The Healing Power of Listening

I grew up an Anglican, aka Episcopalian in the United States, where the service has a regular pattern and ritual. The style of service is sometimes referred to as “bells and smells” which is a lighthearted way of describing the multi-sensory experience. Certain sounds are cues to do certain things. For example, if you hear the organ you stand, if you hear a bell ring you immediately do a sign of the cross on your chest and if you hear the preacher say “in conclusion” you immediately wake up. It is a very moving and spiritual experience for many people. To some it can also feel a little like Pavlov’s dog, sacred salivating, a conditioned response without much mindfulness.

One of the common phrases you hear in an Anglican church is when the minister says, “Peace be with you.” And the people respond, “And also with you.” So there was an old priest who really struggled with all the new technology. He was set up with a lapel microphone for the first time during a service. He was fumbling around with it, tapping it and inadvertently turning it off and on. As he got more and more frustrated, he called out “there’s something wrong with this microphone.” All the people replied on cue, “And also with you.”

I’m speaking about listening today, listening to yourself, listening to others, and listening to the earth. When you listen deeply you get beyond the conditioned responses to hear what is truly being said. This sort of listening has healing power.

Conversations with God

Do you have conversations with God? Lily Tomlin said, “Why is it that if you talk to God, you are praying but if God talks to you, you are insane?” Maybe you miss the simplicity of prayer the way it used to be. Maybe you crave to be understood and guided by something greater than yourself. We all long to be listened to, whether it’s a friend, a doctor or a divinity. Communicating with the God or Higher Power of your understanding is a very sane thing to do. It just might take some different forms than you imagine.

Let me suggest a way to think about listening that will connect you to the spiritual, no matter whether you have an understanding of God or not. Let’s call it spiritual listening.

What is spiritual listening? Spiritual listening is when you get beyond the surface noise to a deeper connection with yourself, with others and with life itself. It’s a deep attunement to the energy around you. Have you ever noticed that listen is an anagram of silent? They share common letters and they share a common theme. When you are still and silent, you hear things that you hadn’t noticed. Wendell Berry described it as dancing “to a music so subtle and vast that no one hears it except in fragments.” So subtle and vast! Spiritual listening is hearing the subtle in the vast and the vast in the subtle.

Everything in the universe has its own sound, even if we can’t hear it. Our human hearing puts us in the middle. The sound coming from the planets is too low for us to hear. It is cosmic bass, The sound of the atom is to high for us to hear. It is cosmic treble. Sound wise we are in between the micro world of the universe as a whole, and the macro world of the atom, the vast and the subtle.

It’s like putting your ear to a shell and hearing the Ocean. Human consciousness has the imagination to hear all the sounds of life echoed in all other sounds, as if to remind you that nothing is really separate. You might hear the vastness of the ocean in a small shell, or else you might feel the subtlety of an emotion like wonder in a full orchestral symphony.

Where does spiritual listening arise? It seems to include but go well beyond the ears. Spiritual listening begins with awareness of reality exactly as it is before the noise crowds it out. It’s beyond the ears and beyond the five senses. Maybe it’s the sixth sense, or the third ear if there is such a thing. It’s the witness within you that notices you hearing and connects you to intuitive wisdom.

Listening to Yourself

One of the things that gets in the way of listening to your own body is routine. We so often live our lives like Pavlov’s dog. You hear the alarm clock and wake up, hear the start of the 7am news and eat breakfast, hear the musical fountain and go to bed. Your body never gets a chance to tell you when it’s hungry or tired. You’ve drowned out its wise alarms with routine. It’s no wonder that when it comes to serious conditions or problems in the body, you miss the body’s cues. Your body is used to being ignored. By the time you go to the doctor, treatment is more difficult than it had to be.

It’s an interesting experiment to spend a day without knowing the time. Just eat when you are hungry, stop eating when you are full and sleep when you are tired. Learn to hear the signals from your body. When you have a twitch in your eye, you probably need some extra sleep. When you have heart palpitations, you probably need a vacation. When you’ve lost all feeling on one side, you probably need to get to the Emergency Room. Learn to listen to your body. It is wise beyond its years. If you feel sore, your body may be telling you to take a day off working out. If you feel heavy and slow, your body may be telling you to eat lots of raw and healthy foods. Routine often sets you at odds with your body. Have a mindful routine, but don’t be trapped in your routine like Pavlov’s dog. Listen beyond the routine to what your body is really telling you.

Did you know that you listen at a rate of 125-250 words per minute, but think at a rate of 1000-3000 words per minute? This means that for each word you listen to, you are thinking ten other words. This is a problem. Your thoughts are often getting in the way of your listening. You hear through a grid of self criticism and judgment. You hear a doctor say, “There’s something wrong with your kidney” and you think to yourself, “and also with me.” From a spiritual perspective you are so much more than the parts of your body. Wellness is not the absence of disease and pain, but the presence of all that makes like whole and fulfilling. The one who witnesses you hearing sounds and taking in messages reminds you of your unchanging divine wholeness that goes beyond any disease or limitation.

Listening to Others

Most of us, even the shiest and most introverted people, long to be listened to. It has healing power. When you open your heart to another person, drop all judgments and assumptions, give up trying to solve or fix problems and just be there, you become a healing presence.

Too often our words and solutions are so laden with our own assumptions and judgments that we aren’t listening at all. Someone’s words trigger a memory of our own or an idea of our own. We head off on our own tangent rather than following the lead of the person we’re with. You would think that silent listening would be the easiest thing in the world, but apparently not.

I heard a beautiful story about a conference the Dalai Lama was speaking at. The man hosting the event was sitting to the right of the Dalai Lama. His 20 year old daughter asked the question, “Why do we get the angriest with the people we love the most?” His Holiness was so present to the situation that he didn’t answer the question. He simply invited the woman to come to the front. He took her by the hand, and then he took the hand of the man, her father, on his right. He stood in silence for several minutes holding both of their hands. They described a feeling of warmth running through their bodies. It turned out that the man had a problem with anger, with regular outbursts of irrational rage. He was so transformed by this experience that he was able to get his anger under control from this time forward.

