Friday, July 27, 2018
"HERE HERE!!"
Hi There !
So, being thoroughly
exasperated,
have you ever groused,
"I still haven't found
what I'm looking for,"
to only find that
the hat
you were looking for
was right there
on your head
the whole time?
I sure have.
In a wider sense,
I too often look
out there
for what is actually
right here,
but I'm not !!
I go round and round
to nowhere.
My theme song is
the classic lament of U-2,
"I Still Haven't Found
What I'm Looking For."
For years I counseled
a psychotherapist.
He changed
one persona,
one purpose in life,
one project,
one cause,
one spirituality,
one lover,
to another,
to another.
It was like trying on
one ill fitting suit
after another
in hopes of finding
one that would
"be him,"
that would fit
and feel just right
when in fact
he wasn't
at all comfortable
in his own skin
in his right here
and right now.
He, too, was part of
the chorus lamenting
" I Still Haven't Found
What I'm Looking For."
More and more I realize that
we all get drawn off center
by incessant
"Looking For"
completion, perfection
out there somewhere
completely overlooking
that they are
right here right now
at our Center.
It all started
at our start up.
The story of
Adam and Eve
tells the tale.
Pride snaked
into their spirits
with the tempting lie
of independence
and omnipotence.
They were blinded
to the fruits
and fullness
of Paradise
right there
where they were.
They lost their Center
and cascaded into chaos.
Pain for an out there
that doesn't exist
replaced Paradise
right where they were
right at their Center.
There's a family resemblance.
Like them,
we too are seduced into
"Looking For"
more and all
out there somewhere in nowhere.
We lose balance,
spin into endless seeking
for what isn't out there,
but now we are
in the maddening wasteland of
nowhere
!!
"Independence"
becomes isolation.
"Omnipotence"
becomes flaccid impotence.
It is critical to get our bearings.
We originate in
The Creative Love Energy
that is God.
Our existence,
our very being,
is centered there.
It is an ever expanding,
centrifugal experience
of goodness,
of
Godness.
As Bonaventure says,
" God's center is everywhere
and perimeter is nowhere."
We get in on that.
"Going it alone"
(so called "independence"),
"Looking For"
more and better
out there somewhere in the nowhere
(so called "omnipotence"),
dislocates all but our basic existence,
dislocates, de-harmonizes,
defiles us so much
that we need to cover it over
with our own style of fig leaves.
Off True Center,
we spin out into
embarrassed absurdity.
As bad as that is,
it gets" bettered,"
bettered up on a hill
at the cross road of history.
There on a cross
Jesus didn't have a fig leaf,
just naked love stretching
to gather us back into our
True Center.
So bettered, so Centered,
we
"find ourselves,"
and all else we are
"Looking For"
right where we already are,
Centered
in our here and now.
Buddha tells us to
"wake up"
to being here.
Jesus rights us,
centers us:
"The kingdom of heaven
is within you."
Luke 17: 20-21
"...the spring within you will
well up unto eternal life."
John 4:14
True Center
is not out there nowhere.
It is right here, right now.
Put a whole other way,
we can only be at home
at home,
centered in just that,
our
Center and Source
our right here and now.
There we experience
unending, creative expansion.
Relaxed and right at home
in our True Center,
we see what is in plain sight
in our here,
and all our "nows"
as they "now forth."
We break out,
not in a lament,
but with an anthem of joy:
"I Finally Have Been Found
By What I Was Looking For."
Answers to life questions and quests
show up right here,
not out there where we aren't,
nor are they.
That's the kind of
"Looking For"
that sees, finds, is enlightened.
So, "Here's to here!"
and free fall into it -
a life of participation,
right here right now,
centered in
The Center and Source,
in primal communion,
"BE"-coming,
ever evolving forth,
rather than trying to straddle
the gap between
Now and Only If
and
getting spaced out
Nowhere.
"Here's to Here!"
centered,
never settled,
spiraling forward
n ever expanding
Oneness.
As The Brits say,
toasting the good,
" HERE HERE!!"
See you next week.
Holding on and all in
God's Dear Love,
John Frank
*****
Sincere and generous thanks
to all who have shared
"frankly speaking"
with family, friends, associates.
