Compassion

June 14, 2015 –The Future of Religion

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06/14/15 Dr. Matthew Fox
The Future of Religion

Ancient as the home is the temple… as the workbench is the altar… Older than written language is spoken prayer; older than painting is the thought of a nameless one… diverse symbols represent that which stands beyond and within. Yet…heart communicates with heart. —“An Eternal Verity” by Waldemar Argow

The question of our time is where are we going with religion? Since the Age of Enlightenment, effectiveness is the measure of everything. But even Einstein said there are 2 powers of the human mind—intellect and intuition, and not to overvalue the intellectual.

Howard Thurman, a great mystic and the genius behind the Civil Rights movement, wrote, “man builds his little shelters …his little altars, and worships his little gods.” But ultimately, each is a human soul stripped to its substance before God.

Are our altars too little? The altar is an archetype; it’s a focusing device. What altar are we taught to worship at today? Wall Street rather than Main street? The altar of human anthropocentrism? In California we are rediscovering how sacred water is. Let us learn how not to take water for granted. Maybe there is only one sin—“taking for granted”. Do we worship at the altar of the divine feminine/sacred masculine or at the altar of the toxic masculine? Rigid sexual roles or of sexual preference?

Rene Descartes, the father of Western philosophy, threw out the philosophy of aesthetics and beauty, of art, music. Our societies are controlled by our reptilian brain. The reptilian brain is win/lose and power trips. But when you wrestle with an alligator, there’s only one winner.

Thomas Aquinas said the reason for the universe was joy—God’s and ours. —That the noblest aesthetic is joy. Do you worship at the altar of joy? Or at the altar of addiction? Society is very good at selling addiction—drugs, sex, shopping. The alternative is the god of freedom. Aquinas said that God is the artist of artists. Every artist loves his painting, every singer her song. How could God, artist of everything, hate anything?

Do you worship the god of comfort and couch-potato-itis? I don’t believe Jesus ever said, “Blessed are the comfortable.” Act on your moral outrage, turn your passion into compassion; into a fire within. Aquinas said nothing great was ever done without anger, but we’re told to sit on our anger and eat potato chips ’til we burst. Meister Eckhart spoke of the “spark of the soul”, the manger inside of us where the Christ is born. It is yourself, your work, everything you do.

I’ve boiled the prophetic work of our time down to what I call the four E’s. First is Ecumenism. Unity has always been open to it. Ecology is an obvious E; for not so obvious reasons Economics is too. It is time we have an economy that works, not just for the 1%, but for all the two legged people, and all the four legged, and all that fly in the sky or swim in the sea. We are capable of an altar that large!

The fourth E is Education. Bring the intuitive brain back! Art, celebration, the joy of life and of creativity.

The new monasticism is to step from old religions and secular cynicism. We can all be contemplative, active spiritual warriors. Howard Thurman says we can move to a God as big as the universe and invite our hearts to grow as big as the universe, too. “God is delighted to watch your souls enlarge,” says Meister Eckhart.

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June 14, 2015 – The Future of Religion

by


06/14/15 Dr. Matthew Fox
The Future of Religion

Ancient as the home is the temple… as the workbench is the altar… Older than written language is spoken prayer; older than painting is the thought of a nameless one… diverse symbols represent that which stands beyond and within. Yet…heart communicates with heart. —“An Eternal Verity” by Waldemar Argow

The question of our time is where are we going with religion? Since the Age of Enlightenment, effectiveness is the measure of everything. But even Einstein said there are 2 powers of the human mind—intellect and intuition, and not to overvalue the intellectual.

Howard Thurman, a great mystic and the genius behind the Civil Rights movement, wrote, “man builds his little shelters …his little altars, and worships his little gods.” But ultimately, each is a human soul stripped to its substance before God.

Are our altars too little? The altar is an archetype; it’s a focusing device. What altar are we taught to worship at today? Wall Street rather than Main street? The altar of human anthropocentrism? In California we are rediscovering how sacred water is. Let us learn how not to take water for granted. Maybe there is only one sin—“taking for granted”. Do we worship at the altar of the divine feminine/sacred masculine or at the altar of the toxic masculine? Rigid sexual roles or of sexual preference?

