Spiritual Journey

I was not born Catholic.  My journey to Catholicism was a progression. My parents were Presbyterian, and we attended church regularly. But it always felt that something was missing from the Protestant experience - something just did not feel right.  Maybe the informality of it; lack of a feeling of celebration at the miracle of Christ.  At any rate, inching my way closer to Catholicism, when I was about 11 years old, I prompted my family to attend and eventually convert to the Episcopal Church.  The priest there had marched with Martin Luther King and the Episcopal ceremony had much more formality and ceremony than the Presbyterian one. It appealed to me – I became an altar boy and attended an Episcopal school for a time.

Finally getting past the whirlwind of the teenage years and out of college, I met my wife to be. Judy was Catholic and wanted to be married in a Catholic church.  I agreed.  During our pastoral counseling the priest consented to our marriage in the church but asked me to commit to raising the children Catholic. And so, when we moved to Maine from NH with our family and we began attending church at St. Matthew’s Church in Limerick.  It was such a warm and welcoming experience that I converted to Catholicism and became very involved in the church, playing guitar at Masses and working as choir director for several years. It was a wonderful experience.  The very first time I played guitar at a Mass there was an overwhelming feeling that this was where I belonged, this was what all that practicing music had been for – it was a perfect fit.  30 years later, it still is.

Even when I was very young, I felt a strong connection to Christ. He just kept drawing me closer.  The Mass makes that connection come alive for me – Jesus literally present in the Eucharist.  When I take the Host I sit and picture His light inside me, cleansing me and pouring love like light out of me all around.  When I am blessed enough to provide music for the ceremony, it is as if I am in a band with Christ – what could be better?  Christ’s love is always in the music.

The Mass is a celebration.  We celebrate Christ’s life, death and resurrection and the grace and forgiveness that comes to us through Him. When we “lift up our hearts” we are literally bringing happiness and the feeling of victory over sin into our lives.  Going to Mass with the proper attitude gives us a way to enter this wonderful experience.  I try to go to Mass with this attitude – meeting Christ again as friend and savior and experiencing the eucharist as allowing the living Christ to enter and make me a better person; sharing this love and peace with those in attendance and elsewhere – the unconditional love of Jesus being poured into me and out into the world.

Royals

So today there was a "royal" wedding.  What is a "royal", anyway?  An artificial designation that says these people are somehow different and better than others, yes?  

The Dalai Lama has said (and I am paraphrasing here) that all the trouble in the world can be traced to the idea that some people's lives are more important than others.  Is it true?

Examine that statement - if not for that belief (that some people are more important than others), we would be feeding, clothing and sheltering everyone in the world just as we would our loved ones.  We would not have armed conflicts because the death of an "enemy" would be just as devastating to us as the death of a loved one.  And our level of greed would certainly be much less - we would share with other just as willingly as we share with those in our family.  And so that seems like an extremely cogent statement.

Assuming that it is true and that we want to reduce the overall suffering in the world, it makes sense that we work against our natural tendency to treat those we know, love or are in our "tribe" (be it political, religious, ethnic or otherwise) differently than we treat those we do not know, love or who are not in our "tribe".  Of course, this takes a lot of work.  It is not natural.  It is important to remember that we are driven by biology that wants us to protect our own DNA (those related to us somehow).  But it seems like an excellent exercise - strive for "equanimity"; treating all people alike, as if everyone's lives; our loved ones, strangers and yes, even our enemies, are equally important. We have to work at it every day.  We can start just by changing our thinking.  Meditation and prayer help - change our thoughts and our behavior will surely change.

Here is a powerfully good prayer for changing our mindsets:

"May all those I love have happiness and its causes.  May all those I love be free from suffering and its causes.  May all those I love never be separated from sorrow-less bliss.   May all those I love abide in equanimity, free from bias, anger and hatred."

"May all those I do not know have happiness and its causes.  May all those I I do not know be free from suffering and its causes.  May all those I do not know never be separated from sorrow-less bliss.   May all those I do not know abide in equanimity, free from bias, anger and hatred."

"May all those I consider my enemies have happiness and its causes.  May all those I consider my enemies be free from suffering and its causes.  May all those I consider my enemies never be separated from sorrow-less bliss.   May all those I consider my enemies abide in equanimity, free from bias, anger and hatred."

The first paragraph is, of course, the easiest.  But the last becomes easier and our hearts start to change with its repetition.

Peace,

Paul

Christ in Me Arise

There is a great song by Trevor Thomson that has a refrain that can turn into a kind of mantra, and a darn good one, too - "Christ in Me Arise".

"Christ in me arise and dispel all the darkness.  Christ in me arise with your power and your strength. Christ in me pour out your blessing and healing.  Christ in me arise and I will rise in You."

(The melody is in the "music" section of this website. It's a wonderful tune.) 

Now, as a meditator, I do not use mantras, per se.  But there are lots of way to meditate.  Some people use mantras and they can be very helpful (a mantra is a phrase you use to focus your mind while meditating). And just because I don't use one doesn't mean things like that chorus don't pop into my head when I meditate. 

In fact, when I go on silent retreats of 8-10 days it usually takes about 2-3 days for the music to stop playing in my head. A few years ago on a retreat that chorus was playing internally for a couple of days.   And it is not like I was trying to make it happen.  Or not happen.

Either way.  Isn't that a beautiful chorus/mantra to have in your head if you are praying or meditating or walking around or sitting or anything? 

Christ in me arise. Yes, indeed!

Peace,

Paul

Bent spoons

The magician Uri Geller is famous for purportedly using his mind to bend spoons.  This is, of course, a magic trick.  Mental objects, in general, do not bend physical objects and certainly not to the extent of bending metal from a distance.  It's a trick and a good one.

