The Dovian Primadoxies

Dovian Primadoxy #1:
Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.*
Love your neighbour as yourself. There are no commandments greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31)
*Note that it says "Love YOUR God," not "Love MY God." I don't care what God you love so long as you love. So long as you love your God fully and that love so inspires you to love all of God's creation. If your love of your God does not lead you to love yourself, and others more completely, then perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your concept of God.


Dovian Primadoxy #2:
"The Corporal Acts of Mercy," or what we should all be helping to do, not because "The Bible tells us to," but because we are decent, compassionate human beings:
1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Clothe the naked
4. Shelter the Homeless
5. Visit the sick and the lonely
6. Visit the imprisoned
7. Bury the dead

 
Dovian Primadoxy #3:
"The Spiritual Works of Mercy" or, those things which help us and help others in matters of spirituality:
1. Instruct the ignorant (Teach those who wish to learn)
2. Counsel the doubtful (Help others through crises of faith)
3. Admonish sins (Help people stay focused on those things which bring them closer to the Divine, and help them avoid those things which separate them from the Divine)
4. Bear wrongs patiently
5. Forgive offences willingly
6. Comfort the afflicted (This is similar to visiting the sick, but in spiritual matters)
7. Pray for the living and the dead


Dovian Primadoxy #4: Read, contemplate, UNDERSTAND, share.
Very few things have been more detrimental to the "Word of God" than the taking of a single passage, removing it from the subtleties of it's original language and context, and bandying it about (whether spreading it as gospel truth, or using it as a weapon) as if it's true meaning was fully understood.
All scripture should be examined and understood through the lens of the teachings of Christ. Does it agree with his message of love, compassion, and forgiveness? Does it move you closer to God (Love with a capital "L"), does it move you to be a better person (love yourself), so that you may be a better steward to your planet and your fellow mankind (love your neighbour)? Does it fill you with love and joy, so that you want to share it with your fellow man in a way that is meaningful?

Dovian Primadoxy#5: Any attempt to define God, limits God.
Do not pretend to know God's mind. Do not seek to judge in God's stead. Only seek to share God's heart. That is, love without restriction or condition, be compassionate beyond your comfort level, and forgive, even in the face of the unforgivable.


Dovian Primadoxy #6: God became man so that man could become God.
God became man in the form of Jesus of Nazareth so that "He" might perfectly experience being one of the human beings that he created. Jesus lived among us, as us, with all of our human faults and frailties. The Bible gives us a cleaned up and abbreviated version of his life (nobody ever talks about the time Jesus got dysentery) up until the very end. At that point, we reach a crossroads; Jesus teaches us everything we need to know to attain the Kingdom of Heaven (to become one with God again). The price for giving us this ultimate enlightenment is for him to experience ultimate suffering. He took on the extreme of the human condition to give us the extreme of the Divine condition. 


Dovian Primadoxy #7: In seeking God, so does God seek you. The journey and the destination are one.
Once we begin to realize that we and God are one, the real journey of life begins. As we move toward the Divine, we begin to feel the Divine more within us. As we love more, we will attract more love. As we are more compassionate, so will others learn compassion. As we forgive more, so the more will there be forgiveness in the world. These things are the Light of God.
As this realization grows, so will our awareness of the world around us. We do not get caught up in some touchy-feely, hippy-dippy, warm and cosy (and insulated) Divine Wonderland; instead, we begin to feel the pain of the world. This is the awareness of the suffering that we have spent most of our lives trying not to see. Once we have seen it, we cannot unsee it, so it drives is closer to the Divine within. And as we get closer, we are able to be even more loving, more compassionate and more forgiving. With these things, we are able to affect positive change in the world. Be the Light of God.


Dovian Primadoxy #8:
You do not have all of the answers.
Neither the Book nor the telescope will provide you with all of the answers. If you look for God with an open mind and an open heart, you will find Science. If you look for Science with an open mind and an open heart, you will find God. The two are not mutually exclusive. Where a scientist sees the Big Bang,there is also God saying "Let there Be Light." Where the Scientist sees evolution, there is the grand mythology of creation found the Book of Genesis. Where the Scientist sees the dinosaurs, there too is God telling Job of the Behemoth and the Leviathan which came before him.
Be of open mind and open heart. This universe is a big place. No book can contain all of it wonders, no map can chart all of its amazing vastness.  


Dovian Primadoxy #9:
The New Atheism movement is every bit as problematic as the Religious Fundamentalism that it opposes.
New Atheists are themselves Fundamentalists in their own right. They are every bit as self-righteous in the surety of their "knowledge" that "there is no god," as the Religious Right is in their surety in the absoluteness of their God. This sort of attitude from either side is so much more part of the problem than it is part of the solution.

The Hollow Man

The Hollow Man
by Aaron Michael Dove
18 March 2014

                I was sojourning in the hinterlands east of a land that was once called Eden when I came upon two young men; one was tending his crops, and the other tending his to his flock. It was the heat of the day, so I stopped and sat down upon a flat rock. As I watched the young man bundling his harvest efforts, I idly traced circles in the char that seemed to cover a portion of the stone upon which I rested. The young man, finally taking notice of me, stopped his work, and came to where I sat. “Good day,” I said by way of greeting. “Hot day,” he replied by way of observation. “Short day,” I answered, by way of prophesy. “What’s that?” the young man replied, “It is still summer for one more day,” he mused questioningly. “The day will be longer for some than others,” I finished, definitively. I looked over his shoulder at his herdsman companion, and a dark cloud passed overhead. Its shade brought relief to one, scorn and accusation to another. I kicked the dry dirt at the base of the stone where I sat, and knew that the next time I sat on this rock, the ground would be wet, with rain… or something worse.

