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To support the development of this site and the work of soul friendship you are invited to express your appreciation through the spiritual practice of Dana

RADIANT POETRY

Sonnet

John Masefield

There is no God, as I was taught in youth,

Though each, according to his stature, builds

Some covered shrine for what he thinks the truth,

Which day by day his reddest heart-blood gilds.

There is no God; but death, the clasping sea,

In which we move like fish, deep over deep

Made of men's souls that bodies have set free,

Floods to a Justice though it seems asleep.

There is no God, but still, behind the veil,

The hurt thing works, out of its agony.

Still, like a touching of a brimming Grail,

Return the pennies given to passers by.

There is no God, but we, who breathe the air,

Are God ourselves and touch God everywhere.

RADIANT SONG

Happy Christmas 

(War is Over)

by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas

I hope you have fun

The near and the dear ones

The old and the young

{Refrain}

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

Soul Friend

 The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

"The Light of the World" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

And So It's Christmas

Many of our greatest invitations to soul friendship come from the songs that we identify with. Many singer/songwriters are the bards, seanachie and outsiders of today.  They carry the messages of the culture that is invited to flower into existence.

One great bard and seanachie came from my father’s home town of Liverpool.  He was one of a group called The Beatles.  The fabulous four. Or, more commonly, The Fab Four! This singer song/writer/outsider was John Lennon. John once said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. He got into very hot water about this statement.

Lennon was wrong, however. Christ has never been popular – not even amongst the established churches that ostensibly follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. The historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth is popular but this is not the same as the less established experience that is the journey into Christhood. This is not popular at all,

When this journey in undertaken the established order is more often resistant to its invitation.  All great mystics of all religious traditions and I include those who were scientists felt the strong arm of ecclesiastical law when they courageously ventured into the mystery of what it is to be a Christed human being – a new kind of humanity.

And so it’s Christmas

And what have we done

Another year over and a

New one just begun.

These are the words of the bard John Lennon, who wrote them as part of a protest song.  Such is the work of the bard – to highlight injustice and invite peace on earth.

Christmas is a time of presents and gift giving.  The greatest gift that can be bestowed upon anyone is presence.  This is when one steps across the threshold of time and space into the knowing of eternity.  It is to live in the presence of the eternal now.

When you live from presence there is not another year over and a new one just begun. Time as you know it ceases to be and the eternal is known. This is what it means to be Christed – one who lives both in time and beyond time. This is not an historical, one-off event. It does not belong to a particular person in history.

However, that person in history who was Jesus of Nazareth, who became a Christed human being is one, if not the greatest, of invitations.  He is popular in the sense that there are millions of people on this planet who call upon his name. However, the name Jesus is a personal name and not the experience referred to when this master said, “When two are gathered in my name.”

The historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth was not asking us to believe in Jesus of Nazareth or worship his name.  That, as has been demonstrated, has led simply to institutionalism.  The far more radical and very much less popular invitation is included in the lines, “Greater things than these shall you do.”

This is the invitation to the new humanity that is the Christmas message of presence beyond time and space and form.  When enough of us have accepted this and are prepared to live it, then there will be what is intended to be – the second coming.  This is when enough individuals the world over are prepared to journey into the radical process of becoming Christed beings. In that sense, John Lennon was absolutely right. The Beatles were and still are more popular than Christ. Were it otherwise, heaven would be on earth and seen to be on earth.

Merry Christmas!

© Tony Cuckson 2008