Everyday Joe's Service

Everyday Joe's is located near Old Town in Ft. Collins and housed inside a large coffee shop with a lot of character. I enjoyed the music performed at the start of the service by the church's very own rock band. Some of the lyrics were interesting and I recorded some of them to analyze. One of the songs went something like this:

"Skeleton bones stand at the sound of eternity, on the lips of the found, gravestones float through the river running sound in you. Separate those doors and let the son of resurrection in." 

At the beginning of the song, they seem to refer to the resurrection many Christians believe will bring them into eternal life. The Western perspective has held the ancient idea that the material body is important to preserve, so the bones will be assembled on the judgement day and you can be reborn inside the body you depart with upon death. It is this form you will experience for eternity in heaven. 

I remember around the summer of 2000, I had a plane flight next a Muslim man from the Middle East and we had a very interesting conversation on the flight back East. He continually drilled me throughout the trip, trying to figure out what I was. At first he wanted to know if I was Jewish. When I said no, he wanted to know if I was Christian. He obviously didn't think I was Muslim. After telling him about my attraction to Buddhism and spirituality, he had it out with me expressing his disdain for Eastern thought. 

At one point he told me the reason Buddhists cremate their bodies after death, is because they fear the judgement of God and want to try and make it impossible for him to reassemble their bodies for the resurrection. As bizarre as this idea was to me, what I was hearing from the Muslim was an expression of the dual perspectives dividing East and West. One side is very material oriented, thinking that this form is what defines who we are. The other side sees this form as impermanent; the body as inconsequential as an outfit of clothing, something to burn at death after it has been worn out and outlived its usefulness, because it's not who we really are. 

The idea of resurrection is not entirely out of the question as far as what is possible in the future, but it seems much more likely to me that if we will be resurrected, it will be at the hands of a being who has evolved in the universe like us, to a level of consciousness many today would recognize as God-like. I think Richard Dawkins describes the thought behind this idea that makes much more sense:

The next part of the band's song describes the born again transformation they believe takes place when opening one's heart to invite Christ inside:

"Oh let us adore the son of glory, drenched in love. Open up your gates before him."

In another song, the lyrics describe the good side of Christianity, the part I look at and feel no aversion to by describing the highest form of God consciousness as someone sent to love, heal and forgive. 

"God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive."

The lyrics continue to describe what I view as the evolution of the cosmos towards a more Godlike consciousness. It is this evolved state beings move towards, that holds the future with a different paradigm than our own, where most of nature is still dominated by cruelty and survival of the fittest. 

"Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he loves, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. That life is worth the living just because he lives. And then one day, I'll cross that river. I'll fight life's fight, no more with pain. And then this doubt, gives way to victory, I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know he lives."

The very end of these lyrics describe the universal journey into death, and finding not darkness but "lights of glory." This is the near death experience many people have come back to describe, where they enter a dark tunnel to find a bright light shining at the end. What is interesting is that this experience is universally expressed even in cultures that are not Christian.

After the rock bands finished, Pastor Darren Fred gave the sermon on Psalm 139.  Fred began speaking about prayer. 

"When we pray, we pray to God. But have you ever thought that sometimes my prayers aren't just for God, but they're for me? Like I need to hear some of these things with my own ears so we say them and direct them for God. But they're also for us." 

This is something interesting I've observed in many Christian churches. I view their prayers as a means of communication opening up between them. If somebody prays in a church about the job they lost and how they need God to give them another job, another congregant who just lost an employee will see an answer to their problem and all while becoming an answer to a prayer for someone else.  

Pastor Fred continues; "You have searched me lord and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you Lord know it completely. You hem me in from behind and before. You lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." 

After hearing this, I immediately interpreted it from an Eastern perspective; God as the eternal emptiness holding all reality in place. On one level, I can see where Pastor Fred is coming from in describing God as knowing everything about reality, simply because all reality is sustained by a God-like emptiness. But knowledge about the entirety of this reality is withheld from us, because our perspective is just a fraction of the whole, not plugged into the near infinite data describing every state of all phenomena, coming into being at every particular moment across the stretches of near infinite space and time. And only when more and more perspectives are combined, recorded and analyzed by intelligent beings, can we approach a unifying whole nearing a more "God-like" perspective. But at this stage of our evolution, this will always be incomplete.  

Pastor Fred continues; "What I know about you blows my mind, but I just have the tip of the iceberg, there is so much more and it humbles me." 

What Pastor Fred describes here is a reality many scientists describe when talking about their study of the universe. The more they know, the more they realize they don't know and the appropriate response to the vastness of reality are feelings of awe and humility. 

"I can go anywhere and you are there. What if I went to the darkest, darkest place. For you created my innermost being. you knit me together in my mother's womb. My frame was not hidden from you. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth."

Here, Pastor Fred describes again how small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. At this stage, we literally have almost zero control over the movement of the cosmos. We are just simply observers going along for the ride set up by an intelligence incomprehensibly more vast than our own.

