When you’re sitting looking at life from the everyday perspective of things to do, not enough time to do them all, worrying about disappointing people who are depending on you – every once in a while the Universe throws you a curve. You open the door to go out and work in the garden because you ‘have’ to plant those seeds right now today, and the sky opens up with a downpour to nearly drown you. So you can’t plant the seeds right now today, and you have to think farther along your list for something to do inside until the rain stops and the ground dries out a bit. You go to sew a dress you’ve promised someone, and there isn’t thread. There’s really lots of thread, it’s just the wrong color, or not enough for what you need, and nothing you can really fake it with. Dinner requires creativity because you haven’t gone shopping yet. The people you need to talk to aren’t there today. And just as you’re about to explode with stress and frustration, a little dog looks up at you, and smiles, and wags her tail saying “you’re the most important person in the world right now, and I love you”. So you sit down, and she asks to jump in your lap, and when you say OK, she is so happy and enthusiastic just to be close to you, you forget to be stressed and frustrated because someone you could easily kill trusts you, and loves you for no reason except for joy, and is happy to be close and feel safe in your arms. And you remember you are a Child of God in that moment.

WWLD?   L –  Loki     Turn Left at the next street, buy five chickens, “borrow” some jewelry, change into a seal and steal some apples…For starters…

When we hold public circles, we have consistently tried (and plan to continue to try) to allow an hour ahead of the circle for an open question-and-answer session. This was intended as a time for questions about the Pagan path, its practices, and why we do things the way we do. Some questions tend to repeat, but none so often as questions about our beliefs about Christianity.

WE, as a Church, accept all faiths. Many current traditions that are assumed to be Christian observances in American and European culture actually have Pagan ancestry. However, that’s as much as you’ll get out of me if I’m speaking as a Reverend for the Church. Pagans are a diverse people, just like every other denomination, and we’re generally pretty terrible at playing “follow the leader.” (“Frisbee,” on the other hand… now we’re talking!)

I, as a human being, was baptized in a Methodist Church in central Illinois when I was a tiny baby. Why? My dad’s parents were very passionate mid-western Methodists, whose faith was very important to them, and I was going to be baptized in their church, in their faith. I was even going to wear a pretty little dress that Grandma had picked out, and, yes, there are pictures, darn the luck. That was that.

My mother’s father, an immigrant and life-long scholar, was much more worldly. He had the biggest influence in raising me, and believed a complete education included an understanding of all of the world’s major religions. I have read the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, and a host of others too numerous to waste your time with here. The rectory bookshelf looks exactly the way one might expect the bookshelf of a doctoral candidate working on her thesis for her DD might look like: it overflows with texts on everything from Asatru to Santaria.

Which brings us back to that thorny question: As one who identifies as Pagan, how do I feel about Christ?

Amazingly (and I have to wonder if there’s some bizarre quantum brain-link in play) Chris Johnson already beat me to the punch, even using the same biblical quotes I use nearly every time this question comes up. Jesus himself said that he was a manifestation of the eternal godhead, but so are you, and me, and the guy selling the hot-dogs in the push-cart, when he said, “Have I not said Ye Are Gods?”

The hard part is, can you look yourself in the mirror and accept this? As Pagans, we speak of “Perfect Love, Perfect Trust,” just as Christ did. That’s a tall order, but if one could truly follow it, that other famous phrase about “the Way and the Light” would become so self-apparent that divisions among peoples would appear ludicrous, and it makes perfect sense that “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14;2).

Before this goes off the rails, please allow me a moment to make sure we’re all on exactly the same page: it’s the one with the red letters on it. Jesus Christ: ie: The Christ. Not Jerry Falwell, not the Westboro Baptists, not hate groups that use a beautiful idea as whitewash for their bigotry. I’m talking about the person whose teachings appear as the red parts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. To accept yourself as a living reflection of God’s Perfect Love IS to fully embrace “Perfect Love, Perfect Trust.” Is it easy? Of course not. In fact, I’d place being able to accept, receive, and return Love and Trust on this level is nothing but as nothing short of enlightenment itself.

But it’s worth striving for.

Ye are Gods

©2007 by Chris Watson. Reproduced here for not-for-profit educational purposes only. To contact the author, please follow the link at the bottom of the page.)

I believe Jesus Christ, if he existed, had an experience of cosmic consciousness similar to what was experienced by Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, and many other people throughout history. Jesus apparently tried to communicate this experience to his followers as best he could, limited by the language and cultural concepts of his time and place.

