Surrounded By the White Light of the Christ

Champions for Nonviolence

“How do we live compassionately in a time of violence and despair? What can we do with our private disappointments and the anger we feel in such an unjust world?”

“I am surrounded by the White Light of the Christ, through which nothing negative can penetrate. I walk in the light of the Christ and my fear giants dwindle into nothingness. There is nothing to oppose my good.” -- Florence Scovel Shinn

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Richard Rohr published a new book this past week called: “The Tears of Things.” He has been writing recently about the prophets, and he asks two key questions for our time: “How do we live compassionately in a time of violence and despair? What can we do with our private disappointments and the anger we feel in such an unjust world?”

One of Father Edward Hays’ parables he liked to tell is about a Persian man who was a drunk and a gambler. Every night, the man would get on his knees and pray for release from his addictions, and every night he would go out and gamble and drink. When he returned to his home in the morning, his pious neighbor next door would place a stone in his yard to represent the “sins” of his neighbor, telling him he was placing the stones there to help save his neighbor’s soul. After some time had passed, the neighbor had a pile of stones many feet high. Each night the other neighbor would pray for salvation, and each morning he would return to a massive wall of stones he felt represented his failure to live his life according to God. One morning he looked at the stones and thought to himself, “My neighbor is such a Godly man. He truly cares for my soul.” One summer a massive storm hits the village, and a flood sweeps away the entire town. The gambling man found himself in the arms of angels being carried to heaven. As he comes to, he turns to the angels and he says, “You have picked up the wrong man. I am a sinner, a gambler and a drunk. My neighbor is the man you wanted. He is a holy man who was so concerned for my soul that he placed a stone in his yard every day to remind me of my transgressions.” To which the angels reply, “Oh, no, we have the right man. Your neighbor was never concerned with your soul. He placed those stones in his yard to display his belief that he was better than you. The stones he placed were for him and his ego, they were not out of concern for you. You, on the other hand, prayed every single night for salvation. You are being rewarded for your fidelity to goodness, we have the right man.”

In an “unjust” world, how do our tears play a role in changing and healing our world? Do tears contribute to our transformation, collectively?

Shortly after the ambush of Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, I spoke with someone, and I expressed how tremendously outraged I felt after watching that shitshow. The woman I spoke with said that she did not move to anger, instead she told me she cried.

Rohr explains that the great prophets began in an immature state of anger and rage. As the prophets developed, they became transformed through tears, through “lamentations.” He is not talking about lamentation as “woe,” however, sorrow is a feeling that we feel when we see the hypocrisy of the Christian Nationalists as they wipe out science, health care, food support and ignore the brutality of the Putin regime. When you watch videos of the butchering of Ukrainians in Bucha, how do you NOT weep? How do you not lament?

The Enemies of Goodness

In my post: Know Your Enemy: The Council for National Policy, I outlined the players in Project 2025. We are now witnessing the results of decades of planning for an all-out assault on democracy to “destroy secular humanism.”

To move beyond the anger and yet remain engaged and purposeful is the key. ProfG recently stated that we need to, “Move from being right to being effective.” Jack Kornfield advocates that we move from “Metta,” Loving Kindness.

The Hebrew word is “hesed,” sometimes written as Checed. “It has been translated as "mercy," "lovingkindness," "goodness," "steadfast love," "unfailing love," and "faithful love," among other words.”

“Hesed comes from a root word that means to bow one's head in courtesy to an equal. It is the idea of showing kindness above and beyond what is expected. In English we might describe this Hebrew concept of hesed as benevolence, grace, ardent desire for someone, zeal toward a person, or abiding favor. This Hebrew word is used 253 times in 241 verses in the Old Testament and is used to describe humans showing kindness and mercy to other humans, humans showing devotion and faithfulness to God, and God extending unconditional love and unmerited mercy to humans. In all those instances, there is included the idea of the steadfastness and continuing nature of a long-lasting and abiding kindness.” –Compelling Truth

“Sadness is a liminal space that if you process it and don't shortcut around it if you do your grief work and recognize you just want to cry, I mean how can you look at Gaza, how can you look at Ukraine and Sudan and not just weep? There's no point…well there's a little point in getting angry at the powers that be, but that's got to move beyond anger to something that's transformative. Anger just feeds the ego. The tears feed the soul.” Richard Rohr

In this video, around minute 26, Rohr talks about anger and how, particularly for men, it shows up as a mask for sadness. We are encouraged to move toward grief as a source of power for transformational change. Bernie Sanders keeps repeating the line, “We cannot despair” as he travels the country giving speeches on the oligarchy.

I think we are talking about a large difference in our language between despair and lamentation. Despair is a form of giving up. Lamentation is direct access to the human heart, to mercy, to abiding kindness.

Scientific studies have proven that an act of kindness, even if only observed, boosts a person’s immune system and promotes health and longevity.

The Talibangelicals are not kind, we know this. They are moral gymnasts. Their ACTIONS are not a representation of their professed beliefs. Wrapped in the flag and adorned with a crucifix does not make you a ‘good’ person. Placing stones on your lawn does not make you holy.

Taking away health care or food from children or veterans does not make you ‘efficient.’

“My beliefs are that the truth is a truth until you organize it, and then it becomes a lie. I don't think that Jesus was teaching Christianity, Jesus was teaching kindness, love, concern, and peace. What I tell people is don't be Christian, be Christ-like. Don't be Buddhist, be Buddha-like.” --Wayne Dyer

Enlightened Sadness: Makeweights of Change

Today is International Women’s Day. Men can learn the power that comes from lamentation from their female counterparts. Think of a time you remember seeing your mother crying, accessing her heart freely.

The Stoics speak of grief work as a pathway to strength. Cicero was one of the Founding Father’s favorite authors. While he was not a Stoic, he wrote about EQ, emotional intelligence. Cicero was a student of Aristotle, of “self-knowledge.”

When we see the absolute absurdity of the Vichy GOP surrendering the Article One power of the Congress (even though it is WRITTEN into the freaking Constitution!), stating that “It is what the founders envisioned,” we can be angry, we can laugh, but we most importantly need to access the sadness of hearing such ignorance.

We then transform that into the power of, as Florence Scovel Shinn states, “The White Light of the Christ.” We then become the instruments needed for change. “Don’t be Christian, be Christ-like.”

Rumi calls this the “Living Christ.” He says: “Every one of us is a Living Christ. Just like the healing hands of Jesus, every pain and sufferings in this world can be also healed by a touch of our healing hands.”

Our collective resistance to this must come from a place of self-awareness and peace. Demonstrations of the White Light will give permission for others to follow, just as your mother’s tears gave you permission to feel sadness. In these lamentations, we touch the Divine. We become the Makeweights for Change.