As the afternoon wore on, I watched the two men go about their tasks. As I watched the young farmer go about his daily task of pruning and reaping, and picking and bundling, he seemed to take pride and joy in the day and in the work, despite the mid-day heat. The herder by contrast, sat sullenly under the summer sun, watching he his sheep and goats without interest as they grazed lazily on the hill. He seemed to take no joy from either the quality of his livestock, nor the ease of his chore. I wandered over to where he sat, and offered him the wineskin that I had earlier been offered by his companion. He took it and drank healthily from it. “Easy there friend,” I warned, “It might be that your companion will want this back more full than empty.” At the announcement of the wine’s origins, he spat it out on the ground. “I would rather die of thirst than drink the fruits of my brother’s hand.” He hissed vehemently. He kicked dirt over the wine as it soaked into the ground. The deep ruby wine, mixed with the dust, then mud, and for a moment, looked like blood. Another dark cloud passed overhead.

Smoke rose up from the other side of the field, from the area near the rock that I had sat on earlier in the day. I called it to the goatherd’s attention, but he shrugged his shoulders and made a gruff sound. “Just my brother offering his precious sacrifices,” he sneered sarcastically. “All of his offerings burn and burn, till they are nothing but dust on the wind. But not mine. No, no, no. They smolder and burn until they are a charred mess, not even suitable for the common table, much less for the festival tables.” He sulked off a ways “God curse you brother!” he shouted. “I wish you were dead,” he mumbled as he walked off and sat on a low pile of loose stones, kicking one to the ground. “Be careful what you wish for my friend,” I said softly to myself. The air turned chill as the sky darkened.

The summer thunderstorm passed as the sun went down. I had retreated to the nearby village for shelter, knowing that I would find no peace with the two brothers. The night was quiet. Too quiet. As if all of the people were afraid to dream, and all of the creatures of the land were made mute. I sat, looking out the window toward the east, toward where the brothers had been. The dark seemed darker in that direction, and an infinite sadness fell across my thoughts.

A number of years later, on the road to Damascus, I met a hollow man. He walked alone and in silence. The kind of silence that follows a summer thunderstorm at dusk. The kind of silence that fills your memories with sadness. I noticed a mark on his head, as though he had been burned. He carried a stone in one hand, idly thumbing a dark brown stain on it as he walked. Other travellers, both those going our way, and the opposite, seemed to steer away from the man; not in the way of one repulsed by someone, but as one compelled by instinct simply to give something else a wide berth. I walked alongside the man in silence for some time, heading east. The sun hung low in the sky, and it would be time to rest soon. But not for this man. No, some days are longer for some than others, I mused, and for this man, this hollow, hollow man, it was a very long day indeed.

 

LOVE ≠ LIKE or "How I came to Love Satan"

When I was a child, my mother used to tell me (on appropriate occasions) "I love you son, but right now, I don't like you very much."  I came to understand fairly early on that just because she was unhappy with me, did not mean that she didn't love me.
  We are called by the new covenant to love our neighbours. Oh how hard this is to do. Sure, we say that we love everyone, and that is great at an intellectual level, but is it what is really in  your heart?
Love cannot be given falsely of the heart; and prayer cannot be given dishonestly. If your heart is in a false place, "lay down your offering and go and make peace," then return with your prayers. If you have a grievance with someone, and you can do something about it, set aside pride and ego, and go and try to make peace. If they receive you, great! There is peace. If they reject you, then "knock the dust from your sandals" and know that you have honestly tried. If you cannot make peace with that person face to face, then go to confession and reconcile your heart in truth, and let God handle the rest. Then, and only then can you honestly pray for, and with peace.
  Sometimes we are blind to our grievances. We think of our spouse, or our family, or our co-workers, or our friends, or our neighbours. We make our reconciliations and we feel good about it and ourselves; but when the 5 o'clock news comes on, we curse those misguided puppets in Washington, or those dirty Taliban, or that awful dictator in Africa. In our hearts we genuinely hate them, but in our minds we are blind, because they are not an immediate part of our lives (in some cases they are, but the idea is still the same). Can we in good concious say that we fulfil this New Covenant of Love once we recognize this in ourselves?
  Who among us can genuinely, with unconditional love and with the best and most honest intentions, pray for the politician on the other side of the isle? Who can pray for the murderous dictator, or the terrorist bomber? Who among us can pray for Satan, who is arguably the source of all of the evil? Perhaps if we prayed for the politician, cooperation and bipartisanship could be found. Perhaps if we prayed for the dictators or the terrorists, they might have a change of heart and not set off that bomb or slaughter that village. Perhaps if we prayed for Satan, the Adversary, maybe, just maybe, (like the Grinch who stole Christmas) he would have second thoughts and his heart would begin to heal.

The Journey of the Divine Within

  The journey that the Divine Within  (which is you) wants to go on, may not be the journey that the ego (that which you think is you) wants to go on. Submit to the journey of the Divine Within. Only then, at the end of it all, will be able say that you truly lived; that you said "YES!" to the mysterie of life.
AMD+G