The Holy Logos has put away all your sins. Abide in peace and love.
This is, or rather I think should be, the scariest part of the Ritual. Realizing (making real) that the mind of the Divine, the moving, hermetic Under Standing of all transcendent Being, has set aside every misstep, every harsh word, premature judgment, each sliver of malice poking nastily into your existence. Carte blanche. Do over. You hit the rim last time, but here's the ball again. (And here's the scary part: ABIDE IN PEACE AND LOVE.) This ain't no Sunday School la la la little fluffy bunnies dictum. This is the trickiest thing we, as humans, have going on.
How do you do that? How do you not only get to that place of peace and love, but actually stay there? This is the distinction, I think, between gnosis and charis: between Knowledge and Grace. So how to remain in a state of grace? I have heard this challenge, and offered it: abide in peace and love. It sounds easy enough. But how to do it? What does peace really mean? What does it mean to abide in love?
It is not peaceable to "carry on", to drive to work and watch tv and eat whatever it is we eat. Our daily existence is so at odds with our host organism/home planet that just having carpet is, in a way, an act of violence. My recycling boxes are likely made of some carcinogen, my children's clothes likely produced in conditions we'd find horrifying; and possibly by those whom the clothes would still fit.
Neither is it peaceful to hurl invectives outside of factories, waving placards and shouting slogans. Not peaceful to sneer at SUV drivers or "God Hates Fags" chanters. How then, to be discerning, responsible (able to respond) and non-judgmental? I do like the challenge "be the change you would see in the world"; the kind of fingertip charity that is in its own way a kind of long-view libertarianism. If I see you, I'll take care of you, and I trust that if you see another you'll take care of them.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
The key, it seems, is compassion. To act confidently and compassionately; whether joyously or with solemnity. To bolt to our being the idea that those things which cause conflict – resources, materia, territory, physicality – are fleeting and in the long run not worth seeking to possess and control. The compassion of others toward us reminds us of the love that Wisdom has for us, of the sacrifice of the Fallen Word for our sake; to awaken us from the slumber of pettiness and malice into the waking maturity of gnosis. Our compassion for others is nothing less than kindling the Sacred Flame that is alive and present in the world.
– Dalai Lama
Abide in peace and love. I dare you.
5 comments:
Thanks so much, Jordan, for calling this out, as it is for me the biggest internal challenge. For while this is my goal, my ideal, and at times one that I manage for a fleeting bit, I have not yet mastered that tightrope walk. This is something I want to do NOT because it is something I "ought" to do, but as your quote from the Dalai Lama notes, we all appreciate kindness and compassion. Lord knows I'd love to be able to spread more of those precious gifts around in this world, and do see that I'm better at it than years past, if nowhere near where we all need to be.
I especially like that you note:
"Neither is it peaceful to hurl invectives outside of factories, waving placards and shouting slogans. Not peaceful to sneer at SUV drivers or "God Hates Fags" chanters. How then, to be discerning, responsible (able to respond) and non-judgmental?"
As a young hellion (I'm older now, but I still retain some of my "punk rock values" as outlined in the Crass song Big A little a—though I retain none of the trappings of punk fashion) I hurled my share of sneers and other items at the object of my righteous indignation. As I've experienced more laps around the sun, I've found that merely from a selfish point of view, that approach doesn't work. In order to achieve something you want, even if it is something entirely laudable such as better treatment for animals, assistance for the poor, or the ending of an unnecessary preemptive strike, an understanding of the other party's perspective is an essential starting point, and it would seem that to have a better understanding of that perspective, compassion or empathy is needed.
Wow, I talk a lot... let's see if I can take you up on your dare! :-)
Grazie,
RichCrazy8
Much that we encounter in this world is cold, hard, cruel and unforgiving. We attempt to soften our hearts toward all things only to be kicked back into anger, sadness or despair. What sets most people apart from their brothers and sisters is that they will get back up and try again and keep on trying as long as they have breath. We Gnostic Christians do not have the corner on this market.
As a Green Beret in Vietnam and a firefighter/medic at home for 24 years I have seen the best and worst of this world first hand. I have been places where you could feel a writhing twisted hatred, in others, a presence of peace, kindness and love. Odd that I never felt the former in Vietnam but did feel it many times as a first responder attempting to help a person in need.
It is not easy to abide in peace and love when you see a fundamentalist Muslim cut an innocent person's head off. It is not easy to abide in peace and love when you see a baby which has been sodomized to death. I was very happy to help put the sodomite in prison for life and I would not hesitate to kill a fundamentalist Muslim if the need arose and I would feel no guilt for doing so. It is not easy to account for these feelings when one is attempting to abide in peace and love. Can lines be drawn, circumstances be weighed for abiding in peace and love? Is just trying to abide in peace and love enough?
I look to the Unknown Father, to Sophia and the Logos, to Mani and Valentinus, to Bishop Hoeller and to you Jordan and many others for the answers to these questions and for guidance, wisdom and gnosis. In spite of Yaldabaoth's twisted material world, I continue to try to abide in peace and love. If I could come as close to abiding in peace and love as my late friend and companion and spark of light, Muffin, a Lhasa Apso, I would feel good about my accomplishment.
Robin
Oklahoma
After posting my above rant, today, 26Mar06, I find the following on gnosis.org in Meditations:
THE GOSPEL
The gospel is taken from the Gospel according to St. Philip:
The light and the darkness, life and death, the right and the left, are brothers one to another. It is not possible to separate them from one another. Because of this, neither are the good good, nor the evil evil, nor is life a life, nor death a death. Because of this each one will be resolved into its origin from the beginning. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble and eternal.
I am being spoken to, I am listening and my heart is lighter today.
robin
Oklahoma
After posting my above rant, today, 26Mar06, I find the following on gnosis.org in Meditations:
THE GOSPEL
The gospel is taken from the Gospel according to St. Philip:
The light and the darkness, life and death, the right and the left, are brothers one to another. It is not possible to separate them from one another. Because of this, neither are the good good, nor the evil evil, nor is life a life, nor death a death. Because of this each one will be resolved into its origin from the beginning. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble and eternal.
I am being spoken to, I am listening and my heart is lighter today.
robin
Oklahoma
Didn't even get a photog credit ;-)
-DBZG
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