Sunday Prayer

Today I have Dorothy Day on my mind.

What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved—in our families, in our work, in all our relationships. God is love. 

Love casts out fear. Even the most ardent revolutionist, seeking to change the world, to overturn the tables of the money changers, is trying to make a world where it is easier for people to love.

What is Good and Not God

Thomas Berry

"all of us moved by that vast 
compassionate curve
that brings all things together
in intimate celebration
celebration that is
the universe itself."
Thomas Berry

I wrote that the word "God" does more harm than good, but I never specified what good I'm looking for. So let's get pragmatic and say:  
What is Good and Not God. 

This nebula is pulsing with matter that will become
new planets. Isn't it beautiful! This is what makes us so
special, and also so integrated.

Some things can't be learned from "god" but can be found in the universe. Like how, in a radical way, we are more similar than we are different. As much as I love our ability to think and build, however unprecedented and unique we may be, we are 99.9% mold on a rock in space. When we learn about the universe this is clear, but "god" heightens our sense of self, personality, identity, and otherness, and keeps us from discovering our basic unity. 

The whole history of our universe is of atoms and organisms developing in interconnected, balanced networks, rising and falling over time, consuming and being consumed. The suddenly we develop consciousness, self-hood, pride, fear of death, and greedy ego. 

It seems to me, then, that the history of the word "God" has been to foster group solidarity, union, and harmony among groups of people.

Is this imagery really possible? I hope so.

Now take the next step,  recognize that we spin together in the universe. We are not isolated. We do not need to feel afraid or alone. We should not fight against our planet as it brings us together. 

"Personal Relationship with Jesus" and "God" language do more harm than good in this new paradigm. These imaginations have carried us for many, many generations, but they are personalized, group-specific, and person-centered, so I don't think they will bear the weight of a new universalism. 

Now can we re-invent spiritual language that connects us to our universe?

What if God is Irrelevant?

On the one hand, I don't need Jesus of Nazareth to be my friend. I'm not that interested in his actions while he was here, and most of his first century Palestine story is irrelevant to me today.

On the other hand, a distant ghost who judges our world from the sky isn't all that helpful, either. But that's not a new thought - many of the people who think of God think of a God who is closely involved in our world. But can that theology hold onto the polarities of God without imploding into ambiguity?

Let me push the boat out from the dock: 

What if God is irrelevant?

The word is dead.

I'm more and more disillusioned by religious organizations, by conversations that use our parents' vocabularies, framed in our grandparents' structures. And I'm part of a statistically significant group that will compose a third of US adults in ten years.

I think the word "God" is done. At least, I think a large swath of people no longer find any meaning in that word, and another large swath abuse the word to promote violent absolutism.

If not "God", if not an Abrahamic belief system, then what? Let's get totally clear about sources of meaning in the world. Starting from scratch.

We know something about how the universe actually works. Not much, and really the word "know" might be too strong. But it's clear that Earth is part of a big big big BIG system. The system is changing, and Earth is not at the center of it. Just about everything we learn about the universe just explodes my brain like a drug, and I want more.  

And we know something about  how people work. We know that we prosper by working together, that every group of people experiences similar pains, pleasures, and problems. We know that the future of human achievement is attainable by ignoring national divisions (CERN, all major universities, and the future of spaceflight). The problems that divide us personally and globally are dramatically insignificant  compared to the goals we achieve by working together, which is easy when we remember that we really are organic stuff on the same space rock. 

And we live in a unique time. I can write this and you can read it... on a boat outside of Palau, or in Khartoum, if you want. Within a month my information could spread to millions of people, and we could live-stream conversations, and you could watch me on your phone on a bus in Beijing. And no one would freak out, because this sort of sharing is normal now. Hold that in your imaginations for fourteen seconds: you - your identity, emotions, research, information - can be experienced by almost every other person, and you can experience them back. We now have truly global relationships that are easy. 

