The Inner Pharisee

Last week I was “conferring”,  I was at the Haden Institute, Dream and Spirituality Conference in Hendersonville North Carolina.  I was a tad worried about crossing the border into Trumpland.  Ironically, I had the easiest border crossing I have ever had.  There was only one car ahead of me in the line at the booth and the border guard just asked me what I was going to do in Hendersonville N.C. When I responded I was going to a Conference, he asked what I would be “conferring about”.  I advised “dreams and spirituality” he gave we a funny look (as usually happens), and sent me on my way.

Lorna and I have gone to this conference for many years.  Lorna couldn’t go this year because she had a family wedding to go to in Ottawa.  I had already committed to lead dream groups and a workshop so I  miss the event.  The workshop was entitled The Ego, The Bible, and the Spiritual Journey.  It is based on my book The Ego and the Bible which explores the role of the ego in many of the bible stories   (I would be pleased to give you information about the workshop or the book).  However, enough about the commercial.

In addition to the annual conference, the Haden Institute trains people to lead dream groups and to be spiritual directors.  I have graduated form both programs and find leading dream groups and being a spiritual director to be a very rewarding ministry.   In the approach dreams are considered God’s Forgotten Language; God speaks to us in our dreams but we have forgotten how to listen and understand the language of God in our dreams.  This is true of many ways in which God speaks to us.  My approach to spiritual direction is to help Directees understand how God is speaking to them and how to respond and deepen their relationship with God.

To give you an example God speaking to me in a dream, I awoke one mooring at the Conference and I remembered a phrase that was presented to me in a dream; “policies known and unknown”.  That was all I remembered; it may have been part of a larger dream but I didn’t remember anything else. It was an interesting message but it really caught my attention later at the Eucharist that morning (each day started with a worship service at the beautiful outdoor chapel at the Kanuga Conference Center).  The Rt. Rev. Larry Maze, retired Bishop of Arkansas was presiding and preaching. 

The Gospel for the day was John 9: 1-8; this is the story of Jesus healing the man born blind.  The Pharisees were critical of Jesus doing the miracle because it was on the Sabbath and Jesus broke the Holiness code by working on the Sabbath.  In the sermon (I am paraphrasing here and Larry was much more eloquent) Larry noted that the Pharisees were concerned with maintaining the Holiness Code because it had worked well for the Jewish people.  It had enables them to survive and continue as God’s chosen people for a long time under trying circumstances.  Some people had to suffer because of the code but it was for the greater good and was from God.  However, the Pharisees had allowed the Holiness Code to become an idol and they wanted the Jews to serve the idol rather than God. 

As Larry noted we all have rules which we learned while we were growing up.  They were necessary as we were growing up to help us and to protect us.  We know many of these rules but others are often not in our awareness.  We all have an inner Pharisee who wants us to obey these rules and keep us on the straight and narrow path.  However, for the inner Pharisee these rules are God.  Some of these rules will prevent or hinder us for living life fully as God intends.  They can prevent us from being and becoming the people that God intends us to be.  The message I received in my dream was to explore the “policies known and unknown” in my life which are preventing me from being the person God intends me to be. 

After much work reflection and trial and error and mistakes false starts I have explored many of the rules and regulations and policies which my inner Pharisee want desperately for me to follow.  The dream image is confirming I still have work to do to discover those unknown policies.  I invite you to reflect on what are the policies that your inner Pharisee holds are a god if not God.  

Alice and the Looking Glass Life

A couple of weeks ago Lorna and I went to see a production of James Reaney's adaption of Alice, Through the Looking Glass at the Confederation Theatre in Charlottetown.  The production was interesting—to use a non-committal word.  To be more specific it engaged me in a number of areas.  I don’t know James Reaney’s interpretation to enable me separate what was his from the director’s stamp on the production.  However, aspects of it were not, to my knowledge, contained in the original version by Lewis Carroll.  

The production set out to engage the audience directly in what could be considered a post-modern interpretation.  The audience was directly engaging with the production by having two lucky young people selected to pull a chord which descended from the ceiling.  The audience was also showered at a couple of points with objects—first little packets of jelly beans and then with streamers.  It also had bubbles descending on us at various points in the production.  I found that, at the least, it didn’t take away from the production if it didn’t necessarily add to it.  Another attempt to engage the audience was to have various members of the chorus mug the audience shamelessly at various points.  There were other things that tended to distract from the main action.  There were, as Lorna pointed out, unfortunate distractions from the meaningful internal and external dialogue that Alice engages in as she attempts to understand the curious world in which she finds herself.  Another rather confusing and unclear element was the dressing of the male chorus members in female garb.  When it became clear that the rather plain members of the chorus were actually male, the confusion took a turn to wondering why?  The idea of the director, Adam Brazier, may have been to capture the confusion of Alice in this inside out world.  However, to my way of thinking it would have been more effective to have all chorus members in opposite gender garb as in the looking glass everything is backwards and inside out. 