*****
For those new to "frankly speaking,"
it is posted online each Friday at
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
and can be bookmarked for easy access.
It is available each Saturday by email.
For automatic, weekly delivery
please see the sign up at the top right
of the online version.
Past post are available at Blog Archive
found at the bottom right of the online version.
Welcome !!
*****
Friday, July 20, 2018
COME UNION
Hi There!
So, here's a totally unscientific, non-academic,
take it or leave it, yours for free, observation
on how 'tis with us out here
on the street of everyday living.
WE HAVE MORE COMMUNICATION
AND LESS COMMUNION
THAN ANY PEOPLE
IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY
OF HUMANKIND
That works havoc for our spiritual lives:
- sensory overload
- physic scramble
- emotional aloneness
- frigid isolation
- soul starvation
Consider:
- Chatter pollution.
- Digitally disturbed.
- Squak Radio.
- Truth twittered away
- Facebook that doesn't face up.
- 24/7 news noise.
- Words on buses and dinner place mats.
- Junk mail.
Lots of words that don't talk.
Communication Separation.
Happily, though, we are already one.
One at base and core.
Bedrock being shared.
Connected at The Source.
Silence hears oneness.
A new psalm:
"Be still and know you are one."
A sacrament reclaimed:
Holy Come Union.
Thomas Merton pegs it and points to promise:
THE DEEPEST LEVEL OF COMMUNICATION
IS NOT COMMUNICATION, BUT COMMUNION.
IT IS WORDLESS. IT IS BEYOND WORDS,
AND IT IS BEYOND SPEECH,
AND IT IS BEYOND CONCEPT.
NOT THAT WE DISCOVER A NEW UNITY.
WE DISCOVER AN OLDER UNITY.
MY DEAR BROTHERS,
WE ARE ALREADY ONE.
BUT WE IMAGINE THAT WE ARE NOT.
AND WHAT WE HAVE TO RECOVER IS
OUR ORIGINAL UNITY.
WHAT WE HAVE TO BE IS WHAT WE ARE.
The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton
How's that for a week's worth of meditation,
well, at least for starters?
Consider:
- observe a Silent Sabbath
- talk less, say more
- turn off talk radio and listen to a brook
- skip the cocktail party,
get down on the floor
and play with a baby
- spend an afternoon in an art museum
- "Watch the way you talk...
Say only what helps, each word a gift."
Ephesians 4:29
( The Message )
- "Let me tell you something:
Every one of these careless words
is going to come back to haunt you.
There will be a time of Reckoning.
Words are powerful:
take them seriously.
Words can be your salvation.
Words can be your damnation."
Jesus
Matthew 12:26-37
The Message
- Go Square Dancing
- Take a Sunday ride in the country
with the kids -
be sure to stop off for ice cream.
- Share The Sounds of Silence
with those closest
- Compile a family history
- Have a Family Night twice a week
(everyone home, supper and dishes together,
board games and cards).
- Find ways to connect with neighbors
- Hug a tree, kiss a flower
- Adopt a college student in your area
who comes from a far away place
( invite in for dinners, holidays,
ball games, concerts,
a home away from home,
a family away from family ).
- Do the same with a lonely resident
of a nursing home.
- Be a pen pal with a service person
or missionary over seas.
- Connect with a distant relative.
- In prayer warmly hold all peoples,
especially those of a different culture,
religion, political or sexual orientation.
- Sit on a park bench and People Pray
- Go to church early and stay late
for some Holy Smoozing.
Good luck with the "start."
Be sure to keep going.
What we have to be is what we are.
How wonderful to share
this Come Union
together here each week..
See you next time round
( as in unity ).
Our newest participation
here at "frankly speaking"
is from Denmark.
Welcome !!
In God's Dear Love,
John Frank
*****
"frankly speaking"
-posted online each Friday at
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
(book mark for easy access)
-available for automatic delivery
each Saturday by email -
sign up top right online version
-past postings available at Blog Archive,
online version.
Friday, July 13, 2018
GRATITUDE
Hi There !
