Home
It is not that a true, loving life is hard to achieve, it is the most natural to our hearts, to who we are. But because of the fallen reality, there is a great deal to get away from. I will not speak in terms of 'hard' or 'easy', but rather in terms of 'simple' and 'complex'. The Good is simple to reach. Evil, defined here as the lack of good, leads us to be obsessed with complexity because the world does not have an answer to our searching. So, the more we search, in a way that is against our hearts, the more complex each path becomes. We continue to find nothing. Without foundation, or resolution, we are lost in a complexity which has no source, no base.
Many think of 'going forward' in an achievement-based, competition-oriented sense. Like competing in the Olympics or starting a company.
The 'going forward' I speak of, is the most fundamental act. It is a form of 'going back'. Because, if we wish to go forward, to reach that true, loving life, we should be coming home.
Home, as we know it by experience, or if we have lived in an unstable, difficult home, as we have envisioned it, or if we have not envisioned, to what the pain has taught of us what we see as good, is a place of true, easy love. By easy I mean 'simple', simple love, a love that cannot be helped. Home is also a place of beauty. Perhaps you would find yourself at home in Greece, or Ireland, or England, even if you'd been brought up in a completely different culture. Home is also a place where we do not feel lost. Home can be anything you want it to be, and each person, I'm sure, could define for you what their sense of 'home' is. Because, most importantly, home IS where the heart is.
When we go out into the world, into battle, into a new environment, our idea of home is our 'base line'.
But no home suffices. Every home is lacking, every idea of home is lacking. I think, perhaps, this gives us a clue as to what our call is:
Come home! I think we've all heard this call deep within us.
God is the ultimate home. Because he is the ultimate heart, the ultimate love, the ultimate foundation, that missing piece of our 'present', 'past', and 'future'. He begs you to come home.
However, we worry about the method, the legality.
We are all terrified that we might not make it home. But, what is ultimate love to you? Would it not be a love that gives you every chance to come home? We over complicate. We focus on the labels and not on the labeled. In part because, in the world of language, in communities or institutions, method, routine-avoidance of inadequacy, liturgy, theology are often taken on their own. In the depths of our hearts, these things come to what they should be. In the depths of our hearts we know that there is more than what is said, more than what is understood.
So, if we are climbing this mountain, towards home, and we start with fear, we start far, far below the ground. Far below the ground a hundred miles away. Start with love. Yes, there are things that 'deserve' fear. But these things only exist for us because we are afraid, because through fear we lose love. Each vice springs from a kind of fear. Pride. Jealousy. Lust. Even Hatred. Most of all, fear is an obstacle to God. But do not fear even fear, because although we must come to God, God comes to us first, is always coming to us. And fear is no obstacle for the one who is love.
Another voice we should not be misled by is that which also tells us that God is harsh, that religion is harsh, but adds on to it something else: that we're just trying to 'survive', that there is neither evil nor good, just comfort and discomfort, societal constructs, meaninglessness. The voices that say that pain is random and we can't define it, that nothing makes any sense unless we make sense of it, that love can be defined as a chemical, that beauty and ugliness are preferences, that if you do not live deeply you'll be 'ok'.
This is the search for nothing.
If you rely on science, the universe is home. But theories like the big bang are theories about a cause of 'structure'. But what does this tell us about 'goodness', about 'calling to change'. Undeniably you will see that there is imperfection. And how can there be imperfection if there is no 'perfection' to be made imperfect. And if we see fixed imperfection, and it bothers us as we exist here, how could there not be somewhere where we are meant to be? If we know that the world falls short. And if you tell me that we can fix it with better technology, with better politics-when governments can finally coexist and nations are under control. No. You're either lying are you're looking in the wrong place. Look at yourself. Do you think another human being, other human beings, despite being hundred times more powerful than you, will ever be able to make you feel at home, in every sense, consistently, in a completely real way? People today see no reason to believe there's anything higher than them. But they're already assuming it's up to them to find out. That they'll never find out. That there is nothing in the depths of their hearts that is simple enough to point them away from 'untruths'.
Can you prove the story of that universe has no creator? No one has yet. Can you prove the story of creation? Perhaps not in one sense. Logically you can. Logically there must be a 'first mover'. But that is not the point I want to make right now. I want to ask, what is in our hearts? I think you will find that anything less than the story of creation falls short, if you look deep into your heart. Because the creation-story is the story of 'home'. It is the story of roots, of causes, of order. It is undeniable that we know when we are getting to closer to perfection, and we know when we are getting farther away. And if we know that, then there is a principle by which we measure our closeness. An order.
Nothing can create. It is nothing. Nothing can cause. It is nothing.
