San Miguel Icons

We are tangible humans having a spiritual experience. Humanity shares a part of God’s image, and the whole of life is moving towards some unknowable end together. As I said in the past newsletters, something more powerful is at work around us; more creative than us, more resilient than us. The teachings of Christ as well as Buddha, Plato and all great thinkers reach towards mending conflict to restore harmony so that all can move towards wholeness. Every aspect of human nature; our minds, our bodies, our virtues, our desires, our sexuality, even our mortality finds its fulfillment in peace. And so every human progressing toward goodness plays a part in the salvation of the
world.

The universe is a pure gift of promise and possibilities and is driven by energy which is continually transforming, moving, unstable and
unpredictable. Try and imagine humanity along these lines; full of promise and possibilities without control. Human energy is self-organizing in an open ended future and knows its highest bliss when we creatively harmonize with universal energy. The planet is teaming with life, just look around. Are you surrounded by what humankind has created?  Take a walk in the woods this season, to reconnect with the wonder of what humankind did not create. For the past 5,000 years our minds have seduced us into thinking and believing we are important. The planet is not an object to be exploited but rather a living being inviting dialogue and participation. Think of the earth as being alive around you and you will feel alive as well.

Most of humanity is beginning to realize we are our own problem, our thinking and behavior. Our contemporary arrogance creates incredible pain and suffering and loss for the planet. Many of us hesitate to recognize God is in control. Something more powerful is at work around us; more creative than us, more resilient than us. God, Universe, Energy, Om, Shanti, Amen.

These images, and thousands like them, embody the wisdom of ancient mystics, they represent an archetypal dynamic around the world. The love motherhood requires is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Within this relationship is the potential to given and received love, as well as the capacity to release and surrender that same love. Find someone to be tender with… today,
peace be with all of you, think love its the only thing that will sustain us.

The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the seed of all true art and science. To know what is impenetrable manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty. This knowledge, this feeling is at the center of all true religion.

New religion continues to express art in the modern world. For many people change from tradition is a complete impossibility, and I can understand why they may think this. Formal religion is driven by narratives that are familiar for many but for some quite lifeless. New religious art has a tendency to remove all meaning and reduce the images to vague symbols. The old religious doctrines are a strait jacket for some contemporary artists.

The importance of the relationship between art and religion is still revealing itself. The church and the artist understand the affiliation between them, and the value of this ongoing dialogue. I believe the religious impulse will not just go away, we are improving our understanding of the divine without confusing it with formal religion. Religious art today has no contemporary origin but rather the same mystical undefinable experience found in the past expressed in the new mind.

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Peacebestill spirituality

There is an irrevocable, unconditional norm for healing our spiritual selves, in our families, communities, nations, and religions. In particular, there is need right now for the spiritual healing with regard to the aggression and hatred in the name of religion. Ancient guidelines for human behavior in many cultures have the potential to sustain a peaceful world order. We are interdependent on the well-being of all nations. If each of us focuses on peace, everyone’s intentions, desires and actions will affect the well-being of the many. Peace on Earth will transform our rituals and sacraments into inclusive and comprehensive moments of awareness. The new religion will be a daily life style of commitment to a global culture of non-violence, respect, justice, and peace, where there is no more oppression, injury, torture, or killing of other human beings. Spiritual life requires treating others as we wish others to treat us; each of us an example, respecting others dignity and individuality, without exception. We will learn to open our hearts and allow the narrow differences to meld into a culture of solidarity. We will come to see and consider humankind as a family and species of the spiritual world. Forgiveness, kindness and generosity foster lives of service for the common good. Spiritual healing will come collectively as we reach full potential as human being.

http://www.peacebestill.net/index.html

Dali lama says the key to freedom resides in our ability to understand and THINK MORE, it is ignorance of self and other which causes our discomfort. He encourages us all to contemplate and analyze our individual actions on the landscape of the actions and its effect on others. Our accomplishments and activities are not isolated and unique to ourselves. We have indeed an effect on each other, the planet and  potential Global peace. Go slow through life, what is the rush, we are all going to die eventually. Be enthusiastic and cherish the life we have been given. Our focus each day tends to be more on our bodies and satiating them through food, excerisize, creature comfort, work, etc. More attention and love must be given in developing and fostering a healthy and deep relationship with our minds and spirits.

