The Virgilian Book of Spiritual Essays

1

Letter to a Friend

Theme: Communication

HELLO, MY FRIEND,

​I am especially pleased you have decided to read my message to you now rather than later on. As you skim these opening remarks, you are wondering just what it is I have to say and will it have any significance for you. Of course, you could read it later or even throw it away, and yet, here we are. And though you want to know what is on my mind, you are starting to think that maybe I am just wasting your time.

​Yes, I know many things about you. It is due to your curiosity that you have continued to read this far. It’s really not so strange that I know this and that about what you are doing and thinking (no, I am not a psychic). However, I share with absolute certainty these phenomenal things about you because, at this very moment, I am right here with you and we are carrying on this conversation with each other!

​No, I am not doing all the talking. This is not a one-way conversation, you know. Truly, your mind is quite busy generating all sorts of responses to my comments. By the way, this actually makes it more difficult for us to communicate clearly with each other. For while you are both reading my words and pondering your thoughts, you are only half-listening to what I am saying to you.

​So hear me carefully now. Read slowly. I am writing these words to you and you alone. They are not intended for all those other people out there. No one is here but you and me. Happily, I can see that you are patiently trying to focus on my thoughts, though I’m not so certain you understand where I’m headed with all this.

​So let me draw you a picture – maybe that will help. Imagine this paper to be totally blank. It really was blank when I started talking to you, but now I have filled it up with all these words and you have added your own thoughts between these words. So this paper represents our relationship with each other right now.

​I have tried so earnestly to capture your attention, which I have successfully done. And you have spent these most precious moments of your day being with no one but me. But what has been accomplished? I mean – really!

​The words we use do not always communicate what it is we truly want to say. Words often just get in the way of effective communication. And yet, we keep rambling on and on with more and more words. So let me move beyond words and speak with my heart:

​What I really want you to know is that you are a very special person. I care about you. God has richly blessed my world by creating you and placing you in it. Will you accept my Unity hug?

​And let’s just forget about all those words.

2

If I Have Not Love

Theme: Love

AS ONE EMBARKS UPON the spiritual path, the soul awakens to a richer realm of potentiality that lies deep within. Each uncovers his or her hidden talents, gifts, and treasures; then learns to develop and use them to enhance the quality of one’s life. The apostle Paul inspires us with the best gift of all: LOVE.

"I may speak in the languages of humans ... 

But if I don’t have love ... 

I may speak in the languages ... of angels.

But if I don’t have love ... 

I may have the gift to speak what God has revealed ... 

But if I don’t have love ... 

I may understand all mysteries and have all knowledge... 

But if I don’t have love ... 

I may even have enough faith to move mountains.

But if I don’t have love ... 

I may even give away all that I have ... 

But if I don’t have love ... 

I may even ... give up my body to be burned ... 

But if I don’t have love ... "[2]

LOVE IS ALL-INCLUSIVE – it leaves no one out. Love is the embracing presence that connects all of the parts into a unified whole. It is the guiding energy that seeks out the highest good for everyone concerned. Truly, love is the steadfast heartbeat of infinite Creative-Intelligence, pulsating freely within the heart, nurturing the soul with a quiet, reassuring contentedness.

Love is the very fabric of your eternal being; it is your true nature, having the capacity to achieve that which nothing else can – not the muscles or the intellect, not the credentials or the fame. Love lifts you into an expanded awareness, then carries your ‘gift’ to its proper destination in perfect timing and in perfect order. 

Love inherently knows how to perform its divine work, as seen in the miracle of nature’s seed. And you, my friend, through the intuition of your spiritual heart, know how to unfold the love that you are. Indeed, love is hardly a human desire or quality, but in every respect, a spiritual happening.

Without love, what has happened ... really?

​ The language of humans speak through authors, poets, and lecturers, but if they have not love ... 

The language of angels flow through singers, dancers, and artists, but if they have not love ...  

Prophetic powers arise in astrologers, psychics, and mothers, but if they have not love ...  

Knowledge and mysteries are revealed through scientists, teachers, and psychologists, but if they have not love ... 

Mountain moving faith truly abounds in engineers, entrepreneurs, and religious adherents, but if they have not love... 

Hungry bellies of children are fed by philanthropists, both wealthy and poor, but if they have not love ... 

