Beyond All Our Thoughts (Perichoresis - Divine Indwelling) John 1:1-5 (NRSV) - The Word Became Flesh “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Beyond our thoughts and words, there lies a mystery, something full of wonder and depth. Consider the opening of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” This profound statement invites us to reflect on how God brought creation into existence and how our lives are interwoven with this divine act. Genesis 1:1-3 (KJV) - In the Beginning Before creation, there was a formless void, an emptiness waiting to be filled. Genesis tells us, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Creation emerged From this Void, and with it, the Eternal Word was present, perhaps born from God's single desire and thought. “In the beginning was the Word.” As we ponder this, whether as Christians or adherents of another faith, we may begin to see how our relationship with creation is rooted in the Word. Our lives arise through relationships—relationships with creation, with each other, and ultimately with the divine. For Christians, this relationship is centered on Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Word made flesh. Yet, words are central to many sacred traditions, binding together the family of humankind. When we dwell on our relationships, even those beyond our immediate circle, we begin to see how these interconnections sustain life. Can you imagine how your life touches mine, even if we have never met or spoken? Can you fathom how your existence impacts the lives of others and will continue to do so? This is the power of relationships in the world. It is the Word, the Holy Spirit, at work among us. Our thoughts become words, shaping our world, lives, and communities. We are all interconnected, perhaps more so now as we listen to one another within a sacred community. Words have a life of their own—they shape our existence and connect us in marvelous ways. This is why writers are drawn to writing and why people cherish poetry, good plays, compelling novels, and stories that resonate with their experiences. At home, we have more than 500 books in our library. Each one represents a relationship, a connection with the words within it, just as I hope the words I am writing now create a connection with you. In Buddhism, the concept of interconnectedness with all life and reality is called Dependent Origination, or Pratītyasamutpāda in Sanskrit. This principle teaches that everything arises in dependence on multiple causes and conditions. Although Buddhism's language can be symbolic and complex, at its heart, it speaks to a reality of shared interdependence—one that intimately connects us to everything else in life. Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned Buddhist monk, calls this interbeing in his book The Heart of Understanding. He teaches that “to be” is to inter-be, for nothing can exist in isolation; everything is part of a larger, interconnected whole. In Christianity, a remarkably similar concept is found in the Greek word Perichoresis, used by early church fathers and mothers to describe the mystery of the Trinity. Perichoresis refers to the indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within one another, so intimately connected that their unity forms a single divine essence. This divine indwelling extends to us through Christ, who invites us into this sacred unity. How fitting, then, that we cannot imagine life without words. Words are the vessels of our thoughts, how we shape our lives and express our innermost selves. Let us return, then, to the beginning—to the wordless void, the Buddhist concept of Śūnyatā, or emptiness. This emptiness is not a void of despair but a space of infinite potential from which all reality arises. Imagine it as an empty cup, ready to be filled by you, by God, by the fullness of life itself. This emptiness holds the promise of newness and creation in each moment, just as an empty cup can be filled with new wine or hot jasmine tea. Sometimes, we must let go of all our words, images, and thoughts, even becoming lost for a while. This emptiness can be a good thing—a necessary thing. In letting go, we open ourselves to new language and new images, like artists creating a symphony, painting, poem, or photograph that leaves us breathless and speechless. I love that feeling of speechlessness, empty and ready to receive the next new thing. The secret is understanding that each moment is the next new thing, full of infinite potential, born out of every preceding moment. As I reflect on this, I recall the words of a poem I once wrote: “We are the poet, and the poem out of each moment arises.” This truth, born from my thoughts, words, and spiritual life, resonates deeply. It is a truth I hope to share with you—a truth discovered within any sacred community, where we find new meaning, new words, and new life in one another. These words, arising from a single point of emptiness, help us shape our lives into a new language, a new existence. They enable us to breathe as one body, in one single breath, and in one spirit together. There is something sacramental and spirit-driven in such a dialogue, something that binds us together in an indwelling unity — Perichoresis. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” As I think of these words, I reflect on how much your life enriches mine and how we enrich one another. I want us to fully realize, appreciate, and know this truth: that we are all part of the gift of life, a life given by God, and that we should be grateful for the sacramental moments we share, where we come to know and be fully known by God, and where we come to be blessed. I think the Buddha and Jesus would agree with this, in their own way, through the practice of prayer, enlightenment, and wakefulness—celebrating life as a journey of interconnectedness and abundant possibilities. Many Blessings,
—Ron Starbuck Saint Julian Press, Inc. Publisher-CEO Houston, Texas  AN EPISCOPALIAN SPEAKS OF MYSTERY AT CHRISTMAS Ron Starbuck – Saint Julian Press – © December 23, 2022 Of the Father's Heart Begotten Every poet and writer I know has a story to tell and tells their story through the formation of personal mythology. As we travel through life, our life changes. Our identity shifts, and our sense of who we are as a person turns with the seasons of events and people who enter that life. This is the impermanence of the self, which Buddhist philosophy teaches. It is a vital theme and awareness at work throughout and within Pratītyasamutpāda — Dependent Arising — Interbeing. In Buddhist thought, Being – Becoming – Existence: The infinite possibilities of all things held within creation and how everything in creation depends upon everything else. “If this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist.” Buddhism directs us toward the concept of Sunyata–Nirvana–Emptiness–Openness, celebrated in the Heart Sutra. The general principle of pratityasamutpada is complementary to the concept of emptiness (sunyata). Buddhist thought on impermanence teaches us that our sense of self as permanent is false and limited since we are ever-evolving and our lives are ever-changing and dynamic. The self, whom we actively identify with, is empty of such permanence. We are not the same person we were a year ago, twenty years ago, or before. Buddhism refers to this impermanence-illusion or false association as not–self, or no–self, anatta (uhn-uht-tah). It is an ego-clinging self, leading to suffering, misperceptions, selfishness, hubris, and deceitful projections. In the Christian tradition, there is a similar concept, kenosis, the Greek word for emptiness. Kenosis is ‘self–emptying’ one’s own will in becoming receptive to the divine, to be in unity and union with the divine. Christ emptied himself to become a servant of all humankind (Philippians 2:5-11), as revealed in the devotional language and poetry of the scriptures and this ancient hymn. We empty or let go of the self to emulate Christ and become servants to humanity. Of the Father's Heart Begotten Divinum Mysterium – Aurelius Prudentius He assumed this mortal body, Frail and feeble, doomed to die, That the race from dust created, Might not perish utterly, Which the dreadful Law had sentenced In the depths of hell to lie, Evermore and evermore. Translation by Roby Furley Davis for The English Hymnal (1906) Both heaven and nirvana are alike when we understand them as a spiritual path towards non-duality, to this union with the ultimate divine mystery of God from which all things arise. Creation is ever-expanding and evolving. In a poem, the poet goes through multiple stages and feelings, crafting their words together until the poem ends. As any poet knows, the poem is never quite finished. It is almost always incomplete in some sense. The poet has to let go of it and trust that the creative process goes on within the people who may read their humble efforts. I offer this thought in a spirit of humility. All our works as poets and writers are a continuation of other works that came before us, the voices of humanity passed down from one generation to another. We are simple gatherers, gathering from those poets, writers, and storytellers who came before us. Even the greatest among us have been inspired by learning and reading the literary works of humankind. And we, we humble few, are following in their footsteps. There is something more going on, of course. Each poem begins in silence, stillness, emptiness, an open place waiting to be filled, on a blank page, or as an even deeper divine memory. And we, we are total participants in its creation. There is a more profound mystery at work here, an inspiration. To be creatively inspired is to be filled by the spirit of something more, something beyond the mundane and ourselves. Please let me share this thought with you. As much as any poem you write is your work, it is also not yours. You have been inspired. You have heard the whispering of the gods, of God, or the muses of antiquity. And now you are modestly returning to humankind the voices spoken before in a newer voice. There are no accidents in life, merely a continuation of one life into and with another, in a continuation of consciousness grounded in the divine. Grounded in the great mystery of creation, we cannot quite name it, written within us. The Holy Spirit may pray in and with us when we do not know how to pray. The words you speak or write are not your own; they have been fashioned before. They abide and rest in a universal divine consciousness and spirit that dwell within us each. They were written upon your soul, deep within your core, heart, and mind, long ago. And now, you have been inspired to return them to humankind in healing for humanity. The poet within you has heeded the stillness and silence of creation deeply. From such a listening comes a word, a verse, a poem. Each poem is composed as an act of creation, a loving act of giving, healing, and repairing the world. Let me leave you, please, with these opening words from the Gospel of John, with an understanding that they, too, are a poetic metaphor and a symbol pointing us toward a more profound mystery in which we reside and that dwells within us. The Word Became Flesh 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. – (NRSV, Anglicised) You, too, are this light. And then there is this great Christmas Carol that touches on the Mystery of Christ. Why did God come in human form to serve humankind with an open and humble heart, to empty himself? This is one answer in the Anglican Spiritual tradition's mystical language and poetry. Of the Father's Heart Begotten, alternatively known as Of the Father's Love Begotten, is a Christmas carol based on the Latin poem Corde natus by the Roman poet Aurelius Prudentius. Of the Father's Heart Begotten ~ Divinum Mysterium – Aurelius Prudentius~ Translation by Roby Furley Davis for The English Hymnal (1906) Of the Father's heart begotten, Ere the world from chaos rose, He is Alpha, from that Fountain All that is and hath been flows; He is Omega, of all things, Yet to come the mystic Close, Evermore and evermore. By His Word was all created He commanded and 'twas done; Earth and sky and boundless ocean, Universe of three in one, All that sees the moon's soft radiance, All that breathes beneath the sun, Evermore and evermore. He assumed this mortal body, Frail and feeble, doomed to die, That the race from dust created, Might not perish utterly, Which the dreadful Law had sentenced In the depths of hell to lie, Evermore and evermore. O how blest that wondrous birthday, When the Maid the curse retrieved, Brought to birth mankind's salvation By the Holy Ghost conceived, And the Babe, the world's Redeemer In her loving arms received, Evermore and evermore. Sing, ye heights of heaven, his praises; Angels and Archangels, sing! Wheresoe’er ye be, ye