Interfaith Services of the Lowcountry

The Acts of God? The Relationship between God and Nature:
Could Nature be Evil? Would God Create Suffering?
A Response to Pat Robertson and An Expanded Spiritual
Understanding of The Interdependent Impact of
Religion and Culture on Nature
The Rev. Peter E. Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, famines, floods, ice and frigid cold, and last week’s large earthquake in Haiti are among the most devastating natural events any person or nation has to endure. It seems as if “Nature in all her fury” has been unleashed on a hapless humanity, and you can hear pious and vengeful people desperately proclaim, “This must be the wrath of God!”
Natural disasters like this recent one, in which many people die, pose certain, tough theological questions and concerns for us. In our desperation, We ask: Are these the acts of a loving God? Could these catastrophes be some cruel punishment? Can Nature be evil?
Each person and each religious tradition has had to wrestle with these questions. Each has had to work out answers for what could cause these events to occur, and each person is compelled to ponder whether or not evil exists in the natural realm, in our world, and what, if anything, we can do about it.
My own personal and spiritual beliefs about this topic are not the common way most mainline Christians think or accept. It is closer to an Eastern spiritual outlook, closer to a Vedantic approach or more aligned to a Buddhist perspective. My conclusion maintains that evil can never originate in nature, but that label of human projections of evil owes its existence to human perceptions, ignorance, arrogance, and greed.
These various and pernicious pronouncements coming from harsh evangelical attitudes, are tragically and uncritically accepted by a poisonous accretion of culturally reinforced, skewed moral and religious outlooks.
Commonly, we hear people attest to the belief that natural disasters are “Acts of God”. This popular term might be adequate as a catch all escape clause or dubious insurance category that excludes your home from coverage. The “Acts of God” referred to in insurance policies are exemptions from coverage because there are certain kinds of events are seen as being beyond human control, therefore, beyond corporate claims of liability. However, it is quite insufficient for any mature theological evaluation.
In contrast, a more ecologically sensitive theology looks at these acts as stresses and physical outcomes of natural phenomena, as a part of God’s world- a natural world that includes within it patterns and designs, our need for adaptability to nature, and our recognition of the need for humility and responsibility for all that happens on the face of the earth. Religious teachings, when compassionately and scientifically understood, ask us to practice the humility needed to accept and respond as best we can to what we can control, and to take responsibility for lessening risks and providing for adequate safety. It is up to the religious leaders and their interpretations that brand a particular naturally occurring events as being good or evil to cease from delivering those uninformed moral judgments that speak of blessing and cursing, as if human actions could alter the natural patterns of weather, climate, and geological realities. Instead, these clergy can rightly encourage positive attitudes, negate prejudices, increase our respect for natural environment and teach in the ways that dispel our cultural and religious fears about nature, and the estrangement from nature that was prominently taught in prescientific versions of God and nature.

The idea that these admittedly terrible disasters are the acts of a vengeful, capricious God directly implies that we still believe in an Old Testament deity; an anthropocentric Lord, who acts like a critical, vengeful father. Such a God willfully inflicts abuse and divine wrath on an erring and sinful people. Nature then is seen as in conflict with humanity and therefore how nature is understood becomes an instrument of God’s pleasure or punishment!
A belief in an all omnipotent and omniscient paternal God has its roots, as I understand them, in the necessity to explain what science had not yet revealed, and when this power is considered psychologically, the whole concept of a powerful, vengeful God is a necessary belief until humanity as a whole matures and evolves in its beliefs and understanding. The necessity of having a God in control, or that doles out punishment through nature remains a useful concept only as long as we humans continue to act as if life doesn’t matter, and that all our rewards are to be found in heaven or in our next lives. If we truly practiced what all the great world faith advise- a universal human compassion- an outlook that, for example, takes socioeconomic justice as a foundational virtue. Until humankind chooses to develop a society and an economy that works valiantly against the human sin of greed, self, political power mongering, and other behaviors, we will need a scapegoat God that addresses the imbalances in human nature as punishment doled out for our sins, social imbalances, and our ignorance.

