotent, omnipresent, etc.), I like to believe that God can literally see everything. Everything that has happened, that is happening, and that will happen, but also everything that did not happen, that still might happen, that may have happened, etc.
God can see every single consequence of every single action and choice ever made, as well as the consequences of all the choices/action that were not made. So God could see a world where WW I did not happen, as well as a world where it did. God can see a world where I was aborted, and one where I was not. Every choice, no matter how insignificant it appears to us, can be seen by God in a separate thread - a separate world/parallel dimension kinda thing (if you remember the TV show Sliders, it can help you get an idea of what I'm thinking about).
Theoretical physics even intimates that every choice we make may actually split off into another dimension - which by this time means there are countless worlds in existence, and every second there are countless more being born.
But I digress. :-)
I like to imagine God whispering to every single one of us to make the right choice, to make good and holy choices, to make choices that will serve others and not selfishness.
So God can see every eventuality, but God does not predestine/foreordain that there is a thread to our choices and actions that we must follow - God gives us the free will to choose which one to take. God may *want* us to take a particular thread (or one among several holy threads) - but God will not force us to do so, and God will not send us into our lives with one mapped out that we must follow. God is not a dictator, but someone who offers us the freedom to bring light into the darkness of the world around us.
One last thought - the book I'm reading right now (The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene - only into it on the 2nd chapter), says that for quantum physics, and for the movement of the smallest particles that make us matter, time is not an issue. Past and present are equally unneeded for them. (I hope this makes sense - I'm always reminded of the "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" quote!) Another way of saying it is that through mathematical experiments, it looks like when dealing with quarks and gluons and what have you, time can flow either forward or backward and it doesn't matter to the operations of the smallest bits of matter.
Which brings me to the question of prayer.
Can we really influence events through our prayer? Augustine wrote somewhere that God does not need our prayers. God does not need our praise, our petitions, our thanksgiving, our wonder and awe, our adoration - none of it - god is secure in Gods'self, God is complete and whole - no need for our prayers. God gives us the gift of prayer *for us* - not for God.
So when we pray, our prayers are for us - for us to change - for us to wrap ourselves to situations and people, not for God to be warped and influenced. I believe that God listens to our prayers, and I believe that God responds to them, but I think that it's more of a personal response. *We* should be changed and challenged by our prayers, not wait on God to produce a miracle and do the work for us. God does not want to crush us with displays of Divine Power - God wants to move us and put divinity to work through us.
That being said, I firmly believe that prayer can work both ways - we can pray for future events, we can pray for current events, but we can also pray for past events. We can strive to send our spiritual influence to give strength to others, to help shed divine light on problematic situations, to bring the presence of God to those in need, to move the hearts and minds of others who are perpetrating injustice and harm . . . and we can do this irrelevant of spacetime - our prayers can go around the world and beyond, because they are not limited by the spacetime we find ourselves limited to.
I'll write more later - it's time for a late breakfast, and my son wants waffles and eggs. :-)
Blessings & Peace to everyone this fine Saturday morning,
Hugo
1.13.2005
A Blog Apart
I like the story on !!El Blogo Catastrofico!!, so I'm linking to it. :-)
Enjoy! :-)
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
Enjoy! :-)
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
1.09.2005
Still Awake and Writing
I'm re-formatting my brother-in-laws computer (which he's giving to his cousin) and it's being ornery, but I need to finish it tonight because the cousin is leaving in the morning. So while I let some software install/run I thought I'd update a bit more.
In prayer, God speaks only one word: the life of the one who prays (to paraphrase Karl Rahner). So it seems simple: the way to discern if any spiritual path is valid is to look at the fruits that in engenders in itrs practicioners. Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Huichol, Wiccan, etc. and ad infinitum - any spiritual path is to be judged by its fruits: does it lead to justice, compassion, the good, the right, wholeness, holiness, etc. . . . if it does, then it is valid.
Another thought: Christianity and I are in a relationship.
In order for a relationship to grow and mature, people must keep growing and maturing; the people involved must celebrate what has gone by, but they must also forge ahead, for to live in past experiences only is to kill the relationship. An unhealthy relationship is one in which the people are so focused on each other that they forget all else: other friends, work, school, time alone, etc. . . . such a relationship becomes unhealthy/unbalanced. In a healthy/balanced relationship, the people involved nurture each other - they draw their strength and energy from each other, but they then direct it outward to others, never losing the core relationship, but never dwelling on it exclusively.
Now, if I only focus on Christianities' past, what has gone before me, the relationship will die. I must celebrate what has gone before, but I must also make new experiences, find new ways of expressing and celebrating this relationship.
