Affirmation

To be Who you are
To free Who you are

To extend and grow Who you are
To be more than you are

And to be not other than You are

The Spiritual Art of Silence and Speaking

Silence and Speaking

by Zeus Yiamouyiannis (copyright 2010)

There is silence born of timidity and fear,
and there is silence born or wisdom and wonder

There are words spoken in self-importance and arrogance,
and there are words spoken from the holy and driven by justice

God moves as much through our sacred actions and words as through sacred silence
People can misuse silence as well as words
People can honor God and exhibit spiritual courage both in words and silence.

Silence calls

Words engage

Silence and words are both necessary, and one must be clear about the art of their domains.
One must not romanticize all silence, for some silence is merely cowardice
One must not deny the rightful power of words, simply because ideologues overuse them

"Many from One"

“Many from One”
by Zeus Yiamouyiannis (copyright 2009)

Diversity celebrates oneness
In the divine perspective

We are the myriad reflections
of a universal spirit
poured out

A beautiful
and continual
act of creation.

We are the messengers
of a cosmic force
inflected uniquely through our beings

We are the receivers and givers
Conducted by grace,
Elicited in rapturous symphony

We are the tunings
Of a fine metal bowl
That, when struck, rings long past our lives


Blessings,
Zeus Yiamouyiannis (http://anopenman.blogspot.com/, copyright 2009)

The new religious pluralism emphasizes vitality and cooperation rather than neutrality and isolation

There is a new force emerging in interfaith arenas. Organizations like the Interfaith Youth Core (ifyc.org) are assertively and compassionately seeking to establish religious cooperation and pluralism as a strong norm in global society. Well, some may shrug, hasn't this always been the case by some group? Not in this manner. The change can be seen not only in a youthful energy but a different approach. Instead of fearing religious engagement and finding ways to neutralize tensions with mere discussion, IFYC and other progressive organizations are expanding the reach of religious dialogue into active projects which demonstrate that faith can affirmatively enhance the bonds within society. I think this is a welcome change that will help healthy, pro-social religious attitudes gain footing and meaning.

In the weak form of religious pluralism, approval is the arbiter of rightness, and offense or disapproval is the evidence of wrongness of one's own belief or convictions. In the new strong form, spiritual and religious expression and cooperation is emboldened by the coming together of two independent persons, with their openness and desire to connect. In this new emerging pluralism different believers and non-believers alike can affirm in their connection something beyond themselves, a larger truth than can be embodied by their limited human capacities coming together to birth into reality a new and larger truth.

Spiritual vitality is the arbiter of this new strong form of interfaith. It demands that we be exactly who we are and to deepen that (not water it down) in interaction with others. As it demands we become "more us," it also demands that we become more than us in the face of the unveiling of God's glory in the active, expressed nature of another.

Religious pluralism becomes a necessity of deepening my Christian faith. My faith relies upon Christianity, and the deepening of my Christianity relies upon the gifts of people who do not think as I do, and religious traditions that have developed different ways to understand what Christians call the living Word, Spirit in the world.

I am making a fairly radical claim: My "Christianness" is enhanced by my open, faithful engagement and invitation of other faiths. My "core" beliefs are strengthened and not weakened by God's gifts through the beliefs and religious traditions of others. I am not watered down. I am not made relativistic. Quite the contrary. I am made more ultimate in my devotion, connection, and understanding of God and of the message of Jesus in my tradition.

When I look at Gospels and the sacred teachings of Jesus, this is the message I receive: From the deepest, accepted whole of your being, give and receive. Be both more "You" than you have ever been, and more beyond the small "you", the ego that fears engagement or the the ego that seeks to extract submission.

We are Spirit and Form coming together

We humans are spirit and form coming together, dance of form and formless. It is up to us in this to observe how we might be, what accordance we shall give to our bodies, our spirits, and how we shall understand and exercise the possibilities of our blended nature. It is up to us to decide what we will follow, what shall gain leadership in our lives, what we agree to live by.

So let us consider and pay close attention to what form and spirit offer. What is the reality of each? Are we confusing the elements and attributes which emanate from these very distinct aspects of our being? Does this confuse the choices we make?

Before we proceed, let us distinguish between those things emanating from spirit and those from form.

Spirit, first, and form, second
Energy, first, and matter, second
Subjectivity, first, and identity, second

Being, first, and name, second (brought together in the soul)
Conscience, first, and thought, second
Awareness, first, and perception, second

First let us observe that the spirit is larger and deeper than the world. Spirit is the source or origin of form. As energy articulates and generates matter, so too does the Word give birth to words, the worldly and creative expressions of inspiration. Form cannot capture spirit, but spirit can capture form.

Note the effect of poetry and where poetry gains its strength and meaning. Follow poetry back to its source. A simple and elegant description of a red wheelbarrow (say, in a William Carlos Williams poem), awakens in many different readers a sense of the essence of that object. In so recognizing the essence of thing, a sense of beauty is inspired in the reader.

The beauty does not come from the image of the wheelbarrow, as indispensable as that is, nor even of the simple and evocative words of the poem itself. Rather it is in what the words transmit, essence, spirit, that beauty and life is found. The profound is evidenced and made present, even in simple description.