This archaic prescientific idea of deity, then, is depicted as a severe justice-maker who directs and designs a destructive, cleansing process through disasters and natural upheavals. This outlook makes purely natural events into God’s revenge or the righteous outcome of our human disobedience. Whether or not you agree, this attempt to discern the meaning of such natural phenomena is noble, at least on the surface- its motives are to try to teach how God corrects humanity, balance the divine scales of justice, and set the world straight. Yet, since we have had disasters since the time of Noah, we could rightly ask, when is humanity ever going to learn? And furthermore, these disasters occur with equal frequency among all the nations and peoples, all the beliefs and faiths around the world, so being a Christian is no better answer to avoiding the suffering that can occur. (a case could be made that it is happening MORE in Christian societies, or is it that its happening more in countries that consider themselves to be Christian, but, in reality are far from it?)
Whatever re-balancing the human ego or the modern society needs, it does not originate in the intelligence found in the natural world order; indeed, while it may be reflected symbolically in the various physical conditions and circumstances we encounter, like a mirror image. I am willing to speculate that human beings can create certain kinds of climates around them by their accumulated actions; whether that refers to emotional coldness or referring to the hazards of sanitation and pollution that change our atmosphere and create disturbances in , on, or above the earth.
Since many of our leading scientists such as Rupert Sheldrake consider the Gaia Hypothesis as viable, that the Earth as one whole, living, interdependent organism, that there is only one life balanced and shared between us, this approach can be worthy of serious consideration.
What is known is that the objective rules of the Cosmos, the laws of Nature, know nothing of divine punishment inflicted on humans. They act and respond to one another according to homeostasis-the desire for all things to achieve balance, harmony and grace. What a human being makes of how weather, storms, and eruptions etc.,affect them, is our personal and cultural concern, not nature’s intent to inflict some lesson.
I believe the ultimate source of the physical world is found in the spiritual or the metaphysical-just as Genesis states it: “God created the heavens and the earth….” This creation is not capricious, or whimsical, there is a reason and an order behind it, the wisdom and the Spirit of God. This creation of heaven and earth is based on impartial, divine, objective laws that govern the physics of mass, friction, motion and density and so forth…. As humanity learns about these scientific laws, and then abides by them, respecting their operation and outcomes, then we can build and coexist within its harmony. Another way of putting it is this: There are Holy Laws that govern all creation and existence. Our human task to find out how these laws function, and build our lives and our world in full accord with them.
What about the question, Is Nature or can Nature be evil? In the first priestly (P) Genesis account of the Creation, at its culmination, after all has be manifested and the world created, God pronounced all that God had made as being very good. (1:31) not just all right and acceptable but good, VERY GOOD! There is no mention of nature as being created evil, or that is to be used and abused in some inferior way.
The natural world is perfect, and complete unto itself. Only humanity arrogant actions and ongoing disrespect can upset its balance or disrupt its process of generation and change, its natural rhythms and cycles of life and death, decay and rebuilding. Thus, nature is not wicked, bad, corrupt or evil, nor does the world stand apart from the Creator God who made it.
God, then, is not a removed force and a distant entity as taught by classical Theism, but God is a panentheistic reality-a spiritual presence that is in the world, in creation, and is also before it, above it, and beyond it.
If God created the world and all that is in it as good, where did evil come from? Evil is not divinely authored, it is not original nor is it a part of the Creation story. Neither is evil equal to, or co-existent with God, thereby being an immortal force that is also eternal. To assert that physical matter has within it, some inherent good or evil, or that matter has a moral bias or basis within it, would be to claim that morality as we know it, is present in every cell or clod, that the apple knows that it is intrinctally good and the worm knows that it is evil in some way.
Instead, it seems to be to be more valid to state that the evaluation of anything as being good or evil rests within human thinking, religious theories, and not in clusters of particles or swirling electrons. Nature’s rules and laws exist and function totally outside human whim or control, and beyond the pious projections that would blame cultural conditions on some force that is beyond human responsibility or control. My conviction is that the laws of the natural order rest on divine principles, and therefore are oblivious to any human labeling as good or evil, just as nature operates according to its laws and totally disregards the human differences called race, class, economics, or convenience! However, we can and we do influence the patterns and responses of nature by how we conduct our civilization, and by how we create energy, use energy and how we treat the natural resources we have all around us.
Evil can be seen as the result of distorted intention and misdirected moral energy, that is created by selfish human beliefs and sustained through ignorance, greed, and fear. We get the climate or environment we deserve!
Because a certain group of humans, on one, small, peculiar sport on the earth, in a small, solar system lit by a substandard runt of a sun/star, in a fringe galaxy, among millions of celestial and orbiting bodies in the entire universe, … Just because this small group of humans finds that the workings of those cosmic laws involved them in shifts, changes, storms, and other events of nature, and that those humans then decide that these changes are inhospitable, unfortunate, even disastrous, does not automatically make nature an evil, a villainous force, or some despicable adversary.
Over the centuries of our human existence, which is a mere blip in geological time, the progressions of human culture have commonly, and I believe falsely concluded, that various geological, meteorological and celestial events should be labeled as good or bad. This is a cosmic joke; for we religious humans have classified Nature in a cruel, arbitrary, and selfish way. The same rainstorm that wipes out the corn crop in one nation, then crosses latitude and longitude to become the life saving moisture in the next country.
To summarize Jesus: “It’s not fair, but the fact is the rain falls equally upon the just and the unjust”- not as punishment or reward, not as censure or gifts, but because it exists. We are the ones who decide whether or not these events and phenomena are good or evil; and like it or not, we have decided to make negative conclusions on the basis of fear, ignorance, and superstition rather than on the basis of science, and metaphysics.
But, looking back on recent occurances, you might exclaim, what about all the recent Midwest floods, Florida hurricanes, and earthquakes in California, not to exclude the Tsnami of 2006, or the most recent devastion in Haiti? Events where hundreds, even thousands of people die, and millions in property can be destroyed. Are not these kinds of misery and the horror of such occurrences sufficient to be called ‘ God’s curse or Nature’s death blows?” No; its not. Cursing or blessing is only an accurate assessment of the relative human value you place on the experience-depending on your personal involvement or investment-your particular risk.
It is neither good theology or objective science. What matters for most humans is the consequences of the natural events and how those events and experiences affect their lives, safety and security… Some things, like the eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s was considered disastrous for those who owned the forests, lumber mills, and building stocks. However, in the same state, for the apple growers, it was quite a beneficial boon. You see, the eruption effectively eradicated a severe locust infestation, and the ash from the explosion was an excellent fungicide, and a terrific fertilizer that created a bumper, quality crop! Now, it is wonderful to report, that new growth and animal life have returned and the cycle of life is renewing itself. Its all a matter of perception and judgment that determines how you see a natural event as good or evil.
Life, nature, and even the human body and the laws that govern every part, are continually trying to achieve balance or homeostasis. Equilibrium is the dynamic, ever active goal. It matters little to the vast universe if we measure this principle in barometric isobars, seismic Richter’s scales, or in factors of disease resistance. However humanity wants to measure the effects of the natural world ‘s attempts at achieving balance, whatever we want to call it, and however we choose to understand, it is only a human and cultural concern, with its particular consequences for each person and for the society they participate in or culture to which they belong. For example, if someone chooses to live along an active fault line, in a flood plain, on the side of a volcano that’s their choice… their risk, and their problem! (As a child, I lived on the highest point in my town; we had to have a special lightening rod installed on our roof to protect us… we were hit every few years, but our precautions made us safe… When I lived in Marshfield, MA, I was required by deed and by law to own flood insurance; I needed it only once in eight years-during the great Blizzard, and then I really needed it! As a scholarly professor of mine once put the risks of life , ” We all have free will, “Ya pays ya money, and ya takes ya pick!”)
At, first, my approach might seem cold and cavalier-it might offend your sense of empathy and caring about others, and what happens to them when a natural calamity hits… Let me assure you that compassion for the human dimension is not abandoned or dismissed. Of course I want to see the Red Cross and disaster relief being given, but I do not think that people who are living in a precarious place (particularly if they have the economic means to live elsewhere) should be given a blank check in economic and ecological responsibility particularly if they choose to rebuild to remain living in a danger or high risk zone, nor should insurance companies unduly be allowed to refuse coverage for people who are willing to pay for the additional risk premium.
I feel deeply for the pain experienced by people in those afflicted places around the world- and I cannot help but reflect on the fact that except for a certain twist and turn of events in my life, I would be living near LA, the minister of a church in the California that wouldbe right in the middle of the forest fire and quake zone! If disater struck me, would I arrogantly rebuild or would callously blame nature, when the real cause of the calamity might have been humans literally playing with fire?
To return to theology, the question remains how, if you believe in an all loving God, would such a God permit or allow such death, grief, and destruction? I can only begin to answer that question because Theodicy or the problem of evil is the hardest question in all religion and theology to answer. My attempt at a satisfactory reply has to be found in the concepts of free will, ignorance, and human self-interest. Only though greater education, through greater spiritual and community responsibility can systemic approach to ethics and corporate responsibility be applied, and with that awareness, the impact of human choices can be better understood.
Because God made us upright and free, we are also given dominion over the natural world by way of our reason and our compassion. Dominion, however, is not domination. All too often, the anthropocentric religious view places humanity in control, whereas the accurate translation of this Genesis charge is to place humanity in cooperation, so that we wisely and fairly govern the use of the land, water and sky resources and living conditions. Only when we realize our human part in preserving balance and harmony can many of these disasters be diminished, and when they do happen, to respond to them openly, that is, without blaming God, or believing in curses.
Regrettably, the modern world and its decision-makers are still fast asleep. Ignorance still prevails in poor land management, in bad city planning, and inadequate storm protection systems. Much of the disaster can be traced to faulty architecture, and other tragic oversights. As a part of a Newsweek magazine article puts it: “Terrifying as they are, earthquakes kill and injure people mainly because buildings fall on them; an earthquake at its bottom, is a man-made disaster.” (Japanese E-zone building codes, designs etc. vs. LA.)