The production did a creditable job of presenting many of Lewis Carroll’s wonderful characters in this dream world; self-satisfied Humpty Dumpty, the poor muddled kindly White Knight, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—sorry wrong play—I meant the Walrus and the Carpenter and the poor fated singing oysters, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Natasha Greenblatt’s Alice was wonderful and her performance gave a marvelous interpretation of her character.   In all it was definitely worth seeing.

That being said, what truly engaged me was the awareness that all this Wonderland of Alice’s took place in a dream.  It harkened back to the Summer Dream and Spirituality Conference that Lorna and I attended at Kanuga Center in Hendersonville North Carolina before coming to the Land of Anne (she of Green Gables).  As in The Wizard of Oz, the girl heroine is in a dream world comprised of archetypal characters that are sometimes friendly, sometimes helpful, sometimes frightening, sometimes dangerous, awful and awe-full, and always Wonderful (thinking of Alice’s first adventure).  In a dream it is helpful to understand all the images as parts of yourself which are often just those things; friendly, frightening, helpful, dangerous, and awful and awe-full and wonderful.   

If Alice’s adventure Through the Looking Glass were my dream what would I make of all those wonderful characters who would be part of me?  What part of me is the inflated pompous Humpty Dumpty?  Which part of me is the confused, out of touch kindly White Knight who takes things literally?  What part is the Carpenter and which the Walrus, both of whom are described by Alice as “very unpleasant characters” eating the poor innocent oysters.  Indeed what part of me is the innocent foolish oysters?    The mind boggles but they are all there for me to explore.  I believe that is a large part of the enduring stories of Alice that Lewis Carroll created.    Which character resonates most with you and which do you want to avoid connecting with the most?  Enjoy your trip into the Looking Glass World. 

The Changing Image of Jesus

I have had a bit of a hiatus in writing my post.  Lorna and I spent a week (five days actually) at the Dream & Spirituality Conference at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina.  After that we went across country to the East coast with our destination being our cottage in PEI where we are now.  We had a bit of a delay getting on-line as the internet wasn’t working and did not cooperate until last night. 

We have attended the Dream Conference for many years beginning in 2005.  We missed that last two years as we were involved with the Spiritual Direction Program offered by the Haden Institute which also runs the Dream Conference.   There is a lot I could write about (and perhaps will later) that has happened in the last few weeks but I want to reflect on the image of Jesus which we encountered on our way to the Conference. 

One of the landmarks on our trip to Kanuga over the years has been a giant statue of Jesus at the Solid Rock Church near Cincinnati, Ohio on the I-75 interstate.   This amazing edifice was (according to my source on the Internet) 52 feet high.  It was named the “Touchdown Jesus” due to its arms being raised triumphantly over its head as Jesus bursts from the ground—not the usual depiction of Jesus emerging from the tomb.  The 51 feet only cover the upper half of the figure which made if even more impressive.  A few years ago we had the interesting news that the statue had been destroyed by fire caused by a lightning strike.  A picture of the statue is below and will give you an idea of the figure if not the truly impressive dimensions. 

I projected a lot on that image of Jesus and what it might have meant for the understanding of Jesus by the people that attended that church.  I must confess I was not too impressed by my impression about this Jesus. Consequently, I was somewhat pleased with the idea that God would not have been too impressed either and perhaps was making that known through the event that destroyed it.  However, I also know that we are treading on dangerous ground when we impute God’s will to natural events that match our theology.  I think it might be more a case of oversight of perhaps hubris that the creators of the statue did not include a lightning rod in the creation.  The last year or two that we drove to Kanuga we were interested (and perhaps a little disappointed) in the lack of a statue at the church.  However, this year we were pleasantly surprized when we were greeted with a new statue at the church which was not quite as impressive in size and of a very different Jesus. This statue has been dubbed the “Hug Me Jesus” statue on the internet.  It is a full body image of Jesus with his arms outstretched in a position seems to say, “Come unto me”.  Below is a picture I found easily on the internet.  It is interesting to note that they appear to have included a lightning rod in this statue.                    

It is said that we create not only God but the second person of the Trinity in our own image.  Jesus was pictured in Western-European nations as blond haired and blue eyes for many years, if not centuries.  I wonder if the change in the new portrayal of Jesus by the Solid Rock Church reflects a change in the understanding by those Christians at the Solid Rock Church of who Jesus is to them.

I think it is wise for each of us to reflect on the internal image of Jesus that we each have and how it reflects on our understanding of who we are called to be as Christians.  Blessings

Touchdown Jesus

 Hug Me Jesus