The Heart of Matter: Relating
Tuesday, April 26th
“Every moment is eternity in time. What do we want as members of the human species and as Christians? Do we want a world of unity, peace, and justice, or do we want another world, a world of heaven or artificial intelligence or a constructed world of religious life? Do we reject this world as gift, or do we simply resist our relatedness? Do we want to evolve, or to dissolve into history?”
—Ilia Delio, “The Emergent Christ”
“Cada momento es eternidad en el tiempo. Como miembros de la especie humana y como cristianos ¿qué queremos? ¿Queremos un mundo de unidad, paz y justicia? ¿O queremos otro mundo, un mundo celestial o de inteligencia artificial o construido en torno a la vida religiosa? ¿Rechazamos el regalo que este mundo es o simplemente negamos nuestro vínculo? ¿Queremos evolucionar o disolvernos en la historia?”
—Ilia Delio, “The Emergent Christ”
Incarnational Practice: Relating
“Every moment is eternity in time.” Each day this week lets pause in the midst of an ordinary moment and explore how it relates to other ordinary moments lived by our human family, in space and in time. Express that universal relatedness by putting this event into words, photo or drawing, to give it flesh.
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What is being revealed? What is being moved? What is being asked?
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“While panentheism is a helpful concept, the language of pantheism and panentheism is based on concepts of ‘being’ and ‘nature’ that can lead to misguided images of distinct beings in…
The ordinary moment is really an extraordinary moment,
It simply requires a pause
A quiet moment of reflection
Always present,
Like the stage scene behind the activity and drama of the world.
It is so great that your describe the moment as eternity in time. I start my daily half hour of meditation with the intention “to be here, now” allowing myself to realize that the spot I am in, in the town/city/state/ county/country/hemisphere/planet/solar system/galaxy I am at this moment traveling at the speed of approximately 2 million miles an hour. (calculated be adding up the combined movement of the earth as it rotates 1,000 mph + as it revolves around the sun 67,000 mph + solar system movement in galaxy 490,000 mph + Galaxy movement in Universe 300,000 mph) The mystery of movement in stillness.
I have difficulty with how these questions are asked. “Do we reject this world as a
Gift, or do we simply resist relatedness?” In my personal view, the world has rejected
God (in general Christians, all religions, and people in general) by essentially rejectng
our relatedness. The Crusades, the genocide of the indigenous in America, the control
over indigenous populations in the various colonies, two world wars, and the current
racial, and political divides in America…all were essentially wrought by “Christians”,
by “Constructed Christianity” ie. Institutional Christianities teachings in general.
This essentially was the unawareness/ rejection of our relatedness with a God of Love,
as ourselves, nature/ world/ cosmos… as Love as Relatedness.
From my view…we do not “construct” relatedness…we are relatedness. The
trick is how to go from linear, egoistic thinking, to intuitive Knowing. And
Intuitive Following the path of Love within each one of us…with our own
particular gifts. Religion…Christian or otherwise cannot dispense that way
Of life…but it can offer perspectives and practices whereby individuals and
communities can enter into those intuitive and natural territories. As well
Christians can find how other people, indigenous, and people of other religions
have found practices toward that way of union with love/intuition…Oneness with
God (by any name). This would facilitate “evolvement”.
This is happening in various ways in various Christian communities.
For example in the study of the widening perspectives brought
forward by Chardin; the difference in the Aramaic version of Jesus’s teachings with
historical teachings; and the unearthing of the lost gospels due to the decisions of
patriarchal bishops in the counsel of Nicea….etc.
A phrase I read “ Error is tragic in time…but is meaningless in the course of eternity.”
God is Love…God’s Will is Love. “History” need not repeat itself…but it may
unless the songs of love are found within each of us…and in my view…Christogenisis is
about that task…and will in its own way join with others (Christians and otherwise) in that task. These discussions are part of that journey in my view.
I want, at my deepest level, a world filled with love, helping humanity and nature evolve in loving, nurturing, creative ways. I will do my best to do my work towards that. Jen-Beth
Sitting here in Ontario Canada by a forest looking at the incredible variety of tree’s still winter bare but preparing to bud bring forth millions of leaves. I can feel, imagine the enormous activity below ground, the vast complexity of roots busy drawing water up into all these silent creatures so they can blossom giving us once again a sense of our own fullness.
Every moment is connected to every other moment and I was aware of that recently when as I was approaching someone leaving a restaurant while I was on my way into the place…I smiled at the person leaving and they returned that smile and I thought…we just related to one another and for a moment we shared a common space…I felt warmer inside and I hoped that other woman did as well…we are all together in this universe and if we could always be aware of that fact the world would be in greater unity and a happier place to live……
Pondering my relationships to God and to many other people I know, I realize I am related to billions of humans worldwide, millions nationwide–and to countless creatures. Especially to creatures that enable me to live, bees and butterflies that pollinate my food, fish and fowl that I bless when I can’t refuse them. I love to live peacefully, so kindly I petition manufacturers that pollute to stop using toxic chemicals, stop cutting down old-growth forests, stop loosing plastics into the lands and waters–thus endangering fish and other creatures that swallow them. I thus love those I fear and oppose, pray for those who harm me and my creaturely kin.
Returning once more to one of my places of great peace, reflection, feeling, sensing, thinking, accepting, my heart lept to round a corner and see this newly added plant lush with beauty.Hmm, I cannot figure out how to attach the photo. smiling out loud