In the next part of his sermon, Pastor Fred begins describing one of the major problems with human beings; the arrogance of casting God in our image. Coming from a place of awe and humility, the problems arise when these are discarded for the conviction that one can commune with the great consciousness and find its image or will within our own before we have an evolved consciousness. The great emptiness sustaining and holding all beings in perfect patience and compassion, now becomes a projection of our own limited judgement and perspectives; "If only you God would slay the wicked."  "They speak of you with evil intent, your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you. I will defend you and hate those who you hate. The Psalmwriter is giving himself credit because he is on God's side." 

But could it be the Psalmist is only describing the natural aversion of those who deal with human beings who pass themselves off as being in communion with and knowing the mind of God. "You kill them, but if you take too long, I might have to kill them."  "Why don't we kill more people? "If you see it and you know it." And if God sees everything and knows everything, how can this be reconciled to all the horrendous things happing in the world. This is the frustration expressed by the Psalmist who describes God as being so great and good. And because he believes this, he can't understand what is going on. Pastor Fred describes this as "theodicy"; a problem with God. And this is why I think the Eastern perspective could enhance the Western.

The Western view of God tries to reconcile the impersonality of the universe with the all knowing benevolence of God running the show. But in the East, God isn't a personal omniscient being, but more of an impersonal emptiness; the vast space holding everything in place. From this perspective, personality only emerges in the particular beings within this vast emptiness that awaken to consciousness. When Jesus stated, "there is not a sparrow that falls that God doesn't see." perhaps he was speaking figuratively about the future, and the God-like beings who will evolve to greater and greater awareness, until they literally are connected to all the data passing through reality, recording and becoming aware of everything. The impersonality and unconscious emptiness knows how many hairs are on your head only when it awakens through its beings who arise in the future and attain a God-like consciousness, where curiosity to know itself as a plugged in component reality, processing the vast amounts of data available. Perhaps after evolving for trillions of years, can it gain the knowledge and power to rewind history in search of the meaning of it all. 

But when you don't find reconciliation between the two sides, East and West, you are left with the God problem that can lead to violent resistance to the impersonal emptiness thought to have personality,  causing men to project their own image of God towards that which has yet to evolve. And perhaps the subconscious awareness of this is described in Pastor Fred's longing for something transcendent of the horror in life; "love never fails." Is this what "holds the future" that the church rock band sang so passionately about at the beginning of the service?

"You are a great God so why don't you kill more people? (continued...)" 

"No matter what happens, if you love, you have won." This sounds like the same idea from the movie, Tree of Life, "Those who love by the way of grace, never come to a bad end." This is a topic I plan on blogging about extensively after I put together my notes I've taken on the first twenty minutes of the movie. 

Pastor Fred continues in regard to the Psalmist and God's knowledge. "You have searched me, and you know me. You know everything. Remember, he already said that the he believes that. So search me. We have the psalmist saying, you have searched me and know everything, so search me. But that just didn't make sense to me. Like I already searched you buddy, move on, next. No, and I thought and I thought about that. And then, search me and see. What does God need to see? You already saw it all. Doesn't he already know. And I thought about that. And then it hit me, you know but I don't. Is the Psalmist saying you know me, you've searched me but I don't, I don't get myself. You think you know yourself, but you don't. Not so much as we think we do.  And the Psalmist has got ahold of that. I know I hate the people you hate, but why? I know how I feel, I know what I want. I know what I think. That I pound the Bible about over people that it's true cause it's in there and I think I'm right. But I feel, I don't know my heart. And it's like the Psalmist is saying, you have been there, before my soul awoke. you know everything about me. you've been there. Now take me there. And the question, what will God find when he searches the Psalm writer's heart? Then the question, what will God find if we go with him on a trip to our own heart." 

Wow! After hearing this commentary on the Psalmist, I could connect it perfectly to an Eastern perspective. The vast impersonal emptiness holding all reality in place, has omniscient data constantly flowing through it, but it has yet to be collected and recorded by conscious beings until they evolve into greater awareness. 

"And I thought about that. And then it hit me, you know but I don't. Is the Psalmist saying you know me, you've searched me but I don't, I don't get myself. You think you know yourself, but you don't. Not so much as we think we do." 

And perhaps the Psalmist metaphorically represents the evolution of conscious beings coming into existence, so that they may know themselves. All the omniscient data is already there, but we aren't aware of it until we observe and make sense of it. 

"And it's like the Psalmist is saying, you have been there, before my soul awoke. you know everything about me. you've been there. Now take me there." And perhaps this is the journey of the universe. Taking us into the knowledge that is already held in place by the great emptiness. 

"And the question, what will God find when he searches the Psalm writer's heart. Then the question, what will God find if we go with him on a trip to our own heart." Wow. Is this the course the cosmos? It is taking us on a trip to our own heart. And this journey follows primitive beings evolving into more God-like consciousness, eventually to become so advanced, we would see them today as Gods. Perhaps they will begin extracting the omniscient data embedded into the fabric of reality, as they rewind space and time on a journey to our own heart.  