One could argue that our minds make our bodies move and therefore that is an example of a mental object "bending" or heavily influencing a physical one and that would be a correct observation. But that is an example of a directly interconnected mind/body system and not a mind and an inanimate object (like a spoon) across open space.  Regardless, there is no scientific proof of Geller's feat being anything other than an illusion.  Our minds do not directly affect physical objects without our bodies' participation.

In general, then mental objects bend or affect mental objects and physical objects bend or affect the same.  It is easy to see how physical objects affect each other. Newton's Laws tell us how that works.  But mental objects also affect one another (and don't abide by physical laws).  For example, when we influence another through our words we are "bending" antoher's mind in a given direction - sometimes intentionally (as when we convince someone of something), sometimes unintentionally.  The effect can be good or bad, of course, but nonetheless it is inarguable that it occurs.  And, of course, other people's minds "bend" our minds as well.  Here "bending" is merely influencing our minds in some way.  This is patently obvious.  We affect and are affected by others all day long.

We also can "bend" our own minds through our thoughts.  If you look closely, you will see this is completely obvious.  Certain thoughts create a given reaction within us.  These can range anywhere from blissful joy or love to anger, fear or jealousy and so forth.  

It is easy to see this in extreme examples. In a very emotional state, we can sometimes see that changing our thinking through speaking with someone, self contemplation or self talk can result in a change of emotional state.  We are sometimes aware, too,  that it is frequently not what happens to us that affects our state of being but rather our reactions; which include our thoughts (Albert Ellis's "Rational Emotive Therapy" was all based around correcting thoughts that lead to unpleasant emotional states).  

And so we begin to realize that our "mind" or "self" is separate from our thoughts.  Our mind or consciousness is that which experiences our thoughts. It is not the thoughts themselves.   This is an important distinction and one that, when understood correctly can greatly increase our happiness in life.  The evidence for this is simple - If our mind were the same as our thoughts, how could it be possible to be disturbed by a thought?  Being disturbed or affected by something necessitates a subject and object; which are, by definition, two completely separate things.

Looking at thoughts as something we in part experience creates a separation that by itself can be comforting because we can then become acutely aware that there is something in us inherently better than our thoughts.  "Mind", "Self" or "Consciousness" is that which experiences the world both around and within us and searches for the happiness and love we all want in our lives.  It is pure and clear - part of the greater being - God, Dharma, Buddha-mind, Allah, Christ, Consciousness, etc.

But we do not, of course, only experience thoughts.  We also create them.  We can, of our own volition, choose to think a certain thought.  And so it is a lot like the breath - we impart some control but there is also an automatic reflexive part that continues breath and thought whether we are mindfully involved or not.  And, similarly, in both breath and thought, we have some choice in both what we breath or think and at what pace we do so.  It is even possible for both to stop for a time!

So we have some choice in what we think.  And we know those thoughts "bend" our mind in certain directions.  Thoughts of kindness and love lead to happiness and pleasant states of mind.  Thoughts of hatred and selfishness lead to anger, jealousy and unpleasant states.  It only follows then that, if what we want from life is happiness and love, we should attempt to influence our thoughts so they "bend' our mind in the direction of happiness.

This takes practice.  Meditation or prayer can be great tools to increase our awareness of the thoughts rattling around in our heads and how they affect us and can lead us to loving others and greater overall happiness in life.

Training the mind takes time, patience, love and faith. It is worth the effort.

Peace,

Paul

Blog Intro

So, it looks like I may start a blog on some various religious and spiritual thoughts of mine.  The trouble is, right now when I start writing, nothing is coming up to write!  Well, it's Easter Season and I am sure something will eventually come to me. 

A friend of mine, Joe Everett, is a minister at a small Baptist church in Kennebunkport.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to be a guest musician at his Easter service.  It was a little different from the Catholic services I had been part of for the three previous nights; very simple with a lot of participation from the congregation.

Lent/Easter is a beautiful and busy time for musicians in the Catholic church.  On Holy Week (the week before Easter) there are services on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.  The music at the services on Thursday and Friday is supposed to be simple.  It is Lent so cut back on the fancy stuff and guitar. (I use lots of minor ninth chords and keep it dark). But on Saturday night it is Easter and so let it rip!  Bang on the guitar, hit that tambourine (Judy) and get em all singing!  The choir was outstanding with full four part harmony and piano, guitar and flute accompaniment.

The Saturday night Easter vigil is one of my favorite services.  It is an ancient ritual complete with chanting and incense and it lasts for about 2 hours (1 hour 45 minutes this year.)   It is wonderful and inspiring.  Love it.  

But I also loved the simplicity of the Baptist service; the way the congregation interacted with one another, the way the minister asked the congregation who to pray for (and they responded) and then put together a prayer from all the requests, the way they listened attentively to a solo guitarist play (of course I'd like that...), the beautiful piano and organ accompaniment, the way everyone in the congregation sang the hymns.  And the sermon my friend gave on the meaning of Easter.  It was really beautiful.

Joe's sermon is still with me.  It was uplifting.  It was happy.  It was, well, not to be too mushy - glorious.  His theme - Easter is the most important day in human history because that is the day Jesus rose from the dead and because of Him, we are all going to Heaven.  So we should act like it!  Isn't that a nice connection?  We are going to Heaven.  So let's Act like it.  Rejoice!  Celebrate!!! Share His love.

Love it.

He is Risen - Alleluia! Alleluia!

Rock on, my friends...

Peace,

Paul