tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435679274201464716.post1825150963361771572..comments2023-07-06T03:33:33.896-04:00Comments on Learning and Leading: Playing with fireEarlham School of Religionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04413577729231632189noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435679274201464716.post-58424858131584181132012-09-30T23:20:00.765-04:002012-09-30T23:20:00.765-04:00Of course a group effort is useful, and perhaps ne... Of course a group effort is useful, and perhaps necessary, but what needs to be burned away is not any physical or even organizational structure, but within each individual.<br /><br /> To the extent we depend on the external to define ourselves, rather than our Creator, we mistake our true selves and our most unobstructed relationship with and communication with God. To finally submit, to surrender, to recognize we can never do it ourselves but only exist and move through God's continual grace is to die with Christ and find we have a new life no longer controlled by the world. We can then be involved in the world as a blessing and the as the best we can in building God's Kingdom on earth.<br /><br /> This is not easy nor instantaneous. It takes persistent centering and relinquishment, or perhaps it occurs when life has taken us to the brink and we are finally forced to the realization that nothing else but God can save us. But coming through to the other side is a life of joy and peace, connected to the only true source of joy and peace.<br /><br /> In the Indian tradition the initiation into a monastic order involves a ceremony where the aspirant gives away all their possessions and their clothes are burned in the ceremonial fire. They are given new monastic garments, a new name and symbolically become a new person.<br /><br /> In the Hasidic tradition they recognize a "bliss fire" that streams continually from the heart of God and enlivens all creation and every creature.<br /><br /> I wish we had more Quakers whose lives just burned with the "passionate, ecstatic, tender loving kindness" the Hasids recognized because God knows the world needs them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435679274201464716.post-56661644323349874642012-09-30T18:22:20.874-04:002012-09-30T18:22:20.874-04:00The Holy Spirit is the One who sets us on fire and...The Holy Spirit is the One who sets us on fire and the One who keeps us going! No accident that the Holy Spirit is portrayed in the Bible as a flame or fire in certain passages!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14168669340102921283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435679274201464716.post-81537891973827642832012-09-25T16:58:12.830-04:002012-09-25T16:58:12.830-04:00You probably already know this story, which has be...You probably already know this story, which has been dear to me all of my adult life: "Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and said: 'Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and, according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: now what more should I do?' The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: 'Why not be changed into fire?'" (The Desert Fathers)<br /><br />I like the Orthodox commentator who pointed out that nothing in this story is intended to put down Lot. It's a genuine query.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.com