faithful, Let your joyous anthems ring, Every tongue his name confessing, Countless voices answering, Evermore and evermore. This is He, whom seer and sibyl Sang in ages long gone by,; This is He of old revealed In the page of prophecy; Lo! He comes the promised Saviour; Let the world his praises cry! Evermore and evermore. Hail! Thou Judge of souls departed; Hail! of all the living King! On the Father's right hand throned, Through his courts thy praises ring, Till at last for all offences Righteous judgement thou shalt bring, Evermore and evermore. Now let old and young uniting Chant to thee harmonious lays Maid and matron hymn Thy glory, Infant lips their anthem raise, Boys and girls together singing With pure heart their song of praise, Evermore and evermore. Let the storm and summer sunshine, Gliding stream and sounding shore, Sea and forest, frost and zephyr, Day and night their Lord alone; Let creation join to laud thee Through the ages evermore, Evermore and evermore. Of The Father's Heart Begotten (Sir David Willcocks) Ely Cathedral Choir 12/21/2022 To Be ~ Fully Human & Fully DivineTo Be ~ Fully Human & Fully Divine If you grew up celebrating Christmas, as I did, one of the questions you may have asked yourself as you grew older is who is Jesus to you now? And even if you were not raised as a Christian and practice another faith or follow another spiritual tradition, this is still a good question to ask. I believe it needs to be a more profound question and answer than what you may have been taught as a small child in Sunday school. And it begins with the story of the Nativity, with the Christ child born in a manger and watched over by an ox and ass. There is a beautiful aspect to Jesus we so often forget and don’t focus on, as much as we ought, the humanity of Jesus. The story of Christmas is only the beginning. The story begins with Jesus, as the Incarnate Word and First Born of Creation, who emptied himself, being born in human likeness and form, and all this means. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, God with Us.  Trinity Episcopal Church Midtown Houston To be human is to be vulnerable. To be human is to endure pain and suffering. To be human is to discover love. To be human is to learn forgiveness. To be human is to live for others as much as for ourselves. To be human is the gift of life. To be human is to live our lives, and to live them fully. When we see Jesus as fully human and divine, it is “meet and right” to stress his humanity as much as his divinity. As found in the words of the Sursum Corda, Latin for “Lift up your hearts" or to have our "Hearts lifted" in the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer. Eucharistic Prayer The Lord be with you. People And with thy spirit. Celebrant Lift up your hearts. People We lift them up unto the Lord. Celebrant Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. People It is meet and right so to do. And come to understand that the gift of Christmas is transformational because ultimately, this gift opens up to the People of God an indwelling of the Holy Spirit. However, you may see the Spirit at work in your own life. As fully human as we are, it opens us up to an indwelling of "God the Father" as Divine Mystery, an indwelling of Christ and the Spirit, and it awakens our fullest human potential to love. The literature of scripture and liturgy, the poetry, psalms, parables, images, and symbols of all our sacred stories and liturgies are pointing us towards a way of understanding the Divine Mystery that cannot easily be named or wholly described. These stories are intended to be internalized, to stretch our imaginations, to help suspend our sense of disbelief, to believe in something beyond ourselves, to teach and reveal the truth, to see beyond the story into a deeper and richer mystery that is true, which is real at the inmost levels of the self and soul. To see beyond our earthly sight, to see with insight the invisible and unseen power of God at work within the world. The Holy Spirit at work within the world. To see God’s love actively at work in our lives and the lives of others, transforming creation. God as a Verb; God as Spirit; God as Truth; God as Divine Mystery; God as Love; God as an Indwelling of the Spirit within each and every one of us in this world. God as InterBeing (Thich Nhat Hanh), and God as the "Connecting Spirit" to paraphrase theologian Paul F. Knitter, as an interconnection that flows in and with and through all creation, bringing us into a relationship with one another.  Trinity Episcopal Church Midtown Houston ~ Christmas Eve Kenosis Hymn from Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSVA) 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Trinity Episcopal Church Midtown Houston In Buddhist and Christian traditions, we are taught to be mindful and mind our thoughts. Christmastide offers us an opportunity to be mindful from Christmas Eve through Epiphany and beyond. We are what we think and how we view the world. We are shaped by the people we love and by loving them in return. Practicing (praxis) wakefulness allows us to see how valued we are by God.
The Dhammapada - Translated by Thomas Byrom 1. Choices "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable." 2. Wakefulness "Wakefulness is the way to life. The fool sleeps As if he were already dead, But the master is awake And he lives forever. He watches. He is clear. How happy he is! For he sees that wakefulness is life. How happy he is, Following the path of the awakened." Ron Starbuck Saint Julian Press 12/8/2022 A WHITE COLT'S TALE
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Trinity Episcopal Church Midtown Houston ON the same night, the Baby Jesus was born; a pure white colt was also born. The Holy Family gave him the Spanish name of Manuelo. This is Manuelo’s story and the story of Jesus too. Jesus, whom the Prophets of Israel once told us, we would call Emmanuel, is God’s gift of love to save the world.
THERE is always a story within a story, a tale within a tale. This is one of the myths told by the angels and archangels that watched over the Nativity on the first night of Christmas.
A myth is a fairy tale that is truer than true; it is a story that grows stronger and stronger inside your heart as you mature in faith. A myth is a legend that inspires humanity.
It offers us a lesson in wisdom and an inward change that brings our souls closer to God and creation. In truth, it is a story we know in our soul, one we have known forever and forgotten.
This is still true even today, especially today, now at this moment. It is true yesterday, too, as it will always be true tomorrow. And in all the yesterdays and tomorrows, we may try to imagine in a world without end.
EMMANUEL means “God with us,” and in Spanish, so does the name Manuelo. So, Jesus and Manuelo share a similar name. Do you remember these words from an Advent hymn we sing yearly, VENI EMMANUEL?
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
AS GOD’S special gift to the Baby Jesus, Manuelo was so happy to become his friend. Manuelo’s mother, Isidora, wisely and humbly carried Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Mary gave birth to Baby Jesus.
ISIDORA’S name means a gift of God in Spanish. The angels and archangels will tell you that Isidora and Mary knew each other when Mary was first born. Manuelo and Jesus thought of this as God’s magical circle of love. Do you believe in the magic of God’s love?
WHEN the three wise men who traveled from the East came with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they looked at Manuelo and Jesus and knew they would become best friends. Manuelo and Jesus were so happy to be with one another as extraordinary friends.
Manuelo and Jesus played, ate, and prayed with and for one another. Sometimes, they even fell asleep together like two innocent lambs. When Jesus first started school, Manuelo carried him from home to the schoolyard and back again.
THERE is always a story within a story, a tale within a tale. This is one of the myths told by the angels and archangels that watched over the Nativity on the first night of Christmas.
A myth is a fairy tale that is truer than true; it is a story that grows stronger and stronger inside your heart as you mature in faith. A myth is a legend that inspires humanity.
It offers us a lesson in wisdom and an inward change that brings our souls closer to God and creation. In truth, it is a story we know in our soul, one we have known forever and forgotten.
This is still true even today, especially today, now at this moment. It is true yesterday, too, as it will always be true tomorrow. And in all the yesterdays and tomorrows, we may try to imagine in a world without end.
EMMANUEL means “God with us,” and in Spanish, so does the name Manuelo. So, Jesus and Manuelo share a similar name. Do you remember these words from an Advent hymn we sing yearly, VENI EMMANUEL?
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
AS GOD’S special gift to the Baby Jesus, Manuelo was so happy to become his friend. Manuelo’s mother, Isidora, wisely and humbly carried Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Mary gave birth to Baby Jesus.
ISIDORA’S name means a gift of God in Spanish. The angels and archangels will tell you that Isidora and Mary knew each other when Mary was first born. Manuelo and Jesus thought of this as God’s magical circle of love. Do you believe in the magic of God’s love?
WHEN the three wise men who traveled from the East came with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they looked at Manuelo and Jesus and knew they would become best friends. Manuelo and Jesus were so happy to be with one another as extraordinary friends.
Manuelo and Jesus played, ate, and prayed with and for one another. Sometimes, they even fell asleep together like two innocent lambs. When Jesus first started school, Manuelo carried him from home to the schoolyard and back again.
Trinity Episcopal Church Midtown Houston EVERY YEAR at the feast of Passover, the family journeyed to Jerusalem to visit the Jewish Temple. Manuelo carried Jesus across the Roman roads of Israel and through the ancient stone streets to the temple on their journey, where Jesus entered our heavenly Father’s house to learn and pray.
In the Jewish Temple, Jesus sat among the teachers listening and asking them questions. They were all amazed at his inborn knowledge and understanding. Manuelo watched and heard as well and saw how Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.
AND MANY YEARS later, after Jesus was baptized in the Jordon River. When led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, Manuelo was still beside him, helping Jesus to make the journey.
MANUELO was there through all the years that Jesus lived, when Jesus ministered to the poor, healed the sick, visited people in prison, and loved everyone heartbroken or in pain.
WHENEVER Manuelo traveled with Jesus, he told all the other animals they met about who Jesus was and how he loved them. He explained to all who would listen how our heavenly father sent his only-begotten son into the world to save the whole world.
Everywhere they went together, children gathered, drawn towards Jesus, who loved them so dearly. And towards Manuelo as well, whom they hugged and petted and felt a special love for, as Manuelo loved them all.
WHEN Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday, Manuelo holding his head high with pride, carried him into the city. They were together before and after the Last Supper. When Jesus prayed all night long in the Garden of Gethsemane, Manuelo prayed with him. And on the darkest day of their lives, Manuelo was with Jesus. As Jesus was beaten and crucified on the cross, he committed his spirit unto our heavenly father and died.
In the Jewish Temple, Jesus sat among the teachers listening and asking them questions. They were all amazed at his inborn knowledge and understanding. Manuelo watched and heard as well and saw how Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.
AND MANY YEARS later, after Jesus was baptized in the Jordon River. When led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, Manuelo was still beside him, helping Jesus to make the journey.
MANUELO was there through all the years that Jesus lived, when Jesus ministered to the poor, healed the sick, visited people in prison, and loved everyone heartbroken or in pain.
WHENEVER Manuelo traveled with Jesus, he told all the other animals they met about who Jesus was and how he loved them. He explained to all who would listen how our heavenly father sent his only-begotten son into the world to save the whole world.
Everywhere they went together, children gathered, drawn towards Jesus, who loved them so dearly. And towards Manuelo as well, whom they hugged and petted and felt a special love for, as Manuelo loved them all.
