no i mean really crazy people...spiritual technology ?
so yesterday
i was sitting in my bus
parked by the beach
snacking
when this african american man
who was acting crazy
wandered by
this being Venice Beach
where there is no shortage
of mentally challenged souls
struggling to keep a grip
on the world the sane people
take as a given...
& i have seen and interacted with
my share over the years
but there was something
in this moment
that made me think
of 2000 years ago
in Palestine
how this person would have been described
as having an unclean spirit...
there were teachers and healers
who wandered the land
who were very sought after
and respected for their ability
and skill in healing and dealing with
these kinds of people
for being able to caste out
of a person
an unclean spirit
and help return that person
to sanity...
because in the life of a village community
one such crazy person
could really have a huge effect
on the peace of the place
and the presence of such a crazy person
in the community could so easily be seen
as a poor reflection on
the welfare of the whole community
this was of course
before we had
any cops to call
& any loony bins
to send people to
for someone else to deal with
one of these groups of healers
where an order within
the ultra conservative Hebrew sect
known as the Essenes associated
with the Qumran Community
on the Northwestern corner
of the Dead Sea
just up the trail from
the ancient city of Jericho
these healers who wore
long white flowing robes
and wandered the land
ministering to the sick
and the lame
and the poor in spirit
were known as
the Theraputae...
their specialty was
casting out unclean spirits
and all forms of dis-ease
because the absolute truth
they were working from
enable them to speak with authority
in the name of god with a capital g
their approach was to see a
person as a soul
a divinely perfect aspect of god
the creator
the soul was inhabiting a physical body
a body as a soul-bearer
each soul
a divine spark of consciousness
("...the lord god of hosts..." ?
is the body the host or
is the soul the host?
if the soul is the host
then what or who is the soul hosting ?)
the idea was
1. to be direct
to speak directly to what might be
afflicting the (Host?) soul
2. to remind the afflicted
of the absolute truth
of their ultimate existence
in the realm of god.
"the truth will set you free"?
3. to speak with divine authority
because as children of the light
we all have permission to do so...
to be grounded in this truth
and act from this place of groundedness...
imagine being so sure of the reality
of your relationship
with the creator...that you could speak with authority
or "THE WORD"
?
THE DIVINE VIBRATION
after years of time spent
in the wilderness
of the soul
facing the nature of ones own
being as a human
and divine spark
overcoming
and dispelling the illusions
of ones own "demons"
and undergoing all manner
of initiations to trigger
what can be triggered
and humble what there is
of one to be humbled
one would undergo
the teaching of The Way
undertaking to be a living example
of the truth as you wander the land
directed by spirit
to minister to the hungry in spirit...
?
because their approach
was working with
the spiritual reality
first and foremost
they had a measure of success
in dealing with
crazy people
or
maybe they were the only ones
willing to give it a try...
and not be satisfied with
just letting crazy people
just be crazy...
so when people in a town afflicted with
a person with an unclean spirit
saw a Man of God or a seeker of The Way
come walking up the road
they might have felt some cause for hope
that if only for a little while
there was somebody around
to deal with the old crazy lady
or weird uncle Festus...
what we know of these healers methods
is written in the 4 gospels
of the New Testament
Mathew, Mark, Luke, & John
where arguably at least 60 percent
of these writings are tales of healings
to the point where Mary Baker Eddy,
the founder of the Christian Science Church
based on her book
SCIENCE AND HEALTH
WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURE ,,
referred to the gospels as a treatise
in spiritual healing...
there is a really interesting story
in there about how a man had 7
spirits taken out of him
and when he went back
to his clean house
how he invited more
that were worse than the ones before
which brings us to permission
it would seem from observation
and studying the literature
of several traditions on the subject
that most of these nutcase situations
involve a measure of permission
on the part of the inflicted
to allow either a healing to take place
or for the disharmonious conditions
and aspects to enter in...
also the medical intuitive
Caroline Myss's
book and lectures
on Why People Don't Heal
comes to mind...
so i'm sitting there thinking of all this
munching on my jar of olives
from the 99cent store
and i see the crazy man
walking up the other side of the street
being crazy...
and virtually invisible in our landscape
but
ever counted by the universe
who seems to use
everyone
conscious or unconscious
for the greater purpose
the great work
of our mutual
reawakening
our collective
spiritual evolution...
and the spirit
of this brother
ever so nonchalantly insane
a model of an african american man
who has probably lost his mind
somewhere on the path
has inspired me
and you
to think
deeper
of the world
and the universe we now live in
what go on here ?
a child who
he's parents celebrated
on the day of his birth
now wanders the streets
of the great city
lost
in illusion
sound familiar?
a matter of degrees
"...for the grace of god
there go i..."
?
prayer is spiritual technology...
?
posted by david alexander english at 8:25 PM
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