Peace on Earth will transform our rituals and services at prescribed hours into institutions embracing more comprehensive doctrines and hierarchies. The new spirts of peace will embrace a daily life style of commitment to a global culture of non-violence, respect, justice, and peace, where there is no more oppression, injury, torture, or killing of other human beings.

Forgiveness, kindness and generosity foster lives of service for the common
good. Spiritual healing will come collectively gradually reaching full potential as human beings.

peacebestill.net

There is an irrevocable, unconditional norm for healing our spiritual selves, in our families, communities, nations, and religions. In particular, there is need right now for the spiritual healing with regard to the aggression and hatred in the name of religion. The ethical spiritual phycology already exists in the practice. Ancient guidelines for human behavior have the potential to provoke a new sustainable world order. We are interdependent on the well-being of the whole and everyone’s decisions, actions, and failures affect the well-being of the many.

Peace on Earth will transform our rituals and services at prescribed hours into institutions embracing more comprehensive doctrines and hierarchies. The new religion will be a daily life style of commitment to a global culture of non-violence, respect, justice, and peace, where there is no more oppression, injury, torture, or killing of other human beings. Spiritual life requires treating others as we wish others to treat us; each of us an example, respecting others dignity and individuality, without exception. We will learn to open our hearts and allow the narrow differences to meld into a culture of solidarity and relatedness. Consider humankind as a family and species of the spiritual world. Forgiveness, kindness and generosity foster lives of service for the common good. Spiritual healing will come collectively we reach full potential as human being.

Major religious leaders and their followers have an obligation to agree on and teach
unity rather than division as a way of life.

1. The primary purpose of religious teaching is to tame the mind and open the heart.  Religious practice is designed to be the
   antidote to any violent tendency latent in the mind. The mind and heart are
   strengthened to embrace all kinds of forgiveness and peace.
2. Learning about and respecting the diverse faith traditions around the globe allows our
   hearts to be softened. Practice forbearance by developing patience, tolerance,
   self- control, moderation, mercy, leniency, restraint, in one’s daily life. The
   intention for the practice is to foster a wholesome community for everyone.
3. Religion promotes and encourages love for this planet which sustains us. The planet is a
   container where we are karmically connected according to Buddhism and Gods
   creation according to Judeo-Christian theology. The indigenous spiritual
   traditions have always supported a proper and compassionate relationship to the
   natural world and the cosmos. Their communities excel in recognizing the deep
   interdependence of human beings, animals and nature.
4. Be a force of good and speak out consistently on the immorality of inequality;
   active charity and goodwill is an obligation of the faithful. There is plenty
   to go around and the creative potential within humanity to make equality come
   about.
5. In reality we own nothing, only the idea of controlling things. Humanity has not
   fully embraced the idea of sharing without ownership due to our fear of
   thinking we will not have enough. What has been offered since the beginning of
   time is more than sufficient. Waste not,
   want not. Using the last little scrap makes you more appreciative of where
   the next scrap is coming from. The abundance we already have slows down our
   desire for more and enables to live lives of simplicity.
6. True spirituality recognizes all valid paths lead to the truth. Encourage every
   member of your sect to be committed to the faith while remaining genuinely open
   to the values present in the faith of others. Time tested religions have come
   and gone, the great ones have always been verified, modified and confirmed, and
   possibly improved over last past 5,000 years. Our future depends on what we do
   now with what we have collected form the past.
7. Religious communities must learn to dialogue with the secular communities in the spirit
   of pluralism and ethical compassion. The world belongs to both groups and has
   suffered as a result of each groups’ behaviors. Let us look for the interconnectedness
   of all things and acknowledge the bigger picture within our shared human
   nature. Reason and belief are required of everyone.
8. Peaceful co-existence will be of paramount importance where science and technology are
   taking us. The Religious will not find explicit directions in their sacred
   scripture to control the rapid change and enormous power now in the hands of
   humanity. However, the opinions of time tested spiritually faithful can be
   heard by science and technology, voices that balance being human with wanting
   to be God.
9. We are one and that oneness has the potential of harnessing the power and energy
   of millions of believers to the cause of peace and human happiness. We can
   establish genuine peaceful co-existence among all people by seeing others as
   ourselves and ourselves in a group serving others.

Project for World Peace and Prayer, assembling the 16 parts to form the installation. 40 prayer wheels all saying,”Forgive our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”, 27 images, 70 archetypal images. The work is completed and installed in a small community outside of San Miguel de Allende, most satisfying seeing it finally.                                                          God only knows where it will take us from here.