So, I woke up this morning. Been doing it for years -
though in my youth not always in the morning !
Miles of mornings later, now at mile marker "Old Age,"
I not only woke up , but I could actually get up.
Rather wonderful. Quite grateful.
Next, made the bed, successfully negotiated
the the ritual toiletries.What wonders:
dental floss, an electric toothbrush, Crest
and Irish Spring plus hot and cold water.
Then on to coffee and watching God
color exquisite shy tones with Brother Sun.
More coffee, spiritual reading and reflection.
Divine embrace given and received
at once and as One.
Am at an age when
it's happily obvious that all this is
a good bit more than
"to be expected" routine.
It's morning miracle. Such gifts.
Marvelous !So grateful !
On with the day. Got dressed.
Fibers from all around the world
fashioned by people all around the world,
comfortably all around me,
and that before 5:30 A.M.
Oh yes, up early.
It's a residue of those
seminary/monastery/parish years
of greeting, sometimes waking, Brother Sun.
Next it was time to blog. That always starts with
prayerful attention to God and to you.
It is so good that we get to gather like this weekly.
Over time "we" are from fifty three countries.
I say that not to crow, but to voice praise to God
and thanks to you. It is a gift from both of you
for me to be able to compose this blog support to our
shared "street spirituality." I feel freight trains of gratitude.
The early morning writing is in the new Blog Notebook.
I got it from Staples for twenty five cents.
How about that! And no tariff on it either
(could have resisted that, but what the heck!!).
The pen being used is the best ever
since those glory days of the classic
Esterbrook fountain pen.
It's a Pilot Precise V7 fine point.
So easy and smooth.
It comes from Staples as well.
A disclaimer: no commercial connection to Staples,
but definitely a connection with God,
one of notice and appreciation
for the treasure chest of blessings.
From the Blog Notebook the transition to computer,
to Internet and global connection with all of us. Wow!!
So fortunate and blessed.
Mid-day off to the "Y" for water exercise group.
The transition via our iridescent blue '13 Honda Civic.
All it took was a turn of the key, put it in drive
and in less than ten minutes a ride that would take
an hour by foot and one my "foots" can't huff anymore.
Along the way there treated to paved streets,
passing grand houses, lush gardens and majestic trees.
Gift upon gift. So thankful.
At the "Y" there was Elizabeth at the front desk
and a friendly "Hello." Locker room with a mix of men
new to the road and those of us with lots of miles on us.
Large pool, community of vigor, so toning and refreshing.
Next huddle with my sauna buddies, shower and off to Aldi's
(food store). If it was my childhood, that vast array of foods
would have been seen as a marvel. It still does for me.
The miracle of growth, all those farmers,
all that transportation, warehouse workers, clerks,
all making possible this bounty of nourishment.
As many African Americans say: "Thank you, Jesus!!!"
Spent time with a dear "Twenty Something"
as she seeks to see herself and
her way more clearly.
You know, it really isn't that
"The devil is in the details."
It's "God that is in the details"
of ordinary, everyday life.
Our spiritual lives are in large part meeting God there,
in people, in our deepest parts, and
in the plenitude of occurrences and objects that God
so lavishly shares with us,
and then being a humming bird of gratitude..
The afternoon meant paying bills
and house chores, followed by
phone calls, emails and texts.
A technological holy "communion."
Then it was time for reading,
another holy "communion,"
this time with gifted scholars and artists.
Skimmed The New York Times,
checked MSN and Fox.
"Diversity" on steroids these days !!
Looked west and watched God and Brother Sun
outdo their morning sky artistry.
Dinner quests, breaking bread,
fine food, worthy wine,
delightful and stimulating conversation -
Holy Communion around the table of
Life Communing.
Later, after turning the tableware over
to the wonders of the Whirlpool dishwasher,
it was a cultural nightcap
with Simon Schama and his "History of Britain, "
courtesy of the BBC.
Such a God Gifted Day!!
Ever so full of gratitude!!
Francis of Assisi once said that the only prayer you need
is the prayer of gratitude. He sure knew his God and our souls.
May we as well.
