Eye on Faith

Saturday, May 14, 2011

George Lucas: The interspiritual force

(Author: Jeff Keyzer)

When George Lucas, a self-avowed “Buddhist Methodist,”

refers to “the Force” - what does he really mean?

Adherents.com reports that Lucas said this about the Force:

I wanted a concept of religion based on the premise that

there is a God and there is good and evil. I began to distill the essence of all religions into what I thought was a basic idea common to all religions and common to primitive thinking.

According to Adherents.com, the Force wasn’t always that

profound. In earlier drafts of the film’s dialog, it was simply

a catch-phrase that characters used to wish one another luck.

That, however, was before Lucas began “groking” such books as Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. After that, the Force began to evolve as exponentially as Lucas did.

Now Luke Skywalker was beginning to say things like this: In another time, long before the Empire… a holy man called the Skywalker became aware of a powerful energy field which he believed influenced the destiny of all living things. A bit of a leap from Lucas’ “strongly Methodist” upbringing…

Another growing influence on Lucas was Gary Kurtz. Kurtz, who first collaborated with Lucas on American Graffiti and then again with Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, was a Mormon with a wide background in comparative religion. Wikipedia reports that “many of the more mystical and spiritual elements of Star Wars were influenced by Kurtz.” Adherents.com quotes Kurtz as saying: I saw Ben Kenobi as a shaman, really, rather than a character tied to any conventional religious background.

In modern-day terminology, the Force might be described as “interspiritual.” “Interspirituality” is a word coined by the lay monk Brother Wayne Teasdale. In his book The Mystic Heart, Teasdale claims that everyone is a mystic, and that truth is “true no matter what or where or how it is expressed.”

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lucas

http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/George_Lucas.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kurtz

http://www.topia.net/interspirituality.html

http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/wayne_teasdale_non-duality_interspi/

Friday, May 13, 2011

Friggatriskaidekaphobia: Antithesis of TGIF

(Photo by W. J. Pilsak)

It’s a safe bet that on May 13, 2011, people won’t be skipping through the streets chanting “TGIF.” More than likely, they’ll be counting the hours until they can once again relax on May 14. In fact, this time around they can relax for the rest of the year. That’s

because there’s only one Friday the 13^th during 2011.

Why the big fuss, anyway? No one really knows for sure. However, interesting theories abound.

The first part of the term “friggatriskaidekaphobia” (fear of Friday the 13^th) is the anglicized name of the ancient Norse goddess, Frigg. Now Frigga was up there in the divine hierarchy. Wikipedia describes her as “foremost among the goddesses.” She and her husband, Odin, are said to have ruled Asgard (“capital city” of the Norse gods). From their thrones, they looked out over the universe to see what was what. However, Frigga would never tell what she saw coming. That in itself is scary enough to link to a fear of Friday (otherwise known as “Frigg’s Day”).

When Christianity supplanted the ancient Norse religion, Frigg’s association with love and fertility was considered suspect. She was accused of being an evil witch and allegedly banished to a mountaintop. Friday has also been feared because of its link with the crucifixion of Jesus.

Tragic events from the history of Christianity are also linked with the number 13. There were 13 present at

the Last Supper, Jesus and the 12 disciples. Wikipedia also reports that the last 13 Knights Templar were

burned alive on a Friday the 13^th.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_(number)

Edward Lear: Stuff, nonsense and limericks

(Masada on the Dead Sea, Edward Lear, 1858)

Being the 21^st child in any family is no laughing matter. Perhaps this is how Edward Lear discovered - early on - that when life makes no sense, it’s time to make nonsense.

Lear also needed to cope with extreme health difficulties. From childhood on, he suffered from grand mal seizures, which people of his day attributed to demonic possession. In order to avoid the humiliation of that stereotype, Lear became adept at predicting when his seizures would come, and at removing himself from public when they did. He also suffered with bouts of severe depression, as well as with asthma, bronchitis, eventual partial blindness and heart disease.

The visual-arts “stuff” that Lear produced is all the more remarkable in light of these challenges. As a teenager, he was already showing a great deal of artistic promise, and soon he was employed as an ornithological draughtsman. His depictions of birds were compared favorably to those of Audobon. According to Wikipedia, one of Lear’s lifelong ambitions was to illustrate the poems of Lord Alfred Tennyson.

