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Seeing it from Above

/ Mike Morse / Leave a comment
what the eagle sees

Jesus wanted us to emulate his example of living, Jesus invited us into following is example of surrendering to the Spirit of God. Jesus serves as an icon of how one can be in the world by using his example to inspire one’s life. Worshiping Jesus only becomes problematic when we reduce his example to a set of beliefs or someone to hold up as an unattainable goal. This is how you strip the gospel of its power. The power in Jesus as example, teacher, and icon is when we actually try to live the way he lived. It’s a trap to get stuck in, the trap of right belief. The power is in how his example inspires us to live now. The invitation is to live like Jesus, that’s the power of the Christian life. The trap that is religion is when we get stuck in belief as a means unto itself.– 

Existence

/ Mike Morse / Leave a comment

Existence 

This miracle of life that we call existence, I stand in awe of. we are a part of an infinite migration, just traveling through this time and space. Multitudes have spent a season here and many have yet to come. In these finite moments we perceive a narrow window of reality and truth. Each person has an individual creative journey, and each individual is a part of a collective group of knowledge. When we work with the knowledge and wisdom we are handed, it becomes a divine invitation to expand and grow that understanding of collective consciousness. By not giving up, by engaging the body of wisdom we where handed, we expand our tribes understanding. Being morally lazy, agnostic, antagonistically irreverent, we just dishonor our existence, our ancestors, and we become a block for those who follow us. We have all been invited into a beautiful journey individually, and collectively. We are one with all of humanity and are apart of human expression of what existence is becoming. We are expression of those that we have followed and those who follow us. When we see this moment for what it is, a gift and an invitation to expand, we honor our existence. We are not an end unto ourselves put a part of an infinite expression.

Two rivers, Choosing what river to run

Some rivers flow to a destructive end and others that are are eternally life-giving. All of us have these two Rivers present, we get to choose what river to run. 

The black muddy river:

Selfishness, instant gratification, comfort, security, slow, solo, self focused, individual as a means and end, waiting for renewal at the ocean, awaits stagnant for the cycle to restart, 

The clear river

Wildly alive full of rapids, uncomfortable, requires collective participation, carves space for all humanity, individual a means to give, fresh in the mountains, near source, 

Eyes to see, Ears to hear

/ Mike Morse / Leave a comment

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“Eyes to see”

  1. We all begin our journey dependent and un aware
  2. We all are presented with opportunities to expand our consciousness
  3. Anyone can grow in consciousness

 

“Ears to Hear”

  1. We all participate in the universal song… not everyone is awake to the song or the part they are playing.

 

Jesus

Jesus had to journey in his consciousness from dependent and un aware as we do. He had to learn to see and hear in order to lay hold of his roll he came to play. He came to believe and understand his roll as truth to power. He had a unique and special roll to embody but so do we. We too are invited to learn how we can cognitively participate with God our father and deeply connect with Spirit. It’s a process to wake up and exercise a deep faith that this is possible. We all are invited into what we are, divinely one, yet unique in our current expression. Like Jesus came to believe he came from God the father we are invited into live and embody this same truth.

Learning to Include

/ Mike Morse / 1 Comment

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Learning to Include

The divine is hidden in the thorns and blossoms,

The just and the unjust infused with grace.

All creation can tap the vine but not all take refuge there,

Judgments shipwreck, but acceptance is a compass in the darkness.

Dare to spelunk the caverns of soul,

Pull in the anchor of the unconscious

Vulnerably love what is.

 

Hello, hello. Are you still there? Have I lost reception?

You vanish and comfort… Abandon and sustain,

I continue to speak and embrace this frustrated connection in case you can hear me,

You hand is an expansive desert with non-ending horizons,

I perch in your branches, but flutter within a jumpy trust,

I have heard a hum, felt a pull and believe you are near.

 

My petition is for eyes that see,

To bear witness as you do,

How gloriously human I am in my ignorant reactions and deepest dignity,

Only you can transcend my transient awareness and bring me in tune.

What the Buddha discovered Jesus embodied,

Transcendence is just the beginning and including is the key to your door,

I’m learning to discover you in the thorns and blossoms alike!

All my life I claimed you as close friends, but I never took the time to learn your names.

/ Mike Morse / Leave a comment

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All my life I claimed you as close friends, but I never took the time to learn your names.

I took ownership of my apathy and excuses one stunning afternoon this past June. I have been spending a lot of time in Yosemite Valley and purchased a naturalist guidebook to trees and plants common in the Sierra Mountain range. I realized during a short conversation with some Yosemite employees, that I had been lazy and apathetic towards growing in my knowledge of nature. I did not even know the names of the trees I have hiked through all these years. I realized I had been blaming my parents for not teaching me! I’ve had 20 years to begin a journey that was truly mine. It makes me ponder what other areas I could take ownership of and stop blaming others for my choices. This apathy and victimhood serves no one and is unhealthy for me. What is of great value to all of us is owning our life, our choices and moving forward within our intention and power.