WHEN Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday, Manuelo holding his head high with pride, carried him into the city. They were together before and after the Last Supper. When Jesus prayed all night long in the Garden of Gethsemane, Manuelo prayed with him. And on the darkest day of their lives, Manuelo was with Jesus. As Jesus was beaten and crucified on the cross, he committed his spirit unto our heavenly father and died.
AS the Roman soldiers finally took Jesus down from the cross, Manuelo helped Joseph of Arimathea carry Jesus one last time to his tomb. As any child can imagine, this was a sorrowful time for Manuelo, for he loved his friend Jesus very much. And with every step Manuelo took, tears streamed from his sad eyes and fell to the ground.
AND yet, Manuelo knew in some mysterious way, as our animal friends often know things we do not, that this was a part of God’s plan to save the world. As each teardrop touched the ground, wherever Manuelo’s hooves had carefully stepped, something wonderful happened. Every tear turned into a beautiful and priceless pearl, a symbol of God’s love for the whole world and the people in the world.
IT is as if Jesus shared a secret with Manuelo, telling him that he shouldn’t be afraid and that they would see one another again soon. So, even though this was a time of great sadness for Manuelo, all his sorrow was balanced out by a great sense of joy. Manuelo knew then, as he knows now, that Jesus is always with us, even unto eternity and across all of God’s creation.
AS for Manuelo, his story continues up until today. He travels across creation, always as an angel of light, telling his tale to all the animals and children he meets. You may see him appear as a Unicorn, a symbol of Christ. Jesus is forever a part of Manuelo, just like Jesus is forever a part of you.
JESUS lives within us each and is with us forever now. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, praying in and with and through us, especially when we don’t always know how to pray on our own.
AND yet, Manuelo knew in some mysterious way, as our animal friends often know things we do not, that this was a part of God’s plan to save the world. As each teardrop touched the ground, wherever Manuelo’s hooves had carefully stepped, something wonderful happened. Every tear turned into a beautiful and priceless pearl, a symbol of God’s love for the whole world and the people in the world.
IT is as if Jesus shared a secret with Manuelo, telling him that he shouldn’t be afraid and that they would see one another again soon. So, even though this was a time of great sadness for Manuelo, all his sorrow was balanced out by a great sense of joy. Manuelo knew then, as he knows now, that Jesus is always with us, even unto eternity and across all of God’s creation.
AS for Manuelo, his story continues up until today. He travels across creation, always as an angel of light, telling his tale to all the animals and children he meets. You may see him appear as a Unicorn, a symbol of Christ. Jesus is forever a part of Manuelo, just like Jesus is forever a part of you.
JESUS lives within us each and is with us forever now. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, praying in and with and through us, especially when we don’t always know how to pray on our own.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
"God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
“That very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us.”
Many Blessings ~ Ron Starbuck.
A White Colt’s Tale: A Children’s Christmas Story
Copyright 2022 ~ Ron Starbuck & Saint Julian Press © 2022
"God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
“That very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us.”
Many Blessings ~ Ron Starbuck.
A White Colt’s Tale: A Children’s Christmas Story
Copyright 2022 ~ Ron Starbuck & Saint Julian Press © 2022
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH MIDTOWN HOUSTON
STAINED GLASS WINDOWS
6/21/2020
BE RECONCILED WITH ONE ANOTHER
BE RECONCILED WITH ONE ANOTHER
There is Something About Being An Episcopalian
BE RECONCILED WITH ONE ANOTHER
—AS we grieve for so many African Americans who have died violently and still endure a systemic oppression that has lasted centuries. Please take a moment to think about these thoughts in the context of a more profound racial reconciliation that asks us as a people of faith to approach this dialogue with a greater sense of commitment and compassion. In which, we are called every day into a new and renewing relationship with one another by God.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” —John 17:21
“There is something more important than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives and liberals. We must be both. We must conserve and liberate at the same time. We can never severe our ties from that part of history, which belongs to us.” — Robert P. Starbuck, PhD, MDiv, In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions (Saint Julian Press, Inc. November 1, 2018)
Indeed, we live in a “network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
No matter where we may be on our journey in life. As Christians, we are reconciled through Chris. The Holy Spirit dwells within us each.
We live in this spirit of reconciliation. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is actively at work within the world and within us, teaching us to be as one, to be in union with the divine and one another, across all of humanity. Just as the Holy Spirit is calling us as Christians to be involved in Social Justice, and the critical social justice issues of our time.
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” —John 14:26-27
We are one people, created by God, we live within the world and within in this “network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid. This beautiful concept of Unity and Non-Duality compliments one another intimately. Unity and Non-Duality are spiritual concepts found in Christian scripture, in all the great core religions and wisdom traditions of humanity and human history, in myth and metaphor, in storytelling, and most especially in poetry. All sacred scriptures are poetry.
Imagine the literature found in all the books of the Bible, the literature of all faiths, as sacred poetry—Spiritual Poetry.
Imagine scripture as a type of software program we are using to program our minds; the Spirit-Soul operating system, the Divine Core Language of Creation (DCLC) perhaps, with many variations or versions.
If Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the WORD, the Incarnate Word of God, we must also come to realize that our words, spoken or written to one another matter a great deal. What we say and how we say it matters, because it shapes the reality that arises within our communities and across any society.
Our thoughts and words spoken out loud become litanies, even when, especially when we speak or misspeak thoughtlessly and incompletely, or with intentional deceit. As believers, this makes a mockery of the WORD, dwelling within us each, binding us together as God’s people, and the sacramental spiritual practices we follow. We betray that heritage as a people of faith when we misspeak or misuse language or the Word of God, and in doing so dismiss the suffering of others within the world. We forget, who we are and ought to be as God’s people.
We must remember, as in the word —Remembrance, that our sacramental spiritual practices (praxis): liturgy, ritual, prayer, and meditation are an extension of the Holy Spirit working within the world. Such practices and participation in a sacred community are helping us to grow spiritually, programing our mind —reconciling us with one another and renewing us as a people. And they are marked by an outward and visible sign, and an inward and spiritual grace in union with Christ and new life in the Holy Spirit.
For many traditional Christians, these sacramental practices center on the celebration of the Eucharist & Great Thanksgiving (Holy Communion), Holy Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation & Forgiveness, Healing & Unction, Liturgy & Prayer —literally the work of the people, Marriage & Ordination, and participation in a sacred community of faith, seeing God working within and all around us.
We hold these things to be sacred and life affirming, just as we are asked to hold each other as sacred and affirm one another’s life. We fail to do this when injustice is allowed to reign within the world or across our communities. We fail to do this by not seeing these injustice and continue to do nothing. “Lord, forgive us for what we do not do.”
“Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
—The Book of Common Prayer
According to the use of
The Episcopal Church.
One of the many reasons I love being an Episcopalian—Anglican, is the liturgy we use is poetry. The writing is inspired. It is both spiritual and poetic in nature; it has a literary quality and uses symbolic imagery, which are an invocation to the Holy Spirit.
Reading or listening to inspired poetry is a sacramental experience, in this sense, it is similar to the Eucharist, where we receive the body and blood of Christ, the Logos, Christ as the Word.
God's sacred Word, Christ as the Logos, the Trinity, as well as the words we hear and pray as liturgies are absorbed into our being, they are what we are becoming, a more Christlike future self.
Except there is no time, time is an abstraction, and God is a Verb. God is Spirit and Love; God is eternal loving-kindness working within the world. Here are the Eternal Now and the Reign of God that are both imminent and infinitely present; where God is found here and now, and known in this moment.
This future self already is, since God's love is eternally transforming and boundless, without end. This spiritually whole, and holy reconciled, part of us, exists now. It is God's Spirit reaching within us to lead us forward, to discover the fullness of our own humanity. The Holy Spirt dwells within us and is an intimate part of our whole being, moving within us and across all creation.
It is a Mystery. We know this, it is written within us, it is part of God’s universal plan. And the close connection our Spirit-Soul has, an eternal one, to the Divine Ultimate Mystery of God, knows this at the deepest levels of the soul-spirit-self-mind, —our full spiritual consciousness. In a subtle divine memory that flows and moves throughout our whole being.
In Christian theology, we speak of Christ as being both fully human and fully divine. Christianity has celebrated this divine aspect for over two thousand years. What has been so often, not understood or celebrated as clearly, is the human side of this equation, this dance, this Perichoresis, and living in the fullness of our humanity and living a more abundant spiritual life.
Perichoresis, is an ancient term in Christian theology, which refers to the indwelling of the Trinity, of how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are intimately connected within their unity as one that there is an indwelling between them all. And that this indwelling is shared with us, in and through Christ, in the Paschal Mystery of Christ as the Incarnate Word, the Word Made Flesh.
Our presence on this earth, in this reality, is no accident; it is a gift. We are here to learn and, in many cases, to teach or help one another, to love one another in our fragile common humanity, to heal the world, to create heaven on earth.
When we take time to pay attention, it is a blessing. It is a blessing to see how God, the Divine Ultimate Mystery is calling us into a relationship with one another. When we stop judging one another so quickly, and start loving one another in the frailness and vulnerability of our humanity, this is a blessing. And in the end, invoking our human nature to love, and to come through with grace and graciousness. Indeed, embracing the fullness of God's love for everyone, is an intimate part of our faith and practice.
Being gracious and accepting of others, especially those whom we may not fully understand or appreciate is how we work through our human diversity and come to know and be known.
In his interfaith dialogue book titled, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” pluralist theologian Paul F. Knitter tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships are driven by the presence of the “Holy Spirit.”
Ephphatha, be opened —in the words of Christ, uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb ( Mark 7:34 ). Be opened to the Holy Spirit at work. There is and can be no exclusion of others here. Our lives unfold and happen for a reason. God has prepared and repaired our hearts for this moment in time, this moment of reconciliation, normalization, and acceptance. A moment where we are completely open to one another, just as we are, as who we are now, as God has touched and helped us to form the life we live and hope to live.
The importance of this concept is summarized by this:
“behind and within all the different images and symbols, Christians use for God—The Creator, Father (Abba), Redeemer, Word, Spirit, the most fundamental, the deepest truth Christians can speak of God is that God is the source and power of relationships.”
