Mystical and Spiritual Revolutionaries of the 20th Century

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Basic Information about Me

My name is J Gregory Evans and I have been embracing the life of a writer/poet for nine years now. I have published in the Upper Room magazine and hope to publish a novel of twentieth century spiritual and mystical revolutionaries potentially advocating peace, love and grace in every heart. I am also an artist/illustrator/designer who pursues these creative passions as a means to achieving my full potential.

In 1975 I completed a Drafting and Design program which led me to the creative process. I continued with this passion until the present and find incredible peace and support from family and friends. In 2003 I had my first publication accepted. In 2006 I exhibted three pieces of artwork on display at the Center For Health Care Services in San Antonio, Texas. 2007 was the year I registered with Imagine Art in Austin, Texas as a registered artist as well as VSA of Texas, both non-profit organizations from Austin.

During the same year I was asked to display my nautical pointillized renderings at the AbilitiesExpo at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center where I met many good people and made friends. I was invited and selected to display artwork for sale at the Good Bytes Cafe in San Antonio.

In 2008 my art was displayed for sale by invitation of Ms. Joy Deadrick, curator for Gallista Galleries and an invitation to display artwork at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Theater through April Sullivan, artworks Director for VSA of Texas. I recieved an invitation to display artwork at High Wire Gallery locally, courtesy of the Director of Mental Health Awareness Month art show, Ms. Susan Beattie, and VSA of Texas.  Received as well an invitation from Ms. Theresa Tisano Sauer, author, showcasing my art in a book "ChallengeArt: Artists Transcending Disability."

I was told, "the reward for creativity is to be close to God," this is why I like to create.

I will give account and commentary for these good people in terms I have come to understand from the perspective of a beautiful mind of gifted sanity. It is my purpose to serve, illuminate and enlighten people.

This Zone will be a continual work in progress.

What I Like to Write About

My greatest passion is writing anything spiritual and of nature. I absolutely love writings and prolific quotations made by history's greatest thinkers of liberty, love, grace, and freedom, as well as Nature, (that includes human nature, too). I study Pope John Paul II, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Thomas Merton, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Andrew Harvey, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Edward Bach, Thomas Paine, and Saint Augustine, for starters. I employ their profound statements at times as a starting point to springboard or use these patriarchal quotations for research, though, at any rate, I live their message if be God's will, too. These people are my heroes and inspirations now for almost 15 years. They have all put me on a walk of circulation within the pathway to humanity and trying to live my life according to the very wise words of Christ. I believe anything good worth writing for self improvement and betterment are worth putting to the test of the pen and to social skills of communicating, and loving family, friends, and neighbors as I would myself.

 

Lovely Scenes From Nature


photo by Neil Boothman

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  • The Thomas Merton Site gives up to date information about Thomas Merton, monk and poet, and includes many interesting articles about Merton.

Thomas Merton Short Biography And Poetry

Thomas Merton's beautiful contributions to humanity have benevolently projected mankind's soul (his own as well), forward to this Omega Point discussed by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and the Cosmic Christ Who is the Great Creator of all the beautiful things Merton and Chardin speak of in terms of Nature and the human soul. Following is a brief biography of Thomas Merton as well as selected poems of his which are believed by many to enrich and bring the Soul of Nature alive within every pneuma who reads his work. The following poem should reflect his keen intuitive insight to where few have traveled where so much desert sand blows in a contemplative wind of soul reflective searching for a better place within to live in peace.

"O Sweet Irrational Worship"

Wind and the bobwhite and the afternoon sun. By ceasing to question the sun I have become light, Bird and wind. My leaves sing. I am earth, earth all these lighted things grow from my heart. A tall, spare pine stands like the intitial of my first name when I had one. When I had a spirit, when I was on fire, when this valley was made out of fresh air You spoke my name, in naming Your silence: O sweet, irrational worship! I am earth, earth my heart's love bursts with hay and flowers. I am a lake of blue air in which my appointed place field and valley stand reflected. I am earth, earth. Out of my grass heart rises the bobwhite. Out of my nameless weeds His foolish worship.

Thomas Merton was born in Prades, France. His parents were Ruth and Owen Merton. The two were artists and probably had an influence to Thomas becoming passionate about writing. His early years were spent in the south of France though he went to school at Cambridge in England. Eventually after his parents death he moved to the United States. He attended Columbia University where his primary interest seemed to be William Blake, who he wrote his thesis about. This may have facilitated his passions for writing to a deeper level.

