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Please click below to listen to Imam Siyam of the Clifton Mosque in Cincinnati, speaking at the Gathering

Message 92, “Finding Spiritual Truths from World Religions: Hindu Change”, 4-15-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved

Click here to listen to the message.  See below to read it.

There is an old Hindu proverb about a master who grew weary of his ever complaining apprentice.  “Life is not fair!” the young man would say.  “It is full of pain and there are so many people who hurt me.”

The master finally had enough and asked the apprentice to go and grab a handful of salt.  When he returned, the master told him to put the salt in a glass of water and then drink it.  “How does it taste?” the master asked.  “Bitter.” was the reply.

The master then asked the boy to go and grab another handful of salt.  When he returned, the master led the boy to a very large lake and told him to put the salt in it and swirl it around.  “Now drink from the lake” the master said.

As the water dripped from the boy’s chin, he was asked how that water tasted.  “Fresh!” was the reply.  “Do you taste the salt?” the master asked.  “No.” said the boy.

And then the master sat down with the apprentice and took his hands in his own.  “The pain and hurts of life are always the same” the master said, “no more and no less.  How you think about such pain and whether or not you choose to be a victim depends on the vessel you put the pain into.  The thing we must do is to enlarge our sense of things……..stop being a small minded glass.  Become a lake.”

Now, I often hate it when I read such parables and at first don’t really understand what they mean – especially those of eastern religions or philosophies which are difficult for a western mind to comprehend.  How do we enlarge our sense of things?  How do we become something we are not – like a lake?  How do we change for the better  – which seems to be the message of that parable – and thus find the peace and happiness we all seek?

In life, we each yearn to be free of pain, failure, anger, disease, injustice, worry, fear and poverty.  We want to be perpetually happy and most of us want that for all humanity.

As we have spent the last two months examining a spiritual truth from each of various world religions, we might have lapsed into a common mistake.  We can too often isolate one virtue or one ideal at the expense of an overriding principle – we can’t see the forest in the midst of trees.  My purpose in looking to each of the major world religions – Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism – those that represent the beliefs of over 95% of the world’s population – is for us to realize that there are many truths, many ethics and many ideals we would be wise to learn from and adopt.  In other words, each world faith calls us to reach beyond the selves we superficially know and aspire to the spiritual truth each promotes.  Ultimately, they all point us to the same goal – total and complete peace.

Another Hindu parable, one which many of you may have heard, talks about five blind folks who are asked to examine an elephant and then describe what an elephant is.  The first feels the trunk and exclaims that an elephant is like a hose.  The next feels a leg and declares an elephant is like a tree.  The next person touches the ear and says an elephant is like a giant fan.  The final person grabs a hold of the tail and proudly says an elephant is like a rope!

We all know that an elephant is the totality of all those things, and more, but to isolate only one aspect and define it that way is to miss the larger picture.  And the same holds true for spirituality and our quest for truth, peace and happiness.  We will not find them just by grabbing a hold of a tail, or a trunk or an ear.  We must strive to grow in ALL ways.  We must be willing to continue learning about ourselves and our world from many sources.  We must be willing to continuously change our perspective and understanding of life and the big picture – or elephant!

And, in that way, it is fitting that we conclude this series with a look at Hinduism which emphasizes the importance of constant change in one’s life – the kind of holistic and total change that will lead one eventually to perfect peace.

Hinduism is the third largest religion.  But, it is often referred to as less of a religion than a way of life – a practice and tradition that is deeply embedded in Hindu cultures.  There are two primary Scriptures for Hindus – the ancient Rig Veda and the more recent Bhagavad Gita.  Both are compilations of stories, parables and wise teachings.  Hindus are henotheistic- they believe in a supreme god – the Brahman – but they also believe in a multiplicity of gods which support, but are less than, the Brahman.  As such, Hindus will refer to the Brahman as the one true god but still pray and offer sacrifices to thousands of minor gods – those who can help them in more minor ways.

The goal of Hindus is to undergo what they call “moksha” or escape from constant cycle of birth and rebirth which they believe all souls experience.  Reincarnation for Hindus is the way by which human souls evolve, or devolve, over many lifetimes – into higher states of being and happiness or into lower states of hurt and misery.   When one arrives at a place of true enlightenment about self, love and compassion for others, when one has the ultimate epiphany and can cry out, “I get it!!”, one enters eternal Nirvana.  One then becomes a part of the Brahman.  As imagined, this is not an easy process and a soul might spend many lifetimes before reaching this elusive goal.

The key theory in all of this is not that humans are controlled by the gods and goddesses.  We can draw on their power but only to a limited extent.   Human souls are NOT rewarded or punished by any Divine or supernatural force.  Humans are in control of their OWN destiny through Karma – or a natural law of cause and effect.  We reap what we sow, as the Bible says.  What happens to us – good or bad – is determined by what we are BECOMING – how we are constantly changing for the good or bad.  The goal, therefore, is to evolve and change and become a better soul – one that, as we have discussed over the last several weeks, does not simply DO good spiritual things but rather IS content, IS devoted, IS hopeful, and IS unconditionally loving.

Creating positive karma is thus not about doing acts of goodness.  It is about BECOMING and then BEING good.  It is about moving from one imperfect state of being to a better state of being – by learning more about the self and one’s flaws, by changing those flaws, by growing in compassion for all creation, by letting go of anger and hatred and learning to really love, by shedding the fear, guilt and shame of our past, by becoming a fully authentic human – a person who lives true to what he or she believes.  Do you believe in love?  Then become love.   Do you believe in justice?  Then become just.  Do you believe in contentment?  Then become content.

And, as I said, this is not a simple process.  Indeed, Hindus were first aware of the human subconscious or hidden soul that really determines who we are.  That inner soul or subconscious reflects our true nature – not the things we outwardly DO.  That is the substance of who we really are.  In other words, we as people are not defined by our outward appearance and actions.  We are defined from the inside out.  Our actions should be, therefore, reflections of the inner soul.

Good or bad Karma results from a willingness to change and grow our souls.  If we continually seek after good energy, we will find such energy attracted to us.  Good things will naturally happen for us.

And that is the essential point.  We must always change.  We must be ever transformed.  We must never worship any belief or any part of ourselves as an idol – something that we refuse to question or change.  Other than the one ethic to which we all agree, to love other people as much as we love ourselves, we should be willing to at least question and possibly change anything – our politics, our faith, our approach to life, our values.  This is the cycle of birth and death, literal and figurative, which Hindus believe happens to every soul.  As Bob Dylan wrote in one of his songs, “Those who are not busy being born, are dying.”

All of us may believe, for instance, that we are each loving people.  But we also know that on some deeper, subconscious level, that we could be much better.  We alone know of hidden hatreds we harbor, the hidden anger we hold, the hidden prejudices or hurts or unforgiving attitudes that can fester within us.  The more we dig into ourselves, discover these flaws about ourselves and then work to change them, the more we grow.  And the more we evolve toward finding that elusive total peace.

This takes us back to the parable about the master and his apprentice.  If the boy continues to drink the bitter and angry water of a closed and small glass, that is how he will continue to experience life.  He will be a bitter, angry and self-pitying man.  If he chooses to instead drink the fresh water of a large and expansive lake – to see his pain in the totality of all life – he will come to realize his problems are not so bad after all.  He will see his problems are much smaller than those of others.  He might, indeed, develop more gratitude for the blessings he does have.  He will be positive and hopeful that life is good.  He will grow in compassion for the hurts of others – since he is so much better off.

The key is that he must BECOME something else, as the master tells him.  He must change his outlook and his attitude.  Strive to stop the anger.  Strive to stop acting like a victim.  Stop complaining.  Start becoming.  Be a wide, fresh and limitless lake!

Maya Angelou, the modern poet laureate, once said, “If you don’t like something, change it!  If you can’t change it, change your attitude.  Don’t complain!”

And that also gets to a core belief of Hinduism.  There are no victims in the world.  We are masters of our own destiny and we create our own good or bad karma.  We are responsible for our own lives.  We must stop the complaining about our imperfect lives and set out, instead, to be people who overcome.

This does not mean that there are not hurting people in our midst or people who suffer profoundly – because of their own actions or because of forces acting against them – disease, poverty, or injustice.  Even so, we also know people who, while they do hurt and suffer, they refuse to be victims or complainers.  These are people who remain positive despite their pain.  They harbor hope for a better life.  They continue to selflessly give and love and serve.  They never complain.  They never give up.  They love others as much as they love themselves.  They know their own flaws and ways they can still grow.  These are people who create their own happiness and good Karma by the attitude and outlook they choose to have.   We are what we choose to believe and think – loser and victim OR person of great love, peace and ability to change.  Those are inspiring people.  Those are people I want to be like.

So often in life we set out to find the perfect experience or person for ourselves.  We spend countless hours seeking the perfect spouse, the perfect lover, the perfect friend, the perfect doctor, Pastor, accountant, house, church, vacation or whatever.  In doing so, we are wasting our time.  Such perfection does not exist.

What we should pursue, instead, is the inner change – the ability to create a more perfect soul .  How do we find the perfect spouse or lover?  He or she is inside us.  How do find the perfect friend?  He or she is inside us.  How do find the perfect experience that will give us happiness?  That experience is deep within us.  Quite simply, we must BE the change we want.  As I alluded to last week, just imagine the kind of humanity that might exist if every person cared less about how others should change or life should change and focused more on how we ourselves should change?

My friends, the Gathering is a small church operating without big budgets or elaborate programs and buildings.  All of those things are superfluous.  The great prophets of history did not require such expensive trappings.  It was the power and force of their ideas that drew people to them and propelled the change they sought.  For us, our purpose is not to come here every Sunday and have a nice, simple time with friends.  If all we are about is a club in which to feel good, we should close up immediately.  If, however, we come here because we want to change and we seek growth, and we are committed to use what this place offers, then the Gathering is serving its purpose.  And, indeed, as much as it is my role to help you and me think, reflect and grow, we each also have a personal responsibility to change on our own.  Doing church is not a passive exercise.  We actively choose to come here to listen and change.  We actively choose to be a part of the change process that goes on here – serving on Sundays, helping in our outreach efforts, giving financially to our work, sharing our own growth insights.  And, in some big and small ways, we should be inwardly changing as a result.  We should be growing.  We should not be the same people we were last month or last year.  If we are not a bit wiser than we were before we come in on any Sunday, than we have either not listened, not participated or I have failed miserably.

I encourage us all to read, listen and learn about spiritual ideals.  I encourage us to reflect, meditate and pray.  I encourage us all to revisit the topics we discuss in here – to read or listen again to the messages in this series on contentment or hope or unconditional love.  Our website and archive of written and audio messages is a resource for doing so.  And there are other countless other resources, of much better insight, that we should also read or listen to.

As Hindus the world over know, change is an inevitable part of existence.  The only thing that does not change is the reality of change.  It will happen for good or for bad, but that is ours to create.  Let us spiritually look out into the heavens to glimpse, from afar, those angels of our better natures – those angels we want to become.  To do become like them, let us ever change our minds, our hearts and our souls.

