Sunday, August 19, 2018

5th Anniversary

Five years ago today I began my blog 'ofseriousthoughts' with this poem.  I repeat it today on this anniversary.  It speaks to my main concerns.
I have maintained the goal of two entrys a month.  Because of other writing projects I will reduce that to once a month.  I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy this project, just less frequently.  I only wish I had more comments from my readers.


Un-named God

You are the un-named God
      the soul-giver

Who or what you are
      is a mystery requiring humble acceptance,
      not a problem demanding arrogant solutions.

You gifted man with consciousness--
      the invitation to participate in the mystery!

We responded with arrogance--
      imposing solutions upon a perceived problem.

We’ve misinterpreted what and who you are.
We’ve misconcluded who and what we are!

---

How wise the admonition 
      to not utter God’s name!

We ignored it to our peril--
      we named you and contained you;

We locked you within dogmas,
      confined you to denominations;

We borrowed your power to levy control,
      stole from you your glory to praise our creations;

We molded and made you into our image,
      chose and selected what pleased our design.

---

Foolishly, men of power became God-namers
      and for a time...

The God-namers ruled
      presuming to control both God and men

The God-namers ruled
      luxuriating in glamour and arrogance

The God-namers ruled
      dividing humanity into controllers and controlled

The God-namers ruled
      losing the quest for the Holy Grail.

---


And so history unfolded...

Till finally the controlled awakened,
      forever beyond blind obedience.
They looked and saw the illusion--
     God wasn’t as they’d been told!

They saw empty dogma and warring denominations,
They saw corrupted power and tainted glory,
They saw false idols and self-serving gestures.

Ordinary men turned, first on the God-namers,
                          --then on God!

Yet foolishly they accepted the divisions of 
                          controllers and controlled

And everyone raced to be in charge
          while denying responsibility for control.

The 20th Century ‘common man’
     accepted the proclamation 
               of God’s death
And in so doing, brought about
                ...his own

               Emptiness
               Soullessness
               Meaninglessness...

---

The structure of civilization
     has been built upon domination and control.

The hope for its continuation
     hangs upon humankind embracing true Wisdom

               The formula is there for us to discover
                     Beyond dogmas
                     Beyond controllers:

               “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”
                     “Love one another”
                        “Go and sin no more”
                     “Forgive your enemies

---

Is it that God IS NOT?
     or
Is it that God is beyond our containing?
                     --our naming?

God is Unity, Totality, Infinity
God is Love, Justice, Truth
God is Benevolent Transcendent Power

---

Without God upon whom to center
                     my life,
My Life becomes the center of 
                     my universe.

     Alienation!
          Exit warmth and compassion
               honor and integrity:

          “Take care of #1”
          “If it feels good, do it
          “The one who dies with the most toys wins”

---


But we’re made to seek God
It’s programmed into our being
     so imitations fill the vacuum:
          sex replaces Love
          legalisms replace Justice
          data replaces Truth
     and the almighty dollar replaces Benevolent
                                         Transcendent
                                            Power

          Soul-less
     We’ve become the hollow men!

---

Louder, Faster!
Louder, Faster!!  Hide the hollowness!

But no matter how loud and how fast
          there are moments of 
          self alone with self
     and the hollow places echo
     the absence of the soul
                          ...another suicide
                             one more senseless killing.


Here and there, a tear is shed, a cry is heard
     another tear, another cry
          and another and another
     till the Louder and Faster 
          aren’t loud enough or fast enough
               and we finally realize...

There’s a cry echoing across the land

The cry of a hollow generation
          wailing for its lost soul!

---

With our own hand, we fashioned hell!
We refused to see we did it to ourselves--
We not only named God, but dictated the spelling!

---

But You are the unnamed God
     The soul-giver

I know you by your absence.

When we turn from You
     we dispossess our soul--
          soon to discover
               we are the hollow men.

Without You we cannot save ourselves
                       from ourselves.

Only in Your presence do we partake of the mystery--
Only in Your presence do we reach beyond ourselves--
Only in Your presence do we find fulfillment.


Wednesday, August 1, 2018

To Build A Better World

Series:  Long-Term Vision   #7   final 

I want to bring together the various themes of my writing.  This blog began 5 years ago with an all-encompassing poem; then I wrote about observations from the world of our times and humanity’s search for God. Throughout I’ve made references to Teilhard de Chardin, a scientist and theologian.  In 2015 herein I wrote a 7 part series outlining some of his concepts. Although he is well known among theologian, the revolutionary nature and complexity of his writing makes him little known to the average person so I strive to make his ideas more understandable because he is the key to the integration of science and religion—which are NOT incompatible but rather two sides of the coin of knowledge.  Science seeks the when, where and how of the world while religion seeks the who and why of existence.

 The revolutionary concept of our time is the realization of the interconnectedness of all life.  We are moving toward unifying our world, not into sameness but with respect for our diversities.  Peaceful co-existence is the goal.  That understanding begins with evolution and consciousness—both new concepts to the 20thand 21stcenturies.  Evolution is the underlying principle of all that is.  Consciousness is the unique human quality that allows for our freedom and the ability to shape our world.  Darwin gave us the mechanistic understanding that life evolved from simple forms to more complex ones (complexity).  Teilhard gave us the understanding of the non-material dimension of life (consciousness) whereby, over long spans of time, rudimentary awareness in lower creatures increased to become reflective awareness in humans. He identified ‘the law of complexity-consciousness’.  Our human consciousness continues to expand to ever see greater order and 'rightness'.

All that exists follows an ordered pattern of development.  The coming-to-be of materiality resulted not from random happenings (though randomness is involved) but in a discernable order.  We can see a relentless directionality from lower to higher order.  Telescopes show us the order of the universe, we have discovered the order in our solar system, science tell us of the order and delicate balance of the elements that make up our world, we know of the order to new life coming into existence, and we have all lived through the ordered pattern of growth and development from childhood to adulthood.  We will collectively come to see a higher order in recognizing the interdependence of all of life and act accordingly; harm to any part affects the whole. 

A dictionary definition of order: 1) a condition of logical or comprehensible arrangement among separate elements of a group; 2) prescribed arrangements among component parts such that proper functioning or appearance is achieved. Note the words logical, comprehensible, prescribed, and functional.  Order is a product of conscious intent.The overwhelming presence of order in life and the universe points to ‘something’ consciously guiding the process, because order follows intent.  

I choose to call the ‘something’ Mystery God.  Others can choose other names or no name—but what I see is an ordered universe and beings with consciousness capable of long-term vision, people that can formulate and reach for goals.  And I see in those beings of every race and culture a shared desire for a sustainable world at Peace.  Not all, and not soon, surely not in my lifetime or my children or grandchildren’s, but it is enough to join the flow of life striving for unity that will one day realize all life’s interconnectedness.

Some would consider that ‘seeking God’ (source of love, truth, goodness, hope . . .).   Or others may prefer to consider it as seeking ‘indestructible rightness’, by whatever the name; our goal is to build a better world.