I was inspired to imagination after today's scripture reading and sermon. Hearing Anna's inspired reading of Luke's pronouncements about the poor, the grief-stricken and the isolated who would eventually claim their rewards of happiness and recognition, and the rich and happy who were "getting theirs" now got me to thinking about the shadow side of all of us and the hidden but opposite piece that is surely present but not obvious. The other side of happy is saddness, so of course the laughing one will indeed encounter grief, etc., and since the poor person is indeed always internally rich, this is also present to be claimed.

And yes, we all get seduced by the false prophets of superficial consumerism and ignore the truer voice of "Christ consciousness" or "Buddha nature." But that doesn't have to be a problem.

In Buddhism, the concept of non-dualism is a view that asserts there is no essential difference between this and that, mind and body, etc. The recognition that artificial separation creates fragmentation and separating conditions, allows for a more balanced and wholistic sense of peace.

Warren's sermon illustrated that saints were people with lives similar to ours both in inspiration and foibles. In doing so he painted a vision of life as interconnected and non-dual. We all have our blind areas (the particulars in the eyes of the evaluators) but we also have our saintly elements. The sense of "Christ nature" or "Buddha nature" or "saintly nature" is always present even if we think it isn't. That, my friends is quite an uplifting and stunning truth.