As it states many places and in many Scriptures, God, through these laws of action and opposite reactions, cannot be mocked. Whether you are aware of these homeostatic self balancing laws governing health, agriculture, energy, or shifts in the earth’s crust is secondary- they are ever active, and it is up to us to align our lives in accord with the lessons they teach. If the principle of balance and self-correction is operating, then it is up to humanity to learn from its insights and blessings, and also to cope as best we can with its tragedies and terrors…
God, as I understand and as I believe in its divine reality, is dynamically natural and compassionately neutral. God has infused this world with an wise and meaningful design that often transcends our human awareness, and that often successfully defies any attempt to completely and logically categorize God’s will or divine actions into some neatly codified religion or dogma.
However, it is in the very holy paradox that is God- found on one hand in the awe-inspiring grandeur of nature and the transcendent beauty we can find, and on the other hand, there is the intimacy, comfort and solace we receive from intuitive affirmations, prayers, and other assurances that also attests to the importance of believing in the reality of God, cannot be reduced or diminished because we cannot fit God into some neat and tidy scientific theorem, or dogmatic creed.
Putting it as plainly as I can, it is ignorance of human safety, and the unwillingness to provide for proper education and environmental preventions, becomes and will sustain our greatest human tragedies, whether it concerns health care, AIDS, violence to our children, or volcanoes.
Spiritually understood, we have been created capable, reasonable by God, and we can aspire to work, to build and to live harmoniously with nature, respecting its natural rhythms and laws. My hope is that out of each natural disturbance, we will increasingly learn how to respond by changing policies, establish better safety codes, more efficient travel, and ways that honor the earth and create better cooperative structure for human society. As awareness of our stewardship of nature increases, responsibility for our behavior increases. As the advancement of society continues, the creation of safe, healthy living standards, working environments, will be more readily established, so that we , too, correspond to natural laws, and will dispel arrogance and selfishness concerning nature and our blessed natural world.

