The Scent of God

There was an interesting article in the New York Times recently about a professional Italian epicure who lost his sense of smell and taste due to COVID. His name is Michele Crippa. He is a celebrated gastronome known for his ability to discern the most delicate of smells and flavors.

The article says that he was able “to distinguish between Parmesan cheeses of different ages — and between milk extracted at different altitudes. He reveled in the perfume of cod smoked over pine cones. In his reviews for Italy’s pre-eminent food magazine, he discerned the scent of champagne in raw Nicaraguan coffee beans and tasted traces of green peas in a blend from Kenya.”

One March day in 2020 he lost his sense of smell and taste overnight. He poured himself a cup of coffee and could taste only water. His sense of taste was warped. “Spoiled milk tasted fine. Sweet wafts of vanilla triggered heaves of disgust. Peaches tasted like basil.” Now he is on a mission to recapture his sense of taste and smell and help others who are similarly afflicted.  It is working … at least in part.

When I read this, I could not help but compare it to spirituality. It seems to me that much of American Christianity has lost its sense of smell and taste. It can no longer smell or taste God. Some forms of Christianity are so artificial that they are poisonous to the soul. More than once I have left a worship service because of poisonous preaching. Such religion is dangerous to one’s spiritual health.

Many churches have substituted beliefs about God for experience of God. Political ideology and culture warfare are increasingly being substituted for spirituality. Even when the spiritual dimension is proclaimed, congregants are taught to rely on someone else’s word about God - by way of authoritative scriptures, creeds, or religious leaders - rather than tasting God for themselves. When left unexercised the intuitive sense of God atrophies.

The good news is that the sense of God can be recovered, just like COVID victims can recover a degree of smell and taste. We can know God directly. Some forms of Christianity know this and teach this. Some churches proclaim the original gospel of Jesus instead of the manmade gospel about Jesus. If that were not so, I would no longer call myself a Christian or attend Christian worship regularly.

I can smell God. I can taste God. God has an unmistakable aroma that cannot be put into words. Can you describe the scent of geraniums or the aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies? It is like describing colors to the blind. But you know these when you smell them or taste them! It is the same with God. You know God when you smell God or taste God. You recognize the scent of God. For me the fragrance of God is unmistakable.

I think that is why holy places are so often associated with incense, fragrant oils, or rituals involving food. These are physical reminders of spiritual presence. That is why the Eucharist is such an important part of the Christian tradition. Catholics even refer to it as Real Presence.

Not being able to sense the presence of God would feel to me like losing one of our five physical senses. That is why the “dark night of the soul” – the seeming absence of God - seems so terrible to people like Mother Teresa or Saint John of the Cross.

God’s subtle – and sometimes overpowering presence – is everywhere and in everything. Seemingly in some places more than others – holy places. Seemingly in some people more than others – holy people. Yet in reality all places and people are holy. There is no place or person that does not carry the scent of the divine.

Jesus called this divine omnipresence the Kingdom of God. I use Jesus’ term, but also call it the Presence of God or Unitive Awareness. Call it whatever you want, using whatever religious language you prefer. It is not important what label you assign it. What is important is that we smell and taste this for ourselves. As the psalmist says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in God.”

Thank God It Couldn’t Happen Here

They entered the capital, waving flags and banners. The government defenders were overwhelmed. Members of the legislative and executive branch of government had to flee for their lives. The insurrectionists entered the governing chambers, offering prayers of thanks to God for the victory.

They are adamantly opposed to separating religion from government (what Americans call “the separation of church and state.”) They want a country founded on theistic principles and godly values. They want prayer and scripture reading back in schools. They want creationism taught in school. Upon taking control they raided the offices of journalists, saying that the media are biased and have been publishing lies about them for years.

They say they will outlaw abortion, homosexuality and any accommodation to transgender people. They insist that they will respect the rights of women, but only insofar as permitted by scripture. That means, of course, that only men can be religious leaders. Yes, what is happening in Afghanistan is terrible. I am so glad it could never happen here in the USA. 