So, look for the author. Look for home.
I repeat: God is the ultimate home. Because he is the ultimate heart, the ultimate love, the ultimate foundation, that missing piece of our 'present', 'past', and 'future'. He begs you to come home. I believe, that when someone comes to truly know God, and I am not there yet, that there will be no 'choice'. Because it will be the ultimate choice. A choice which is so deep in the heart that it is the truest yes we can ever say. And therefore, 'easy', at the moment of love. Almost not a choice in the way we understand it. Because God is not one way of doing things, God is not choosing one person over another, God is not loss, God is not an abstract idea, God is not coldly distant, God is not needy love, God is not the 'pious' man who feels that he can feel nothing, God is not insecurity, God is not feeling like we're never making the mark, God is not running away, God is not loneliness, God is not trapping, God is freedom, God is not stress, God is not distrust, God is not a sick mind and a hateful heart, God is not guilt, God is not fear of not being something, fear of loss, fear of the lacking, God is not fear of fear, God is not fearing oneself, God is not fearing one's life, God is none of these things, and he has given us the ultimate gift, he will allow us to reach him through these things. Through overcoming. He has conquered evil with one swoop. God is hating evil, God is hating what should be hated, God is what should, God is not what we want but what we truly want, in the deepest sense of desire, God is more than 'is', God is not limited, think about that, NOT LIMITED. Whatever sermon you hear that falls short, whatever weakness to see the truth, whatever discouragement you feel, whatever impossibility you see to reach good, to reach the loving life, LIMITLESSNESS. And, God is LOVE. He encompasses your most loving, earthy friendships and romances. He is more than the magic we see because he will let us be ultimately pure in receiving love, magic, beauty. So we can really receive it fully. The fire we see in others, the strength we admire, that compassion we are blown away by, God is the source of these and more than all of these beautiful people. The ultimate beautiful person.
I think it is not like: you'll make it because of this, or you won't make it because of this. No, no, much deeper. I think it is more like: if we refuse to be, if we refuse to love, if we are choosing so so far from what we truly desire, that we will not choose the good anymore. But it is only a simple, fundamental love in the depth of your heart that you are asked of. And it is a wonderfully kind asking. Like being asked to listen to the most beautiful song. Pain can make this love deeper, trauma can make this love deeper, more fundamental, more powerful. Although we see so many people who are lost, lowly, impossible to reach, each person has a home, a place where they are meant to be, and an individual way in which they are meant to be deepened and set free. We are only asked to accept, to not cling to our fears. To let go of everything that we truly wish to let go of. To do the simplest thing.
Many think of 'going forward' in an achievement-based, competition-oriented sense. Like competing in the Olympics or starting a company.
The 'going forward' I speak of, is the most fundamental act. It is a form of 'going back'. Because, if we wish to go forward, to reach that true, loving life, we should be coming home.
Home, as we know it by experience, or if we have lived in an unstable, difficult home, as we have envisioned it, or if we have not envisioned, to what the pain has taught of us what we see as good, is a place of true, easy love. By easy I mean 'simple', simple love, a love that cannot be helped. Home is also a place of beauty. Perhaps you would find yourself at home in Greece, or Ireland, or England, even if you'd been brought up in a completely different culture. Home is also a place where we do not feel lost. Home can be anything you want it to be, and each person, I'm sure, could define for you what their sense of 'home' is. Because, most importantly, home IS where the heart is.
When we go out into the world, into battle, into a new environment, our idea of home is our 'base line'.
But no home suffices. Every home is lacking, every idea of home is lacking. I think, perhaps, this gives us a clue as to what our call is:
Come home! I think we've all heard this call deep within us.
God is the ultimate home. Because he is the ultimate heart, the ultimate love, the ultimate foundation, that missing piece of our 'present', 'past', and 'future'. He begs you to come home.
However, we worry about the method, the legality.
We are all terrified that we might not make it home. But, what is ultimate love to you? Would it not be a love that gives you every chance to come home? We over complicate. We focus on the labels and not on the labeled. In part because, in the world of language, in communities or institutions, method, routine-avoidance of inadequacy, liturgy, theology are often taken on their own. In the depths of our hearts, these things come to what they should be. In the depths of our hearts we know that there is more than what is said, more than what is understood.
So, if we are climbing this mountain, towards home, and we start with fear, we start far, far below the ground. Far below the ground a hundred miles away. Start with love. Yes, there are things that 'deserve' fear. But these things only exist for us because we are afraid, because through fear we lose love. Each vice springs from a kind of fear. Pride. Jealousy. Lust. Even Hatred. Most of all, fear is an obstacle to God. But do not fear even fear, because although we must come to God, God comes to us first, is always coming to us. And fear is no obstacle for the one who is love.
