How do you know if a life event is a blessing or not?

Recent events have me thinking. How do you know if  what happens in your life: the dissapointment, the set back, the diagnosis, is a blessing or a burden?

I always remember the first time I heard this ancient story, in a dharma service, related to this topic:

“A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the mares and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The villagers cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all the able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, still recovering from his injury. Friends shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

Life is so fluid and (hopefully) long that I just don’t have the view or perspective to know if what is unfolding is a terrible challenge or a hoped for blessing. It makes me laugh to even write that.

I find comfort when I’m able to breathe, zoom out a bit, and consider a broader perspective.

This may sound like a downer, but I’ve come to believe “things can always get worse”. I know that sounds awful, but for me it is a belief that has evolved and actually speaks to gratitude for this very present moment.  Even the seemingly overwhelming challenges before me/you/one are to be accepted for what they are because there is always another level of complication or despair that could be put in the mix.

Is this what Jesus was referring to when he said: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:35)?

On your path, how do you discern if something is good or bad fortune? What strategies and practies do you use to withhold/delay judgment as life unfolds?

9 Approaches to Overcoming Depression and Negativity

(Photo by MaDag http://www.flickr.com)

This summer I went through a rough period. There were a variety of forces in my life that led me to have exhaustion and anxiety. I found myself in difficult, frustrating cycles of negativity. In a moment of reprieve from negativity I wrote myself a note with a list of ways to overcome negativity. I had a chance to expand these ideas and explore inspiration from scripture in them as well and publish it here: http://www.newchurch.org/connection/issues/overcoming-negativity/overcoming-negativity.html. Here they are:

1. Spend time in gratitude. Write letters appreciating others.

“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” (Luke 12:27)

“It is the nature of love to will to share with another, indeed, to confer joys upon another whom it loves from the heart, and to seek its own joys in return from doing so.” (Married Love 180)

2. Exercise. Move. Walk. Stretch.

“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Psalm 23:4)

“In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)

“Believe it or not, we cannot move a step without the inflow of heaven.” (Heaven and Hell 228)

3. Breathe, meditate. Spend time doing some that inspires you.

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

“On the basis of thought: we cannot think at all without the concurrence and support of the breath of our lungs. So quiet thought is accompanied by quiet breathing, deep thought by deep breathing. We hold and release our breath, we suppress or intensify our breathing, in response to our thinking — in response, then, to the inflow of some feeling related to what we love, breathing slowly, rapidly, eagerly, gently or intently.”(Divine Love and Wisdom 382)

“Diligently read and meditate on the Word of God.” (Swedenborg’s own Rules for Life)

4. Spend time in nature. Face the sun.

“From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” (Psalm 113:3)

“Everything in the created universe is a vessel for the divine love and wisdom of the Divine-Human one.” (Divine Love and Wisdom 55)

5. Journal. Speak your truth. Even in darkness.

“The Lord does not see as a man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

“But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.” (Psalm 3:3)

“Those who have conscience speak from the heart what they speak, and do from the heart what they do.” (Secrets of Heaven 9114)

6. Talk with a counselor, confidant, or trusted friend.

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20)

“God loves every person, and as He cannot do good to people immediately, but only mediately through people, He inspired people with His own love.” (True Christianity 457)

7. Assess your diet. Eat healthy. Drink enough water.

“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

“Everyone ought to ensure that the body is properly fed and clothed. One must do this first, yet to the end that there may be a healthy mind in a healthy body.” (Secrets of Heaven 6936)

8. Read sacred text. Bathe in message of the Lord.

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

“No one can be regenerated unless one knows such things as are of the new life, that is, of spiritual life. The things which are of the new life, or which are of the spiritual life, are truths which are to be believed and goods which are to be done; the former are of faith, the latter of charity.” (New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 177)

9. Just do it. Do something kind for someone else. Think of someone else in an even more difficult environment than your own. Reach out.

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” (Luke 6:35)

“Only when we love God and show kindness toward our fellow human beings can we receive knowledge of the true way and have faith in it.” (Paraphrased from Secrets of Heaven 2049 & 2588)

How do you overcome negativity?

