Leaping Religious Rifts in a Single Bound

I spent the weekend with a number of longtime men friends. And amid the hiking and cooking and guitar jams we had some deep and sometimes heated discussions. One of the questions that came up was “Is it possible for me to commune on a deeply spiritual level with someone who believes God wants me to burn in hell for eternity because I haven’t accepted Jesus as my personal savior?”
I expressed doubts about the prospect. First of all, anyone who accepts whole cloth a doctrine that Jesus himself never put forth in the first place, is not likely to be a critical thinker, is not a contemplative whose thoughts would have a lot of value to someone who is delving sincerely into the deeper nature of spirit. If you won’t even question doctrines that seem preposterous at the outset like “It’s God’s will to hurl billions of new souls every year into the cauldrons of never-ending agony because they happen to have been born in non-Christian cultures.” then I’d be an idiot to inquire about the deeper nature of spirit through a discussion with you.
One of my friends said this sentiment revealed a prejudice toward Christians. I had to wonder. If I’d have said that it would be fruitless to have a discussion about the deeper nature of spirit with a person who believes that it’s God’s will to torch all Jews, would he say I’m prejudice against Nazis? I don’t think so. Just because you slap the label Christian on your forehead doesn’t mean anyone who detects a defect in your thinking is a bigot. Is a Muslim a bigot to question the thinking of Islamic extremists for blowing up innocent people deemed “infidels”? Just because a fire-and-brimstone Christian’s parallel rational is not as overtly violent, doesn’t mean he’s not unclear on the concept of what constitutes a loving God. Call me a prejudice rat bastard but I’ll be seeking counsel on such issues as compassion and unconditional love elsewhere.
Still, upon further reflection I amended my opinion on a number of levels. “Is it possible for me to commune on a deeply spiritual level with someone who believes God wants me to burn in hell for eternity because I haven’t accepted Jesus as my personal savior?”Yes.
One doesn’t have to be blocked from an insight into another’s or one’s own Buddha nature by the half-baked ideas that come out of a person’s mouth, We are not our thoughts and beliefs The deeper nature of spirit may be revealed through our generosity, grace, capacity to love (despite the restrictions put on that practice by our dogmas.) Our natural radiance, the music we make, the light in our eyes when we are excited, the tender ministrations we give to a pet are the true revelations of essential spirit regardless of any mean-spiritedness that may have been drummed into our heads. We are all emissaries of the light despite our “selves.” We just have to remember that we can share in deep spiritual inquiry better with some people by talking to them about the weather than by talking to them about God.

Doing the Beauty We Love II

I count myself lucky. I took early retirement from an inner city school district that, bless its desperate heart, provides life-long health insurance to retirees. As long as the district doesn’t go bankrupt (again), my wife and I can enjoy some peace of mind regarding healthcare that citizens of other developed nations take for granted. More good news: New computer programs have given people like me the means to produce books and recordings on a scale unprecedented in the history of artists. Plus now there’s the Internet, of course, which enables us to market our works worldwide without corporate entertainment vendors calling the tune. It’s a new day.
Some of my friends are mystified that I would risk economic instability at this time in my life in order to serve that jealous mistress called “the muse.” Conventional wisdom says you work full-time at your day job until they escort you out the door, beefing up your pension well into decrepitude. Then, just maybe, you won’t end up on the dole one day.
I try to explain that if my life is rich, I don’t have to be. I may never be able to fully retire, but if I’m doing what I love for a living, why would I want to?
To paraphrase an old country tune, I see most of humanity looking for happiness “in all the wrong places” They mindlessly ravage this lovely, fragile Earth in a confusion of fear, delusion and zealotry. They grope blindly for a little ray of joy in gas-guzzling mini-tanks, bank account breaking homes, and blood diamonds. How can I go along with this madness when I know a certain kind of poetry set to music, or a particular story well told, could reveal a whole new, happier, less self-destructive approach to life that would be better for all concerned. This is my cause and I’m sticking to it.
Remember Julian Sands in “A Room with a View,” howling his creed from atop that spindly sapling? “Truth! Beauty! Freedom!” he cried before the young tree collapsed beneath him. If he mentioned “Financial Security!” I must have missed it.
The Bhagavad Gita, one of India’s sacred texts, says, “It is better to do your duty badly than to do another’s perfectly. You are safe from harm when you do what you should be doing.” I believe that. The universe seems to take care of characters like Henri Rousseau, who didn’t pick up a paintbrush until his forties, or Henry Miller, who wasn’t published until about that same age. Goethe’s oft quoted adage – “Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has beauty, power, and magic in it” – applies to people of all ages. And so, as Rumi, that ancient Sufi master, wrote, “Let the beauty we love be what we do.”
Until the world understands that real security doesn’t come through building missile defense systems or investment portfolios at the expense of the planet, but through developing the insight to know better, I’ll be writing my songs and stories and blog posts, letting the beauty I love be what I do. So here’s to Truth! Beauty! Freedom! And the boldness to champion them at any age.

Tad Toomay’s first CD “Touch the Sky from Where You Stand” is available at www.cdbaby.com. Learn more about his work at www.tadtoomay.com.

Doing the Beauty We Love

I’m at an interesting juncture in my life. While many of my friends are winding down their chosen careers, I’m finally trying in earnest to get mine started.
When I was younger I made my living as a musician. I had passion and talent for this calling but apparently not enough to overcome its inherent challenges. My dream of playing meaningful original music to thoughtful, appreciative crowds never progressed much beyond a steady series of lounge gigs playing to rude regulars at gin-soaked watering holes. Night after night I found myself “Stuck in Lodi Again,” trying to please people whose idea of a fun night out was to perch on vinyl stools talking fantasy football while occasionally acknowledging the existence of the performer in the corner— but only on the condition that he focus his gifts on tunes already run into the ground by a thousand radio stations. When catering to the culture of “gimme the usual,” one’s labor-of-love original work remains a wad of folded paper lodged deep in the bottom of one’s back pocket.
The lounge scene can be rough. I know of major label performers who’ve been forced to stop in the middle of a song to ask the throngs to quiet down so the few people who wanted to listen actually could. This is why The Beatles stopped touring – and they weren’t even playing honky-tonks. Willy Nelson tells stories of playing on stages surrounded by chain link to avoid being cold-cocked by flying Coors bottles.
When playing at bars feels like playing behind bars, you know it’s time to make a change.
So suffering the neglect felt by many a worthy minstrel, I pared back my gigs, moved to an obscure little town on the coast of California, and began to pursue my other passion – writing – with new determination. A couple of years later I had penned 300 pages of tightly crafted, fast-paced, vibrant and timely fiction. In other words, I was flat broke with no prospects and finally had to get a real job. So again I followed in the footsteps of many world-weary artists before me and became a full-time teacher.
Ever hopeful, I envisioned leading deep discussions about life-changing literature amongst inquisitive young scholars. But, sadly, being an educator today more likely involves doing five hours of en masse behavior mod with reluctant readers, followed by five-plus more hours of teacher meetings, committee meetings, parent meetings, lesson planning, test prep and grading. Something had to give, and it wasn’t going to be my sanity. So I moved on from my day job and, over the course of the past several years, fashioned a part-time career in education that I truly enjoy: teaching adults how to speak English. No behavior mod, no grading, no attitude. Instead, I earn an adequate hourly wage and have a student body that looks upon me as a liberator, not a jailer. Best of all, I have time again to tend to my creative life, long since gone to seed and weed.

(On Tuesday: Goethe wrote – “Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has beauty, power, and magic in it” In "Doing the Beauty We Love II" we discuss the beauty, power, and magic of boldness!