The 4Bs: Bones >Blood >Breath >Beatha (thrum of Gaia)

Guided visualization begins with the solid part of one's body (bones) and goes to liquid (blood) and then vapor (breath) before finally coming to Beathe, a background charged buzz of all living and non-living things of which one forms a part. But on top of all this physical presence and belonging in The World, there is one still higher level and that is to hearken to the will or voice of God. Three ways in which that could happen are calming and centering one's busy mind in order to (1) actively listen for this voice; going about to (2) seek His Will, and (3) dwelling in the state of grace, as if one has already arrived at life's goal and now may simply relax and reflect.

Signs and Wonders - deer gallops into the edge of town at high noon

Francis of Assisi is famous for his rapport with non-human creatures. I felt a twinge of that direct, non-verbal relationship when the deer came up my street a little confused and took a turn toward the neighbor's house, trapping itself between house and chain-link fence, where it rammed itself into the immovable barrier repeatedly. Finally my dog and I ventured near and shouted it to "go"! It its panic it paid no heed, but continued tearing the skin from the one ear. Then, fearing hoof prints on my sandal-clad feet I waved the arm not holding my dog's leash to get its attention; still nothing. Then I slapped its shoulder several times to redirect its flight or fight urge and it went away toward the street in the direction of the town edge, but following north toward the place where the railroad tracks used to run. To be so close as to touch something wild is a strange feeling that seems to remove the imagined separation of wild and tame: "we creatures of God are all steward on this earth for our allotted time."

Reserving the best seats at the table (book of James)

The part where we are admonished against judging others and placing the powerful or beautiful in privileged positions and others at the margins caused me to reflect: in this earthly plane there will always be distinctions that we regard as better or worse in significance, opportunity or value in some physical or cultural scale. There will always be a certain number of steaks from a fatted calf and much more that ends up ground as hamburger. Not everyone can have a steak; or a wild-caught salmon, for that matter. And perhaps the 6-7 billion humans cannot all have one or multiple internal combustion-engine personal vehicles. Just so of the story in James: even if we should not judge others and accord the seats in that way, the physical facts of a room and its furniture mean that not all seats are equally near the presenter or presiding person, for example. How then to regard all people, property and actions with equality when the physical existence is filled with distinctions? Could all decisions comes from random lots drawn? First come, first served? Rotation schedule? Along with Free Will comes the challenge of "may Thy Will be done on earth as in heaven" (fitting the intended equality of all spirits/hearts/relationships to the Creator into the physical facts of mortal existence).

Doing God's work

Since there are always at least two parties in "do unto others as you would have done also unto you" (or Love Your Neighbor/vicinity-person As Yourself), it is worth looking at the various combination of giving and receiving that may take place in those actions. Suppose, for instance, that a well-intentioned person is generous in heart and gives unconditionally to others in authentic need, in perceived or suspected need, or in declared need. Suppose further that the recipient is not acquainted with Christian values, but does see that they can go repeatedly to the Christian for advice, help or material support. Taken to an extreme this could turn into a parasitic or possibly symbiotic relationship with the one being the chronic taker and the other being a (self-validating) giver.

     The question then is motive of the giver: is the Christian responding to the taker in order to fulfill perceived standards of Christian charitability, or as a way to build a relationship and rapport that will allow future steps closer to God (in other words being motivated for the other person; the taker's possible future interests)? The same giver-taker relationship can be seen in another way: the giver could be motivated for self (feeling good about giving) or for other (with a view to the taker's possible relationship to God and Neighbors). And the taker, too, could be motivated for self (grab what one can) or for other (by presenting needs to the giver, then this validates the giver or provides an outlet for the person's expression).

    Marcel Mauss wrote The Gift soon after WWI and shed light on the invisible bonds that the act and the object of giving carry along. Many of those insights extend beyond ethnographic fieldnotes and early sociological essays. These dynamics apply also the the book of James about "faith without works is dead."

Rules of the Game

In the weekly Bible study there is often reference made to the 10 commandments and subsequently the 613 additional guidance corollaries of Jewish tradition. This is made in contrast to the New Covenant brought by Rabbi Jeshua (Jesus the Christ) in which the overruling rule is governed by one's heart in living relationship with God the Creator. For Muslims, too, there are numerous patterns for behavior that are prescribed: how to dress, speak, eat, pray and structure the annual cycle of worship. And while comparatively the Christian way is less formalized, certainly there are rituals and worship patterns that are fairly rigid. During the preliminary parts of the past Sunday's worship service, I sensed a fleeting feeling of decorum and expectation among worshipers about what the components and performative standards for conducting the order of service should be. In other words, even among mainline Protestants (Congregational church), there is a certain fixation with external behaviors among the spiritually new as well as mature. Granted all things of the world must take specific physical form and definite chronological sequence, but to be true to the Christian path, one should instead dwell on the presence of the Holy Spirit (that of God within oneself and others; the light within) and not the potentially distracting details of (unspoken) dress code, amount of money contributed, location of pew customarily taken on Sunday, fanciness of potluck dish given, etc.

    What then are the differences in rule-based structures of individual and corporate worship between Jewish (long established and practiced), Muslim (micro-managed training wheels to support a person's spiritual path), and Christian (rubber meets the road in each pilgrim's heart; not so much confined or integral with external descriptors of ethnicity, family name and home ground, worship space, recitation, physical pages of Scriptures, etc). In all cases the adherents view the rules and precedents and customary habits as building blocks to one's personal standing and relationship with The Creator. But seen from the outside, rather than from practitioners and functionaries, there is a spectrum that reaches from more to fewer rules and prescribed physical elements. Who is to say how much structure a given person requires before completely trusting in God's Will and having certainty in their Faith at each point in their spiritual growth? It seems to be human nature to hold onto tangible or visible markers to signal to self and to others who they are, or what the aspire to. Thus the externalities (organized religion and its spaces, words, and routines) do have an important role, but for the most mature adherents there seems to be less need or will to grip such things tightly. Instead they hold such things lightly and place their energies on knowing God more directly and in an uncluttered way.

    So that palpable feeling of performative anxiety, spectators' critical eye, and awareness of decorum is not bad of itself. It is OK to sense such things, but then to know that one's expression of worship and loving of God is not the same thing as dressing in church clothes and meeting the expectations of one's perceived betters. Instead, one should strive to streamline the paths leading to God's love and be free from distraction, confusing or overwhelming details.