Second, let us acknowledge that lasting fulfillment is never created by form. Because forms pass, the happiness associated with them also must pass. Even a fortunate son shall die and see his body slowly age and wear over time, wonderfully and gracefully, one hopes, but wear nonetheless. We know that material wealth and accumulation can protect neither against mortality nor ruin. The materially rich can be miserable and the materially poor can remain in good spirits. Our happiness may be affected by but is not determined by their worldly condition. Our spirits decide.

Contemplate the statement, "Even though I've gone through a lot of changes, I'm still the same person as I've always been." This seems like a paradox, but we know what a person is saying when they say this. The "me," my being, the essential "who I am" has remained intact, even as "I" (the historical, time-dependent, personal human that I am) have gone through immense changes. I am transformed on the level of form (forms of thought, personality, knowledge, wealth, health), but I am remain whole on the level of spirit. I may be brought into closer contact with my being or drawn further away, but I remain inseparable from its beloved source.

Third, on the level of form we can never be the same. Difference is the eternal rule of form. In time and space we are different from one microsecond to the next and from one location to the next. The electrons in the atoms that constitute our bodies and our world shall never again be in the exact same alignment. If we are truthful we can talk about continuity on the level of form only in terms of tendencies, patterns, intentions, projections of our need for coherence and order.

Yet we are intended as well. We are created and part of a created and ever-yet-creating universe. Our patterns and laws cannot capture that of which we are a part. A relief steals over us is we acknowledge this. We are not the great achievers of humanity, but rather conducting wires of the spirit allowing us to midwife a greater creative power that can result in miraculous discoveries and inventions in the world. These, rightly understood, are homages to our spiritual source.

There is freedom in this vertigo. Because it is not bound by the rules of form, spirit never asks that we conform, even to legal and natural laws. We stifle our spiritual impulse to "fly" by jumping from a bridge, only because we know our form shall be destroyed and we want to further enjoy this life in this form. We can, in practice, decide to love our selves, our God, our neighbors, and our enemies not because we fear human law (which asks us to kill our enemies in conscripted war) but because so doing consummates the delight of of the spirit, and its "laws" of infinitely varied loving, giving, and sacrifice.

Sameness, conformity, is merely a projection of desire and a training of perceptions to "recoup the universe," an attempt to be God and to be the universe by claiming ultimate knowledge. Spiritual oneness is the opposite of formal sameness. Formal sameness is a conceit that through symbols, devices, and political power must be enforced and made to rule over both the ineffable spirit and the unruly and changing world. Spiritual oneness recognizes the beauty of uniqueness and diversity and sees difference as confirmation of its ever-creative glory.

In a supreme act of rebellion, resentment, and idolatry, the ego puts forth a false God of order which rejects the flow of creation and replaces it with a rule, which seeks to "civilize" the spirit and make it conform to the world. Yet this very act shows its falsehood: One never needs to enforce that which already is, that which is true on the spiritual level. Spiritual truth generates agreement by the demonstration of its creative and benevolent power in the souls of its citizens. It does not have to force agreement.

Quite the contrary. Spiritual truth allows humanity to recognize for itself what is just and right by allowing humanity to experience the painful consequences of spirit-defying actions- the pollution of the planet, torture of people, neglect of children. It allows people to experience the joys of spiritually consonant living-- clarity, love, devotion, generosity, equanimity. We are patiently encouraged see which actions accord with our spiritual natures and which do not.

Fourth, the spirit can never be possessed, only exercised, just as true intelligence and wisdom can never be possessed but rather only exercised. They who believe they can possess the truth, who confuse dogma or technical fluency with truth are fundamentalists what ever their beliefs might be. One ought first to be inspired, to let a greater knowledge dwell within and "use" one's being, and only secondarily apply the worldly tools of the mind to elaborate upon inspiration. All great discoveries seem to follow this pattern.

There is an inherent humility in this. One is recognizing on can never be a God unto one's self, but in joy, one is glad of this. Being a connected tendril of the spirit, conducting its light into this world, brings great joy and awareness. Why be a ruler of a cold and barren castle when you can be a servant in an infinitely varied and beautiful universe?

Revel in the Exercise of Being

You
Are not on the outside looking in
You are Being

You
do not possess a spirit
You are spirit embodied

In an eternal play and rhythm
Beauty revealed
in this instant

Newly reborn on this
morning
of endless time

Do not objectify yourself
Revel in the spirit
Come to know and be

Who You are

Your Being: Larger and Deeper than You

For your being to delight
For your future (if it is) to be just, joyful, and good,
Manifested reality must not be exactly like you envisage
In your mind

You must be inspired beyond your own images
You must break through the worldly tyranny
Of expectations and assumptions

And be remade anew by experience and grace

Real growth is impossible without this

You are not the author of your own spirit
And if this spirit is to guide you,
You must commit to following,
Opening to something much deeper and larger

Much deeper and larger
Than the you that hangs by a thread
To that tendril of spirit called the soul
The spark of divinity
That leads like a golden cord

To the substance and voice of creation,
To the substance and voice of God