Up to you

To him who asks, give. Do not turn away the beggar. Give freely as you have been given freely. Then you will find that no matter how much you give, there will always be a need. No matter how much you sacrifice, there will always be more asked of you. No matter what you do, it may not be returned. For to him who is asked, more will be asked. To him who sacrifices, more will be demanded. To him who surrenders all, even more will be taken away. No one said it would be easy. No one said it would be just. Human notions of justice are the last refuge of those who have not fully committed. How fortunate the ones who have not done so, for they may live their lives in self satisfying comfort, never fully risking anything and always able to stand on their own accomplishments.
Lincoln freed the slaves, and for it he was shot dead.
Moses brought his people out of bondage, and for it they rebelled.
Jesus accepted all the brokenness of the world, and for it died like a criminal.
How fortunate the man who gives nothing. And so enjoy your lives of comfort. Enjoy your world of positions and objects. Enjoy the people you have, just stop trying to own them. You have your reward. You have your time.
For those who ask for more the path is narrow and the gate is hidden. Some say it looks like submission and obedience. But doesn’t everyone know about that? Doesn’t everyone feel guilt? At east those who take the path of vanity have some enjoyment with their guilt before they die.
The other path is much harder to find even though it is all around us. It is much harder to follow even though it is always calling us. It calls us to give up far more than our earthly pleasures. It asks for far more than our worldly positions. It calls us to give up even our identities. But to those who have done this you already know that all I have said is only a riddle and an illusion. Dust and shadows. That is what all you have amounts to. I’m looking for something far more real. I am looking forward to never passing away. I’m looking into eternity.
I don’t look for detachment. I don’t want to escape samsara. My Dharma is to continue on. The wheel keeps turning and I turn with it. But a Light shines on my course and I cannot turn away. Follow this Light and remember the darkness no more. This leads to the world beyond illusions.
The comforts and pleasures of this world are their own reward, but look beyond them to something that will never pass. Then you know that regardless of what sacrifice you are to make, what offering you are to give and what blessing becomes a curse, you have the choice to let your actions stop here, or echo in eternity.

Always forgiven

It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. You can transgress 100,000 times over and it still won’t leave you.
It doesn’t matter how many times you turn away. You can run as for as you want and it will always follow you.
It doesn’t matter how much you don’t know. You can never have heard the name and it has still always known you.
All these actions come from the conscious mind. This is only a small part of who we are. The Lord is beyond this and embraces all that we are as He transforms the most lowly and twisted elements into the corner stones of glory.
His work is so complete that when you look back on your failures, they are as only small distractions on a course that was ever leading to the Light. For as it is the valley of the shadow of death for some, it will be remembered as the valley of the shadow of life for us when we step fully into such life as awaits even beyond our dreams.
The designs of eternal love are beyond the small perspective of deceit spoken by this world. Thus know that to the Divine, all your sins are as nothing. How could Light be troubled by a small shadow, which its shining glory causes to be no more? How can compassion turn away from brokenness? How can a mother ignore her child?
All these is the Lord, and infinitely more. So again embrace the beloved as it has always done so to you. Find safety and hope in that comfort and draw strength for eternity to come.

Empire to come

It has been evident throughout history that religion is power. Moses lead his people to the promised land by the call of God. The teachings of Buddha informed empires. The followers of Mohammad carved out an empire.

Many wars have been fought in the name of a god or the God or some other spiritual truth. Many good things have been done also in the name of the same truths. However all such actions have only been pail attempts at reaching the divine at best and shallow and even evil power plays at worst. But none the less, such religion brought power to the hands of those who could effectively use it.

There was another who was so blessed with power. He, however never called his people to war or brought fame to himself in any way. Instead he died, but in so doing won a greater victory than any prophet or god kind before or after ever did, will or could. The empire set in motion of expansion at his death is not one that will pass. It's not one that can pass. The twisted and broken cannot fight against something so real.

The real embraces all regardless of past loyalty. Every good thing you did was in his name. His memory is pervasive and his spirit promiscuous. So shall it be for here to come. He isn't dead anymore. And he didn't leave. He lives in you and me.

The dreams

You can fall, but you can never die. You can fall back, but you can never retreat. You can be lost, but you are never alone. The Divine flows through all. No one knows where it comes from. No one sees where it goes. Without beginning or end this ring surrounds all. Who can run from such power? Who can stand before such glory? Who can look at such beauty?

