Actually (as I have done before) this is not really a continuation of my previous Sermon, but is, instead, an expansion thereof. Further, it is really an answer, to a good friend and good Soul, who did ask me a very personal question......"WHAT can I do for You?" And my answer IS......"BE that which You were born to BE! DO......that which You were born to DO!" THAT is my answer, BUT the ACTUAL answers, to this and ANY question, need to come from YOU......from within, from your SOUL!"
Okay, let me back up here a bit and put this Sermon in context. My previous Sermon, "BEING Who and What You ARE!" was more of an exercise in exploration of SOCIETAL REALITY, dealing primarily, as it did, with persons who did not "know" themselves and, thusly, had false ideas of Who and What they were. Now, in this Sermon, I intend to be more theological, more philosophical, and more Spiritual, in what I shall relate, although, probably, I will still need to fit that Spirituality INTO THE REALITY OF present-day society.
And, as I have inferred above, the "trigger", the reason FOR this Sermon, is to answer my friend's question, "What can I do for you?" And in expanding that answer further, I will begin by reminding my dear friend Carla of that jig-saw-puzzle of which I have written. Because, ONLY WHEN that individual piece, of the puzzle, which is YOU......ONLY when that piece is OPTIMIZED and MAXIMIZED......meaning that when that individual IS GIVEN (BY others, and by society) the OPPORTUNITY, to BE, and to DO - THAT which it is one's "job" to do, that which one was born to do......IN 100% UTILIZATION, and 100% EFFICIENCY, OF all of those TALENTS, ABILITIES, and RESOURCES, which ARE YOURS - the total combination of that which you were born with AND whatever resources, and inputs, from others and society, which you have accordingly BEEN BLESSED WITH......ONLY THEN, are you, that individual piece of society, WHOLE AND COMPLETE, IN and OF YOURSELF!
And, as I have written, ONLY WHEN each and every "piece", of that jig-saw-puzzle, is WHOLE and COMPLETE (you KNOW Who and What you ARE, and you act and do accordingly and responsibly)......THEN all of those pieces CAN FIT TOGETHER, and society itself - humanity - IS WHOLE AND COMPLETE!
Additionally, in such a "state" of unity, mankind CAN THEN DO most wonderous things! SUCH AS CHANGE THE WORLD, and change that which IS! I've always said, if one does NOT KNOW Who and What one "is", then one needs to change oneself and one's Life accordingly. BUT, IF one KNOWS oneSelf, one's SOUL, THEN......then one CANNOT "change" oneSelf - one cannot change that which is already whole, perfect and complete - BUT one can ONLY CHANGE THE WORLD! YES! IF you KNOW yourSelf (referring to the Soul, or upper Mind, whenever I capitalize the S of Self), it is impossible to "change" yourSelf, BUT it is EASY to "change" the WORLD - even the COSMOS - and even, as it is mankind's CHALLENGE to do so, CHANGE GOD Him/HerSelf! THAT is mankind's DESTINY! TO CHANGE THE COSMOS, to "change" that which IS, to eliminate the negativity from the present world and the Cosmos, and to bring POSITIVITY - the positivity of GOD/Infinite Consciousness - to one and all! To "actualize", bring into existence, throughout the Cosmos
- God's LAW OF ONE - and the Oneness thereof, IN the Glory, and Goodness, of Infinite Consciousness......AS CREATED BY ourSelves, BY humanity, in making All That Is, and the happiness, joy and wonderfulness thereof, THAT which it COULD BE!
Okay, enough philosophizing. Let me get back to the personal level. "WHAT can I do for you?" Such was the question. Well, when you have changed yourself (IF necessary), and THEN, when you change the world, and the Cosmos, YOU MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR ALL! So, the pertinent part of this answer NOW to the question IS......inasmuch as I (Jerome) am part of the whole of humanity, AND, as well, part of that disenfranchised, disadvantaged and displaced mïlieu OF humanity; i.e., the refugees, the war-weary, the disabled, the homeless, etc., etc.......WHEN YOU make the world and the Cosmos BETTER FOR ALL, you will then be making it better for me! And, remember, as Christ has said, "As ye do unto the least of thine brethren, so ye do unto Me!"
"NOW, wait a minute, here! I can't believe what I am hearing (reading)! You mean to say that you, Jerome, don't need ANYTHING, that your friend Carla might provide? You mean to say that you can be 'helped' ONLY by Carla (or whoever) SAVING, or changing, the WORLD?"
YES! Oh, I would surely appreciate any of the "little things" (food, medicines, vitamins, clothing, etc.) that Carla MIGHT do, OF her "heart and Soul", but she can't change what ONLY SOCIETY can change, which is the basic fact of homelessness (as to the conditions of society - the laws, regulations, "vested interests", and such - which "create" and maintain those societal conditions that promote homelessness for the lower "classes" of society, but NOT for the rich!) SO, when she does her part, in CHANGING THE WORLD, the COSMOS, and in eliminating war, refugees, homelessness, and all of those other negativities which do exist in our society......THEN she will be doing something for me (AND for ALL of humanity)! NO war, NO homelessness, NO refugees, NO negativity......HEY! THAT'S really DOIN' SOMETHING! So, Carla, all I can say IS......FIND your "thing", AND DO IT! And God will be with YOU!
