Rich Mullins and Ram Dass

 I can feel the tension even as I put these two names together. Tension from people and their ideas of what is, and boundaries they have created. Rich Mullins the vagabond Christian musician, and Ram Dass, the psychologist turned guru, never affiliated with Christianity. 

Did you know that early Christian monks not only read the Bible but works of Homer and Plato during their contemplative studies?

It seems today that at least among Christians we are afraid of so many things. As if we could become influenced by evil spirits by doing yoga. As if we could be somehow turned away from God by studying other religions. This has merely served (at least in the American church I can speak of) to make us more insular and judgmental. So I feel some trepidation in my writings, knowing there are few who will understand me -- most of them because they will not even try. But this is my journey my Father and Mother have called me to. My brother Jesus walks beside me. 

So. Ram Dass and Rich. 

In at least one occasion, they spoke about the same thing. 

"Everywhere you look, you see what you are looking for. When you are looking for God, all you see is God." - Ram Dass

"Well, the eagle flies

And the rivers run

I look through the night

And I can see the rising sun

And everywhere I go, I see You

And I see You, Lord, I see You"

-Rich Mullins

If you have been awakened, just a tiny bit, just having a toe in the water of the divine ocean, you too can do this. If you are able to observe your own senses, and feel the real you behind them, then these words above should ring true to you. You know that you'll see what you're looking for. It's so much more than cause and effect -- it is a system where the universe and you are dancing together, and your eyes are open enough to see that the Source, our wonderful maker, is right there in all of it. 

And so, sometimes, when I shake off the pull of the world and my endless stream of (mostly) useless thoughts, I can see God. I see God in nature so easily. His name is in every blade of grass, Her song in every bird's call. I also can see God in people. But lately I have seen God in things his children made: a painting, a building, a rusty speed limit sign. God. God. God. Everywhere, if only we open our eyes.

So many people wander around life, not knowing there even is God. Yet God is in everything, and everything is a miracle, and a wonder. It's not something your intellectual mind can grasp. You just have to put down that intellectual, thinking bit for a moment. (Don't worry, it will still be there when you're done!) What is left? That's the part of you that can see without judging, talk without speaking, fly while you're still on the ground. There is so much more to us than thought. We are. It is amazing. We have been taught, in this Western world, as they say, "I think, therefore I am," but that's only a tiny part of us. If thought becomes all we are even less than half a human. So, sing, dance, act without thinking (when it's safe!) and see who else you are! Our Creator is already dancing, we can join with them in delight.

p.s. Did I mention that in my recent studies I found that in early Christianity the Holy Spirit was referred to as female in the bible? When I found out I thought, "Of course!" I have so much needed God's touch as a Mother, and now I have it. So fulfilling. I would add that of course God is a transcendent being and not specifically any gender, but has those gender qualities inside their being (God is sometimes referred to in Hebrew as a plural.) Since we all are made in God's image, we reflect characteristics of God. It would be neglectful and incomplete to say God does not have the feminine as well as the masculine. https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/3225/7763