Likewise, if I focus too exclusively on Christianity (to the exclusion of all other religions), I'll stagnate, and the power and beauty I find in Christianity will rot within me. It's only by directing that energy outward that I can truly be transformed and empowered by my relationship with Christianity, but this means forming relations outside my primary relationship, which means with other religious paths. I must take what I've learned from my primary relationship with Christianity to these other relationships, but I must also take what I've learned in these other religions back to my primary religion; thus my relationship with Christianity is kept healthy/balanced and vital, full of new life, vigor, beauty and love.
I won't spurn my lover (Christ) - I don't want to fall into religious adultery, but I will maintain outside friendship/relationships . . .
I've discovered that to be in love is to be full of life, vitality and energy. To misuse or misdirect this love is to destroy the life/vitality/power/beauty/grace that flows from it. To live this in-love-ness correctly, however, is to geometrically enhance it's power.
So it must be with my lover. We must empower each other, I drawing strength from Christianity and it drawing strength from me. Only then is it true and good and liberating and empowering and alive and life-giving and affirming.
Christianity and I are in a relationship.
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
In prayer, God speaks only one word: the life of the one who prays (to paraphrase Karl Rahner). So it seems simple: the way to discern if any spiritual path is valid is to look at the fruits that in engenders in itrs practicioners. Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Huichol, Wiccan, etc. and ad infinitum - any spiritual path is to be judged by its fruits: does it lead to justice, compassion, the good, the right, wholeness, holiness, etc. . . . if it does, then it is valid.
Another thought: Christianity and I are in a relationship.
In order for a relationship to grow and mature, people must keep growing and maturing; the people involved must celebrate what has gone by, but they must also forge ahead, for to live in past experiences only is to kill the relationship. An unhealthy relationship is one in which the people are so focused on each other that they forget all else: other friends, work, school, time alone, etc. . . . such a relationship becomes unhealthy/unbalanced. In a healthy/balanced relationship, the people involved nurture each other - they draw their strength and energy from each other, but they then direct it outward to others, never losing the core relationship, but never dwelling on it exclusively.
Now, if I only focus on Christianities' past, what has gone before me, the relationship will die. I must celebrate what has gone before, but I must also make new experiences, find new ways of expressing and celebrating this relationship.
Likewise, if I focus too exclusively on Christianity (to the exclusion of all other religions), I'll stagnate, and the power and beauty I find in Christianity will rot within me. It's only by directing that energy outward that I can truly be transformed and empowered by my relationship with Christianity, but this means forming relations outside my primary relationship, which means with other religious paths. I must take what I've learned from my primary relationship with Christianity to these other relationships, but I must also take what I've learned in these other religions back to my primary religion; thus my relationship with Christianity is kept healthy/balanced and vital, full of new life, vigor, beauty and love.
I won't spurn my lover (Christ) - I don't want to fall into religious adultery, but I will maintain outside friendship/relationships . . .
I've discovered that to be in love is to be full of life, vitality and energy. To misuse or misdirect this love is to destroy the life/vitality/power/beauty/grace that flows from it. To live this in-love-ness correctly, however, is to geometrically enhance it's power.
So it must be with my lover. We must empower each other, I drawing strength from Christianity and it drawing strength from me. Only then is it true and good and liberating and empowering and alive and life-giving and affirming.
Christianity and I are in a relationship.
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
Eternity
God has planted eternity in the human heart. - Ecclesiastes 3:11
One of the books I'm currently reading is The Purpose Driven Life. The 4th Chapter is titled Made to Last Forever. These are my thoughts/reflections on it . . .
God exists in timelessness (which is different from eternity - eternity lasts forever - timelessness is th absence of time). God's own life (grace) is a part of us. So we long to be part of that timeless existence - we yearn and desire to shift ourselves into God's time (kairos time). Individually and as a human family, we wait in joyful hope for the day when we will leave this imperfect and timebound world and move on to our final destination.
I like the sentence/idea of "living in light of eternity." It moves and shifts our perception (there's that word again!) from a selfish, self-centered worldview to one that is more inclusive of others; one that is other- and service-oriented.
However . . .
The author suggest that if this life was all there is, he would encourage people to "live it up."
The post-modern in me vehemently disagrees. Going back to Richard Rorty (another book I'm reading irony, contingency, & solidarity), we can still choose to passionately live a life dedicated to ideals of love, service and sacrifice. Even if this life were all God gave us, we could still choose to live it in such a way that we made a difference here and now, as well as later on for our children and their children. Timeless suffering or joy is a good motivator, but ultimately we could still choose to follow Jesus, and have our "reward" be nothing more than knowing that we had lived a life of congruency.
Again, though, I agree with another quote: Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity. Our actions here do have eternal consequences. As a Catholic, one of the teachings of my church is that our actions here - our sins and our good deeds - will determine our final resting place - either we're gonna be air-conditioned for all eternity, or we're gonna fry. :-) We condition ourselves in this life to live the next - so if we persist in unforgiveness (both giving and receiving) we will forever shut the door to the One who is Forgiveness. Accordingly, if we practice forgiveness and loving-kindness here and now, we will be able to accept the forgiveness of the One.
