Saturday, June 27, 2009

Yoko Ono Adventist Society

Most people know little about Yoko Ono's art credentials before she met Beatle John Lennon. She was a conceptual artist and had exhibits in important museums when the Beatles were just starting out.

Recently I finally caught up with some of her Fluxus art creations at the Guggenheim's The Third Eye Exhibit in New York City. Until I actually saw the art work side-by-side with John Cage's conceptual scores and La Monte Young's Meditation room environments did it finally hit me that she was a respected avant-garde artist. I, of course, had enjoyed her conceptual art from what little I was able to see and hear of it via excerpts from the book Grapefruit and her collected works sampler, the six-CD Ono Box. But it was the inclusion in a major art retrospective that finally completed the journey for me.

What, if anything, does Adventism have to do with Yoko Ono? Nothing just yet. Or, if anything, there exists a conceptual connection that, in itself, is bound to create such a link. Anything is possible and it is my hope that Ms. Ono may one day contribute her unique gifts towards making Adventist Christianity, or Christian Adventism, as cutting edge as her art and music have been.

A google search of "Yoko Ono" and Adventist turned up an article in the Takoma Park Voice that contained a wonderful performance art description of Ono's work in the Takoma Park area. The Takoma Park area is where the General Conference Headquarters of Adventism are located, as well as one of its largest churches, The Sligo Seveth-Day Adventist church. The google search also produced too many other web sites that time does not permit me to explore. So perhaps there is a six-degrees-of-separation connection between Yoko Ono and Adventism after all. Please consult: The Takoma connection to Yoko's "Wish Trees" of the world .

The power of positive thinking and the law of attraction have come to be stabilizing filters through which I make sense of my life for three years now. It's amazing for me to find echoes of both these methodologies in the art and music of Ms. Ono and--through her influence--in the lyrics and music of John Lennon, her deceased husband.

From a spiritual point of view I find examples of the power of positive thinking in the Psalms and in the work of Ellen G. White both of which impart untold blessings to my life on a daily basis.

There is, at least, one member in this conceptual Yoko Ono Adventist Society. No doubt this post will bring others out of hiding.

Should You Believe in Evolution Against All Hope?

I've believed a bit in evolution through the years what with science being something I was taught to respect. I was smug in by belief until I realized that believing in evolution would mean that God uses death to accomplish ever-evolving life.

I guess I can't fully believe in six literal days of creation either although if God had wanted to he, no doubt, could very well have created our world in six days. He can certainly destroy it in less time if he wanted to.

So I don't know what to believe regarding how we all came to be, but I, nevertheless, hang onto my belief in God because it makes me a better person than a life without God. I don't know the mysteries of life and its beginnings, but somehow that's not so important to me.

I will continue searching for an answer, but will not despair if I never find one. I ask God to sustain me as I continue my search for an answer to this vexing question. Perhaps I'll find that the answer will be the simplest one of all.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Automatic Light

"The Lord is my light and my salvation." -- Psalm 27

I've been focusing on these words ever since yesterday as I sat by the pool and I would like to make them automatic thoughts to counteract anything less than ideal that may unsuccessfully try to assert itself.