Martyrs such as Ghandi, King, Lincoln, or Jesus live and die for a greater cause, but if they have not love ...  

YES INDEED, WITHOUT love, what has been achieved ... really?

3

Grateful for my Dictionary

Theme: Gratitude

​DO YOU KNOW THE MEANING of the words you use? I often travel with the speed of light to the nearest dictionary simply to clarify my understanding of a term. Often I glean additional insight into the depth of meaning imbued within a word. An expression can have abstract connotations far beyond my long held literal conceptualizations. On occasion, I am surprised to find a word defined by Webster to be at variance with my own.

​Today, I have been pondering the relationship between two words used around Thanksgiving Day; the two terms are:

★  Thankful

★  Grateful

So, faster than a speeding bullet, there I am in the midst of my favorite ‘novel without a plot’ comparing with fascination these two resplendent delineations. ​​Guess what?

The definition of the word grateful is: ‘thankful’

The word thankful is defined as: ‘grateful’

​Such a marvelous instrument of ingenious collaboration!

​Fortunately, I read on. I discovered that these two synonyms both convey an appreciation of the benefits received. The difference lies however in the source from which the benefits are derived.

​Grateful is to be applied when delighted with something received from another person. Example: I am grateful to my dear friend, Tamara, for her thoughtful comments.

​Thankful would be appropriately used to express appreciation for a blessing received from God. Example: I am thankful for the timely rain God provided for my garden.

​Definitely, I am most thankful and so very grateful for the good that comes my way – from God and man respectfully. I am especially grateful to Noah Webster for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and his unrelenting penmanship that culminated in the writing and publishing of my dictionary. And, of course, I am quite thankful to the Infinite Presence who watches over every one of us, especially my friend, Noah.

​But I am distraught over the confusion that now lies before me. I mean, what if I should forget! It would be so easy for me to express my gratitude to God and give thanks to my friend. No doubt, my friend would think me to be an uneducated imbecile – a total vacuum. I suppose God would forgive me for such a minor infraction of the law. But yet, how terribly embarrassing!

​Oh well. Maybe the important thing is to keep-in-touch with those most sincere feelings of appreciation and awe that live within my heart. I thank God for showering upon me His infinite goodness and kindness and understanding. And I am grateful to you for lending an ear to my inexhaustible gyrations.​

May you have a Happy Grates-Giving Day!

4

A Flying Machine with Multicolored Wings

Theme: Conversion and Resurrection

​ ONCE UPON A TIME, there lived in the land of Caanan a hairy, worm like creature, born into the social organization, or tribe, called Benny. In his caterpillar youth, he suffered with ‘thorns in his flesh’. Amongst his family clan, he was known as Saw, and spent most days just hanging loose and carefree.

Evolving into his teenage years as a pupa in the Mosec College of Religion, Saw was always striving for perfection. In his pursuit into the study of Law, he reaped A’s in every course. Saw excelled within his tribe and advanced to the top of his class. 

A well-educated, self-assured pupa, for sure, Saw soon entered into his adult life. However, he was aghast to learn of a cult, the Chrysalians, named after their prophet, Chrysalis. The rumor ran rampant that the prophet had died but resurrected into a flying machine with multicolored wings. Stamping out this offensive cult became Saw’s first job as a young adult.

However, his life was about to change as the flying machine made a sudden landing at the very feet of Saw. Authoritatively, Chrysalis proceeded to teach his gospel of the Law to him: 

"Saw, my friend, life begins with a very hungry caterpillar hatching from an egg. The caterpillar, or larva, stuffs itself with leaves, growing plumper and longer through a series of molts in which it sheds its skin.

One day, the caterpillar stops eating, hangs down from a twig or leaf, and spins itself a silky cocoon, becoming a shiny chrysalis. Within its protective casing, the caterpillar radically transforms its body through metamorphosis. This is a biological process involving an abrupt change in the animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation ... eventually emerging as a butterfly."

Concluding his biological discourse, Chrysalis asked, Do you have any questions, Saw? Saw was both enlightened and perplexed, but became an instant believer and so ended his career as a persecutor of the Chrysalians. He changed his name to Paw, made a 180-degree reverse turn, and ventured into every nook and cranny to convert others into his new gospel.