Towards the end of 1941 Merton traveled to Louisville, Kentucky where he entered the life of a religious and worked his way towards the life of a scholar and a man who loved writing letters. He endeavored the life of a Cistercian monk pursuing his spiritual journey into the monastic life and creating his own spirituality. He wrote many, many essays, reviews and lectures which contributed to his over 50 books and 2000 pieces of poetry.

Thomas Merton's life has been relative to such great luminaries as Martin Luther King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was attending an international monastic conference in Bankok, Thailand when he was involved in an accident and died suddenly by electrocution.

 

 

Links To Thomas Paine


photo by Tony the Misfit

JOHN PAUL II


photo by parafia-gron

"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the harts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."

John Paul II wrote his Doctoral thesis in theology on the subject of Faith according to the spirituality of John of the Cross, faith being the harmoniously proportionate means for a consummated communion with God. John of the Cross spirituality is what facilitated John Paul's thinking about love and personal subjectivity for marriage and is understood by a writing from his spiritual guide in terms of his poetry and prose:

"O lamps of fire!

in whosesplendors

the deep caverns of feeling,

once obscure and blind,

now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,

both warmth and light to their Beloved."

John of the Cross comments on these words by stating that "since God "gives himself" with a free will, so too the soul (possessing a will more generous and free the more it is united with God) gives to God, God himself in God; and this is a true and complete gift of the soul to God."

John Paul's thought and spirituality is of a truly humble nature for he also says that, "from now on it is only through a conscious choice and through a deliberate policy that humanity can survive." He seemed to have a clear understanding (and education) of all the early Church Mothers and Fathers, Saints who had supernatural experiences with Christ, present day Religious and the Church as a whole.

Another prolific statement is that "science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes." This seems to indicate a vision that even Teilhard's vision of a cosmic evolutionary Christ and the Omega Point to be a reality. So our actions really define who we are and the direction in which we are headed in. "The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish."

His vision was one of the world consecrating themselves to God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation but each individual must provide their own accomodations to reciving grace and love. He saw that the vision of marriage to be sacred and the espousal love of husband and wife embrace fidelity of course if not even celibacy at times to re-purify ourselves with God in a total surrender and abandonment through intimate communion with the participation of the divine Love that is God.

 


photo by Bryce Bradford
What religious order did Thomas Merton belong to?
Cistercian
Augustinian
Franciscans
St Louis de Montfort
Marian

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska Short Biography


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Henry David Thoreau - Poet and Author


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Link to My Helium AboutMe

Past Publications - "Let Go and Let God"

"Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him."    Psalm 32:10 (NIV).

Note: The following is a publication of mine written for the Upper Room magazine. The reason I make mention of this is because the preceding scripture verse sums up in part some of what the great mystical and spiritual revolutionaries of the twentieth century and past seem to say over and over, from the early prophets, Fathers and Mothers of the church, lay people of the church, and modern mystics and spiritualists have come to know in their spiritual maturity. From King David, Solomon, to the giants of spirituality and the grace of God today; there is an underlying message that just trying to establish love, grace, and kindness in the world and to each other will ultimately lead us to becoming members of the Mystical Body of Christ.

"I was diagnosed with a chronic emotional illness and a severe social anxiety disorder. In addition to my illness. I began to realize there was something deeply wrong spiritually. My life was full of indulgence in many vices, and I had left very little room for God's loving grace.

When I was young I was rebellious, self-centered, and often stubborn. I felt animosity and contempt toward those who I felt had wronged me. I blamed others for my problems. Years passed and my anger grew. My heart hardened, and I felt as if God had abandoned me.

Slowly but surely, God's love helped me see that in my self-indulgent lifestyle I had been worshipping things of this world. I came to understand that God was inviting me to lay my troubles at the foot of the cross and begin trusting him. As I began to let God take control of my life, I began to feel the reassurance of his presence. Now I can step out in obedience that comes with confidence in trusting God."

Through the writing of this brief article I discovered some of what Teilhard de Chardin speaks of as well as the others that if we allow it, God will soften our hard hearts and change our view of the world.

