guest book review: "The Book of Love"

Book Review

The Book of Love

by Kathleen McGowan

Watching action movies, and even classic fantasy films, like “The Lord of Rings,” I have often wondered what a female “action” story would be like.  Kathleen McGowan’s novel, The Book of Love, answers the question.  The story might never be made into a movie, but it’s filled with conflict between good and evil.  Instead of swords and guns, the heroine uses intuition and negotiation.  (A secondary heroine does lead armies and brandish a sword very effectively, under the tutelage of her best instincts and in service to the greater good.)  Cunning, bravery and risks inhabit the pages.  The tension between pursuing truth and hiding truth stalks both the outer and inner worlds of the characters.
McGowan’s deft handling of a tremendous amount of material—imaginal as well as  historical—creates a page-turner.  I learned more about the Middle Ages, art, architecture, the labyrinth and Chartres Cathedral in this one piece of fiction than in all the reading and studying and memorizing of a lifetime.  I am not a historian by nature, and don’t read about those topics of my own volition.  Because they are woven seamlessly into the narrative and move it forward, and because I cared about the story and the characters, I gleaned an education.  
In addition, I felt the love and humility with which the author approached this project.  Her characters ooze humanness.  The “quotes” from “The Book of Love,” a gospel written by Jesus, serve up poetic instruction that speaks to our current world and the individual seeker’s place in it.  McGowan re-visions old tales, infusing new meaning and fresh understanding into stories that have been overlooked or deadened through patriarchal bias.  After I finished the novel, I wanted to go back and type out every legend and teaching recorded in her “Libro Rosso” (Red Book) so that I would have the beautiful writings together in one place, at my fingertips.
The story follows a modern-day woman who is given a task by something/someone greater than herself.  In this way, Maureen reminds me of Frodo.  Like him, she grows weary, makes mistakes, and needs her companions to keep her going on the right course.  Like The Lord of the Rings, McGowan’s The Book of Love encourages us—mere mortal readers that we are—to say yes to what life asks of us.  It’s a tale that feeds the heart, the head and the soul.  
This is the second in a series of three.  The first is The Expected One.  The third, The Poet Prince, is due out soon.

Peggy Voth
Nov 28, 2009

book review: The Twelve, A Novel

The Twelve: 12.21.12, Time is Running Out, by William Gladstone.

A very interesting take on the 2012 phenomenon. A mix of allegory and fiction, a lot of spiritual truth is contained in this story. Max has a near-death experience as a teenager, which begins a lifelong search. This search culminates in the year 2012, with Max in his 60's.

It is fascinating to contemplate our own existence in the light of this story. I believe that each one of us has an agenda for our life on earth. I believe we are involved in determining what that agenda is prior to coming to earth. But, like our role-model, Jesus, we are emptied of this knowledge before we are born. We then spend our lives attempting to discover our purpose for being here.

That is the essence of The Twelve. I don't want to give too much away; I wish each of you would read this story. It is well worth it.

Suffice it to say that this story will encourage you, will strengthen your faith (even if it challenges some beliefs!), will dampen the fear we may feel when contemplating the future of the earth, and our lives upon it.

The scenario in this book is a potential, positive shift in the consciousness of the human race. As I have outlined in previous posts, there are two possible end times. The earth could end through a cataclysmic apocalypse, or it could shift into a new level of life as we awaken to our God-given abilities. Let us pray that this story is a model of what we achieve.

book review: God is Not Great

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchins.

A first for me! I listened to this whole book on audio, read in its entirety by the author. This old dog is still learning new tricks!! I am old-fashioned enough to prefer printed pages, but it was interesting to hear the book, especially since it was read by the author and presumably included his own emphases and inflections.

Christopher Hitchins uses a life-time of experience and research to outline in great detail all the horrors done in the name of religion and God. His delightfully articulated knowledge leaves little room for disagreement. I found myself fascinated again and again at the ways he put things together and made sense out of vast sweeps of time and place. (I would never want to be drawn into an argument with this man! It would be a losing proposition.)