Most of us here willingly acknowledge that we make choices where we will live, and we make provisions for our choices as best we can. Each of us has admitted that no life situation is completely without risk, completely safe, nor can we remain safe and healthy without some cooperation from our families, friends, and neighborhoods. It makes sense, environmentally and
personally, to live according to our possibilities and up to our responsibilities. Disasters, especially the parts that are directly contributed to by human err and ignorance can be lessened. If we remain stubborn or unaware of what needs to be changed or provided for, we will remain more prone to calamities and travesty.
I believe that each person, neighborhood and country has to first work concertedly to overcome denial and convenience, and pay more attention to the choices we face, the choices we have to make.
My answer to this question is not a callous one, just a realistic one. I am concerned our egotistic propensities will keep us from working effectively together to eliminate any and all suffering that is avoidable. I remain hopeful that either through suffering or disillusionment with religious teachings that separate us from nature, that we will willingly abandon them in favor of through compassion, knowledge and meaningful change.
Here is my foundational premise: That a God worth knowing is one that is worth listening to, as a presence in our lives that offers us guidance and wisdom. As a presence, it functions best as a source for compassionate initiatives, ethical interactions, wise counsel, and that fosters both discretion and discernment when faced with the results and actions of the natural laws, cosmic energies, dynamic tensions, and all the undulating and awesome rhythms of life on earth.
Concerning nature, it cannot be evil; for these acts of God are the manifestations of a natural, supernal grace- a grace, a gift, but these gifts do not offer an escape clause for human and personal accountability. God and nature are good. God’s laws serve us easily and well. As we learn to abide by them respect them, harmony reigns. The earth and it environs will always be in a state of change and response to change. Changes, for human beings always contain risks; and possible dangers seek solutions and the best options have to be provided for and chosen.
In God’s world, evil has no place, and with positive human caring and compassion, we can enjoy a life that is relatively free of natural disasters. We have been given dominion, which is the privilege of living interdependently with all of nature. It is in the force of our reason and by our choice to live unselfishly that we will set envionmental standards that will sustain life for all citizens and all creatures. In God’s world, evil has no power, if positive human caring prevents it from occurring. As we claim our awareness and our responsibility, as we develop wisdom and empower greater preventative measures, our world will become as God created it: harmonious and good.
As I see it and believe it, my life bears witness to the reality of an Incarnational God, a power and a presence that infused in all nature, and present within each person and that is active and dynamic in everyone of us.
As it pertains to coping with disasters and tragedies, whenever I find the presence of an energy, a consciousness, a caring that is beyond the norm or the expected, for me, God is there. In this regard, Altruism, for me, is the most convincing quality of God’s presence in humanity. I state this as a part of my personal faith. And I say this in full admission that it can be convincingly argued that humankind has an innate secular, philosophical, and unconditional regard for one another that doesn’t necessitate a belief in a God to be active or realized. But I prefer to see unconditional, altruistic love as the apotheosis of humanity- our Godlike qualities revealed and expressed; that we, as responsible, caring human beings act as if we understand that we were, according to many Scriptures, born in the image and likeness of the Divine, and it is through acts of compassion and altruism that image becomes polished, and is seen in its clearest reflection….
Now I know, that such an Incarnational Theology may seem strange or unrealistic for many of you… After all, there is ample evidence of human cruelty, selfishness, and disregard for nature and much of the rest of humanity… It is easy then to see how some religions have championed the belief in sin, punishment and damnation for our human vices, and have cried out in dismay at our regular penchant for acting so demeaning, and exploitatively toward one another…
I prefer to agree with the formative Unitarian theologian, Theodore Parker, when he said that he believed, that despite whatever evidence to the contrary we might put forth, that the universe, through God, is bent toward justice, and as the tradition of the mystical church East and West has always held: Ubi Caritus, Deus Ubi Est: Wherever there is love, there is God.
So then, where is God to be found in the midst of human suffering, wide spread destruction, and tragic, sudden death? My answer: Very nearby!
God, as the heartfelt impulse and compassionate, responsive relational presence of universal good is found in all that we can offer to one another: God is found in every spoonful of milk, every crust of bread, every live saving medical supply, every piece of lumber that rebuilds homes; God is found in every hug, every sigh of empathy, every tear of empathy, every prayer of hope and promise of condolence we genuinely feel or can give…
As last words, God is found in the quality and depth of our caring; and it is sustained as belief and reality in every way that honors, respects, protects, and loves our sisters and brothers… We are children of one great love-we are all kin, in the family of God. AMEN

Benediction: Psalm 24: Eccleisastes 9

Who then, are of God? Those whose strength is in their compassion, and those who let God’s love shine through their hearts and hands….
Eccleisastes 9: [" Since the same fate befalls us all, the evil and the good, the pious and the profane.. For the race does not belong to the swift, nor battle to the strong, nor riches to the brightest, but time and chance happen to us all."] Therefore, be wise, be loving, be unselfish- live well, work well, and care for one another. So Be It!

A Brief Reflection on Becoming A Spiritual Warrior

Today, I will focus on how this new yet ancient spiritual approach that validates and can direct the particular hunger that men in our world are experiencing.
While feminism has had its proponents, and victories, we have seen its reluctant message become more mainstream, men of all ages are finally summoning their courage to look at the shadow side of our masculinity found in war, greed, selfishness, and hostile competition. Men from many of the developed countries are actively questioning social, economic, and political assumptions concerning roles and responsibilities. Men are also calling into serious question the images of masculinity in our music and films that promote violence and depersonalization of both men and women. In the 1970′s, liberation movements for men consisted of drum circles and the Iron Man Wild John ideas that frankly, became comic and largely ineffectual when it came to transforming Pentagon priorities or Wall Street abuses. Now this quest, for initiation and radical change, for empathy and understanding, for dignity, and for finding the lost dimensions of our souls while letting our spirits grow and be free, is, under political, economic and family duress, arriving at a level of depth and maturity rarely realized in earlier decades.
Along with political and economic reform, this striving for a new definition of what it means to be a man is what being a peaceful and spiritual warrior is all about.
(now before the women in this gathering recoil or rebel… Of course, women can be warriors… But that often centers on reclaiming or recapturing the masculine energies in themselves, and that integration is a worthwhile goal… But as a man, I cannot fully speak to that… But it is clear that such necessary alchemy and growth towards individuation is the right path as such transformation or wholeness is a universal human need.)

