The possibility of possibility

The other night a friend and I went to hear Rabbi Michael Lerner speak. Maybe "rant" is a better word, given the speed and energy with which he spoke!

I was taken by much of what he said:

Many of us know that there is something more to life (and work) than just bringing home a pay check.

Many of us know that there is a better way to be in the world but we are too tired to resist the societal pressures to conform, or we are too tired to do anything about it, or we don't know where to begin, and so we stop looking for what that Better Way is.

For the time-being, the Religious Right are drawing people in because they are able to speak to the spiritual crisis and to the crisis of values that people are feeling.

Having had that crisis named and having it as part of the dialogue, now folks can either go to the party where the conversation speaks to their condition--even if the walk doesn't match the talk--or they can go to the party where nobody is speaking to their condition at all. So they still feel empty or hollow.

Michael then began to speak about how we need to break out of what currently is our automatic defeatist thinking. To break out of that mental rut, we need to change the bottom line and focus on things like love, caring, generosity, stewardship. We need to live into our potential and into our possibility of What Can Be, to live into our Magnificence.

And what really caught my attention was when he said that the King James version of the Bible mistranslated the answer that was given to Moses, when Moses asked of God, "By what name shall I call you when I talk with the Israelites?" The Biblical Hebrew apparently does not translate as "I Am That I Am," but rather it is more closely translated as "I Will Be Who I Will Be"--future tense.

I like Michael's interpretation of this alternate translation. He explained that this Scripture points to how God does not ask us to be who we are but rather to live into the possibility of who we will be.

God is the Possibility of Possibility.

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I Want These Words to Birth You

I want these words to birth you
to breathe life into you
to kindle the logs and twigs of your spirit
that had fallen away or been pulled up from their root

I want these words to ignite you
to inspire you
to return to you the bright magnificence
that is your birthright!

I want these words to touch those deep secret places in you
where your mind insists there is only emptiness
while your heart and your Angel beat on and laugh
knowing the greatness of the path
that is yours to walk in the Light

I want you to remember Who You Are
that you are not your fear
you are not your loneliness
you are not your misery

No!

You are your Truth, you are your Magnificence
you are these glorious jewels of your spirit
jewels and gems and gifts that have only gone underground
so that they could be safeguarded
until you realize
that the whole world spins
and the universe sings
and eager angels hold their breath
awaiting your Arrival

Be birthed, be raised up on angel wings
and greet the dawn!

-(c)1998

Blessings,
Liz