And Hitchins is indiscriminate; he is lambasting not only Christianity. While tending to focus on the three great monotheistic religions, he also has words for the pantheistic ones.

And yet, while agreeing with him thoroughly throughout the book, I am not in the least inclined to abandon my involvment in church. I know all this horrible history, and am still part of it. Despite its chequered past, church holds meaning for me and countless millions around the world. From the book I would expect Hitchins to think me imbecilic for such an illogical conclusion!

But, thank you Christopher Hitchins for this enlightening book.

book review: The Family

The Family:  The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, Jeff Sharlet, HarperCollins, 2008.

Growing up in the United States we always suspected there were power people behind the scenes, and that the actual people in office were often not much more than puppets. This book reveals just a little of the powers-behind-the-thrones who pull the strings.

The scary thing about all this is that it is cloaked in the language and images of conservative, evangelical Christianity. It is about people getting together to pray for each other and pray for the people in power. It is about following Jesus and his call on each person's life.

Yet, there is something about The Family that doesn't "feel" quite right. Jeff Sharlet began uncovering some of it's more sinister aspects. For one thing, the "gospel" they are promoting is that of unrestrained capitalism. They are against any help to the poor and disadvantaged of society; they fight welfare laws. They believe that if men in power do the right things (that is, gain power and influence to enact the right laws and make the right corporate decisions) it will "trickle down" to the poor.  Where have we heard this concept before?!!

God's leading, answers to prayer, are all couched in gaining power. Relationships are nurtured solely for the sake of access to powerful people. "The 'teachings of the Nazarene' for such politicians amounted to deregulation, the removal of government intervention from matters they thought firmly taken in hand by Jesus and His chosen representatives." (p142) "His chosen representatives", of course, are hand-picked to join The Family, also formerly called, The Fellowship. One cannot volunteer to join this group.

The Fellowship began under the leadership of Abram Vereide in the 1930's. Doug Coe took over after Abram's death in the late 1960's. Today, as Coe gradually retires, leadership is being assumed by Dick Foth. The main public event they organize is the National Prayer Breakfast. Vereide began this tradition during Eisenhower's presidency. Ike attended, as have presidents to this day.

But most of their work is behind the scenes, not only in Washington DC, but also around the world, as they seek one world order. "Jesus must rule every nation through the vessel of American power." (p218) Coe was anointed as Vereide's successor because, ". . . he would pray with anyone, and he would bless anyone, so long as they had the strength to submit their nation to God. That was his greatest virtue in Abram's eyes: he . . . never questioned whether Jesus really cared most for men with power." (p218)

If you want to know just a little about what is really going on in the halls of power in the US capital and around the world, I recommend this book. Sharlet has done a tremendous amount of research about the history of Vereide, The Fellowship, Coe and others. He infiltrated The Family for a few months to discover more of their inner workings. It all sounds so Christian, so righteous and Biblical, but oh, so sinister. God's Kingdom in their own image!

The Sign of Jonah

I know there are some of you Biblical literalists out there who will say that the prophecies in Revelation and Daniel must come true, they are inevitable. Destruction and upheaval are foretold and will happen (see previous post).

But hold on a minute! There are a couple things I want to say about that.

First, those two books especially, are written in a genre called apocalyptic. There is a lot of symbolism, numerology, literary conventions which go with apocalyptic writing. In today's world we don't always understand all of this; and we certainly do not often take it into account. So we must be very careful about interpreting these writings. There are thousands of preachers out there declaring confidently that "this" is what they mean. And they come up with a thousand different interpretations all proudly proclaimed as God's Word. Please, please, please, dear reader. When you encounter one of these, take the words with a huge grain of salt, if you take them at all.