Rene Descartes, the father of Western philosophy, threw out the philosophy of aesthetics and beauty, of art, music. Our societies are controlled by our reptilian brain. The reptilian brain is win/lose and power trips. But when you wrestle with an alligator, there’s only one winner.

Thomas Aquinas said the reason for the universe was joy—God’s and ours. —That the noblest aesthetic is joy. Do you worship at the altar of joy? Or at the altar of addiction? Society is very good at selling addiction—drugs, sex, shopping. The alternative is the god of freedom. Aquinas said that God is the artist of artists. Every artist loves his painting, every singer her song. How could God, artist of everything, hate anything?

Do you worship the god of comfort and couch-potato-itis? I don’t believe Jesus ever said, “Blessed are the comfortable.” Act on your moral outrage, turn your passion into compassion; into a fire within. Aquinas said nothing great was ever done without anger, but we’re told to sit on our anger and eat potato chips ’til we burst. Meister Eckhart spoke of the “spark of the soul”, the manger inside of us where the Christ is born. It is yourself, your work, everything you do.

I’ve boiled the prophetic work of our time down to what I call the four E’s. First is Ecumenism. Unity has always been open to it. Ecology is an obvious E; for not so obvious reasons Economics is too. It is time we have an economy that works, not just for the 1%, but for all the two legged people, and all the four legged, and all that fly in the sky or swim in the sea. We are capable of an altar that large!

The fourth E is Education. Bring the intuitive brain back! Art, celebration, the joy of life and of creativity.

The new monasticism is to step from old religions and secular cynicism. We can all be contemplative, active spiritual warriors. Howard Thurman says we can move to a God as big as the universe and invite our hearts to grow as big as the universe, too. “God is delighted to watch your souls enlarge,” says Meister Eckhart.
 

April 19, 2015 – Take A God Break

by

04/19/15 Rev. David McArthur
Take A God Break

There is tremendous spiritual energy flowing into the Earth in this time. Things keep speeding up and that brings up our “stuff”—things that don’t reflect the spiritual beings that we are. It’s now time to heal our relationships and insecurities and the unenlightened parts of us. We have the tools and know what to do, but things comes faster and faster. The spiritual truth about handling this is to slow down and let this transformative energy in.

Jesus met each of his challenges by a change of his consciousness and went through baptism to receive greater spiritual energy. Then rather than party and celebrate, he went alone into the desert for forty days to be in this consciousness. The story of his inner struggle there is told as an argument he had with the devil. Each of the 3 times in the story that the devil challenged his greater consciousness, Christ shifts to the consciousness of the divine. He took a God break and took hold of his new consciousness. So take a God break when you are challenged, when someone at work or in the family brings up your “stuff”.

Ejaz Naqvi, in his book A Look Inside the Koran and the Bible, says that by far, the most repeated passages are those that are the most compassionate, the most merciful, and that it’s not just that God is compassionate, but the God is compassion. When we are in the expression of mercy we are in the divine consciousness.

Taoism says to go from duality to the divine consciousness. “The Tao doesn’t take sides, it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn’t take sides, she welcomes both saints and sinners.” [and] “The Tao is like a bellows…the more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand. Hold on to the center.” Center in your heart; connect with the infinite.

So if you are talking of it (thinking), you are not there. This is how: empty your mind for 30 seconds. Did you still have thoughts? Well, that’s the way we are. But focus on the experience of what God is, on the presence of God—the feelings of compassion, love, and kindness. To really feel it, hug yourself! Breathe quiet compassion. When your stuff comes up, hug yourself. Feel the difference between the thinking and the feeling? It is more powerful to feel compassion than to think it. To be powerful and effective is to feel the power and presence of God. Take a God break. Hug yourself. Feel the compassion.

