July 18, 2023 – A

Life without theology and doctrine
is as spiritual as it gets.

Theology and doctrine are sidetracks,
wilderness bound.

Emptiness, stillness, silence and solitude
flow straight from the heart
of transcendence and life.

The essence of spirituality is flow and life.

We all have--and have had--experiences
with the flow of interest and enthusiasm
carrying us to vitality and life.

Joseph Campbell called it "following our bliss."
It is going where we are drawn,
being led,
carried,
directed,
guided,
and fed.

This is the quintessential religious experience,
where we know we are not our own,
but belong to more than we know,
to more than meets the eye,
and can trust ourselves to that
with all of our life and being.

"That" is central to us,
and always "right there,"
without theology or doctrine,
and is "more than words can say."

Which is what everyone who knows knows.

Lao Tzu and all the old Taoists said,
"The Tao that can be said/told/explained
is not the eternal Tao."
A phrase that is better translated by Martin Palmer as:
"A path that can be discerned as a path
is not a reliable path."

Jesus said as much with his,
"The spirit is like the wind
that blows where it will."

No catechism or Book of Doctrine
or Collection of Sermons,
can say anything,
for all their words,
about that which they speak.

We are much better off not saying,
but simply living out of 
the flow of life
as it leads us with the pull of life
to where we need to be
and away from where we have no business being.

Find the path that is life for you,
even though it cannot be discerned as a path,
and trust yourself to it,
bliss leading to bliss.

You may not make a lot of money,
but money cannot buy what you have.

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