The principal reason I emphasize the need of men to awaken to the depth of their character and to the greater sense of meaning and purpose in their struggle to be alive, strong, compassionate, and at peace, is because our whole world, maybe its very survival, depends on men learning these lessons of how to possess a vigilance for peace, for upholding human rights, dignity, and self worth in their days and in their ways that neither an illustrious sense of title, worldly power, or a bank account can truly give them. There is no equation that states happiness is equated with money or power… Happiness comes to men when a man feels useful and when he is able to express his positive emotions when and where it matters most!
As one my “Socrates” or one of my mentors, Matthew Fox, puts it there may be no greater need that adopting a warrior mentality. A warrior is different from being a solider… “A solider follows external orders, usually to accomplish some external goal, whereas a warrior finds his or her strength and purpose in following their hearts…” Fox is the principal modern exponent of Creation Spirituality- an inclusive, earth centered approach that honors science, the world religions, the arts, and what can be called the best of the human spirit. He puts it this way:
“To become a spiritual warrior encourages us by challenging us to risk- to go beyond social expectations and the ordinary ways of perceiving and relating. It asks us to look within and to acknowledge the wonder and the reverence that can be found in oneself, life, and in all our sacred relationships. ”
The reason the old, fearful forms of religion still endure is found in the abdication of human responsibility for the world, our cultural priorities, and our families. There is tenacious part of the human psyche that feels that it is easier for us to accept being passive, afraid, even guilty, than it is to accept our personal responsibility as powerful co-creaters of our own world.
Fox defines it further in these words: “[A spiritual warrior learns to let go- Letting go of comforts, security, of past images of himself, or past ways of relationships. It is being willing to risk the unknown for what is yet to be. Here the essential masculine task is to learn what serves growth and goodness, and then to obey one's inner wisdom directives so that he can practice only what will not harm him or live in ways that will not robs anyone else of their dignity, freedom, and respect.]” To be a warrior then, in the understanding of Creation Spirituality, requires the journey of a lifetime. It is a sacred, intimate, yet all inclusive quest, that seeks out and tries to find what is authentic, real, and nurturing to oneself and affirmative towards others. How? It is having the inner awareness, insight and confidence to face down negativity and evil in all its disguises.
When one gains that courage, that strength of will, that is when the real or the deep work begins; the work to see what it is possible to heal and restore, to truly know deeply what the world and what life requires of you.
As a spiritual warrior, you will be asked to face the greatest enemy- oneself; and you will be enlisted to support others in their battles and challenges for the sake of the world, for all biological life, and for the future of all the children on the planet.
Creation Spirituality urges you to engage in life’s promises and pitfalls, with an open and willing heart. For the way of the true warriors are full of growth and change. As we intentionally create and transform who and what we are, for who and what we can become, we serve our world needs and promote by our example what a more enlightened rlationship, family, or society can become.
I invite you this dayand to each day that affirms and celebrates our need for greater peace in ourselves and in our world, to learn more about this approach and others that also serve the cause of harmony, beauty, balance and peace. Let it be an opportunity for you to express more of who you are, and how you can participate more fully in spirituality and in the original blessings that have been given to us by God, or good!
Namaste, Shanti, Salaam, Pax,
Blessed Be, Peace…

A Reflection on Simplicity and Life
” the Great soul, Mahatma Gandhi once commented on the pace of Western life with these words-He said:There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

I agree. There is more to life that all the rush and push and fast talk we seem to have to endure… There is more to life than all the endless mental gymnastics and endless chatter of “he said, she said”… There is more to life that all the running around, all the spending of energy, time and effort on maintaining an image in the culture; or spending more and more time with red tape while doing less with the time and energy that really matters. Why not learn to slow down, to simplify, and give quietness a chance to teach you about truly listening and tuning in? Why not simplify and give a sense of peace a chance to show us how it is that we should live?
Thoreau is still the one who said this best. In his reflection on how and where I live he made this statement:
To effect the quality of each day, that is the highest of the arts. Every [man] is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of contemplation …
Still, we live meanly, like ants… like pygmies we fight with cranes… Our lives are frittered away by details. An honest man has hardly need to count more than ten fingers or in extreme cases, he may add his ten toes… and lump the rest! Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, not as a hundred or a thousand. Instead of a million, count a half a dozen and keep those accounts on your thumbnail… Simplify, Simplify!
Reduce all other things into their proper proportion…
Simplicity in life leads to an elevation of its purpose.

A collection of advice from Thoreau on simplicity:
Believe, that you do not have to live out the endless days your lives in quiet desperation; You do have choices. You need not sacrifice your life to make a living. You have within you to achieve something more satisfying than wasting your energies acquiring things… You can, if you will, imbibe in the beauty of nature, the meaning of the universe… You can start living now, instead of tomorrow or next year… Simplify, Simplify, simplify!

FROM WALDEN SOUNDS
For I cannot sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or the hands. I love a broad margin to my life…
A [ man] must find occasions in himself… Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect( a new perspective) every hour ( of each day.)

