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i love this incredibly profound “Christ Collage” art by David Hayward (aka the Naked Pastor on social media). this is a picture of it hanging in my room. it speaks particularly & i’d say prophetically to this moment. can we see Christ in all people?
in Matthew chapter 25 of the Gospels, Jesus says in the parable of sheep & goats, “…as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me”…& respectively, “…as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” from this, one of the richest & most meaningful of practices arises, to see Christ in all people. as Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians, “…Christ is all and is in all.” (for more on this view, check out Richard Rohr’s book “The Universal Christ”.) if we see Christ in all people, how can we be cruel to them, harm them, oppress them, marginalize them, take away their rights, cage them, sweep them up in the middle of the night separating them from their family? see them as somehow less than human, less than the sacred beings that they are?
this teaching resonates deeply for me, both from my Christian upbringing, & now as a Buddhist practitioner seeing everyone as having buddhanature – the awakened pure luminous quality that is eternal & unchanging within all of us. i have no problem dancing between these languages. the mystic in me simply calls all of this Love – the Ultimate primordial energy from which all things come, are sustained, & return. vast & intimate at the same time. that which calls upon our hearts to open, participate, & act to reduce or end suffering, & bless life around us. (the Star Wars geek/nerd in me will call this The Force).

whatever the case, this Love is calling to us in this moment to bring clarity of purpose even while some in their delusion are sowing chaos & confusion to their own ends.

may we see Christ in ALL people, in all beings, & all life, & act with Love accordingly, without exception. may we recognize the buddhanature within ALL people, all beings, & all life, & answer the call from Love to act with love & be love in this world. may we speak this truth & protect the vulnerable, living by principle & vow, rather than fear or fealty to individuals in power.

~j

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