 

Trying to figure out each trees name has enriched my experience of hiking and camping this season. I had seen the bark, needles and pinecones, but connecting these details cultivates a childlike wonder and awe within my heart. Taking ownership of the spaces I inhabit is empowering practice that I have been growing in awareness of. This process empowers me with a fresh responsibility and optimism that I can use my intention more often to craft a better reality for others and myself. What gardens have been left unattended I personally ponder? We can always start with the soil of curiosity and cultivate this ground of being.

 

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” John Muir

 

I have over sensationalized what it means to be lead by Spirit. I believe we need to follow our curiosities and see where they lead us. Quite possibly this could be what it means to be lead by the Spirit. I’m coming to believe following the Spirit is very simple, I would suggest this process starts with paying attention to our curiosity. God invites us to go deeper into the geology of our own heart and this can be a powerful way to cultivate union with our source. By becoming grounded with in our own curiosity we become grounded in pure source. Our creator is closer than breath, closer than skin, and so much connection happens when we investigate our personal curiosity. These inclinations are well explored by Liz Gilbert in her book, “Big Magic,” and the concepts I borrow from her and Rob Bell on this matter have been empowering and life giving.

 

Where our interest leads us may be healthy or may illuminate our need for healing. Wherever yours leads you, own it and move into your curiosity as a child does with intention and excitement. Take joy in what the Spirit reveals, because it is what you need to understand in this present moment. Stop, search, carve out the time to just breath… you will remember, you are invited to dwell, the great spirit is present, the holy one is near, radiating from within and from all around you… this is our sacred moment. Take ownership of your life and start in this very moment!

 

God has planted his spirit with in each of us his children. It’s up to us to cultivate this seed, growing in awareness, and blossoming into a meaningful expression of his presence in our world. Those who use this gift for their own gain will reap weeds of soul. However those who celebrate and cultivate this gift realize that the gift of life is about unity with each other and unity with our creator. This reality is worth daily considering, cultivating and giving yourself to. Any early follower of Jesus said this,

 

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life,” Paul of Tarsus.

 

Jesus of Nazareth taught us through simple stories these eternal truths. We are the ground of being; we are the soul where the words of the eternal God grow. We are one with him as he is one with his father and we enter into this profound and wonderful mystery with Christ! We become vehicles of life or death based on the choices we make. We have been wisely invited to be about life, others, and to be the hands and feet of God. This is the good news that God is with in, we are enough, we are acceptable, and God is close and available. We are apart of nature not over it. We are apart of God, not God.

The Dude Abides

/ Mike Morse / 1 Comment

UO3A9804Divine Dignity…“Our belief in a limited and impoverished identity is such a strong habit that without it we are afraid we wouldn’t know how to be. If we fully acknowledge our dignity, it could lead to radical life changes.” Jack Kornfield

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We learn how to be present by abiding. In the movie, “The Big Lebowski,” Jeff Bridges plays the roll of, “The Dude.” In this character I see someone exploring what it means to abide. Its just a fun metaphor for abiding as we seem to be a society scratching and clawing our way individual and corporately to the top of the pile. This craze runs counter to the writings and concepts I want to highlight for consideration. A friend of mine gave me an old copy of Walt Waldo Emerson’s writings that I have been reading and reflecting on. I wanted to share some of my muses with you and then land on how these truths relate to Jesus and his teachings. Emmerson seems to insist and capitalize on this, that all humans have an innate capacity to encounter their universal source and giver of life. The Divine entrusted to us Spirit and we are all part of God. I know this to be true in my how intuition as well! We all come from Spirit and return to Spirit. We are all animated by the same DNA that God is and all have been given this indwelling power. We are of the same essence; part of God at our core. We all belong to the same life giver. God is reviled through us and in us and we tap into this awareness and being best through times of solitude in nature. No one person is in totally the expression of God, but a dim reflection of the beautiful whole. Sadly many humans’ have delighted to romp in darkness and choose to squander this divine gift. Instead many people exchange the divine presence to chase after personal greed projects, invest in propping up their fragile pride and invest time on personal empire building. However, in spite of this tragedy, God is always ready to deliver a fresh word, to inspire, comfort, and move through us when we make room for Spirit. The divine does not limit action and revelation to one religion, nation, place or special movement. God is infinitely creative, and dynamic looking to move through and with creation. As sons and daughters of the divine, we have access to the universal mind. This universal mind is our life source, animating energy and all that we own our intuition to. I dig this quote by Emmerson.