SOLITUDE

Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having the time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals, 3X a day, and manage to give each other only another taste of the same , old moldy cheese that we are.
We live thick and are in each other’s way; we stumble over each other and I think that we lose some respect for one another

WHERE I LIVE

To effect the quality of each day, that is the highest of the arts. Every [man] is tasked to make his life , even in its details, worthy of contemplation …
Still, we live meanly, like ants… like pygmies we fight with cranes… Our lives are frittered away by details. An honest man has hardly need to count more than ten fingers or in extreme cases, he may add his ten toes… and lump the rest! Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity!
I say, let your affairs be as two or three, not as a hundred or a thousand. Instead of a million, count a half a dozen and keep those accounts on your thumbnail… Simplify, Simplify! Reduce all other things into proportion… Simplicity in life leads to an elevation of its purpose.
Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry. … I perceive that we inhabitants (of New England) of this society live this mean life that we do because our vision does not penetrate [beyond] the surface of things. We think that what is that what appears to be…
In eternity there is indeed something deep, and true, and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here… Let us spend our lives conceiving of them- be it life or death, we crave only its realities.

“The Virtue of Simplicity”
The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

We are currently living is what can be easily called the busiest era of human civilization. The routine that surrounds and pervades our daily lives has never been so complex- so confusing, exasperating, or intimidating as it is now.
What makes us so frantic, anyway? Does it have to be that way? How many of us have taken the time and the courage to examine our deeper reasons for doing, and ask what makes me, or what makes Johnny and Jane run??? Could it be that we, as a culture, have allowed ourselves to get hitched to a treadmill or better yet, be placed on a gerbil wheel without being able to get off? Have each of us created our own feelings of being too busy to truly live- too worn out to enjoy much of anything called the good of living? Is there a different way?
It appears to those who would try to observe us- from political spin doctors to social scientists, from media moguls to contemporary theologians- that our culture, thrive on doing-going-working… Have we become the human form of the Energizer Bunny? Being active is fine, but to the point of exhaustion? No wonder so many people get tired and worn out! Did we have to get sick, as a person or a society before we will learn to slow down, relax, and find more meaning in doing less? Why it is as if our entire population has to find a place to go ….
That we have created a culture of mad-hatters-always rushed, pushing, constantly checking everything from their watches, their voice and e-mail constantly. As a culture, we all suffer from being overly committed to so many tasks, jobs, duties and extra responsibilities, that we can lose track of what else could be considered as defining a full and satisfying life. We have to stop and ask ourselves: Is there any other way?
Are there any other motives, values and outlooks that can constitute a life worth living? Are we so caught up in believing that fulfillment comes from the pressure to do more and more that we have to become robotic to complete it? Are we potentially afraid of standing still? Does any feeling of having spare, empty time threaten you? What about simplicity?
All too often, the word simple is linked with either being simple-minded, being dull or a sense of boredom. Or that being simple and practicing simplicity is someone one is forced to do- because, after all, isn’t complexity what life demands and to reject our cultural standards makes you into a some leftover hippie! My contrasting perspective comes from Thoreau: [That life is not defined or fulfilled by trying to keep pace with your companions, living fully means that you step to a different drummer- the tune of your soul.]
Choosing to be intentionally more simple in our approach to life can contain many lessons, insights and opportunities for wisdom. Simplicity is one of our most neglected virtues.
What is simplicity? It is an attitude that welcomes or invites a deeper consideration of life’s treasures. Simplicity has, as its primary goal the redemption of time. Simplicity ask us to cultivate an improved outlook on your intrinsic value as a human being, not as a human doing… As someone who honors their relationships with enough time and with sufficient attention; to be someone who has also made time for their creative, reflective, spiritual or deeper self- which is a greater step toward wisdom and integrity, especially once we reach mid-life and our mature years.
Choosing or electing simplicity is definitely is not what being a simpleton implies; for a simpleton is someone who follows a series of mindless routines without thinking or perceiving deeply…
Who knows, maybe being so caught up in the confabulated details of our culture is, in its operating realities, an ironic twist, because that pressure contorts us into becoming ethical simpletons… where we make up our minds too quickly, based on empty sound bites and slick media images- never giving ourselves the time to seek out or reflect on the meanings within the messages with depth or completeness…
To voluntarily choose simplicity as a guiding virtue or primary outlook rejects our dizzying cultural pace that works to threaten our harmony, and our tranquillity. Electing simplicity asks us to choose only a few tasks or priorities and then allow those choices to teach you daily, so that you can safely and securely avoid the enticing cultural traps of busyness which robs us of a more balanced perspective.
Simplicity asks us to set a deliberate pace for our lives- a pace, a rhythm, and routine that allows greater self-expression, caring, and dedication. Simplicity remedies the beleaguering intensity of life without accepting any of the opposite-a soul-empting boredom. Thoreau’s admonition to “Simplify, Simplify” and to live more deliberately, is not corny idealism, it is a creative challenge- it is the conscious intention to pay attention to our involvements and to choose our commitments and activities wisely and well.
Another understanding of the virtue of simplicity comes from the opportunity it creates to address those neglected or ignored parts of ourselves and our world. The practice of simplicity opens us up to discovering the gracious in the ordinary; the miraculous in the everyday, the wonder and the beauty found in nature, in a quiet pond, in another person’s face. Ask yourself: Why did I huff and puff to plant roses in my yard if I never have the time to smell them!? Only you can make room for beauty, for nature, art, or music…
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If you are always “on the go,” you not only risk missing out on what are called the extras of life, you risk missing or ignoring life’s essentials.
Simplicity is a worldwide virtue. From by Buddhist studies and my introduction to the Oriental culture, the insights and depths of simplicity can be learned from the more Zen-like approaches to house holding: from sparse beauty of brush painting to Ikebana or simple flower arranging; to the decor of a singular Bonsai tree that is a graced by elegant stone and smoothly raked sand. Less is more because of the truths that can be found in a life that contains fewer distractions. There, the mind rests; and in the simplicity of design and decor, one can have the relaxing luxury to contemplate the completeness one can find there.
What about simplicity and all the rush and push of your daily responsibilities? If you remain tightly wrapped up in a complex cocoon of work, sleep, food and family, you might never allow yourself to spread the wings of your heart to appreciate any of them fully. Simplicity is an open, fresh and eager attitude that seeks to slow you down and seek to uncomplicate your life. At the same time, simplicity unfolds the roses of life to reveal a depth of opportunity, experience and understanding that offers us true civility- access to more artful ways; craftsmanship; gentility and politeness; and maybe the area most neglected- the need for true intimacy, friendship, or the depth of honest relating- that provides the heartfelt antidote to the unnecessarily tragic questions:

