Spiritual Respect. What is it? When I am at Peace in my own Way, I do not have to push it on anyone.

Date:   5/29/2005 1:41:50 PM ( 19 y ago)

One of my favorite Rabbis
using the phrase
"In our Tradition"
whenever he speaks
about Judaism.

I enjoy the High Holidays
with this community in Los Angeles.

I travel a distance from San Diego
to participate.

We meet on a mountain top
and there is plenty of nature all around.

The first ten days of the New Year are
called the Days of Awe, and this timing
coincides with my own sense that the
Enchanted Garden year begins right here
around the Autumn Equinox.

I was introduced to this Community
by my friend Stephen Longfellow Fiske
who for me is one of the greatest songwriters
I know.

His wife is Jewish and and his son lives in
Israel. Sometimes Stephen wears a hat in the
Synagogue on the High Holidays, most of the time
he does not.

Stephen belongs to many Spiritual Traditions
and he and I both revere many paths to God.

Stephen and the Rabbi are both sensitive
about "Inviting" others "In."

Stephen has been a Vegetarian most of his life.
He is also an quite a good basketball player
and loves to coach the Women at a local High School
in that sport.

He has been on the Elder Olympics, although
he is one of those men who is closer to ageless
than in his late 50's.

It is his awe for Life and his Spiritual Respect
that keeps him young.

One of his songs is a New Plantary Anthem
that rings in the same vein as Karl Anthony's
Lyrics--"God Belongs to all of us."

I sometimes get pushy with my own spiritual ideas.
I do best with others when I give and share
what I love. I do best when I am not offended or hurt
if they receive what I am offering as they feel best works for them.

I believe we are carry fundamentalist ideas in one way
or another--ideas that we will Live for and Die for.

I think our Fundamentalist ideas makes God laugh.
It is the Joke of God that most of us
think we have the Right Way about something.

I sense it is the very act of interacting with others
that gives us Soul Growth.

When I am secure in my own thoughts
and ideas, I really do not need to push them on anyone.

I personally do not believe there is any one Way--
not of diet, not of lifestyle, not of spiritual belief.

I admire the Grandfather of the Jewish Renewal
movement Reb Zalman Schacter Salomi who
is one of the wisest and most revered teachers I know.
He has an amazing understanding of
many great spiritual paths and religions
and has taught at the Naropa Institute in Boulder,
a ver eclectic school.

When he wants to see God through new eyes,
he attends services in another faith.

The Dalai Lama once called
him in for advice; he knew that Reb Zalman has spiritual respect
for all ways that serve the individual to grow in God.

For lyrics that reflect what I am saying here
see the words to "God Belongs to All of Us."

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