Comments on wild and precious: Jesus is my Guru

You have won a very prestigious award, btw.

2008-07-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

You have won a very prestigious award, btw.

Thanks, Diane and Jane. I'm going to see if I ca...

2008-07-02T13:40:00.000-04:00

Thanks, Diane and Jane. I'm going to see if I can start posting about once a week or so ... not every day, not once a month. We'll see. It's not the posting that takes up so much time -- it's visiting all my blog friends and trying to keep up. Maybe I could keep that to once a week, too. Discipline. That's what I need.

Great post. Been back here to read it three times...

2008-07-01T12:13:00.000-04:00

Great post. Been back here to read it three times.

Hmmm. For me it was the Spirit and the church that drew me in first. Jesus came later. He's around all the time now. I can relate to the guru thing (for Jesus, that is) but it's more like he's my Rebbe. But he's never just one thing for me (nor is he in the Biiiiiiible or the tradition). I'm big on Dorothee Soelle these days and have been for years. Her Jesus is fragile and needy and needs us. But there lies his power. We can't resist helping him bring about his kin-dom.

But I have mystic moments with any and all -- Jesus, God, Spirit, Trinity, Mary.

And sometimes it's just fog and searching.

well, when you post, you really post ...I'm too ti...

2008-06-27T23:50:00.000-04:00

well, when you post, you really post ...

I'm too tired to add anything substantial tonight. I can't ever remember having a problem with Jesus, although how I think about him has changed a lot...

Great Van Morrison quote! And guru guy loves Van...

2008-06-25T19:35:00.000-04:00

Great Van Morrison quote! And guru guy loves Van Morrison. I remember now that you quoted it before. New meaning this time.

Yeah. It's weird enough for someone who has spent her whole life in church and Sunday School to have Jesus mystic moments. Can only imagine what it was like for you.

I have experienced Jesus in encounters I will call...

2008-06-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

I have experienced Jesus in encounters I will call mystical because I'm not sure what else to call them. I have been healed by these encounters -- spiritually, emotionally and physically healed.

Me too, and you can imagine how effed-up it was for me. Although why wouldn't a regular middle-eastern Jewish guy talk to me? Dunno. I also dunno how I feel about my old Hebrew School Big God. I'm in flux.

But I'm with you about gurus. I wouldn't have one, and I wouldn't have the cajones to call myself one either, even if I did nothing but pray and meditate for twenty years.

"No guru, no method, no teacher, just you and I in the garden wet with rain." -- Van Morrison. (I posted this song to my blog about a year ago, LJ, in response to something you and I were talking about. Funny life.)

"Jesus was for people who were too scared to deal ...

2008-06-23T16:31:00.000-04:00

"Jesus was for people who were too scared to deal with Big God." hahaha.

Well, in my case, I grew up with a loving, gracious God. No hell-fire. So I don't think fear is the issue. It's more about personality for me. When I think of Creator of Heaven and Earth God, I find it difficult -- problematic for reasons beyond gender questions -- to personify this One. I have done so -- usually a big, brown earth mama type comes to mind -- but it seems kind of arrogant for us to anthropomorphize this Life Force, Creative Energy, Ultimate One ... if you know what I mean.

Jesus, on the other hand, is a aramaic Jewish guy no matter how you slice it, so I can see him, imagine him, personalize him. And yes, when I think about the characteristics I assign to my non-personalized God, they are all the personal things I learn from Jesus.

I still struggle with Jesus. You see, I've never h...

2008-06-22T23:37:00.000-04:00

I still struggle with Jesus. You see, I've never had any trouble with Big God. Big God and I get along fine. I used to joke that Jesus was for people who were too scared to deal with Big God...and I was too much the extroverted Leo to have that problem. ;-)

But the truth is that two things totally turned my head around on the Jesus issue. First---the realization that EVERYTHING I believed about God (merciful, gracious, and loving), I believed because of Jesus' teaching. And second, Jesus' words from the cross---"Father forgive them..."

You see, if there IS a God, I believe that's exactly what God would be like...

So, yeah---I guess you can say that Jesus is my guru too.