Practical spirituality for a complicated world.
The wonderful spiritual teacher, Ram Dass, told a story of being asked for an interview by the press in India. It was before his guru disappeared (died), therefore he asked permission of his guru to do the interview. His guru consented, and Ram Dass said that he immediately began planning what he'd say about American foreign policy, the Vietnam War, etc. His little-ego detour was interrupted by his guru's next statement: But Ram Dass is qualified to speak only about God, and no other topics. I think I read of this event in Ram Dass' compilation of stories about his guru,
Miracle of Love.
It's a quite interesting book. Anyone with the slightest interest in spiritual development will benefit from it.
Every so often, I write about how the current regime in Washington is leading us all to disaster. I justify this by saying that I'm writing about current events from a spiritual perspective, rather than as a political partisan or religious believer. As much as I want this to be true, sometimes it is not. There are occasions when my left-leaning political beliefs are only thinly veiled, if at all. I must admit that I often enjoy throwing barbs at the puffed-up self-importance and hypocrisy of local community "leaders," whether religious or political. My interviews with Crystal Starchild parody the silliness sometimes encountered in metaphysical/New Age circles in Santa Fe. I have fun with it, but as a social commentator, I'm not really qualified. Like Ram Dass, I have my own little-ego detours. In the end, I'm only qualified to write about God.
Before my critics put pen to paper, please allow me to share what some of those qualifications are. First and foremost would be that despite all my best efforts to the contrary, I have rejected religion as a valid path for myself. Oh sure, I do have beliefs which might best be described as East Indian or Hindu. But, following a religion is not one of my goals. My search to experience God is the most important thing in my life, yet I find religion distasteful. Religion is too often a cover for bigotry, hatred, sexual abuse and discrimination, genital mutilation of infants and adolescents, racism, nationalistic militarism, theft, and every other crime imaginable. In short, the enemy, the dark one, is far more active in religion than the Creator. Religion is about control. Religion is politics, pure and simple. But, I'm not really qualified to write or talk about religion. I'm only qualified to write and talk about God, therefore the least said about religion, the better.
What, or who is God? If I remember correctly, it was St. Anselm who defined God as, "that of which nothing greater can be conceived." Some of the Tibetans say God is beyond this, then beyond that, and then beyond the beyond. Many of the Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that God is preoccupied with following rules, mainly about social and sexual conduct. One of our contemporaries, John Lennon, wrote a song called "God" in which he said, "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." John's experiences with spiritual searching seem to have brought him into contact with many who abused his inquisitiveness. Whether one agrees with him or not, John wrote those words from the honesty of his own experience. I can honor that, even though I personally disagree with John. Unlike the religionists, John laid it out there, and you could take it or leave it. He didn't threaten you with jail or hell if you disagreed. I like that. Perhaps John was telling us more about himself than about God.
I've written before that most, if not everything we say about God, we're saying about ourselves. The people who tell you that God throws sinners into the everlasting fires of hell, are only a few steps away from throwing you into a fire they'll build on earth for sinners and unbelievers. The folks who tell you that God is concerned about your sexual activity, are in fact obsessed with their own dark sexual fantasies, and terrified of them. These fundamentalists are currently holding political sway in the US, Britain, and the Middle East. Their plans for us are not pleasant. You think it's ugly now? Just wait. But, I'm not really qualified to talk about all that. I'm only qualified to talk about God. Mind you, this doesn't mean I won't write any more about religion, politics, history, lousy service in Santa Fe, or other subjects. It just means that I acknowledge that I'm not qualified to write about all that. So occasionally, even though I'm not qualified, I'll still do it.
Most of what we can say about God is inaccurate and unimportant, yet it is crucial that we talk about God. Nothing, absolutely nothing that we will ever do, in any lifetime, is more important than our search for God. Who am I to tell you how to experience God? I can only share my own experience, strength and hope. I can write and speak about what I've seen, read, or heard on my own spiritual path. I can recommend trying certain practices, or I can tell you about books that have made a difference in my life. However, if I were to go beyond that, it would be seeking control and power over others. I'm not really qualified to tell you how to live your life. Actually, we're all free to surrender our power to others, or to stand in our own truth. Who is to say that standing in your own truth is better than being controlled by religion and politics? Actually, freedom and consciousness can be quite painful. In fact, consciousness can often downright ruin your day. If you're looking for maximum comfort and profit, conformity is the way to go.
Finally, the main qualification I have to talk about God is that I authorized myself to do it. I decided that rather than depend upon a school or a religious institution to send me forth, I'd just do it on my own authority. After all, I'm a child of the Creator. My soul, like all souls, is an eternal spark of the Creator. I participate in the Creator simply by existing. I don't have to believe it, or like it, or even want to do it. Yet, I am a drop of the Cosmic Sea, individuated as Robert…pesky, eccentric, rascally Robert.
When we choose love, we experience God. That's what experiencing God feels like. When we choose to smile rather than frown, we experience God. When we opt for compassion over ego sense desire, we experience God. Now for the irony of ironies, we're also experiencing God when we frown, when we gratify our ego desires, or when we act hatefully. We can't help from experiencing God because we are all part of God and God just simply is. We are, and God is.
OM
To ask Robert a question, visit his Web site, RobertOdom.com, e-mail him at desertrj@msn.com , or write him at PO Box 33, Santa Fe, NM 87504.
Santa Fe Reporter