Simplicity can be, well, somewhat complex.
We read in the Gospel of Matthew that following his baptism, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert “to be tempted by the devil.” Following a lengthy period of fasting he became hungry. At that point he was tempted to turn some stones into bread so that he could eat and become satisfied. Jesus refused (even though it was well within his power), responding that, “Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:1-4)
Like the Hebrews who were led into the desert during the Exodus from Egypt, Jesus’ desert experience was used to test him “in order to know what was in your heart.” It was a type of forging, a refining of character to prepare him for his ministry. Jesus’ experience in the desert mirrored that of the ancient Hebrews (Deut. 8:2-3).
Certainly, the life of Jesus has much to teach anyone who is willing to receive its wealth. But what might this episode in the desert teach us about simplicity? It seems we need to have a working definition of ‘simplicity.’ What does it mean to live a simple life? Does it mean living a life on progressively fewer and fewer things, to the point that it is indistinguishable from poverty? Is a vow of poverty an extreme form of simplicity?
Although related, poverty and simplicity are not the same thing. The wisdom of Proverbs provides us with a good starting point for this discussion: “Two things I ask of You, O Lord: do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9)
What we glean from this is an upper limit guideline and a lower limit guideline when it comes to meeting our everyday needs. The road we take between them is one of appropriateness to our true needs. Too little or too much are both dangers to our body and soul. So, it seems that these limits form a solid standard upon which to build a life of simplicity.
This is further reinforced by the words Our Lord taught us in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11) The ‘bread’ Christ speaks of here is not only what is needed for physical nourishment, but also that which is needed in our spiritual, emotional and community life.
Gregory of Nyssa comments on this petition in his writing on the Lord’s Prayer, Sermon 4: “Man is commanded to ask this [Give us this day our daily bread…] because what is empty must be filled. A man, therefore, who gives but nature its due and does not let his vain thoughts stray after things outside his needs is not far below the angelic state.” We lose simplicity when the responses to our natural and spiritual desires “far outstrip the necessities of life.” (Gregory of Nyssa, Beatitudes) It is when we are tempted to turn stones into bread, fulfilling a natural desire in an unnatural way, that we lose simplicity.
Therefore what can we say about simplicity? It is responding to meet our true and natural desires and needs (not what our dysfunctional ego wants) with only what is necessary – nothing more, and nothing less. Response to a need could be evaluated in this manner:
· Is this a true need, or is it an ego want?
· If it is a need, am I addressing it in a proper manner, sufficiently but not to excess?
Of all the ways I could meet this need,
· Am I meeting this need in the most simple, uncomplicated way?
· Which choice will have the least impact on the environment (which includes my own body)?
· Which choice adds more beauty to the world?
“We do not ignore the hunger,” Gregory of Nyssa would say, “since this is needed to preserve life.” But we do need to “sift out and cast away the superfluous things that have become mixed up with this need…” (Beatitudes) It would seem that anything outside of these guidelines is an attempt to turn stones into bread.
Your Brother in Christ,
Daniel-Joseph
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
AM or FEEL?
Greetings, Sisters, Brothers and friends of the Community!
I pray you are well and at peace!
Several times this past week the subject of Study came up. This is, of course, one of our cornerstone values as a Community, but I wanted to re-emphasize that this does not always mean we have our face in a book, or are attending a class, or are listening to a tape. The value of Study often has to do with the study of ourselves: particularly as we walk through a day’s journey and encounter other people and life situations. Why did we react to that person the way we did? Or why did we react to that situation the way we did? Examining these reactions can be a huge key in the process of “awakening” to our true selves and releasing the natural joy and goodness built into our hearts.
Let’s look at two sets of statements:
I am angry! vs. I feel anger.
I am worried about… vs. I feel concern about…
She hurt me when she said… vs. I felt pain when she said…
I am sad. vs. I feel sadness.
I am agitated. vs. I’m feeling agitation.
The statements on the left indicate that the speaker has fully identified with the feelings that he or she is experiencing. This person has been taken over by their dysfunctional ego. They have identified with their feelings and are totally controlled by them. Decisions made by people in the left column will usually be damaging to self or others. People in this state of mind “can’t think straight.” High emotions and high energy can disrupt logic.