Although Lear didn’t invent the limerick, his 212 original ones (many of which are in his 1845 Book of Nonsense) did much to popularize its catchy format. Although Lear’s limericks were chuckle-inducing, they were not necessarily philosophically enlightening (unless, of course, humor itself is a form of enlightenment).

Today’s limericks continue to enchant – with some even resembling mini-sermons. Self-described “teacher, student, writer, reluctant poet, and creative consultant” Gator 326 offers this one (amongst others):

Claiming that God is found in one holy book

Is the act of a selfish, closed-minded crook.

For what our God taught

Would all be for naught

If we fail to see Him wherever we look.

There are numerous other religious limericks in print. Some are quite striking, although far less “tame” than either your average sermon or Lear’s gentle tales…

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lear

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick

http://gator326.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/religious-poetry-limericks-to-be-exact/

http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/tennyson.html

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Irving and Ellin for Always

(Irving and Ellin)

The introduction to Irving Berlin’s song Always sounds very much like a description of some key events in his past: Everything went wrong, and the whole day long I’d feel so blue…

What primarily went wrong during Berlin’s life was anti-Semitism. He retained only one clear memory from his early childhood in pogrom-ridden Russia (now Belarus), and that was of his home being burnt to the ground during a Cossack rampage sanctioned by Tsar Nicholas II. The wooden hut with its straw beds must have burned quickly, right down to the dirt floor. Since all the other homes in this Jewish ghetto were similar Berlin’s, he was unaware at the time of growing up in abject poverty.

Fiddler on the Roof notwithstanding, Wikipedia reports that Berlin’s home town was nothing to sing about. Wild pigs would sometimes invade the muddy or dusty streets (depending upon the season) and bite young children to death. Berlin’s father sang anyway. He was a cantor in the synagogue there, and would bring his family along to participate in his melodious readings of the Talmud.

The Baline (Berlin’s original name) family eventually escaped to the Lower East Side of New York City, where life wasn’t all that much easier. Now they were living in a windowless basement flat. Berlin’s father

died soon afterwards, and eight-year-old Irving (then Israel Isidore or “Izzy”) began hawking newspapers

on the streets in order to help his family to survive. As he passed by the open doors of restaurants and

saloons, he would no doubt hear the strains of musical hits. It wasn’t very long before Berlin discovered that singing these hits to his own customers yielded more money.

Years later, anti-Semitism would again play a pivotal role within Berlin’s destiny. His first wife, Dorothy Goetz, had died tragically six months into their marriage (from typhoid fever she had contracted while on their

Havana honeymoon). Berlin was devastated, and wrote the song When I Lost You in her honor. After much time had elapsed, he then met Ellin Mackay, a Catholic heiress.

Mackay’s father was adamantly opposed to the prospect of a Jewish son-in-law. He repeatedly tried to break up their romance until the couple eloped. After that, he cut Ellin out of his will. Eventually, Mackay and Berlin reconciled. Berlin went on to author Christian classics such as White Christmas and Easter Parade, and Ellin joined a Jewish Temple. The children were taken to Passover seders and Yom Kippur services. Christmas was celebrated as a family.

Sixty-three years passed happily and intimately. Ellin died at age 85 in 1988, and Irving died at age 101 ten

months afterwards. Thus ends the song: Not just for an hour, not just for a day, not just for a year, but

always.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Berlin

http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_culture/Irving_Berlin_Ellin_McKay_and_White_Christmas.shtml

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/i/irving+berlin/always_20068114.html

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Ben-Gurion: Call of the Negev

Negev (Photo by David Shankbone)

When David Ben-Gurion (then David Gruen from Plonsk, Poland) first came to Ottoman Palestine in 1906, he helped to found the kibbutz movement. He worked as an orange picker on the “Sejera Farm” (which later became Degania Alef).

Ben-Gurion never forgot this experience. As Prime Minister of Israel, he continually emphasized the age-old relationship between the land and its people. When he first resigned from office in 1953, Ben-Gurion moved to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev. Although he returned to political life in 1955, Ben-Gurion kept his ties with Sde Boker until his death in 1973. He and his wife Paula are buried at nearby Midreshet Ben-Gurion - a communal settlement that carries on Ben-Gurion’s back-to-the-land ideals.

Ben-Gurion was a prolific author, and Wikipedia offers these quotes from his writings about the Negev: The desert provides us with the best opportunity to begin again. This is a vital element of our renaissance in Israel. For it is in mastering nature that man learns to control himself… The trees at Sde Boker speak to me differently than do the trees planted elsewhere. Not only because I participated in their

planting and in their maintenance, but also because they are a gift of man to nature and a gift of the Jews to the compost of their culture.