Breathe quiet compassion. 30 seconds will do it. That’s what we mean by slow down. Don’t be fixing things or figuring anything out then, but go slower. Everything you need is right there when your stuff comes up. Take a God break. Breathe quiet compassion. It’s a doorway to peace!

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April 19, 2015 – Take A God Break

by


04/19/15 Rev. David McArthur
Take A God Break

There is tremendous spiritual energy flowing into the Earth in this time. Things keep speeding up and that brings up our “stuff”—things that don’t reflect the spiritual beings that we are. It’s now time to heal our relationships and insecurities and the unenlightened parts of us. We have the tools and know what to do, but things comes faster and faster. The spiritual truth about handling this is to slow down and let this transformative energy in.

Jesus met each of his challenges by a change of his consciousness and went through baptism to receive greater spiritual energy. Then rather than party and celebrate, he went alone into the desert for forty days to be in this consciousness. The story of his inner struggle there is told as an argument he had with the devil. Each of the 3 times in the story that the devil challenged his greater consciousness, Christ shifts to the consciousness of the divine. He took a God break and took hold of his new consciousness. So take a God break when you are challenged, when someone at work or in the family brings up your “stuff”.

Ejaz Naqvi, in his book A Look Inside the Koran and the Bible, says that by far, the most repeated passages are those that are the most compassionate, the most merciful, and that it’s not just that God is compassionate, but the God is compassion. When we are in the expression of mercy we are in the divine consciousness.

Taoism says to go from duality to the divine consciousness. “The Tao doesn’t take sides, it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn’t take sides, she welcomes both saints and sinners.” [and] “The Tao is like a bellows…the more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand. Hold on to the center.” Center in your heart; connect with the infinite.

So if you are talking of it (thinking), you are not there. This is how: empty your mind for 30 seconds. Did you still have thoughts? Well, that’s the way we are. But focus on the experience of what God is, on the presence of God—the feelings of compassion, love, and kindness. To really feel it, hug yourself! Breathe quiet compassion. When your stuff comes up, hug yourself. Feel the difference between the thinking and the feeling? It is more powerful to feel compassion than to think it. To be powerful and effective is to feel the power and presence of God. Take a God break. Hug yourself. Feel the compassion.

Breathe quiet compassion. 30 seconds will do it. That’s what we mean by slow down. Don’t be fixing things or figuring anything out then, but go slower. Everything you need is right there when your stuff comes up. Take a God break. Breathe quiet compassion. It’s a doorway to peace!
 

April 12, 2015 – Initiation In Love

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04/12/15 Rev. David McArthur
Initiation In Love

Florence Scovel Schinn wrote that whatever your problem, it is a test through love. If you meet it with love, your problem is solved. If not, the problem continues. Your problem is your initiation in love.

The first sign we have a problem is criticism. We define someone or something as “not ok” and put energy into confirming that. Catherine Ponder says that when you run down others’ problems or affairs you open your consciousness to become run down. It’s fear that constricts us, and then less good in health and finances flows into our lives.

But even where we feel powerless, we do have power. In this community we know we have the power to hold the consciousness to transform. Then we all are strengthened.

A man was seriously depressed and wasn’t working. At the same time, the 19 year old son was on the verge of losing his college career, and the emotionally disturbed 13 year old’s anger was becoming increasingly violent. Their 12 year old sister’s teachers reported she was withdrawing from the world. Additionally, the mother had only one kidney, and it was diseased. Then the lady heard “Love has the power to overcome any problem.” Desperate, she committed to find out if it were true. She had no options. Every time she found herself being critical of someone, she would write in a notebook, “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” Every time. Thought after thought, day after day. Within six weeks her husband got out of bed, bathed and cut his hair and started work! He opened to a flow. The 19 year old got a job that covered his tuition! And in the last three weeks the 13 year old had not had a single violent episode. The girl’s teacher called to say she was now making friends. The woman’s kidney healed and she got a job!