The statements on the right begin to show some separation from this ego. The true self can step back from the feelings, distancing itself from the feelings, and look them over as if holding up a object to the light. The observer is separated from the observed. Upon separating oneself from his or her feelings, the probability of making good decisions greatly increases. What you will also notice is that the feeling begins to diminish greatly as soon as you distance yourself from it. (This is because you are now letting your true, calmer self out from your heart, which has the power to examine this separate feeling that is attempting to control your behavior.)
Separating ourselves from the things we feel is the beginning of awakening. So, this is the first step: Awareness of what we are feeling, and putting it in a place where we can study it. The second step is Acceptance. Do not resist what you are feeling because this does nothing more than expend huge amounts of energy. Resistance creates emotion which again clouds your decision-making ability. Accept what you are feeling, whatever it is, and then you can begin to deal with it.
And now, thirdly, you can ask yourself, “Why am I feeling this?” Or, better yet, you might ask, “Why is my ego feeling this?” because that is usually the root of the problem. The ego begins to throw a tantrum in the form of anger, despair, worry, regret, guilt, etc., when it is threatened or not being fed.
Once you realize what the source of the feeling is, you can react properly to it. True joy, peace, gentleness, and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit are feelings from the heart and are natural. This other stuff is from the head, the home base of the dysfunctional ego.
This, for me, is the cornerstone of Study. I ask you to reflect on your reactions to the situations and people in your day’s journey. What is coming from the head, and what is coming from the heart?
I am yours in Christ,
Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
I pray you are well and at peace!
Several times this past week the subject of Study came up. This is, of course, one of our cornerstone values as a Community, but I wanted to re-emphasize that this does not always mean we have our face in a book, or are attending a class, or are listening to a tape. The value of Study often has to do with the study of ourselves: particularly as we walk through a day’s journey and encounter other people and life situations. Why did we react to that person the way we did? Or why did we react to that situation the way we did? Examining these reactions can be a huge key in the process of “awakening” to our true selves and releasing the natural joy and goodness built into our hearts.
Let’s look at two sets of statements:
I am angry! vs. I feel anger.
I am worried about… vs. I feel concern about…
She hurt me when she said… vs. I felt pain when she said…
I am sad. vs. I feel sadness.
I am agitated. vs. I’m feeling agitation.
The statements on the left indicate that the speaker has fully identified with the feelings that he or she is experiencing. This person has been taken over by their dysfunctional ego. They have identified with their feelings and are totally controlled by them. Decisions made by people in the left column will usually be damaging to self or others. People in this state of mind “can’t think straight.” High emotions and high energy can disrupt logic.
The statements on the right begin to show some separation from this ego. The true self can step back from the feelings, distancing itself from the feelings, and look them over as if holding up a object to the light. The observer is separated from the observed. Upon separating oneself from his or her feelings, the probability of making good decisions greatly increases. What you will also notice is that the feeling begins to diminish greatly as soon as you distance yourself from it. (This is because you are now letting your true, calmer self out from your heart, which has the power to examine this separate feeling that is attempting to control your behavior.)
Separating ourselves from the things we feel is the beginning of awakening. So, this is the first step: Awareness of what we are feeling, and putting it in a place where we can study it. The second step is Acceptance. Do not resist what you are feeling because this does nothing more than expend huge amounts of energy. Resistance creates emotion which again clouds your decision-making ability. Accept what you are feeling, whatever it is, and then you can begin to deal with it.
And now, thirdly, you can ask yourself, “Why am I feeling this?” Or, better yet, you might ask, “Why is my ego feeling this?” because that is usually the root of the problem. The ego begins to throw a tantrum in the form of anger, despair, worry, regret, guilt, etc., when it is threatened or not being fed.
Once you realize what the source of the feeling is, you can react properly to it. True joy, peace, gentleness, and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit are feelings from the heart and are natural. This other stuff is from the head, the home base of the dysfunctional ego.