Showing Comments 1 to 6 of 6

J Gregory Evans
Posted on: Nov 06, 09 at 09:49 PM
Thanks a bunch Holly. Your comments and folks like you help to keep me inspired and encourages me to work even harder. I still have lots of work to do on my zones. Feel free to drop by and welcome to Helium. Kindest Regards.
Holly Goddard
Posted on: Nov 06, 09 at 08:32 PM
What an awesome zone! I'm new to Helium, and I'm still exploring the site and all that it has to offer. I came across this page, and all I can say is, "Wow!" It's very informative, interesting, and educational - a real gem! :)
J Gregory Evans
Posted on: Oct 31, 09 at 06:10 PM
Thankyou Judy for encouraging me even further to continue with this zone. I am so excited. Kindest Regards.
J Gregory Evans
Posted on: Oct 31, 09 at 04:15 PM
Thankyou Georgia for your much appreciated comments concerning my zones. I love writing and have always loved, English, Philosophy, and Theology, too. Please visit and comment as often as you like for it brings me hope and I am grateful. Kindest Regards
Georgia Stewart
Posted on: Oct 31, 09 at 10:20 AM
Thomas Merton's one of my favourite authors! This is an excellent zone. Peace Georgia
Judith C Evans
Posted on: Oct 29, 09 at 09:25 PM
Thank you for bringing together these thinkers and writers from different walks of life and traditions. This is an inspiring, refreshing Zone to read. I look forward to coming back to read more.

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Transformed by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Spirituality


photo by Yannick Carer

 Understanding Of Spiritual Transformation as a mystical or spiritual revolutionary is fast becoming a reality into the typical, descriptive, and unquestionable truth that the Mystical Body of Christ is an Omnipotent and Holistically Powerful objective truth, according to what Christ has been trying to accomplish in the world. Traditional Christian piety has been questionable since Pierre Teilhard de Chardin first noticed nature and its theoretically questionable evolutionary process, not only in Mother Nature but human nature as well. Teilhard always expressed an apparent appreciation and love for all forms of nature, in all its evolutionary process.

Aurelius Augustine may have been the traditional Western thinker and philosopher of the Roman Church and has always been a favorite of mine. He stated many patriarchal statements that simply helped me to adjust to some very troubling times of hardship and severe suffrage. He has been considered by the church to be the Father of Western Christianity. I know he is favored by many and rejected by many. Perhaps when we are susceptible to following Christ in all His Greatness of Pure Love we shall come to overcome our iniquitous mindset.

But suppose we all take a little here and a little there, providing it has to do with the great Divine Milieu? This is Teilhard's spirituality that embraces a mystical and spiritual prelude to the mystical embodiment of all members of the Body of Christ. Teilhard claims that we should see with and through the eyes of Christ 2000 years ago as well as project ourselves in the future and the magnanimous Being that the Risen Christ with His Total Self has developed during the last two millennia. Christ also is constantly evolving through and by every soul that turns to Him even in the most minute form.

We all live in Christ and are members of His body continuously developing in a Higher Consciousness. Whether the Total Christ, the Mystical Christ, or the Total Body of Christ, we all assist in some way to nurture this Mystical Union and once received into our hearts are able to catch a glimpse into where this magnanimous Christ is headed. Only in this way are we able to promote in His fulfillment.

Christ said, "I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20). He is the Head of his Body and has promised to be with us till the unification has become totally evolved into absolute and complete Perfection. We may all make our own decisions each choosing different paths by right or wrong turns and choices we make. This process invites us in to see the visible and invisible dimensions consummated and embraced by the Body of Christ which inevitably will be made up of all His followers, believers, lovers, etc.

 

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin believes as many Christians do that we will one day come face to face with God. But he says that, the ultimate vision Christ has for the world is an inseperable connectedness to Him through the "elevating and illuminating action of Christ." He goes on by stating, "Our individual mystical effort awaits an essential completion in its union with the mystical effort of all men."

Teilhard says often times people come into competition with God by not letting go and giving Him the control He desires. Pierre says, "The greater man becomes, the more humanity becomes united, with consciousness of, and mastery of, its potentialalities, the more beautiful creation will be, the more perfect adoration will become, and the more Christ will find, for mystical extensions, a body worthy of resurrection."  Here, all of humanity being drawn toward the ineffable Omega Point, the ultimate origin of the Universe, which "is" God. Christ is in fact, according to Teilhard in His book The Divine Milieu, expressing the presence of Christ in all things.

There have been many mystics and Doctors of the Church who have witnessed bonds, unions, visions, and locutions of Christ that clearly understand the proposal that all of humanity will be united in Christ. God will permeate all living hearts by overflowing each with an overabundance of grace and love which we have been hearing for centuries that God's purpose is firmly in place, no matter what the circumstance, one must have the direct and intuitive realization that Christ purpose and God's Will be done.

