In doing research for a work in progress on aging, I discovered an interesting article on PBS.org entitled "Faith, Spirituality & Aging" - An Interview with Rev. Jennifer L. Brower. She is quoted as saying,
Some theological thinkers believe that God, called by so many different names, is found or created in the connection formed between two people who are engaged in the mutual enterprise of sharing from their deepest self and being open to the other person's deepest self -- what Martin Buber called an "I-Thou" relationship, or what is referred to in the term namaste, meaning "I bow to the divine within you." There, in that space, the holy is brought to life, and through that experience both people will be transformed.
In Unitarian Universalism, we believe that the holy is continually being revealed; that "revelation is not sealed." So until our very end, and maybe after, there is always the possibility of discerning something new about the transcendent and our connection to the Most High.
* * *
I found this to be a good reminder that when I am being congruent and conversing in an authentic manner with another, I am on "holy ground." And a good reason why my patchwork quilt spirituality will always be a work in progress.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
SERENDIPITY
I found an interesting quote while perusing the current edition of Entertainment magazine this morning (FEB. 15/22, 2019 - p.77.) The article stated that the director of the movie Serendipity, Peter Chelson, during deliberations about the movie, picked up Julia Cameron's book Blessings and randomly opened it to page 61:
"Rather than insist on being the sole author of my life," it read, "I invite the collaborative forces of the universe. Synchronicity, coincidence, reinforcement, and serendipity."
The article noted that the quote persuaded him to make the movie.
And the article makes me wonder if these collaborative forces of the universe are not another way of describing G-D or the Creative Life Force (the term I like to use.)
"Rather than insist on being the sole author of my life," it read, "I invite the collaborative forces of the universe. Synchronicity, coincidence, reinforcement, and serendipity."
The article noted that the quote persuaded him to make the movie.
And the article makes me wonder if these collaborative forces of the universe are not another way of describing G-D or the Creative Life Force (the term I like to use.)
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
JEWISH VOICES TO CONSIDER AMONG THE PATCHWORK
Elie Wiesel writes in NIGHT that he found Moishe the Beadle, a master to help him with his study of
Kabbalah:
"He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer...
Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say. Therein lies true dialogue. Man asks and God replies. But we don't understand His replies. We cannot understand them. Because they dwell in the depths of our souls and remain there until we die. The real answers, Eliezer, you will find only with in yourself.
One evening...After a long silence, he said, There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth. Every human being has his own gate. He must not err and wish to enter the orchard through a gate other than his own."
[ NIGHT - translated by Marion Wiesel (c) 2006,Hill and Wang, p. 5]
The great scholar, Harold Bloom, shared his thoughts on belief in God in an interview printed in the October 2018 edition (p. 85) of ESQUIRE:
"My wife, Jeanne, is an admirable and honest atheist. I'm not an atheist. My attitude toward Yahweh is that I don't like him and I don't trust him and I wish he would go away. But I know he won't, because he's built into the language, as Nietzsche said. He's part of the way we think. As soon as you use a verb involving being, you're in trouble. When he identifies himself to Moses, he says, 'ehyeh asher ehyeh,' punning on his own name of Yahweh. It means something close to 'I will be what I will be.' Which in effect means 'I will be present whenever and wherever I choose to be present,' which has the horrible corollary 'And I will be absent wherever and whenever I choose to be absent.' And he--or whatever it is, she--has certainly been absent for a long time."
Kabbalah:
"He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer...
Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say. Therein lies true dialogue. Man asks and God replies. But we don't understand His replies. We cannot understand them. Because they dwell in the depths of our souls and remain there until we die. The real answers, Eliezer, you will find only with in yourself.
One evening...After a long silence, he said, There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth. Every human being has his own gate. He must not err and wish to enter the orchard through a gate other than his own."
[ NIGHT - translated by Marion Wiesel (c) 2006,Hill and Wang, p. 5]
The great scholar, Harold Bloom, shared his thoughts on belief in God in an interview printed in the October 2018 edition (p. 85) of ESQUIRE:
"My wife, Jeanne, is an admirable and honest atheist. I'm not an atheist. My attitude toward Yahweh is that I don't like him and I don't trust him and I wish he would go away. But I know he won't, because he's built into the language, as Nietzsche said. He's part of the way we think. As soon as you use a verb involving being, you're in trouble. When he identifies himself to Moses, he says, 'ehyeh asher ehyeh,' punning on his own name of Yahweh. It means something close to 'I will be what I will be.' Which in effect means 'I will be present whenever and wherever I choose to be present,' which has the horrible corollary 'And I will be absent wherever and whenever I choose to be absent.' And he--or whatever it is, she--has certainly been absent for a long time."
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