This, for me, is the cornerstone of Study. I ask you to reflect on your reactions to the situations and people in your day’s journey. What is coming from the head, and what is coming from the heart?
I am yours in Christ,
Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
Monday, July 14, 2008
A Moooo-ving Message
Greetings, Sister, Brothers, and Friends of the Community!
I pray that this note finds you all well and wrapped in the arms of Christ!
Last night Andy Rooney ended the 60 Minutes show with a brief discussion on milk. Milk producers have been wondering why milk consumption has been dropping over the years, he said, and suggested that they simply read the labels on so-called “milk.” Especially what used to be “Half and Half.” What was once half milk and half cream is now “stuff he has never heard of.” Read the label – it gets rather lengthy. Whole milk itself, he said, should be called “whole water,” because there is little left of what milk really should be.
Mary and I drink raw milk. Each week we stop at a local farm, fill up our gallon jug, take it home, and put it in our refrigerator. By the next morning there is a thick layer of cream (REAL CREAM) at the top which is skimmed off, and we make ice cream and butter from it. And what is especially nice is that the cows we get it from actually eat GRASS!
All this is the way things were meant to be. But it is not the way things are any more. Milk is just one of hundreds of examples of our food being tampered with. Yes, some processing of food is helpful – we can and freeze food for later use, but we don’t go much beyond that. When humans begin to interfere with the natural rhythms and cycles of our food supply we are asking for trouble. It would seem that the greater interference we have had with our food supply over the last few decades, the greater our society has been experiencing medical issues – increased obesity, increased diabetes, increased autism, increased cancers, increased you-name-it. There seems to be a correlation between the degree to which our foods are manipulated and our medical ills. Although correlation doesn’t prove causation, do ya think nature is trying to tell us something? (You are what you eat?)
This past week Michael DeBakey, MD, a famous heart surgeon, died at the age of 99. Having worked almost all of his life repairing human hearts, he has been quoted to say, “An analysis of cholesterol values…in 1,700 patients with atherosclerotic diseases revealed no definite correlation between serum cholesterol levels and the nature and extent of atherosclerotic disease.” Maybe we are slowly re-discovering that saturated fats are not the culprit in our many ills.
One of our underlying values in this Community is simplicity. Perhaps this applies to what we eat as well. If this concerns you, please start looking at labels on your food before you buy them. (I was once told that it was safer to eat the box the cereal came in than it was to eat the cereal!) You may be feeding chemical companies, but you are not feeding yourself. (Follow the money!) Just as we need to have a proper spiritual diet, managing what goes into our mouths may prove to be very beneficial!
If you’re interested in further research and another way of looking at things, please explore www.westonaprice.org.
You’ll be utterly amazed!
Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
Guardian
P.S. The possession, use, distribution, or sale of raw milk is illegal in many states. In Wisconsin, it can be sold incidentally off the farm, but not through stores, or transported across state lines. I haven’t checked into the legality of eating other natural foods that are good for me, so I may be risking incarceration. If you don’t hear from me for a while, I should be out soon…
I pray that this note finds you all well and wrapped in the arms of Christ!
Last night Andy Rooney ended the 60 Minutes show with a brief discussion on milk. Milk producers have been wondering why milk consumption has been dropping over the years, he said, and suggested that they simply read the labels on so-called “milk.” Especially what used to be “Half and Half.” What was once half milk and half cream is now “stuff he has never heard of.” Read the label – it gets rather lengthy. Whole milk itself, he said, should be called “whole water,” because there is little left of what milk really should be.
Mary and I drink raw milk. Each week we stop at a local farm, fill up our gallon jug, take it home, and put it in our refrigerator. By the next morning there is a thick layer of cream (REAL CREAM) at the top which is skimmed off, and we make ice cream and butter from it. And what is especially nice is that the cows we get it from actually eat GRASS!
All this is the way things were meant to be. But it is not the way things are any more. Milk is just one of hundreds of examples of our food being tampered with. Yes, some processing of food is helpful – we can and freeze food for later use, but we don’t go much beyond that. When humans begin to interfere with the natural rhythms and cycles of our food supply we are asking for trouble. It would seem that the greater interference we have had with our food supply over the last few decades, the greater our society has been experiencing medical issues – increased obesity, increased diabetes, increased autism, increased cancers, increased you-name-it. There seems to be a correlation between the degree to which our foods are manipulated and our medical ills. Although correlation doesn’t prove causation, do ya think nature is trying to tell us something? (You are what you eat?)
