[Oe List ...] Salmon: Summary of a Framework for Living.doc

[William Salmon]

Family, Friends and Colleagues: 
	The following was written as a summary of the class work of the Friends of Trinity, a ministry of the Salina UMC as it reaches out to the Gay/Lesbian/Queer community. Perhaps you'll find the insights interesting. Please dialogue when you have questions. Bill

WHERE WE'VE BEEN during the last 5 weeks - Building a FRAMEWORK FOR LIVING utilizing "Four Platforms." 

I.	Platform 1: What it means to be human
	The human creation is characterized by four basic experiences: 
	We Experience Mystery:
		We neither know where we came from nor where we are going after we die. Our angst of our death is experienced in any number of pen-ultimate ways, or ways that are daily reminders that we will die; sometimes we die daily and we die by inches. The hook used to remember this is The Land of Mystery.
	We Experience Care:
		Each of us has a care for what happens tomorrow; the insurance companies get wealthy on this human concern. Each of us cares for what happens to us, to our families, nation and the world. This formula is affirmed in the Divine Commandment of Jesus to love our selves as we love our neighbors and love God. The hook used to remember this is The Mountain of Care.
	We Experience Consciousness:
		The one thing that distinguishes us from all other creatures is our Self-Consciousness. The hook used to remember this is The River of Consciousness.
	We Experience A Sense of Peace:
		Another unique capacity of being human is our ability to use our innate sense of Inner Peace even in the midst of tragedy and stress. It is important to remind ourselves that our sense of peace is not found in our circumstances, rather this peace is found within us in spite of our life situations. The hook used to remember this is The Sea of Tranquility.

II.	Platform 2: Life is lived before only ONE REALITY
	There is only one reality. It has been the same reality since the dawn of consciousness. However, our perception of reality changes as humanity experiences various paradigm shifts in worldview. One such shift occurred during the time of the Early Church; afterward time itself was measured Before the Common Era (BCE - or BC) and the Common Era (CE or AD). 
	A second major shift in consciousness came during the 15th to the 17th Centuries known as the Scientific Method, the Reformation, Industrialization, and the Renaissance. It is during this period that religious language took on the characteristics of science; every theological word became an object to be understood. This period is understood using a two-story worldview with similar characteristics used in Greek Dualism; Heaven is located outside of the known (visible) horizon. 
	The current worldview began with the publication of E=MC2 in 1917. At this moment our worldview took on the characteristics of a UNI-verse; Heaven is located within us and is experienced rather than understood.


III.	Platform 3: Two kinds of People - Pigs and Persons
	According to Socrates, Pigs are persons slopping through life largely unaware of what it means to live authentically human. On the other hand, Persons are those who live profoundly awake and aware; these people stand and salute as life passes by. A Pig is one who embraces his/her situation as a victim. A Person is one who embraces her/his situation as a victor.
	A working definition of what it means to be human is that we fulfill our intended creation by, "Living the humane and gracious life while working for justice and mercy." It is impossible to be humane and gracious without working for justice and mercy. In like manner, it is impossible to work for justice and mercy unless we live humane and gracious. 
	The problem we experience in being HUMAN is that this does not fulfill our intended creation. We are created to live in At-One-Ment with all of creation and with all other creatures both human and animal. TO BE HUMAN is to live by our natural inclinations for self-preservation, safety, to be fed, etc. 
	However, there is the deeper, inward experience for living the humane and gracious life. We experience this hundreds of times every day, but we fail to name these experiences using the words humane and gracious. As Christians we fail to name these daily occurrences using the Christian lexicon of God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Salvation, Hell, Sin, etc. As secular humane people we find the words of Awakened or Awake to be helpful because of the emphasis on our personal experience.  
	As Howard Thurman, mentor to Martin Luther King, wrote, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. Rather, we are spiritual beings having a human experience." 
	Or, as St. Augustine wrote, "We are restless, O Lord, until we find our rest in Thee." 
	
IV:	Platform 4: Ethical Living
	Ethical Living is best understood in the formula of What Would Jesus Do or WWJD. It is experienced in self-sacrifice or in fulfilling At-One-Ment. It is when we live in harmony, in synch, in tune, that we get the feeling that this is what it means to live the humane and gracious life. It is at times like these that we feel good about our selves, our neighbor and with Perfect At-One-Ment which is one definition of God. Also, this is a definition of the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." 
	During this session we read a newspaper editorial written by Mike Mattson on, "Why Can't I Become Gay?" The conversation pushed to the level that what Mr. Mattson did was done without selfish motives, and it succeeded in raising for the Salina community an important question. We understood his act to be a demonstration of WWJD. 
	
	Inner Peace, ya'all, 
	Pastor Bill 
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