With our fear we feed the negative energy. But we do have a choice. Charles Fillmore said, “The more we talk about love the more it comes into our experience… You may trust love to get you out of your difficulty.” It’s a universal truth and an application of Jesus’ teaching about loving your enemies. The Tao teaches to love the world as yourself. Then you can care for all things. It’s the basis of the Ho’o pono pono practice that “when I change, the world around me changes.”

I’m betting there’s someone in your life you feel is in need of your criticism. (And the most difficult one is yourself.) “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” It’s a sacred spiritual assignment because we have chosen to step into the initiation of love.
 

April 12, 2015 – Initiation In Love

by

04/12/15 Rev. David McArthur
Initiation In Love

Florence Scovel Schinn wrote that whatever your problem, it is a test through love. If you meet it with love, your problem is solved. If not, the problem continues. Your problem is your initiation in love.

The first sign we have a problem is criticism. We define someone or something as “not ok” and put energy into confirming that. Catherine Ponder says that when you run down others’ problems or affairs you open your consciousness to become run down. It’s fear that constricts us, and then less good in health and finances flows into our lives.
But even where we feel powerless, we do have power. In this community we know we have the power to hold the consciousness to transform. Then we all are strengthened.

A man was seriously depressed and wasn’t working. At the same time, the 19 year old son was on the verge of losing his college career, and the emotionally disturbed 13 year old’s anger was becoming increasingly violent. Their 12 year old sister’s teachers reported she was withdrawing from the world. Additionally, the mother had only one kidney, and it was diseased. Then the lady heard “Love has the power to overcome any problem.” Desperate, she committed to find out if it were true. She had no options. Every time she found herself being critical of someone, she would write in a notebook, “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” Every time. Thought after thought, day after day. Within six weeks her husband got out of bed, bathed and cut his hair and started work! He opened to a flow. The 19 year old got a job that covered his tuition! And in the last three weeks the 13 year old had not had a single violent episode. The girl’s teacher called to say she was now making friends. The woman’s kidney healed and she got a job!

With our fear we feed the negative energy. But we do have a choice. Charles Fillmore said, “The more we talk about love the more it comes into our experience… You may trust love to get you out of your difficulty.” It’s a universal truth and an application of Jesus’ teaching about loving your enemies. The Tao teaches to love the world as yourself. Then you can care for all things. It’s the basis of the Ho’o pono pono practice that “when I change, the world around me changes.”

I’m betting there’s someone in your life you feel is in need of your criticism. (And the most difficult one is yourself.) “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” “I behold you with the eyes of love and I glory in your perfection.” It’s a sacred spiritual assignment because we have chosen to step into the initiation of love.

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March 22, 2015 – Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Embracing the Pain

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03/22/15 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Healing the Pain

Our assignment last week was to heal our pain from past relationships. A change of perception will move us to the wholeness that we are. “Beauty & the Beast” talks of this spiritual awakening. It pictures the Kingdom of Heaven where divine love is caring for and supporting us in every moment. We can see the gifts (but not the giver). We can enter into our heart, into the feeling of goodness, the divine presence, by breathing the feeling of ease. But to grasp spiritual awareness is to forfeit life as we have known it.

Beauty (our feeling side) consciously enters the presence of the ugly fearsome Beast. How do we move into the conscious presence of “ugly” (the pain we carry from past experiences)? We must accept and be aware of it consciously. Breathe ease and hold the feelings in the heart. If we are in our head we go into the blame circle. But in the heart the spiritual energy holds it without judgment. It just is.

Beauty’s perception of the Beast begins to change. She still sees ugly, but also sees nobility, caring, and wisdom. Simply holding the ugly in our heart we begin to see more. Our perception changes. Beauty asks for some time to return to her family and what she misses. The Beast won’t refuse her anything, but warns “if you don’t return I will die.” If we don’t return to healing, the opportunity to heal changes. So Beauty returns to her family and soon forgets her promise to go back to the castle. She dreams one night she is in the castle and the Beast has died. So the next day she hurries back to the castle with intention, searching out of care for what had previously been frightening and ugly to her. She has grown.