The Sky is Falling, But Don’t Worry

On the morning of Friday the thirteenth (August 13) I scanned the news headlines, as is my custom during breakfast. I learned that NASA has upgraded the chance of earth being struck by an asteroid to 1 in 1750. This particular asteroid is named Beenu. It could collide with earth sometime between now and the year 2300, with September 24, 2182, being the most likely date.  So mark your calendars! Yet David Farnocchia of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) insists, “We shouldn't be worried about it very much."

Also among the day’s headlines were the daily COVID updates. These stories reported that cases are rising due to the more contagious Delta variant, as well as the anti-mask and anti-vax movements, and that we should be concerned about the risk to children. That got me wondering about the odds of dying from COVID-19 compared to being hit by a Near Earth Object.

I discovered this is very difficult information to obtain. I did learn that roughly 1 in 1000 New Hampshirites and 1 in 530 Americans have died of COVID so far, and the figures are rising. Those figures do not translate directly into odds of dying of COVID apparently. More data are needed, and there is a lot of misinformation out there. Plus there are individual risk factors that need to be taken into consideration, not the least of which is vaccination status. Yet these preliminary figures show that COVID is to be taken seriously.

Then I researched the risk of dying from other causes. For the average American the odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 107.  We have a 1 in 88 chance of dying by suicide. The average American has a 1 in 106 chance of dying in a fall. The odds are 1 in 289 that we will die by gunfire. There is a 1 in 8,359 chance we will be killed by police. Odds of dying in an airplane crash are 1 in 205,552.  

The odds of being killed by a foreign-born terrorist are 1 in 45,808. The odds of dying at the hands of illegal immigrant terrorists are 1 in 138,324,873. Yet Americans seem to be plenty worried about terrorists and illegal immigrants. Then there is this interesting fact. The CDC did a study of nonfatal bathroom injuries (That is where our tax money goes!), and they report that we have a 1 in 10,000 chance of being injured by a toilet. Ouch!

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we should drop our guard when it comes to terrorism, COVID … or dangerous commodes. COVID is a real threat. Over 620,000 Americans have died so far. Unvaccinated people are needlessly dying every day because they do not believe there is any danger. Each of these deaths is tragic to family and friends. I am just trying to put things in perspective.

After looking at the figures, I have concluded that life is dangerous. The mortality rate is still 100%. I met a friend at the post office yesterday, and she informed me that her husband died a few days ago. It happens all the time. People die. None of us is getting out of here alive. There is a 1 in 1 chance that you will die. But there is no need to be reckless with our remaining years.

Furthermore there is no need to worry about dying. Why worry about the inevitable? Dying is as natural as living; death as natural as birth. We were not afraid to be born, so why be anxious about dying? Jesus said, “Do not be anxious! Who of you by worrying can add an hour to his life?” 

Everything that is born dies. Species die. The human race will die, either of self-inflicted climate change, nuclear weapons, biological warfare, or natural causes. Even the earth will die eventually – asteroid or not.

Death is simply a transition. In a deeper sense we cannot die. My body and brain will perish, along with its sense of separate identity. But our larger and older identity is eternal. That deeper identity was not born and cannot die. Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He was not talking about himself as an individual, but our eternal nature. That is what it means to be made in the image of God.

Solomon said that God has placed eternity in the human heart. The eternity at the heart of existence is what we truly are, whether we believe it or not. Whether we are aware of it or not. The spiritual life is about becoming aware of this reality and living from that timeless truth. So whether asteroids fall, COVID strikes, or toilets attack me, I am. 

Living in a Philip K Dick World

Reading about politics makes me fearful for the future of our nation and angry at those who put ideology and personal gain above country. Politics will drive you crazy. It is almost as bad as religion. Combine the two and people can really go off the deep end. As a politically-minded Christian, I am at double risk. I endeavor to be above the fray – to be spiritual but not political - but I do not always succeed.

