Ellie and I watched (for the 2nd or 3rd time) a filmed version of Charles Dickens' great novel, Little Dorrit.
The main characters were the small angel, Little Dorrit, and her sanctimonious, hypocritical windbag of a father, Dorrit. Dorrit with his wife had managed to be incarcerated in debtor's prison when Little Dorrit came into the world. Eventually she gained access to the outside, but she chose for the most part to stay at her home, looking after the sanctimonious, hypocritical windbag, a wayward brother, a flighty sister, and a poor broken down old uncle.
Someone said that it's the easiest thing in the world to write about evil, and it will be eagerly pursued by the populace, especially those who slow down to a crawl on the interstate to see if someone has been killed. It's the hardest thing in the world to write about goodness, but in Little Dorrit Dickens succeeded ourstandingly. Little Dorrit (the girl) seemed to have no other occupation in life except to look after the needs of the people who came into her life.
Those of us raised in a Christian environment were taught that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (our neighbor being everyone of course). Most people who call themselves Christians do a pretty mediocre job of that. It would be hard to do better than to look after the needs of the people who come into our lives.
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This was the only message given at the Gainesville (FL) meeting yesterday. After the rise of the meeting we learned that Granny D, famous for her political exploints at 94, was sitting directly behind Ellie and me. Lovely lady, enjoyable conversation with her; I learned that she had walked from Pasadena CA to Washingto DC in the interests of campaign finance reform, and that she ran for the New Hamphsire U.S.Senator when she couldn't get any other Democrat to ran against the Republican incumbent.
She is my role model.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Ellie's Divine Economy
I found this on Ellie's computer, and she modestly confessed that it is her own:
DIVINE ECONOMY
We get more than we deserve.
Everything of real value can’t be paid for.
We receive from those whom we cannot repay.
We can’t recreate the past.
We can’t control the future.
Co-operation out-succeeds competition.
Diversity contributes to the whole.
The whole provides for the parts.
Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted.
We participate in the great exchange.
An external source supplies energy to sustain.
There is no limit to the supply of love, mercy, grace, and compassion.
We are pipelines for God to supply the world.
The richness of the design comes from changing patterns.
We can’t hold back the flow of God’s movement.
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
We pass on what we receive, emptying ourselves in the process.
There is no receiving without giving; there is no giving without receiving.
Transformation is the mode of operation.
We must die to be born again.
God has declared creation to be good.
God intends change. We are to change ourselves, to change others, to be changed by others.
Nothing static is alive; to live is to change.
We are always on the verge of a new awakening.
The key is in the lock, the door awaits opening. Can we turn the key, open the door, and walk through?
26. We are members of one another.
27. We are given enough light to take the next step.
28. The attitude of gratitude opens the windows of our hearts.
29. There is a time to reflect, and a time to participate.
30. We cannot give love if we cannot accept forgiveness.
31. We cannot receive love if we cannot forgive others.
The image of God can be found wherever we look.
Spirit is the real; matter is the illusion.
Our task is to see the real through the illusion.
We see a sliver of reality which can contribute to an image with other slivers.
Without the awareness of a community my perceptions are incomplete.
Darkness is a void without independent existence.
Darkness disappears when light appears.
If we open ourselves to the spirit, we will receive.
The end is the beginning.
DIVINE ECONOMY
We get more than we deserve.
Everything of real value can’t be paid for.
We receive from those whom we cannot repay.
We can’t recreate the past.
We can’t control the future.
Co-operation out-succeeds competition.
Diversity contributes to the whole.
The whole provides for the parts.
Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted.
We participate in the great exchange.
An external source supplies energy to sustain.
There is no limit to the supply of love, mercy, grace, and compassion.
We are pipelines for God to supply the world.
The richness of the design comes from changing patterns.
We can’t hold back the flow of God’s movement.
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
We pass on what we receive, emptying ourselves in the process.
There is no receiving without giving; there is no giving without receiving.
Transformation is the mode of operation.
We must die to be born again.
God has declared creation to be good.
God intends change. We are to change ourselves, to change others, to be changed by others.
Nothing static is alive; to live is to change.
We are always on the verge of a new awakening.
The key is in the lock, the door awaits opening. Can we turn the key, open the door, and walk through?
26. We are members of one another.
27. We are given enough light to take the next step.
28. The attitude of gratitude opens the windows of our hearts.
29. There is a time to reflect, and a time to participate.
30. We cannot give love if we cannot accept forgiveness.
31. We cannot receive love if we cannot forgive others.
The image of God can be found wherever we look.
Spirit is the real; matter is the illusion.
Our task is to see the real through the illusion.
We see a sliver of reality which can contribute to an image with other slivers.
Without the awareness of a community my perceptions are incomplete.
Darkness is a void without independent existence.
Darkness disappears when light appears.
If we open ourselves to the spirit, we will receive.
The end is the beginning.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Only One Way
In the 19th century denominational discord was much more common than it is today:
My revered ggg grandfather, probably ordained by Francis Asbury, over his lifetime went through the South establishing Methodist churches. He always gave away whatever money he might acquire.
Ca 1860 he was 86; his numerous children had all pushed on to greener pastures. His cousin Nelson, an Episcopalian, had been much more provident than the preacher and had acquired large holdings of land. He felt led to provide a house and "life style" for Old Cousin James and his wife, Salley.