Drafted to serve in Viet Nam, Arthur’s love for his wife Marina carried him through the ugliness he found there. Unfortunately, she found another and broke his heart. He used meaningless relationships, drugs and alcohol to cope, until he realized he had to change. He found a new relationship and happily remarried. Then Marina arrived to make amends. His terrible heartache returned. He had moved on but had not healed. The purpose of forgiveness is not to develop excellent coping mechanisms, but to heal the pain and find freedom from it. He went to his heart, where he had compassion for his pain that was real. He healed, and now says, “whenever I recall those days, I can do it with a smile…I can experience that goodness because it is here.”

Beauty finds the Beast near death. Compassion washes over her. You too can embrace the ugly within and feel the compassion in your heart. The tears of compassion break the ugliness and there is only healing, beauty, love, wholeness, freedom. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. That beautiful power and light that flows through us is no longer blocked and flows to those around us and creates that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after”!
 

March 22, 2015 – Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Embracing the Pain

by

03/22/15 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Healing the Pain

Our assignment last week was to heal our pain from past relationships. A change of perception will move us to the wholeness that we are. “Beauty & the Beast” talks of this spiritual awakening. It pictures the Kingdom of Heaven where divine love is caring for and supporting us in every moment. We can see the gifts (but not the giver). We can enter into our heart, into the feeling of goodness, the divine presence, by breathing the feeling of ease. But to grasp spiritual awareness is to forfeit life as we have known it.

Beauty (our feeling side) consciously enters the presence of the ugly fearsome Beast. How do we move into the conscious presence of “ugly” (the pain we carry from past experiences)? We must accept and be aware of it consciously. Breathe ease and hold the feelings in the heart. If we are in our head we go into the blame circle. But in the heart the spiritual energy holds it without judgment. It just is.

Beauty’s perception of the Beast begins to change. She still sees ugly, but also sees nobility, caring, and wisdom. Simply holding the ugly in our heart we begin to see more. Our perception changes. Beauty asks for some time to return to her family and what she misses. The Beast won’t refuse her anything, but warns “if you don’t return I will die.” If we don’t return to healing, the opportunity to heal changes. So Beauty returns to her family and soon forgets her promise to go back to the castle. She dreams one night she is in the castle and the Beast has died. So the next day she hurries back to the castle with intention, searching out of care for what had previously been frightening and ugly to her. She has grown.

Drafted to serve in Viet Nam, Arthur’s love for his wife Marina carried him through the ugliness he found there. Unfortunately, she found another and broke his heart. He used meaningless relationships, drugs and alcohol to cope, until he realized he had to change. He found a new relationship and happily remarried. Then Marina arrived to make amends. His terrible heartache returned. He had moved on but had not healed. The purpose of forgiveness is not to develop excellent coping mechanisms, but to heal the pain and find freedom from it. He went to his heart, where he had compassion for his pain that was real. He healed, and now says, “whenever I recall those days, I can do it with a smile…I can experience that goodness because it is here.”

Beauty finds the Beast near death. Compassion washes over her. You too can embrace the ugly within and feel the compassion in your heart. The tears of compassion break the ugliness and there is only healing, beauty, love, wholeness, freedom. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. That beautiful power and light that flows through us is no longer blocked and flows to those around us and creates that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after”!

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September 28, 2014 – Eeyore’s New Consciousness

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9/28/14 Rev. David McArthur
Eeyore’s New Consciousness

Growing spiritually, you notice that “something is unfolding in me.” Questions come up as we’re drawn on the journey. So I looked at all kinds of scripture and ended up in the Hundred Acre Woods, and it’s Eeyore’s birthday.