Now Pastor Fred describes this journey in greater detail, as it relates to uncovering one's shadow; " Have you ever had to drive through ugliness to get somewhere nice?" Pastor Fred uses the metaphor of Nebraska as the shadow side that must be traversed to get to his favorite town in Iowa where his beloved family lived. It was a "terrible trip, but worth it." And this is like the journey into our hearts. "Search my heart God, would you show me. Yeah. It could get long, and hot and ugly. There are going to be some times on the way to your heart you'd want to turn around."

And this is a perfect metaphor for the journey of humankind at this momentous time in our history. We are at a crossroads where we must take the journey to our own heart. At this point in Pastor Fred's sermon, I was again reminded of the shadow side within Christianity. And confronting this shadow is the terrible trip humans in the West must take into the heart of what is more real; our true salvation transcending religious dogma through spirit; where we can finally be united together with all humanity. The Christians who have already taken this trip through their shadow, will speak about the true freedom and power found in spirit. And in this spirit, "love never fails." 

It is this transcendent and universal reality attained through overcoming the shadow which will stand as a striking contrast to dogmatic pronouncements, trying to restrict and deny access to the freedom of spirit. "Have you been saved? Have you thought about where you will spend eternity?" It is their dogmatic blindness that keeps them from seeing we are already saved and are already experiencing our being within eternity. There is an intuitive side of ourselves that transcends dogma, to realize that "love never fails." And the expression of this love will transcend our limited lives to evolve towards God-like beings, who "shall stand upon this earth as one stands upon a footstool, and shall laugh and reach out their hands amidst the stars.” -- HG Wells

Pastor Fred continued: "Have you let your creator search your soul? Would you dare? I have come to find what was lost, things taken, things forfeited by ourselves. We love, we hate, we lust we crave, we fear, we tremble and we don't know why. Search our heart oh God, to know us and to help us know ourselves. Take us to a beautiful place. I just pray we will be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."

This I thought was cool at the end. Pastor Fred speaks of the unifying polarity of two sides coming together for a more perfect union. Only when the Satanic symbol of the serpent, is reunited with the innocent symbolism of the dove, can the great war be stopped so that peace may reign. And within humanity, this is also true about East and West, the atheist and theist, the liberal and conservative, the communist and capitalist, the Democrat and Republican, the lion and the lamb, the left with the right, the rich and the poor. 

And Pastor Fred ends his sermon connecting with what I see happening on our Earth in the coming century, as humanity takes the journey through their shadow side, in search of the heart. "Do you really want your soul searched and riding shotgun on that search, because it's going to get ugly. but worth it because love never fails."

And this love finds expression in a new storyline, challenging the shadow side of Christianity as well as Western religion. It is a storyline where the East can be reconciled with the West; Christ with Buddha. 

It is through intuition, where we can find a much more beautiful story than that which has already been told, and finds its limits in materialistic dogma, trying to restrict freedom of access to the power of spirit. 

And what if this power gives us the freedom to avoid the nightmare, for a dream reborn; one in which we avoid the hate of our self destruction to find the promise in a love that never fails;  the completion of our potential as a united species on Earth, living at last in the peace and prosperity of a global country. 

View of Enlightened Society

A Talk With Shastri Dan Hessey

At the beginning of Hessey's talk, he spoke of the darkness of our age and the challenge of seeing basic goodness in ourselves. To me and other Shambhalan's, it makes much more sense to see the basic goodness within and outside ourselves rather than concluding we're all basically evil. Because if we are doomed to fail as a race, there's not much hope outside of a Deus ex machina ending for our species. 

A woman in the class brought up something Pema Chodrin said about basic goodness being like the sun. There might be clouds blocking it, hurricanes and even the shadow of the Earth covering the light, but like basic goodness, it is always there, shining within us if we can recognize it. 

Someone else in the class contrasted Hessey's statements about the dark age by bringing attention to the good things happening within our species and that there is always hope for our future. 

In regards to the promise of basic goodness, it was stated that the bad things we see happening in the news about the fall from grace of others isn't the same fate we have to endure. We always have the ground of basic goodness within which we can tap into even when things appear darkest. Those who get sucked in and lost, are the ones who lose sight of who we are at our most basic core. 

In describing the Shambhala vow, Hessey said that in taking it, we become citizens of the world or citizens of goodness. What is interesting about the Shambhala perspective, is that it is a major contrast from the perspectives in Western religion. Many Christians for example, don't see basic goodness as our core nature. They look upon humankind as fallen and stained by the curse of sin. Perhaps this is why their view is dominated by a future finding completion in an apocalyptic and violent conclusion where a God outside ourselves must come down and save us from ourselves.

The Shambhala vision of the future is more benevolent, where humanity discovers our basic goodness in time to end the nightmare and save the world. The scale of their vision is unlimited and all pervasive. Inclusive rather than exclusive. Everyone can tap into their basic goodness and unity doesn't imply uniformity, which means perfect freedom is the highest good.

Even if this is a more optimistic view of our future, the Shambhala perspective doesn't try to gloss over what is happening in the world. They acknowledge the degradation of spirit and the environmental distraction brought about through an acceleration of imbalanced materialism blocking the light of our basic goodness. The spiritual traditions of indigenous people are suffering because their spiritual view of the world is waning.

