The Legacy of Enlightenment

L. A. Hutson was his name. He was a member of my last congregation. On the day that he passed away, I had the honor of standing in the Intensive Care Unit room with his family gathered round. In those few last breaths of his life, his son looked to the ceiling of the room because he said, he wanted his father to see his face. A curious action we might think. Maybe we would think it simplistic in theological perception. But, in point of fact, L. A. had essentially died many years before. He had one of those near death experiences. He recounted how he had been on the operating table and suddenly he was above his own body, disconnected from the body in some fashion but able to hear and see exactly what was going on. When they managed to save him, he was able to recount to them what they said and where each person was standing in the operating room. That the younger Hutson looked up at the ceiling was simple knowledge that his father was looking down at him. That L. A. had had the experience was for him a transformative moment in which he sought with intentionality to live life from a spiritual perspective.

In the third century, there was a philosopher by the name of Plotinus who on about four occasions suggested to his student, Porphyry, that he had known union with God in its fullness. So that on his deathbed he said to Porphyry, "Now that which is divine in me, shall attempt to rise to that which is divine in the universe." While we don't know the ends and outs of Plotinus' existence, we can hope that he lived his life with a similar lens to L. A.

I don't believe that either of these gentlemen were enlightened but I do believe that each had an experience that tells us something about enlightenment. Enlightenment is the highest stage of power that can be had. It is the place where a human has no more concern for self whatsoever. L. A. experienced that bodily detachment at some point. That person has reached a stage of divine union such that their bodies are simply tools for the work that God is to do through them. Thus, we have stories like that of Jesus on the cross and his ability to rise above what was happening to his body to know that he was not his body. These are the people who bring such a mark to our world that they leave behind infinite peace and grace.

Plotinus' would have understood that union with God from a more mystical sort of experience and perhaps that is why he was unable to hold to it. Still, there have been people who have held to it. Some would say that Krishna, Buddha and Jesus all fall into this category. However you perceive that, each one was given the title Lord by their various religious entities. It was evident that others could see in them qualities of a level that would be inconceivable to the rest of us.

At this level, the human has reached total awareness and thus the description of this level is really beyond any words that we can assign. As I struggle through my days, reflecting and evaluating the lessons that each day holds, I am palpably aware of my self and utterly aware that I will never reach such a level. Still, those who do leave a legacy of enlightenment unlike anyone else.

Though most of us won't reach such a level (and probably don't care to reach it) there is a lesson of moving beyond the self to which we are called by this stage. As we continue our passage through life knowing enlightenment will likely never be ours, may we at the very least strive (like LA) to look so far beyond ourselves that we allow God to use us. Amen.

The Path to Peace

It proved to be a brief interval in my life. Three months and four days to be exact. It began like this: I arose at 5am on March 26,2009. Popping out of bed as if moved by a force beyond myself, I switched on every light in the room, peered toward the ceiling and began to speak to God. "God," I said, "let's just lay all of our cards on the table. I don't trust you! I never have trusted you! I WANT to trust you but I don't know how. If you would give me a step method, I would follow it to a "t". But, apparently step methods are not in your m. o. So, if you want me to trust you, then you are going to have to enable me to do it because I give up!"

Immediately the weight of 37 years of life lifted and I'm sure there must have been an audible voice that said, "Finally!" In those moments, I knew that I had spent my life forcing my way. I had tried to be obedient to God but somehow I believed that had to handle everything. The way that I had chosen to live had been the furthest thing from peace and yet in those early March moments peace was what I knew.

The months that followed would leave me utterly giddy. I wasn't doing, planning or charting any course necessarily. In the weeks that followed, people learned that I was leaving my job and their questions that normally would have either flustered me or for which I would have had a clear solution were posed: what are you going to do? where will you live? how will you survive?

My response? I don't know but God will take care of it. God will take care of it and I believed that so wholeheartedly that the only emotion common to my days was peace.

God did take care of it. From that March morning, two weeks later my home went on the market. I resigned a week after that. One month later I had two offers on my home neither to my liking. With a realtor freaking out over my rejection and adamant rejection, I waited. God would take care it. I left my job and three days later the house was under contract for the specific amount that I wanted. When we make a choice to trust God, he unfolds the way and peace ensues.

Peace is the stage of consciousness that follows on the heels of joy. Only one in 10 million people at any given time will experience true peace. True peace is lasting. Think of Mother Teresa or Ghandi. These both reached the stage of peace. It is a level of transcendence where any perspective on self fades to the past and one's thirst is but for God. Often, the people who reach this stage become ascetics. Some claim roles of spiritual teachers, others work quietly behind the scenes for the betterment of the world. The mind ceases to have the incessant need of conceptualization and rationalization. Everything simply is and the one who lives at peace is one with all things. Life is a flow.

Clearly my little interval with peace (which ceased by the way--I'm trying to reclaim it!) was not even a taste of what true peace is. That peace is experientially unfathomable to me and I imagine to most of us that is the case. Yet as we press forward in our lives, bent on making, forcing and crafting our ways, at the very least should this not be our goal? Shouldn't our objective be to so seek the divine will of God so purposefully that our individual selves fade to the background of our existence and God's being is channeled through the vessels of our souls? Imagine the mark that we each could make if we lived that way! I have to believe that God can take care of it, that God can bring us peace. Our job is to be willing to get ourselves out of the way enough to trust the uncertainty of God's path. May our paths lead us to peace! Amen.

Mary's Joy

Her name is Mary. I met her only this weekend and I cannot shake the experience. Upon my greeting of her she made me laugh out loud. "How are you?" I inquired. "I'm fine," she replied. We passed by each other and she stopped, turned around and shouted over the parking lot's distance, "I take that back! I'm old!"

Old or not, there was something different about Mary. There was something of a long life experience of which details were not required that spoke of spiritual growth, of love but of even more than that . . . of joy!

She told the story of going to an 8am worship service at her church. She was the first to arrive and as she waited for others she began to be concerned that others were not going to appear. So she resolved to pray that God would send others. She prayed and prayed and looked around but no one showed up. So . . . she kept praying. Finally, the priest came in to begin the service but she was still the only congregant. What did she do? You guessed it! She prayed some more. Then, all of a sudden, she began to feel a Presence come down the aisle. There was a warm feeling and she felt the Presence move into the pew with her so she slid down to provide more room. She found herself sharing the hymnal. When the priest asked her after the service who she was holding the hymnal for, she replied, "Couldn't you see the Presence of Jesus?"

Characteristic of those who reach the human consciousness level known as joy, is the experience of a Presence or an energy that enables seemingly miraculous experiences. Joy is that stage that follows on the heals of the stage of love. Joy is the place where love becomes so very unconditional that it is present all of the time and cannot be swayed by external happenings. People who live at this level see the positive sides of all things. When they look at the world they see beauty. Life seems to happen almost effortlessly for them as if in synchronous fashion.

Mary was clearly full of joy. She talked to me at length about the fact that there are so many people who know ABOUT God but so few who seem to KNOW God. Those who claim the position of living from joy are people who have come to learn that they would rather know God than just know about God. These are people who have given up their own will and seek to choose the divine will for their lives in all things.

Mary's joy and her thirst for relationship with that which is divine in this world must surely be the path to peace! May we claim Mary's joy today! Amen.