“if only I knew that was the way you felt…
Or I did not realize how much it meant to you …”.

Lastly, simplicity and sincerity, humility and authenticity are closely linked. In the various translations of The Bible and similarly throughout the texts of all the great Scriptures and traditions East and West, the authors will often use them interchangeably. When we read such poetry and allow time for its inspiration, we can contrast their message with the complex materialism and frenetic superficial concerns of our culture. As I see it, adopting an attitude or an approach that emphasizes simplicity will be an important step in our personal growth or in our spiritual development….
We can take a much deserved satisfaction in fostering and ascribing to our simple, questioning faith. We recognize that in its simplicity, we find its worth, and find its depth, for we are free to choose what we want to believe in, and how we use our time, and how we are to live. … We attest to the possibility that one can live a noble, useful, and compassionate life without any restrictive or complex creeds, doctrines or dogmas.
As Elaine St. James has recently written in her book about Living The Simple Life:

[People today are realizing that they have given up too much in the effort to have it all. The primary objective of most of them is to have more time for their own life dreams or for the people that they love, and for doing those things they really want to do.
[Simplicity] is about deciding what is important to us, and gracefully letting go of the things that aren’t. When you start slowing down, cutting back, creating time-real time for yourself- the important things become obvious. Once you simplify your life, you begin… you do your best work; and You can start… to live your best life…
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So, if your life appears to you to be too busy, too strained, too hectic-then try simplicity! Reduce your workload in every superfluous or unnecessary way you can, but do not sacrifice your time for personal growth, for living out your values, or for committing to those essential activities you truly need to pursue. Simplicity as a virtue recommends that you seek to get more out of less in life, and stop adding additional burdens to your day. When you can, wherever you can, choose simplicity over complexity… Let no one or no demand in life take the gift to be simple from you, it is truly a path towards greater fulfillment and a more lasting, resilient sense of joy. So BE IT.

“Living An Enchanted Life”
The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

When you hear the word, enchantment, what comes to mind?
A fairy tale, maybe a favorite production from Disney, or a magical spell … or could it be that enchantment refers to something inner, deeper… an often unexpressed delight- a feeling that invites you to linger and to savor, to long for, and to wistfully wonder… maybe enchantment is the word we can use to describe what it means to recapture that sense of truly living, living a more soulful, & in that sense, magical life…
Now to be sure, it might be considered bizarre and strange in and of itself for a Unitarian-Universalist to wax poetic and ponder mystical and magical terms such as enchantment…. but a case can be made for how it can be approached and understood…
I have come across this powerful entrancing concept of enchantment at various times during my own spiritual and personal quest. This spellbinding word seems to have tracked along my personal journeys through psychology, philosophy. spirituality and metaphysics. As I understand it, let me state it clearly, enchantment or the capacity to become enchanted IS an answer for the seeking heart. …
In recent memory, the enticing concept of being or becoming enchanted relates to many of the questions and connections we humans seem to need or desire. In trying to summarize the many ways this is possible, I will choose three from my life’s soulful excursions that span from the universal and global to those that are profoundly personal and intimate.
As Thomas More, Jungian analyst, musician and former monk writes in his book on The Re-Enchantement Of Life, “our souls have a distinct need for regular excursions into enchantment. What food is for the body, what thought is for the mind, enchantment is for our souls.”
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Brian Swimme is a cosmologist whose scientific and inspirational writings focus on the origins of the universe.
He has been most closely connected to the international movement called Creation Spirituality. In explaining the physics of deep space, he naturally leads us into the consideration of the vastness of our own possibilities- moving from physics to metaphysics, pondering the laws and the causes of the Cosmos, he directs our questions toward an expanded, inclusive sense of the Divine, where the universe abides by its own self-sustaining holy laws- Laws that some of us would deem to be part of the grand and elegant design of an all wise, all compassionate Creator/Creatrix God whose laws and principles operate both within and beyond ordinary human comprehension.
In and through the process that Thomas More recommends as a necessary translation of science into awe and wonder, Brian Swimme introduces us to our capacity for enchantment with the larger world of nature and the life under the heavens.
In his first book, The Universe Is A Green Dragon, and in his preface to the more complete Universe Story, Swimme moves from a scholarly treatise to an emphasis on our human need for enchantment as a way to revitalize our vigilance for ecological justice, and to graciously accept our place in the universe as a treasure- as a gift that advocates and strengthens our human need for enchantment- to fall in love with the universe, the earth, with life! This feeling, that we are cared for and connected to the universe is a timeless way humanity can and has expressed the awe and wonder of life.
Q: Have you ever thought of it in that way?