The old couple spent their declining years there, during which O.C.J. never failed to take Nelson and family to task for their Episcopalianism and to threaten them with hellfire and brimstone.
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In the 2nd century there were two strong churches in 'Ephesus' (or wherever this happened). Like present day Quakers the Thomasines held "that of God in everyone": through the Eternal Light that shines upon us all and the divine and merciful word from the Source we may all become brothers or sisters of Jesus.
John, the founder and father of the other church, had a different idea. He implied that Jesus was present with the Father before the creation of the world. Furthermore Jesus was the only (begotten) One, and there was no other way.
How could John combat the insidious heretical propaganda of the Thomasine Christians. Well John would just say a few things about Thomas. In case you haven't read John for yourself, Elaine Pagels of Beyond Belief tells us what they were.
Check John 11:16; also John 14:5; and John 20:27.
My revered ggg grandfather, probably ordained by Francis Asbury, over his lifetime went through the South establishing Methodist churches. He always gave away whatever money he might acquire.
Ca 1860 he was 86; his numerous children had all pushed on to greener pastures. His cousin Nelson, an Episcopalian, had been much more provident than the preacher and had acquired large holdings of land. He felt led to provide a house and "life style" for Old Cousin James and his wife, Salley.
The old couple spent their declining years there, during which O.C.J. never failed to take Nelson and family to task for their Episcopalianism and to threaten them with hellfire and brimstone.
----------------------------------------------
In the 2nd century there were two strong churches in 'Ephesus' (or wherever this happened). Like present day Quakers the Thomasines held "that of God in everyone": through the Eternal Light that shines upon us all and the divine and merciful word from the Source we may all become brothers or sisters of Jesus.
John, the founder and father of the other church, had a different idea. He implied that Jesus was present with the Father before the creation of the world. Furthermore Jesus was the only (begotten) One, and there was no other way.
How could John combat the insidious heretical propaganda of the Thomasine Christians. Well John would just say a few things about Thomas. In case you haven't read John for yourself, Elaine Pagels of Beyond Belief tells us what they were.
Check John 11:16; also John 14:5; and John 20:27.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
In the World, but not of it
Looking back on a long life with many acquaintances of many different sorts I notice particularly three kinds of people:
1. The most common and numerous might be called 'this-worldly', with a purely materialistic outlook. We might call them secular humanists. (In Walking Through Egypt a frightened old woman shares with her friend the preacher's message about the secular humanists who prowl about, and may wind up in your bedroom doing their bad secular things to you. [But that's a terrible digression!])
2. Other-worldly! Their conversation is in Heaven, and they have little interest in the mundane.
3. A handful of people "go both ways". They combine a keen interest in politics and in heaven (those two forbidden subjects for polite conversation). For them Heaven is not a place where nothing ever happens.
Who are some of these people who "go both ways":
Most notably (in my world of thought) Jesus. He turned over the tables of the money changers and got himself crucified, but he also had direct (continuous) access to what really matters.
Buddha? Well he was certainly a good man, but I haven't heard about any soup kitchens he started. The impression I have of my young American Buddhist friends is that their primary motive was the desire to escape, or dissociate themselves from the false Jesus of the politico-religious hard right. A way out, so to speak.
Blake! for him politics and Heaven were interchangeable, simultaneous (much like Jesus in that respect). According to Kathleen Raine Boehme and Paracelsus, Socrates, Milton, and the Hebrew prophets sometimes "dined with him on the bread of sweet thought and the wine of delight". In the Marriage of Heaven and Hell he reported on dinners with Isaiah and Ezekiel.
The ability to go back and forth at will is the Christian ideal as I understand it. Plato might have called it the golden mean.
Dialogue is welcome. Opposition is true friendship. Let's engage in the "fierce contentions of Eternity".
1. The most common and numerous might be called 'this-worldly', with a purely materialistic outlook. We might call them secular humanists. (In Walking Through Egypt a frightened old woman shares with her friend the preacher's message about the secular humanists who prowl about, and may wind up in your bedroom doing their bad secular things to you. [But that's a terrible digression!])
2. Other-worldly! Their conversation is in Heaven, and they have little interest in the mundane.
3. A handful of people "go both ways". They combine a keen interest in politics and in heaven (those two forbidden subjects for polite conversation). For them Heaven is not a place where nothing ever happens.
Who are some of these people who "go both ways":
Most notably (in my world of thought) Jesus. He turned over the tables of the money changers and got himself crucified, but he also had direct (continuous) access to what really matters.
Buddha? Well he was certainly a good man, but I haven't heard about any soup kitchens he started. The impression I have of my young American Buddhist friends is that their primary motive was the desire to escape, or dissociate themselves from the false Jesus of the politico-religious hard right. A way out, so to speak.
Blake! for him politics and Heaven were interchangeable, simultaneous (much like Jesus in that respect). According to Kathleen Raine Boehme and Paracelsus, Socrates, Milton, and the Hebrew prophets sometimes "dined with him on the bread of sweet thought and the wine of delight". In the Marriage of Heaven and Hell he reported on dinners with Isaiah and Ezekiel.
The ability to go back and forth at will is the Christian ideal as I understand it. Plato might have called it the golden mean.
Dialogue is welcome. Opposition is true friendship. Let's engage in the "fierce contentions of Eternity".
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