It is possible that each of us is a function of what the whole cosmos is doing at a point called here and now. In effect, each of us IS the whole universe looking at itself through our eyes. The universe is conscious and self-aware, a.k.a. God, and this awareness and consciousness is within each of us. In other words, what happened to Jesus was NOT a unique experience that only happened to one man in all history and prehistory, but something that EACH of us can experience directly when we tune in to the consciousness that is the base of our existence.

I read the exact same Bible as the Christians do, yet I see Jesus teaching us the same message taught by Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Consider the following verses along with the interpretation I offer as an alternative to the mainstream Christian interpretation.

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John Chapter 10, verses 30-36 (KJV)
10:30 I and [my] Father are one.
10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

The King James Version of the Bible has “the” in italics before “Son of God” in verse 36. This is not for emphasis as some may think, but shows words interpolated by the translators. In this case, they were mistaken. The original Greek does NOT have an article before “Son of God,” which in Greek is equivalent to having an indefinite article. In the original Greek of this scripture, Jesus did NOT say he is the Son of God; he said I am a Son of God. He also quoted Psalm 82 that says “Ye are gods.”

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John Chapter 14, verse 12 (KJV)
14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. HE WILL DO EVEN GREATER THINGS THAN THESE, because I am going to the Father.

Jesus says the ordinary humans he left behind (who, according to traditional Christian mythology, are NOT divine as he is) will do greater things than Jesus did. I put those words in all-caps to emphasize them.

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John Chapter 17, verses 21-22 (KJV)
17:21 THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS WE ARE ONE:

Again I put some words in all-caps to emphasize them. It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus says we can be one with the Father just as he was. In other words, what happened to him is NOT something unique that could ONLY happen to him, but it can happen to each of us. Jesus even PRAYS that we can experience it too!

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Now many Christians will protest that Jesus says quite plainly:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6, KJV)

I agree, but perhaps not the way that Christians would like me to agree. It is my opinion that this “I am,” this “me” that Jesus speaks of is the big Self of divine consciousness (not the little self of the ego) that is within EACH OF US and was consciously realized by Jesus.

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Here is a plausible explanation of what happened: Jesus tried to explain his experience of cosmic consciousness as best he could, using the language and concepts available to him from the culture of his time and place. Awed by his miracles, the disciples of Jesus missed the point of what he was trying to share with them. They distorted the meaning of his message and worshipped the messenger instead. Christianity does not teach the religion OF Jesus, which was the realization of divine Sonship, but the religion ABOUT Jesus, a castrated version of the Gospel that puts Jesus on a pedestal and says that only He, and nobody else, is divine.

For further study, I recommend anything by the late author, philosopher and “spiritual entertainer” Alan Watts, but especially pertaining to this subject Myth and Religion 3: Jesus, His Religion that I paraphrase portions of on this page. Alan Watts does a great job of explaining eastern philosophies to western audiences, and he is also good at explaining what mainstream Christianity teaches, even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with it. In at least one of his audio files, Alan Watts makes the point that if Jesus had been born in India he would NOT have been crucified. When Jesus told others that he and the Father were one, they would have said “Congratulations. You finally figured it out.”

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In honor of the planet recently moving from Retrograde back to forward motion…

WWMD? M = Mercury Change His Mind!…Again!

Sometimes you find something on the net that looks like it might be helpful to someone else.  I was wandering around, I think in facebook, and I happened upon an interesting little quiz entitled “What kind of a pagan are you?”

Thinking this was a bit silly, especially since I know what kind of Pagan I am, I decided to try it out and see what I thought of it anyway.  I actually had to consider some of the questions.  They weren’t all the  ”no-brainer”s  I had expected they would be.  I was even (cough, cough) a little impressed.  But I still didn’t expect anything resembling a real outcome.  These things are always a bit…off…right?

I finished the quiz and waited for my results.  It was actually rather accurate.  It pegged me as an eclectic Pagan with shamanic leanings.  Umm…guilty as charged.  That’s part of why I can be a minister in a non-sectarian, non-creedal inter-faith Pagan church.  I’m not convinced I have the One True Way for every Pagan out there.  I have my One True Way, which is under constant development and revision as I learn more and experience more.  But my Way is probably not quite your One True Way, even if we seem to agree on everything in principle.  Every person, and every person’s experiences, are different, even though they may be in the same place at the same time and perceive the same thing.  If nothing else, their perspective (literally) will be different, so they can’t actually see the same thing.

But, back to the quiz.  I’ve posted the link here so you can play with it if you want to.  You may not agree with the results, but it does give you a new way of looking at your beliefs, and, perhaps, a window into how other people see those beliefs.  I do advise you to think very carefully before you change anything about yourself in response to how the quiz “pegs” you.  Only you can judge what your One True Way is supposed to be and how you are supposed to express it to be true to your spiritual purpose.