When someone is speaking to you, give your undivided attention. Listen with all of you: listen with all your body and listen with your heart. Pay attention so completely that everything else disappears. Don’t just listen to the worlds. Listen to their body, to the sound of their voice, to the silence between the words. When you are completely present, you hear more than words. You hear feelings that can’t even be put in words. As you listen deeply you become a healer for yourself and others.

Listening to the Earth

As well as listening to yourself and to others, learn to listen to the earth. For she too has wisdom and healing power. Mary Oliver wrote the poem “The Summer Day”.

Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Do you remember the incredible stories of animals surviving the Sri Lankan Tsunami in 2004? It seems that they heard the vibration waves under the earth that arrived hours before the Tsunami itself. They instinctively ran away from the vibrations which led them to higher ground. Animals certainly have some sense abilities that people don’t have, but our senses are more acute than we realize. We drown out these cues of danger with the distraction and noise of our inner drama, and fail to listen.

Listening to the earth would save humans from some of the danger of natural disasters. It would also help us to get the ecological problems in perspective. Back in June, 60 days into the Gulf Coast oil disaster, The Louisiana Senate passed a resolution for a day of prayer. They called on the people of Louisiana to pray for divine intervention because mere mortals had failed to solve the problem. They were basically listening for a miracle as a last resort. As comedian Jon Stewart said, “The oil is under a mile of sea and 2 1/2 miles of solid sediment earth. I think God has done enough to prevent these spills.”

The earth has spoken loud and clear. So much healing would come to the earth if we humans learned to listen to her chesty cough and give her a break. If we listened to her patterns rather than using her for our routines, the earth would rejuvenate.

Whether its your body, another person or the earth, the message is the same. Listen to what’s on the inside.

Let me end with a fun story that captures the power of listening. A small boy was obsessed with his new drums. He played all day and loved every moment of it. He would not be quiet, no matter what anyone else said or did. As you can imagine, this created quite a problem for neighbors. Various people were called in by neighbors and asked to do something about the child.

The first adviser told the boy that he would ruin his eardrums if he continued to make so much noise. This reasoning was unconvincing to the child. He didn’t care about the future. The second told him that drum beating was a sacred activity and should be carried out only on special occasions. He didn’t buy that either. The third offered the neighbors plugs for their ears; the fourth gave the boy a book; the fifth gave the neighbors books that described a method of controlling anger. Like all placebos, each of these remedies worked for a short while, but none worked for very long. Eventually, a wise person looked at the situation, handed the boy a hammer and chisel, and looked at the neighbors while he said, “I wonder what is INSIDE the drum?”

Listen to what is happening inside, and you will create a path of healing for yourself and others. Namaste.

For Further Reflection

Do you have conversations with the God of your understanding?
In what ways do you think that listening is spiritual?
What is your body telling you?
What is the earth telling all of us?

Books and Resources
Listening Below the Noise; A Meditation on the Practice of Silence by Anne D. LeClaire

Community – Being Part of Something Larger than Yourself

The love letters keep arriving, correspondence from evangelical Christians who seem very anxious about our community’s name change and cross removal. Some of them just can’t let it go. It’s not enough that we leave them alone to practice the faith of their choosing. It seems to be important that we also conform to their expectations. There are some common themes in the letters. Most of them mention “hell” and “anti Christ” and most of them accuse me of being “unbiblical”. What does it mean to be biblical? Should I be walking around in sandals and toga? Should I be growing a long beard and speaking Aramaic? What does it mean? I guess they mean that they want me to conform to their preferred, albeit inconsistent, interpretation of the Bible.

I have read so many of these letters recently that the word “unbiblical” has begun to blur and look like “umbilical”. Every time I read an angry letter I replace the word “unbiblical” with “umbilical”. It helps me not to take any of the judgment and hatred personally. It makes me smile every time…. “It’s just umbilical”; “Your beliefs are umbilical.” From henceforth I shall be known as Umbilical Man. Once I smile, I can respond with love and compassion.

This is fitting really. Long ago I cut the cord that ties me to evangelical Christianity. I release myself from needing to conform to the expectations of churchianity and opt instead for the liberated journey of authenticity. Once the cord is cut, I am left free to craft my own spiritual path. Are you free? Maybe that’s why you are reading, because you are seeking to find liberation from a religious path that abused your mind and spirit, and for some of you your bodies as well. Make this the day when you cut the cord. Be liberated from any and all ties that bind you to unbelievable beliefs and unhealthy attachments. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human adventure. You have nothing to prove and nothing to fear. Just become more and more yourself, grow closer to the God of your understanding, dive into the sacred meaning in your own experience, and find inspiration where it resonates in any of the spiritual giants who came before you.

Inner Spirituality

Is yours an inny or an outy? Not your belly button but your spirituality. My belly button is an inny that grows deeper and deeper every day. And my spirituality is also an inny that grows deeper with time. In other words, I recognize that I change the world by changing my perceptions and observations of the world. I have moments of inner peace that pass understanding. I have moments of inner wisdom and clarity that defy the evidence. I have experiences of sacred wonder that defy the senses. I grow to accept uncertainty with more and more inner peace. I increase my compassion for wider groups and situations. Spirit moves in my life from the inside out.

Spirituality is deeply personal and subjective, and yet I would be lost without a community of kindred spirits to sharpen and inspire me. So what’s the balance between personal spirituality and community? Let me illustrate with a fun story.