I wish you all much peace and even more joy.

Message 91, Finding Spiritual Truths from World Religions: Christian Unconditional Love, Easter Sunday, 4-8-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved

Click here to listen to the Easter message or see below to read it.

 

As millions of people the world over celebrate Easter today, most seem to forget that in the Easter story – on that first Easter morning – all was not good, happy and bright.   A tomb was visited.  Death had to be confronted in all of its fearful ugliness.

The followers of Jesus on that morning were scattered, disorganized and devastated.  This man in whom they had invested their lives – this prophet of revolutionary change – had been humiliated and executed as a common criminal.  Not only was the man dead, the movement he had started, in order to change human attitudes about life, compassion and the heart of the Divine, was also effectively dead.

Over the ensuing years, as the teachings and life examples of Jesus were told and retold, his followers and those who admired him came to understand with increasing clarity the underlying message of this great prophet.  Not only were his actual life and teachings interpreted and shared, but the ultimate meaning and purpose of his life were shaped and then condensed into one overall message.  And a new religion was created as a result – one that would honor and perpetuate his teachings.

The shock and sorrow of that first Easter morning were reinterpreted by his admirers into one of celebration and joy.  Easter morning was changed to symbolize, and thus prove, the real message of Jesus – a man of history who actually did live and die.

As humans, we are prone to think and ACT, in order to solve the problems of life.  And our biggest problem in life is the fear we have of our own demise.  Of all the created beings, we alone know we will one day die.  We are chained to this realization – it imprisons many of us in lives of fear, worry and an inability to really live and truly love.  Humanity invented religion as a way to mitigate this fear – to offer solace and comfort.  Religion tells us that if we believe and if we ACT in a certain ways – as moral and good people – we will not die but be rewarded with eternal life.

Jesus taught something entirely different.  We do not need to ACT in certain ways.  We do not need to DO certain things to earn Divine favor.  We must simply BE.  We must simply BE like the heart of all Truth and all purity.  We must BE like the Divine.  And our intuition, combined with messages from the Bible and most other world religions, tells us that the Divine – or God if you wish – is love.

If this is true, and I assert that it is, what does it mean to BE love?  For most people, love is a matter of doing.  It is an act of performance.  It is a transaction.  I will DO acts of love to show you that I care about you.  But, I will only do those acts in return for similar acts of love which you DO for me – acts of praise, thanks, helping, giving or physical affection.

But the overall message of Jesus – and what Easter morning came to represent – is that DOING love is not real love.  Doing acts of love often becomes perfunctory and obligatory.  As time goes on, we can become resentful of our need to DO acts of love in order to earn the love of God or another person.  Jesus condemned such an approach to love – those who prayed in public and on display and thought they were loving the Divine, or those who made a show of the money they gave and thought they were buying Divine love, or those who acted moral on the outside but were full of hate and anger on the inside.  Such people are like dirty and cobweb filled tombs, he said.  There is no substance to their supposed love.  It is hypocritical and false.

Indeed, many of us fall into the same trap.  We say we love another person or other people.  We do acts of kindness for them.  We lavish them with money or gifts.  We judge them – and decide whether or not to love them – based on their ability to love us, thank us, be like us or do good things for us.   And when they disappoint, as all people do since we are not perfect creatures, we often fall out of love.  We have been hurt.  We have been cheated in the transaction of love.  I have given love and gotten little or nothing in return, we tell ourselves.  We equate love with DOING, which always falls short since we cannot do anything with perfection.  And we equate religion with doing.  As lovers or as religious people, we are like runners on an endless treadmill – never able to get off our perceived need to DO and ACT and perform, and thus earn love.

If you have listened to or followed our two month message series on finding spiritual truths from world religions, you will hear a familiar refrain in each message.  Contentment for the Buddhist, which we discussed last month, is not about doing contented things like meditation or letting go.  It is about achieving a state of BEING that is content and at peace.  And the same is true for the devotional attitudes of Muslims – they ARE devoted instead of DOING acts of devotion like praying and fasting.

For Christianity, the one hallmark of that faith is what Jesus asked of his followers and, indeed, asked of all humanity.  We must follow the DIVINE example and simply BE love personified.  How can we BE love, and not just DO acts of love?  We must love unconditionally – love which is given without any condition or strings attached.  We must love as the DIVINE loves – without expectation of returned love, without rehearsal, without thought, without any standard of beauty, wealth or so-called morality.  God loves the thief and the murderer as much as the saint.  Indeed, we are called to love the unlovable.  We must love the one who hurts us.  We must love those on the margins – those who most so-called “decent” people do not love: the criminals, the AIDS victims, the poor, the dirty, the addicts, the persons of a different race, religion or sexuality, the enemy, the person who can in no way DO anything of value for us.  As Mother Theresa once said, “Unconditional love does not measure, it just gives.”

The ultimate message of the historic Jesus and the ultimate message of Christianity – one that any person of any faith or non-faith can appreciate – is a message that tells us the Divine loves ALL people and ALL creation no…….matter…….what.  And, if we wish to be enlightened and like the Divine, then we must also love others no…..matter….. what.  We must strive to become people known by, and personified by, our total, complete and unconditional love.

Most of us have heard and know the story of the Prodigal Son – the parable used by Jesus to teach about unconditional or Divine love.  In the story, the youngest son goes to his father and demands his inheritance right then – he wants it long before his father has died.  Such an act would be humiliating to any parent – this boy cares more about money than his dad.  But the father gives him the money anyway and the son lives true to his arrogant and impetuous attitudes.  He departs the family home to live in Las Vegas!  No.  Not really.  But he does go off to the big city and the money is soon wasted and spent on high living – on the so-called sins of sex, booze, drugs and rock and roll!  And he predictably hits rock bottom – having to work and scavenge with pigs for his food – something no respectable Jew would ever do.  Remembering that his dad was an easy mark the first time, the son rehearses a nice speech for his dad about repenting and asking for a job as a worker on the family farm.  As the boy approaches the farm, the father sees him long before he is close.  According to a tradition of the time, the father should have then smashed a clay pot at the boy’s feet as a symbolic gesture to humiliate and forever reject him.  The boy had dishonored his dad in the eyes of the community and then he had further brought dishonor by living as an immoral wastrel and fool.  The audiences hearing Jesus teach this parable would have expected such an action by the dad.

Instead, the father confounds all normal expectations of justice and transactional love.  He does not merely tolerate his son’s return, he lavishly and joyously celebrates it!  He is uninhibited in his happiness at the boy’s return – he runs to the boy – something considered unseemly in that culture for men of his age to do.  By running, he would have had to lift his robes – something also undignified and humiliating.  He wraps the boy in a huge embrace, covers the boy’s neck with kisses, puts an expensive robe on the boy’s shoulders, gives him the family signet ring and orders that a fatted calf be roasted and a banquet be held to celebrate the boy’s return.  Such abundant and costly love was totally spontaneous, as the parable tells us.  The father saw the boy a long way off and instantly runs to him – no thinking or planning involved.  The boy had symbolically spit in his dad’s face, humiliated the family name and then came crawling back – but he was extravagantly loved anyway.

Who among us has not hungered for such a loving response from a parent, spouse, lover, stranger or child – to have a person joyously, uncontrollably and excessively run to, hug and kiss us – especially after we have done something wrong or hurtful?  Such forgiveness and such love is overwhelming and almost miraculous.

It is then and there, at the impact of his father’s unbelievable love, that the boy changes – that his heart is transformed.  In what would likely be a scene of crying and happiness all at once, the boy claims he is unworthy to be his father’s son.  Indeed, any person would be both challenged and changed by such love.    What enemy, what bigot, what act of hatred and violence cannot be ultimately changed by love and forgiveness?  As Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. proved, the power of unconditional love is greater than any force on earth.

But soon the older son of the father shares the views of most religions and most people – that the father’s lavish love is unjust.  It is not fair that the father should show such love to a son who has been so bad.  It is not fair that he, the oldest son, has not been similarly rewarded for all he has DONE morally and correctly to earn the love of the dad.  The father reminds him that he has always had his love and that his actions have not impacted that love, just as the younger son’s actions did not impact his love.  The father loves his boys without any judgment.   For his children, the father is the very embodiment of love.  It is a part of his very being.

This is the breathtaking vision of love that Jesus and genuine Christianity offer us.  When we consciously ponder such love and understand its implications, we are dumbfounded.  We are like the oldest son in the parable – protesting that such love is not natural.  Indeed, it is not.  Such love is a miracle, it is super-natural, it defines the one GREAT force in our universe.  It is the real message of Jesus and of this holiday, this Easter we celebrate.

For myself, I have hungered for so long to experience the kind of love the father shows in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  I have yearned not just to have things DONE for me by my dad – acts by him which have always been generous and kind.  I have hungered, instead, to be embraced and accepted and truly loved for the man who I am – not the man my dad wishes I could be.  I cherish the one time my dad told me he loved me – when he put his hand on my shoulder and said so.  That moment is seared in my memory.  But, oh!!!!  To be hugged and kissed and made to feel as if I am an honored, loved and respected man in his eyes – that is the stuff of my dreams.

And I have resolved to, as much as possible, be such love for my daughters.  I have determined to never end a conversation or phone call with them, no matter how trivial, without saying “I love you.”  I have determined, no matter how reluctant they might be if we are in public, to deeply hug them and kiss them.  I am not a perfect dad and my actions are not perfect towards them.  I have fallen short many times.   But my love for them is true and unconditional.  They can never do anything that will destroy my love for them.  I saw their little heads emerge into the world for the first time, I hugged and carried and cried and worried for them.  I still do.  I would die for them.   They are the solace I have for not having been courageous at an early age and come out as a gay man.  Had I done so, I would likely not have them.  They are my window into the supernatural world of total and unconditional love.  With them, I understand it and am so very grateful to experience it.

But Jesus’ teachings about unconditional love are not limited to parental love.  He called us to BE such love for all people and all creatures.  He called us to BE that love for our enemies, our partners and spouses, our friends, and our fellow humans who suffer and live at the margins of life.  In his teachings, he called us to BE gentle, to BE forgiving, to BE kind, to BE compassionate, to incorporate into our very nature – into the definition of who we are as a people – a way of living that is like the Divine.  Much like a flower cannot cease to be a flower, or God cannot cease to be God, a loving person cannot stop BEING love.  He or she simply IS love.  That kind of love is spontaneous.  It is unthinking.  It is free and lavish.  It is blind to flaws, failures, and hurts.  Imagine the kind of relationships we could have and the world we might create if every person loved in such a manner?

It is a standard Christian cliché – one employed by Christian Pastors many times in their messages – to say that on the cross Jesus’ arms were spread wide as a symbolic gesture of total love for humanity and the total love we must also have.  But cliché or not, it is an effective image.  It is one much like the running embrace of the father to his prodigal boy – arms spread wide and open.  On Easter, we are reminded of this spiritual truth from Christianity – that love should be pure and unlimited; that without thinking, we are called to continue becoming people who love without condition.  We are to go out into our families and neighborhoods and simply BE the face of the Divine – a force of super-natural, miraculous, and unconditional love for all – a power so great that it will change you……. and change the world.

