United?

July 4^th is coming up soon, and there will be many celebrations, Bar-B-Qs, and parades. But for what, a United States that currently exists in name only? 

Before the Declaration of Independence, this country’s forefathers struggled to unify the various colonial factions, allowing less-than-ideal incentives to all to achieve the much-sought-after unity. Those less-than-ideal incentives eventually led to a civil war, after which another unification was sought, reunification. Throughout our history, we have had to sacrifice bits of our unity for something exclusive so as to stay connected.

Unity has always been elusive because human egos often get in the way.

Unification is not a one-sided process. It demands inclusivity, a value that is crucial in maintaining unity. It is through embracing diversity and different perspectives that we can truly achieve a unified and harmonious society.

A philosophy or leadership or government that attempts to unify by denying that which disagrees with it is a false philosophy from a false god, no matter how religiously supported. It is a philosophy born of the individual or collective personality.

But even a false god must be included in a context of wholeness, aka unity.

God unfolds itself in the form of syzygy (paired opposites), e.g., day/night, male/female, liberal/conservative, and you and me. 

God has also provided the “means” for bridging the pairs to unite them. It’s a way to transform the lower material into the higher and spiritual, i.e., the alchemist’s dream of turning lead into gold through the creation (discovery/development?) of the philosopher’s stone.

But that “means” is exclusively individual yet must include everything else. It requires dissolution before resolution. To find it, one needs to embrace the dark to see its light. Many books have been written on how to do this, and they are all genuine and useful, but the answer will come from outside their pages. It’s in plain sight but with many useless detritus covering it up.

Maranatha synchronicity

King Alfred’s Old English Version of Augustine’s Soliloquies.

While walking the night I wrestled with my faults and tried to accept that the human part of me would never conquer them nor heal the damage they sometimes create. I tried a prayer of asking for help but no words would come that would calm the eternal internal struggle I experience when all is quiet about me while the within me boils. I conclude just to let it be. Though this is only partially satisfying, it was good enough.

After arriving home and sharing a few thoughts with my wife on something unrelated I sat down with my book about Nicholas Flammel, the 13^th-century French notary, scribe, and Alchemist, who was describing a large tome that had recently come into his possession with odd symbols and language that changed his life as he poured over the book trying to understand its significance. He noted that several times the word Maranatha, a one-word prayer meaning, “Come, oh Lord” showed up throughout the book. It is an Aramaic phrase found only once in the Christian New Testament (1 Corinthians 16:22). As I personally discovered it’s a powerful one-word prayer. It’s amazing that it only shows up once.

But what could this word really mean I asked myself? And whence its power? A little research helped to answer this in part. When I looked it up I came across an article in Spirituality and Practice by the Rev. Benjamin Wyatt. He reasoned that Maranatha was a letting go of the world’s tragedies and losses, that our intractable faults were not in our control, and that we needed to release them to something bigger than ourselves. It also meant that we were often powerless to dry our tears or lead ourselves out of the tragedies of life and still our disquieted hearts.

These readings were not sought out but gave great solace simply by reminding me that I was not the only one with many faults and that they were part of the human condition. It also reminded me that I was not in control of the experiences of the world and that I needed to let go of the desire to control to something greater to sort it all out. Maranatha. And the heart was still, the quietest it had been for days.

This synchronicity of events always amazes me. Just when I think all is lost a series of events quiets the struggle, for a while at least, because my human side will be back, and the struggle will be renewed.

Maranatha.

Why did we create a God?

God is an archetype that seems to exist across all cultures in one form or another. Some see it in several forms while others see it in just one or three. Some see it as a He while others see it as a Her there even those who see it as a combination. Some see it in all of Earths flora and fauna or in the mind numbing vastness of space. There are others who see everything as being in the dream of the everything/nothing. And then there are those who experience it as a mystical mystery.

When I think about it, it would be pretty hard not to create God at least in my mind. After all I didn’t create all this. I’m not even sure that I create my own thoughts let alone all the components of my body, its chemistry, and mechanics. I sure as hell can’t create life and what is death really, I mean beyond the non-working of the body and the deterioration of its parts? And what created the process of this deterioration, this entropy? And, other than the purpose of just living life as the purpose of life itself, what’s the purpose of that? 

It’s all just too complex for my (our?) feeble mind to either create or comprehend so what’s behind it? What created it and why did it give me this urge to know why? The why isn’t my creation but it comes through me. From where?

I remember training myself in the hobby of woodworking. I took classes, found a mentor, practiced, and built and designed and practiced some more but with every finished project I would step back and marvel at the creation and wondered how in hell I created that? Each creation felt like it came through me but was not of me. Over the years I’ve found that the stories I write, the poetry put on paper, the art I create, and the ideas that I make manifest are not mine alone. I am the instrument of their creation from idea to reality. Also, over time my ego has learned to live with this partnership between it and the spirit that works through it. That’s not to say that sometimes I wish I would get at least some credit.

Even with all the things we humans think we know, the mind-boggling enormity of the world and the universe it’s nestled in is still a mystery and how it came to be, evolved itself, and continues to sustain itself is beyond our understanding. We know that it did and have even discovered some of its workings but what created these things, these workings? Is it any wonder that we create something much bigger and more knowing than ourselves as a means of holding the enormous weight of the unknown for us? Let a God handle it all, it’s too big for me.