A young Rabbi, fresh out of seminary was conducting his first service at synagogue. It was all going well until he got to a particular prayer. Half the congregation stood up. The other half stayed seated and shouted, “sit down your idiots; you’re not supposed to be standing up.” This went on for several weeks and all the intense training hadn’t prepared the young Rabbi to handle this conflict. So he sought out the advice of the oldest member of the synagogue. He said, “You have been a member of this synagogue for over 50 years. You know the traditions intimately. Please tell me, is it the tradition to stand during the prayer?”

“No it isn’t”, said the old man.

“So the tradition is to stay seated?” the Rabbi asked.

“No”, said the old man, “that is not the tradition either.”

The Rabbi was beside himself. “This is my problem. The congregation doesn’t share a common understanding. Half the congregation stands and the other half sits and yells at those standing.”

The old man interrupted, “Aha. THAT is the tradition.”

So true. Leading an inclusive spiritual community is like pushing a wheelbarrow full of frogs. We are free spirits and non conformists. You don’t like being told what to do, do you? In any case, there is no common tradition. Some of us like standing, and some prefer to sit. Some are expressive and some prefer peace and quiet.

There are core values we agree on–things such as inclusion and seeking to live with depth and mindfulness. Beyond that, community is a great place to practice the delicate art of give and take. Aim to give more than you take and the community will be strong.

Ego and Community

Most of us aspire to be awesome community members, but in practice a tiny little word with a massively sinister plot gets in the way – “ego”. Ego tries to convince you that you can get by just fine by yourself. Don’t ask for help because that might compromise your independence.

Speaking as a typical man who doesn’t like to ask for directions, I can relate to the challenge. There is a beautiful scene in the Pixar movie Finding Nemo.

Nemo is the little clown fish with a desire to explore the ocean. His Dad Marlin is a fearful, cautious man. When Nemo goes missing in the ocean, Marlin goes out in search with his new friend Dory. Marlin doesn’t want to ask directions, and says to Dory, “It’s a fish we don’t know. If we ask it directions, it could ingest us and spit out our bones.”

Dory says,” What is it with men and asking for directions?”

Marlin replies,”I don’t want to play the gender card right now. If you want to play a card, let’s play the “let’s not die” card.”

The ego works the same way. It convinces us that if we let others too close in our lives, our separate and special identity will be swallowed up and spat out like fish bones. The ego tries to convince us that our very existence is in jeopardy if we get too close to others. Of course this is a very small perspective. In your best moments you know that your life is made larger by including others, serving others, loving others. Don’t believe the ego’s lies. Nemo was right. There is an ocean of possibility to explore. Sure, there will be risks and dangers. But the risk not to set out and explore is far greater. Ego often works undercover as fear. As long as your commitment is greater than your fear, you will keep expanding your circle. As long as your life is run by the large self, you will swim in the depths of the ocean and discover that it’s all just water and you have nothing to fear.

Community is a great place to learn–learn about yourself, learn about your fears and friction points, as well as being a great place to practice your inny spirituality in safety alongside others.

We tend to think that we have to shrink our uniqueness in order to conquer the ego. On the contrary, a true understanding of who you are puts the ego in its rightful perspective. Neal Donald Wash, author of Conversations with God said, “The larger your understanding of who you really are, the smaller your ego.”

The larger your understanding of who you are, the more beings you feel connected to, the less separation you feel, the less ego there is. Community is a great place to connect to people who are similar and different and practice finding the balance between being a free spirited individual and being a responsible global citizen.

Community and Perspective

It ultimately comes down to what you expect from community. Do you expect to be spoon fed answers, or do you see community as a place to share wisdom? Does community shrink your life by making you tribal, or does community expand your life by taking you out beyond your own perspective?

Alice Walker wrote in The Color Purple:

Tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for [God] to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.

If a religious community is about finding the God of a particular tradition from outside of yourself, an inclusive spiritual community is about sharing the innate human desire to connect to something larger than yourself, by any name or description.

Comedians Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks created a comedy skit called the “2013 Year Old Man”. At one point, Reiner asks Brooks, “Did you always believe in God?”

Brooks replied: “No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him.” Reiner said, “You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?”

“Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!”

Reiner asked, “Did you pray to Phil?”

“Yes, would you like to hear one? Dear Phil, please don’t be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands.

Reiner said, “So when did you stop worshiping Phil?”

“Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Someone called out, “There’s definitely something bigger than Phil!”

We all want to believe in, connect to, and serve something larger than ourselves. If you make money or fame your larger goal, you will surely be eaten up by ego. If you make your desire to show love and compassion to a growing group of people your larger goal, you will live a full and peaceful life. This sense of something larger than yourself goes by many names, including God and Higher Power and Nature. Community offers an awesome opportunity to get in tune with this sense of something larger than your limited perspective by any or no name.

Community reminds you that you are part of a village which in turn is intimately related to a universal life force. The African Mandinka tribe in Gambia has a beautiful naming ceremony for young babies. On the eighth day of life, a newborn is brought to the village centre. The mother holds the child before the father who whispers the name in the baby’s ear three times. No one else knows the name at this time. The child is the first to hear their name, the first to know who they are. Then the father takes the child out beyond the village gates, holds the child high above his head and tells the child, “Behold, the only thing greater than yourself.”

The Bible text in 1 Corinthians 12 addresses a similar issue. Corinth was a diverse place. It was a famous meeting place of different lifestyles, and worldviews. This was all good. The problem was ego. They competed to see who was the most spiritual. They thought the measure of spirituality was how you sounded–whether it was talking on tongues or using pious language. None of this meant anything unless it was used for the good of the community.

Community Opportunities

What is the measure of spirituality? Whether it builds the common good, making the world a more decent place. Whether it builds healthy community. Sometimes the most important community work makes very little sound. People quietly get on with doing what needs to be done. There is a job for everyone to do in community, and all the jobs are equally important. There are many manifestations but only one spirit, and your large self knows spirit intimately. Community creates an awesome opportunity to discover a larger version of yourself by seeing yourself in relationship to others. Let me end with an inspiring story about getting beyond ego.