Also, as I have written about elsewhere on these webpages, as the great Princeton University theologian Harvey Cox has written, "God is NOT to be found in the (tribal) hogan, NOR in the pews or on the altars of the Churches of our world. If you want to find God, go to where He IS......go into the streets, the refugee camps, the hospitals, the prisons, the ghettos, the slums, AND WHEREVER is the "need" of Him, of His compassion, of His Mercy and of His Giving! THAT is where you will find GOD......with the poor, walking the streets, ministering to those in need! GO THERE, and JOIN with Him/Her, because THAT is where YOU ARE NEEDED!" In this respect, I give my personal THANKS to my dear friend CARLA, because, in the process of getting in touch with that God within herSelf, she became the epitome OF one OF those who do seek, and find, God, BY going where they are needed (AND, at the same time, taking an exceptional "risk", in this society, BY the very act of doing so!)......and fulfilling not only the
needs of those others whom she does Serve, BUT, at the same time, enabling, FINDING, and fulfilling, her OWN "NEEDS", for connection, for Unity, and for ONENESS......WITH that ONE which IS! Again, Thank You, Carla, and May you continue to Serve, in whatever way it is of your own personal "duty", to so Serve, one and all!
And thusly, in speaking of whatever "way" it IS, which is of one's own personal "duty" to SERVE (i.e., "HOW might I Serve?")......brings me to the next part of my answer to Carla. Because, first of all, as I have said, and as Socrates has so said, "Your answer TO ANYTHING - to any question, to any problem - IS WITHIN YOU!" But also, not only is it within you, but it is also UNIQUELY YOURS! In other words, it is never the same as anyone else's, but IS, uniquely and wonderfully, YOURS - as ONLY your abilities, talents and resources CAN MAKE IT SO!
To elaborate further upon this, let me give some positive examples, of the MEANS OF IMPLEMENTING WHATEVER the answer is, that you might find within yourself. And remember, ONLY YOU can "know" the answer, as to what to do, in Service to another in need! AS a personal example, I needed a pair of shoes, because I am presently suffering a case of Edema, or swelling of the feet and legs. My feet once were size 10, but now are size 14, yet the shoes I was wearing were size 12, which certainly did not help the edema problem. Another friend, without asking of the need OR the size of shoe needed, first of all, recognized the need for open shoes - such as Birkenstocks - and then KNEW, from inside himself - the RIGHT SIZE as well! And so I now have a new pair of open Naturetrek sandal-shoes, size 13, with adjustable straps that do certainly accommodate my size 14 feet! THANKS, Bill!
Anyway, to get back to Carla, as an example of what you could do for me, I could say, "Hey! SPREAD the word! Let others become aware of where to find my Works, that they might also be enabled to find themselves!" And, YES, Christ DID say, "Let the Word go forth, unto ALL!" BUT, the realization is, that such may NOT be Carla's "means", or even "thing" (HER thing!), of helping others, much less this Soul. So, let me ask a question, and then, by example, provide the answer. LOTS of people, in this world, "help" others, BY DOING THEIR THING! "WHAT would Stephen Spielberg do, in helping others?" Why, he would make a movie, that would probably not only be entertaining, but also highly educational as well! "WHAT would Ted Fang do?" Well, as the Publisher who is the new owner of the San Francisco Examiner, he would probably see to it that, in some way, the Word would get out - say, by way of an advertisement, OR, perhaps, he'd ask one of his columnists to read the Word, and then write their own impression
and opinion OF the Word! "WHAT would Ted Turner do?" As the Number One honcho of most of the Cable TV Networks, he's sure make sure that somehow the Word got onto any one or all of those Cable Networks! And there could probably be any number of other ways, some probably FREE, in which the WORD OF GOD (as the example I am talking about here - certainly NOT my own Works, if that is what someone might have been thinking!) could be "spread among the people", IF that is to be the "means" of helping others! And the point IS - each and every individual I have noted hereinabove, WOULD BE DOING HIS "thing", what he was "born to do", IF such WERE that which he/she was "born to do"!
BUT, the further point, IS THAT IT MUST BE uniquely Carla's "thing" - of WHATEVER IS the "right thing" for her to DO, in utilization OF her unique talents, abilities and resources......AS ONLY SHE CAN SO DETERMINE! So, my answer to Carla IS, further, "HEY! I CANNOT tell you the answer! I cannot even tell you WHAT I might need! I can certainly TAKE, that which I DO NEED (AS determined ONLY by myself!), which is a basic human right anyway - the RIGHT, of all individuals, to TAKE what they need, OF THAT which is FREELY OFFERED, by others and by all of society - and I would probably do so, IF offered that which I do need! BUT, I CANNOT determine, or influence, THAT WHICH IS TO BE OFFERED! Because THAT is, purely and simply, the UNIQUE RESPONSIBILITY of the person making the offer - AS DETERMINED BY the talents, abilities and resources OF the offeror - and ONLY the offeror KNOWS Who and What one IS and, thusly, WHAT can be OFFERED!
So, I trust that my good friend Carla can find the "answer", whether of how to help this single Soul, OR of how to help ALL of humanity! Because, in a sense, they are one and the same, and whatever it might be, remember - "Do Unto Others, as You would have Others Do Unto You!"
And finally, in answer to another good friend, Maria......YES, humanity CAN change the world and the Cosmos. We do NOT have to let it remain as it "is", in the hands of your corrupt politicians and representatives, who are out ONLY for themselves, no matter how much they might protest otherwise, that they are "Serving the People"! Because, as I have told you both - Carla and Maria - ONLY by eliminating that Veil of UNKNOWING - ONLY by KNOWING oneSelf - can humanity CHANGE THE WORLD, and change the COSMOS, and change WHAT "IS" - TO......something BETTER! As the little girl (see NIXON) and her sign said, "Bring Us Together!" WHOLENESS - and ONENESS, of All That Is!
Aum, Peace, Amen!
Jerome.
Reply to: fatherjeromeusa@fiwd.org
Email to Website Operator: fatherjeromeusa@fiwd.org