This is true across any sacred community or faith where the Spirit, unseen and invisible, is moving in and with and through all of humankind, calling us into a relationship with one another, even across faiths, across all of humanity. There have been many times in my journey when I have known this, where I feel the Spirit actively at work in all of our relationships, and in this process opening up new relationships.
Another way to view this, as Paul Knitter explained to me once in a conversation, is that in meditation, Buddhism asks us “to let go of all concepts, and to let go, and open ourselves radically and utterly to the present moment, and in the trust, this moment contains all we need.”
“This setting aside of words and imagery and opening oneself to what St. Paul calls God as Spirit, letting that Spirit make itself (or herself or himself) felt within us, grow within us, to lead us.”
It is ultimately a process of letting God be God, of being itself, and then living abundantly into the promise of our life, where we are truly given all that we need. We find this idea beautifully expressed in these two scriptures from the Gospel of John, and the book of Romans.
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” --John 14:26-27
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” --Romans 8:26-27
IN this spirit of deep understanding, in how we are intimately interconnected with one another now, these words bear repeating.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
—AS we grieve for so many African Americans who have died violently and still endure a systemic oppression that has lasted centuries. Please take a moment to think about these thoughts in the context of a more profound racial reconciliation that asks us as a people of faith to approach this dialogue with a greater sense of commitment and compassion. In which, we are called every day into a new and renewing relationship with one another by God.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” —John 17:21
“There is something more important than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives and liberals. We must be both. We must conserve and liberate at the same time. We can never severe our ties from that part of history, which belongs to us.” — Robert P. Starbuck, PhD, MDiv, In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions (Saint Julian Press, Inc. November 1, 2018)
Indeed, we live in a “network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
No matter where we may be on our journey in life. As Christians, we are reconciled through Chris. The Holy Spirit dwells within us each.
We live in this spirit of reconciliation. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is actively at work within the world and within us, teaching us to be as one, to be in union with the divine and one another, across all of humanity. Just as the Holy Spirit is calling us as Christians to be involved in Social Justice, and the critical social justice issues of our time.
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” —John 14:26-27
We are one people, created by God, we live within the world and within in this “network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid. This beautiful concept of Unity and Non-Duality compliments one another intimately. Unity and Non-Duality are spiritual concepts found in Christian scripture, in all the great core religions and wisdom traditions of humanity and human history, in myth and metaphor, in storytelling, and most especially in poetry. All sacred scriptures are poetry.
Imagine the literature found in all the books of the Bible, the literature of all faiths, as sacred poetry—Spiritual Poetry.
Imagine scripture as a type of software program we are using to program our minds; the Spirit-Soul operating system, the Divine Core Language of Creation (DCLC) perhaps, with many variations or versions.
If Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the WORD, the Incarnate Word of God, we must also come to realize that our words, spoken or written to one another matter a great deal. What we say and how we say it matters, because it shapes the reality that arises within our communities and across any society.
Our thoughts and words spoken out loud become litanies, even when, especially when we speak or misspeak thoughtlessly and incompletely, or with intentional deceit. As believers, this makes a mockery of the WORD, dwelling within us each, binding us together as God’s people, and the sacramental spiritual practices we follow. We betray that heritage as a people of faith when we misspeak or misuse language or the Word of God, and in doing so dismiss the suffering of others within the world. We forget, who we are and ought to be as God’s people.
We must remember, as in the word —Remembrance, that our sacramental spiritual practices (praxis): liturgy, ritual, prayer, and meditation are an extension of the Holy Spirit working within the world. Such practices and participation in a sacred community are helping us to grow spiritually, programing our mind —reconciling us with one another and renewing us as a people. And they are marked by an outward and visible sign, and an inward and spiritual grace in union with Christ and new life in the Holy Spirit.
For many traditional Christians, these sacramental practices center on the celebration of the Eucharist & Great Thanksgiving (Holy Communion), Holy Baptism, Confirmation, Reconciliation & Forgiveness, Healing & Unction, Liturgy & Prayer —literally the work of the people, Marriage & Ordination, and participation in a sacred community of faith, seeing God working within and all around us.
We hold these things to be sacred and life affirming, just as we are asked to hold each other as sacred and affirm one another’s life. We fail to do this when injustice is allowed to reign within the world or across our communities. We fail to do this by not seeing these injustice and continue to do nothing. “Lord, forgive us for what we do not do.”
“Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
—The Book of Common Prayer
According to the use of
The Episcopal Church.
One of the many reasons I love being an Episcopalian—Anglican, is the liturgy we use is poetry. The writing is inspired. It is both spiritual and poetic in nature; it has a literary quality and uses symbolic imagery, which are an invocation to the Holy Spirit.
Reading or listening to inspired poetry is a sacramental experience, in this sense, it is similar to the Eucharist, where we receive the body and blood of Christ, the Logos, Christ as the Word.
God's sacred Word, Christ as the Logos, the Trinity, as well as the words we hear and pray as liturgies are absorbed into our being, they are what we are becoming, a more Christlike future self.
Except there is no time, time is an abstraction, and God is a Verb. God is Spirit and Love; God is eternal loving-kindness working within the world. Here are the Eternal Now and the Reign of God that are both imminent and infinitely present; where God is found here and now, and known in this moment.
This future self already is, since God's love is eternally transforming and boundless, without end. This spiritually whole, and holy reconciled, part of us, exists now. It is God's Spirit reaching within us to lead us forward, to discover the fullness of our own humanity. The Holy Spirt dwells within us and is an intimate part of our whole being, moving within us and across all creation.
It is a Mystery. We know this, it is written within us, it is part of God’s universal plan. And the close connection our Spirit-Soul has, an eternal one, to the Divine Ultimate Mystery of God, knows this at the deepest levels of the soul-spirit-self-mind, —our full spiritual consciousness. In a subtle divine memory that flows and moves throughout our whole being.
In Christian theology, we speak of Christ as being both fully human and fully divine. Christianity has celebrated this divine aspect for over two thousand years. What has been so often, not understood or celebrated as clearly, is the human side of this equation, this dance, this Perichoresis, and living in the fullness of our humanity and living a more abundant spiritual life.
Perichoresis, is an ancient term in Christian theology, which refers to the indwelling of the Trinity, of how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are intimately connected within their unity as one that there is an indwelling between them all. And that this indwelling is shared with us, in and through Christ, in the Paschal Mystery of Christ as the Incarnate Word, the Word Made Flesh.
Our presence on this earth, in this reality, is no accident; it is a gift. We are here to learn and, in many cases, to teach or help one another, to love one another in our fragile common humanity, to heal the world, to create heaven on earth.
When we take time to pay attention, it is a blessing. It is a blessing to see how God, the Divine Ultimate Mystery is calling us into a relationship with one another. When we stop judging one another so quickly, and start loving one another in the frailness and vulnerability of our humanity, this is a blessing. And in the end, invoking our human nature to love, and to come through with grace and graciousness. Indeed, embracing the fullness of God's love for everyone, is an intimate part of our faith and practice.
Being gracious and accepting of others, especially those whom we may not fully understand or appreciate is how we work through our human diversity and come to know and be known.
In his interfaith dialogue book titled, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” pluralist theologian Paul F. Knitter tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships are driven by the presence of the “Holy Spirit.”
Ephphatha, be opened —in the words of Christ, uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb ( Mark 7:34 ). Be opened to the Holy Spirit at work. There is and can be no exclusion of others here. Our lives unfold and happen for a reason. God has prepared and repaired our hearts for this moment in time, this moment of reconciliation, normalization, and acceptance. A moment where we are completely open to one another, just as we are, as who we are now, as God has touched and helped us to form the life we live and hope to live.
The importance of this concept is summarized by this:
“behind and within all the different images and symbols, Christians use for God—The Creator, Father (Abba), Redeemer, Word, Spirit, the most fundamental, the deepest truth Christians can speak of God is that God is the source and power of relationships.”
This is true across any sacred community or faith where the Spirit, unseen and invisible, is moving in and with and through all of humankind, calling us into a relationship with one another, even across faiths, across all of humanity. There have been many times in my journey when I have known this, where I feel the Spirit actively at work in all of our relationships, and in this process opening up new relationships.
Another way to view this, as Paul Knitter explained to me once in a conversation, is that in meditation, Buddhism asks us “to let go of all concepts, and to let go, and open ourselves radically and utterly to the present moment, and in the trust, this moment contains all we need.”
“This setting aside of words and imagery and opening oneself to what St. Paul calls God as Spirit, letting that Spirit make itself (or herself or himself) felt within us, grow within us, to lead us.”
It is ultimately a process of letting God be God, of being itself, and then living abundantly into the promise of our life, where we are truly given all that we need. We find this idea beautifully expressed in these two scriptures from the Gospel of John, and the book of Romans.
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” --John 14:26-27
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” --Romans 8:26-27
IN this spirit of deep understanding, in how we are intimately interconnected with one another now, these words bear repeating.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
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To learn more you may wish to get Paul's book ...
Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian by Paul F. Knitter |
|
Take some time please to listen to and explore these thoughts from the Ninth Bishop of Texas, C. Andrew Doyle.
The Bishop of Texas
POETRY FILM |
NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
|
The Beloved
In Buddhism - Is there a soul? What is a soul? What is a mind? What is consciousness?
As human beings we are constantly changing from one thought to another, therefore who I may think I am in any given moment is being changed and transformed from one moment to the next.
In some forms of Buddhism they express this as three minds or even as a form of stored consciousness.
The Tibetan Buddhist view defines it as: very subtle mind, which does NOT dissolve in death; subtle mind, which does dissolve in death and which refers to a "dreaming mind" or "unconscious mind"; and gross mind, which does not exist when one is sleeping.
States of Consciousness or Something More?
The gross mind is less permanent than the subtle mind, which does not exist in death. Still, the very subtle mind, does continue, there is a subtle memory at play here. One that will encounter and "catch on" to life again.
Then we begin to see a new subtle mind or entity emerge. One that will in time develop its own personality, and that entity, the soul or psyche, experiences a new life or karma in a new time or current continuum.
Sometimes we can get tripped up by our own vocabulary or lack of vocabulary. Our concept of "I" or "Me" actually changes all the time, based on our own life experiences. And other faiths may use a different description or concept of the soul, than what we are used to hearing.