A young boy was taking piano lessons. His mother rewarded him by taking him to hear a concert pianist. On the way to their seats, the boy spotted the piano on stage and slipped away from his Mom. The mother sat down and was horrified to see her son sitting at the Steinway grand piano on stage. The crowd laughed nervously as he began to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” When the boy realized there was a huge crowd listening to him he became nervous and started missing notes.

At that moment, the concert pianist entered the stage. He whispered in the boy’s ear, “Keep playing. We will play together.” He reached over and began playing running harmonies on either side of the boy’s one fingered Twinkle Twinkle. Everyone, including the boy, was entranced. The concert pianist had chosen to express a larger aspect of his own nature and in the process had created space for a young boy to flourish.

The question for you–what are you doing to make another person flourish? What are you doing to make community stronger? What work are you doing to manifest spirit for the common good?

Take a look around and see yourself as part of many intimate communities. Look closely at your communities, your reminder that you are not alone and you are indeed part of something larger than yourself. Behold the only thing greater than you. Namaste.

For Further Reflection

What cords of unhealthy attachment do you need to cut?
Where do you see ego dragging you into fear and mistrust?
What experiences help you to realize that you are not alone?
How are you manifesting spirit for the common good?

Books and Resources
A New Earth; Awakening to your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

In the Field Beyond Labels

Christian, evangelical, liberal, progressive, fundamentalist, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, theist, deist, atheist, post theist, pantheist, panentheist, naturalist, religious naturalist, humanist, spiritual humanist, spiritual, spiritual but not religious, religious and not spiritual, spiritual and religious, neither spiritual nor religious..........there are enough labels flying around these days to start a philosophical supermarket.

When it comes to human beings, labels have limited value. Store items need their labels fixed firmly in place. People are better off keeping a loose hold on labels. You and your thoughts are so much more than any one, two, three or four word label could ever capture. Better to write your labels in pencil because they are likely to change over time. There is no need to feel trapped in a label from the past.

In fact some of the desire for labels comes from an egoic need to be special and marked. We end up in our own philosophical brand label competition – my label is better than yours, my label is more popular than yours, my label is more elusive and ambiguous than yours. Who are we kidding? There’s no lasting self worth in a stick-on label. Eventually the adhesive wears out and usually before you are ready.

My motto is to be open to everything and attached to nothing, including labels. This is the path to freedom and inner peace. I take truth from where it presents itself and keep moving towards the light. If a label nudges me along for a while, I use it. If its effect begins to fade, or it begins to make me feel smug, I leave the label for the open roads of possibility. At my best moments, I am at peace with my true self which is beyond any label because it doesn’t depend on any particular thoughts or feelings for verification. It is my born identity, and like the amnesic superspy Jason Bourne, I sometimes struggle to remember its origins. It is my unchanging essence that is one with the source of life.

It’s in this space between the labels that I am most at ease. It’s also in the space between the labels that the best human interactions take place. We can genuinely connect from a place of openness and without defense. We have so much more in common than our labels can even hint at. The poet Rumi described it like this-

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

For now, I choose the label that simply reads, “I am.” What is the way? “I am!” Where is the truth? “I am!” Who is the life? “I am!” Of course, you are too. Many “I ams” make a powerful “We are”, freed from territorial defense and related at the most intimate level.

Ps- Just a reminder that Meg and I have launched our website, Soulseeds, and we invite you to check it out. You are sure to find something that inspires and encourages you.

Spiritual Beings Immersed in a Human Experience

We just celebrated the birthday of the woman who caught my eye and stole my heart 22 years ago. From the minute I saw her, I knew that this was meant to be – this was a match made in heaven. It was as Paulo Coehlo described in the Alchemist, “When two such people encounter each other, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.”

Of course, as was true for the Spanish shepherd boy in the Alchemist, there were a few details to sort out before this love at first sight could be consummated. We both had to untangle from other relationships. One of us had to finish high school and move to Sydney. But these were mere details in serendipity’s match making plans that surprisingly brought us to the same place at the same time. Two people from different worlds and no logical reason to meet, and yet here we were locking eyes across a crowded room like a scene from a Jane Austen novel. There was something fateful about that first meeting. It felt like the beginning of a grand adventure. Little did we know that it would bring us three kids, take us around the world and land us in the center of a transformational world movement for a new spirituality.

We didn’t know the details, nor did we ever imagine the challenges, but even our earliest conversations had an intensity and focus about them. We wanted to be part of something significant together. This meeting was no accident. We would make sure this meeting was no accident. When we contemplate the sacrifices of living so far from home, and when we go through hard times, whether because ego intrudes or because of the slings and arrows of outrageous Fox News drama, we remind each other of the serendipity of our meeting all those years ago. The calling is stronger than the challenge. The commitment is greater than the loss. The times of trial are also no accident. Taking the path with heart is rarely easy, but the joy of living authentically and boldly outweighs any challenge by far.

Living Your Higher Calling

Do you know what I’m talking about? I know you do. Whether it’s a new love or a relocation or a new idea, you know what it means to be captured by a vision. It’s not so much that you are living life. It’s more that life is living you. You are the mouth piece of a greater message. You are the disciple of a greater calling. You are the hands and feet of a higher power. By any name or understanding you are the way that God remains anonymous in the world.

The incredible thing for Meg and me is that this higher calling brings us to America. Just as it is no accident that we are here, it is also no accident that you are reading this or connected to us in some way. If you were looking to go through the motions of religious obligation, you would be connected to church as usual. As it is, many of you never imagined you would be connected to any church. Some of you are pinching yourselves right now that this is actually happening. Yes, you are participating and you are beginning to believe in miracles again.

This is no accident. Make sure this is no accident. This is love at first light. Spirit is tapping at the window of your consciousness. All you need to do is open the window. You are participating in a new spiritual community. Spirituality that is free and responsive to higher callings is not new. It’s been there all along. What is new is the fact that millions of people around the world are simultaneously waking up to their co-creative partnership with spirit. And so many of us are doing it outside of organized, mainstream religion.