The second thing I want to say is scriptural. Jesus says, "No sign shall be given to [this generation] except the sign of Jonah." (Luke 11.29)

Jonah is an "Old" Testament prophet sent to the evil city Nineveh to proclaim judgement on it. His message (at least what is recorded of it in scripture) was one line:  "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3.4) This prophecy was not proclaimed as conditional, as in, "If you don't repent, you will be destroyed." Nope. It was, "Destruction is coming." Period.

Well, the people repented, and God relented.

And Jonah got angry! He wanted to see the destruction of Nineveh.

I believe the "sign of Jonah" principle still applies today. I believe that no matter how certain seem the prophecies outlined in scripture, if people repent, even a small percentage (a "tipping point"), God will not bring about his judgement. We have a part to play in our future. It is not set in stone. The Earth does not necessarily have to endure all the dire predictions proclaimed so vociferously by so many. God is still the Source who is full of grace, who still relents.

And, as in Jonah's story, I believe there will be Christians today who will get resentful if these prophecies don't happen in the way they anticipate. Get a grip, people! What is more important here? Our "precious" little interpretations of scripture, or what God chooses to do?

As I have said before, we live in interesting and exciting times. I look forward to seeing what Source has in store for us! I want to have an open mind to see God at work, not be so close-minded that I miss him when he appears (the problem of the pharisees).

The Tipping Point

Following up on my previous post, my wife, Peggy, and I have had numerous discussions about the coming shift in our world. Currently two possible threads seem possible. One thread says that the coming historical culmination will contain violent upheaval. Another thread moves more along the lines of a gradual transition to a higher plane of existence, a spiritual evolution, if you will.

Obviously these two are mutually exclusive.  Which path is it to be?

Looking at world events, it sure seems the upheaval thread is more likely. Violence increases, wars continue, cultural upheaval is the norm, nothing appears certain. The growing gap between rich and poor has always been an indicator of social unrest, so why should our age be any different? There is greater inequity in so many areas of life, especially economic, than ever before. This has got to lead to conflict between the have-nots and the haves. And people in developing countries now have access to media allowing them to become increasingly aware of these inequities. Higher awareness fosters unhappiness and dissatisfaction with these inequities.

On the other hand, we are aware of increasing numbers of people growing spiritually. There is a greater spiritual awareness and hunger than ever before. People are rushing to experience spiritual growth in unprecedented numbers. More and more people want to know about the spiritual dimensions of life, and experience and participate in what God/Universe/Source is doing.

But looking at the overall picture, the numbers of these latter seem so small compared to those involved in the paths of violence.  How can we hold any hope that the spiritual evolution will ever catch up with and surpass the violence spectrum?

Then one day Peggy ran across the concept of a "tipping point" in her reading. This caused a huge spark of hope to flare in us. The essence of a tipping point, in this case, is that it doesn't necessarily require an equal number of spiritually evolved people to overcome the violent ones. In other words, we don't need to wait and hope for a 50-50 split. It only requires a small percentage of spiritually mature to influence and change the world's course, to overcome the evil in this world.

Well, if that is true, then we can have hope!  I don't know what the "magic" number might be, but even if it is as high as 10%, that sounds a whole lot more hopeful than 50%.

I thought of the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham bargains with Yahweh for the salvation of the cities. He begins by asking Yahweh if he could spare the city for the sake of fifty righteous people within it. "And Yahweh said, 'If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.'" (Genesis 18.26) Abraham keeps bargaining, obviously realizing there is little chance of finding fifty righteous in such a sinful place. He bargains down to 45, then 40, 30, 20 and finally 10. "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it," says Yahweh. (Gen 18. 32)

There's the principle. A small percentage of righteous people will be salvation for the whole. And I believe this principle is still at work. If enough people begin to awaken spiritually, and seek their part in the salvation of the Earth, it can be saved. A "tipping point" of spiritually mature people can lead this Earth through a natural transition to a higher plane of existence. It does not have to undergo calamitous upheaval and destruction.

