Sunday, May 30, 2010
Cool of the day
I thought I should share one of my poems on this blog.
Here it is for your 'viewing pleasure'
:D
Cool of the Day
when all is calm, l see birds soar
twisting, diving, turning o'er yonder
when all is calm, the trees are green
with great deep beauty l should always have seen
When all is calm, men's hearts are plain
with so many hiding, in facades, their pain
When all is calm, the breeze now blows
with a caress that touches my soul
When all is calm, the torrents still flow
But peace resides deep within my soul
When all is calm, then judgments are wise
and with a pure heart, contain no vice
When all is calm, beauty is seen
Residing always in people - within
When all is calm , people are prettier
From my perspective change, not in fashion made 'better'
When all is calm, problems are not lofty
and then solutions do not seem so crafty
When all is calm and my soul feels a balm
I wonder 'why don't l try to stay calm?'
Holy SHIT!!!
I was talking to a friend of mine and it just dawned on me, like a light bulb in my cerebellum, about a possible explanation for the popular verse about man’s righteousness being like filthy rags…
The answer is in shit…
Now, not as a swear word…but shit, fecal matter….
Maybe even from a running stomach that has just had lots of churned vegetables… and hence has strange colors from the parts the body did not break down completely
Hold on a sec….stay with me…
Stay with me…
Good boy….good girl….good…good
Moving on…
Now get that ‘piece of shit’ and put it on china…or your best silver ware…
And then, as morbid as it sounds, add decorations to that piece of poo.
Maybe a good portion of well-browned sausages… now, some ketchup, even some fries….
Perhaps little bits of peas would add up just fine…
What is worse than raw filth? The answer is simple
Garnished filth
The mental process that creates it and the end result are disgustingly morbid, disturbingly creepy…and revoltingly dark
Hence…
It is the reason why many people will never be able to stand “Christians” or the average ‘do-gooder’ who wants to try and “help” people with his convictions of what ‘God is really like’ or ‘the best approach’ to living life and all other such ‘righteous’ humbug.
It is the reason why scriptural verses, thrown around like confetti of beans, are met with disgust and leave a deep-seated feeling of distaste in the mouth because though we may not be deeply ‘spiritual’, each man, made in the image of his maker can sense, in some deep primal way, the difference between false and true and can sniff the putrid stench of slime underneath the smoke screen of high-sounding “godly” rhetoric…
Tony Campolo said “Jesus is about unconditional love and being willing to sacrifice…and if you don’t like the game, then join another religion”
Simple
So before I start sounding like some crazed prophet about to flog people with my theological whip, my simple question is, why do people find it so hard to just live their lives based on their convictions without trying to forcefully (or “manipulating-ly” (“grammatics” mine!)) choke it down the rather tender throat of others…and always in the name of “good intention” or “God”?
Talk about “holy shit!”
Friday, May 28, 2010
I hope you dance…
The biggest distraction from the deepest desire of man – the need to belong – comes from no one but man himself.
As I start to ponder on the mysteries that surround me, all that nature points to (or maybe all that I have become deluded to see) is that we were created for the dance, the beautiful romance between God and man that is in tandem, and constant harmony, with all of his creation.
We were made, simply, to dance…
His loving arms around us, his eyes locked on ours, skillfully moving to the music of nature that surrounds, there is no fear in that place, because perfect love has cast it out, and our feet move lightly, unchained by the shackles of religion, and the harmonious choreography that begins to ensue is one that slowly unravels as we respond to his silent cues. All around us, nature is screaming of the balance that he gives; the flow of tide, the day and night, the fearsomely awesome seas…
And so I hope you dance…
We are not made like robots, to constantly bow to rules and dogma. The similitude of beauty that organizations may have cannot compare to the life of organisms that are truly alive. The constant harmony is seen in the weak child who is helped by the parent and becomes strong to help his weakened parent, as we exchange gases with plants – carbon for our oxygen.
The whole of nature silently screams of this constant harmony. The earth revolves round a sun and moon revolves round the earth…and though we call this attraction ‘the law of gravity’, Einstein gives a clue of depth – the law of “relativity” – that space and time itself curve in the presence of matter and the larger the mass, the greater the effect of the “curve” – and the greater the attraction…hence, I beg to allude, if God is the greatest form that transcends matter, perhaps, he pulls to himself all who will though he will not force their will.
I know it can be truly hard for a life-long servant to begin to learn what it is like to be free. I know it can be harder still to forge a relationship with divinity, and it becomes harder, still, without the crutch of a human intermediary. But I cannot help but think to myself, that like a pearl of great price, the value of a pursuit is heightened by its relative scarcity…and many will forever walk on the broader road all their lives, constantly giving in to the pressures and the constant moulds that surround, and only a few will look back at the end of their lives with little or no regret, for when you eventually get what you seek, then you realize whether or not the chase was worth it.
And so I hope you dance…
I hope that in some deeper way, you live your life with eyes that see the sky. I hope that you become all you were created to be, do all that you were born to do. Don’t fret too much; it will come to you, as naturally as sucking comes to a child, though you may have to learn to unlearn all the “learning” that give you knowledge but no clue of how to live your life, how to still retain the essence of yourself, how to work and play, how to meditate, how to love like a little child, how to work through hurt, never yield to hate and from loss, regenerate, how to walk alone, when the road demands and how to enjoy time with friends…and how to finally really be yourself when you have learnt to just be with yourself.
In relationship, one can tick all the boxes in two ways. You can learn all the rules, after finding out all the rules, and over time, hone them to perfection.