There is a fascinating episode recorded in Luke 17;20-21. Jesus draws a distinction between religion and spirituality. The religious response is often to look outside of yourself for wisdom. The religious people of his day were saying, “Look there” or “look here” as if you can point to God. The spiritual response is to look within. Where religion often attempts to hold spiritual authority over its followers, the new spiritual movement encourages people to realize their own spiritual power. Where religion teaches its followers to search for spiritual experience within a tightly bound range of what is holy, the new spiritual movement invites you to see all of life as an incredible miracle and to see yourself as one of the lead actor in spirit’s play.

Religion is great for some people, but it doesn’t have a monopoly on spirituality. Religion has marked its boundaries too possessively and heavy handedly and people are looking for alternate ways to participate in spirit’s adventure.

As Teilhard de Chardin once said, “You are not a human being in search of spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.”

What is spirituality? You won’t find it by saying, “Look here” or “look there”. Spirituality is within you awaiting your attention. You can’t look for it. You can only wake up to it. When you wake up to the fact that you are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience, everything becomes holy, all beings become your kin, every moment becomes your teacher, and you realize that your life is part of a much greater whole.

Everything you do, every choice you make is significant. You are participating in the evolution of life. And you know that you can’t do it alone. You need to find other kindred spirits to create change, and that’s why your participation is no accident. You are aligning with other spiritual beings. If changing the world sounds too large and removed from daily life, consider the human experience as first and foremost concerned with changing your own world by changing the way you see the world.

When you live as a spiritual being, you are open to the most outrageous change in direction at any moment. You don’t have all the answers, and you don’t have the outcomes all locked in place. If religion is too focused on status quo, the spiritual adventure is all about status flow. Life lives through you and all you need to do is get out of your own way.

Spiritual Healing

I heard a beautiful example of healing in the flow of life. Two individuals, a man and a woman, arrived at C3 in the past year. Both came from traditional religious backgrounds, left that behind and never imagined they would end up in church again. Both were coming out of torrid divorces less than a year ago. They were both strangely drawn to C3. One arrived here a year ago. The other came for the first time three weeks ago. After his first gathering, the man went for a walk around the building and his heart stopped when he saw her at the top of the stairs. They stood looking at each other, speechless. This was the first time they had seen each other since the torrid divorce. They had been married for over 20 years until last year. After a few awkward moments, they embraced and began a conversation that lasted the rest of that day. Transformation and healing began. I’m not saying all was immediately roses. It was different. After all you can’t cross the same river twice. But something new had emerged out of a chance meeting. Two spiritual beings immersed in a human experience, find their way to C3 to heal and put to rest some of their demons.

That’s the sort of healing that takes place when you are open to what has life to offer rather than imagining that you have it all mapped out. When you are open to surprise, healing takes place. It is a central part of our higher calling to participate in healing, whether it is personal healing or global healing.

Following a Spiritual Path

It was a typical Sunday morning in 2003. I was leading an Anglican service at my downtown church in Auckland. One man stood out in the crowd that day. Being a downtown church meant that we always had interesting visitors from all over the world. But this man stood out because he was wearing running gear and he was sweating up a storm. I met him after the service, and it turned out he had literally run a marathon and come straight from the finish line to church. He was surprisingly chipper. He told me he was from America. I told him that I was considering a job in America. I asked him where he was from in America. He said Michigan. I told him the job I was considering was in Michigan. I asked him where in Michigan. He said, “You wouldn’t know it. It’s a small place in West Michigan.” I said, “Really. The job I am considering is in a small place in West Michigan.” I asked him where in West Michigan. He said, “You wouldn’t know it. It’s a small town called Saugatuck.” I said, “You wouldn’t believe it, but the job I am considering is in Spring Lake not 40 minutes from Saugatuck. I ate a meal in Saugatuck only 3 weeks ago while visiting the Spring Lake community.” He even knew of C3 and its history.

We made the decision to move here a few days after meeting Pedro from Saugatuck in his very short shorts and singlet top. I’m not saying we moved here because of Pedro or that Pedro knew what he was doing when he turned up in Auckland. But I like to think that Pedro was God’s way of remaining anonymous. This was life’s way of taking me by the scruff of the neck and shaking me out of my habitual mindset. There was something about that meeting that reminded us that life is mysteriously connected, the world is incredibly small, and all people are related. After such an encounter, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. Life was happening through us. We had to flow with it and not resist.

We moved here to tear down some of the boundaries that divide people and to be part of bringing people together across all manner of difference. We moved here to be part of something that couldn’t yet be named. We now name it an Inclusive Spiritual Community.

Last week I spoke about the inclusive part of the name. We reach across boundaries that divide and celebrate our common humanity. This week I am speaking about the spiritual aspect of the name. Spirituality can be defined in so many ways, and you no doubt bring your own spiritual perspective. I encourage you to do so. One way or another I speak about spirituality each week here. Today I want to pain the broadest picture of spirituality.

Without getting hung up on the names we use or the way we dot the ‘I”s on our spirituality, we are all part of something miraculous and beautiful. Life is happening through us, and as soon as we surrender to the flow of life, you can say “look here” or “look there” and all you see is heaven reflecting your true nature to you. You join others and live the change you want to see in the world. When you get to the end of this human adventure you can feel pleased that your life had integrity. The law of karma tells me that the heaven you find after life is a direct reflection of the consciousness you realize in this life. So wake up and immerse yourself in the heaven that is ever present.

Spiritual community! There are so many different directions I could have taken with that theme, and over time I will. But for now, let me leave it at this. We have a higher calling and we have found each other at this time in history for a powerful purpose. This is not an accident. You are here to wake up to your spiritual essence, to live your core values and to join with others in bringing healing light to the world.