The hope for the materialistic orientation of our species is to reconnect with basic goodness and bare witness to unnecessary suffering. And someone in the class observed how the internet is helping the world bear witness to what's happening on a global scale. The whole world is awakening to a larger picture. What now happens thousands of miles away can effect all of us.

The Shambhala spiritual warrior will not turn their back on what is happening, but will acknowledge the sadness and suffering of our world. And the challenge is to avoid the temptation to build a cocoon to block yourself off from all the negativity. And within the Shambhala community, the spiritual warriors work to benefit the world; to be guided by basic goodness and trust that it can make a difference. And this is possible when sharing in the same journey together.

Within the Shambhala practice, when one starts to relate to basic goodness, you will find your connection to it. Having a community that acknowledges basic goodness provides the strength needed. Hessey then used the example of the Mycelium mushrooms, which are single organisms that can spread out for miles. Humanity finds some similarities to Mycelium when viewed as a single organism. When we look deeper than the surface of our species through meditation practice, we see our universal core connecting to all human beings; the spirit.

Hessey went on to say that humanity is coming to a crossroads. If we are to build a better world, we must acknowledge basic goodness in all beings. This is the task of the Shambhala practitioner, who is not a warrior of aggression, but a warrior of peace.

One of the students brought up 9-11 and how it had such a polarizing effect on the world. Hessey expanded on this observation by stating that every generation has something like their Pearl Harbor. At the time, Americans demonized the Japanese. And after 9-11, many have demonized the Arab. Hessey then asked what the root of this behavior was. "Are they fundamentally different?" Some of them want to kill us, and some Americans want to kill them. But if we don't look carefully at this question, the idea of the Shambhala warrior doesn't go very deep.

It was then acknowledged that the most difficult part of embracing basic goodness happens in the face of violent threats. "What if someone wants to kill my kid?" How do we deal with that? Is basic goodness always forgotten when it comes down to survival of the fittest? If we don't first understand the nature of fear, "we can't understand fearlessness." "We have to see if fear in our heart is lodged stronger than basic goodness." If we see the world in terms of our fears, it pervades every action. "What do we do with the fear?" When basic goodness is fully understood, there can be a paradigm shift.

Many struggle with the contrast of basic goodness and fear that it may be just wishful thinking. Every moment we have the choice to listen to basic goodness or follow our fear. And if we don't have confidence in basic goodness, everything turns into fight or flight and is based on self interest.

On other hand, if you experience directly, basic goodness as a child or through meditation practice, you can trust that. But one might say "it's so weak in all this competitive aggression, how can it possibly survive?"

And that is the brazen depths of Shambhala; that basic goodness has equally the strength as that survival fear, but expresses itself through kindness and goodness rather than through competitiveness and aggression. We don't' trust that right away but can trust a direct experience of basic goodness as the basis of our path. And that is what the vow is about.

Hessey went on to describe more about the vow, that it was about paying homage to the great lineage of Shambhala spiritual warriors along with acknowledging that basic goodness is always available. Also of great importance is being gentle and compassionate towards yourself and to delight in the details of life. The end result of the Shambhala practice is finding the ability to train and tame your mind like one does a wild horse.

Although the term kingdom in Shambhala is significant on a mythological level, it was spoken of more in spiritual terms, unlike the western concept where world powers go to war and defeat their opponent by capturing their enemy's king or conquering their capital. Kingdom in the Shambhala sense was more in alignment with the indigenous spiritual system, with no king or capital to conquer. Even though indigenous people's way of life has been changed forever, as a people they have survived and their convictions remain viable. In Shambhala, the word for King is Sakyong which means, "Earth protector."

What was interesting about the Shambhala vow ceremony; Hessey explained that not taking the vow was perfectly ok too. This sounds totally different than the perspective of many Christians, who make you feel as if there is something wrong with you if you don't subscribe to their formula for salvation.

Without the implications behind the vow that acknowledges basic goodness, many may instead view Western and Eastern culture as cursed and doomed to fail. But if we look deeper, we can see another perspective in the natural tendency of caring and connection that takes place in every society, leading to health and well being. Taking the vow is seeing the promise of this basic goodness in society to prevail over its alternative; for the potential of humanity to go beyond warfare and aggression.

The implications of the vow and choosing to see basic goodness overcome the alternative, will naturally lead one to drop fears of the worst case scenario unfolding and instead find the courage to believe the best in our nature will prevail. And on a national scale, we can see both these sides being nourished. In the end, which one will be favored over the other? We can see the fears people have about the right coast; becoming consumed by a materialistic and militaristic dogma, leading them to more competition of resources and using more aggression to preemptively strike at enemies. More and more energies are funneled into the creation of deadlier machines capable of more swiftly destroying humans by the millions.

This scenario makes real the fears of those who only see Empire. A battle over oil security throws the world into turmoil and great depression, as America turns into a war economy. The right coast breaks the great rebellions will with the right oppressing the left through force and violence as they seize control of the left coast, dictating complete domination over the internet, turning it into tool of persecution of those with a spiritual orientation. In the end game of this world view, the West is doomed to engage in a tragic clash of civilizations with an outcome leading towards the self destruction of our species.