I also think our actions have temporal consequences, consequences that we can feel here and now, though these mostly involve conscience and quality of interior living.
"All life is suffering" (to quote the Buddha), and part of that suffering flows from our "unright" actions. Even if there was no hell, this life could become a lifetime of hell, made so by our own actions, our own thoughts, our own conscience.
Until tomorrow . . .
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
One of the books I'm currently reading is The Purpose Driven Life. The 4th Chapter is titled Made to Last Forever. These are my thoughts/reflections on it . . .
God exists in timelessness (which is different from eternity - eternity lasts forever - timelessness is th absence of time). God's own life (grace) is a part of us. So we long to be part of that timeless existence - we yearn and desire to shift ourselves into God's time (kairos time). Individually and as a human family, we wait in joyful hope for the day when we will leave this imperfect and timebound world and move on to our final destination.
I like the sentence/idea of "living in light of eternity." It moves and shifts our perception (there's that word again!) from a selfish, self-centered worldview to one that is more inclusive of others; one that is other- and service-oriented.
However . . .
The author suggest that if this life was all there is, he would encourage people to "live it up."
The post-modern in me vehemently disagrees. Going back to Richard Rorty (another book I'm reading irony, contingency, & solidarity), we can still choose to passionately live a life dedicated to ideals of love, service and sacrifice. Even if this life were all God gave us, we could still choose to live it in such a way that we made a difference here and now, as well as later on for our children and their children. Timeless suffering or joy is a good motivator, but ultimately we could still choose to follow Jesus, and have our "reward" be nothing more than knowing that we had lived a life of congruency.
Again, though, I agree with another quote: Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity. Our actions here do have eternal consequences. As a Catholic, one of the teachings of my church is that our actions here - our sins and our good deeds - will determine our final resting place - either we're gonna be air-conditioned for all eternity, or we're gonna fry. :-) We condition ourselves in this life to live the next - so if we persist in unforgiveness (both giving and receiving) we will forever shut the door to the One who is Forgiveness. Accordingly, if we practice forgiveness and loving-kindness here and now, we will be able to accept the forgiveness of the One.
I also think our actions have temporal consequences, consequences that we can feel here and now, though these mostly involve conscience and quality of interior living.
"All life is suffering" (to quote the Buddha), and part of that suffering flows from our "unright" actions. Even if there was no hell, this life could become a lifetime of hell, made so by our own actions, our own thoughts, our own conscience.
Until tomorrow . . .
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
1.06.2005
The Difference
I was at Barnes & Nobles the other day, and I overheard a conversation between two young women (prob. college-aged) while I was browsing the theology/religion/spirituality section.
One of the girls (speaking to her companion) said something like, "the difference between me and you is that I have accepted Jesus into my heart . . ."
And that sparked the following thought . . .
We are created, hand crafted, one of a kind collectibles. We are unique creations of God. We have God's own breath and Spirit moving within us. It's Matthew Fox's "original blessing" all over again.
So I take it to mean that we already have Jesus in our hearts. Christian or not, believer or not, God's life - grace, God's own presence - is moving and animating us.
So it seems to become an issue of perception, not acceptance. When we are awakened to the reality of God with us, it's only a shift in perception. It goes back to having a sacramental worldview, a view that says that all creation is charged with the beauty, the majesty, the grandeur of God - including us. (We are part of creation, after all!)
The individual sacraments, especially the sacraments of initiation, then become moments when we are awakened to the mystery of God already residing in the depths of our soul. They help shift our perception to the point where we can recognize, not accept, that we are already members of God's family, members of the Body of Christ for Christian believers. They continually call us to this shift, this metanoia, this conversion. Every Eucharist, every Reconciliation - they challenge us to move our awareness of God's presence deeper and deeper.
I remember once, in college, going on a retreat to a camp somewhere in Texas. During one of our break times several of us walked on a small ledge overlooking an ancient river bed. We had to walk the ledge with our bodies pressed against the rock face, inching side to side along the precarious perch. I was doing fine, until we stopped for an unknown reason. I happened to glance up, and inches from my right hand I saw a spider about 1.5 times the size of my hand just sitting there.
I don't like spiders.
My perception shifted - I was no longer walking on a narrow ledge in relative comfort . . . I was inches away from a feared enemy. I froze. I couldn't move on. If I hd been alone, I might have stood rooted to that spot, jumping if the spider got too close, or inching away as fast as I could if it finally moved away.