Thank you for being a piece of my heaven. I honor the ways that God remains anonymous in my life because of you. Namaste.

For Further Reflection

Do you believe that there are any accidents in life?
What experience have you had of serendipity, and what meaning did it have for you?
What does spirituality mean for you?
How are you aligning with others to seek healing and transformation in the world?

Books and Resources
The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Tolerant of Everything Except Intolerance

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world not possibly born until they arrive.” ~ Anais Nin

My hope is to open you to the possibility that your life expands and deepens with EVERY encounter you have.

As the poet Rilke said:

I live my life in growing orbits
which move out over the things of the world.
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
but that will be my attempt.

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don’t know if I am a falcon, or a storm, or a great song.

Life is a circle and your life is a mandala that weaves around the world with your own unique design and patterns. There are other mandalas too with their own designs, each weaving in and out of the others. The circle has no beginning and no end, just infinite connections and elastic flexibility. It expands without losing its shape or strength. From where you stand in the circle you hold the hands of pioneers who came before you, and you stretch out to hold the hands of adventurers who come after you. With awareness and compassion, you embrace ever widening people and groups. Where once you stood in a circle of just family and friends, you now stand with lovers of life the world over. Where once you stood in a circle of fellow Methodists or Lutherans you now stand with spirit seekers from all denominations and religions and people of no faith, stretching to include all beings. With each new embrace, your world grows and you come to terms with some new aspect of yourself.

This is gospel, or good news – you are part of the family of all beings. When you recognize that any separation or division is an illusion then you are saved from your own ego. This salvation can happen today. You don’t need to wait. Don’t make excuses. The table is ready. Consider this an altar call to the table that includes all beings without exception. You have inclusiveness and unity built into your DNA, if only you would get beyond the fear. There is a way out of fear and into inner peace. You are ONE with all things and all beings, and your life is an adventure of holding hands with more and more things and beings in the great circle.

What does it mean to be inclusive?

Churches find many reasons to exclude people. A cowboy went to an up market church wearing jeans, ragged boots and a worn out old hat. As the cowboy took his seat, people moved away from him. No one welcomed him. As the cowboy was leaving the church, the minister approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. “Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask what would be appropriate attire for worship.” The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored.

The preacher approached the man and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church.”

“I did,” replied the old cowboy. ”God told me that she didn’t have a clue what I should wear, seeing as she’d never been in this church.”

The good news is that you can wear what you want at C3. Come as you are, even if that includes pajamas and bed head. Be yourself and don’t apologize for it. However, being inclusive includes so much more than physical appearance.

We include people and groups often excluded from churches. We welcome gay and lesbian people, and families of all sorts of configurations. We welcome people of all religions, spiritual but not religious people, religious but not spiritual people, spiritual and religious people, neither religious nor spiritual people, and any other combination you can concoct. We welcome theists and atheists, democrats and republicans, progressive and pagans, believers and free thinkers. In fact we get beyond the labels that divide.

I love the words in the poem by Edward Markam-

He drew a circle that shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took him in.

Is your life circle expanding? Are you moving out over all the things of the world, creating circles that include rather than exclude? More people! More perspectives! More possibilities!

Jesus and Inclusion

The greatest inspiration I draw from the life of Jesus was his inclusiveness. One thing we hear a lot about Jesus life was that he ate often. He was even accused of being a glutton and a drunkard because he spent so much time at dinner parties. The most striking thing was that when he ate, he ate with all sorts of people. If he wasn’t eating with sinners and lepers and social outcasts, he was telling parables about parties that included homeless people and gentiles.

The choice of who you eat with is significant. It was even more significant in the first century. By inviting all sorts of people to a party, he wasn’t just being hospitable, he was challenging the very system that divided people. The party table he described would have put slaves alongside free people, Jews alongside Gentiles, and women alongside men. This was radical and transformative. Being inclusive is not just personally fulfilling. It is an act of radical activism. It challenges the status quo by revealing the limitations of the system.

Some churches talk about being inclusive. Anyone is welcome, but the aim is to convert or change people. The incredible thing about Jesus was that he didn’t invite diverse groups in so that he could change people. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the diversity. Here at C3, we say “Come as you are, and be yourself. We actually like you the way you are.” There is nothing to convert to. The message here is to be more yourself. If there is a challenge here it is the opposite of conversion. It is to remove the barriers to being fully and outrageously authentic. Your presence and authenticity will liberate the rest of us to be more of who we are. Whole communities of people who are at peace with themselves adds up to a huge dose of peace in the world. It makes a difference.

There was an edge to Jesus life. It is also the edge in being inclusive. Being inclusive sounds warm and fuzzy, but in reality it is deeply threatening to many people. We discovered this from the Fox News clip about C3. People wrote to me as if I was challenging their very right to life.

When asked how he created an exciting story, the spy novelist John LeCarre said, “You take one character, you take another character and you put them into collision, and the collision arrives because of how different they are. That’s how you begin to get the essence of drama. The cat sat on the mat is not a story; the cat sat on the dog’s mat is the beginning of a story.”

The choice to be inclusive is so often a choice to face criticism because you challenge the status quo and you challenge people’s securities. So we need to stand together, and non-defensively state the case for inclusion.

Tolerating Intolerance

Groucho Marx once sent a telegram to the exclusive Friar’s Club in Hollywood: “Please accept my resignation. I can’t belong to any club that would accept me as a member.”

We have a genuine clash here; a cat has sat on the dog’s mat. In order to speak an inclusive message, you inevitably exclude all perspectives that compromise inclusion. When you go public with an inclusive message, the question comes back like clockwork. Do you include a traditional Christian perspective? Do you include a message of exclusive truths, for example that God is the God of certain people and that Jesus died so that certain pre-elect people would go to heaven? Yes and No. Yes, in the sense that everyone is welcome here. No in the sense that I can’t encourage a belief system that compromises the value of inclusion.