Faith has been defined (erroneously) by skeptics as “belief without evidence.” These days this definition describes politics as well as religion. People believe any conspiracy theory if it is voiced by a like-minded ideologue. If a lie is repeated often enough and strongly enough, people will believe it, as long as it conforms to their ideological agenda. Damn the evidence.

We live in a post-truth era. As a spiritually minded lover of truth, who values rational thought and science (yes, there are Christians like this!), that puts me at odds with most people in my religion and my political party. I feel like I am living in a dystopian novel where society engages in Orwellian doublespeak. Falsehood is Truth. Wrong is Right. Bondage is Liberty. Heroes are villains. Death is Life.

I am a fan of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. A lot of good movies have been adapted from his stories - films like Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, Paycheck and others. I am presently reading his posthumous Exegesis, which is a collection of personal correspondence and private musings never meant for publication. It reveals just how delusional PKD really was. Many consider him mentally ill, but he was a great writer.

He lived in an alternative reality of his own making. He believed his own paranoid delusions, which provide the premise for most of his stories. At the same time, there is something about his writings that rings true to my experience. There can be truth at the core of madness. "Twixt truth and madness lies but a sliver of a stream." His fantastical insights are more real than most peoples’ boring realities. He had glimpses beyond the veil of the shared delusion that we call “the real world.”

His stories are typically about a man (nearly always a man!) who is the only one aware of the true reality at the heart of existence. Everyone else is living a lie. Often the authorities are out to get the main character and silence him. That alone does not make him crazy. As the saying goes, “It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.” 

Sometimes I feel like our political system has gone mad. I am registered Republican. (There, I am finally out of the closet!) I am a Republican because I believe in the GOP’s core values, especially individual liberties and responsibilities, limited federal government, low taxes, and fiscal responsibility. I prefer to vote Republican, but will choose the best candidate (high moral character, intelligence, education and experience) over party affiliation. In other words I am Republican but not partisan.

But ever since 2016 I feel like my fellow Republicans are living in a world divorced from reality. The GOP has forsaken the Republican values I hold dear. That became readily apparent in 2020 when the RNC decided not to adopt a national party platform stating their policies and principles. They chose to be a personality cult rather than a party of principles. Without principles to guide them, they have lost their way. Hence our present madness. The Democrats are not quite as crazy as the Republicans, but they are not exactly sane either. You can see the blood lust in their eyes. Power corrupts any party.

The anti-mask and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, QAnon, and “the big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen are just crazy talk. They are beliefs without evidence. They have nothing to do with conservative values. There must be some explanation for why people are willing to embrace such outright lies. My theory is that religion has corrupted politics and vice versa. Religious credulity has infiltrated conservative politics and produced a gullible populace that cannot distinguish truth from falsehood.

Religion has a lot of admirable qualities, but it can also be a downright crazy business. Take it from one who was in the business professionally for forty years. Religious people too often accept things on faith without evidence. Just tell Christians the Bible teaches something, and they will believe it. Even when the Bible says no such thing.

Take abortion for example, which has become the preeminent issue for religious conservatives. It trumps all other voting issues. They believe God is against abortion. They believe this without reservation and without evidence. They believe the Bible is pro-life. They believe this because a preacher or pope told them so. It is all about believing religious authorities, not personal investigation of facts.

If Christians took the time to read the Scriptures they would discover that the Bible never mentions abortion. Even when one investigates biblical statements about when life begins, the evidence leans toward birth, not conception. Yet religious conservatives insist that the only viable stance for Christians is to be pro-life. They believe this is so strongly that are willing to legislate this moral stance into law, thereby violating the conservative principle of keeping government out of personal lives. This is only one example.

