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Heretics & Heroes: Part VI of XII - June 2012

by Cathy Combs

 

June 1st is the first day of my new unfolding birthday year. I know that amazing blessings are unfolding and I already send my Gratitude forth in Appreciation and Faith. Soon we'll be celebrating the Summer Solstice honoring Mother Nature's expression of equal night, equal day. The Solstice is one of my favorite days of the year. It represents Balance. It will most likely be hotter than Hades in my Midwestern landscape. In the Goddess tradition that I so love Hades is the God of the Underworld and is the Wealthy One. What is so very special to me about this symbolism is that everything visible in the outer world is first expressed in the Unseen Realm of Spirit. I honor Hades as my own playful Creative heretic hero bringing forth a new expression of Understanding, Peace, Abundance, Hope, Vision, Joy, Faith and Confidence into a world I love so very much.

A perfect scenario to continue my honoring of heretics and heroes who so greatly inspire me with their Courage, Vision and "Faith-fullness" to their Enlightened Understanding. In this Light I want to honor Bishop Carlton Pearson who was branded a heretic when he left behind what he considered "doctrinal elitism and exclusionary dogma." He lost his 5,000 member megachurch in the process but he gained the heartfelt support of the more liberal New Thought movement, a welcoming spiritual tradition I so greatly honor and admire. This process is a powerful transformative Truth that I hope everyone understands. We need not be unduly dismayed when we are rejected for living our impassioned Truth. There are always others who understand, welcome and honor us. I'm so very grateful that Bishop Pearson has found a new place where he is blessed and where he is undoubtedly a blessing. His new book is "God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Nor A Muslim, Hindu… God Dwells With Us, In Us, Around Us, As Us." My sentiments exactly. Bishop Pearson quotes Gandhi who said, "I may have become a Christian if it were not for Christianity." Some of the points Bishop Pearson makes are basic to a broader understanding of Jesus' message that I so love. Bishop Pearson makes the very important statement that "Jesus is not a Christian." This is based on the knowing that Christ was not Jesus' last name. "The Christ" is a title denoting Enlightened Consciousness, the attainment and expression of Oneness. We are all capable of this Expression. As I have said countless times it is our very Purpose. Thus, Bishop Pearson describes the Second Coming as "an expanded consciousness of Christ realized through self-actualization and recognition of your personal calling and cause." I couldn't agree more. Another quote by Bishop Pearson that I absolutely love is "Live in fear of the devil and you live in fear of life itself---you live in fear of God and yourself." He left his church because he could no longer support their narrow exclusionary dogma that "all non-Christians are headed for hell." I so honor Bishop Pearson's bravery and enlightened Understanding. These Voices of Courage and Understanding are so needed.

I remember Reinhold Niebuhr's brilliant impassioned statement that "if we don't speak up for others there will be no one left to speak up for us." That is a perfect description for why we must all find the Courage to live our Faith and our Truth. To live in fear is a living death, a Hell on Earth and I have absolutely no interest in living that way. That's not a Life. That's a living Hell. I'm not here for that lie. Hopefully no one is. I also want to highlight Rev. Theodore Parker, a 19th century American Unitarian minister who is "perhaps the most influential American Unitarian minister who ever lived." He was the leading radical theologian of his day. Rev. Parker, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, founded the Transcendentalist movement, a movement I greatly love. He is said to be "a largely self-taught prodigy who by the age of 25 could read 20 languages." Rev. Parker was so far ahead of his time he wasn't even appreciated among his own denomination even though thousands of people came to hear him speak every Sunday. Rev. Parker "denied that the Bible had any miraculous authority and he said the Bible is full of myths." He was also the first one to use Mother God, not just Father God in his wording. He was the intellectual leader of the anti-slavery movement and a staunch supporter of a woman's right to vote. Like all heretics he was originally branded an infidel and then much later lauded as a visionary. His name and accomplishments have virtually disappeared from notice so I want to bring him back into public awareness and honor his name and accomplishments. Two facts about his life I certainly didn't know until I read his story in The UU World (Fall 2010 edition), the magazine of Unitarian Universalism, is that Parker is the originator of the idea that "democracy is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people." When Lincoln left out the word "all" in his Gettysburg address he missed the point that Parker was saying "democracy had not been achieved in America, and never would be, until social and political inequalities were overcome." Another Parker quote that is erroneously attributed to Dr. King is the wording about the "arc of the moral universe bending toward justice." Thank you, Reverend Theodore Parker for your Brilliance!!!

I add this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson as a tribute to all my heretic heroes, "Most of the shadows in this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine." I hear that to mean we are standing in our own way because we don't appreciate and honor our Greatness. When we are our greatest cheerleader and charioteer everything else is gravy. We are living our lives "inside out" and we are our highest holiest blessing Incarnate. That Knowing is how Wellness, Peace, Abundance is made visible in our world. Every time anyone comes into that Knowing the whole world is blessed. I add to this a wonderful quote I just found about shamanic knowings: When we come dispirited or depressed to shamans their first questions are: "When did we stop dancing, singing, being enchanted by stories? When did we stop reveling in the Silence? Those questions are powerful wake up calls. When we betray who we are we live heartsick lives. We miss our Purpose. We miss our Joy. We miss the very fabric of our Life Itself.

I want to honor Royal Rife again. The May/June 2012 Pathfinder Magazine has the final installment of his story. His 100% cure rate for terminal cancer patients upset the power dynamic of the pharmaceutical industry. It's the most chilling indictment of the pharmaceutical industry you can possibly imagine. A whole generation of medical students grew up never even hearing his name. This brilliant man's work was destroyed. They stole his machinery. They stole his records. They burned down his lab. Only two men who worked with him didn't accept the bribes of the pharmaceutical industry. Bless you, Royal Rife, Dr. Milbank Johnson and Dr. Couche, my heretic heroes. I honor you and I'm so very grateful for your Shining Brilliance and Integrity. You mark the way for all of us. Thank you!!!!! The Light is on!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bless you!!!!!! Namaste!!!!!!!

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