Interspiritual Ministry

A Sample Sermon/ Inspirational Talk

The Big Fear: Spiritual Transformation

Good morning.  I hope the morning finds you well of heart and well of spirit, because I want to talk about something that we don’t usually discuss much. I want to talk about fear. Specifically our fear of becoming what we know deep down inside we are meant to be. I’m talking about our fear of spiritual  transformation.

            There is a lot of fear in the world today. Fear of what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq. Fear of what is happening with Iran. Fear of what is happening in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank. Fear of drug violence along the border with Mexico. Fear of lone gunmen killing people randomly in public. Fear of families turning inward with violence and killing each other. Fear of the economy and the collapse of our country and the world. This is a fear we know well. We all know someone who has lost a job.  Some of the people here have lost jobs. Are in “Employment Transition.”  And those us of who do have employment, fear the possibility that it might disappear tomorrow. It is as though we are all living through some great Buddhist teaching on the nature of impermanence. One of Buddha’s teachings was that all things change and all things end.  Nothing lasts forever. Or as Buddha’s Greek contemporary, Heraclitus said, "Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed." Just so. Everything we know, everyone we know, our selves and our bodies, will pass from existence at some point. And we don’t know when that point will be. Now if that thought doesn’t cause some fear to arise, you’re not thinking about it deeply enough.

            I have been thinking about it deeply. And about the economic crisis the world is in. And it dawned on me that for those of us who have declared ourselves to be on the spiritual path, this economic crisis is like a foreshadowing of the world we might create. Not the final version, but the chaotic chrysalis from which a new version of the world might be birthed. Birthed that is, if our stated hopes and desires were to come to fruition. What do I mean by that? Well, if you take even a passing look at the global financial meltdown that we are all living through it’s pretty clear that root culprit is greed. Greed for easy money. Easy money on stock bets. Easy money for homes that couldn’t be afforded. But even without the massive greed, our world economy is built on the back of greed’s close cousin; materialism. We have built a world where if we do not all continue to buy things that we do not really want and do not really need, the global economy collapses.

            And here’s where the frightening thought comes in. Every spiritual tradition in the world teaches us that the deeper our experience of Te Divine, the deeper our spiritual transformation, the less interested we become in material things. The greater the spiritual change, the more we learn to be in the world, but not of the world. So just imagine that for a moment. We’re all looking for spiritual transformation. That’s what we say at least. And we are all looking to spread that experience of The Divine to others. Our hope is that regardless of religion, or even absence of faith, that everyone in the world will have a deeper experience and relationship with The Divine. But if that happens, if that truly happens, the world as we know it would come crashing down around our ears. What would happen to the global economy if suddenly our rampant materialism were to dematerialize?  If the current global economic downturn is in part the result of less demand for material things, what would happen if that slackened demand became profound and permanent?

            Take a moment and think about that. It’s frightening. It’s a frightening because it’s a total unknown. We would all hope that a more enlightened citizenry would produce a more enlightened society, but no one really knows what that would look like. Is that a reason not to create it? Not to seek a world embrace of The Divine? No. Not at all. But I think that fear of the unknown, both conscious and unconscious is part of the reason it isn’t happening as fast as we might all hope.

            And it isn’t happening in our personal lives as fast as we would hope either. And the reason, I believe, is that same fear. Or variations of it.  At least it’s not happening in my personal life as quickly as I would like. I know the reason for that is my fear. My fear of spiritual transformation.          

            What do I mean by spiritual transformation?  That’s a good question. There’s a lot of talk in spiritual circles about spiritual transformation, but it’s not always clear what that talk is really about. So I’ll lay out what I mean by it. Not to say that my view is the only view or even necessarily correct. We’ll each have our own ideas about spiritual transformation.  That only makes sense. Spiritual transformation is something that happens for each of us individually. In our own hearts, minds, and lives. So what you mean by it may be different from what I mean, but if you know what I mean, at least we can begin to understand each other.

            So, for me, spiritual transformation has five aspects; Awakening to, Embracing, Abiding in, Experiencing, and Expressing The Divine. First, what do I mean by The Divine? Fortunately in this room we have all agreed that it is okay to disagree about The Divine. We all believe that we don’t have to believe the same things. We all experience and conceive of The Divine in our own ways. Sometimes it’s the ways of our parents, and sometimes it is the exact opposite of what our patents believe – just because they’re our parents. So, I’ll tell you what I believe, how I conceive The Divine, and then going forward you can just silently fill in your own belief, your own conception, every time you hear me say the words The Divine.