When we count our blessings
we run out of numbers,
but never blessings
and hopefully never gratitude.
Thanks for tagging along for this
"A Day in the Life of...,"
better,
" A Day in the Life of Gratitude."
Hope you will compose your own version.
A wonderful spiritual exercise and refreshment.
Now, it's time to wrap up this
holy communion here among us
and get this blog posting airborne.
Thanks for letting me chronicle
umpteen GodGifts, GodPresences,
a day busy in appreciation and thanks.
Next and final for me will be
a quiet time just being in Being,
divine "enrapt-ment."
Then it's off to bed,
being full of
GRATITUDE.
Gratefully holding one and all
In God's Dear Love,
John Frank
**********************************************************************************
OUT TAKES
Here's a little extra for
prayer and reflection
should you wish it.
Prayer of Gratitude
St.Francis of Assisi
Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
to you all praise, glory
and honor and all blessing;
to you alone, Most High, they belong
and no one is worthy of naming you.
Praised be you, my Lord,
with all your creatures,
especially Milord Brother Sun,
who brings day,
and by whom you enlighten us;
he is beautiful,
he shines with great splendor,
of you, Most High, he is the symbol.
Praised be you, my Lord,
for Sister Moon and her Stars:
in the heavens you formed them,
clear, precious and beautiful.
Praised be you, my Lord,
for Brother Wind
and for the air and for the clouds,
for azure calm and for all climes
by which you give life to your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
by whom you enlighten night:
he is beautiful and joyous,
indomitable and strong.
Praised be you, my Lord
for Sister our mother earth
who nourishes us and bears us,
and produces all kinds of fruits,
with the speckled flowers
and the herbs.
*****
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus for you."
I Thessalonians 5:16
*****
"Laborare est orare"
"To work is to pray."
Rule of St. Benedict
*****
"Each small task of everyday life
is part of the total harmony
of the universe."
St. Theresa of Lisieux
*****
"I love Him (God)
while I ply my needle."
Elizabeth of the Trinity
*****
"O give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good;
his steadfast love
endures forever"
Psalm 118:1
*****
A warm welcome to those
recently joining and
welcoming us from Poland,
Bangladesh and Trinidad Tobago.
There's holy communion aplenty!
*****
"frankly speaking"
- is posted online each Friday at
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
and can be bookmarked for ready access
- is automatically delivered by email
each Saturday - sign up is at
the top right of the online version
- past postings are available from
Blog Archive, bottom of right column,
online version
Friday, July 6, 2018
RECOGNZE
Hi There !
So, some family
and friends
do Yoga.
I dare not.
I'd snap in two,
fall to the floor
a heap of parts.
In my own way,
though,
I do share
Yoga's practice of
"Namaste."
It's the Hindu greeting,
fingers pressed together
like a church steeple,
held at the heart
and then extended
toward the heart
of the other and saying
"Namaste,"
"The divine light in me
recognizes
the divine light in you."
God in me
recognizes
God in you.
You and I are sparked
into being,
sustained in being,
by God -
the divine light.
The deepest in me
and
the deepest in you
are divine.
At our core,
foundationally,
we are splendidly one
in God.
We grow out
uniquely and divinely
from there.
We are like a tree.
The same life branching out
so variously and magnificently.
"I am the vine, you are the branches."
John 15:5
The same and different.
One and yet unique.
Paradox
an apparent contradiction
that happily just isn't.
"Namaste."
God in me recognizes
all that in you - in us.
This "recognizing"
is way more than
notice and nod.
It is an expansive awareness
of our base and unity -
a divine recognition of itself
that we sense and express.
It is an acceptance and embrace
of our "us-ness" in God,
a loving and a living of it -
God happy to be us, and
"the feeling is mutual."
The divine in me recognizes
that every being is
"us"
in a singular, creative way.
More and more I try to greet
everyone and everything with
my own modified version of
"Namaste"
"The divine light in me recognize
the divine light in you."
Let me underscore
"...with my own modified version..."
Quite frankly,
greet children in the park,
or the crowd around you
at a Yankee game,
in the Hindu mode
of "Namaste"
and it might just get you
a black eye,
or a ride in The Paddy Wagon !!