Or you can simply fall in love…and let time sort out all the little chinks
The choice is always yours, my friend. God is waiting on the dance floor. I can never tell you what the outcome will be, but I know there is so much more beyond that door. The destination IS the journey and on the way, you will find your way. There will be trips and falls, and temptation to run back to the staleness of the known. And there will be times of being alone, when your hands are about to lock on key pearls that line the way….
BUT
When the time comes and the choice is to be made, or even as you walk to work or rock slowly next to your fireplace, I hope, you choose, to look to the sky, give in to the unseen embrace and let him lead you on your way.
My friend, I really hope you dance…
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Pants and Prophets
I was reading an article the other day and it angered me to no end. The police had "stumbled upon" a man who called himself a Christian prophet. He had been abusing a girl who was under-aged. Well, in some sort of bid to defend himself, he had come up with the most amusing (for someone who would laugh at anything), most disgusting (for someone who was not really into religion) and most annoying (for someone who is a follower of God) defense. He had said:
"The Holy Spirit took her pants off"
I read the article and was very upset, but what really gets to me is how there is a huge dissociation and increasing divide from the nature and character of God in scripture and 'men-of-God'. Obviously, many religious leaders who have large congregations tend to become the standard for living. In the event where their actions are "godly"(another relative term), there is a lesser possibility of crazed followers - even though you will always have people who distort anything, because they themselves are distorted.
On the other hand, where the 'man-of-God' is crazed himself, few leave, but many just follow suit.
Like someone said, it seems to be only in religion that brilliant minds leave their brains outside places of worship.
So what am I advocating?
One person
Christ...
He said "If I(Jesus - not man or denominations or ministries or teachings or anything else that many have come to substitute for GOD) be lifted up from the earth, I (Jesus) will draw men to me."
We always look for the physical to guide us when he tries over and over again to let us know that he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith.
In a world of dreams, bright lights, mirages and distractions, we must start to see with the eyes of our hearts...
Respect the gift of God in the prophets who reflect his nature
But LOOK, ONLY, to Jesus.
Do enjoy the rest of your day.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Reflections on the Christ
Reflections on the Christ
If Jesus walked the earth today, he would be described as a weird carpenter’s son who ‘woke up’ one morning and told the world, ‘Hey guys, I am God!’
Months later, he does a marathon on water, changes bowls of water to Chrystal champagne at a friend’s wedding, hangs out with a bunch of randomly selected guys he picked from everywhere and anywhere and has a crazy charisma that drew people to him – though like Jean Wycleff (musician) said, ‘everyman’s got disciples’
But he didn’t stop there
He seemed so anti-establishment, perhaps he played, on his iPod, tunes from System of a Down with a mischievous grin on his face as they belted out tunes against organised entities...but with a deeper understand than they had of how things were meant to be.
And to the chagrin of the Scribes and Pharisees, he had enough brains to back up his abstract way of thinking, enough information to keep them stumped and enough courage to walk in the path of purpose that one, many times, becomes pariah as they walk along.
The bible may have many things that are difficult to understand, but I find the character of Jesus fascinating. What I also find as fascinating is how people fall in awe and reverence and laud his works as though if he walked the earth today they would have had ANYTHING to do with this man whose way of thinking was almost the opposite of the norm.
For some reason, he did not do the ceremonial washing like the standard Jews, did not bother to force his disciples to fast, seemed to thrash the laws of Moses with his advocacy of renouncing the principles of ‘Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth’, let the woman caught in adultery go free and escape a ‘mild’ stoning - to death (How could he?!!!! Lol….and by the way, where was the man??? Beats me!), and declares to his devoted audience the most bizarre concept that would have frightened even the most ardent goth – “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood!!!!”
As you may have noticed, the bible censors the vocal reaction of the crowd. Some must have said the F-word of their day. I would, have if I was there, and smacked myself for my ardent devotion to a closet-cannibal!
But while you wonder why he seemed to be the man he was, one sentence of his explains so much of that reasoning.
“My kingdom is not of this world”
One man is like a needle point in the world, in terms of size, and the world is like a needle point in our galaxy and our milky way, in the universe, is way too small – but somehow we tend to forget and see all of life through our very small eyes.
But in fairness, the cow will never comprehend calculus.
We tend to measure everything by our myopic standards, our views of life, or people, of what we think God is like. Like a friend said in a discussion, we put people in boxes and label them, because we do not understand them…and we do not appreciate them and the diversity they bring to life.
All around, creation screams of the design seen in the patterns of the leopard skin, the laugh of the annoying hyena, the crawl of the turtle, the eyes of the snail, the budding of the hydra, the cheekiness of the monkey, the toadstool and mushroom in comparison to the bamboo tree that embraces the ‘heavens’, the snow covered peaks of Tibet and the extreme heat of the Mojave, the eyes of the Chinese, the dark skin of the African, the swagger of the Blonde, all speaking of one thing – the designer had diversity in mind.
It is from this point that I see the man, Jesus.
Misunderstood so many times, but true to himself, true to his cause – and unflinching in his purpose. He was a man in the true sense of the word, with enough strength to hold back strength, and not because of fear, but because strength has different levels.
So think deeply about how you see the world, about how you never really choose who you are or where you are born or how you are shaped…and how whoever or wherever you are, you are alright, if you strive to stay true and align your life to that truth that always quietly speaks through the cacophony of life on fading earth.
Still…
If Jesus walked the earth today, he would be described as a weird carpenter’s son who ‘woke up’ one morning and told the world, ‘Hey guys, I am God!’