            For me, The Divine is the Ultimate Ground of All Being. What the Buddhists call the Dharmakya and the Hindus call Brahman and Christian mystics call Godhead. For me, everything is a manifestation of The Divine. You, me, this building, this world, the sun, the stars, the whole kit and caboodle. The Buddhist  Lankavatata Sutra phrases it like this: “When appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, it is called the “Suchness” of Reality.  This universal, undifferentiated, inscrutable Suchness is the only Reality… and when all things are understood in full agreement with it, one is in possession of Perfect Knowledge.”

            Now, for me The Divine is impersonal. Beyond and transcending ego and personhood because it encompasses all that is. But I also believe that we are beings that need to conceive of things in the personal. We need to conceive of The Divine as God, as Yahweh, as Allah, as Vishnu or Shiva, or Orisha, or Avaloketeshvara. And maybe these conceptions have reality in some realm we can not see. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. What matters is our relationship with The Divine. Opening our hearts to that which is beyond our individual selves.   If everything is a manifestation of The Divine, nothing is more or less divine. The rock is not less Divine than the ocean or the dog or us. The difference is in the ability to experience The Divine. The rock will never know it is a manifestation of The Divine.  But then again, plenty or humans won’t realize it either.

            So that’s my nutshell version of The Divine. And it is at the root of what I believe spiritual transformation to be. For me, for something to be spiritual, it must connect with or evoke The Divine. That’s why the first of the five aspects of spiritual transformation is Awakening to The Divine. No transformation, no real and profound transformation, is possible if we are asleep to the reality of The Divine. We can be very good people, very loving and compassionate people, solid citizens, but if our hearts and minds are closed to the possibility of The Divine, then no spiritual transformation will arise. You can’t grow a tree with out the seed. You can have a very nice plot of land, but without the seeds there will be no forest. And it’s the seed of experience that lets The Divine into our lives. Maybe it comes in the embrace of a loved one, or while alone in nature, or while walking down a crowded street, but eventually there comes a moment were we connect with The Divine in a direct way. We suddenly see the world differently, of only for a few seconds, and we step beyond who normally think we are. In that moment we realize The Divine. We understand it in some way. And that allows the love and compassion in our hearts to expand and flourish. If your spiritual practice doesn’t elicit a more loving and compassionate heart, then it isn’t much of a spiritual practice at all.

            When I was a young boy, growing up in rural Michigan, it was my responsibility to take the dogs out for their nightly walk. More often than not the dogs would run off down the dirt road we lived on in search of some faint olfactory treasure that I had no hope of sensing. As we walked I would stare up through the branches of the trees at the glowing mass of stars that blanket the country night, the silent children of creation; sparkling miniature suns, swimming in ebony. An avid fan of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, I knew that there were "billions and billions" of stars and even as many galaxies filling an unimaginably unfillable universe. I knew that I could not fathom the expansiveness and depth of the cosmos, but walking beneath the mantle of distant suns, the dogs licking my hands, I would stare up into the face of infinity and try nonetheless. A feeling would wash over me, slight, and nearly imperceptible. A feeling I did not label at the time, but that I later came to think of as spiritual. It was not a profound mystic experience of union with the universe, simply a deep sense of connection with everything. A feeling that, while I was an infinitesimally small part of the cosmos, I was an important part, because I was aware that I was part of it.

            I’m sure that everyone in this room has had a similar experience. And if we are open to that awakening when it comes, we can embrace it. That’s the second principle. The experience of The Divine isn’t that hard to come by. Mostly we ignore it when we find it. By keeping our hearts open to The Divine as we conceive it, and embracing it, we being to change our lives. If we are embracing The Divine, it’s not so simple to continue our lives as we have always done. Because we know the truth. Or we at least glimpse the truth. And a glimpse is all we really need. Enough to hold that vision in our hearts and nurture it. And the longer we can hold it, the deeper our transformation will be.

            Abiding in The Divine is the next aspect of spiritual transformation.  Experiencing The Divine isn’t so hard, and opening out hearts to embrace that expedience is even easy for some of us, but holding that experience and filling our hearts with it until we begin to see everything as a manifestation of The Divine is where the real fun begins. If we can abide in our vision of The Divine, whatever that vision is, we begin to see real results. We stop seeing ourselves as we normally do. We become less interested in ourselves, in our own ego-self mirages. We start to see ourselves as manifestations of The Divine. We begin to know ourselves as Divine. And if we abide in that knowing strongly enough we fall easily into the next aspect of experiencing The Divine.