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The next time you have an opportunity to go out at night, look up into that starry sky and take a few moments to look around at the majesty, the mystery and the meaning of all that vast, inspiring beauty that you can see …
Q: Ask yourself, when were you last enchanted by a star?
When was it that you gave thanks for your place in the Cosmos?

Knowing that the universe is the largest scale of life we can grasp or even try to understand, when was it that you first realized that all the elements, all the air, dust, liquid, and space that makes up the galaxies is also a part of you- that you, too are made of star stuff???
Furthermore, when was it that you first knew that there was some kind of connection here, that both you and the universe are a marvel and a wonder, a moral lesson, and can be a heartfelt comfort for one another– That both you and the universe are a part of a cosmic design where the ultimate and the intimate are reflected and connected- and that we are privileged to partake in the grace of it all– that’s enchantment!

Another encounter with the word and the ideal of enchantment came to me from my studies in depth psychology. From those insights, I came to realize the importance of stories and dreams, the value found from awakening the imagination and from the contemplative consideration of the mythopoetic dimensions of our lives.
In what has now become a classic text, the psychoanalyst Bruno Bettleheim described the importance of myths, legends, folk stories and dreams in his book, The Uses Of Enchantment.
In those pages, he describes how humanity’s myths, can be used to unlock and reveal the workings of our own human nature.
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Through his discourse, Bettleheim points to how myths and metaphors from the world’s great literature, Scripture, and
poetry, are the best way we humans have for approximating the truth– for truth is not necessarily factual nor is it logical- Instead, the truths of our being, and the realities of humankind contain within them a faith-filled, trusting dimension- a depth which has a romantic and transcendent quality within them that enchants us- that lures, tricks, inspires, and cajoles us into the truth and the soulful lesson its story line might contain.
Life is a mystery. Myths, legends and our dreams hold within themselves a key that unlocks the hidden and the previously unknown. This process of how a myth is told, how it engages you, how it grabs your attention and focuses in on its possibilities, can dynamically touch our emotions. This touch, when we embrace it, makes our enchantment with the characters, the tradition, and the lessons, an important part of our path toward greater self- discovery and toward a more complete sense of healing and wholeness. That is one of the principal reasons why I have reinvested in the stories associated with the larger, more mystical and inclusive Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage; the Myths of Arthur, the stories in Shakespeare, inspirational poetry… these have helped me to learn, discover, understand and grow… both personally and professionally…
A third way the idea and the ideal of enchantment comes to us in our appraisal of human motivations and desires. How we decide to do anything, how we focus our wills, and develop sufficient motivation, can all tie into our understanding of enchantment.

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For this approach, we are advised by Thomas More that “[the goal of life is becoming a person who is deeply and securely grounded in their delight; for one who possesses a rich imagination may be more desirable than another who is being more politically savvy, or well informed. ...
That living with a sense of passion and vision, or becoming a person who possessing a zest for life, despite all its various imbalances, idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies, might be better off than limiting or constraining your sense of self to being a high functioning, well-organized robot.]”

In my delvings into spiritual teachings, I will briefly extract a short portion from a complete theory of consciousness that centers on Sufi and Tibetan teachings. This theory contains some insights on the nature of enchantment. It states that enchantment as a kind of holy curiousity, is necessary to trap the human ego into growth and change. Enchantment is an excellent motivator for any needed or necessary transformation; that enchantment can be seen as the positive, sincere expression of interest or desire in someone, something, some ideal or higher principle.
In that way, it operates as a balance point or polar dynamic opposite of addiction, because of how it invites growth and engagement- the enlargement of one’s world, one’s heart, and the courage to pursue involvement with others. When we are enchanted, by someone, something, an ideal or a transcendent hope, we invest ourselves in them; dedicating time, energy, focus and interest towards the ideal or the goal it or they represent. Such a state could be called infatuation, but that is just the short-lived expression of the earnest of a heart-centered caring that you wish to cultivate or express.

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We can be sure that it is only infatuation when the demands and the difficulties of intimacy threaten it and easily compromise its ardor or intensity.
This points toward another principle of consciousness that states that time and love are connected- the capacity to give time to someone or something is a measure of its importance, affection, and value to us. Time and love are intimately linked; if one cannot give sufficient time to a person, a cause or an ideal, the passion for it erodes or become frustrated. Similarly, enchantment lives in a person’s heart and mind when there is a willingness to dedicate or devote time and energy, affection and support to whatever is beloved…
Enchantment deliciously invites us to the feast of life- it implores us to take the time to drink it all in, and to open one’s awareness to deliciously savor the wonders and blessings of being alive.
When we are enchanted, we live and love magically– we can easily lose track of time, and flow freely from our hearts.
When our lives can become too routine, mundane, and we can become trapped by efficiency and responsibility- we can negate or devalue that part of us that needs to soar- to be free- to wonder, imagine, to lift and to love… To the degree that we exclude the soul’s need to be inspired, enchanted, we are inviting a premature death or an inertia for our spirits. Instead of locking down, gritting it out, offer yourself the opportunity to become re-enchanted, as a gift… as a confirmation of the treasure you hold within and of the value that can be found in sharing it and expressing it. Then, as I have seen and felt it, life will have a restored and expanded sense of connection and meaning for you. May you and I, may we all learn to live more soulfully- Learn to live in a more enchanted world! Amen: So Be It! Blessed Be!