I wish you all much peace, joy and love this Easter day.

 

 

 

 

 

Message 90, “Finding Spiritual Truths from World Religions: Jewish Hope”, 4-1-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved

To listen to Doug’s message, click here.  To read the message, please see below.

 

 

Most people can understand, on some gut level, the deprivations and horrors of what it must be like to be a slave.  One’s work, happiness, life and very soul are not one’s own.  It is a form of degradation we can easily imagine – another human telling a fellow human she or he is somehow less worthy, less valuable, less human.  For us as Americans, we are still confronting the sins of that institution – white Americans coming to terms with past and present racism in their ancestors and within themselves.  African-Americans still struggling to emerge from the lasting consequences of slavery – the cycles of soul stealing violence visited upon them simply for the color their skin.  The Travon Martin shooting death is a recent example.

Too often, we forget that escaping from slavery and dealing with millenias of violence against their race is also a hallmark of the Jewish people.  While most historians cannot say with certitude that ancient Egyptian slavery of the Jews is fact, the Biblical story of it as recounted in the Book of Exodus, however, is THE defining event of Jewish identity.  Moses led his people out of bondage and into the promised land – despair and triumph all wrapped into one story that literally embodies Jewish heritage.

As Jews the world over begin this week to celebrate Passover, the holiday is a celebration of that story and of the larger theme of Jewish hope.  Indeed, the story is a symbolic metaphor for all of Jewish history – how Jews time and time again suffer oppression, abuse, and murder simply for being Jewish – and then their almost miraculous rise from such defeats time and time again.

During the 1930’s and early forties, the Jewish race was nearly wiped out.  As we all know, nearly six million of their number were exterminated.  Irene Zisblatt was one of the fortunate survivors of that time.  She is the only one out of her family of 8 to live to tell her family’s story – one that she continues to tell even today.

She grew up in a small town in Hungary.  Nearly three hundred Jews lived in the town of about a thousand.  When the Nazis invaded Hungary, the horrors began.  She was thrown out of school along with other Jewish children.  Her father’s business was confiscated.  They were forced to wear a yellow star of David patch and were relocated to a cramped and dirty ghetto in Poland.  Soon after, they were sent to Auschwitz.  Irene’s mother was determined to hold onto what little of their former life she could save.  She gave four diamonds to young Irene and asked her swallow them – and to repeatedly do so in order to keep them out of Nazi hands.  “The strength and the sacrifice that the diamonds carried were so strong,” Zisblatt said. “It was much stronger than the Nazi hatred, so I couldn’t throw them away. I often thought, ‘I can’t die today, I have to save the diamonds.”  In doing so, Irene became the very embodiment of her mother’s hope.

Young Irene was soon selected by the infamous Dr. Mengele to undergo medical experiments of a gruesome nature.  After multiple and painful procedures, she was picked with five others to have dye injected into their eyes to try and change the color.  Five of the six went blind – but not Irene.  Even so, all were sent to the gas chambers to die.  By some twist of fate, Irene was saved by a compassionate gas chamber worker – a fellow Jew who was himself scheduled to die a few days later.  He took pity on Irene and hid her.  He later put her on a train out of Auschwitz.  As he was about to leave her on the train, Irene asked him who he was.  He told her that his name did not matter.  He would soon be dead.  But he begged her to live her life for him and the others.  “If you make it to safety,” he said, “live a little for me.”

Irene later made it to safety and soon caught the attention of a wealthy American Jew who was bringing surviving concentration camp children to the U.S.  At the age of 16, she settled into a farm in New Jersey and began her new life.  Her mother, father and five siblings did not survive.  She is the only Zisblatt left.  Irene still has her mother’s diamonds – symbols of the determination her mother had given her.  “Use these to survive,” her mother told her.  Irene never sold them – instead using their power of hope to sustain her.  They are her symbols of hope.

Irene Zisblatt’s story is just one of thousands.  But it is representative of the holocaust stain on human nature.  The assembly line of death perpetrated on the Jews by Nazi Germany is the single greatest act of cruelty and mass murder in human history.  The indifference of average Germans to what was going on around them, the look the other way attitude even of Americans and British who knew of the atrocities while they were happening, is astonishing.  But such cruelty and world-wide indifference to their plight did not extinguish Jewish hope.  In a poetic book on the Holocaust and how God did not abandon Jews, Marcus Zusak writes in his novel The Book Thief, “When their bodies had finished scouring for gaps in the door, their souls rose up. When their fingernails had scratched at the wood and in some cases were nailed into it by the sheer force of desperation, their spirits came toward me, into my arms, and we climbed out of those shower facilities, onto the roof and up, into eternity’s certain breadth. They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower.”  God did not abandon the Jews during the Holocaust and in that love, they were saved.

Barely twenty-five years later, at the conclusion of the so-called six day 1967 war between Israel and a host of Arab countries, young Israeli soldiers – children of Holocaust survivors – openly wept with joy as they marched triumphantly to the Western Wall, or “wailing wall”, of the Jewish second Temple.  Not since 78 CE – nearly two-thousand years earlier – had Jews controlled their holiest spot on earth, the place believed to be where Yahweh dwells, the repository for the Arc of the Covenant, the closest point any Jew can come to his or her God.  The sublime power of that moment for Jews, after centuries of struggle and oppression, cannot begin to be imagined.

From the depths of utter despair and the ashes of millions came historic jubilation.  Israel had not only been born in the aftermath of the Holocaust, it had thrived and beaten back multiple armies of much greater numbers.  The dreams of countless Jews since the time of ancient Rome were realized.  Jewish hope was once again shown to be more than idle religious myth.  Hope is the distinctive identity for any Jew – hope in a better life, hope in the promise of God, hope in a world that will one day live in peace, hope that all lands – not just Israel – will overflow with milk and honey for all people.

Indeed, the realization of the nation of Israel in 1948 and its return to Jerusalem in 1967 seemed to confirm Biblical prophecy which Jews have read countless times over the centuries of their oppression – from Egyptian slavery to Babylonian conquest and destruction of their nation to Roman rule and obliteration of Israel and their Temple, to the scattering of their people all over the globe, to Medieval pogrom campaigns to intimidate and kill Jews as the Jesus killers, to the ultimate horror of the  Holocaust………the prophet Jeremiah’s words were recited millions of times:

“Fear not thou, O Israel, My servant, neither be dismayed; For, lo I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of captivity and tears.  Israel shall again be quiet and at ease, and none shall make her afraid.”

Such Biblical words and others like them have been a comfort to Jews for they express the hope of their faith.  From the earliest words in the Jewish Pentateuch – the first five books of a Christian Bible – God promises Abraham and all Jews that they are Her chosen people and She will bless them and their descendants forever.  The value of that assurance is immense.  In it, Jews have been able to see their distress and pain in the context that all will eventually be well – God’s Messiah or Chosen One will save Israel and all creation from their tears, heartaches and fears.  A glorious realm of peace, goodwill and perfect existence will reign on earth again – when the Messiah comes.  And so Jews the world over wait and rest in the comfort, not of naive faith, but in the tangible belief that by never giving up on God, She or He will never give up on them.   Their hope is real.  Their hope is powerful.  It gives them almost unbelievable strength to endure any hardship, any hatred, any setback and to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up.

In our current series on finding spiritual truths from world religions, we cannot ignore the power of Jewish hope.  Such hope for Jews is unique to their identity – much like contentment is to the Buddhist or daily devotion is to the Muslim.  But hope is a universal ideal that all humans share.  What is it?  How can we use it, like the Jewish people, to help us endure and ultimately thrive?

Oscar Wilde, the famous nineteenth century gay writer and poet, once wrote, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars.”  For a man who was put on trial for loving another man and then imprisoned for it, he refused to allow his spirit to dwell in the gutter.  There is a latin proverb which says, “Dum spiro, spero.”  “While I breathe, I hope.”  That is the essence of what it means to hope.  It must never die.  It must never be extinguished even as the proverb says – up until our last breath.  With each breath, we cherish the hope of life, the hope we invest in our families and friends and the hope we have worked for to build a better earth.  Such hope is our resurrection and our assurance of life ever after.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. said near the end of his life, “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to BE, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.  And so today I still have a dream.”

Hope for Jews and, indeed, for any survivor or person who overcomes a struggle, incorporates a mindset that remains determined and positive.  It is a well-known truth that people who survive near death experiences, when others around them give up and perish, are those who looked death in the eye and made a conscious decision to fight.  Hope, as many experts assert, is not mindless optimism or fantasy.  It is grounded in reality and observes the possible while choosing not to give up.  It accepts the fact that nothing in life is a guarantee but such a fact cannot allow one to be a pessimist.  Using hope to one’s advantage, a person must refuse to be defeated by setbacks but rather to learn and be encouraged by them.  Hope is not mindless but is rather strategic and rational – one uses the mind to analyze a situation and then plan the best way forward.  A person incorporates his or her values into hope – am I yearning only for self-gratification or does my hope aspire to something greater than myself – to be alive and thus empowered to do more good for others?  A person with realistic hopes heeds the advice from other people and does not allow pride to stand in the way of listening and accepting  appropriate wisdom.  Such assistance gives hope added substance and power.  As much as good hope is not rooted in pride and gladly accepts help, one must also concentrate on helping oneself.  This involves actual work to realize what one desires.  It also involves continual efforts to eliminate barriers to growth and learning.  What can I do to actively create the hope I have?  How does my negative thinking hold me back from positive hope and positive action?  How can I change my negative thoughts and, instead, look ahead with realistic dreams?  Finally, hopeful persons are creative and adventurous.  They see possibilities around every corner: they are curious and excited about new opportunities in life.

I have said before that one of the most satisfying perks of my work is the privilege to get to know many people in deeply personal ways.  The stories I hear inspire me and give me hope in the goodness and beauty of all humanity.  From a mother who is back at college and cares for challenged children – determined to create a good life for them, to one who fights great health challenges with grace and peace, to those who are emerging from the closet into a brave new world of gay identity, to one who is resolute about finding a new and exciting job, to activists who fight for the rights of prisoners, animals, students, addicts, gays and lesbians, the homeless and poor, to parents who tirelessly yearn and work for the health and well-being of children, partner and family – such people are hope personified.  Indeed, a message about hope could simply be a recital of yours and other’s life stories.

Too often I lose sight of the hope I have within me – to make a difference, to live with joy, to leave this world at peace.  I can despair and I can mourn petty challenges.  But the few dark days of my very blessed life – when I was fired for coming out as a gay man, when I lost too many good friends, when I have parted ways with those I still deeply love, the pilot light of hope harbored in my soul was somehow never extinguished.  In time, such hope burned bright again and I was restored, I survived.  In working through a few minor struggles even today, I must hold onto that hope.  Life is too precious.  Life is filled with too many good and caring people.  It offers new adventures every day.  Life challenges us to do the work of building better selves and, a better world.  I must remind myself that as long as such truths are self-evident, there is hope.  In the midst of any darkness, we must yearn for hope’s bright flame and then we must help light it.  No matter the difficulty, no matter the pain, no matter the sorrow, the loneliness, the loss, or the nearness of death – may we never give up, never give up, Never……Ever……Give Up!