So we have a hierarchy of values, don’t we? Most people value saving a human life over tolerance. In other words, if you have the ability to save a person from being murdered you do so, because this is more important than tolerating the murderer. Most people also value justice over tolerance. In other words, you believe the murderer should face consequences for their actions and this is more important that tolerating their actions.

These are extreme examples, but you see the point. Inclusion is a higher value than tolerance. So you might not tolerate any belief or system that compromises the value of inclusion. For me, inclusion, or unity within diversity is one of the highest values and it’s more important to me to stand by that message than to worry if I am offending people who have an exclusive theology.

There is room for many different churches. I support the existence of churches with exclusive theology. They serve a purpose for many people, and I do what I can to encourage them. But here at C3, we offer a different message and a different style of community. Viva la Difference without apology or defense.

The Difference

Yesterday I was driving locally with my two youngest children. We passed a church that had the word “Christian” on its sign. My son said to me, “What’s the difference between that church and ours? Is that church religious?” I tried to give an answer that was fit for a 10 year old.

I said to him, “Think of it like having friends at school. Imagine you were told you could only sit at a table with blue eyed kids. Or you could only sit with boys. You want to be able to sit with anyone and everyone. It’s a bit the same in churches. I want to be able to sit at a table with all sorts of people.”

C3 is a place where all sorts of people come together and part of the glue that unites us is inclusion. We share core values instead of traditional beliefs. We encourage wide ranging thinking and diverse programs, but draw the line at anything that compromises our core values. We include all sorts of perspectives but not intolerance. I will stand in the firing line for the sake of inclusive community. Will you stand with me?

Namaste.

For Further Reflection

Why do you think some people and groups are threatened by diversity?
Do you think that there is a hierarchy of values?
What are you intolerant about?
In what ways are you growing your circle of care and compassion?

The Power of Imagination To Make Dreams a Reality

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Michelangelo

Imagine. Just imagine. Divine imagination. Close your eyes and surrender to divine imagination. It sees what eyes cannot see, hears what ears cannot hear and feels what bodies cannot feel. It’s a different way of sensing the future that breaks the shackles of the acceptable and stretches towards your wildest dreams. It turns status quo into status flow, resignation into inspiration.

Imagination is your memory of the future, not a fantasy imagining things that are not really there, but truly seeing what was inside of you and awaiting your attention all along. Do you see it? Do you hear it? Listen….the soul of the universe is whispering to you through her mythic imagination, calling you to believe – in yourself, in your potential, in your dreams. This is a self belief that bubbles up in you, through random images, daydreams, and stories, while jogging and resting and singing in the shower, often from beyond your conscious awareness, carefree in the face of reason’s tight lipped caution.

Imagination sees a single snowflake and imagines a pyramid, smells a coconut and pictures a tropical island or hears the wind and imagines God. The liberty to imagine things other than they appear is the basis for a belief in growth and progress. It opens you to new connections and adventures. When you dare to engage this open space, the doors of imagination flung wide, you imagine the possibilities for a life and a world filled with peace and justice, and say with clarity and passion, “Why not?”

Why not? This is imagination’s first and favorite question. It is also your soul’s question. Why not?

Imagine a life lived with love and acceptance- why not?
Imagine a life of conviction and purpose- why not?
Imagine a life lived out loud, free and authentic- why not?
Imagine a life of presence and peace- why not?
Imagine a world without war and violence- Why not?
Imagine a world where we celebrate diversity rather than fear difference- Why not?
Imagine a world where religions respect each other and seek peace- Why not?
Imagine a world without oil spills and ecological abuse- Why not?
Imagine a world of love and respect for all- Why not?

You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope today you’ll join me, and the world will be as one

Imagine that. Imagine. Just imagine. Do you see it? Do you hear it? Do you feel it? Now be it. Open your eyes and make it your intention to live peace and unity. Begin making your dreams a reality today.

PLEASE NOTE- Meg and I have just launched an affirmation site we are very excited about. www.soulseeds.com. Please stop by and make yourself at home. There are a huge range of resources and affirmations. We are also transitioning some of our blogs over to that site. My blog will be posted at the Grapevine page and Meg’s blog will be posted at the Grassroots page.

Please sign up for a newsletter at Soulseeds. This newsletter will include both Meg's and my writings and many other resources.

I plan to keep posting here at Aussie Heretic as well as sending emails to subscribers of this blog. You will still receive writings here that Soulseeds won't include.

Thanks for all your support. This is an exciting step for us, and we couldn’t do it without you.

Much love and light. Ian

We’re All in this Together

On September 18, 1793, George Washington laid the corner stone for the United States Capitol building in Washington D.C. It was a grand occasion, and many portrayals of the event show Washington dressed in full Masonic attire. The freemasons were attentive to space and architectural design. They attempted to create space that matched their values. Buildings such as the Capitol, with Egyptian, Greek and Roman themes, direct people to the universal wisdom in all traditions that there is creative unity even in diversity.

At the top of the dome of the Capitol is the enigmatic Statue of Freedom standing on a sphere, which probably represents the earth. Around this globe is the saying “E Pluribus Unum” which translates as “Out of Many, One.”

George Washington seemed to be influenced by the great tenets of freemasonry that all people have a spark of divinity within them, and that the role of government is to preserve the conditions whereby all people can practice their beliefs without fear of persecution.

In the 1790s, Washington was part of the writing of a peace treaty that said, “As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion, there should be no cause for conflict over differences of “religious opinion” between countries.” (Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli)

George Washington was a man well ahead of his time, but he wasn’t even the most radical of the founders. Thomas Paine famously said, “My own mind is my church” and Thomas Jefferson rewrote the Bible so as to remove any superstition that was unbelievable to modern minds.

The point here is that far from being founded as a Christian nation, a good argument can be made that the United States was founded as a spiritual but not religious nation. The founding values were common sense, reason, tolerance, freedom and respect. These principles are consistent with the Christian tradition, but they are not unique to Christianity. They are at the center of all spiritual traditions.