 

“Everywhere I am hindered of meeting God in my brother, because he has shut his own temple doors and recites fables.” Walt Waldo Emmerson

 

Many of us just take the easy way and let someone else tell us who we are, and trust fables instead of pressing into abiding with in our source. Emmerson again says,

 

“The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity. The inventor did it because it was natural to him… Cast behind you all conformity and acquaint men at first hand with Deity.”

 

 

So we are invited into deity, we are blessed with it, we are invited to explore the divine within as well as without. I feel so excited to spend the rest of my life seeking to live in tune with my creator, to explore the joy knowing God, to allow the mystery to shape me and revelation to flow through me. Im open, we all are invited to discover what it really means to be receivers. I love this, “Cast behind you all conformity!” There is a unique expression of the divine imbedded in you and its for you to learn to embody in this life. You do not need to emulate popular religion or culture.

 

Jesus

 

The Teaching:

Mystical Oneness

“You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us… I have given them the glory You gave …I in them and You in Me…you have loved them just as You have loved Me.” Jesus of Nazareth

 

The Practices:

Silence, take time away from technology, invest yourself with time in nature, and prayer

 

Jesus like many wisdom teachers before him used; time in nature, took time away from society to reflect and connect, and invested himself in solitude. He allowed his forty day walk about in the Galilean desert to reveal his fragility as well to root into his divine power. Jesus rooted into Spirit and was filled with the fullness of divinity and invites us to the same oneness he shared with God, who he proudly calls “Daddy.” This union was expressed in his life, thought his teachings and the power he demonstrated. He claimed that his power to resist evil non-violently, heal the sick, and raising the dead was a result of a deep abiding in his Father. Jesus demonstrated to humanity how to embody oneness with the Divine. As my mentor Richard Rohr says, “Jesus to change humanities mind about God, not God’s mind about humanity.” Jesus did not come to pacify the divine as some have suggested, he came so that we could have faith that this divine connection is present. God isn’t an angry and raging deity but a forgiving, patient and loving father. We no longer need anxious and paranoid religion to guide us, but to trust in our creators divine indwelling and cultivate ears and eyes to hear and see anew. I’m forever changed in practicing his teachings, and seeking to live connected to Spirit in power. Jesus invited us into the process, not new religion, but practicing living in tune with our creator.

Forgive us for we know not what we do

/ Mike Morse / 1 Comment

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“We have got the American Jesus, see him on the interstate” Bad Religion ….”

The Teaching:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord…Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

 

The Practice:

Tune your soul by the teachings of Jesus and not what many people say is his teaching.

 

We do our violence, nationalism, religion, war, prejudice and hate in your name. Forgive us for we know not what we do. The kingdom of Heaven is when we respect and stand in awe at God, God in our neighbor, holiness in our enemy. Jesus kingdom is a way of being more than it is a space to go to. We live hell and call it heaven, it’s still hell. We are invited to open up to turning the other cheek, being servants, and the path of love. We are invited to hold the hot potato of violence and suffering through the burn. When the violence is taken out of cycle and we absorb it we no longer pass along the toxic potato.

 

Supporting nationalistic violence, politics of hate, not loving our neighbor and enemy do not mix in any state of being, embodied or spirit. Our white knuckled instance upon a safe and prosperous narrative can only bring us pain and further suffering. Those who live like Jesus will be willing to suffer for the redemption of others. Those who shape their souls with a poster of receptiveness will be filled. The Muslim woman who is invited into the joy of Jesus will be delighted to understand all her loving kindness was done unto a good father. The entitled, secure American Christian may be horrified that his security and violence was done unto a spiritually bankrupt warlord of darkness. We call good evil and evil good. God only accepts acts of love and not of violence. Evil is accepted by the evil one, while good is accepted by the good one.

 

We abide in a physical state where label, name, and facade govern our imagination and understanding. The multidimensional state to come will free us from 3D, and the illusions that currently deceive us. We will discover that Spirit, source, and energy are more substantial and unshakable then we understood embodied state of being. We will return in death, dust to dust, spirit to Spirit. We will be responsible for our spiritual evolution and asked to give account for how we lived. Our magic creeds and curated tribal understandings will evaporate under the kingdom Jesus. So it would be best, safest, and good to walk in his teachings and spirit. A contrite and humble soul always has hope! The spark of our divine life giver is present and waiting to move in us. This is a call to the alter in your heart, an invitation to reconsider the party position. Let Jesus be your guru and toss off the American Jesus he is a lie!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12kcpP-8jfM

 

I don’t need to be a global citizen
Because I’m blessed by nationality
I’m a member of a growing populace
We enforce our popularity

