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Monthly Archives: January 2012
The Rapture
Will 2012 be the year? Will maybe even tomorrow be the day? I recollect pondering feverishly on questions like these in the mid ‘70’s while spending one summer working side by side with my maternal grandfather, who was a contractor, in rural Indiana—real bible belt territory. I remember him saying while we rode in his pick-up truck on the way to work that “The wages of sin is death” and that one day, soon, the “rapture” would be coming, “so you had better be ready”. For a young, impressionable 16 year-old, his words sure pricked the hairs on the back of my neck as we drove in the early morning hours along those country roads—flatland everywhere you turned with acres upon acres of bean and cornfields accompanied by the sour stench of cow manure in the air. Even when returning home to the mostly Catholic Northeast, that word, Rapture, remained indelibly chiseled deep inside my psyche. What on earth was this rapture thing? The word “rapture” is very present today in the popular fundamentalist-religious imagination—it’s a belief that the final days are coming upon us soon, and that only “certain” Christians will be saved and will be automatically “caught up” in the air to be with God in Heaven before the final battle of Armageddon; and by the way, with this understanding of the rapture—no one, other than these born-again folk, will be saved on the final judgment day. Well, in point of fact, the word “rapture” doesn’t even appear anyplace in the bible at all; the term first came into vogue in the late 19th century when a woman in Scotland had a “personal revelation” from God. Her personal revelation was then later interpreted by a minister who “theologized” the experience as “rapture”—which is a word fine-tuned from the phrase “caught up in the air” found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 . But, consequently, the rapture has become a predominate theme with biblical fundamentalists; also with millions of people buying into the rapture theme hook, line, and sinker—and boy oh boy does the rapture sell—millions of books have been sold, most notably the “Left-Behind” series, which depicts what the final days will be like and how the raptured few will be saved. There’s also another book out called, “The Rapture Dialogs: Dark Dimension”, alleging how the UFO phenomena is really about demonic beings from another dimension, possessing the minds and hearts of everyone. Wild speculation, but this is the kind of stuff that always sells. Actually, within scripture, this whole rapture business has its origins in the Book of Jeremiah (6:9) and refers to the “remnant”, meaning those chosen few, who always remained faithful to God’s ways. Many reading this might be saying, “so what—let these fundies believe what they want”; yet, it’s fundie folk like these who predominately can often determine the outcome of political elections in the USA.
Posted in Spirituality
Tagged 2012, Epiphany, Fundamentalist, The Rapture, Unborn Buddha Mind
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Balance
Living attuned to the undivided bodhipower of the Unborn Mind and Spirit is a matter of proper balance—of attuning oneself to the inner spiritual equilibrium that determines a healthy and well-managed lifestyle. The two previous posts focused on what it’s like when this vital equilibrium is absent—and that is imbalance. We know what it’s like when the material world runs headstrong into the natural world; we know what it’s like within ourselves when we focus too much on our head to the neglect of our heart…and vice versa—when the emotions run amok and completely submerge our rational thinking. One of the best exposes on this can be found in Colin Wilson’s classic work, The Outsider…in particular his chapter on Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Each brother represents one aspect of the human and spiritual dimension—for instance, Ivan represents the Intellect, while the younger brother, Alyosha, depicts the more emotive, religious temperament. Wilson’s work is a marvelous case study in the psychological, philosophical and spiritual dimensions of what constitutes the holistic development of man.
Posted in Spirituality, Zen
Tagged Balance, Colin Wilson, Spirituality, The Brothers Karamazov, The Outsider, Unborn Mind
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A Healing Muse
When one thinks of “Healing Music”, the one piece that immediately comes to mind is Mike Rowland’s, The Fairy Ring—composed circa 1982. The story behind Mike’s inspiration for this composition revolves around a little walk he took one day in the forest and suddenly encountered an ethereal melody that seemed to appear out of nowhere…a gentle, humble melody that permeated his being. Arriving back in his home, Mike recorded the music to the best of his recollection; he then distributed copies of the recording to his friends and later sold them in local stores. Soon afterwards, The Fairy Ring became the best-selling New Age composition of all time; I mention “New Age” because that was the category it sold under for many years, but since those early years in the 1980’s The Fairy Ring defies any one classification—indeed, it encompasses many musical genres—including meditation and classical. I believe that Mike Rowland was inspired that day in the forest by a Sacred Healing Muse, because although delightfully meditational in spirit, the music has been a source of healing for thousands of people over the years. I’ll always remember The Fairy Ring with a special fondness as I once loaned it to a married middle-aged couple I was counseling back in late 1988; they had just experienced a miscarriage and were completely devastated. Mike’s music offered them much needed solace and they were soon comforted by those magical, soothing and healing notes. The Fairy Ring is not a high-tech polished creation—in fact the strings appear at times to overwhelm Mike’s piano—I deduce that he used an early Kurzweil Synthesizer; but it doesn’t matter—the elegant simplicity of the melody seems to gently reach out and give you a loving, healing embrace. Truly this shows that the pure-stuff of Spirit doesn’t have to be a neatly packaged Madison Ave production. Personally, I never tire of The Fairy Ring—playing it over and over again induces an aura of healing, peace and wholeness.
Posted in Spirituality
Tagged comtemplation, Healing Music, mediation, Medicine Buddha, meditation, Mike Rowland, Spirituality, The Fairy Ring
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Koyaanisqatsi
There is a Hopi Indian word, Koyaanisqatsi, meaning, “a crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living.” The Hopi tribe’s whole spiritual focus is to try to keep the natural-balance of the world from spinning out of control. Well, it’s apparent that this natural balance has turned itself upside down. Within my own location, in upstate NY, the atmospheric circulation patterns have been on a wild ride for quite some time now; this past summer saw floods that devastated my area, accompanied with a freaky “tornado” that touched down in early September. Presently, the temperature is in the mid-40’s—December was completely snowless and warm and by this time we’re usually anticipating the January thaw…well, you can see the pattern. The effects of Global Warming have clearly made their effects known in my neck of the woods.