Feeding the Beast – Toxic Masculinity and God the Father

It’s been a few thousand years now that we’ve been worshiping at the altar of the Father God. The creator, who through an act of his will  brought everything we know and all that we don’t into being. The One God to rule them all binds our Abrahamic religions like a cock ring, too small for pleasure, primed for pain. This beastly preoccupation with might and right leaves us awash in toxic masculinity, embroiled in never-ending wars both at home and abroad.

croatia
Neanderthal family

They say Neanderthals were the barbarians
So where are they now?
If this is the 21st Century
why does it feel
like the Wild West?
Wake up my brothers
before you drag your sisters down
into a cold, dark grave

Insisting on believing in a creator described only as He presents some pretty formidable challenges to our experience of life and reality.  What to do about those pesky women? Eve, as we are told, was an afterthought, yanked from Adam’s sleeping form and apparently born to raise Cain.  Puns aside, we all know she made trouble, right from the beginning.   Martin Luther knew what to do about her:

10462425-Beautiful-young-pregnant-woman-sitting-on-chair-Stock-Photo-pregnant-pregnancy-belly“The rule remains with the husband, and the wife is compelled to obey him by God’s command.  He rules the home and the state, wages war; defends his possessions, tills the soil, builds, plants, etc.  The woman on the other hand Is like a nail driven Into the wall …so the wife should stay at home and look after the affairs of the household, as one who has been deprived of the ability of administering those affairs that are outside and that concern the state.  She does not go beyond her most personal duties.”

We had God the Son for a time, preaching a gospel of kindness and peace. We saw where that got him and in these apocryphal times his word seems but a whisper. imagesMaybe it’s the Antichrist’s fault.  The Beast, evil personified and projected outward, because it’s not something that lurks within.  Hitler gained a lot of power through the mass projections of the people of the Third Reich.  While many of us don’t understand the rage that drove the German people to war, we need to recognize how our projections make it easier for us to be controlled.  All because we can no sooner admit the beast than we can admit our divine nature.  Sex and death drive the news.  If we’re not looking at boobs we’re hearing about natural disasters, mayhem and murder. When women are not fully and fairly represented, neither is life.  Nurturing professions are undervalued, teachers are unsupported and pornography and child abuse proliferates.  True intimacy can only occur when love abides, between people and within each of us.

It’s time to withdraw our misguided projections and honor the divine and the animal aspects of our nature.  We create the world we live in every day of our lives. Perhaps God is not so very distant, after all.

Whose Eyes?

Whose eyes are these,
blinking the world into being?
From the ground, to the air
From the ocean and deep below
Whose eyes are those?
That dog, love shining in his eyes,
Grandma chasing her little girl
Street eyes, turned inside
Eyes, searching mine
to see a friend or a foe?
So many eyes, pouring
thoughts and feelings into each other
like pitchers of light
mingling laughter and tears
Streaming through the cosmos
There’s a soul of kindness inside
each and every pair.
Smile the next time you look
into someone’s eyes.
God will see you.

10

Parousia? God – dog spelled backwards?

What options are available for those of us who are unaffiliated non-non-believers? Is there a growing proportion of “Spiritual but not Religious” members among us? Do even avowed agnostics find occasion to pray?

Roger Zelazny, Creatures of Light and Darkness, © 1969
The Agnostic’s Prayer

Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.

For weeks I’ve been mulling over what God and therefore prayer means to those who do not ascribe to a particular faith. I tend to prefer the Smörgåsbord approach, sampling tastes of the divine as the occasion allows. Which brings me to parousia: Greek for coming, arrival, personal presence and is often used to describe the second coming of Christ. The experience of the living light has moved me to tears, to poetry and to deep and abiding love. So, like the tree in the forest which may or may not make a sound if it falls and no one is there to hear it, can we be grateful to that which is largely unknown and only occasionally recognized? Is it, as the Navajo say, “In Beauty it is Finished.”

Or could it really be this simple?

NPR submission to “This I Believe”

I believe that we are here to become Humane Beings.

We are born, one cell of the body human, comprised of some trillion individuals who are you and me. In asking the question, “Who is God?” I have stumbled into my humanity, accepting the call to evolve as a Humane Being. Embracing the whole of myself, the extremes of good and bad, means embracing all of you and knowing that we are one. It is by God’s grace and through my heartfelt prayers that I begin to understand.

I believe that love and compassion are more than smiling at a lonely grandmother at the grocery store or giving money to the homeless person who asks for help on the corner, although these acts of kindness are acts of evolution. I do know that love does NOT mean never having to say you’re sorry and that forgiveness is one of the most important things you can do for yourself or anyone else. I believe war is a nightmare that we must wake up from, that my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother lost all they had in wars except their love.

I believe when we understand that you are just as important as I am that we will become more considerate of one another. And as we respect all the wonderful beings that share this Earth, we will come to know that God is God in any language and that God loves us all, as we are part of God’s own being. When we understand this, our evolution as Humane Beings will begin unfolding in ways we can only dream of. Listen to your dreams as they light the pathways to the wisdom of your Soul.

I once had a dream that I was swimming against a powerful current, losing ground but knowing that around the next bend there was shelter. As I thought to call out for help, a large hand grasped mine from beneath the water, holding me still against the rushing water. It was warm and comforting, holding my hand like a child’s. Suddenly, two more hands came from behind and pushed me up above the river. As I looked down to see who it was that helped me, a bright white, living flame came rising out of the water from the center of a brilliant azure circle and entered into my heart. I said, with utter sincerity, “I love you so much.” The words I spoke were simultaneously spoken to me inside my heart and in every fiber of my being. Feeling this love and acceptance so deeply healed me and helped me to realize that we are all beloved.

The evolution of heart and of mind occur in God’s time and place, in many lands and in many people, who will slowly change the way we understand and practice our humanity. We will become more Humane Beings when we understand that we are a part of All that Is, and no longer apart.