I wish all of you much peace and even more joy.

 

(c) Nicholas Hoesl, guest speaker at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved

 

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Message 89, “Finding Spiritual Truths from World Religions: Islamic Devotion”, 3-18-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering, All Rights Reserved

 

To listen to Doug’s message, click here.  To read the message, please see below.

 

There is a story often recited by Muslims of a man who chooses to locate his farm along the seacoast even though such lands are unpopular for farming.  Winds and regular storms can destroy crops and all of a farmer’s hard work.  But this particular farmer was determined to live and work by the sea.  As he then tried to hire helpers to assist him, he faced strong doubt and skepticism.  Person after person refused to be hired to work on his farm – the ocean storms are too unpredictable and too harsh they told him.

One day a man who was small in stature applied for the job as a farm hand.  The land owner doubted this man’s ability because he was so short.  “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked.  “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man.  This reply puzzled the farmer but he hired the man anyway since he had no other willing applicants.

As time went on, the short man proved to be an excellent assistant.  He was busy from dawn to dusk and he committed himself to the regular details of wise farming.  The land owner was very pleased.

Then one night a strong storm blew in from the sea.  The wind howled and threatened to tear down the farm house.  The owner rushed to the sleeping quarters of the farm hand and yelled, “Get up!  A storm is here.  You must tie things down before they all blow away.”

“No sir,” replied the farm hand.  “I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”

The farmer was enraged by this response and nearly fired the short man on the spot.  Instead, he hurried outside to do the work himself.  As he went around his fields and into his barn, he was amazed to find that all was well.  The haystacks had all been securely tied and covered with large sheets.  The sheep were all safely in their pens, the chickens in their coop, the doors and shutters all securely barred.  Nothing could blow away.

And then the farmer understood the words of his hired help – that he could sleep when the wind blows.  The farmer went back to bed himself, secure in the knowledge that his farm was safe.

The implied message of this story, for most Muslims, is that the hard work of their daily spiritual disciplines prepares a person for the storms of life.  It is not enough to seek the Divine when difficulties arise.  A life of devotion insures that one is spiritually, mentally and physically ready for inevitable life challenges.  When one secures himself or herself by finding spiritual peace in one’s soul, one can then meet – or sleep through – any storm.   As the prophet Muhammad once said, “Good conduct is a habit.  The most beloved of good deeds with Allah are those which are practiced with constancy over a long period of time…”

            And indeed, that is a hallmark of the Muslim faith.  When I think of one Islamic spiritual quality which would most benefit me (and there are many), I think of the constancy, the love and the devotion of Muslims.  Unlike many world religions, theirs is a faith not just of belief or orthodoxy, but of daily practice, or orthopraxy.  The very word Islam means “to submit”, and it is toward that goal that many Muslims dedicate their lives – to express devotion to Allah and to teachings of the Q’uran through daily practices of their faith.  Few other religions demand as much and few people of faith are so committed on an almost hourly basis.  Muslims finds meaning and purpose, therefore, not just by believing, but by doing.

What I advocate in this series on finding spiritual truths from world religions is not that we copy Buddhism or Islam or any other faith we will consider.  Instead, each offers us their own unique insights toward how we can improve our lives.  How can we enlarge our spiritual minds?  How can we practice particular ethics and ideals that help us improve ourselves and the world?  How can we learn from others – from all cultures, faiths and traditions?

Much like Buddhist contentment that we examined last Sunday, Islamic devotion is a spiritual ethic that is less about the mind than it is about the soul and the heart.   One incorporates a sense of devotion into one’s very being.   Muslims seek over their lifetimes to find rest and peace in love for Allah.  To attain such a spiritual place, Muslims rigorously devote themselves to the five foundational disciplines of their faith.  Those include five times a day prayer, annual giving to charity, annual fasting for Ramadan and at least a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca.

            For those of us who are not Muslim and perhaps not religious, how do we practice a meaningful form of devotion so that we might also reach a place of spiritual peace?  One way is to regularly connect with the Divine.  Muslims practice regular prayer or Salah, as they call it, as a way to reach outside of themselves.  Such prayer is performed five times a day, at set hours, always facing Mecca, and with meticulously prescribed procedures and words.  It is obligatory for the faithful Muslim no matter where they are or what they are doing.  Prayer, for Muslims, is not something done occasionally.  It is a daily habit which reminds them of their connection to and dependence on the Divine.  Indeed, the word “salah” means connection. 

Prayer reminds anyone, in subtle ways, that there is something beyond oneself, something greater and mysterious which connects one to all creation.  One need not believe that prayers beseech a supernatural being.   Prayer is simply a way to add thought and voice to the great mysteries of the universe – to the forces of love, healing, gratitude, and confession.  Giving voice to words of hope, love or forgiveness – whether we call that prayer or not – is a way to create peace in our minds.  Muslims use prayer to concentrate their minds on Allah.  Prayer is not for public consumption but solely for the individual to speak directly to the Divine.  It removes them, for a time, from the petty concerns of daily life.  As they say, prayer for a noble cause brings happiness in ways that allow them to forget their challenges or sufferings.  Prayer connects them to the beauty, wonder and awe in the universe.

Beyond prayer, Islam demands devotion in others ways as well.  Ramadan, the month long time of fasting and prayer, is another celebration of discipline.  Indeed, it is a culmination of a Muslim’s regular devotions – an extended time of forced practice which reminds one of sacrifice and humility before Allah.  By foregoing pleasure through fasting from food and pleasure, a Muslim engages in the higher goal of finding happiness in things outside of the body and mind – letting go of the ego and seeking insight, peace and joy in areas beyond the physical.

.  Instead of a one day celebration like Easter or Yom Kippur, Ramadan is purposefully extended in time and requires of Muslims a strong devotion to the entire celebration – no eating or other indulgences from dawn to dusk.  Such habits of fasting and prayer are a part of a Muslim’s identity.  These habits order their lives in ways that bring cohesion and organization around something beyond themselves.  Once again, we need not emulate these specific and rigorous religious practices.  Instead, any spiritual practice done on a regular and devoted basis brings order to our lives and helps us escape from self-focused thinking.

Indeed, Islamic devotional practices are performed not as robotic and mindless rituals.  Muslims use devotional practices like prayer to escape the physical and reach the transcendent.  Much like Buddhists seek contentment, Muslims pray, fast, give and worship to attain a more spiritual mindset.  Muslims claim that everything they do in life is done as an expression of love for the Divine One – for Allah.  One eats to acquire nourishment and energy so that one can serve the Divine.  One breathes to live and thus serve Allah.  One works to earn enough to give to the work of the Divine.  One sleeps, marries, plays and laughs all for the love of Allah.

For our sakes, we must learn to balance our rational thinking with spiritual introspection.  We do that through devotions like meditation and fasting.  Rationalism and logic too often prevent us from reflecting about mysterious and eternal truths.  Devotional practices – like what Muslims practice – force us to get out of the self – to stop the egotistical thinking that life revolves around the “me.”  As I often say in here, life is not about us.  We are to serve and love the larger world.

In that regard, the Muslim spiritual practice of zakat, or annual giving of charity to the poor, is a spiritual discipline that also reminds them of their connection to Allah.  It is a devoted way to again renounce the self.  Giving to organizations that serve the needs of the poor, hungry or homeless is a required practice.  Muslims devotedly give 2 . 5% of their annual gain from all sources – work, investments, property, gifts from others, whatever – to charities and Mosques that serve the poor.  For us, the regular discipline of giving – no matter the amount – is an additional way to find meaning and union with the spiritual ethic of love for others.

Islam also demands of its followers that they spiritually retreat to the Holy city of Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Travelling to a spiritual center of great beauty, peace and reflection is a way to remove one from the confined lives we often lead.  Determining to get away for a spiritual retreat – whether to the woods, a quiet lake, our own backyard or a spiritual place hundreds of miles away is a good devotional practice.  We go away to reflect.  We go and seek closeness with the mysteries of the universe.  We enlarge our souls by literally broadening our spiritual horizons.

To practice a daily spiritual discipline, we might choose meditation as a way to find peace.  We might pray each morning or evening in gratitude.  We might daily write in a prayer or dream journal about our hopes, fears and thoughts about life.  That is a practice which I regularly practiced for several years.  I look back at my journals and see past patterns of thinking and ways I have grown.  I am reminded of past struggles and how I emerged from them; how I have been blessed in ways that I should not take for granted.  I also see ways others emerged from difficult times I earlier prayed for in my journal.  Such journaling made me more aware of others, how I am weak and flawed, how I have grown over time and how blessed I really am.    They were a form of regular devotion that worked for me and which I plan to begin anew.

You might commit yourself to daily work for a charity and tangibly help other people. You might daily take a walk by yourself and use the time to ponder not your agenda, but the deeper stuff of meaning, purpose, gentleness and forgiveness.  Instead of quiet meditation at home, so-called walking prayer is a form of active reflection that works well for many people – if it is focused on spiritual matters.  Some people I know daily pray the news.  They read the newspaper and then take time to meditate on the many local and world concerns.  Such a practice awakens feelings of compassion, empathy and unity with others.  Some people practice yoga or Tai Chi and, once again, mindfully focus their thoughts not on the material world but on freeing the mind to be in love and at peace.  Others take annual retreats to reinvigorate their spiritual lives.  Whatever practice one chooses, a spiritually centered form of devotion – done regularly – is something to add to our lives.

I recently had a good conversation with a friend who confided that he was now determined to live and act according to his heart and not his brain.  What I understood him to mean is something we all want in life – to reach a place of perfect love for others, to feel that perfect love ourselves and thereby find real contentment.  In reaching for that goal, we too often try and satisfy selfish desires instead of finding the goal by letting go of the self.  I struggle so often to get out of my head and into my heart, thus finding the empathy and genuine compassion of my better angel.  It is easy to intellectually accept the premise of this message – that daily disciplined spiritual practice will help.  But that knowledge alone is ultimately unsatisfying for me and likely for you.

I have found, though, that when I actually do find a quiet place and deeply focus on mystery, on life, on death, on my failures, on my dreams of perfect peace, I am literally reduced to tears.  I experience an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude for the important things in life – dear and close friends, meaningful connection with others, my daughters, the empathy and pain I feel when others hurt, the mystery of why I was born and what my life will mean.  I need those deeply spiritual times and I see, from Muslim practice, that I can experience them regularly, much like they do.  I must discipline myself and my routine and make space in my life for such moments.

Islam is the second largest faith in the world.  It is the fastest growing.  Its success is partly explained by the devotion it requires.  For us, we can choose to be devoted to empty things in life – to money, work, play, and material things.  Or, we can devote ourselves to an enriching journey – to love others, to serve them, to connect with eternal mysteries – and thus discover the peace, love and joy we all so desperately desire.  If we practice just one spiritual devotion regularly, we will get what we want.  We will find union with all that is good, true and loving in the wider cosmos.

