“MAGAis a cult!” Maybe. “Religion is declining!” Anyone see the parallel? “There is so much hate and fear!” We are so divided!”
Yes. People have lost a sense of purpose. They have lost meaning. Our society places self-worth based on what we have. We consume food, substances, information, resources at ever increasing rates and amounts.
We are trying to fill a god-sized hole in our hearts. All people have an inward longing, an inward yearning for something greater than ourselves. We seek it in powers and principalities.
But there is One who can speak to our condition. There is a Power we can all access. There is an Inward Teacher who can teach us the truth of things . There is an inward Guide who can show us a way. There is an Inward Light, a terrible thing sent by God that will beam like a search light showing us all the dark parts of our attitudes, biases, and beliefs. It will expose our addictions and our attachments. The experience can be so overwhelming we may quake and tremble. This is why we “fear” God. Not because God is mean, but because we feat truth and God is Truth.
But then the Light does something different. It becomes our deliverer, it shows us a way out of bondage. Some would say it delivers us from sin, others will say it delivers us from our selfishness, our self-seeking, our addictions, and our attachments (hurts, habits and hangups). That which was once terrible becomes a balm, it shows us peace. We experience this light in measure. As we live up to it more is given. We are never given more than we can bear.
I know this experimentally. In my own life I’ve often had a still, small voice telling me what to do, where to go, that feels deeper than intuition. And I most often ignored it, only later to wish I had listened to that voice to begin with. So I know that that voice within tells me the truth.
Trump won’t save us. No person will. Liberalism won’t save us. No philosophy will. Capitalism or Marxism won’t save us. No economic system will. In every person, philosophy or system we put our faith, we will find disappointment and disillusionment.
But through it all, there is One who can speak to our conditions. For many that is Christ, but in my experience that Power can be found within regardless of our religion or belief system. And that One, that Reality, that Power, that Light, will arise out of any darkness and lead us.
All we have to do is be still, and we will know. We will rise up strong, and soar like eagles.
And when we stumble, and fall, and we will, the Light will be there with us. And should we choose communities that support us in our journeys, we will be lifted up by our fellows.
This is Good News; that we are never alone, and we don’t have to be stuck, that we can find peace and love even in darkness, that we can learn to see the truth of things and not be deceived. It is a pearl that we can share, a light that we should not hide but share.
This is what brings True Happiness. Not rules and policies. Not philosophies and theologies. But a solid faith based on experience.
I choose the Quaker way, but it is not the only way. But it is thru Friends that I learned this. It’s taken me 40 years to finally start yielding to this Power. And without Friends I think I would have fallen into disillusionment and despair. I need a community to remind me of this Way. Not everyone does. I do. In this world, that is so afraid and lost that it seeks to divide and control and conquer, to have us put our faith in people, practices and products, I lean into love, and pray that it drives my faith and practice.
And this, my friends, is the only message I can share with certainty. Not that Democrats are an answer to Republicans or liberalism is better than conservatism (I could go on). I honestly don’t know what’s best for our country. But to all my friends and family, you have seen the ups and downs in my life. You have seen my philosophies and theologies change over the decades. You have seen the darkness that was my life for so long. Whether you love or hate Trump, if you too have a longing, a yearning for connection, for meaning, for purpose, if you too feel there is more to life than you’re experiencing, if you too feel Iike there is something more you should be doing or experiencing, that longing, that yearning, in my experience, is that of God within you wanting to connect with The Great Mystery, the pattern of the universe, the Comforter, that which is known by many names and no name. It is within you. It is within all of us. And there lies a path to fulfillment and freedom. #faith #freedom #thatofgod #happiness #fulfillment #silence #innerlight
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