We are constantly changing and growing, and out of this constant change or impermanence a new self is constantly arising in relationship with everything else around it. A new being is continuous arising from the being that was before, from your own consciousness. And there is a continuity that continues on and moves into the future, inside and outside of time.
In Jewish thought there are several different names or concepts of the soul-spirit; נפש nephesh (literally "living being"), רוח ruach (literally "wind"), נשמה neshama (literally "breath"), חיה chaya (literally "life") and יחידה yechidah (literally "singularity") are used to describe the soul or spirit.
The People of God, across all cultures and civilizations, are a diverse people. We are still one people, one race, the human race. It is important to take time to understand one another in this context. In an historic and cultural context out of which our languages, vocabulary, and faiths arise.
Life - Reality - Transformation – Resurrection – Rebirth - New Being - It Happens!
The point is, it is happening now, all the time, and it's a Mystery that we cannot always name.
I am remembering now, two of my favorite scriptures from the New Testament; ones I have always found to be full of mystery and great comfort.
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized (NRSVA)
1 John 4:16: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
1 Corinthians 13
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So, as a Buddhist-Christian or Christian-Buddhist, how am I to understand this Mystery? I'll talk about that later on, in part two, engaging in the dialogue.
The Soul
The Over-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson
As human beings we are constantly changing from one thought to another, therefore who I may think I am in any given moment is being changed and transformed from one moment to the next.
In some forms of Buddhism they express this as three minds or even as a form of stored consciousness.
The Tibetan Buddhist view defines it as: very subtle mind, which does NOT dissolve in death; subtle mind, which does dissolve in death and which refers to a "dreaming mind" or "unconscious mind"; and gross mind, which does not exist when one is sleeping.
States of Consciousness or Something More?
The gross mind is less permanent than the subtle mind, which does not exist in death. Still, the very subtle mind, does continue, there is a subtle memory at play here. One that will encounter and "catch on" to life again.
Then we begin to see a new subtle mind or entity emerge. One that will in time develop its own personality, and that entity, the soul or psyche, experiences a new life or karma in a new time or current continuum.
Sometimes we can get tripped up by our own vocabulary or lack of vocabulary. Our concept of "I" or "Me" actually changes all the time, based on our own life experiences. And other faiths may use a different description or concept of the soul, than what we are used to hearing.
We are constantly changing and growing, and out of this constant change or impermanence a new self is constantly arising in relationship with everything else around it. A new being is continuous arising from the being that was before, from your own consciousness. And there is a continuity that continues on and moves into the future, inside and outside of time.
In Jewish thought there are several different names or concepts of the soul-spirit; נפש nephesh (literally "living being"), רוח ruach (literally "wind"), נשמה neshama (literally "breath"), חיה chaya (literally "life") and יחידה yechidah (literally "singularity") are used to describe the soul or spirit.
The People of God, across all cultures and civilizations, are a diverse people. We are still one people, one race, the human race. It is important to take time to understand one another in this context. In an historic and cultural context out of which our languages, vocabulary, and faiths arise.
Life - Reality - Transformation – Resurrection – Rebirth - New Being - It Happens!
The point is, it is happening now, all the time, and it's a Mystery that we cannot always name.
I am remembering now, two of my favorite scriptures from the New Testament; ones I have always found to be full of mystery and great comfort.
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized (NRSVA)
1 John 4:16: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
1 Corinthians 13
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So, as a Buddhist-Christian or Christian-Buddhist, how am I to understand this Mystery? I'll talk about that later on, in part two, engaging in the dialogue.
The Soul
The Over-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson
7/26/2018
The Dialogue - Engaging in the Dialogue
Buddha In Blue by Colin Clark
As Christians engage more and more in an interfaith dialogue with Buddhism, and other faiths, they are constantly challenged by a vocabulary, which is quite different from the one they know and love. This is especially true in working with and studying Buddhism, with its non-theistic approach to understanding the nature of reality.
How may a Christian perceive and understand the Buddhist concept of Śūnyatā – Nirvana, written of in the Heart Sutra, Mahāyāna Buddhist literature? Where the Heart Sutra teaches Śūnyatā–Nirvana, is that, which is empty of emptiness, and is that, which, points a Buddhist to an experience and union with Ultimate Truth, Ultimate Reality, as the Perfection of Wisdom. A teaching that leads a Buddhist to great wisdom and compassion.
How may we understand “emptiness is form, form is emptiness,” coming from a spiritual tradition like Christianity that is theistic?
May a Christian embrace a non-theistic approach to understanding the Divine Mystery, and still hold on to their theistic relationship with the Divine? My simple answer is, yes.
One that I have learned from Paul F. Knitter, author of Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, as well as other writers and theologians. I believe that we may do both, understand and see the Divine through both a Buddhist and a Christian lens.
In Buddhism, emptiness points towards a concept, which tells us that our sense of self as being permanent is false and that the self we may actively identify with is empty of such permanence. Buddhism refers to this false self as not-self, or no-self, anattā (uhn-uht-tah), it is an ego clinging self that leads to suffering, misperceptions, and false projections.
Indeed, what we may think of as "oneself" is largely the ego, who is not our truest deepest self in union with the Divine Mystery, or for a Christian, in union with Christ and through Christ, in unity with the Holy Trinity. Quite often, the ego is selfish and self-centered, blind to a greater and more meaningful spiritual life.
The Buddhist concept of anattā (uhn-uht-tah) is not proclaiming that humans have no soul, as a Western mind might think of a soul. There is a soul in Buddhism, Ātman, seen as our intrinsic nature, even our Buddha nature. It is seen as a greater self, a truer self, and to find this self, they learn to let go of all concepts of the self. I know that this may sound strange to Western ears.
A Christian might think of it as the image of God within themselves, the spirit within that belongs to God, their Christlike nature, or the Holy Spirit who dwells within us each. Even in Christianity, it is taught that to find our life in Christ, we must give up the life we know and who we think we are. In this sense there is also a letting go of the self.
Matthew 10:39 (NRSV): "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." . . .
Luke 9:23-24 (NRSV): "Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it."
Buddha In Blue by Colin Clark
http://www.artmastery.com/enlargement_blue_buddha_07.html
How may a Christian perceive and understand the Buddhist concept of Śūnyatā – Nirvana, written of in the Heart Sutra, Mahāyāna Buddhist literature? Where the Heart Sutra teaches Śūnyatā–Nirvana, is that, which is empty of emptiness, and is that, which, points a Buddhist to an experience and union with Ultimate Truth, Ultimate Reality, as the Perfection of Wisdom. A teaching that leads a Buddhist to great wisdom and compassion.
How may we understand “emptiness is form, form is emptiness,” coming from a spiritual tradition like Christianity that is theistic?
May a Christian embrace a non-theistic approach to understanding the Divine Mystery, and still hold on to their theistic relationship with the Divine? My simple answer is, yes.
One that I have learned from Paul F. Knitter, author of Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, as well as other writers and theologians. I believe that we may do both, understand and see the Divine through both a Buddhist and a Christian lens.
In Buddhism, emptiness points towards a concept, which tells us that our sense of self as being permanent is false and that the self we may actively identify with is empty of such permanence. Buddhism refers to this false self as not-self, or no-self, anattā (uhn-uht-tah), it is an ego clinging self that leads to suffering, misperceptions, and false projections.
Indeed, what we may think of as "oneself" is largely the ego, who is not our truest deepest self in union with the Divine Mystery, or for a Christian, in union with Christ and through Christ, in unity with the Holy Trinity. Quite often, the ego is selfish and self-centered, blind to a greater and more meaningful spiritual life.
The Buddhist concept of anattā (uhn-uht-tah) is not proclaiming that humans have no soul, as a Western mind might think of a soul. There is a soul in Buddhism, Ātman, seen as our intrinsic nature, even our Buddha nature. It is seen as a greater self, a truer self, and to find this self, they learn to let go of all concepts of the self. I know that this may sound strange to Western ears.
A Christian might think of it as the image of God within themselves, the spirit within that belongs to God, their Christlike nature, or the Holy Spirit who dwells within us each. Even in Christianity, it is taught that to find our life in Christ, we must give up the life we know and who we think we are. In this sense there is also a letting go of the self.
Matthew 10:39 (NRSV): "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." . . .
Luke 9:23-24 (NRSV): "Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it."
Buddha In Blue by Colin Clark
http://www.artmastery.com/enlargement_blue_buddha_07.html
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” - John 17:21
The concept of our Unity, of Non-Duality, can be found in all the great core religions and wisdom traditions found in human history, in myth and metaphor, in storytelling, and most especially in poetry. All sacred scripture is poetry.
Poetry, especially Spiritual Poetry, is like a software program you are using to reprogram the mind; the SPIRIT-SOUL’S operating system, the Divine Core Language of Creation (DCLC) perhaps, with many variations or versions.
Sacramental spiritual practices (praxis), like ritual, prayer, and meditation are an extension of this as well. Such practices and participation in a sacred community are helping you to grow spiritually, reprograming your mind.
The Word or Words (Logos) you are taking into your being now are what you are becoming in your future self. Except there is no time, time is an abstraction.
That future self already is, it exists now and is reaching within you to lead you forward, to discover your own fullness. The Holy Spirt dwells within you and is an intimate part of your whole being within and across creation.
It is a Mystery. You know this already, it is written, it is part of God’s core operating system. And the close connection your Spirit-Soul has already, an eternal one, to the Ultimate Divine Mystery of God, knows this at the deepest levels of the self-mind. In a subtle memory that flows and moves throughout your whole being.
In Christian theology they speak of Christ being both fully human and fully divine. Christianity has celebrated this divine aspect for over two thousand years. What has not been understood or celebrated as clearly is the human side of this equation, this dance, this Perichoresis.
Your presence on this earth, in this reality, is no accident; it is a gift. You are here to learn and in many cases to teach or help one another, to heal the world, to create heaven on earth.
Take time to develop a spiritual practice and to join a sacred community that helps you to discover where you belong, that you belong here, and that you are being called into new relationships every day of your life.
Take time to pay attention, to see how God, the Divine Ultimate Mystery is calling you into relationship with one another.
In his book, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” Paul F. Knitter tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships is driven by the presence of the "Holy Spirit.”
The importance of this concept is summarized by this: "behind and within all the different images and symbols, Christians use for God – Creator, Father (Abba), Redeemer, Word, Spirit, - the most fundamental, the deepest truth Christians can speak of God is that God is the source and power of relationships.”