This past week Michael DeBakey, MD, a famous heart surgeon, died at the age of 99. Having worked almost all of his life repairing human hearts, he has been quoted to say, “An analysis of cholesterol values…in 1,700 patients with atherosclerotic diseases revealed no definite correlation between serum cholesterol levels and the nature and extent of atherosclerotic disease.” Maybe we are slowly re-discovering that saturated fats are not the culprit in our many ills.
One of our underlying values in this Community is simplicity. Perhaps this applies to what we eat as well. If this concerns you, please start looking at labels on your food before you buy them. (I was once told that it was safer to eat the box the cereal came in than it was to eat the cereal!) You may be feeding chemical companies, but you are not feeding yourself. (Follow the money!) Just as we need to have a proper spiritual diet, managing what goes into our mouths may prove to be very beneficial!
If you’re interested in further research and another way of looking at things, please explore www.westonaprice.org.
You’ll be utterly amazed!
Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
Guardian
P.S. The possession, use, distribution, or sale of raw milk is illegal in many states. In Wisconsin, it can be sold incidentally off the farm, but not through stores, or transported across state lines. I haven’t checked into the legality of eating other natural foods that are good for me, so I may be risking incarceration. If you don’t hear from me for a while, I should be out soon…
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Hallowed Be Thy Name (in us)
Greetings, Sisters, Brothers, and Friends of the Community!
I pray that this note finds you well and wrapped in the arms of Christ!
Christ taught us to pray using the format of the Lord’s Prayer. Within this short prayer are all the elements we need to keep our eyes on Him, and to learn what He is asking of us as we go through the day.
The phrase, “Hallowed be Thy Name,” drew my attention this morning, and it prompted me send out a little reminder of one way to look at this. On the surface, it seems to be a strange little petition – are we asking God to make His own Name hallowed? Seems to me that it already is, and that He doesn’t need our help in doing so. The question may be, then, “Is the Name of God hallowed in my life?” Perhaps what I am really asking God each time I offer the Lord’s Prayer is to have His Name hallowed and glorified through my life. Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
What are some ways that we can glorify God’s Name in us? By being who He made us to be. (Not what we may have been programmed to be by others.) Serve Him humbly in your prayers of thanksgiving and healing grace for others; serve Him in your studies; serve Him humbly in your service to others through the talents and skills that He has given you – and do this moment by moment. (No need to worry about the past or the future – we have no power there. Just stick to the moment at hand.)
Any thoughts on this? What has been your experience? Please share as you are moved to do so.
May the guiding hand of Our Lord and Savior be with you always,
Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
Guardian
I pray that this note finds you well and wrapped in the arms of Christ!
Christ taught us to pray using the format of the Lord’s Prayer. Within this short prayer are all the elements we need to keep our eyes on Him, and to learn what He is asking of us as we go through the day.
The phrase, “Hallowed be Thy Name,” drew my attention this morning, and it prompted me send out a little reminder of one way to look at this. On the surface, it seems to be a strange little petition – are we asking God to make His own Name hallowed? Seems to me that it already is, and that He doesn’t need our help in doing so. The question may be, then, “Is the Name of God hallowed in my life?” Perhaps what I am really asking God each time I offer the Lord’s Prayer is to have His Name hallowed and glorified through my life. Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
What are some ways that we can glorify God’s Name in us? By being who He made us to be. (Not what we may have been programmed to be by others.) Serve Him humbly in your prayers of thanksgiving and healing grace for others; serve Him in your studies; serve Him humbly in your service to others through the talents and skills that He has given you – and do this moment by moment. (No need to worry about the past or the future – we have no power there. Just stick to the moment at hand.)
Any thoughts on this? What has been your experience? Please share as you are moved to do so.
May the guiding hand of Our Lord and Savior be with you always,
Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
Guardian
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