I also remember a story I read in The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (or it might've been in Stephen Covey's son's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Teens - can't remember which one), about a man who boards a bus with his two children. The man sits down, oblivious to the bus, his kids and everyone else on the bus, while his children proceed to run, jump, shout and generally annoy everyone else on the bus. A woman finally works up the nerve to confront the father, asking him to reign in his children. The man proceeds to tell her, and everyone else on the bus, that they are coming from the hospital - they have just learned of his wife's death. He says that he does not know how to handle it, and neither do his children.
Again, the perception on that bus was changed for the other passengers. They no longer thought of this man in negative terms; they only had compassion for his plight and for the suffering of his children.
A case of perception shifting the reality of each person.
I think the Church's emphasis on discernment fits this well - as we develop our intuition and intellect, it becomes easier to listen to the still, small voice of god enshrined in our very bones - we become better able to follow the Spirit's promptings - we become better able to join our lives and our stories to The Story, the life of God and the story of redemption and salvation being played out in our world.
I've been corrupted :-) to the point where I can't preach an elite salvation, a salvation of gnosis, where only those with the right passwords can get in. I have an inkling that God may be more just and merciful that we can ever imagine.
I would like to believe, along with my Muslim brethren, that even the Devil will, @ the end of time, be converted, shaken from it's self-imposed exile of pride and unforgiveness.
Speaking of which, I'm moving toward seeing Lucifer as it's portrayed in Job - the Satan, the anadvocate, the tempter, the tester - someone/something in God's employment that does what God needs it to do . . .
But more on that another time.
Wishing everyone a (belated) happy New Year . . .
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
One of the girls (speaking to her companion) said something like, "the difference between me and you is that I have accepted Jesus into my heart . . ."
And that sparked the following thought . . .
We are created, hand crafted, one of a kind collectibles. We are unique creations of God. We have God's own breath and Spirit moving within us. It's Matthew Fox's "original blessing" all over again.
So I take it to mean that we already have Jesus in our hearts. Christian or not, believer or not, God's life - grace, God's own presence - is moving and animating us.
So it seems to become an issue of perception, not acceptance. When we are awakened to the reality of God with us, it's only a shift in perception. It goes back to having a sacramental worldview, a view that says that all creation is charged with the beauty, the majesty, the grandeur of God - including us. (We are part of creation, after all!)
The individual sacraments, especially the sacraments of initiation, then become moments when we are awakened to the mystery of God already residing in the depths of our soul. They help shift our perception to the point where we can recognize, not accept, that we are already members of God's family, members of the Body of Christ for Christian believers. They continually call us to this shift, this metanoia, this conversion. Every Eucharist, every Reconciliation - they challenge us to move our awareness of God's presence deeper and deeper.
I remember once, in college, going on a retreat to a camp somewhere in Texas. During one of our break times several of us walked on a small ledge overlooking an ancient river bed. We had to walk the ledge with our bodies pressed against the rock face, inching side to side along the precarious perch. I was doing fine, until we stopped for an unknown reason. I happened to glance up, and inches from my right hand I saw a spider about 1.5 times the size of my hand just sitting there.
I don't like spiders.
My perception shifted - I was no longer walking on a narrow ledge in relative comfort . . . I was inches away from a feared enemy. I froze. I couldn't move on. If I hd been alone, I might have stood rooted to that spot, jumping if the spider got too close, or inching away as fast as I could if it finally moved away.
I also remember a story I read in The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (or it might've been in Stephen Covey's son's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Teens - can't remember which one), about a man who boards a bus with his two children. The man sits down, oblivious to the bus, his kids and everyone else on the bus, while his children proceed to run, jump, shout and generally annoy everyone else on the bus. A woman finally works up the nerve to confront the father, asking him to reign in his children. The man proceeds to tell her, and everyone else on the bus, that they are coming from the hospital - they have just learned of his wife's death. He says that he does not know how to handle it, and neither do his children.
Again, the perception on that bus was changed for the other passengers. They no longer thought of this man in negative terms; they only had compassion for his plight and for the suffering of his children.
A case of perception shifting the reality of each person.
I think the Church's emphasis on discernment fits this well - as we develop our intuition and intellect, it becomes easier to listen to the still, small voice of god enshrined in our very bones - we become better able to follow the Spirit's promptings - we become better able to join our lives and our stories to The Story, the life of God and the story of redemption and salvation being played out in our world.
I've been corrupted :-) to the point where I can't preach an elite salvation, a salvation of gnosis, where only those with the right passwords can get in. I have an inkling that God may be more just and merciful that we can ever imagine.
I would like to believe, along with my Muslim brethren, that even the Devil will, @ the end of time, be converted, shaken from it's self-imposed exile of pride and unforgiveness.
Speaking of which, I'm moving toward seeing Lucifer as it's portrayed in Job - the Satan, the anadvocate, the tempter, the tester - someone/something in God's employment that does what God needs it to do . . .
But more on that another time.
Wishing everyone a (belated) happy New Year . . .
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
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