As an alternative, the depth of spiritual courage to believe in basic goodness overcomes the fear afflicted racial divide of surfaces, as our nation turns its energies towards the left coast. The electronics industrial complex is consumed by a spiritual and artistic renaissance of reformation, as its essential beauty shines even brighter. Conflict minerals are abandoned, off shore workers treated more justly as new technologies bring down prices of the miraculous machines capable of educating humans by the millions.

 

The young and hopeful generation discovers alternative energies capable of transforming our civilization as America turns into a peace economy, dedicated to the spiritual mission of helping humanity fully realize the dream of world spirit. The materialistic and fear filled frenzy of the right coast is tamed by the beauty and power of a spiritual vision for a brighter world. The lion now dedicates its energies towards protecting the lamb and helping to realize its hopes. In this world view, the East and West are destined to fulfill their potential as the nightmare is eclipsed and the dream reborn.

Visit to Resurrection Fellowship

I decided to check out another mega church today which I found outside Loveland. It is called Resurrection Fellowship and has a very impressive website where they post all their sermons by video. Their rock band was quite good and supplied a heavy dose of Yin energy (my recording) which helped wake me up faster than if I went to a Buddhist service.

The sermon today was interesting and contained a mixed message that partly inspired me while also making me shake my head. It is the same dichotomy I usually experience in Christian churches where one faction of the congregation exemplifies the love of Christ they teach by practicing what they preach about complete freedom, while those in the other faction take their scriptures too literally and look at you weird when you talk about reading Carl Sagan, the Dalai Lama and appreciating Atheist thought. The sermon today did a good job at presenting both these sides, coexisting together as a paradox. I look at one side and I like what I see, but then I turn to the other and and it makes me cringe and worry about where they are going.

Every polarity seems to have one side that appears more good and forward thinking while the other side appears more deluded and backward thinking. I analyzed this phenomena extensively in a presentation I gave to my Buddhist sangha in 2010. The subject matter illustrating my points were taken from the movies, Avatar and Star Wars. I argued that the great polarity and the contrast between yin and yang, showed that both sides were bound together and contained the seed of their opposite. This is why they always go together. And we can see this beautifully illustrated by the military and electronics industrial complex. (Click this link to see the image below at full size).

The left coast symbolically appears more benign, forward thinking and leaning towards a spiritual reality of hidden depths that strives to unite humankind by working to enhance our inner potential. It is this side that seeks peace and has mastered the creation of machines that can educate humanity by the millions. On the other hand, the right coast symbolically appears more evil, backward thinking and leaning towards a material reality that sees humankind divided into factions based not on an internal reality, but through the illusion of surfaces that at first may appear more real than depths. It is this side that wages wars and has mastered the creation of machines that can kill humans by the millions.

The male and female gender are two other prime examples of the inseparable nature of the two sides, dividing our world into nearly two equal halves. And both sides need and give rise to their opposite. And even if one appears to have more goodness than the other, the reality shows that it is far from perfect. 

Apple with the big picture

The electronics industrial complex might have the big picture, but they still have problems like exploiting off shore workers and harvesting conflict minerals. And employees working for the electronics industrial complex ultimately support the right by paying taxes which get funneled into the military industrial complex. And workers of the military industrial complex buy smart phones and computers to support the left side. This yin and yang relationship between left and right is inseparable and its contrast finds expression in countless other places around us. We see Republican and Democrat power constantly ebbing and flowing. A Republican president is elected only to be replaced by a Democrat. And then the Democrat is eventually driven out by the Republicans. It's a never ending dance where one side is eventually eclipsed by the other.

The problems arise of course when one side believes they should always eclipse the other and doesn't understand the need for balance in the world. They may see their opposite as completely evil without any redeeming quality. This is how the concept of spiritual warfare comes about; when the side who is more materially oriented dictates the rules that seek complete control over access to the spiritual. And this control paints a picture of reality that has no tolerance or place for the truth of the opposite side which is ironically more in tune with the spiritual. What is needed to counter this frightening prospect that we see repeating throughout history, is wider acceptance of a new paradigm, that sees opposites coming together, not for war, but to enrich and find harmony towards a more perfect union. The right hand may be favored by some, but not so much as to neglect the place of the left at its side. And the left side may be favored by some, but not so much as to refuse the place of the right at its side.

From the start of Resurrection Fellowship's service, I noticed there is a subconscious awareness that the spirit is where all the power resides. The military industrial complex may appear the most powerful in a material sense on the outside, but it is the electronics industrial complex that wields the greatest power of spirit within; knowledge on the internet, moving images and music tap into internal realities that will hold the allegiance of any human stronger than those gained through external ones, with the fear of death or injury that the right side is capable of inflicting.

