the Bully Brain

The violence, hatred, discrimination, and fear and society water the seeds of the violence, hatred and discrimination and fear in us.  If we go back to ourselves and touch our feelings, we will see the ways that we furnish fuel for the wars going on inside.  Meditation is, first of all, a tool for surveying our own territory so we can know what is going on.  With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us.  If we can learn ways to touch the peace, joy, and happiness that are already there, we will become healthy and strong, and a resource for others.

                               Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Mysticism begins when we start to make room for a completely new experience of God as immanent, present here and now, with and within all of us. God isn’t only transcendent, “out there,” and separate from me. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) wrote that God is “more intimate to me than I am to myself.” [4] St. Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510) said, “My me is God: nor do I know my selfhood except in God.” [5] Like all mystics, they overcame the gap, and we can too. When God is no longer out there or over there, we have begun the mystical journey. It’s not simply that we have a new relationship with God. It’s as though we have a whole new God!

                               Richard Rohr  (Daily Mediation 8/7/20)

 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

                               Paul (Romans 12)

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We call it lots of things

Monkey brain

Disconent

Dis-ease

Anxiety

 

But let’s be honest

sometimes our brain is just, simply, a bully

 

it pushes us around

 

this trash receptacle for the garbage of the world

 

it sucks in everything that is out there

there good the bad and the ugly

and what it pulls resonates with and activates

whatever happens to be inside us

 

fear touches fear

hate touches hate

prejudice touches that lingering bit of prejudice

we have tried so hard to hide

 

and then, there we are

with mental weeds sprouting everywhere

as we water the seeds of dysfunction

 

and then this agitated brain becomes a bully

pushing us around

controlling our thoughts and feelings

putting us at the mercy of malevolent forces

 

making us vulnerable to those voices that asks us to hate

making us susceptible to those feelings that lust for retribution and revenge

 

suddenly we are people who are molded by the world

ouch!

 

But it doesn’t have to be that way!

for we are Sacred Children

and we carry within us, Sacred Presence

 

Sacred is in our DNA

Sacred is woven into the fabric of our being

It is there!

more intimate to us than we are to ourselves

 

Sacred, God, Jesus

call it what you will

is as close as our next breath

 

and so we need to step away from the brain

(much like stepping out of our house, away from the TV, and looking into the night sky)

and breathe

and breathe some more

and reach out to the Sacred,

 

we need to touch it, or rather let it touch us

 

and let the living water of Holy Presence

water within us

the seeds of hope, peace, joy, and love

 

and we need to let these seed grow

and bloom

until they fill our inner self so completely

there is little room for the weeds

 

this morning I did something simple

I did not read the news

I did not jump on Facebook and wallow in the outrage

 

I took a walk

I played with the dog

I read some poetry (Hafiz)

I did some breathing

 

I touched the positive things, already lurking in my soul

 

And I sighed

And I smiled