That's why I think that sharing and expanding should be the most basic human goals.

Thus God is love, literally. The force that acted on both our personal lives and on the cosmos, that force that some people used to call God but don't anymore, is one and the same as the evolution towards international cooperation, global relationships, and even cosmic principles that force us together physically. 

Why organize around imaginary stories from long ago when our stories from today are so much better?
Why make metaphors and personalize a force we actually have words for, a force we are starting to understand?

Not-So-Personal Relationship with Jesus

Over the weekend I enjoyed some wonderful road trip conversations, ones that mirrored some of my readings in a collection of letters from Teilhard. One big theme emerged from these, and I think it's super-relevant to us today, and this week. But first, read yesterday's prayer - beautiful? I love Berry. Use that prayer to screw your head back on after I blow your mind:

Personal Relationship with Jesus is Overrated. 

Jesus just wants to chill.

First - it's John Wesley's Methodists who are credited with inventing the "personal relationship with Jesus" model of spiritual/religious life in the late 18th century. So it's a pretty new concept, and it was developed to fly in the face of religious tradition as a form of rural revival. So it's not like the personal Jesus cult is a time-honored tradition, it's just really popular with a loudly Christian minority. 

But here's my big point. I don't need more friends. Seriously. If Jesus is just our friend then we would not consider him a universal savior, we wouldn't build a religion around him. Making Jesus God into a Dude Bro dramatically cheapens the power of the Jesus stories.

The question being asked by Millennials is:

"What about this historical figure, Jesus, is worth adoring?"

The extensions of this question include "Why accept a creed of adoring Jesus?" and "For what reasons would I ever submit to a Jesus organization?"

If christian organizations answer that question with historical stories and parables from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, then they will lose millennials (and all believers).

So what about the Jesus story is worth knowing? Let's find out this week.

Hint: read yesterday's prayer.

Sunday Prayer

I feel an urge to move into the conversation about the joy, unity, and divine present in all spaces. Can we go there? Will we take Thomas Berry?

"An Appalachian Wedding"

Look up at the sky
the heavens so blue
the sun so radiant
the clouds so playful
the soaring raptors
woodland creatures
meadows in bloom
rivers singing their 
way to the sea
wolfsong on the land
whalesong in the sea
celebration everywhere
wild, riotous
immense as a monsoon
lifting an ocean of joy
then spilling it down over
the Appalachian landscape
drenching us all 
in a deluge of delight
as we open our arms and 
rush toward each other
all of us moved by that vast 
compassionate curve
that brings all things together
in intimate celebration
celebration that is
the universe itself.

-- by Thomas Berry,
written for Paul Winter's wedding

Good to Sacred: Getting to the Next Level

As we move forward, I think we are finding less and less inspiration from churches themselves - church buildings, architecture, and art. But I think it is still important for us to be able to meditate on BIG TOPICS, which is made possible by spaces that help us leave our every day life behind. Churches were built to do just that. But with a little practice, we can build good mediation places - sacred spaces - anywhere. 

To start, let me remind everyone that I believe that every atom of our universe shares in the movement towards unity and connection, that is, every atom participates in the divine. Any space is sacred, from the cubicle to the tree canopy to the inside of my laptop. 

This was one of my favorite spaces - sitting in a big tree

 All spaces are sacred because they exist. So finding sacred spaces is a misleading project. My intention is to help us recognize the sacredness of our world. To do that I want to take advantage of the brain's chemical triggers.

By creating situations - "spaces" - in which our brains change gears, we can get better at recognizing the unity and divinity of parts of our lives that seem mundane, boring, and petty. So when we talk about creating sacred spaces, what I mean is creating spaces that are particularly suited to helping us practice observation and meditation skills.

Do you want those kinds of personal good spaces?

