Spiritual Sunshine

Reading: John 12:1-8

John 11:32-45

How do you define yourself? This is often the question at the root of many spiritual teachings as well as many mental health issues. We tend to think that our issues are our own, whereas in fact the roots of all our problems tend to stem from our histories with other people, genetics, family systems, social systems, economic systems, and many other things that only exist in a continuum with the universe itself. Tell me, could you have had that defining moment if gravity never existed, or the solar system, or a billion other things? The same goes for our good qualities, we think we are our intelligence and prowess when in fact it isn’t really something we had control over. Even if we feel like we worked for something, what were the root causes of being able and willing to work for it? In this way our idea of ourselves is just that, an idea, often confined by our social norms; “I am my body and what its done,” “I am my mind.” To find peace within ourselves, we have to come to identify with more of what we truly are.

I love how Jesus just straight up ignores the accusers of the woman in our reading from John 8, who they say has been caught committing adultery. It’s a bold move, and not one we see often in any of the world’s scriptures: God or a sage shrugging and literally ignoring someone’s condemnation of another to their face. It’s a funny scene, imagining him just stooping down to doodle (or whatever) on the ground as is described, essentially saying that doodling deserves more attention than this crowd’s attempts to discredit and murder another while also trying to entrap Christ in the process. He’s not dismissing the woman but the destructive nature of the crowd’s intent. And further, when he does respond, it is to point out that not one of them is better than her, saying that he himself also does not condemn her. That being done, and with the crowd dispersed, he then points out that she too isn’t living her best life and that she should move past her own destructive tendencies. He goes full circle in the boldness of his approach, continuing to centre on mercy and peace but also our need to reform our living so that we also can find oneness in Being.

Sometimes we think that accepting our current situation (or life’s “confines”) is a limiting proposal, but our sages tell us that our inner light already has the freedom and fulfillment that we are looking for. Therefore, finding it in our present situations opens our inner door, which opens our outer. Often, we are so caught up in how we want things to be, or this feeling of lack or that, that we never truly start to turn and enjoy the freedom of the naturalness of our spirit, one with the Spirit. Indeed, the Great Spirit is often misunderstood to be something distant from us, but as Christ tried to teach us (like Krishna, like the Buddha), God is within us, and we should remain in this infinity of God beyond words, instead of always “branching out” into false, stilted living. This means knowing ourselves as Christ knew our true selves and himself to be, as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” inherent in all things as the light of being, living, and consciousness.

For Fathers’ Day it may seem a little strange to highlight a quote from Christ that says not to call anyone on earth “father,” but trust me – I have my reasons! That sounds like something a father would say, doesn’t it? Jokes aside, I believe it’s true, all truly fatherly attributes are from the Divine Parent, our Heavenly Father known by many names. And the aspects of each of us that can be called “fatherly” are not of this world either but are sourced from above. And so, he’s right, in a true sense no one on earth can be called father as it is our Divine light and the Divine workings of Providence and Life that make anyone even an earthly dad. It is the aspect of us not “on earth” that is the root of our parenthood, the core of life that we call angelic, heaven, Divine, and God. This means that when we call our fathers “father” in this world, we would do well to remember that the fatherly light is from the One Divinity known by many names, and that any true fatherhood is the Lord made manifest, just as it is with our mothers.

The heart of usefulness is the heart of love that beats within each of our spirits: the heart of the universe, the infinite Heart of God that we all share. Within this heart all things rise, and so it is also called the light and warmth of consciousness. We’re told by sages that all things that arise must be used eventually for good, a truth often hard to fathom. That being said, the Lord has told us throughout the world religions that God desires good things for us, God points us within to the peace, love, and joy that God is (whatever we call God), and promises that Divinity will eventually bring all beings into knowing itself. Finding this core of Life within is the ultimate purpose of life, according to the sage Emanuel Swedenborg, as well as many others. This means that all things in life are ultimately useful to the extent that they support people’s awakening to the Great Spirit within themselves and all things; as it’s said Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” or, in other words, “I AM is the way, the truth, and the life.” In that way, for us our supreme usefulness is initially just coming to know our own true heart.

