Sunday Morning Thoughts

Recently I was told:

You know, you preach on that (offensive word deleted) blog like you wrote the Scriptures yourself!

Well at the risk of offending that individual further I am going to preach a little. I am going to recommend a book. One Mountain, Many Paths, An American Freemason Speaks out for Peace - Common Sense for the Spiritual Traveler by Dr. Patrick Swift. I became aware of this powerful little book through one of the Masonic lists I am on. Dr. Swift lived through 9/11. His wife and mother-in-law worked in the towers and were not killed. The event caused him to begin thinking and the fruition of that thought is this book.

Man is a spiritual animal. Throughout all time, since he first became aware man has looked to something greater than himself for help and for healing. There is much wisdom to be gained from all spiritual traditions. Much of the spiritual thought from various cultures are the same thoughts expressed in various ways. Brother Swift has made a collection of spiritual thought and I am recommending it to you.

{If you are like the individual who wrote me above perhaps it can bring healing to your thought. I bear no animosity towards this person. I can be hurt but not by him. I will merely go to a different pasture rather than offend him further as Abram did with Lot. (Genesis 13:9 - Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left)

In the meantime he is obviously troubled and needs your prayers.}

It is my intent to share with you some of the thoughts that Brother Swift has collected over the years and may or may not comment on them.

Confucius said, "There are any different roads in the world, but the destination is the same. There are a hundred different deliberations, but the result is one."

I Ching, Appended Remarks 2.5 Adapted. Confucianism

I have always loved the saying; "There are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view is always the same." I have never liked the idea of a God who would send something he had created off to burn forever in hell or to be forever denied his love and his presence. I have learned that God is Love. That as Love He sent His Son to show us how to live and to be. I also feel that he sent other "sons" to us to speak to each of our cultural traditions to learn how to, as Micah says - "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

As a teacher I was always told that I needed to teach something, then teach it again and again and when I was done review it for the student. And even then I did not find that everyone got the same thing out of the lesson. Would Omnipotent Wisdom not also understand that and send his greatest teachers to mankind over and over again until we learn how to live with one another?

I also love the scripture that we used in the Christian Science Church at the end of every Sunday Service:

1John.3
[1] Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
[2] Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

That is not just one or two of us but ALL. Eventually in this life or in future lives (yes, I believe in reincarnation) we will all go on to become the individuals God wants us to be. In the meantime it is up to each of us to love and to let. To love all of God's creation and to let others live and love in their own way. All spiritual thought has value. I thank Dr. Brother Swift for his book and I hope you will not mind if I " preach on that ... blog" occasionally (or for that matter all the time) it is my blog and as I have suggested before I don't care if you read it or not. It is my intention over the next year or so (if I keep blogging) to share more from this book as the Spirit moves me. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a blessed Sunday. Hugs, j