To those who would listen, Paw taught that Chrysalis had died, but came out of the cave, or cocoon, and resurrected into a flying machine with multicolored wings. And if they believed in Chrysalis and died as he died, they too would resurrect into a magnificent flying machine.

Most of his pupas turned away, saying nasty things under their breath, but some pupas did believe in Paw’s gospel.

THIS ESSAY IS BASED upon the resurrection of Jesus and the conversion experience of Paul. Many readers shall be familiar with them. Born into a family of the tribe of Benjamin[3], he was named Saul and became an excellent Pharisaical student of his Jewish heritage. As a young adult, he condemned and persecuted his fellow-Jews who followed Jesus because he did not understand them. However, when God revealed the truth of Jesus in him, he changed his name to Paul and propagated his enlightened understanding of Jesus to the pagan Greeks.[4] Paul believed that by dying to his lower self each day, the same power that resurrected Jesus would also resurrect him:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.[5]

5

The Finale of MARK and ACTS

Theme: Completion 

​​ WITHOUT RHYME OR reason, two of the books in the New Testament come to an abrupt ending! Not just one, but both of them – suddenly and without warning – come to a screeching halt! Somewhat like an unexpected finale of a theatrical play! As the curtain drops, the interlocutor holds up a huge sign:

THE END!

IN THESE TWO BOOKS, it’s a dead-end! It’s nothing less than a cliffhanger! The reader is left spellbound and frustrated! Maybe the story will continue next week, as in a TV series. 

Here’s the first book: Gospel of Mark. This scripture ends abruptly at Mark 16:8. The women have arrived at the tomb:

​they saw a young man dressed in a white robe ... he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here’ ... Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.[6]

​THE END!

WHAT HAPPENED TO JESUS? I thought he appeared to Mary and his followers. I thought the women hurried to tell the disciples that the tomb is empty! Didn’t anyone see him resurrected? I want to know! The audience is bewildered; and Mark does not seem to know. Could it be that he is waiting for the Holy Spirit to reveal the ending of the play.

Tradition says that Mark wrote his gospel along with Peter, the disciple of Jesus, who had been present after the crucifixion. Did Peter suffer from dementia? We simply don’t know what happened at the end of Mark’s gospel. Scholars suggest that the scroll telling of the ending of the story got lost, or stolen, or destroyed. I want my $12 back.

THE SECOND BOOK IS Acts of the Apostles. Paul sends a letter to the Greek followers in Rome, After I have enjoyed your company for a while, I hope you will support my trip to Spain.[7] However, upon arriving in Rome, Paul stayed for two years. Luke shares the following conclusion, bringing his story to an abrupt ending:

​Paul lived for the next two years in his rented house [at his own expense] and welcomed all who visited him, telling them with all boldness about the kingdom of God and about the Lord Jesus Christ; and no one tried to stop him.[8]

​THE END!

DID ANYTHING WORTH writing about take place? Did Paul receive financial support? What happened to Paul at the conclusion of his stay? Did he travel to Spain? Apparently, he did not receive sufficient funding for the trip. Doesn’t Luke know what happened to Paul? Or does he know but not want to tell us? 

Paul probably died around the year 62 (in Rome). Scholars say Acts was written between 75 and 95. If so, Luke would certainly have had time to explore what happened to Paul. Maybe he is waiting for the Holy Spirit to reveal the ending of the play!

EEKS! THIS IS EMBARRASSING! Well, I’m sorry to say, uh – this essay must come to a screeching halt! It’s the finale, but I simply don’t know how to bring down the curtain! YELPS!

THE END!

6

Watching God at the Cinema

Theme: Theism

Vacationing is important . ​Even God rested on the Sabbath. After six workdays building the Universe, He took a vacation. Or did He! Who is running things now? The Bible reveals a wide range of the workings-of-deity. Fortunately, Hollywood has kept track of God’s job history. So, let’s go to the movies and explore a few of them. Get your popcorn – the shows about to begin ... 

​Theater #1:

​Deism claims that God is transcendent, living outside the events of time and space. His job was to create the world and set everything in motion. Job done, He left the planet never to be seen again. The day-to-day functioning of the earth was left to mankind. On the seventh day, God entered retirement and moved to His lakeside cottage in heaven ... never to enter the job market