Another way to view this, as Paul Knitter explained to me once in a conversation, is that in meditation Buddhism asks us “to let go of all concepts, and to let go and open ourselves radically and utterly to the present moment, and in the trust that this present moment contains all that I need.
This setting aside of words and imagery and opening oneself to what St. Paul calls God as Spirit, letting that Spirit make itself (or herself or himself) felt within us, grow within us, to lead us.”
We find this idea beautifully expressed in these two scriptures. The Gospel of John, and in the book of Romans.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” - John 14:26-27
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” - Romans 8:26-27
The concept of our Unity, of Non-Duality, can be found in all the great core religions and wisdom traditions found in human history, in myth and metaphor, in storytelling, and most especially in poetry. All sacred scripture is poetry.
Poetry, especially Spiritual Poetry, is like a software program you are using to reprogram the mind; the SPIRIT-SOUL’S operating system, the Divine Core Language of Creation (DCLC) perhaps, with many variations or versions.
Sacramental spiritual practices (praxis), like ritual, prayer, and meditation are an extension of this as well. Such practices and participation in a sacred community are helping you to grow spiritually, reprograming your mind.
The Word or Words (Logos) you are taking into your being now are what you are becoming in your future self. Except there is no time, time is an abstraction.
That future self already is, it exists now and is reaching within you to lead you forward, to discover your own fullness. The Holy Spirt dwells within you and is an intimate part of your whole being within and across creation.
It is a Mystery. You know this already, it is written, it is part of God’s core operating system. And the close connection your Spirit-Soul has already, an eternal one, to the Ultimate Divine Mystery of God, knows this at the deepest levels of the self-mind. In a subtle memory that flows and moves throughout your whole being.
In Christian theology they speak of Christ being both fully human and fully divine. Christianity has celebrated this divine aspect for over two thousand years. What has not been understood or celebrated as clearly is the human side of this equation, this dance, this Perichoresis.
Your presence on this earth, in this reality, is no accident; it is a gift. You are here to learn and in many cases to teach or help one another, to heal the world, to create heaven on earth.
Take time to develop a spiritual practice and to join a sacred community that helps you to discover where you belong, that you belong here, and that you are being called into new relationships every day of your life.
Take time to pay attention, to see how God, the Divine Ultimate Mystery is calling you into relationship with one another.
In his book, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” Paul F. Knitter tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships is driven by the presence of the "Holy Spirit.”
The importance of this concept is summarized by this: "behind and within all the different images and symbols, Christians use for God – Creator, Father (Abba), Redeemer, Word, Spirit, - the most fundamental, the deepest truth Christians can speak of God is that God is the source and power of relationships.”
Another way to view this, as Paul Knitter explained to me once in a conversation, is that in meditation Buddhism asks us “to let go of all concepts, and to let go and open ourselves radically and utterly to the present moment, and in the trust that this present moment contains all that I need.
This setting aside of words and imagery and opening oneself to what St. Paul calls God as Spirit, letting that Spirit make itself (or herself or himself) felt within us, grow within us, to lead us.”
We find this idea beautifully expressed in these two scriptures. The Gospel of John, and in the book of Romans.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” - John 14:26-27
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” - Romans 8:26-27
Interfaith Openness and The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself –
In the link to this article – “Stem-cell guru Robert Lanza presents a radical new view of the universe and everything in it."
"The only thing we can perceive are our perceptions. In other words, consciousness is the matrix upon which the cosmos is apprehended. Color, sound, temperature, and the like exist only as perceptions in our head, not as absolute essences. In the broadest sense, we cannot be sure of an outside universe at all.”
How may we see this in the context of a spiritual practice? How can we reconcile faith with science and find a connection between the two?
Spend just a bit of time in deep prayer and meditation and you may come to understand what this means; that the emptiness of creation is a space waiting to be filled with infinite possibilities of thought and mind - a cosmic consciousness. God even, if you wish to perceive the nature of reality in theistic terms, or Śūnyatā-Nirvana in non-theistic and non-dualistic terms.
The point is that we help shape the reality in which we live at many levels of our own consciousness or soul, our spirit, just as we shape the relationships in which we dwell and the consciousness that dwells within us. One may call this the Spirit of God, if one wishes. I like to do just that, it aligns to my own faith, but it also helps me to delve deeper into the mystery of all creation.
It is for me a deep mystery. All the great literature, art, and sacred spiritual liturgy and scripture written and created by humankind across the ages speaks to this mystery, we dwell within it and it dwells within us. We have internalized the Presence of this Mystery, the Divine Ultimate Mystery. God is real.
I believe that there is an eternal Holy Spirit, a divine presence that dwells within us and shapes the universe in ways we can hardly imagine, seen and unseen, visible and invisible. If thought can be prayer, is indeed a prayer, and prayer thought. Then we are praying all the time, and what we think and pray comes into being in some form or fashion, shaped by our desires.
It becomes real for us; we come to dwell within it, within this mystery. And it brings new meaning to all the scriptures of humanity when we begin to see how it is all connected and interconnected.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
It is all one big open mystery in which we dwell and that dwells within us. And the literature and liturgy of our faith helps us to internalize this within our own spirit-soul-self-consciousness. It helps us to know and be known by God.
1 Corinthians 13:12(NRSV) –– “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Shantideva:
“May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away.
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.” – Shantideva
“May I be protector for those without one,
A guide for all travellers on the way;
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship
For all who wish to cross (the water).” –– Shantideva
From: The Buddha – Dhammapada: Translated by Thomas Byrom (Shambhala Press, 1976)
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable. "
There is a great conceptual image from ancient Christianity that may serve here, Perichoresis.
Perichoresis can be described as the "Divine Dance", it is an indwelling between the Holy Trinity, between God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This indwelling happens within us too, at a deeply felt spiritual level, within our own spirit and consciousness.
Perhaps this image, this indwelling can also serve as a metaphor for Biocentrism. Where we begin to understand more clearly how interconnected we are to one another and creation itself, and how the reality we experience every day of our lives arises from these relationships.
And how God dwells within us – God in whom we live and move and have our being. Ushering in a great thanksgiving of the Spirit who prays in and with and through us, even when we do not know how to pray ourselves.
The Holy Eucharist: Rite One
Episcopal BCP
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves,
our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living
sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee that we, and all
others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may
worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son
Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction,
and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and
we in him.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
Saint Julian Press
In the link to this article – “Stem-cell guru Robert Lanza presents a radical new view of the universe and everything in it."
"The only thing we can perceive are our perceptions. In other words, consciousness is the matrix upon which the cosmos is apprehended. Color, sound, temperature, and the like exist only as perceptions in our head, not as absolute essences. In the broadest sense, we cannot be sure of an outside universe at all.”
How may we see this in the context of a spiritual practice? How can we reconcile faith with science and find a connection between the two?
Spend just a bit of time in deep prayer and meditation and you may come to understand what this means; that the emptiness of creation is a space waiting to be filled with infinite possibilities of thought and mind - a cosmic consciousness. God even, if you wish to perceive the nature of reality in theistic terms, or Śūnyatā-Nirvana in non-theistic and non-dualistic terms.
The point is that we help shape the reality in which we live at many levels of our own consciousness or soul, our spirit, just as we shape the relationships in which we dwell and the consciousness that dwells within us. One may call this the Spirit of God, if one wishes. I like to do just that, it aligns to my own faith, but it also helps me to delve deeper into the mystery of all creation.
It is for me a deep mystery. All the great literature, art, and sacred spiritual liturgy and scripture written and created by humankind across the ages speaks to this mystery, we dwell within it and it dwells within us. We have internalized the Presence of this Mystery, the Divine Ultimate Mystery. God is real.
I believe that there is an eternal Holy Spirit, a divine presence that dwells within us and shapes the universe in ways we can hardly imagine, seen and unseen, visible and invisible. If thought can be prayer, is indeed a prayer, and prayer thought. Then we are praying all the time, and what we think and pray comes into being in some form or fashion, shaped by our desires.
It becomes real for us; we come to dwell within it, within this mystery. And it brings new meaning to all the scriptures of humanity when we begin to see how it is all connected and interconnected.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
It is all one big open mystery in which we dwell and that dwells within us. And the literature and liturgy of our faith helps us to internalize this within our own spirit-soul-self-consciousness. It helps us to know and be known by God.
1 Corinthians 13:12(NRSV) –– “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Shantideva:
“May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away.
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.” – Shantideva
“May I be protector for those without one,
A guide for all travellers on the way;
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship
For all who wish to cross (the water).” –– Shantideva
From: The Buddha – Dhammapada: Translated by Thomas Byrom (Shambhala Press, 1976)
“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable. "
There is a great conceptual image from ancient Christianity that may serve here, Perichoresis.
Perichoresis can be described as the "Divine Dance", it is an indwelling between the Holy Trinity, between God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This indwelling happens within us too, at a deeply felt spiritual level, within our own spirit and consciousness.
Perhaps this image, this indwelling can also serve as a metaphor for Biocentrism. Where we begin to understand more clearly how interconnected we are to one another and creation itself, and how the reality we experience every day of our lives arises from these relationships.
And how God dwells within us – God in whom we live and move and have our being. Ushering in a great thanksgiving of the Spirit who prays in and with and through us, even when we do not know how to pray ourselves.
The Holy Eucharist: Rite One
Episcopal BCP
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves,
our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living
sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee that we, and all
others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may
worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son
Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction,
and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and
we in him.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
Saint Julian Press
10/13/2014
Every Book Has A Story To Tell
In My Father’s House are Many Mansions, will be a new book of poetry and prose I hope to begin writing and gathering together soon. The collection will include updated contemporary sermons originally written by my father, accented with other art, poetry, and prose written as an artistic response. There is likewise a third book of poetry waiting to be gathered together, placed in order, and eventually published.
My father, Robert P. Starbuck, M.Div., PhD, was a practicing psychotherapist for over 40 years and a Protestant clergy for over 50 years. Through him and my mother, I learned to love and value literature, plays, philosophy, and theology in many forms. The book’s title of course is drawn from the Gospel of John.