The Hebrew Bible reflects a similar relationship between the Negev and holy renewal. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org reports that this is the wilderness “where man met God.” It is here that “Abraham communed with God” – and it is here that Elijah encountered the Creator. It is also here that Abraham and

Isaac dug wells and formed alliances with Abimelech (see Genesis 21).

It is here, too, that Hagar cried out for her son’s life - and it is here that the Angel of God assured her: Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast by thy hand; for I will make him a great nation (Genesis 21:18).

Nations may sharply differ, yet it seems essential to remember that these common roots remain firmly planted within the sands of the great Negev.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Beersheba.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Genesis21.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sde_Boker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilaniya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degania_Alef

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negev

Monday, May 9, 2011

Lakers' defeat: Not the end of Zen

When hearty applause fades to the sound of just one hand clapping, what’s a team to do?

There are infinite options. Congratulating the winners du jour is one. Praying for their continued well-being is another. Meditating upon the oneness of all teams is a third. But what might humans do instead?

Humans might wince at the bite of a high-stakes, very public defeat. Humans might then bite back. Some might grab the reins, yell, and call three timeouts. Others might throw a forearm, or even a shoulder. All that could result in some missed championship opportunities. But it won’t result in the end of the world. And it certainly won’t result in the end of Zen.

The very word “Zen” implies a meditative state. As such, it is an experience rather than a doctrine. It is not a logical experience, but rather an experience that accepts the entire range of consciousness. Even the Buddha - on his way to “Aha” – clung to the peaks and valleys of human emotion. Once enlightened, he is said to have transmitted wisdom by way of a Flower Sermon.

This Flower Sermon was without words. The Buddha simply held up a lotus flower that had been offered to

him shortly before. Only one disciple smiled – he is said to have understood the essence of this silent sermon.

There is a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson that goes like this:

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower -but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

Enlightenment is the “all in all.” Zen awakens the “all in all.” If, on the way, some cheers and jeers arise – then so be it. They, too, are part of the never-ending “all in all…”

Resources

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2011/05/lakers-game-4-loss-ends-the-mark-of-an-underachieving-season-and-a-dynasty-in-embarrassing-fashion.html?cid=6a00d8341c506253ef015432305b3c970c

http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/717/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Sermon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Isis: Mother knows best

Isis (Picture by Jeff Dahl)

For the ancient Egyptians, every day was Mother’s Day. That’s because Isis, the ultimate mother of everyone and everything, was their supreme goddess all year round.

The story of Isis is very much a family affair. Born to Nut (the Sky goddess) and Geb (the Earth god), she ended up marrying her brother Osiris. He, in turn, was murdered by their brother Set, who was married to their sister Nephthys.

After Set murdered Osiris, family dynamics became even more complex. Isis just wasn’t going to take this sitting down. She sprang right into action, looking far and wide for the scattered pieces of Osiris’ dismembered body. After locating them, she managed to bind them back together and resurrect Osiris. Isis and Osiris then celebrated by conceiving Horus - their divine son, and Egypt’s famous Falcon god. Interestingly, when Isis knew she was pregnant, she hid in the Nile delta in order to protect Horus from the deadly wrath of Set.

There are many famous portrayals of Isis nursing Horus. Parallels have also been drawn between this story and stories about Jesus.

According to Wikipedia, Isis was described in the Book of the Dead as giving birth to heaven and earth (although this may logically contradict her previously-mentioned parentage). In the same book, she was also described as seeking righteousness and social justice. Some of her titles that Wikipedia lists are as follows: Mother of the Gods, Queen of Heaven, The One Who is All, Great Lady of Magic, and She Who Knows How To Make Right Use of the Heart. Quite an impressive “resume” – one that puts even logic to shame…

It’s no wonder that worship of Isis spread far beyond the boundaries of ancient Egypt. Jasmin Jahal reports

that “the cult of Isis spread from Alexandria throughout the Hellenistic world after the 4^th century B.C.” It also became part of ancient Roman culture until supplanted by Christianity. Neopagans continue to embrace Isis. Resurrectisis.org states: Isis was a real person. She wasn’t just a ‘myth’… We are already a ‘world family’ of Mother Isis’ children.

Resources

http://www.jasminjahal.com/articles/01_01_Goddess_Isis.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

http://www.resurrectisis.org/