Intraperfectability and the Christ Source
A far out manifestation of Emerging Truth – Sparks.
“For there is nothing hidden that will not become revealed.” Q gospels
“Blessed is the Spirit within the Human body” Om Mani Padme Um
For many Quaker Universalists and our kindred pluralists on every continent we notice how both for the past and in the momentary possibility of our “Now” how we encounter impermanence. This article asks us to consider this experience and ask how we can practice different expectations around the qualities and noticings of impermanence with the practice of “Expectant Waiting” as Quakers; and, to examine how this is outlined in Thomas’ Gospel of Q and in Universalism of the Om Chanting.
Friends are at times discouraged when we seem to arrive at Meeting already full of Messages to share. Many modern friends can attest to having participated in ‘popcorn’ Meeting for Worship (MfW). These can be Meetings in which the Ministry, ‘Sparks like a fire around the compass,’ and don’t leave pause for regathering the covered Spirit; or, in which Messages seems to be emergent; and, that this message can emerge in ‘cross talk’ in which competition or a response to earlier messages or converses or debates rather than arriving in a natural unknowing or simplicity of Spirit.
Rather, we are encouraged to sit in a silence anchored in Expectant Waiting for a Light of Truth to \ cal ministry that may not be know the the messenger until they are standing in the meetinghouse and speaking/sharing. Yet, as pluralism is a generous welcome to all who attend; and as we increasingly come from many divergent POVs sects, backgrounds, cultures and beliefs: Quakerism may be becoming more universalist, more secular, more non-theist. Yet? Can we find a core spiritual vocation that ties 21st century worldwide Quakersim to what it grew out of in Christianity of England and Europe in the mid-Seventeenth Century? I believe we can.
To get there, we can take an awkwardly non mainstream travel with Jesus, Buddha, and others into the interplay of peoples and trade from Jerusalem to China along the Great Silk Road.
Let’s start with Ancient Asian spirituality. Like Jesus Buddha was raised in a time without buddhism. Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ[1] (Sanskrit: ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ, IPA: [õːː mɐɳɪ pɐdmeː ɦũː]) is a text for the mantra that expresses the ‘I’ in the sacred experience. Translated it is meant to express the “praise to the jewel in the lotus”,[4] or the declaration or aspiration meaning “I in jewel-lotus.” For many it is seen as the condensed form of all Buddhist teachings. Evidence of a ‘legitimate union’ between a human gift and revelation and the lotus flower perfection of nature-supernature can be felt and experienced in this expression.
We have this union in Judaic, Islamic, and Christian tradition, in Indigenous and Native American spirituality, and in spiritualities from every corner of the globe. This experience and the intrinsic nature of being in relationship with divine as a form of generosity, faith, and practice has been explored for millenia. Yet, the relationship and it’s experience is irreconcilable.
This confusing union of heaven and earth, of the mystical and the sublime, of nature and supernature are taken up by mystics, Quakers, and many spiritualities in recent protestantism and in many ancient religions that are precursors of Christianity.
Quakers are a conforming body. We conform to the Unity of the body and to the shared experiences of a Faith and PRactice that is constantly updating in the emergence, reemergence, and manifestation of our faith.
Because there is no central church, that decisions are made in Monthly Meetings for Worship for the Conduct of Business
Evidence of a ‘legitimate union’ of these dichotomous worlds can be found in the Bible, in the Q Gospels (Including Gospels of Thomas). For example, Sayings four, five, and six from the Q of Thomas,
“(4) For everything is disclosed in view of <the truth>.
(5) For there is nothing hidden that will not become revealed.
(6) And there is nothing covered that will remain undisclosed.
[3]Om Mani Padme Hum
Om Mani Padme Hum is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. It first appeared in the Mahayana Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra where it is also referred to as the sadaksara (six syllabled) and the paramahrdaya, or “innermost heart” of Avalokiteshvara.[2] This short article seeks to link the Gospel of Thomas, Quaker ‘revelation,’ The use of the Om mantra in many diverse eastern philosophies, and
The intraperfectability of the Christ source is a dependent origination without proof that seeks experiences that can be shared in Messages among F/friends as our world encounters the impermanence of living. Both for our past and in our momentary Now we encounter impermanence with the practice of “Expectant Waiting” as is outlined in Thomas’ Gospel of Q and in the Universalism of the Om Chanting.
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