Message 88, “Finding Spiritual Truths from World Religions: Buddhist Contentment”, 3-11-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering, All Rights Reserved

Click here to listen to Doug’s message or see below to read it:

 

Perhaps many of you remember the Academy Award winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire” of 2008.  While the film is an uplifting rags to riches story of a young man who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, India, it also depicted one particularly horrifying side story.  A young orphan boy is blinded by a gang of criminals so that he can earn money for them by begging.  Sadly, the incidence of forced maiming of children in India and other nations around the world is more commonplace than we want to believe.

Recently, a man traveling through India personally witnessed a young mother give her three year old daughter a strong mix of milk and alcohol.  Once the child fell into a drunken sleep, the mother grabbed a meat cleaver, laid her daughter’s arm on a chopping block and, with one swing, cut the girl’s hand off.  The screams of the girl were piercing.  The mother tearfully and helplessly explained she had to do this.  It was the only way she could find to make money to feed her daughter.  The girl could now earn enough money through begging to avoid starvation.

This haunted and shaken man immediately went out to the nearest bakery and purchased all the loaves of bread that he could – nearly four hundred at approximately 25 cents apiece.  He drove a truck load of the loaves to a street corner and began handing them out to street kids.  Many loaves fell to the ground and were pounded into the dirt.  Even so, hungry and desperate children created a near riot in the clamor for free bread.

What desperation, he thought, could drive a mother to maim her own child?  What kind of hunger causes children to fight and scramble for pieces of dirty bread?  What do these stories say about the abundance of wealth and luxury in other parts of the world?

Gandhi’s words that the earth provides enough resources for every person’s needs but not for every person’s greed resonated with this man.  He has since learned to put his material desires into perspective – and to live according to a simpler ethic.  Today he works for a small community newspaper, supporting his family of four on about two thousand dollars a month.  He reports that his family has enough to eat, sufficient shelter and, fortunately, adequate health care.  He has the time to read and play with his children, cook with his wife and take their version of vacations by planning picnics at a nearby state park.  In comparison to the horrors he witnessed in India, he says he is rich in things and in happiness.

It is both difficult and inspiring to hear this man’s story.  What gives us happiness?  What brings us contentment?  Why do so many of us believe that the key to such feelings is through more money, more things and perfect relationships?  With each succeeding level of income, we tell ourselves we need more in order to really be happy.  With each new gadget, trinket or article of clothing we buy, we stimulate a brief trigger of happiness only to lose interest in the item and want something else.  We often complain about our boring lives or find fault in those we love or those who are friends – choosing to see the few flaws instead of the beautiful and good.  We often desire in all areas of life bigger, better, perfect, more.  For most of us, in the midst of great plenty – friends, money, food, family, love, sex and success, we are still starving much like that poor and desperate young mother in Bangladesh.  We tell ourselves we are happy and content and yet, are we really?  Why do our lives seem to be an endless cycle of desire and discontent with things, events, money and people?  We are addicts in a constant search for a happiness fix – while the source of real and lasting contentment is so near and yet so very far.

According to Buddhist beliefs, our cravings and desires make us unhappy.  They are the source – the ultimate root – of our suffering and only through letting go and not craving in the first place will we find inner peace and contentment.  This singular aspect of Buddhist spirituality is one I find particularly appealing – and one that resonates in many western and developed cultures – places where materialism has become almost a religion.  The endless desire for external sources of happiness can leave us unfulfilled, empty and jealous of what we don’t have but believe we need.  In our culture we have bought into what the late Duchess of Windsor infamously said, “You can never be too rich or too thin.”

Discontent can take many forms.  It usually means not being satisfied with the present things, experiences or people in our lives.  One’s partner may not do things the way we would like.  There are tiny flaws in him or her we wish to change.  Our homes may not be big enough or beautiful enough.  Our jobs may have become a bit of a chore – boring, difficult or lacking excitement.  Our bodies have aged and we are no longer a fit and trim 20 year old.  The ways we find pleasure – reading, listening to music, going to movies, visiting with friends, engaging in sex, travelling – may also seem no longer exciting.  And so we are discontented.  We yearn for more or better or different.  We implicitly tell ourselves that our lives could be better because things are not good enough or sufficient enough.

But how do we find and then practice genuine spiritual contentment?  How do we inhabit that sense of being truly content – at rest and at peace with the present circumstances of our life, health, family, friends, homes, living standards and entertainment?  Indeed, Buddhists say that it is not enough just to deny ourselves the things we want in an attempt to live simply.  We must empty our minds of most desires so that we neither crave nor feel we are being denied.  Living a contented life is not by force of mental will – a practice where one sacrifices for one’s own good.  Contentment is a spiritual way of life, a way of being that is fully integrated into one’s thoughts and actions.  To be genuinely content is to acquire a spiritual mystery that is elusive and difficult to achieve.  As many Buddhists say, one lives out the ethic that the basics of life are “good enough”, “well enough” and “just this much.”

In that regard, Buddhists have unfairly been criticized for allegedly teaching the poor, marginalized and sick that they must accept their present station in life.  This is not the case.  Contentment comes from having one’s basic needs met and it is a strong part of Buddhist practice to have compassion for those who lack the basics.  It is the negative mindset of craving that Buddhists say perpetuates suffering and this is true for all people – rich and poor.  Those who find peace, find wealth.  They are not depressed, weary or jealous.   And that state of being, say Buddhists, leads to the state of being that is genuinely content.  Those who are at peace, help others.  Helping others encourages others to return the help.  Those who are not depressed practice attitudes like hard work and compassion which further insures that one’s basic needs will be met.

Buddhists therefore do not tell anyone to simply be content in difficult situations.  Rather, the teaching is to look for the source of unhappiness.  Ultimately, the source of discontent is regretting an action or event in the past that caused a present difficulty or alleged shortage.  One then desires a future where the supposed difficulty is wiped away.  Instead, Buddhists believe that if one is at peace in the present moment, a solution to any problem is usually found.  This belief echoes something obvious that all of us know but fail to remember.  We cannot change the past.  We cannot determine the future.  The ONLY period in life we can directly affect is the present.  And in the present, in the right now, we can be content if we so choose.

You might at this very moment begrudge the fact that you are here and listening to me.  There might be a thousand other things you could be doing that you believe would be more enjoyable.  But the fact is, you are here and you cannot change whatever happened that brought you here.  So, by choosing to make the best of the moment – to be thankful for the person next to you, for the good coffee you have had, for the small nugget of wisdom you might obtain, for the simple pleasure of sitting, resting and contemplating, you can be content and at peace.  And that will lead, if added to other moments of contentment, to a mind and soul that is always at peace.  As the Buddha once said, “The mind is everything.  What you think, you become.”

If we are to find contentment, implicit in that, according to Buddhists, is being mindful of how one thinks each and every moment of life.  We must be aware of our cravings and then let go of them.  To be aware that we are craving something, we must ask why we want a particular thing.  Do we really need what we want or is it simply a part of our negative nature to always want something newer and supposedly better?  If we truly examine our thoughts, we realize that the root cause of wanting something new or different is not being content with what we already have.  As the Dalai Lama once said, “Not getting what we want is often a wonderful stroke of luck.” 

Can we – in any moment of desire or craving – say to ourselves that what we have in that moment is good enough?  If so, we will be content.  We will be happy with the journey of our lives – each contented second turning into hours which turn into days which turn into years which build a contented life.  One will have found contentment in their very essence and being.

Buddhists do not aspire to specific goals of achievement or acquisition.  Goals are a form of craving.  Rather, Buddhists appreciate moment by moment living.  The journey is what brings happiness.  Not the end.  Ironically, if we let go of desiring a specific goal or thing, we usually end up attaining it anyway.

Such a truth, however, does not mean we are passive in life – sitting in some meditative lotus position and waiting for blessings to fall into our laps.  We live, work, love and meet daily challenges as a means to acquire only what we need to live in simplicity – food to nourish our bodies, shelter to protect us from the elements, clothing to warm us and provide social decency, health care to address illness.  When good fortune gives us more than we need, we should give generously to those who live in true poverty – persons who lack the basics.

When we seek beyond what we really need, we make ourselves unhappy.  We yearn for what we cannot afford, cannot have or do not need.  If we do satisfy a craving, we end up worrying about maintaining and protecting it.  As we all know, bigger and better things create bigger worries.  How can I keep a big house clean?  How will I protect that new I-Phone I just bought?  How will I not get sick and be safe on my vacation?  How will I adjust to a partner who changes, or to a different friend?  With simple things, events and desires in our lives, we often eliminate our worries.

Achieving real contentment is, as I have said, a spiritual process over a lifetime.  It is not a one-time decision.  We live it out moment by moment.  We live it out by mindfully examining why we desire a new gadget, new experience or changed partner and then choosing to be truly happy with what we already have.  We mindfully choose to be grateful.   We love and accept people in our lives as they are – not as we wish them to be.  We appreciate their goodness and the beauty they give.   We practice regular appreciation for all whom we encounter – offering a smile, a hug, a word of thanks – to the waitress, the clerk, the stranger.  We replace the complex with simplicity:  a trip to the park, a nourishing meal at home prepared with a partner, time with a friend, a good book, meditation.  We practice giving and sharing instead of desiring and receiving.  Compassion to all.  Service to others.  Empathy.  Nurture.  Caring.  By remembering the needs of others we forget our own cravings.  The more we focus on the needs of others, the more we find our own sense of contentment.

In this series on finding spiritual truths from world religions, I believe contentment is near the top of any such list.   As a way of life, it is not easy to practice.  Being at peace – truly living in contentment – requires continuous heart and mind surgery.  To say that being content is difficult does not mean it is not worth our effort.  Our sufferings can often be so painful and yet we know how they might end and we each have the ability to cure them.  I have hurt at the pain of loneliness, the pain of broken relationships, the pain of losing friends, the pain of watching my parents age, the pain of life change and work challenges.  But those hurts are all products of my thinking.  I am on a personal quest to be at more peace in my life and thus find real happiness.  I still have a long, long way to go.  That journey begins inside of me and how I think and act towards myself and others.  Ultimately, I want to be content – in the quiet and good place of who and where I am in each moment of my life.

We are all loving souls who are richly blessed.  We have so very much.  May we be grateful.  May we live with sufficiency.  May we offer love.  May we practice compassion.  May we serve others.  May we be at peace………………..I wish that for all of us in our search for lasting joy.

Message 87, Finding Spiritual Truths from World Religions: What is Spirituality?  3-4-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering, All Rights Reserved

 

To listen to the message, click here.  To read the message, read below.

 

Nearly sixteen years ago, on May 3rd 1996, I had what many call a born again experience.  Confused about who I was as a person, feeling shame at the knowledge of my hidden gay feelings, and having recently begun attending church, I gave my life to Jesus Christ.  Or so I thought.  As a direct result of that experience, I left my job in the business world, attended seminary, became an associate Pastor and eventually discovered the Gathering – bringing me to my work today.