Such is the nature of overwhelming holiness, and yet it turns to look upon us. And when we are taken into the gaze of the divine lord, we are lost in light and found in love. You can't question it for it silences you with comfort. You can't fight it for your power fades like an extinguished flame. You can't look away even though it destroys everything you were. So be embraced by love and overcome by grace.

In my dreams the world is created again, and I am there as the stars are set. But it is as nothing when the truths unspeakable when I awake are spoken unto me by the Divine itself. I rise and realize it wasn't only a dream.

The vision begins again. I am lost at the head of the congregation. I am overpowered by the light and love. I open my arms like the Christ crucified to embrace all the weak, lost, orphaned, sick, suffering and broken. I hope it is not only a vision. I pray it is not only a dream.

The Greatest Victory

The penitents rise and undulate as one mass in the ecstasy of worship to their god. Lost in divine union, they throw themselves relentlessly into the mass with divine passion. As a mandala the energy radiates from their center and out in all directions. Then a climax is reached. The old is cast off and light and living water flow forth to wash the worshipers. They are overcome as the old dies and they pass into new reality. Such passion and ecstasy to lose one's self in worship for one's god. Under and to the same sun all such rites are conducted.

But the sun is not God.

The sun is only a representation for the divine power that has no fixed location and no such limitation. It has no beginning and no end. It has no form and is in all form. It has nothing because it is beyond anything, and everything has its shape and meaning within its enveloping and compassionate manifestation. The root, the spring and the genesis of all responses to this compassion is beyond the scope of the limitations of those responses. No mater what sun the penitents lose themselves in holy ecstasy to, this service was done in the name of the divine.

Beyond illusion living water washes all.

And so I too am lost in light and found in love as I remember our greatest victory. Sacrifice and truly committed endurance borne of divine love brought forth battle unto death of our greatest prophet and God himself. Triumphant unto death and victorious unto life, that which gives all things shape and meaning committed the sacred rite of destruction against the subversion of reality. And his resurrection echoed across all eternity in the moment that united past present and future, and unleashed unrelenting power, bringing resurrection to all reality.

Divine Chaos, holy fire, lost in light, found in love.

All sun worshipers and even all subverters will be as well. This is our greatest victory. He is risen.

Darkness

The valley of the shadow of death is not to be feared. Suffering is not to be avoided. Pain is not to be denied. Under threat of total collapse, our greatest power and most overwhelming transformations arise. Suffering is finite. Victory is forever. Embrace the darkness and let it wash over you. From the deepest point of that darkness, the light that shines across eternity shall be set free. All your pain will be transformed. All your brokenness shall be resurrected.

Darkness gives way to light. The divine is in all.

When your own voice is a weapon turned against you, turn again to strands of truth and hold on as you are dragged deeper. When you are cut and crushed with your guts in you hands not knowing what to do look deeper still and give way.
When you are brought down on one knee and ready to submit to the oppression on all sides, step off the edge and into the abyss.

Darkness gives way to light. The divine is in all.

Fear and loathing mixed with shame and sorrow. Torn apart by regret and failure. Disemboweled. Run through. Fallen.
It is here in deepest darkness we embrace our final solice because it is here we look in and then up and in holy vision see our final victory. Ever shining in eternal radiance salvation carries us to our resting place as we hold fast.

Darkness gives way to light. The divine is in all.

Surrender only to glory and you will have never surrendered at all.

Vision

I was again staying in that place where reason is replaced by determination and determination is assaulted by despair. But despair can not be victorious even in the valley of the shadow of death for one who is actually in the valley of the shadow of life. And thus, by divine power, I was released of the weight that had gathered. The essential self was set free and light shown forth. I walked forth into the light and became one with it.

In divine passion, I saw the divine become real. I saw the light shine on all life. I saw the living water flowing through all things. I saw sacred power brake from all corruption. I saw the divine spark burning in all life. I saw all humanity lost in light. I saw all people found in love. I saw holy fire bringing forth new creation. I saw the sun rising. I saw the redemption of reality progressing.

And I found peace and contentment as I too was lost in light and found in love. I walked out in power and authority and spoke from the depths of eternity and the hights of divinity and said "be free".