John 14:2 ~ 21st Century King James Version: In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Every book and every poem tell a story, and have a story hidden between the words and verses within each poem. This is a small part of one book’s story. The story of each poem would take pages and pages that I will not reveal to you here today. This piece is not about a new book or an old book, it is about the mystery of relationships.
My father, Robert P. Starbuck, M.Div., PhD, was a practicing psychotherapist for over 40 years and a Protestant clergy for over 50 years. Through him and my mother, I learned to love and value literature, plays, philosophy, and theology in many forms. The book’s title of course is drawn from the Gospel of John.
John 14:2 ~ 21st Century King James Version: In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Every book and every poem tell a story, and have a story hidden between the words and verses within each poem. This is a small part of one book’s story. The story of each poem would take pages and pages that I will not reveal to you here today. This piece is not about a new book or an old book, it is about the mystery of relationships.
In early 2013, Saint Julian Press published When Angels Are Born, my second book of poetry. The timing was far from perfect and we never really had time to actively promote the book or seek book reviews. A few excellent reviews were written. Ones I am certainly proud to share, written by fellow poets and artists, Adele Kenny, Lois P. Jones, Gayle Greenlea, and Leila A. Fortier.
At the time, my mother was in ICU, recovering from a serious case of pneumonia that she had developed during the Christmas holidays. She was literally in the hospital and recovery for many weeks. My father and other members of our immediate family were there by her side every day, every step of the way.
My father in particular was emotionally and physically exhausted, he was so very afraid of losing her, we all were. In early February, she was eventually able to come home, but her full recovery was weeks, actually months away. I suspect that at some microscopic and internal level all this took a terrible toll on my father who was 86 years young, and his immune system. We can never know for certain.
At the time, my mother was in ICU, recovering from a serious case of pneumonia that she had developed during the Christmas holidays. She was literally in the hospital and recovery for many weeks. My father and other members of our immediate family were there by her side every day, every step of the way.
My father in particular was emotionally and physically exhausted, he was so very afraid of losing her, we all were. In early February, she was eventually able to come home, but her full recovery was weeks, actually months away. I suspect that at some microscopic and internal level all this took a terrible toll on my father who was 86 years young, and his immune system. We can never know for certain.
In late February, after being ill himself off and on for a few weeks, we took him to the emergency room at Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center here in Houston. What they diagnosed was acute myeloid leukemia. Within two weeks, after an initial of round of moderate chemotherapy that was devastating, he was gone. His eighty six year old body simply gave out on him. My entire family was overwhelmed with grief, we are all close, and we were all close to my father.
I am very thankful and grateful that he was able to see and read a copy of When Angels Are Born. To see and understand the work and what I was trying to share with the world. Dad was one of my leading enthusiasts, he was always encouraging and something more. He saw, as I was beginning to see, something being revealed about me as a person, something that had always been there, the actualization of a hidden dream and deepest calling of the soul.
So much of the work coming from what he and my mother had taught me to appreciate and value throughout my childhood and beyond as an adult who was drawn to great writing and spiritual views from an interfaith dialogue that I had been involved in for many years; drawing on that knowledge deeply and perhaps an even higher creative-consciousness when writing the poems.
I am very thankful and grateful that he was able to see and read a copy of When Angels Are Born. To see and understand the work and what I was trying to share with the world. Dad was one of my leading enthusiasts, he was always encouraging and something more. He saw, as I was beginning to see, something being revealed about me as a person, something that had always been there, the actualization of a hidden dream and deepest calling of the soul.
So much of the work coming from what he and my mother had taught me to appreciate and value throughout my childhood and beyond as an adult who was drawn to great writing and spiritual views from an interfaith dialogue that I had been involved in for many years; drawing on that knowledge deeply and perhaps an even higher creative-consciousness when writing the poems.
Hélène Cardona When reading the back cover blurbs and endorsements generously provide by poet and actress Hélène Cardona; theologian Paul F. Knitter, who at the time was the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture, and a leading theologian of religious pluralism at Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, NYC; and Fr. Laurence Freeman the Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation centered in London. He commented that these are great individuals.
He knew of Paul and Fr. Laurence’s work and writings well, because I had shared their books with him and written about them both for Parabola Magazine two years earlier. And he knew how they are both instrumental in encouraging a radical openness and acceptance in a global interfaith dialogue. My father loved Parabola Magazine, and was proud of the Tangents I had written and the relationship I had as friends and spiritual teachers with both men that aided that endeavor.
My father was equally enamored and charmed by the intelligence, scholarship, and talents of poet and actress Hélène Cardona. Hélène is not only a very talented poet and actress, but also a Henry James scholar with a Master’s in American Literature from the Sorbonne in Paris. She writes and translates in English, French and Spanish, and is also fluent in German, Italian and Greek. As an anam cara (soul friend) she helped me enormously with the final edits for When Angels Are Born.
He knew of Paul and Fr. Laurence’s work and writings well, because I had shared their books with him and written about them both for Parabola Magazine two years earlier. And he knew how they are both instrumental in encouraging a radical openness and acceptance in a global interfaith dialogue. My father loved Parabola Magazine, and was proud of the Tangents I had written and the relationship I had as friends and spiritual teachers with both men that aided that endeavor.
My father was equally enamored and charmed by the intelligence, scholarship, and talents of poet and actress Hélène Cardona. Hélène is not only a very talented poet and actress, but also a Henry James scholar with a Master’s in American Literature from the Sorbonne in Paris. She writes and translates in English, French and Spanish, and is also fluent in German, Italian and Greek. As an anam cara (soul friend) she helped me enormously with the final edits for When Angels Are Born.
 Paul Knitter & his wife Cathy Cornell ~ With Executive Chief of the Korean Buddhist Chogye Order |  Fr. Laurence Freeman, OSB |
My gratitude for the support and encouragement of Hélène, Paul, Fr. Laurence, and my father can never be adequately expressed, such gratefulness goes beyond all words, as does my appreciation for everyone who wrote a review or offered a kind and sincere comment. What is hidden here is another story, perhaps for another time. But, it might help for you to know that before 2010, I had never met or had a conversation with Hélène, Paul, or Fr. Laurence.
In finally reading When Angels Are Born, I think my father was simply astounded at the work and its quality, as perhaps other members of my immediate family were as well. This was not the son, brother, or uncle they had known all their lives. It was something very new, very different, something they didn't quite recognize and had to adjust to in their mental images. As did I in my own sense of self and identity, trying to maintain a simple humility of spirit and thanksgiving; it takes time you see.
I suspect that for some, adjustments are still going on today. Our families and closest friends, the people who have known us for years and years, know us at a completely different level than we are known professionally, or as poets and writers. An echo perhaps of, no prophet (or poet) is truly seen or known in his own long-standing society of family and friends. They know your faults too well, and love you in spite of them all.
Why am I thinking of this today? Because, within the last year, presently, and in the very near future I have been and will continue to work with at least four poets in publishing their first books through Saint Julian Press.
Last fall we published Fred LaMotte’s first book of poems titled Wounded Bud. The most recent one is I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast by Melissa Studdard. The newest one to be published in November 2014 is Numinous by Leila A. Fortier. There are at least two or three more books by other poets we’ll be working on through the winter and spring.
Every day I am a witness to the utter miracle of this process, and the very hard work it takes day in and day out. Every day is a reminder and in many ways a remembrance of where it all began.
It began with my mother writing poems when we were children, and then my father sharing them in a sermon. It began when I was a very small boy and heard my first nursery rhyme or fairy tale. It began when I heard my father recite a Robert Frost or Carl Sandburg poem, or parts of a Tennessee Williams, William Inge, or Arthur Miller play, and so many other brilliant poets and playwrights. And it began with some of the teachers who encouraged in me an appreciation for the arts, literature, drama, and the spoken word.
It begins also with my wife Joanne, my soul-mate in this life we share together, and the many friendships and relationships we share with others. Certainly through our involvement at Trinity Episcopal Church in Midtown Houston, where we were married, still attend, and are actively involved. And in many other relationships too, surprising in their spiritual intimacy, and with all the people who have and will be touched by Saint Julian Press. The human spirit and Holy Spirit are boundless, calling us into new relationships every day.
I am astounded at the relationships we have in this world, how unexpectedly doors will open, and how new people and close friendships arise out of the mystery of creation. There is a conversation I recall once with Paul Knitter over a dinner when I was visiting him at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
In it we spoke of the marvelous interconnections that form between people and how they often arise and form. In his book, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” Paul tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships is driven by the presence of the "Holy Spirit."
If I may paraphrase Paul, the importance of this concept is summarized by this: “behind and within all the different images and symbols we may use for God – Creator, Redeemer, Word, Spirit, - the most fundamental, the deepest truth we can speak of God is that God is the source and power of our relationships."
I think this is true in all faiths, with all of life. We may call it by another name or use another metaphor or image if you wish, but for me it is simply a mystery, or a very intimate divine memory that draws us to one another. I can easily live in that mystery, accept it fully and watch it be revealed fully in and with and through all of you as our lives unfold together.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
October 12, 2014
In finally reading When Angels Are Born, I think my father was simply astounded at the work and its quality, as perhaps other members of my immediate family were as well. This was not the son, brother, or uncle they had known all their lives. It was something very new, very different, something they didn't quite recognize and had to adjust to in their mental images. As did I in my own sense of self and identity, trying to maintain a simple humility of spirit and thanksgiving; it takes time you see.
I suspect that for some, adjustments are still going on today. Our families and closest friends, the people who have known us for years and years, know us at a completely different level than we are known professionally, or as poets and writers. An echo perhaps of, no prophet (or poet) is truly seen or known in his own long-standing society of family and friends. They know your faults too well, and love you in spite of them all.
Why am I thinking of this today? Because, within the last year, presently, and in the very near future I have been and will continue to work with at least four poets in publishing their first books through Saint Julian Press.
Last fall we published Fred LaMotte’s first book of poems titled Wounded Bud. The most recent one is I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast by Melissa Studdard. The newest one to be published in November 2014 is Numinous by Leila A. Fortier. There are at least two or three more books by other poets we’ll be working on through the winter and spring.
Every day I am a witness to the utter miracle of this process, and the very hard work it takes day in and day out. Every day is a reminder and in many ways a remembrance of where it all began.