While I no longer consider myself born again, nor a believer in Jesus as the Savior Christ, I know that moment back in 1996 was a pivot point.   I became a new person – one who is focused on spiritual matters, who enjoys Pastoral work and who no longer sees the world and life in mostly self-centered ways.  I experienced what I still believe was a sublime and very spiritual awakening.  I felt a connection with something greater than myself.

It would be easy for me to now trivialize that moment and chalk it up to issues regarding psychological feelings of low self-worth and shame.  But it was far more than that.  I was changed as a person and who I am today is a direct result of that epiphany.

I remember my first Sunday at church after that moment.  I took communion as the organ played “Just as I Am”.   The Pastor taught that I was consuming the body and blood of Christ – sacrificed specifically for my sake.  I remember thinking about that and being overwhelmed with gratitude.  Tears streamed down my face.   I could not imagine a love so great that one would willingly die for my misdeeds.  In that moment – and others like it – I felt the immense and unconditional love of the Divine.  It was other-worldly, profound and very powerful.  I have never before or after felt such a feeling of being loved.  I was no longer a hideous man with terrible same sex attractions, I was no longer a hurting person afraid of the wider world, I was no longer the unwanted son to my dad, I was a beloved child of the Divine.  I was whole and complete and free.  The myth of a god dying for my sins affected me deeply.

While I no longer believe what I believed at the time – about a savior Christ – I don’t discount the reality of my experience.  Indeed, people who have spiritual experiences are usually changed.  Whether it be from a prayer at the Jewish wailing wall, a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, a glimpse of Nirvana in meditation, watching a sunset over a mountain range or listening to a beautifully performed piece of music, the result is the same – a changed heart, soul and conscience.  The facts of the spiritual moment do not matter as much as the experience itself.  There are few times in our lives when we connect with something beyond ourselves – something beautiful, joyous and unexplainable.  But when we do, no longer are we alienated islands drifting alone in a vast universe.  Suddenly, we sense a mysterious union with forces outside of ourselves.  It is almost as if – in those rare spiritual moments – we touch the face of God, see heaven or attain Nirvana.

These transcendent moments are when indescribable thoughts about life, meaning, purpose, beauty and joy all merge together.  They are not easily described nor can they be written off as emotional or delusional episodes.  They are real.  They are spiritual.  From such other-worldy experiences, from the reading of religious texts or the practice of religious rituals, people are spiritually enlightened as they discover new understanding of life and purpose.  Spirituality provides wisdom in how to live and how to be a better person.  We connect with the great mystery, the ultimate Truth, and we yearn to live according to such perfection.

I want to embark with you over the next two months on a spiritual journey to find useful and unique qualities in world religions – ones that we can use in our lives.  From Buddhism to Christianity, we’ll look at one quality from each world faith that will help us grow not by head knowledge but by soul wisdom.  I hope to move beyond the facts of varied religious expressions and look to mystical but very useful spiritual qualities.  Before beginning that journey next Sunday when we look at Buddhist contentment, I want to explore today the simple question – what is spirituality?

Karen Armstrong, in her book “The Case for God” describes the cave paintings at Lascaux, France – the ones painted by the first humans living thirty thousand years ago.  The cave paintings are not easily accessible.  Most are miles underground and are reached only through very narrow passages.  What these paintings depict are beautiful scenes of ancient animals and humans.  Many seem to dance and even run across the walls when illuminated with flickering fire light.   Animals that do not mix with each other in nature are depicted together.  Humans are shown interacting with, hunting and worshipping the animals.  In one painted scene, a man lies before a charging bison with a pole nearby that has a bird’s head on it.  The man, despite the danger he is in, is sexually aroused.  In a carved scene from one of the walls, a very pregnant woman holds aloft a ram’s horn – pointing it toward a crescent moon.  Her other hand rests atop her large stomach.

While anthropologists, art historians and other experts struggle to interpret the paintings, it is clear that these were not random drawings.  They served a function.  They were visual representations of how that neolithic culture could understand their harsh world.  Animals were given prominence in that society as they were the means to survive.  They were the worshipped saviors of that culture.

The prostrate man was likely a shaman or priest performing an act of worship  – the bird’s head on a pole symbolically allowed him to fly in spirit with the bison, his arousal indicating union with the natural world.  The pregnant female carving was likely a piece of fertility art.  The ram’s horn represented male virility and the crescent moon was symbolic of a woman’s monthly cycle.  These pieces of art were ways by which ancient humans made sense of the unexplainable – why life exists, to what purpose does creation serve and how we, as humans, should respond to the great forces of the universe.

The Lascaux paintings and carvings, seen by many as the first great works of art, were clearly spiritual in nature.  They point to the innate hunger by humankind to make sense of the universe.  As Karen Armstrong says, humans should be described as “homo religious” – spirituality is so ingrained in our being.

Many of the Lascaux scenes, as I said, would not normally occur – animals mixing with dissimilar species or humans enacting the rituals that I just described.  They offer, however, a window into the spiritual thoughts of these early humans.  The art works were thus not literal representations of actual life but symbolic and mythological ways to explain the unexplainable – What purpose do we serve?  What lies beyond the physical realm and inhabits the unknown dimension of creation, death and eternity?  In their mystical way, the paintings tell us that early humans believed what we believe – all creation is interconnected through a mystical and all encompassing common link – that of the great mysterious force which controls the universe.  The Lascaux art were Scripture for ancient humans.

Karen Armstrong points out in her book that humans have always used myth – in visual, spoken or written form – to explain the unknowable.  And that is one essence of spirituality.  Myth, symbolism and spiritual art create meaning and purpose for us.  The Lascaux people did not believe the scenes they painted were real.  Rather, they were symbolic ways to worship, understand and find comfort.

For us, spirituality involves seeking after ultimate Truth – just as all humans do.  It involves searching for an explanation to the great “Mysterium”, as some call it.  In the contemporary battle between science and myth, between logos and mythos, our culture has mostly broken into extremes.  On one side are the religious fundamentalists and on the other side are the rationalists.  Do we literally believe the religious stories of our time – the Bible, Q’uran, Torah and Veda?  Or has science made them irrelevant?

I propose that, as I have said several times, truth lies somewhere in the middle.  Science explains much of the known universe.  It provides the knowledge by which we live, prosper and survive.  But myth, superstition and spirituality are not poor step-sisters to science in their ability to also explain the universe.  We need both reason and myth.

Can reason and dispassionate observation explain the intricacies of love?   No.  But, does the Biblical story – a Jesus parable – of the prodigal son offer a glimpse of what love is?  I firmly believe it does.  Such love is the stuff of mystery which only spiritual examination can explain.  I experienced feelings of unconditional love when I had my epiphany.  I have felt it towards my daughters – perhaps the only two people for whom I would willingly die.  Most of us have that form of love in one way or another.  How do we explain that?  Where does such a feeling come from?  Ideals like unconditional love are mysteries not solvable by science or reason.  We use spiritual myths, rituals, prayer, and other practices to find insight into such goodness.

And that is a hallmark of spirituality.  Not only does it seek to explain the unexplainable, it is a journey toward ultimate Truth.  We never arrive at that point and a spiritual person understands he or she never will.  Indeed, to arrive at a spiritual conclusion, as many religions do, is to cease being spiritual.  If the great Mysterium – or God – is unknowable, how can we describe it – as some do?  We might describe glimpses of its nature and we might continue to discover its nuances – like forgiveness, love, gratitude, peace, gentleness, etc, but those are incomplete descriptions.

And that gets to the difference between religion and spirituality.  Religions have arrived at what their believers assert are absolute conclusions regarding the nature of the Divine.  Spirituality is, instead, a journey into discovering pieces of the Divine while knowing we will never understand its full essence.  Those who are spiritual are like persons who assemble puzzles – only this puzzle is infinite.  Indeed, we are each fumbling mystics searching into unknown realms for ephemeral puzzle pieces.  Great prophets like Jesus showed us such pieces.  That was the greatness of Jesus – not that he was God but that he pointed TO God.  He taught, described, and showed us glimpses of the great Mysterium – a force of immense love and justice.

And yet, today I call myself an A-theist.  I do not believe in a “theistic” being – a great “THE”.  That makes me NON-theistic.  I am, however, a strong believer in spirituality.  While the great Mysterium might be an actual Being like God, I have found no compelling proof telling me that.  And so I search.  I explore and study the ideals and ethics that offer glimpses of the Divine.  This is the spiritual path.  It is a way of question and discovery.  How can I be more loving of others and of self?  How can I live in gratitude?  How can I learn to forgive?  How can I be compassionate, giving, gentle and peaceful?  How can I discern what is just in the world and then work for it?  If I discover such things and then practice them, I believe I am in greater touch with Ultimate Truth – that which is perfect and totally good.

The Genesis Bible stories are not literal history about creation but instead efforts to explain our origins and our call to be grateful for the existence we share.  The Resurrection of Jesus is likewise not actual history but a story of renewal – one that tells us it is never too late to change for the better.  We dimly see the Divine because of these spiritual stories and myths.

Science and spirituality, therefore, are not in conflict.  Science informs us the HOW of things – facts regarding the way the universe works.  Spirituality describes the WHY of things – the meaning, purpose and insight regarding our universe.

I recently read in the New York Times how many Shiite Muslims in the Middle East believe that the civil war in Syria is the predicted start of the Apocalypse.  In Shiite ancient lore, a follower of the devil named Sufyani begins a war against Shia Muslims which will usher in a global apocalyptic war that results in the end of earth as we know it.

For any of you who are familiar with the Biblical book of Revelation, that scenario sounds very familiar.  Indeed, many Christian fundamentalists believe President Obama is the Anti-Christ since that figure is described in Revelation as swarthy in complexion who seeks to rule the world by preaching peace while amassing power through international cooperation.  Without getting into politics, these fundamentalists believe Revelation to be predicted history and current events are proving it correct.

What we should learn from these examples – and there have been hundreds of similar predictions throughout history – is not to take ancient myth literally.  This does NOT mean, however, that the stories have no value.  Indeed, they do.  I believe the original writers of such myths intended to reassure their readers that in a difficult world where they faced hatred and persecution, all is not lost.  This painful world does not have to stay as it is.  Caring and spiritual people working together can restore earth to an Eden-like paradise.  The myths were not written to be literal predictions but allegories that enlighten, comfort and give meaning to humankind.

And that is exactly how we should approach such myths and why they are valuable even to those who are not religious.  That is why I often state that the human purpose is to help build heaven on earth – to create the kind of paradise that we ought to have.  Almost all world religions envision a return to a perfect earth.  Nobody should accept a world of disease, hatred, injustice and poverty.  As people, our spiritual purpose is to work against those conditions and promote the universal conditions we all hope for – peace, love, compassion, and well-being.

We are fortunate to worship in a place like the Gathering.  It is why even I lean away from calling us an explicitly Christian church.  We value Christian teachings and often look to them for insight – mostly because they are familiar from our past and our culture.  But, we are a spiritual gathering of people who seek, explore and ask questions of all world religions and many other beliefs as well.  We refuse to believe that any person can know Ultimate Truth but that as humans, we still hunger for insight into that great Mysterium.  We are like those very ancient neolithic humans who looked out into a confusing world and asked that eternal question “Why am I here?”