            By experiencing The Divine, I mean that we begin to see the whole world as something of a mirage. Where we used to see people and things as separate entities, we begin to experience them as direct manifestations of The Divine, inseparable, as being of the same essence, the same nature, but being expressed in different aspects. I believe it’s at this point that deep spiritual transformation begins.  Once you are abiding in your own nature as a manifestation of The Divine and are experiencing the whole world, the whole of the universe as a manifestation of The Divine, then it is only natural that you will begin to express The Divine in all the things that you do. That’s the final aspect. Expressing The Divine. If you are really fully embracing and abiding in The Divine, then your words, your thoughts, your actions, will begin to be reflections of The Divine. You will begin to manifest The Divine in all that you do. You will become an embodiment of The Divine.

            That sounds nice right? That sounds wonderful. Blissful. Sublime.

            Then why are we so afraid of it?

            Maybe I shouldn’t make assumptions. Maybe you’re not afraid of it. So I’ll talk about me. Me? I’m terrified of it. Oh, I talk a good game. I’ve had my taste of The Divine nectar. But I didn’t try to swallow more. Not really. I make myself lift the cup to my lips again and again, but no matter how sweat the taste, I can’t stop thinking of it as bitter medicine. Like my grandmother trying to get me to swallow that spoonful of cod liver oil.

            Maybe other people don’t have this reaction. Maybe everyone else is gulping down as much of The Divine as they can stomach, but I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think so. I think most people are just as terrified of The Divine, of really spiritual transformation, as I am. Why? Well, I can’t tell you why anyone else is afraid, I can make guesses, but I know why I’m terrified of spiritual transformation. And I wish there was only one reason. Let me share a few with you. Maybe they sound familiar.

            Reason number one I fear spiritual transformation: I’m afraid to let go of who I think I am. Everything I’ve read, everything my spiritual teachers have told me, everything I’ve experienced in my own small way, all of it says that real spiritual transformation will force me to let go of who I think I am. That’s terrifying! If I’m not who I’ve been told I am, if I’m not who I’ve been telling myself I am, then I’ve been wasting a hell of a lot of time and energy keeping up some insane fiction. But it’s not just a fiction, it’s a comfortable fiction. I’ve grown used to it. There are things I would change. Maybe a little more self assurance, a little less self doubt, but on the whole I like this guy called me. My wife likes this guy. Even when I’m annoying she likes me. So why change a good thing, even if it’s not perfect, for the hope of something better? That’s like asking me to give up my house, regardless of the fact that it needs a new roof, for the promise that I don’t really need a house at all and that the whole world will be my home. Madness! I like my “me” and I’m not giving it up!

            Of course, real spiritual transformation, healthy transformation, doesn’t destroy the ego-self, it just destroys the illusion of its separateness being real. But that destruction of illusion leaves us looking into the unknown, and that is the second thing I fear. Not knowing what I will become if I am not the “me” I have always thought myself to be. Of course, I’m not the “me” I thought I was ten years ago, or twenty years ago. Not if I think about it really hard. I’m not even the “me” I was last week. Or even yesterday. My memories give me a sense of continuity that is illusory.  The past doesn’t exist. My memories are just that. I am not my memories. And if I abide in The Divine a little while I start to see that I am not my thoughts and emotions either. I’m not any of that stuff. I’m The Divine looking through these eyes, through this mind, manifesting as this body. Even now, as I think about it, that thought terrifies me. Excites and exhilarates me, but terrifies as well. I know in my heart that if I truly embrace that vision, truly open my heart to that transformation, that the story won’t be about me anymore. Right now I’m the hero of my own adventure. I’m the important one. Sure there’s my wife and loved ones and friends and a few people I really like having along as side kicks and bit players, but if I really let myself wake up to The Divine, my show gets cancelled. I’m not the leading man anymore. Suddenly it’s an ensemble piece and I’m just one in a cast of billions. I might not even have a speaking part or a close up. And what’s the story going to be about then? I know the story now. I can tell you how it ends. Or how I hope it ends. But that story is a manifestation of my mind, not The Divine. The story The Divine is telling looks the same as mine from one angle, from the angle I’m viewing it from, but the real story, The Divine story, is told from every vantage point. And no one’s story or view is unimportant. Everyone’s story is the same story.

            The other stories are the next thing I fear. The people behind those stories. Especially the ones I know and love. The ones who love me. What happens when and if I change?  Let’s say I have the courage to really embark upon the spiritual path, what happens to all my relationships? Relationships are hard enough as it is. What happens when I no longer see the world the way my friends and relatives do? As my wife does? We’ve all experienced this to some degree, I’m sure. Old friend’s whose politics have changed. Or yours have changed theirs haven’t. Family members who don’t believe in spirituality of any sort, much less God or The Divine. How will people treat me if I am no longer caught up in the concerns that dominate their lives?  Will I be abandoned? Ostracized?  Left alone? Will I have to make new friends all over again? What will the world think of me? How might it change my life? My work?  All those thoughts of change and possible upheaval quite honestly scare me. And they should, I believe. These are real concerns.