The sermon was presented by Pastor Todd Hudson, a visiting preacher. I recorded his talk and present a very interesting part here, where he elevates the power of spirit as being one and the same as the masculine Lord. Even though the spirit has feminine connotations, a male Christ is the one who wields its power. (click on quotes to hear the audio) "Second Corinthians three seventeen says, "The Lord is the Spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Right? And I think that's what the church needs to be about. Not about programs, it's not about methods, it's not about ideology. It's about a demonstration of the spirit's power and it's very, very real, that draws people in to connect in a relationship with him."

It is interesting that Pastor Hudson equates God with the freedom of spirit, and then uses it's characteristics to negate the characteristics of religion; "programs," methods" and "ideology." What is important is a relationship with him, which really translates into a relationship with spirit. And in this relationship is perfect freedom. On one level, Pastor Hudson acknowledges this as it dictates a large portion of his theology. But the other half, exhibits characteristics of the other side of the spiritual / material polarity, that seeks to control and restrict the nature of this perfect freedom granted by the Holy Spirit. This is illustrated in a section of his sermon where he talks about the great evil enemy.

"I remember my first encounter with the Demonic. I was at a young man's house, him and his family, several us were broken up and were praying over him and over their house. They had seen kind of some strange things happening in the house. and all of a sudden I began to realize, we're up against something that's different here than I've ever seen before. And I realized there may have been something Demonic going on. So we asked the young man, can you say Jesus is the Lord? And his eyes rolled back in his head and his voice got real deep. and he said, "nice try." And In that moment I did the only thing I knew to do. I went into the hall and called the only Pentecostal pastor I knew, and said, how do I handle something like this? They never taught me how to handle this in the Bible college I went to. so I called and asked her, what I do with this? and she walked me through on how you do a deliverance. And we set that young man free that day. And that was the start of many, many opportunities I had to move in dealing with deliverances with people."

If the power of the Holy Spirit grants perfect freedom, why would Pastor Hudson ask the young man they were trying to deliver from evil, to restrict this freedom by declaring Jesus as Lord? Such a request, negates the very nature of freedom in spirit and the needed acknowledgement of the left and right side coexisting together. Is the perceived opposition to a request denying the opposite side, a sign of evil? Or perhaps it is a sign of refusing to acknowledge the other side of a polarity that holds a legitimate place with its opposite. And when this is the case, opposition may turn violent in response to violent opposition to the reality of freedom in spirit. A pastor who was acting in the freedom of spirit, may have experienced something much less disturbing than one whose world view dissects reality into a spiritual war against a great evil enemy. This kind of pastor would tell the young man, "The power of the Holy Spirit gives you freedom to declare Jesus as Lord, or to deny him. Both are OK. It is your choice and there is nothing wrong with choosing one over the other." Such a position rooted in true freedom, would prevent spiritual warfare; violent opposition to the material side controlling access and dictating the rules for finding access to the freedom in spirit.

I experienced a similar reaction to some of the Christian authority figures throughout my life, who would say things pushing my buttons and going against what I experienced in the freedom of spirit. The things they would tell me would often create violent opposition within myself, to the narrow and self destructive world view they were trying to perpetuate. I even once wrote a short screenplay about my experience, embellishing some of the details to improve the story, but staying true to the reality I perceived, where the so called "good side" is often responsible for spiritual warfare and creating the monster. The "Demonic" many Christians refer to, might simply be the violent resistance to what is perceived as a fascist request; the fear that you can't be who you are in the presence of these people because they will not accept that. This is the conflict they used to have between a right handed society trying to force left handed people to abandon their orientation and follow the mainstream.

Pastor Hudson's sermon continued to straddle the essence of both sides of the polarity, declaring God as perfect freedom and then contradicting it with restrictions to the freedom dictated by the limitations of a one sided theology. "He also wants us to bring freedom to those who are oppressed. There are so many people who are demonized and we have a responsibility to take back territory from the enemy." This part sounds great minus the part about an enemy. It's the side of Christianity I find no opposition to. But then Hudson's statements take the turn for the other side: "I want you to understand today that spiritual warfare is real. Demons are real. And we're called to help bring freedom to people who are facing that. And here's the good news today. We do not fight for victory. We fight from victory. We've already been given the victory. We've already been given the authority to advance the kingdom and to drive out Demons in Jesus name."

And in contrasting this statement, Hudson again changes course, focusing on the freedom of the spirit whose nature is love. "And our mission statement of the church is going to be very simple. It's this; "that we exist to help people experience freedom by demonstrating the love and the power of God. It's important for us to demonstrate the love of God. The Bible tells us in first Corinthians 13, that if we have all these other spiritual gifts, if we operate in miracles, in prophecy and tongues and all these other things but if we don't have love, we are a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Nothing else matters without love. So we need to demonstrate the love of Christ to a watching world."

In an internet age, the world wide web makes it possible now for the whole world to truly watch. My blog can be read by someone on the other side of the planet, that can watch and hear the side that matters most; that the love of God is all that matters (freedom). The other things, "miracles," "prophecy," "tongues" are examples of those things that don't matter when it comes to love.