Partly that's because we are at such
an embryonic stage of evolution,
of consciousness, of awareness
and of sharing divine recognition.
In our embryonic stage,
both soulful unity and real difference
scare us a bit to a bunch.
Sometimes we throw up walls,
push, punch, call the cops.
More often and operative, though,
it is simply a matter of finding
a culturally appropriate,
personally apt,
mode of expression
to say and show soulful recognition.
As we mature and mellow spiritually,
we find ourselves in God and God in us
in two basic ways.
The terrain of the first is a nothingness,
no need of thought or word,
the naked abandon of being in Being,
the enfoldment, the flowing into each other,
the "inter curro" of oneness.
We're darn lucky if that happens
every third Tuesday!
The more everyday experience of
God recognizing "Self in Other"
happens in our fusion with God present
in all people and all things -
loving, treasuring, serving,
sharing, caring for them
right out here on Main Street.
So, how do we deal with
this more common way
of divine recognition out here
on this street of everyday living?
We wake up.
We lighten up.
We let go.
We freely and fully flow
with God's recognition in us
and in the other.
We see self and God
in all,
one
with all.
Then we let that recognition
be expressed in the manner
best suited for the "Other Self."
So, we don't launch into
a metaphysical discourse
on divine oneness and recognition
with a ten year old.
We play checkers with the ten year old.
That allows for a "recognition"
in practice and personal experience.
Most folks would run for cover
if I walked up to them,
folded my hands at my heart
and then extended my hands
toward their hearts and said
"Namaste."
Culturally, socially, practically,
I find it best to express
"Namaste,"
not in the Hindu manner,
but through a smile, a hand shake,
a look of recognition and/or appreciation,
a wave, a greeting as simple as
"How's it going today?",
"Good to see you,"
"How's your baby
(new job, college, mother in law)?"
Often a simple "Hey!",
a high five, a hug does it.
Packed into whatever
the mode of connect
is God's recognition
and mine of
the divine in them,
and our union there.
Sometimes there doesn't seem
to be any awareness or response
on the part of the one greeted.
That's rather rare.
It's amazing how often people
in their own way gesture back,
recognizing the divine in me
and our union there.
Hardly ever would it be put
in those words,
but what those words mean does happen.
It's mostly quiet, subtle, understated,
and so, well,
delightfully divine!!
Soulful contact is made,
often in an indirect,
almost subconscious,
but real way,
Sensitivity and authenticity
are the keys here.
So, with people
of completely different
politics, religion, life style,
we go for a hike and a picnic supper.
That being together "speaks " together,
recognizes something good ( God ),
not fully, but we're on our way.
There's unspoken,
but real recognition and union.
When someone is boring us,
or boring into us,
we face that and keep at it
until we face, we recognize,
the divine in our discomfort or pain.
In these sort of situations,
when someone is hurting us,
returned recognition is often denied.
So, we just "love on 'em"!!
The best ever model of
"Namaste",
that I know is Francis of Assisi.
He lived a lie for years -
arrogant, selfish, abusive.
When he "woke up" to Reality,
he dropped his phoniness,
fashion fixation, selfishness.
He fell in Love, as "God is love."
He was "in" Love
with everyone and everything.
He delighted as the divine in him
recognized the divine in other and all.
It wasn't always sentimental and sweet.
Often it was sweaty and smelly.
He sought out, embraced and cared for
the rejects and lepers of his day.
He washed them, fed them,
spent time and self on them.
Messy and divine.
He recognized God in them
and his union there.
Francis found God
in all of creation.
The divine in him recognized
the divine in them
and their foundational oneness.
He sang with the birds,
was on a first name basis with
"Brother Sun," "Sister Moon."
He got excited about every form of being.
His example invites our excitement
at recognizing the divine in "things" -
a sunrise, a dandelion, a poem, our supper,
a pillow, an airplane, the internet, a novel,
our lawnmower, a painting, an ice cream cone,
a quiet meadow...
It never stops and we don't have to either.
Our everyday spiritual life is
mixing it up with everyone
and everything,
as the divine light in us
recognize and connects
with the divine light in them.