There are things that seem to pull us under
And there are things that drag us down
But there’s a power and a vital presence
That’s lurking all around

We’ve got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We’ve got the American Jesus
He helped build the president’s estate

I feel sorry for the earth’s population
‘Cause so few live in the U.S.A.
At least the foreigners can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay

Only precious few can garner the prosperity
It makes us walk with renewed confidence
We’ve got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here

We’ve got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We’ve got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

He’s the farmer’s barren fields
(In God)
The force the army wields
(We trust)
The expression on the faces of the starving millions
(Because he’s one of us)

The power of the man
(Breakdown)
He’s the fuel that drives the Klan
(Cave in)
He’s the motive and conscience of the murderer
(He can redeem your sin)

He’s the preacher on T.V.
(Strong heart)
The false sincerity
(Clear mind)
The form letter that’s written by the big computers
(And infinitely kind)

The nuclear bombs
(You lose)
The kids with no moms
(We win)
And I’m fearful that he’s inside me
(He is our champion)

Yeah, we’ve got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
(We’ve got the American Jesus)
We’ve got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority

We’ve got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
(We’ve got the American Jesus)
We’ve got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)
(One nation under God)

 

 

Going out into nature alone, is really going in

/ Mike Morse / 1 Comment

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“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” John Muir

 

Nature and solitude are water for the divine seeds of consciousness planted in our being. When soul is not nurtured it atrophies. Souls that have been starved are zombies, ghosts, phantoms and unrealized selves. Humans are endowed with the capacity for self-awareness, to operate beyond the lizard brain of survival. Chaos should rule the cosmos, but divine grace called form from chaos. Why do so many of us live like lizards then? Because we don’t water and cultivate consciousness! Self-reflection is like a garden that will yield its life giving fruit in season to all who will tend to their soul. What soul will be left to save if you don’t water yours? As the songwriter Jewel said, “Who will save your soul if you don’t save your own?” We move towards a living death when we give all our energy to that which is impermanent, and passing away. Socrates wisely stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living!” The ancient Hebrews explained soul as the breath of God. We should choose to reflect upon this divine breath that animates our being. Ask yourself, what in me is temporal and passing, what is divine and permanent? This cultivated awareness is but a spark, a given light that must be fanned into flame.

 

I went solo camping a few nights ago in the Mojave Desert and perched on a magnificent sand dune for the night. I underestimated traffic, got lost and was not able to get on the trail till after dark. I skittishly strolled with my forty-pound pack into the blackness. As I reflected upon my unfolding adventure I pondered how Jesus took many journeys like this too. I’m sure his forty day excursion out into the Judaean Desert was much more raw and challenging than my little jaunt. I had some great snacks, epic REI gear, a cell phone, had my prius a few miles away and the devil did not show up on my camping trip. Being raised with these stories of the devil showing up really have fucked with my confidence and I feel more like a jumpy dear than a brave lion when I’m alone. I resent this and have gone to many years of therapy to try and recover my courage, but this is another blog all together. However thin this Jesus connection was, I felt it, and blessed for the reflection. I thought, “Jesus you get this, maybe as I feel the desert calling me tonight you felt it call then.” The connections I make about God through nature you also made while you went out. Maybe, like John Muir said, “Going out, I found, was really going in.” I think this was a valid and important connection point for my spiritual journey with Jesus.

 

The point of Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert was to prepare for his ministry. He was going out, or in if you will to nourish his soul with the water of solitude and nature. The devil showing up seems to not be the point of this story, but the universal temptation we all face, to live by worldly values. I found this helpful commentary on Jesus and his temptation on Wikipedia:

 

“Temptations were hedonism (hunger / satisfaction), egoism (spectacular throw / might) and materialism (kingdoms / wealth). John the Evangelist in his epistle calls these temptations “in world” as “lust of eyes” (materialism), “lust of body” (hedonism) and “pride of life” (egoism). Temptations aim to mislead and pervert three main human characteristics; to think, wish and feel which are inside mind, soul and heart…Christians are called to search for divine virtues; faith, hope and love that relate them directly to God who Himself is Truth, Beauty and Goodness.”

 

With Jesus we too should heed the call of the spirit into the wilderness to be prepared for the good work God has for us his children. If we are grounded in hedonism, egoism, and materialism we will not be able to live in the divine virtues of faith, hope and love. Its these virtues we must cultivate to be true followers of Jesus. Get out of your comfort zone and face your fears, constantly be willing to question your values, and life. Lets follow the Spirit of God bravely into the wilderness and rid our souls of the societies values and infuse our hearts with lasting values and virtue the will echo through eternity.

 

Teaching Modeled:

Flow the Spirit

 

The Practice:

Solitude in Nature