There are many stories and legends that soon after the completion of the Capitol building, the cornerstone went missing. Some say that Masons took it out to preserve and protect it. The significance of the missing cornerstone in terms of my topic today is that tolerance and the rights of all people to practice and believe in ways that make sense to the individual are the cornerstone of this country. When one religious group attempts to force their practice and beliefs on others, and persecute any who believe differently, then the very cornerstone of this country’s values is lost.

Religious Intolerance

When Fox News ran a short piece on our name change and cross removal, I was curious to see the response. I gave a very brief summary of who we are as a community, a summary that would have in my opinion met with George Washington’s approval. I said that this is a community where all people are safe to come and engage in spiritual practice and global healing without fear of persecution because of religious belief or gender or sexuality or race.

The response was interesting. The fact that I received disapproving emails from Fox viewers didn’t surprise me. This freedom of speech is also a mark of a democracy. The fact that many of these emails contained personal attacks on me was a little more surprising. I had no idea that there were so many creative variations on calling someone the anti Christ. The fact that some emails suggested that our inclusive perspective threatens the Christian values of this country truly surprised me. A few even went so far as to question how an Australian can come to America and undermine the Christian principles of this country. It’s at this point that religious exclusiveness comes dangerously close to racism. Similarly, exclusive patriotism comes dangerously close to racism.

Jesus is the Cornerstone of Inclusion

What would Jesus think about what we are doing here at C3 Exchange? What would Jesus think of the Fox News response? Quoting the Prophet Isaiah, the New Testament describes Jesus as being the cornerstone. So what is the significance of a cornerstone? The cornerstone provides both the pattern for those who follow and also holds the whole together. The cornerstone is the point where two lines meet. The cornerstone is a symbol of unity. So what is the pattern of Jesus’ life that we should follow? Surely it is inclusion. Jesus tore down the dividing wall that kept people apart. He put aside religious practice that created an in group and an out group. He included all, and celebrated all. Ephesians 2 even goes so far as to say that all people, regardless of race or religion, are the dwelling place for God. This sounds very close to the spirit of freemasonry and beautifully similar to the self evident truth of the Declaration of Independence-

“That all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Jesus offered an awesome example of democracy and liberty for all. I love the example of Jesus. I just don’t think much of the religion that was built around his example. As Ghandi said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” That seems like a harsh over generalizing, but I can certainly relate after a week of “pleasantries” from Fox viewers.

This is one of the reasons I call myself spiritual but not religious. I think it’s awesome to believe in God. I just don’t think that God is a Christian. I believe that God dwells in all people and all situations. When people start to think that theirs is the only true understanding of God, then we so often end up with violence and prejudice.

I admire and follow Jesus. I just don’t think Jesus was a Christian. Nor did Jesus show any interest in establishing a religion. Jesus was more interested in inclusion than religion. When people create a savior Jesus in the image of their need for an in group and an out group, then we often end up with exclusive religion.

The change of our name and the removal of our cross are two actions patterned after the life of Jesus and the text in Ephesians 2. We have torn down two of the walls that divide people and create an in and an out group. The first century temple had a literal wall that divided Jew from Gentile. Gentiles who crossed the dividing line risked punishment by death. The temple also had a line that divided Jewish men from Jewish women. Religion then and now tends to deeply divide people according to racial and gender lines. Jesus had no part in this system. He mixed openly with men and women of all races and backgrounds.

I heard an amazing true story about tearing down the walls that divide. A man returned home to his small Tennessee home each Christmas. Every year he visited his friend who owned a café on the main street of town. The café had a curtain in it that separated the front half of the café from the back. Whites sat in the front, and blacks sat at the back behind the curtain. One particular year the two friends had a heart to heart conversation about the curtain. The friend who owned the café was conflicted about the curtain. He confided in his buddy, “I take that curtain down, and I lose my customers; I leave that curtain up, and I lose my soul!”

When you live with integrity, there is no choice to be made. You live by your soul, even if it means losing friends or customers. Many of us are discovering here that when you make a stand for inclusion, pieces of the crumbling wall sometimes land on you. It hurts. You sometimes have to pay the price for inclusion, which might be a spiritual but not religious summary of the life and death of Jesus.

An Inclusive Step Towards Unity

Even though we are not exclusively a Christian community any more, we are very much engaged in the vision that Jesus had for a world united. We now understand that whenever one person, or one group is excluded, all are weaker. We now understand that patriotism is good and healthy, but that we have a higher loyalty to the family of all beings, including the earth.

E M Forster wrote an essay called, “Two Cheers for Democracy.” He wrote it in 1938 when Hitler was building momentum. He raised some important questions about loyalty and priorities. He wrote in it, “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the decency to betray my country.”

What are your priorities? If you had to choose between your family and your country, what would you choose? If you had to choose between your country, and the earth, what would you choose?

Thankfully, these are rarely the choices we have to make. Usually, what’s good for the bee is good for the hive. When you are at peace with yourself, you are at peace with the world. What is truly good for the community is usually good for the nation. What is truly good for the nation is usually good for the world. We have now learnt from the destruction of the earth that all the world is intimately related both physically and metaphysically.

Celebrate this country’s awesome history of tolerance and respect for diversity. Honor the cornerstones of this country, the founders who built a nation without religious exclusion. And celebrate the sometimes challenging role that we have as a truly independent community that offers a warm welcome to all people to come together and seek healing in the world.

Imagine all the people, living life in peace. Why not?

For Further Reflection


Do you think America was founded as a Christian nation?
What do you think were the founders’ attitudes to religion in America?

What does the image of the cornerstone mean to you?

In what ways are you tearing down walls that divide people?

Books and Resources
Templars in America: From the Crusades to the New World by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins
Two Cheers For Democracy by E.M. Forster