"If we want [desire] the divine milieu to grow all around us we must jealously guard all the forces of union, of desire, and of prayer that grace offers us, by the mere fact that our transparency will increase, the divine light, that never ceases to press in upon us, will erupt the more powerfully."

God's power acting in all dimensions of our universe drawing all humanity together through love made perfect and the grace Christ provides. "Across the immensity of time," says Teilhard, "and the disconcerting multiplicity of individuals, one single operation is taking place, the annexation of Christ to his chosen, one single  thing is being made: the Mystical Body of Christ, starting from all the sketchy spiritual powers scattered throughout the world."

"The Many Faces Of Success" A Poem

Hidden depths

Kingdom of God -

Mysteriously present.

False conscience, false gods -

To worship creature, or thing, rather than Creator, a lie?

Live by His Love, a grace...

Lying face down,

Nothing left to hide - nor lose,

Rock bottom, Confess!

Hope only in God, and

Discover -

The many hidden faces of success!

This was a poem written some time after I realized through dying I am born to eternal life. An amazing moment for some one who contemplated actual suicide for many, many years. Prayerfully, I have since recovered from this event and mindset I possessed for many years. This moment of self discovery led me to embrace life more fully all the while letting go. It is truly a beautiful moment.

 

Activation of Energy: Enlightening Reflections on Spiritual Energy; Commentary by J Gregory Evans


photo by ShironekoEuro

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin lived from 1881 - 1955. He was a Jesuit priest who practiced the spirituality of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He has a compiled collection of essays embracing the potential of human spiritual energy properly directed and channeled upward and outward bringing not only the individual but the earth and heavens a moment of erupting love and grace. He claims if this spiritual energy is perhaps wrongly distributed manifests itself as depression, addictions, and wide spread violence, individually, collectively, or universally. Teilhard also goes on to say that this energy properly channeled will definitively leave a true force of Goodness in the Universe, far outweighing any potentialities of modern technological advance.

Teilhard felt an intense truth that no matter the quantity of humankind's free decisions would not fail in its unknowing effort to find its God. Even amongst the most horrendous circumstances we may face the all powerful truth is we shall not perish. He considers this to be a crisis of growth which reaps nothing more than true hope. He saw life in terms of its own history from generation to generation, stating that, any crisis we face, does not become more violent, for if it did, we would not benefit from hope and a powerful and gruesome anxiety might exist.

The underlying cause of our distress in an over populated society stems from an earth molecular unit of humankind of multitudes of segregated and ethnic humans forced to come of age together as one body coinciding with itself. We have differentiating sects of man obsessively driving the univeralization of their particular political socialization creating for themselves the right to what they believe to being God's heirs or simply put as well a social injustice of lawlessness. A survival of the fittest if you will continuously struggling a control or mastery of individual over individual, or, nation over nation. Who will conquer whom?

War of nations and individual conflict is not less important as time goes by but the first component of the evolutionary process. Individuals who desire freedom of choice and to escape the threat of the history of slavery at times during this evolutionary process have no recourse but to defend or also have recours to force. Ironically, it is for us to destroy war that causes us to fight. It is in the smoke and blood of midnight's darkness we come to see the light.

Teilhard says of war, "Within us, and directed against them, a dynamism must be at work which is as powerful as that by which they are animated. If not, our armament falls short of theirs, and we do not deserve to win. On their side, they are introducing war as a priniple of life. If we are to answer them effectively, what shall we, on our side, direct against them?"

There is in fact no way to avoid war except through a brotherhood of man, a "friendly rivalry," and a team spirit. "Racialism defends itself by an appeal to the laws of nature." One problem though, once nature attained the level of man it had to change just in order to remain true to itself, i.e. to change its ways. Man must come closer together in order to live more fully in his only environment or milieu as Teilhard puts it. Once mankind or the individual has had a heart of contrition becomes its spiritual equivalent, an energy not of negativity but of attraction.

Ralph Waldo Emerson - Poet and Author


photo by Ana Santos

Work In Progress (Please Be Patient)

  • Emerson, poems. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson. Selected Poems with Notes. Selected Criticism on Emerson's Poetry · Gnothi Seauton · The Rhodora · Each And All ...
  • Transcendentalists > Ralph Waldo Emerson > Works > Poems. Emerson: Poems ... 14 of Emerson's best-known poems, collected on one page (HTML format) ...
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