My party has gone crazy. They are no longer thinking rationally or sanely, in my opinion. Personally I no longer fit in the Republican Party. I also do not fit in the Democratic Party, which trusts much too much in the power and goodness of government, the tyranny of the majority, and the magic of deficit spending. As much as I like the Libertarian Party, “third parties” are practically irrelevant. My religion of Christianity has likewise gone crazy. In recent decades it has morphed into an anti-science, anti-reason, legalistic party of sheep who will believe anything their handlers tell them.

So here I am, a Baptist preacher espousing spirituality over religious authority, reason over tradition, and science over pseudo-science. That is why I feel like I am living in a Philip K Dick story. Maybe I am as crazy as he was.  Then again, as Orwell wrote in 1984: “Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” So maybe I am not so crazy after all.

No Selfies, Please

I have never taken a selfie. That may be due to the fact that I still use an old-fashioned flip phone that does not lend itself easily to that application. The reason I still carry an antique cell is because I have no need for the apps on a smart phone. Naively I think that the purpose of phones is to make phone calls. When I need to be online I will reach for my laptop or tablet. I also seldom carry my cellphone. I enjoy the peace of not being at everyone’s beck and call. Remember when people could not interrupt you when you went out of the house for a walk or a meal in a restaurant?

I am obviously in the minority in my Luddite inclinations. It seems to be a 21^st century social requirement to have an obscenely expensive mini-computer in your pocket at all times. For many people it is an obsession to take and share photos of themselves with their phones. Many of these photos sport strange facial expressions that no one would ever display in person. What is it with the duck face?! What is the attraction of making faces for a camera and posting them online?

Every year there are news accounts of people who fell off cliffs at national parks, leaning over a railing trying to get the perfect selfie. Why risk your life to take a selfie? There was a recent post in USA Today about how to improve your selfies. It was suggested that hats and props be used. Of course you need to purchase a “selfie stick” to extend one’s reach to get just the right angle. I don’t get it. What is the attraction?

Selfies seem to be a way we remind ourselves – and the world – that we are unique and special persons. What wonderful places we visit! What fascinating people we associate with! What fun we are having! How happy we are! It seems like overkill. Methinks thou dost protest too much. I suspect that truly interesting people are too involved in living life to take pictures of themselves to share on social media.

Selfies are a strategy that the ego (another word of the self) uses to convince itself and others that it is real and important. This truth may come as a shock to many people: the self is a fiction. It has no reality outside our minds. It is a product of evolution and society. It is a psychological fiction that the brain has created to function in human society. The evolution of the ego has succeeded in making humans the dominant species on this planet, but we must not mistake its usefulness for reality.

In truth we are something much more profound than neurotic little egos seeking attention and approval. We are the Life that animates these bodies and minds. We are Awareness manifested as human consciousness. We are Self masquerading as selves. Human culture has called this the Holy. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Realizing this Ultimate Reality in awareness is the goal of all religions and spirituality.

The good news – which is the literal meaning of the word “gospel” - is that this reality can be readily seen by anyone. All we need is eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus said. No need to spend years perfecting spiritual disciplines. No esoteric knowledge needed. No initiation ceremonies required. No organization to join. No doctrines to be believed. No creeds to be recited.

This is seen directly when we look behind the self to notice what we really are. We simply need to inquire honestly as to our true identity. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. When the door opens we see we are not who we thought we were. We are not a self, and certainly not something that can be captured in a selfie.  We are the selfless One. This is the testimony of the mystical branch of every world religion. It is the perennial philosophy. It is the timeless Truth. We are one.

I’ve Been Canceled!

Well, “Cancel Culture” has finally caught up with me. Now I know what it feels like to be canceled. The mail service (which will remain nameless), that I had been using to distribute my blog posts to subscribers, informed me on July 5 that they have terminated my account. Here are their exact words:

“Your account with the username Spiritual Reflections by Marshall Davis has been suspended for violating our Standard Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. Please review our policies for more information on the types of content we don't allow.”

