EARLY IN THE LAST CENTURY

I was fortunate enough to find myself in Zurich with a map to all its famous churches. Mrs. C. and I found ourselves in a breathtaking cathedral (the building facade being stone and the interior appearing all marble.

Surprisingly, there was a fellow practicing the pipe organ when we entered. He said “hello” and asked if his music bothered us. We got to hear some soul-stirring medieval praises to the eternal god in a building dedicated to god and featuring perfect acoustics.

Seventy years passes like a dream of a cloud.

Donut?

Anyway, I gotta tell you this. When I meditate, I first visualize the earth from the International Space Station. And then I float past Saturn, Jupiter, and all the rest.

And when I get so far from the Milky Way that it’s no longer interesting, I begin to see a Crystal Cathedral (not the one in California). We all have a vague idea of what a gothic cathedral is: think Notre Dame.

Anyway, as I approach this massive Cathedral, it becomes more etherial, less material, gossamer, then glass, then, aether. Inside the Sanctuary, the semi-transparent pews are filled with angels. And the angels begin to turn into floating globes. And the globes float above the angels and then I become a globe and all the globes are connected by a mass of globes. And everything is connected.

Ain’t that strange?

Over the years, people have asked whether the church should have given its wealth to the poor or to praise the LORD.

“We will always have the poor” Jesus (Matthew26:11)

We still have many of the cathedrals.

Koan #7