Hammond appeals to this power of love and freedom describing it's opposition as "Satan." "It does not say anywhere that the armies of hell are going to attack the church and God's going to protect us from that. It's not what it says. What's it say? It says the church is going to be on the offensive and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the kingdom of God. You see we're on the offensive, not the defensive. And Satan is cowering in fear because he knows that when a church operates in the freedom and the power of the Holy Spirit that he does not have a gate that's big enough and strong enough to stop us. (clapping)"

But who is Satanic? Some faceless entity in our world? Or are they Muslims? Hindus? Jews? Those who don't declare Jesus as Lord? Unless they have freedom to be who they are without worry, then the freedom and love is dead and this message is a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. But if this talk of the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit is taken seriously and granted to unbelievers, then love and true freedom are present.

Pastor Hammond spoke of his early skepticism of the fundamentalist world view dropping by the way side in the presence of charismatic Christians. What is interesting, is that charisma is defined as, "compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others." Someone who is charismatic brings to mind a suave personality that is magnetic. They will get you to say it's ok to believe in what you would otherwise say is wrong, simply because they make you feel good within their presence. This dynamic plays out in the world between people all the time. I have come into the presence of charismatic Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, atheists, etc. Each had a powerful magnetism that made you want to come over to their side and believe what they said was true, even if it went against what you had investigated and found out through experience on your own.

Pastor Hudson demonstrates the nature of this charisma in another part of his sermon, where he describes himself as a "kid in a candy shop." It is telling that he uses this description, because kids in candy shops usually go after as much candy as they can, without questioning or resisting their impulses. They only do things that make them feel good. Kids also blindly believe what their parents tell them, such as Santa Clause is real, etc. There is a part of me who also is a kid inside and I want to believe we live in a world where the miraculous is possible. And these stories go on all over the planet. There are Muslims who declare they have witnessed such miracles from Allah, Jews who have seen them from Yahweh, Buddhists that have been healed by the medicine Buddha. If these miracles are experienced, the praise is often given to whatever cultural God present in that location.

Pastor Hudson continued his sermon from a perspective void of any skeptical thought about another possibility that might be going on. "So, we're in this prayer meeting and this guy's praying over my wife. He's not touching her. He's got his hand over her head. And my wife goes down. And I'm thinking to myself, oh my goodness. I think my wife was just slain in the spirit and she doesn't even believe in that. I know that's not faith, I know that's real." "A couple weeks later I was down at the Rock at a pastor's meeting. (inaudible) is in town and he's praying over the pastor and guess what happens to me. I'm slain in the spirit. First time I go down. I experienced something I'd never experienced before."

From the side of my perspective, the phenomena of being slain in the spirit may just be a result of advanced human practitioners of Chi energy. Chinese Tai Chi masters have demonstrated the power to throw people down without even touching them. This is a human potentiality present in all cultures who learn its secrets. The difference between East and West, some evangelists will say it's an exclusive power only to them from God and if an Easterner displays the same power, it's Satanic. And from the perspective of the Easterner, this power isn't exclusive but available to all human beings learning to harness it, because everyone has Chi energy flowing through their body which is nothing special or unique only to their religion.

Pastor Hudson then spoke about the concern about the issues of healing experienced in ministries. "When we start talking about healing, one of the things I've experienced in the ministry over the years is that some people are very careful and concerned about healing. They become concerned about giving testimonies. Because they say, what about the person who didn't get healed? What about the person who didn't get the miracle that somebody else got? Are they going to be blown up by this? I want you to know today, we don't have to defend God. God's still sovereign and he's the one who ends up deciding who gets healed and who doesn't get healed. But we're called to be faithful. We are called to trust, we're called to anoint, we're called to pray and let God do the work that he can do. And you know sometimes it's our unbelief, it's our lack of faith that stands in the way. The Bible says even Jesus couldn't even do many miracles in his home town of Nazareth because of the unbelief."

Perhaps there is a better explanation here rather than God playing favorites, barriers of unbelief and demons terrorizing. I have a friend who has been a victim of religious abuse. She lost some of her fingers in a fire and had fanatical Christians praying over her for the lost fingers to grow back. When they failed to appear, they told her it was because of her lack of faith in scriptures. I have had similar experiences with Christians telling me my Lyme disease was caused by my unbelief.

The rest of what I captured from Pastor Hudson's speech, no longer threw up any red flags in my mind. It expressed the power and freedom of spirit that I am attracted to. And if Jesus is a symbol, representing all the good things in Hudson's sermon I agree with, then this Jesus should definitely be Lord. It would be hard to imagine any violent opposition or spiritual war resisting this kind of Jesus and the freedom and love offered. And in this way, Jesus as symbol of freedom and love in your life, is a savior. Because if you have this good component guiding your actions, then people are going to judge you as good. But where this symbol of love and freedom is absent, there is fanaticism and an effort to wage war on those who think and act different. And it is usually the fanatics who don't find salvation from the wrath of war by the opposition; a great enemy seeking to destroy them.

Here are some of the many parts of Hudson's sermon that I felt conveyed an accurate message of the freedom of spirit.