And that, my friends, sums up what I believe spirituality to be.  It is a journey into the unknown and ethereal realms.  But it is not a wasted journey.  We will never arrive at a final answer but along the way we will see wondrous glimpses of Paradise in the making, and how we can be good and decent citizens in that blessed place.

 

 

Message 86, “The Gathering Goes to the Movies: ‘Red Tails’ – Genuine Courage”, 2-19-12

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering, All Rights Reserved

 

Watch ‘Red Tails’ Trailer

Click here to listen to Doug’s Sunday message or see below to read it.

 

In the summer of 1917, the United States had just declared war on Germany.  In order to mobilize its forces, the US instituted a draft.  Many did not wait to be drafted and volunteered instead.  Over two million African-American men registered for that draft.  367,000 were accepted.

In a form of reverse discrimination, especially in the South, WWI draft boards eagerly accepted African-Americans in order to fill their quotas.  Many southern draft boards refused to offer exemptions to black men with families and farms while they routinely did so for whites.

While the Army was more progressive in its treatment of African-American soldiers, Jim Crow was alive and well.  Segregation and discrimination were the rule.  Black soldiers were often housed in tents instead of permanent barracks.  They were issued old Civil War uniforms and rifles and were assigned non-combat roles mostly serving the needs of white troops.

In 1918, however, with a potential catastrophe at the front lines in France, African-American troops were sent into combat – under French command, since US forces refused them.  The 92nd combat division, comprising all black soldiers, fought at the decisive battle of Argonne and was kept at the front lines for six months – far longer than for other troops.

Despite initial setbacks due to poor equipment and a lack of effective coordination with French tactics, the 92nd was instrumental in breaking German front lines.  After suffering over 5,000 combat deaths and winning several battles, the 92nd was awarded the French “Croix de Guerre” medal for its courage and success.

Expecting to return home as heroes – like other American forces – the 92nd instead faced 26 white racial riots against them.  Whites feared these African-American soldiers with guns – believing they would start a revolution.  Many were forced to quickly leave the military, others were attacked, some were lynched and killed – ten of them while in uniform.  They fought for their country but were then killed by their own countrymen.

Despite the distinguished record of African-American forces in World War One, the US War College issued the following statement in 1925, only 87 short years ago, “Black men are very low in the scale of human evolution; the cranial cavity of the Negro is smaller than the white and his brain weighs less.  Blacks are mentally inferior to the white man, by nature subservient, cowardly, and therefore unfit for combat.”  (forgive me for uttering such words)

This quote is cited in the opening frame to the movie “Red Tails”, a film depicting the historic efforts of an all black pilot squadron in World War Two.  It served as the guide for military attitudes toward African-Americans for over twenty years.  It highlights the culture of racism against which black airmen and soldiers had to fight.

The pseudo-science, racism and lies embodied in that War College report were decisively proven false by the exploits of black soldiers in World War Two.  The courage demonstrated by the fighter pilots in the historically accurate movie “Red Tails” is ample evidence.

As much as that fact alone is inspirational to us, I found a more subtle message in the film to be an even greater lesson for me.  It took courage to strap oneself into a cockpit protected by only a thin plastic canopy and fly off to fight other planes equipped with machine guns ready to rip one apart.  More importantly, however, it took courage to daily face the kind of hatred and bigotry black officers and soldiers experienced.  Such episodes are well depicted in the film.  It took even more courage to press their case and insist they were every bit as brave, intelligent and capable as any other man or woman.

And that insistence to be allowed to fight is clearly shown in the film.  The Tuskegee Fighter Squadron, named after the only pilot training school open to African-Americans – at Tuskegee, Alabama, faced prejudice at all levels, as high as the top generals in the Pentagon.

Just as happened in World War One, blacks in World War Two were routinely assigned roles as support personnel – those who cooked and cleaned for white troops.  While over 2 million African-Americans served in WWII, only 50,000 served in combat.  In a particularly humiliating role, black soldiers were assigned as guards over German prisoners.  But, in the cafeterias, churches and other locations at the prison camps, black guards were not permitted to share the same benefits as their white prisoners.  The irony of African-Americans not being given the same rights as racist, Nazi German prisoners is extreme.

And the Tuskegee airmen were treated no differently.  Despite their training as fighter pilots, the squadron was issued old and slow airplanes.  Their role was to provide defense in areas far behind the front lines.  Blacks were deemed incapable of bravery.

Can we imagine, however, the courage it would take to not only be willing to face death but to also face the kind of discrimination which believes you to be inferior?  The kind of bigotry that humiliates you and taunts you?  The kind of demeaning attitudes which assign you to poor conditions and ineffective equipment?  Such courage to publicly speak out and insist on one’s own rights – as well as for the rights of others – is of a greater courage in my mind.  It is a moral courage to which we are called to follow in our own lives.   And that courage by the Red Tail officers and airmen paved the way for future equal rights in our armed services – even providing the moral foundation for the recent permission of openly gay and lesbian soldiers to serve.  The symbol which the Red Tails squadron used during the war was a double V insignia – two V’s for victory.  One against Germany.  The second against discrimination.

In the face of racism, the officers of the Red Tails squadron tirelessly fought for the opportunity of their men to prove their ability.  In several situations which are depicted in the film, they are finally given that chance.  Tuskegee fighter pilots were instrumental in the success of the Allied landing at Anzio beach in Italy – the first invasion of occupied Europe.  They went on to provide crucial air protection to bombers on their way to Germany.  On raids in which they provided defense, not a single bomber was ever lost.  Commanders soon began requesting Red Tails coverage.  Sixty-six Tuskegee pilots were killed in combat in World War Two – out of only a few hundred who had been trained and allowed to fly.

Just as we found in the last two movies we considered for this monthly series looking at current popular films, “Red Tails” offers us spiritual lessons we would be wise to learn.  As a depiction of the fight for human equality, the film is another good one in that historic record.  But it is the ethic of moral courage, implicit in the film,  that resonates for us.  While I cannot begin to identify with the pain and humiliation of racism, I can understand and learn from the basic human ethic of having moral courage –  especially against majority opinions.  Such courageous actions often put one in both physical danger as well as emotional and psychological danger.

Someone with moral courage confronts an immoral status quo.  He or she protests against something which many others support.  One acts in the face of widespread “groupthink” – majority attitudes of indifference to or even support of a moral wrong.  Christians like Corrie Ten Boom who opposed Nazi discrimination against Jews is one example.  Rosa Parks standing up against Jim Crow laws is another.  Straight allies who speak out in support of gay men and women are another.  It takes courage to stand alone, or in a very small minority, and cry out against immorality.

Recently, an Islamic cleric in Iran claimed that morality is a relative idea and that Islamic morality should not be judged.  This was said in response to protest against Iran’s execution by stoning of a woman caught in adultery – while the man in question was simply jailed.

What this cleric advocated is a type of moral relativism which is indefensible.  Not all so called morals are universal but there is, as we have discussed numerous times in here, one moral standard.  While all  religious and cultural beliefs should be respected and honored – freedom on conscience throughout the world is a basic human right – I assert there is one universal moral principle in our world – that of the golden rule or law or reciprocity.  Contrary to the opinion of that Iranian official, the Koran even says one is to seek for mankind what one seeks for oneself.  All world religions assert a version of this ethic.  Treat others as you wish to be treated.  Love others as you love yourself.

Any law, tradition or cultural practice which does harm to or hinders the basic human rights of another human – in a manner that would be unjust to any person – is a moral and spiritual wrong.  In this sense, it takes moral courage to protest such immorality.  Jesus defied prevailing religious legal attitudes that put ritual and doctrine ahead of compassion, decency and equal treatment.  He was morally courageous in opposing religious elites and leaders of his time.  The prophet Muhammad praised moral courage over violence.  He said, “ A man who defends his family and lands does so out of duty, whereas a man of courage is one who does not renounce his life of virtue……in the face of violence.”  As a Hindu, Gandhi courageously advocated non-violence even when his Indian countrymen insisted that physically fighting against oppression is the only way to succeed.

Indeed, while we praise the types of physical courage that it takes to put oneself in harms way – to fly a fighter plane, to serve on the front lines in any war, to charge into a burning skyscraper to rescue others – we often overlook or diminish moral courage.  Mark Twain once said, “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”

It took moral courage against injustice by the founding fathers to declare our nation’s independence.  It took moral courage for Sojourner Truth, an African-American slave, to speak in favor of equal rights for blacks and women.  It took moral courage for black soldiers in the Civil War, World War One, World War Two and the Korean war to assert their right to serve equally.  It took moral courage for Rosa Parks to refuse to move to the back of the bus, for Martin Luther King, Jr. to take up her cause and be jailed as a result, for the Little Rock nine – African-American High School students – to walk past armed guardsmen and jeering white crowds to attend an all white school, for four young black men to sit at an all white lunch counter in Greensboro, South Carolina and refuse to move, for Patricia Banks to sue United Airlines insisting on equal opportunity to work as a flight attendant – the first African-American to so serve, and for Michael Gunn, just last summer, to file suit against – and refuse to ignore – an Ohio landlord who posted a sign reading “Public Swimming Pool – Whites Only” after his bi-racial daughter had swam in the apartment pool.

What acts of moral courage do we stand for in our lives?  I am humbled in the presence of moral courage in this very room.  It takes moral courage to fight and work for higher quality in a largely black school district, to advocate for animal rights, to speak out for prisoners and those condemned to die, to publicly identify, as a straight person, in solidarity with gays and lesbians, to counsel and treat sex offenders, to lead a life of quiet humility, good cheer and service to others while battling significant health challenges, to proclaim a female identity when you were born with a man’s body, to assert with pride that you are gay or lesbian, to battle, as a woman, against a patriarchal and sexist culture, to quietly work with homeless teens, underprivileged children and others on the margins of life.

Just recently, I was told of a member in this congregation who is being attacked for having spoken out against racism.  This member was publicly identified and the person’s picture was even displayed in print and on the internet.  When I first saw this, I felt sorry for our member.  While I am still sympathetic and very supportive, I also now feel great pride that this morally courageous person attends the Gathering and that all of you, like this person, are willing to publicly identify yourselves as also morally courageous – those unafraid to stand for justice, equality and compassion.

A few weeks ago I received a piece of hate e-mail attacking me for being a “fag Pastor at a faggot loving church.”  This person did not identify himself or herself but proceeded to cite the standard Bible passages about homosexuality and then told me that while I am already going to hell, it will be even worse for me because I am leading others to hell through my messages.  At first, I was alarmed and fearful of the hate behind this note.  As time has gone on, though, I refuse to give in to my fears.  I will choose love over fear.  I am proud to be known as a gay Pastor.  I am proud to be a Pastor of an open, affirming, caring, diverse, and loving congregation.  I am proud to be publically identified as such.  In this small way, I too can stand with moral courage in the face of hate, bigotry and lies.