Another voice we should not be misled by is that which also tells us that God is harsh, that religion is harsh, but adds on to it something else: that we're just trying to 'survive', that there is neither evil nor good, just comfort and discomfort, societal constructs, meaninglessness. The voices that say that pain is random and we can't define it, that nothing makes any sense unless we make sense of it, that love can be defined as a chemical, that beauty and ugliness are preferences, that if you do not live deeply you'll be 'ok'.
This is the search for nothing.
If you rely on science, the universe is home. But theories like the big bang are theories about a cause of 'structure'. But what does this tell us about 'goodness', about 'calling to change'. Undeniably you will see that there is imperfection. And how can there be imperfection if there is no 'perfection' to be made imperfect. And if we see fixed imperfection, and it bothers us as we exist here, how could there not be somewhere where we are meant to be? If we know that the world falls short. And if you tell me that we can fix it with better technology, with better politics-when governments can finally coexist and nations are under control. No. You're either lying are you're looking in the wrong place. Look at yourself. Do you think another human being, other human beings, despite being hundred times more powerful than you, will ever be able to make you feel at home, in every sense, consistently, in a completely real way? People today see no reason to believe there's anything higher than them. But they're already assuming it's up to them to find out. That they'll never find out. That there is nothing in the depths of their hearts that is simple enough to point them away from 'untruths'.
Can you prove the story of that universe has no creator? No one has yet. Can you prove the story of creation? Perhaps not in one sense. Logically you can. Logically there must be a 'first mover'. But that is not the point I want to make right now. I want to ask, what is in our hearts? I think you will find that anything less than the story of creation falls short, if you look deep into your heart. Because the creation-story is the story of 'home'. It is the story of roots, of causes, of order. It is undeniable that we know when we are getting to closer to perfection, and we know when we are getting farther away. And if we know that, then there is a principle by which we measure our closeness. An order.
Nothing can create. It is nothing. Nothing can cause. It is nothing.
So, look for the author. Look for home.
I repeat: God is the ultimate home. Because he is the ultimate heart, the ultimate love, the ultimate foundation, that missing piece of our 'present', 'past', and 'future'. He begs you to come home. I believe, that when someone comes to truly know God, and I am not there yet, that there will be no 'choice'. Because it will be the ultimate choice. A choice which is so deep in the heart that it is the truest yes we can ever say. And therefore, 'easy', at the moment of love. Almost not a choice in the way we understand it. Because God is not one way of doing things, God is not choosing one person over another, God is not loss, God is not an abstract idea, God is not coldly distant, God is not needy love, God is not the 'pious' man who feels that he can feel nothing, God is not insecurity, God is not feeling like we're never making the mark, God is not running away, God is not loneliness, God is not trapping, God is freedom, God is not stress, God is not distrust, God is not a sick mind and a hateful heart, God is not guilt, God is not fear of not being something, fear of loss, fear of the lacking, God is not fear of fear, God is not fearing oneself, God is not fearing one's life, God is none of these things, and he has given us the ultimate gift, he will allow us to reach him through these things. Through overcoming. He has conquered evil with one swoop. God is hating evil, God is hating what should be hated, God is what should, God is not what we want but what we truly want, in the deepest sense of desire, God is more than 'is', God is not limited, think about that, NOT LIMITED. Whatever sermon you hear that falls short, whatever weakness to see the truth, whatever discouragement you feel, whatever impossibility you see to reach good, to reach the loving life, LIMITLESSNESS. And, God is LOVE. He encompasses your most loving, earthy friendships and romances. He is more than the magic we see because he will let us be ultimately pure in receiving love, magic, beauty. So we can really receive it fully. The fire we see in others, the strength we admire, that compassion we are blown away by, God is the source of these and more than all of these beautiful people. The ultimate beautiful person.
I think it is not like: you'll make it because of this, or you won't make it because of this. No, no, much deeper. I think it is more like: if we refuse to be, if we refuse to love, if we are choosing so so far from what we truly desire, that we will not choose the good anymore. But it is only a simple, fundamental love in the depth of your heart that you are asked of. And it is a wonderfully kind asking. Like being asked to listen to the most beautiful song. Pain can make this love deeper, trauma can make this love deeper, more fundamental, more powerful. Although we see so many people who are lost, lowly, impossible to reach, each person has a home, a place where they are meant to be, and an individual way in which they are meant to be deepened and set free. We are only asked to accept, to not cling to our fears. To let go of everything that we truly wish to let go of. To do the simplest thing.
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