"One morning God woke me up with a vision statement for this church. And it really comes from Jesus. As he began his ministry, he stood up in the synagogue and he quoted one day from Isaiah the prophet, it's recorded for us in Luke chapter 4. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he's anointing me to proclaim good news for the poor. He's sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set free the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And when you begin to look at the ministry of Jesus as it plays out in the gospels, it's really just a fulfillment of this statement. This is his life's mission statement. And he fulfills it everywhere that he turns in his ministry and that's what he's called us to do as well. And as I thought through what this scripture is really all about, what this statement's all about. It's all about freedom."

"And he's called us to be generous with those who are the least of the lost, those who are on the margins of society; the widows and the orphans. You know in first John chapter two it says this, this is how we know what love is, that Jesus Christ lay down his life for us. And we ought lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brothers and sisters in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be on that person? And the answer is, it's not. Because if you really love God and you've really experienced his love in your life, you can't look at somebody else in need and not have pity upon them. You see authentic Christianity that people are drawn to, is a Christianity that's in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit brings us to have (inaudible) compassion on those who are in need and we've gotta have an aspect of our ministry that reaches out…"

"And Jesus says, I came to bring freedom. Freedom from anxiety and freedom from depression and anger and addictions and people (inaudible) abuse and greed and all these things that are on that list and that list can go on and on. He said, I came so that you can walk an emotional and relational and spiritual healing in freedom. I came here to bring freedom to the prisoners. He also said I came to bring freedom from disease. I want to give recovery of sight to the blind. You see he's called us to anoint people with oil and to believe and to trust and to pray over them and to declare healing and wholeness."

"For a church, that wasn't just a mission statement for Jesus. I think that's a mission statement that he's calling every single believer to operate in. To operate in freedom, to operate in freedom in the Spirit. To help bring freedom to people who are poor and who are oppressed and need the freedom of God spoken upon in their life."

When we don't see this perfect love and freedom of the Holy Spirit, we will find spiritual warfare, and violent opposition to what is perceived as fascism, slick marketing campaigns and being out of alignment with the good, true and beauty of spirit, accessible to all human beings in every culture. This idea is paralleled in the story of Christ as lamb (associated with gentleness, pure innocence and goodness) sent to Earth to appease his wrathful father who wants to destroy humankind for their wickedness. And this same lamb like nature is what people aspire towards to appease the wrath of others, who want to punish the wicked one sided vision found in religious intolerance. And when the lamb is the alpha, the lion becomes the omega, sent to defend the work and good intentions of the lamb.

And in looking at America as a whole, made up of the left and right coasts, it seems that this order has been reversed, putting the fate of our nation in question if judgement ever befalls us from the rest of the world. For it is not the lamb, who came here first. It is the imbalanced lion who has lost sight of the lamb, acting like a wrathful fanatic on the world stage, not fighting for the freedom of spirit, but for special interests of greed and the ego of religious dogma. And now that the lamb is taking shape on the left coast, it is calling to the lion to remember its mission; to rein itself in and defend the gentle side of America and take orders from those connected to freedom of spirit; the good, true and the beautiful. These are the ones who are able to tame the wrath of the lion, showing a new vision for our world that renews our purpose and revives our hope for a brighter future.

It is the lamb side of America I hope will be defended by the lion, not put on trial and executed as it has in the past. But with all the trouble the lion is getting itself and our country into by losing sight of the lamb, the fear is that history will repeat itself. That another attack on the U.S. by external enemies will cause the lion to continue its imbalanced course, scapegoating the lamb as an obstacle to its never ending wars and mission of dictating the rules that seek complete domination over access to the freedom of spirit for the rest of the planet. This is the Empire leading to Armageddon scenario we have to avoid for something much more desirable.

This is the intention I took in visiting Resurrection fellowship. After the service I got to meet the pastor Jonathan Wiggins, who I presented with my Resurrection / Reincarnation brochure as window into the ideas of the my other project; The Return. My goal is that this script may be turned into short 25 minute movie that becomes a vehicle for the message of two sides coming together for a more perfect union of peace. The hope in this search for this healing balm is to end unnecessary spiritual warfare and achieve what's good in our world without the detour towards evil and self destruction. Since I don't have all the resources to make this project happen on my own, I'm seeking out the enthusiasm and energy of others who share a vision of two sides of the polarity; the lamb and the lion joining together in the peace and freedom of spirit. Perhaps it will happen, and perhaps it won't. But I've got to give it a try and hopefully find the power beyond myself to make it real. And who knows where it might lead. Perhaps my dream of the left and right, east and west, Christians and Buddhists coming together may actually come to pass. And this short can be finished and entered into film festivals, propelling me to start and finish the rest of my dreams and other projects. And perhaps this can coincide with the awakening said to be already happening all around our planet, where threats of Empire and a World War III scenario can be thwarted. And maybe the apocalypse inside my body can come to an end as I find the resources to transform my chronic Lyme disease into good health. And just maybe our world will not end in a hellish nightmare, but be transformed by a beautiful dream, leading our species into a brighter future, greater wholeness and fulfillment without first experiencing a nightmare. This is my hope that the dream may be reborn.