God being described as Mother or Father is quite apt, as God is the source of all life, the Great Parent known by many names. And on a day like Mothers’ Day, we have the added opportunity to look to those mothers and motherly figures in our lives with a renewed sense of appreciation for the Divine Light that shines from their every wondrous detail. Our moms are our first and often best example of what and who God is: what the essence of Life is. Often overlooked because their prowess and support are as expansive as the earth, our mothers channel a grand power that makes that of warmongers pale in comparison, the power of the very connecting force of the cosmos, love itself, support, care, kindness, wisdom, and the eternity of life. Our moms express the greatest uses of the universe and the point of all life: to live in caring community, to learn, to grow together, to find peace, and to thrive in the light of love.

The great scientist turned mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg, had in his rules of life, “To be content under the dispensation of God’s Providence,” but how do we do that with the state the world is in today? Indeed, many sages, from Krishna to Christ, have offered similar wisdom. And yet, today we face mounting crises, and coming out of Canada’s National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (Red Dress Day), we can’t help but see some of the stark, horrendous things that people put others through. This day marks a much-needed reminder and reflection on missing and killed Indigenous women and people, and it serves as a stark highlight of how much our society needs change and healing. How do we become content under these dispensations of God’s, or perhaps the Universe’s, Providence in the light of these dreadful things that impact all of us in one way or another?

There was once a sage with the heart of God, who spoke to people across boundaries of religion and culture – his name was Christ. Jesus said that “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and also that, “I am able to do nothing of myself.” How do we reconcile these statements from Christ? Those that in one way equate him to God, in unity with Divinity known by many names, and others that denote his subservience to the Father and how “of himself” he can achieve nothing at all? We hear this seeming contradiction in his sayings about us as well, equating us to the light of God and children of God but also saying that we must give up ourselves to find unity with God. Perhaps we can equate this a little with our relationship with the earth as well. How in one way the earth is made for life and beauty but given the selfish and destructive practices we employ today, in order for us to discover the fullness of this we have to clear away our tendency for over production and waste, for non-agricultural practices and harm, for brutality of the earth’s animals and our fellow people.

Easter is quite the celebratory and important time for those who celebrate it, yet some say that certain aspects of the Easter holiday were stolen from “pagans,” but what is paganism and what does it mean to steal a holiday? Traditions have borrowed from each other since time immemorial, and humans tend to celebrate at certain times of the year – often for good reason! Perhaps, the historically Christian-used pejorative “pagan” is behind these oft-repeated assertions – people are pointing out that Christianity is connected to and shares roots in the past, pre-Christ, in both Judaism and other traditions and practices, even though Christianity has often tried to distance itself from them. However, funny enough, Easter may be one of the least “holiday-borrowing” of Christian traditions, as even the use of the bunny and the egg can be traced back to specific Christian groups in the centuries after Christ’s death coming up with their own relatively unique ways to celebrate a holiday that was originally celebrated at the time of the Jewish Passover by Christianity’s earliest followers, who identified as Jews. Many Easter practices share a common thread, however, which is their shared symbolism of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection – something that Christianity further shares with many other traditions’ symbolic practices, highlighting the importance of spiritual renewal and our rebirth in the God at the core of our being across cultures and ages.

We tend to think that we know what to do, what’s best, in any given situation – but what if I said that the mind that thinks it knows best and has so many opinions is diametrically opposed to your sense of peace and what many call the will of the Universe, or God’s will? When we have a sense of understanding it is a moment of relative peace and quietude, an appreciation for how things already are. Noticing the peace that we are is just like this, it lacks the angst of our personal identity and judgment, and yet, these things can arise to it. We only tend to miss God’s peace because we overlook it in its humility, as it is our very own spaciousness and light.