"As anthropologist Margaret Mead famously said, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'" (The Great Awakening, Jim Wallis, p.65)

Our Life's Task

In my previous post I layed out the idea of us having pre-existed in the spiritual dimension before we ever came to earth to be born in human form.  I believe there is a lot of evidence that this is a true portrayal.  Now I want to look at another dimension of this idea.

That dimension, mentioned in passing in the previous post, is that we not only pre-existed our earthly incarnation, but that we actively participated in the decision to enter the material world.  I believe that in our prior spiritual state we were part of the discussion about the stage we were in along our spiritual progression, what lessons we needed to learn, and what sorts of experiences we could use to learn those spiritual lessons.  I believe that we then participated in the decision as to where we would be born, at what time, and to whom, in order to give us the best chance possible to go through these tests and experiences and learn from them.

You've heard the saying, "I didn't choose my family, but I sure as shootin' can choose my own friends!"  Well, now I wonder if that is entirely true!  Maybe we did have a hand in choosing our family.  Oh dear!

All of us are at different places in our journey through life.  For many of you, these ideas may seem acceptable and true.  But for others they may seem really "out there".  Ideas like this open up dimensions to the spiritual world around us that we may never have considered.  Living in our scientific, material world, it is often difficult to conceive that there may be a whole other dimension surrounding us.  The writers of the scriptures and other ancient works had no such trouble.  To ancient cultures the spiritual dimension was as natural and real as the physical dimension.

I believe that our last couple centuries of living with a predominantly scientific, material mindset  has radically dimmed our perceptions of the spiritual domain.  As Christians we give lip-service to this domain, but do any of us truly believe that it exists?  Do we wonder about it?  Do we fantasize what it might be like?  Do we seek to explore this dimension?

Well, I offer some observations and conjectures of this dimension, perhaps opening the wee-ist of glimpses into the spiritual world around us.

You may or may not have picked up from previous posts that I believe quite strongly that history is heading pell-mell toward some sort of culmination.  Our time on this planet is limited.  Things cannot and will not continue to go on as they have.  There is coming a shift of some sort, a change in our world, a transition into another way of being.  I don't know what this will consist of.  I do not know what life will be like on the other side of the turning which is coming.  I do not know if this transition will be gradual or sudden, violent or benign.  It might be convulsive, or it might be smooth.

And I believe that we who are alive today have all participated in the decision to come be part of this transition.  I believe we came to earth deliberately to facilitate this shift.  I believe that we live in a tremendously exciting time in Earth's history, and that we have a very important role to play in this time.

There are many among us who are very in tune with God and the spiritual plane.  I mentioned those who have experienced NDE's in my last post.  There are many others who are intuitive, who can hear God's Spirit speak clearly, who receive messages and visions from the spiritual dimension.

Over and over I am reading and hearing that the message from God to us in our day is that we are tremendously privileged to live during this time period.  We are especially gifted and equipped to aid in the coming transition time.  Many of us are highly evolved spiritual beings who have made the decision to come to Earth at this time for very important tasks.

I don't know, dear reader, how you are receiving all of this!  For myself, I feel incredibly encouraged and heartened to contemplate these sorts of things.  When I read these kinds of encouraging messages from beyond I feel excited; bring it on!!

We each have our part to play in the coming events.  Our part may be small; there may be a few of us called to play large parts in whatever is coming.  But I believe that for all of us, we are called to live lives of integrity, love, hope and compassion; we are called to reach out to each other, to depend on each other, to live in community with one another.

By the way, the whole concept of sin, that great bugaboo of the Church which messes up so many minds, is linked to this concept.  The clearest definition of "sin" is:  missing the mark, or falling short.  In this context, "sin" can be seen as missing our life's task, falling short of the goals we came to this Earth to accomplish.  It is so easy to get sidetracked by the agenda of this world we live in.  It is so easy to get sucked into the fear and anxiety which prevail in our culture.

Our Life's Task, number one, is to live without fear, to live in trust!