What we learn from “Red Tails” – that which we already know but need reminder – is to continue our stand for the dignity and rights of all men, women and created beings.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  Equal to that ideal are the words of William Shakespeare, “Cowards die a thousand deaths……….the valiant taste death but once.”

Calvin Moret, one of the last surviving members of the Red Tails squadron, recently said, “I want people to remember that Tuskegee airmen were Americans. That they were serving this country as valiantly as any other service men who ever lived — or who died. There were 66 black American Tuskegee airmen who didn’t make it back here.  They are heroes for all time.”

May each of us seek to be equal to their example.  May we always strive to be morally courageous heroes in our time.

 

I wish you all much peace and even more joy…

 

 

 

Message 85, “The Gathering Goes to the Movies: ‘The Artist’ – Choosing Love Over Fear”

 

Watch ‘The Artist’ Trailer

© Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering, All Rights Reserved

Click here to listen to Doug’s Sunday message or see below to read:

 

In my research for this message, I read a story about a woman named Cynthia Daley who was among 1500 people laid off from a large utility in the small town of Rainier, Oregon.  The shock and fear in Cynthia  and her colleagues was extreme.  Many employees had worked for the company for over thirty years.  They knew no other life and many doubted that they had transferable skills to help them find new work in a difficult economy.  Cynthia, however, decided she would use her remaining thirty days at work to help others.  She began publishing a short guide that was distributed to laid off employees on how to save money.  She researched ways to find low cost insurance plans, how to do simple car repairs and ways to save on household expenses.  As her paper grew in size, employees began asking her for advice in their job searches.  She counseled individuals in writing resumes and in articulating skills that could be used in other jobs.  Her actions were so noteworthy, the company asked if she would stay on and work in their human resources department.  She accepted but she continued writing her paper which soon caught the attention of the local college.  They asked her to teach a course for the unemployed which she also did.  Her knowledge, her willingness to help individuals one on one, and her encouragement not to give up has led her to a full time faculty position and to becoming a well paid consultant hired by companies across the country to assist laid off employees.

What interested me in this story is its inspirational example of resilience by this woman and her goal to serve and love others.  This same ethic gives the movie “The Artist” its emotional power.  It has received widespread acclaim because of its feel good call to overcome fear and hardship and allow love to prevail.

What each of us has learned in life is that we all face daily challenges in which we must make choices on how to react.  Many such challenges are big ones.  Whether it be from a loss of financial security, loss of a job, health problems or challenges in our romantic relationships, we are assaulted throughout our lives with trauma and change.

This truth about life was best expressed by the philosopher John Simone who once said, “If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry, it will change.  If you are in a good situation, don’t worry, it will change.”

While such an assessment of life is pessimistic, it is also true.  Change is inevitable and we often have no control over events that confront us.  What we can control, however, is our response to them.  Indeed, I believe that it is not the change event that causes us pain – like a major economic recession, the break-up of a relationship or the loss of a job, it is how we respond to that event that determines whether we sink or swim, whether we find happiness or live in fear.

And that, my friends, gets to the essential truth for how we might live. Oprah Winfrey once said, “I believe that every single event in life happens as an opportunity to choose love over fear.”  Those are the two primary emotions or approaches to life that we can choose to follow when faced with a problem.  We either live in fear, or we live in love.

Which brings us to the movie “The Artist” – whose trailer we just watched.  On this Sunday eve to Valentine’s Day, it is an appropriate film for us to consider.  As a creative and beautifully made film which takes us back to the silent movie days of the 1920’s, “The Artist” is, at its heart, a love story that is both charming and spiritually instructive.  Without using words, the movie tells its story with great acting and relies on facial expression, body language, music and sight gags to weave its tale and ultimately inspire.

As a cinematic valentine to old Hollywood, the movie is also a valentine to us.  It offers the spiritual wisdom of which I just spoke.  Despite the vagaries of life, despite the heartache, the pain and the challenging circumstances which daily confront us, how do we choose to live?  Are we inspired by our better angels to also take wing and fly – to embrace love of others, love of serving and love of making an impact in this world?  Or, do we succumb to the fears of life, the fear to change, to experience something new, or to embark on a new adventure?  Fear or love, what do we choose?

As a movie, “The Artist” tells its story of how the choices we make in our approach to life affect our happiness.  It also embodies that very theme.  I have heard many people say they have no desire to see this film – once they hear it is a silent movie.  It will be boring, some say.  Indeed, in a culture that often thrives on constant talking and even on shouting at one another, how can a simple picture with no words be entertaining?  The movie, however, embraces its change theme by being a change agent itself.  It pays homage to something which seems old – silent movies – but which, in reality, is new to us.  The old has become new and the so-called new – modern cinema – has become old.

By implicitly rejecting the loud bombast of current films with their explosions and special effects, this movie shows us a simpler, quieter and deeper understanding of the human condition.  It offers us change with a dose of love.  It calls us to watch, think, feel, and listen with our hearts.

George Valentin, the main character, is a silent movie star, worshipped by millions.  As a likable narcissist, he lives in his own world of fame, money and his constant sidekick – a small terrier dog who provides many of the comedic sight gags.  But change comes to George’s life – as it does to everyone.

George is told that the era of silent movies is over.  Talking films are the wave of the future and, as a silent actor, he must change or be left behind.  He rejects the new reality and produces a silent film on his own.  It is released just as the stock market crash of 1929 hits.  The film and his finances are ruined.  George’s fear of speaking and of changing technology lead him to make his poor choices.  In an appropriately fitting scene depicted in the silent film he produces, George’s character sinks into a morass of quicksand – anguish and fear etched across his face.  At the end, only his hand extends above the sand, reaching for the safety he cannot find.  Art has imitated George’s real life.

In that life, George’s wife leaves him, his career comes to an end, his finances are lost and he moves from his mansion to a small apartment.  He hits rock bottom.

Concurrent to his fall from grace, we watch a young actress who falls in love with George, Peppy Miller, as she embraces the new technology of talking movies.  She becomes a star and soon has the wealth and fame George loses.  Faced with a similar choice as George in terms of her career, she chooses the exciting and new world of talk.  She embodies her name – she is literally peppy as she thrills to new adventures, new technology and new love.

During her rise, Peppy does not forget George or her love for him.  When he is forced to auction all of his possessions, she anonymously buys them – both to help him and to save them for him.  She even brings him into her home to recover from injuries he sustains.  When George discovers she has been his savior, he is angry at this reversal in roles.  He rejects her love and her devotion to him as much as he also rejects the idea that a woman can out earn and out succeed a man.

The film is a classic depiction of what we all face in life.  How do we react to change and how do we react to challenges?  Peppy chooses love – love of change, opportunity, technology and people.  George chooses fear – fear of the new form of acting, the new technology of sound in movies and the new concept that a woman can not only succeed in a career, but that she can be the protector of a man.  She thrives.  He does not.  In true Hollywood fashion, though, the movie does not end on a down note.  It finishes by showing us that love is more powerful than fear.

And thus we have the set-up for the spiritual lesson about life we might learn from the film.  The implicit lesson we discover in “The Artist” is that, like its characters, we are daily asked to solve a simple equation in decisions we must make.  That equation is: E + R = O.  E for “event”, plus R for “response”, equals O for “outcome.”

As I noted earlier, we face a barrage of events in life over which we have no control.  But, we must then respond to those events.  And that – the sum of the event plus our response to it – E + R – determines the outcome we experience.  Will the outcome be a good one or will it not?  As Oprah said, the outcome from any event in our lives is ultimately a choice between reacting with fear or reacting with love.

When we react to life challenges with love, we are really reacting with love for ourselves and the idea that we are called to serve others more than ourselves.  As humans, our natural inclination is to focus on external security issues.  Do we have enough money, shelter, food and health to make ourselves comfortable and, we falsely believe, happy?

Instead, we ought to focus on internal security issues – those ideals we hold in our hearts and souls like peace, contentment, humility, forgiveness and quiet confidence.  Are we at peace with ourselves and who we really are?  Are we angry or forgiving?  Are we content with simple pleasures or are we greedy?  Are we appropriately humble – knowing our abilities without needing to loudly broadcast them to others?  Are we gentle in speech, actions and demeanor?  These are all the stuff of inner security.  They are what creates an ability to love the self and thereby reach out to love others.  They are the ideals which dispel fear.

If I have a quiet confidence in myself, I may lose my job but know I will survive. If I know I am a loving and forgiving person, I will have the confidence to find a partner or thrive within a relationship.  If I know that I find pleasure in people and simple experiences, I will not fear the absence of money or wealth.  If I am content about my life, I will not fear health set backs or aging.  If I am at peace with who I am as a person – gay, straight, white, black, young, old, witty or thoughtful – I will not fear being who I was created to be.

Fear leads us to depression, selfishness, anger and isolation.  Instead, love of self, which is then translated into a love for serving others –  partners, families, friends and total strangers – all of that leads us to real joy.  It might be cliche to say, but love is, indeed, the answer.

As the motivational author and speaker Marianne Williamson famously put it, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?”  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.”

That, for me, is the beautiful message in the movie “The Artist”.  Choose love over fear.  Choose to embrace new things, new people and new adventures as if you will not fail.  I especially appreciate the optimism of a man who I believe was one of our greatest Presidents – Teddy Rossevelt.  He was a self-described Progressive.   He was a man of no fear – a man who was always in the arena of life, as he put it.  He once said, in terms of our response to life events, “The best thing you can do is the right thing; ………..the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing;………………. the worst thing you can do is nothing.”  In other words, we must not allow fear to hold us back from anything.  And for myself, a man who is often afraid of saying the wrong thing, offending others or embarking on new adventures, the lesson from “The Artist” is an important one.

And, I believe, it is an important one for all of us.  Just as Teddy Roosevelt embodied his no fear approach to life in his Progressive ideas, we must do the same.  I do not speak politically here but in terms of basic beliefs.  Progressives embrace change.  Indeed, the definition is inherent in the name itself.  Progress.  From religion, to the economy, to social issues like gay rights and racial equality, to every day matters of love, money and personal health, progressives are not afraid of change and dynamic activity.  Indeed, I believe that without continuous change, no person and no organization can survive.  This is what we embody in here – not a political ideology but a spirituality that is willing to ask questions, accept new things, new people and new experiences all as ways to ever love and serve others.  Will we focus on fear of change and remain a small church always operating on a financial edge?  Or, will be embrace the love we have in our hearts to serve other people and thus find ways to grow by enlarging our current physical space and expanding the services we offer?  Will we operate in fear by choosing to hold onto what is a warm and comfortable group of people, or will we be an invitational congregation always dreaming of new ways to encourage others to join us in our loving effort to change lives for the better?

Just as important to us as an organization, we must not personally follow the fear based example of George Valentin in the movie “The Artist”.  Love yourself.  Love others.  Love life and live it to its fullest.  Serve with abandon.  Give generously.  Embrace change.  Find contentment and peace in the inner recesses of your soul.  As the Bible tells us, “There is no fear in love.  Perfect love drives out fear.  God has not given us a spirit of fear but one of power and love…”

Let each of us, myself included, love life and love others like we will never get hurt…

I wish you all much peace and even more joy.