Over the weekend, think of the two big parts that make a good space into a sacred space:

1) The Space Itself: it has to provide some sort of break with your normal environment. Your brain needs to recognize that it is entering a special place so it can leave everything else behind. A physical doorway can do that, and so can random, natural beauty and geometric, architectural beauty. That's the primary function of the special space, but it should also have some practical features: easy access but fairly access, so you can go often and count on some level of quiet, and a place to be comfortable, like a bench or chair.

For a while my space was a rooftop, and it was perfect: I brought out a chair and I was the only one there (obviously), but it was near my life, and had a lot of beautiful architectural and natural visual cues. Plus it had air conditioning white noise, so it felt really isolated. But one day the building locked the roof door, and that was that.

(c) Sinfest Comics got it all figured out

I'm a huge fan of rooftops as sacred spaces.
This picture is from my old spot.

2) You and Your Habits: my rooftop space didn't happen by accident. I went there to read and study and talk to myself and write. If someone else came up, we would only have transcendental conversations. That's because I didn't want to ruin the space. If you find a place, leave your phone in the car or put earphones in. Do whatever you can to make yourself open to the space, whatever you can to cut your cord with other spaces. With some practice, any space can become sacred space.


What are your sacred spaces?

Good Space is Good ("sacred")

As we move ahead in this week's theme of balancing the formality of religion, which can become barriers, with the informality of spirituality, which can become empty habits,  I want to mention the context of our spiritual experience: physical spaces. 

You probably already know something about how spaces affect you. Florescent offices might make you bored, doctors' offices with their smell and small hallways might make you feel nervous. There is a fairly robust science behind how various shapes, colors, balances, and geometries affect our brain's chemical production, and in turn our emotions. It's called architecture.

Check out this story from OnBeing, for example - there was a measurable difference in patient outcomes from patients who had windows onto trees and patients who had the exact same treatment but who did not have a good view. 

Those of you who know me well know that I've always been bothered by short attention span and hyperactivity. When I was a tutor I taught kids the same tricks that helped me in school and college, and that I still use (I'm using these tricks right now). 

The Advice: 
I'd help the students create spaces that they could pop into every day and compete their work without distraction. So instead of using the kitchen table or the bedroom desk, which you might assume would be a good place to work, I'd force them to work at a table in an otherwise under-used room, like a dining room table or a guest bedroom desk. And they were only allowed to do homework at that space: if they wanted to get a snack or talk on the cell or read comics online, they had to do it in another room. 

I'm still that way. But instead of walling off rooms in my tiny apartment, I use sounds. So if I'm listening to Brahms, I'm editing. If I'm listening to Kanye, I'm writing. When I lose focus and pull towards Buzzfeed or AV Club, I have to pull out the headphones or switch songs.  

And it works. With good habits, I create spaces that do things to my brain, things that make my brain at focusing. But I can make my brain better at a lot of things, and so can you! 

Beautiful Spaces, for example, can help us consider big topics. We teach our brains how to stop thinking about shopping lists and oil changes and consider BIG PICTURE topics. And,  if we are good at doing this and make it a habit, these BIG PICTURE topics become part of our daily lives, just like being more studious or being a better writer became part of my life. 

That was the point of Churches, after all. By creating a very particular space, people who entered the building would be better at appreciating things like God, the lives of saints, mortality, and the oppressive moral and hierarchical rule. 

This was my space for about six months: things to stare at, quiet,
near me, and had a bench to sit on.

But even the most successful church spaces don't work for everyone. And today, I think that fewer and fewer people feel so moved by church spaces. If I played Startrek while listening to Brahms, Brahms would be ruined. Likewise, when un-sacred topics like politics, money, and abuse enter a church building, you have to find another space. 

Please, find your space. It very likely won't be in traditional, "sacred" spaces. But you really must find a space that you can dedicate to having  clear head space, pull yourself out of your daily complaints and gossips, and face yourself, your world, with a sense of distance and reflection. These spaces don't just happen, you have to work for the habits that make good spaces into your space.