Pooh walked up. “Good morning!” Eeyore answered, “If it is a good morning.” He commented about all the presents and cake he didn’t get. Some of us do Eeyore very well (“Ain’t it awful!” “Life’s so hard!”). Pooh realized everybody forgot Eeyore’s birthday, and tore off to his house to find Eeyore a present. He’d give him honey! He passed by Piglet and told him what he was going to do. Piglet had a balloon he could give Eeyore and he ran home to get it. He wanted to get to Eeyore before Pooh got back so Eeyore would think he had thought of Eeyore’s birthday himself, so he held the balloon very tightly and ran fast. He tripped, and BANG!, the balloon popped! Pooh was hurrying, too, but realized with a tingle that he was hungry, and look!—there’s a pot of honey under his arm! Yes, soon it was all gone. Then he realized he had no honey to give Eeyore, just an empty pot—Oh! He could give Eeyore the pot! When we start toward that new state of consciousness it doesn’t mean the old consciousness is gone. The old consciousness still affects our creation. Our balloons pop and honey is eaten.

Pooh gave Eeyore the pot without any honey in it, and told him he could put things in it and also take them out. Piglet dropped the piece of balloon in the pot, and Eeyore took it out and put it in, and took it out and put it in, quite delighted to have a pot to put things in and take things out of, and delighted too to have something to put in it and take from it. He was as happy as can be, in a new state of consciousness.

The truth is they thought they wanted Eeyore to have balloons and honey, but they really wanted to change his unhappy state to a happy one. They brought connection, care, and love. A new consciousness was born.

From Corinthians, “Love is patient. Love is kind.” Take care of yourself in your growth, with patience and kindness. We’re good at giving these to others, but how do we treat ourselves? Instead of looking at yourself harshly, do it with patience and kindness.
I grow with patience and kindness. I grow with patience and kindness. I grow with patience and kindness.

Eeyore figured it out. It was his choice to accept love and care on his journey. The love and care lets us choose for ourselves to go where our heart is telling us to go—where that amazing state of consciousness calls us to grow.

Play

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September 28, 2014 – Eeyore’s New Consciousness

by


9/28/14 Rev. David McArthur
Eeyore’s New Consciousness

Growing spiritually, you notice that “something is unfolding in me.” Questions come up as we’re drawn on the journey. So I looked at all kinds of scripture and ended up in the Hundred Acre Woods, and it’s Eeyore’s birthday.

Pooh walked up. “Good morning!” Eeyore answered, “If it is a good morning.” He commented about all the presents and cake he didn’t get. Some of us do Eeyore very well (“Ain’t it awful!” “Life’s so hard!”). Pooh realized everybody forgot Eeyore’s birthday, and tore off to his house to find Eeyore a present. He’d give him honey! He passed by Piglet and told him what he was going to do. Piglet had a balloon he could give Eeyore and he ran home to get it. He wanted to get to Eeyore before Pooh got back so Eeyore would think he had thought of Eeyore’s birthday himself, so he held the balloon very tightly and ran fast. He tripped, and BANG!, the balloon popped! Pooh was hurrying, too, but realized with a tingle that he was hungry, and look!—there’s a pot of honey under his arm! Yes, soon it was all gone. Then he realized he had no honey to give Eeyore, just an empty pot—Oh! He could give Eeyore the pot! When we start toward that new state of consciousness it doesn’t mean the old consciousness is gone. The old consciousness still affects our creation. Our balloons pop and honey is eaten.

Pooh gave Eeyore the pot without any honey in it, and told him he could put things in it and also take them out. Piglet dropped the piece of balloon in the pot, and Eeyore took it out and put it in, and took it out and put it in, quite delighted to have a pot to put things in and take things out of, and delighted too to have something to put in it and take from it. He was as happy as can be, in a new state of consciousness.

The truth is they thought they wanted Eeyore to have balloons and honey, but they really wanted to change his unhappy state to a happy one. They brought connection, care, and love. A new consciousness was born.

From Corinthians, “Love is patient. Love is kind.” Take care of yourself in your growth, with patience and kindness. We’re good at giving these to others, but how do we treat ourselves? Instead of looking at yourself harshly, do it with patience and kindness.
I grow with patience and kindness. I grow with patience and kindness. I grow with patience and kindness.

Eeyore figured it out. It was his choice to accept love and care on his journey. The love and care lets us choose for ourselves to go where our heart is telling us to go—where that amazing state of consciousness calls us to grow.