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This Tumblr is Going Away!
Hello Everyone!
If you are enjoying my blog (and I hope you are), then please point your browsers to my full site, http://www.zengnostica.com .
I will be shutting this version of the blog down at the end of April.
Thanks!
John, the ZenGnostic
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A Martyr’s Wisdom: Remembering Oscar Romero
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A Message to the Archons
A Message to the Archons
by Seijin (John J. DiGilio)
Archons, I stand before thee.
Strong of spirit, weak of flesh.
A spark imprisoned within its kindling.
A great flame awaiting its release.
Archons, I stand before thee.
I am not immune to thy temptations.
Nor impervious to thy punishments.
Thy machinations scare me so.
Archons, I stand before thee.
Child of thy same imperfect pater.
Spawn of Yaldabaoth, siblings we.
But this, mine pneuma, is not his.
For Archons, I stand before thee.
The holy light of Sophia in my eyes.
Guided by the Logos to righteousness.
As one with the Fullness as apart from it.
Yea, Archons, I stand before thee.
And for thy own salvation I pray.
Until that day, dear brothers and sisters,
I stand above thee once and forever more. -
An Earthbound Misfit
Sometimes, when I cannot find words to express my thoughts, the right words find me. Today, I was thinking ahead to this weekend’s AGC Conventicle and what I hope to get out of it. I was thinking about the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, the rampant unemployment and partisan anger here in the USA, and health issues being faced by some of my friends. Suffice it to say there was a LOT on my mind. Just as I was looking out over the river and watching the sun set, a familiar favorite came through the earbuds of my iPod. It eased my mind and my spirit. We earthbound misfits are not bound eternally. We just have to learn to fly.A soul in tension that’s learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Can’t keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I
Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,
My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air,
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly
Out of the corner of my watering eye
A dream unthreatened by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night
There’s no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, A state of bliss
Can’t keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I- Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly
Posted via email from ZenGnostica | Comment »
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Buddha the Gnostic? Did he know about the Spark?
Today is the First Sunday of Lent, I hope that everyone is having a blessed Lenten season! I read a quote of the Buddha today that made me think about a similar Gnostic teaching. Buddha may not have been a Gnostic per se, but he was certainly on the same wavelength. The only thing missing from the quote below is mention of the Divine Spark. And to think, people often ask me how I am able to reconcile my Zen practice with my Gnostic beliefs! Buddha said it best:“He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.” It is the Divine Spark that we see in ourselves and others. Can you see yours? You start with yourself!Posted via email from ZenGnostica | Comment »
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For yesterday is but a Dream
And tomorrow is only a Vision.
But today well lived makes
Every yesterday a Dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a Vision of Hope.A Sanskrit poem
Live your days well, my friends! Greet the opportunity of every dawn and look with gratitude on every dusk.
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Holy Gnosis! There’s a cure for that!
When I told her that I thought I had been experiencing a bit of the Holy Gnosis, she handed me a breath mint and told me she could recommend a really good dentist!:-) Happy Friday to everyone and a blessed weekend to come! :-)Posted via email from ZenGnostica | Comment »
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Ash Wednesday Ruminations: George Harrison & Impermanence
Growing up Roman Catholic, the central message I heard every Ash Wednesday was that one day life would end. By accepting the ashes on my forehead, I was memorializing the fact that I was born from ashes and unto them I would one day return. As a kid, I didn’t care to think much about death. Life seemed almost infinite. As I have grown older, my thoughts have indeed turned more and more to my final days on earth and the great hereafter. Though my attentions have shifted over the years, one theme has been subtly consistent in my spiritual development … the theme of impermanence. The Catholic priest never used that term when I was growing up … but he was certainly talking about the concept in those Ash Wednesday sermons. I learned a great deal more about impermanence when I began studying Zen as a young adult. One of the central teachings of Buddhism is that all things are impermanent (sometimes translated as dukkha or suffering). Another is that there is a way to recognize this and then live unencumbered by the oppressive thought that all things come to an end. When my Christian leanings led me to incorporate Gnosticism into my practice, I was again confronted with the concept of impermanence . . . impermanence in an imperfect world. Whether studying Catholicism, Zen, or Gnosticism, I learned that all things must come to an end. What makes this so hard to digest is the cloak of illusion in which we wrap ourselves. We cling material possessions and sensory pleasures as though they can keep us from returning to the ashes from which we were born. Part of enlightenment, salvation, and gnosis (call it what you will) is coming to realize that there is nothing that can keep us from our date with own end. It is also the realization that we are not this flesh or these bones … this ash-birthed body. There is something more, a greater state from which we came and will return - a place where our light will shine in fullness with others, long after our dust has settled back into its earthly womb.One of my favorite songs is George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass”. What better a tune to help us see through the illusion of life to the reality of the future that faces us all. We are all impermanent. We too shall pass. Lent is the time to reflect on this and remind ourselves just how precious each and every day is. To quote George:
All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of life’s strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another dayPosted via email from ZenGnostica | Comment »
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Remembering Valentinus on Valentines Day
Today is Valentines Day, a day on which we honor love and shed special favor on those with whom we share the bonds of love. It is a day for sweet treats and the sweet scent of fresh flowers. It is a day marked by shades of red, from the hearts on cards and candy boxes to the hues of roses to the blush on the cheeks of lovers. It is also a day on which we honor one of our most revered and ancient of Gnostic teachers, the Holy Valentinus. He may not be the St. Valentine for whom the mainstream Christian churches makes this day. He he was a man of great love. What better way to celebrate his memory and works than by sharing some of his own words on love. From the Gospel of Truth:Speak concerning the truth to those who seek it and of knowledge to those who, in their error, have committed sin. Make sure-footed those who stumble and stretch forth your hands to the sick. Nourish the hungry and set at ease those who are troubled. Foster men who love. Raise up and awaken those who sleep. For you are this understanding which encourages. If the strong follow this course, they are even stronger.
May we ever pledge ourselves to fostering love within ourselves and within our world.Happy Valentines Day!Posted via email from ZenGnostica | Comment »
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Yogananda’s Spark
I often enjoy the writings of the many great teachers of Vedanta. Paramahansa Yogananda’s small tome of Metaphysical Meditations is always on my nightstand. Picking a random passage from it is always a great way to start and end the day. I have been weighing a future in Gnostic service lately and watching all around me for signs that I am progressing on the right path. Imagine my comfort tonight in opening to the following passage:I am a spark from the Infinite. I am not flesh and bones. I am light.
Many thanks, Sri Yogananda for the illumination. I am not this flesh and these bones. Indeed, I am - we are all - light.Posted via email from ZenGnostica | Comment »
Tidbits of inspiration and mystery from a practicing Zen Buddhist, Christian Gnostic, and avowed Anarchist.
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