They may or may not respond,
but we get to recognize union,
and be there, be one in/with God
at the center of
every person, place and thing.
More and more we find ourselves
in the midst of God and
God in our midst.
This is the mystical life
out here on Main Street.
We are are filled
with wonder and gratitude,
all wrapped up in God
present in all around us
and within us.
It might be a friend.
It might be the fibers of a new coat.
It might be a symphony.
It might be our supper.
It might be The Eucharist.
It might be holding a baby.
It might be supporting the fourteen year old
shattered at his parents impending divorce.
It might be the digital pulsations
that get this blog from me to you.
The joy is that what might be can be.
It's a wonderful Trinity -
Them
Us
God
three ways of being one.
Definitely a higher math.
What a recognition.
Before we go,
a word of welcome to
our newest participation
from Croatia.
"Amaste."
"The divine light in me recognizes
the divine light in you."
John Frank
*****
If you're up for more, here it is.
If not, see you next week.
*****
OUTTAKES
Reference to Francis:
"He sought out, embraced,
cared for the rejects and
lepers of his day."
( this issue of "frankly speaking" )
Some of the Rejects and Lepers of Today:
- the thousands in Africa being dumped
in the desert to die because
they want to migrate to Europe
- the many more thousands drowning
as the try to migrate
from northern Africa to Europe
-the 700,000 Rohingya men,
women and children escaping
ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and
living in squalor in Bangladesh
- those migrants walled off from
their children at our border
and where are those children?
- right now, according to the
United Nations Refugee Agency,
there is the highest level
of displacement in the world
on record - 68.5 million
forced from home,
25.4 million refugees,
half of them under 18 years old
- it's a huge issue with many elements,
and no simple, quick fixes.
- are we concerned and requiring
our religious and government leaders
to address remedy rather than
just reject and exclude?
- "I was a stranger, and you welcomed me."
Jesus
Matthew 25:35
-"When an alien resides with you in your land,
you shall not oppress the alien.
The alien who resides with you shall be to you
as a citizen among you; you shall love the alien
as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt:
I am the Lord your God."
Leviticus 19:35
- Does the divine light in us recognize the divine light
in these millions of suffering people,
recognize it enough that we will do all possible
so that the need is addressed and worked on,
even if it means we might have to
significantly modify our level
of economic advantage
and our life of privilege???
*****
- "Recognizing" the divine
in another
when it's hard to see it:
How about that pesky neighbor
who parks his "shuttle car"
(the one he uses to get
to the station work days),
that junker 1992 Oldsmobile Achieva,
right in front of your house
not in his own driveway.
Can we come up with
the clarity and openness
to see the divine in him
and our oneness with him there
and have him over
for a beer once in a while?
*****
Rather than sit home
and stew about the world order,
o.k., "disorder,"
we want to recognize the divine
in all sorts of people
out there,
whether they do or not.
We want to be one
with them in God's Love,
praying for them :
- Valimir Putin, Xi-Jinping,
Donald Trump,
the world's power brokers
- The media merchants polluting
minds and spirits with trivia,
distraction, shallowness,
"Unreality" shows
- The folks responsible for hate radio
and those duped by them
- Religious leaders attempting
to build shrines
to institutional success
- Gangs, cartels, terrorists, all abusers
- Some corporate and political leaders
favoring the few,
forgetting the common good,
raping Mother Nature.
- All the children of the world
as they start to bud and blossom
- College students and young adults
trying to figure out themselves,
life and purpose
- Those working to build
relationships and families
-"Forty Somethings" trying
to re-calibrate their lives
and relationships
- The elderly as we decline so as to ascend.
*****
God in Us and Us in God:
- " Do you not know that you are
a temple of God and that
the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
I Corinthians 3:16
- " For we are the temple of the living God."
II Corinthians 6:16
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A Touch of Theology
Pantheism: The understanding/belief
that God and the universe can be equated;
that God is the universe.
Panentheism:The understanding/belief that
all is in God, that the divine
interpenetrates all aspects
of the universe and transcends it.
Panentheism is
the theological understanding
operative in this blog.
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"frankly speaking "
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