Is God a Book?

Last night I went to a talk exploring the topic of ‘Is God a book?’.

Probably the quote from the Bible most likely to make me (or anyone) think this is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1).

I was so excited about this topic as I had just been conversing with a friend on the matter. It really frustrates me when we act like God is a book. Now don’t get me wrong God is not not a book, but I’d say God is also not a book.

The footnote (from my NIV 1995 translation) to John 1:1 says: “Greeks used this term (Word) not only of the spoken word but also of the unspoken word, the word still in the mind–the reason. When they applied it to the universe, they meant that rational principle that governs all things.”

This is a powerful insight on a familiar text. If I substitute these phrases for John 1:1 a whole new meaning presents itself: “In the beginning was the (rational principle that governs all things) and the (rational principle that governs all things) was with God, and the (rational principle that governs all things) was God.”

I was raised with a deep, sacred respect for the Bible. A value that I see as worthwhile. And the same time, it is not the book itself that is sacred. It isn’t the pages. The ink. I would argue it isn’t even the message. It is How the Message Transforms You. The book is only sacred to the degree that it compels you to kindness, love, wisdom in action. (Warning: this is a risky perspective. What if it led one to believe anything that compels you to kindness, love and wisdom is sacred?)

I think of the beauty of God’s love like a sunset. I think of the Bible (or other sacred text for that matter) as a description of that sunset. Sometimes cumbersome. Sometimes not feeling like a sunset at all. Sometimes feeling like the opposite of a sunset: clinical, frustrating, oppressive. And then there are those Divine moments when one reads a description of the sunset and realizes the sunset is happening this very moment and present all around. Yes, there are those moments.

My friend argued with me yesterday (in a kind way). He described the Bible to be more like a radio that is able to tune into the radiowaves/sounds/vibrations of God. I like that analogy. It resonates in how one must take action (the tuning process). And yet, I don’t want to frame radios and put them up on my wall. I don’t want to for a moment mistakingly think the radio is the music. I think this sometimes happens when we put the radio above the music. When we revere the book, the ink, the words, above the heart of their message. When we have a desire to tell people ‘this is Divine revelation’ rather than show them how a message a text has transformed our lives, our outlook, alleviated our fears, inspired hope, compelled us to be more loving than we would otherwise.

Hebrews 4:12 says:  “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (ESV) This is a powerful description of the Word of God: a force that discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Bible Study talk last night, by Rev. Jonathan Rose, highlighted the many ways that things are hidden in the Bible (examples of Moses in bulrushes, David hiding from Saul, and even Jesus hiding at key moments). I found these deeply comforting.

“I will give you the treasures of darkness.” (Isaiah 45:3). Sometimes there is such an emphasis on the Bible, on God revealing things, bringing light. That the dark moments in life feel void of a Divine presence. However, this message about darkness (and many others) remind me that even as I have walked in darkness, the Divine knows this darkness and has provided it, and there is even treasures-or  perhaps the Divine -hidden in darkness at times.

I do continue to navigate life with an innate sense of respect for the text of the religious tradition I was raised in (the Bible and the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg). However, I do not worship these texts. I do not elevate them above the moving, living presence of the Divine. Much of my faith today is reflected in the buddhist notion: “The finger that points to the moon is not the moon.”

Perhaps one reason I hold to God not being a book (but as I said before not not a book) is because when you make words on paper (which translation? which cannon?) divine itself, the power there to rule over people is startling. When you separate what God said from the whole manner in which God works (a most loving, merciful manner) you may reach conclusions that are actually the opposite of the Divine’s teaching.

Just 13 verses after we are presented with this notion of “The Word is the Lord”, let us not forget that: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 ESV). I do not for a moment think that the Divine then retreated back into a book.

I hear the call in my life to continue to engage these ancient texts, to hope, pray and invite the Divine to speak through it. I believe the Divine is in these sacred texts, just as the Divine is in you. And I know at a deep level the presence of the Divine through these books, and not limited by them.

What is your view of sacred text? Do you think that God is a book? When we refer to the Word of God is this a past event? Is the Word still being revealed? In your life?