It began with my mother writing poems when we were children, and then my father sharing them in a sermon. It began when I was a very small boy and heard my first nursery rhyme or fairy tale. It began when I heard my father recite a Robert Frost or Carl Sandburg poem, or parts of a Tennessee Williams, William Inge, or Arthur Miller play, and so many other brilliant poets and playwrights. And it began with some of the teachers who encouraged in me an appreciation for the arts, literature, drama, and the spoken word.
It begins also with my wife Joanne, my soul-mate in this life we share together, and the many friendships and relationships we share with others. Certainly through our involvement at Trinity Episcopal Church in Midtown Houston, where we were married, still attend, and are actively involved. And in many other relationships too, surprising in their spiritual intimacy, and with all the people who have and will be touched by Saint Julian Press. The human spirit and Holy Spirit are boundless, calling us into new relationships every day.
I am astounded at the relationships we have in this world, how unexpectedly doors will open, and how new people and close friendships arise out of the mystery of creation. There is a conversation I recall once with Paul Knitter over a dinner when I was visiting him at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
In it we spoke of the marvelous interconnections that form between people and how they often arise and form. In his book, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” Paul tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships is driven by the presence of the "Holy Spirit."
If I may paraphrase Paul, the importance of this concept is summarized by this: “behind and within all the different images and symbols we may use for God – Creator, Redeemer, Word, Spirit, - the most fundamental, the deepest truth we can speak of God is that God is the source and power of our relationships."
I think this is true in all faiths, with all of life. We may call it by another name or use another metaphor or image if you wish, but for me it is simply a mystery, or a very intimate divine memory that draws us to one another. I can easily live in that mystery, accept it fully and watch it be revealed fully in and with and through all of you as our lives unfold together.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
October 12, 2014
Book Review Hyperlinks
1) Tiferet Journal by Adele Kenney – July 2013
2) The Loch Raven Review by Lois P. Jones
3) Leila A. Fortier ~ March 31, 2014
4) Gayle J. Greenlea ~ February 14, 2014
Notes & Links
When Angels Are Born
Hélène Cardona is a poet, actor, linguist, literary translator, dream analyst, author of Dreaming My Animal Selves (Salmon Poetry), winner of the Pinnacle Book Award and the 2014 Readers’ Favorite Award in Poetry; The Astonished Universe (Red Hen Press); and Life in Suspension, forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2016. Ce que nous portons (Éditions du Cygne), her translation of What We Carry by Dorianne Laux, came out in September 2014. She also translated Beyond Elsewhere by Gabriel Arnou-Laujeac.
Hélène holds a Masters in English & American Literature from the Sorbonne, taught at Hamilton College & Loyola Marymount University, and received fellowships from the Goethe-Institut & Universidad Internacional de Andalucía.
She is Main Editor of Dublin Poetry Review and Levure Littéraire, and a multiple-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Other publications include Washington Square, World Literature Today, Poetry International, The Warwick Review, The Dublin Review of Books, The Irish Literary Times, The Los Angeles Review, and many more.
Acting credits include Chocolat, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hundred-Foot Journey, X-Men: Days of Future Past, etc. For Serendipity, she co-wrote with director Peter Chelsom and composer Alan Silvestri the song Lucienne, which she also sang.
http://www.helenecardona.com
http://www.pw.org/content/helene_cardona
http://www.imdb.me/helenecardona
Paul F. Knitter - Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, Oneworld Publications
http://www.amazon.com/Without-Christian-published-Oneworld-Publications/dp/B00E31Q4OI/
Union Theological Seminary Biography - Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture
http://www.utsnyc.edu/paulknitter
Union in Dialogue: http://unionindialogue.org/2011/06/05/the-miracle-of-mindfulness-and-the-miracle-of-being-in-christ-jesus/
Fr. Laurence Freeman
First Sight: The Experience of Faith
http://www.amazon.com/First-Sight-Experience-Laurence-Freeman/dp/1441161570/
WCCM site: http://www.wccm.org/content/laurence-freeman-osb
1) Tiferet Journal by Adele Kenney – July 2013
2) The Loch Raven Review by Lois P. Jones
3) Leila A. Fortier ~ March 31, 2014
4) Gayle J. Greenlea ~ February 14, 2014
Notes & Links
When Angels Are Born
Hélène Cardona is a poet, actor, linguist, literary translator, dream analyst, author of Dreaming My Animal Selves (Salmon Poetry), winner of the Pinnacle Book Award and the 2014 Readers’ Favorite Award in Poetry; The Astonished Universe (Red Hen Press); and Life in Suspension, forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2016. Ce que nous portons (Éditions du Cygne), her translation of What We Carry by Dorianne Laux, came out in September 2014. She also translated Beyond Elsewhere by Gabriel Arnou-Laujeac.
Hélène holds a Masters in English & American Literature from the Sorbonne, taught at Hamilton College & Loyola Marymount University, and received fellowships from the Goethe-Institut & Universidad Internacional de Andalucía.
She is Main Editor of Dublin Poetry Review and Levure Littéraire, and a multiple-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Other publications include Washington Square, World Literature Today, Poetry International, The Warwick Review, The Dublin Review of Books, The Irish Literary Times, The Los Angeles Review, and many more.
Acting credits include Chocolat, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hundred-Foot Journey, X-Men: Days of Future Past, etc. For Serendipity, she co-wrote with director Peter Chelsom and composer Alan Silvestri the song Lucienne, which she also sang.
http://www.helenecardona.com
http://www.pw.org/content/helene_cardona
http://www.imdb.me/helenecardona
Paul F. Knitter - Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, Oneworld Publications
http://www.amazon.com/Without-Christian-published-Oneworld-Publications/dp/B00E31Q4OI/
Union Theological Seminary Biography - Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture
http://www.utsnyc.edu/paulknitter
Union in Dialogue: http://unionindialogue.org/2011/06/05/the-miracle-of-mindfulness-and-the-miracle-of-being-in-christ-jesus/
Fr. Laurence Freeman
First Sight: The Experience of Faith
http://www.amazon.com/First-Sight-Experience-Laurence-Freeman/dp/1441161570/
WCCM site: http://www.wccm.org/content/laurence-freeman-osb
There is Something About Being an Episcopalian (Anglican)
If you haven’t seen this new video on YouTube, I would like to encourage you take a moment to watch and share it if you wish. It is a witness and a testament on being an Episcopalian within the Anglican Communion, and a Sacramental Christian within the Church Universal.
As a contemplative tradition and prayerful path, as a way towards a knowledge and understanding of God, by whom we are fully known in and with and through an indwelling of the Spirit. And how God as the “Connecting Spirit" calls us into relationship with one another and all of creation.
Corinthians 13 (NRSV) ~ 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
If you haven’t seen this new video on YouTube, I would like to encourage you take a moment to watch and share it if you wish. It is a witness and a testament on being an Episcopalian within the Anglican Communion, and a Sacramental Christian within the Church Universal.
As a contemplative tradition and prayerful path, as a way towards a knowledge and understanding of God, by whom we are fully known in and with and through an indwelling of the Spirit. And how God as the “Connecting Spirit" calls us into relationship with one another and all of creation.
Corinthians 13 (NRSV) ~ 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
It is no secret that I love what the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion have to offer as an open inclusive boundless community of loving-kindness, and as a transforming faith and spiritual practice within the world. In our beautiful liturgy, the work of the people, and as sacred art, literature, and poetry that is transforming, an invocation of the Holy Spirit.
As I love how the Holy Spirit is actively at work within the world, as a divine presence and mystery, formless ~ without form, unseen and invisible, unbound, eternally open, indwelling, and transforming; God as a verb, acting to transform creation, in a world without end.
Romans 8 (NRSV) ~ 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Transforming our lives and creation if we will only open ourselves up to the peace, power, and joy we find in a relationship with and in and through Christ. And the hope Christ offers to a weary world through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Even as the Holy Spirit prays within us when we do not know how to truly pray ourselves to God, with God, invisible and unseen, indwelling and always present.
John14 (NRSV) ~ 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
To be reminded is to remember, in Eucharistic remembrance. In remembrance of Christ. To remember whom we are as Children of God, as a People of God, living in community with one another and helping to heal and repair the world. Tikkun Olam.
Allow me to end this note please, with this beautiful and ancient liturgical poem and invocation of the Holy Spirit written by the Eastern Christian Orthodox monk, Symeon the New Theologian, over a thousand years ago.
Within these words, I find a connection to many other contemplative traditions and faiths, in an interfaith dialogue, that touches on the mystery and formlessness of the divine. Symeon uses a Christian vocabulary, but his words are timeless and eternal.
Words that may take us beyond all our images and symbols of God, the Divine Ultimate Mystery. Seeing God as the “Connecting Spirit” as my friend and theologian Paul F. Knitter has written and spoken of in his books and teaching.
Symeon the New Theologian's Invocation to the God, the Holy Spirit
Come, true light.
Come, life eternal.
Come, hidden mystery.
Come, treasure without name.
Come, reality beyond all words.
Come, person beyond all understanding.
Come, rejoicing without end.
Come, light that knows no evening.
Come, unfailing expectation of the saved.
Come, raising of the fallen.
Come, resurrection of the dead.
Come, all-powerful, for unceasingly you create, refashion and change all things by your will alone.
Come, invisible whom none may touch and handle.
Come, for you continue always unmoved, yet at every instant you are wholly in movement; you draw near to us who lie in hell, yet you remain higher than the heavens.
Come, for your name fills our hearts with longing and is ever on our lips; yet who you are and what your nature is, we cannot say or know.
Come, Alone to the alone.
Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me.
Come, my breath and my life.
Come, the consolation of my humble soul.
Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.
Many Blessings,
Ron Starbuck
Saint Julian Press ~ The Poem: http://www.saintjulianpress.com/there-is-something-about-being-an-episcopalian.html
God the Connecting Spirit ~ Third Recording with Paul F. Knitter
http://www.saintjulianpress.com/paul-f-knitter---interview.html
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Publisher's Blog
RON STARBUCK is the Publisher/CEO/Executive Editor of Saint Julian Press, Inc., in Houston, Texas; a poet and writer, an Episcopalian, and author of There Is Something About Being An Episcopalian, When Angels Are Born, Wheels Turning Inward, and most recently A Pilgrimage of Churches, four rich collections of poetry, following a poet’s mythic and spiritual journey that crosses easily onto the paths of many contemplative traditions.
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.