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grounded in a mystical, interfaith-Christianity inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg
How to Shine Like the Sun
The ancient Tao Te Ching states, “The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao, that is what gives her her radiance.” We see an important example of one who becomes one with the Tao, the uncreated life force that gives rise to everything, in Christ – who not only says as much throughout the gospel, “I and the Father are one,” but who also literally shines like the sun when his inner self is revealed. Further, we as living beings are also invited through many traditions to become a shining one at one with the Tao, one with the Master, the Buddha, with the Christ who is one with the Father. But we might ask, “The Tao is dark and unfathomable, how can it make her radiant? Because she lets it.”
Release Your Imprisonment
We can all feel trapped at times, whether due to a pandemic, a work environment, a relationship, or an internal oppression or depression; most of us know something about feelings of imprisonment. Our society is slowly coming around to inviting more tools to help us through these situations and moments. And yet there’s an exceedingly long way to go and many improvements we can make to better enable and empower people – from promoting more effective psychological and spiritual tools to just becoming more aware of the unrightfully oppressive natures of our economic, social, and justice systems. In a way, we can see an embodiment of our collective oppression in the “least of these:” the disregard and unrehabilitative attitudes we hold for the truly imprisoned, which are often the poor and the disempowered.