If nothing else, this quiz will give you an opportunity to be One with the Divine in the gift of laughter.

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=11726

Jim Alan, of Circle Sanctuary with Selena Fox, wrote music.  And not all of it is serious ritual music.  Some of it is just – well – fun.  And “Talkin’ Wicca Blues” is a beautifully crafted example of the fun.  To summarize:  your newbie witch-wanna-be gets his “HOW TO BE WICCAN” kit in the mail and decides to try it out.  Just for fun.  This isn’t supposed to be the real try-out, just a dry run through.  And stuff happens.  You have to either hear or read it to get the full fun out of it, so please follow the link on the sidebar to read it in entirety.  If you know some of the same sorts of people I do, you’ll be right there beside me going “Oh Yeah, they do.”

WWHD?  H = Hecate   Show them the right path…or is it the left?

WWBD?   B=Buddha     Does it matter? If you are enlightened, it does not. If you are not enlightened, it still doesn’t matter.

Taking the Dalai Lama Seriously

By Melvin McLeod
Editor in Chief of the Shambhala Sun
(Reprinted for not-for profit educational purposes only. Copyright maintained by the  author.)

It’s time we took the Dalai Lama seriously. I know that sounds like a strange thing to say, when the Dalai Lama is one of the best-known and most beloved figures in the world. But it’s time we moved beyond the Dalai Lama as the jovial uncle, the kindly pastor to the world, the feel-good moment in the media. We have to listen to what he is really saying to us. His message to the world, and the Tibetan cause he leads, are important to our future.

I’d venture to say that Pico Iyer is as close to the Dalai Lama as anyone outside his immediate circle, and in his beautiful personal essay in this issue, he reveals his innermost thoughts about His Holiness after thirty-five years as a friend, observer, and student. He lets us watch with him as the Dalai Lama extends compassion and consideration to all those around him, without regard for their age, nationality, or station. He reveals the secret to the Dalai Lama’s magic: kindness, the most valued of all human qualities.

Yet even Iyer acknowledges that he can be mesmerized by His Holiness’ extraordinary personal qualities, and fail to listen closely to what he is telling us. There are many kind people in the world; all of us have kindness in us. It is not his kindness per se that makes the Dalai Lama important. It is his message that kindness and compassion are the basis—the only possible basis—for personal and global transformation. And when the Dalai Lama says it, we believe him, because he so obviously practices and embodies these qualities.

This is the message humanity longs for and needs to hear. Our problems, both personal and global, seem so complicated, and at an intellectual level, they are. But the real root of our problems lies at a different level, simpler but more intractable—in our anger, self-interest, fear, greed—and only at that deeper level can real transformation occur. We can think up clever policies and make grand pronouncements, but if in our hearts we’re really not moved by the suffering of others, then nothing will really change.

Simply put, real change happens in the heart, and there the future of our world will be decided. So the Dalai Lama recommends a universal “religion of human kindness,” as he calls it, beyond all sectarian divisions. He recommends the kind of personal practices developed in Buddhism and other religions to move our hearts toward others (the kinds of meditation techniques now being studied in secular contexts, as Barry Boyce reports in this issue). And he tells us that we must extend our caring from those we know, to those we don’t know, to all the suffering people in the world, and finally to all sentient beings.

The Dalai Lama is a very practical man. After all, he is the leader of a oppressed people, who have suffered one of the great tragedies of the post-war period and whose fate he guides. He believes his approach of compassion and nonviolence is not only morally correct but also the most effective strategy, for the Tibetan people and for the world. And wouldn’t it be one of the best things we could do for humanity’s future to prove him right? If a small, embattled people could ultimately triumph through love and nonviolence, with their identity and culture intact, in the face of an authoritarian, imperial power? That would be a hopeful sign for the twenty-first century. We place Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. in history’s pantheon not just because of their personal and spiritual qualities. We place them there because they triumphed. They won the freedom of their people through the best possible means.

That’s why when the Dalai Lama talks, we should listen. We should listen when he tells his people to stick to their Buddhist principles of compassion and nonviolence, even in the face of terrible provocation. This is not just their struggle, but all of ours. The world needs the Dalai Lama’s message of kindness, compassion, and nonviolence, and the best message of all would be that it works.

From the March 2010 issue of the Shambhala Sun.

Presented for your entertainment:

WWGD?  G=Gaia   Remind them to worship the ground they stand on.