Leonard Sweet recently did a video with The Work of the People. Len laments the fact that our churches has been known to whack down right-brained, creative people — the artists. Fittingly, the video is entitled Bastions of Boredom. Is there anything we can learn from this? Can we move to more embracing ways of being the Church in this world?
What does this opinion have to teach those who are not part of the church, but still believe in Christ? How does this re-orient their modes of being in the world?
Enjoy the video! This is just a preview — full-length videos can be downloaded from the TWOTP website. Feel free to leave your thoughts as a comment below. Let’s start a discussion…
I’m not going through the easiest period of my life currently. When I read books on the Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross himself, or by later writers like Gerald G. May, I suspect that I might be experiencing what they describe there.
This quote by Charles Spurgeon from one of his sermons helps me cope:
“Though the harrow go over and over thy soul, and the deep plough cut into thy very heart; though thou be maimed and wounded, and left for dead, yet if the Spirit of God do it, it is a blessing indeed.”
Can I know for certain that I am suffering due to God working in my life? No. Can I hope so? Yes. And that’s the only choice I have.
For a long time I was not aware of something really important: Awakening was the main point of the teachings of Jesus. A follower of Jesus not aware of his central teaching? Wow. Thankfully, I became aware of this truth through the teaching of my friend and mentor, Ron Martoia.
More recently, it was reconfirmed in a strong sense by something I read. “Wake up!” was the message that greeted me on the back cover of Anthony de Mello’s amazing book, Awareness. As I progressed through the book, it became more and more clear that most of the Church still have not fully seen what Jesus pointed to.
De Mello explained it carefully and thoroughly. As I now read the gospels, it is clear that there is a deeper meaning to most of the things Jesus did and taught.
It all starts early in the gospel story where Jesus commands us to ‘repent’ and ‘believe the message’. The Greek word for repent or repentance is metanoia (μετάνοια). It is often translated as repentance, but it literally means to ‘change your mind.’Meta – higher or beyond, noia – mind.
We need awareness. Without it we cannot see or enter the kingdom of God… Which was Jesus’ term for this heightened state of being or consciousness — right here and now.
"Love springs from awareness... The most painful act is the act of seeing. But it is in that act of seeing that love is born." — Anthony de Mello
The ReMystic blog is about the ancient wisdom, disciplines and practices of the mystics. A relearning of mysticism. A mystic is someone who has, to a greater or lesser extent, realized union with God, or... who believes in such union and actively pursues it.
