Gifts of the holiday

Hello, friends. The holiday season is here with all of its hurry and celebration. It’s wise to remember that all cultures ancient and modern celebrate a season of endings and beginnings. Religions provide the words and signposts to help guide us along the way, yet there is an ever-renewing principle in all things beyond the doctrines of religious teachings that energizes this “awesome cosmos.”  I hope you find your own personal renewal among the many gifts of this holiday season. Thanks, Gene

 

Pantheism

“For in reality, there is only the Beloved, only loving.”
God Speaks, Meher Baba

 

Life starts with many fears and perils,
it’s hard to believe in all-encompassing love.

Religions and governments work better
with a severe deity and tough teachings.

Look at our earliest divisions,
I am not you, nor you that palm tree.

The world appears disjointed everywhere,
as our closest unions break up.

Theologians convince us of deep sin,
calling for God’s forgiveness

or punishment here and hereafter,
that we extend to heretics and political rivals.

God becomes a fearsome overlord
in a world of hatred and self-justification.

We reject pantheism and universal loving
as naïve, except for the few who practice it,

who dissolve the furies of a lifetime
to lie down with lion and lamb

in an awesome cosmos of blessing
within the divine ever-renewing.