Of course spiritual teachers tell is that when we escape the bonds of our limited separate selves we are open to new possibilities and less concerned with old ways of being, but still, it’s not like the fear that accompanies switching jobs or moving to a new city, it’s more like the fear of leaving behind everyone you know and love in the hopes of finding them again in a whole new world. And why am I afraid? What am I really afraid of and for? I’m afraid of losing the love and affection that I have come to enjoy. But if I am really abiding in The Divine, I won’t be interested in how much others love me. I’ll be interested in how much I can love them, regardless of their feelings for me. If I’m really deeply experiencing the world and all its people as a manifestation of The Divine, then I’ll be so filled with a universal love and compassion that I won’t worry about silly things like how much people love me.

            And wouldn’t you know it; that scares me too. The whole idea of universal love and compassion gives me the willies.   It’s hard enough having occasional compassion for the people I really care about, much less a universal compassion for everyone, every living thing.  Let’s face it. That’s a lot of work keeping your heart that wide open. And I’ve spent my whole life picking favorites. How else will people know that you really love them if you don’t have more love and compassion for them than everyone else? How will my wife know she is still my soul mate if I have universal compassion for the whole world? Universal compassion means no one is special. How to you give the same full hearted love to a stranger and your mother or husband or wife or child? And how will your loved ones take it?  They want to be special. We all do. If my wife suddenly told me that her heart was as filled with love for the people on the subway car as it was for me, I’d freak out.

            But is it really the love and compassion we receive from those close to us that makes us special? What if it’s the relationship that makes us special? Is it possible for two people to have universal love and compassion for the whole of the world and still be madly in love with one another?  I believe it is. But with that level of love and compassion comes responsibility. Once you are that filled with The Divine, once you are that filled with love and compassion, once your heart is that open, the weight of the world is upon your shoulders. You’ve received a gift and it is a sacred obligation to try and bestow that gift upon anyone who is willing to receive it. That is an awesome responsibility. It should not surprise you to learn that I am more than a little frightened by that level of responsibility. To have your whole life and the focus of your existence redirected toward the well being of everyone else, honestly it makes me tired just thinking of it. Can’t someone else do it? Why me?  What if I fail? Worse yet, what if I succeed? Nothing creates more responsibility than success.

            Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe responsibility isn’t a burden. Maybe it’s a privilege. If you really want to special, except some responsibility. And the first responsibility I can accept is for my own spiritual transformation. But how do I do that? How do I overcome my fears of the unknown to embrace my destiny in The Divine?

            As with every really profound spiritual question there are many answers. So I’ll give you the three that I’m trying to work with. Three simple answers because anymore than that and I’m likely to get confused.

            First, practice. You need a spiritual practice and you need to engage with it consistently. Whatever it is. Meditation, contemplative prayer, ecstatic movement, ritual, vision walks, whatever it is, dig into it deeply and do it daily. Now, no one is a worse offender to this rule than me.  That’s where the second principle comes in. Patience. With yourself and the journey you are on. You won’t be perfect even when you have perfected yourself. Relax about it. Spiritual transformation is like learning to ride a bike. You keep falling off until you don’t. So have patience. And some compassion. Not just others, but for yourself and the fact that you are only human. And if we can have compassion for ourselves and others, this can help us over come our fears of spiritual transformation. In Mahayana Buddhism one does not try to attain spiritual liberation for one’s own sake, but for the sake of others. You don’t strive for enlightenment for your own bliss, but in order to be able to lead everyone else to the bliss of The Divine. Do it for yourself, sure, but do it also for your friends and loved ones. Your embrace of The Divine will make you happier, it will make those around you happier, and can lead to a happier world for everyone.

            And a happy world for everyone takes me back to the station where this train of thought began. Remember when I asked you to imagine what the world would be like if everyone was undergoing profound spiritual transformation? What the world would be like if we cared more for each other than for the things we could buy?  What it would be like if the basis for our society was not capital and commerce but was instead compassion and communion? That world is possible. It can become a reality from our Divine dreams. And there is only one thing standing between that Divine world and us: Our fears. You know mine. Look at your own. Stare them down. Expose them to the flood waters of your heart. Lather them in love. Wash them with wisdom. Dissolve them in The Divine. Then practice your path with patience and compassion. So you can Awaken to the Divine. Embrace it. Abide in it. Experience its ever-present Reality. And Express it with all you do. 

            Thank you for listening. OM AH HUM. Amen.  Astu.