Ouch! I felt like a criminal. What did I do wrong? I reread my blog post and reviewed the policies carefully, and I could not find any possible violation. I wanted to think it was because my revolutionary spirituality was too much for people to handle. But I suspect that the reason is a mention in my July 4 post of the far-right group The Proud Boys and their merchandising outlet “1776.”

That was likely caught by some mindless bot or algorithm, which assumed I was endorsing them rather than condemning what they stand for. Any human reading my post would have seen what I was saying. But that would mean involving real humans in the process, and my suspicion is that service uses only monkeys. (hint!)

I have tried to contact a human with two emails asking for a specific reason for my suspension, but so far I have not heard back. I am not holding my breath. Unfortunately that means I had to find another means of distribution. It also means my timely post on the Declaration of Independence is out of date. But if you are still interested in my thoughts on this historic American document even after the July 4 holiday, you can access it HERE.

That is assuming I will not be canceled by my new subscription service for the same unspecified reason. Now I know what it feels like to be President Trump banned from Facebook. It almost makes me feel sorry for the guy. Almost. Oh, Oh! I hope that statement is not grounds for being banished again! Careful, Marshall, Big Brother is watching!

By the way, the new service is called follow.it. They have been very helpful in transferring my account and all my subscribers – including you - to their service. They are staffed by real humans with names who answer emails promptly. Follow.it has lots of options for subscribing if you want to explore it. They even said that if I posted a link to https://follow.it/ in this article, they would be happy to give me a $10 credit. But of course I would never do something like that!

This post will be the first time I have used this service, so I will see how well it works in delivering a good looking article to your inbox. I might have to tweak it to get the presentation the way I want it. The last service did not work well at all. A lot of people were not getting my blog. I could not even get them to send it to me!  And I never got any help fixing the problems. So in retrospect I guess it was good they suspended me. As the Bible says, “All things work together for good…” Even cancel culture. 

Reflections on the Declaration of Independence

I privately read the Declaration of Independence yesterday in anticipation of hearing it read aloud at an Independence Day ceremony held at our town’s Honor Roll today.

The opening words of this document are famous: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.”  The Deity is invoked in the form of “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.” Then come these familiar words:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Those words are well-known. I was not so familiar with the list of 27 grievances that the founding fathers had against King George. They are called “a long train of abuses and usurpations.” The final one caught my attention: “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

I wonder how those of Native American descent would feel about the public reading of these words as a part of this country’s celebration of freedom and equality. Personally I would feel uncomfortable using the words “merciless Indian Savages” and accusing them of “undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” It feels tone deaf. The same accusation could be made about the American government’s treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America.

Then there is the condemnation of “domestic insurrections.” Historically this refers to both “Indian” and slave revolts in the 18^th century. Apparently our founding fathers did not think that Native Americans and African Americans had the right to revolt against unjust American government. These Americans were not included in those who “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”  

The African slave connection is particularly relevant today in our racially charged environment and the present uproar about Critical Race Theory. The author of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, was himself an infamous slave owner. In fact a passage condemning slavery was omitted from the final draft of the Declaration. Those who sought independence for themselves were not willing to extend that right to African slaves.

The term “insurrection” cannot be heard these days without thinking of the January 6 attack upon the U.S. Capitol. Insurrection is not a designation assigned to the event by journalists. Many participants in the attack saw it as exactly that. January 6 was their “1776 moment.” 1776 has become a symbol used by the Far Right. For example, the Proud Boys have an online shop for thier merchandise named "1776."

My holiday reading of the Declaration of Independence has turned into more than just a patriotic moment for me. Hearing it read aloud by friends and townspeople in our town square felt like a spiritual experience. Perhaps it was because it was Sunday morning. When I returned home I meditated upon what freedom means for each generation and every person, racial group, and minority group in America.

Reflection on the Declaration of Independence needs to be more than old white men like me expressing gratitude for the freedoms that we have historically enjoyed. It means guaranteeing that the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are extended to all people in this great country. The Declaration of Independence is not a onetime declaration. It is an ongoing revolution.