Gaia Community: KevinBeck's Blog

This Book Will Change Your World

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:17:23 GMT

My book is finally published! Woo-hoo. It's called "This Book Will Change Your World." You can get it on amazon or at the Presence bookstore at www.presence.tv

Or, if can get a free copy of the e-book at www.ThisBookWillChangeYourWorld.com.

this book cover-front-25

Tags: transmillennial, transmillennialism, agapetheism, agapeology, kevin beck, love, change, world, God, free book

Transmillennial 2008

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:25:52 GMT

Transmillennial 2008 starts tonight. I have a session tomorrow "Thank God for Judgment." Sounds a little provocative and paradoxical. It's a way to reframe judgment. On Saturday I give a keynote, "Who's Afraid of All Things New?"

This is the 20th annual conference hosted by Presence International. www.presence.tv

My new book is done and is just about to be released! he title is "This Book Will Change Your World."

Tags: Transmillennial, Transmillennialism, Presence, Book, Judgment

Sheepish Banter

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:51:29 GMT

I just published a new article on the Presence site. It is based on Jesus' story about the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in order to bring back the one who went astray. The premise is: What do you suppose the sheep talked about until the shepherd got back.

It's essentially a fable. If you're kind enough to read it, I'd love to hear your impressions. You'll probably recognize the sheep.

The title is "Sheepish Banter." And it starts like this:
~~~~~~~~~

“Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. Alright, we’re missing one.”

Adam had wandered off. The littlest lamb had gone astray. So the Shepherd tightened his sandals and grabbed his staff.

“Don’t worry,” he told the rest of the sheep. “Adam couldn’t have gotten far. I’m sure he’s just on the other side of that hill. I’ll climb it and bring him right back. The rest of you will be safe here in the pen. I’ll be back soon.”

Read more when you click here.

Tags: Transmillennial, Transmillennialism, Presence, Theology, Fable, Story, Shepherd, Jesus, Language, Christianity

New Book

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:12:54 GMT

My first book is finished and will be released very soon. Whew. What a task that was. A lobor of love to be sure, but writing is hard work -- even when it flows effortlessly. Don't know if that makes sense or not.

Anyway, it's nonfiction. Deals with spirituality, Transmillennialism, New Heaven and Earth stuff. I'll let you know when it's available. We'll be distributing free copies too of you're interested.

Now it's on to the next book. It'll be a novel, and I'm doing some preliminary research even as we blog!

Tags: Book, Writing, Spirituality, Transmillennial, Transmillennialism, Heaven, Earth, Transformation

Parousia...Amazingly Graceful

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:22:29 GMT

Sometimes I wonder how God feels. Maybe there’s a danger in potentially conflating my feelings with God’s, and I suppose we’ve all done that to some degree. I feel that the world is unjust, so God must. I feel upset when I look at the state of world affairs, so God must be less than thrilled also. It bothers me that people read the Biblical story in ways that differ from my own; therefore, God is surely troubled, too.

It’s very easy to equate God with our individual ego. Meanwhile, plenty of voices remind us that the two are not identical.

Consider the oracle found in Isaiah 55:8-9. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” Perhaps Isaiah is informing us that we can’t possibly know God. Even so, I tend to see this as an affirmation that God performs acts of amazingly gracefulness. After all, this saying comes in a context where the prophet extols a merciful God “who is generous in forgiving” (Isaiah 55:7).

Then, of course, Paul makes a statement similar to Isaiah’s. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). Like Isaiah, Paul connects God’s unfathomable judgment to His comprehensive grace. “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all” (Romans 11:32).

No wonder we have trouble understanding a God who shows mercy on all, whose grace is so abundant that our cups overflow. It doesn’t seem natural for anyone to be so graceful, so generous. How do we wrap out heads around that?

Granted, I’m assuming God has feelings. I live with the working assumption that God is passionate, emotional, and even sensitive. I believe that God’s expressions of emotion are authentic. After all, for God to be love, how could it be otherwise? Love is emotional and not simply a function of detached logic.

Maybe that’s the issue. We’ve been trying to make intellectual sense of God and grace instead of simply feeling its welcoming embrace. We try to makes sense of the irrational. Who can explain love?

Yet, I still wonder . . . how does God feel about our penchant for treating grace as primarily something to be received? How does God feel about our tendency of making grace a commodity you acquire in order to cover your sins so you can enjoy a pleasant afterlife? How does God feel about our proclivity for making God’s grace about us and what we get? How does God feel about our long term response to grace?

Frankly, because God is egoless and gracious (which may be synonymous terms) I don’t suspect God is too upset about not receiving acknowledgment. Besides if God bestowed grace only upon those who fully appreciated all of the nuances of grace, grace would cease being grace. Grace is about God-from alpha to omega. Grace is God’s indescribable gift.

Of course, receiving is an element of the grace experience. Certainly, grace covers a multitude of sins. Definitely, deep gratitude and exuberant worship are proper responses to an awareness of God’s grace. All the while, our ego may feel a little twinge when contemplating the reality that grace is not ultimately about taking us anyplace except beyond our individual identity.

But what about God’s feelings to our response to grace. Instead of gushing sentimental displays directed upward, I believe God would be happier with our graceful transformation directed outward.

Consider Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-25. In an act of grace, the king forgives a debtor who owes a huge amount. Yet, the forgiven man acts dis-gracefully by throwing his debtor into prison. In seeing grace as a product for his own selfish benefit, the man failed to undergo graceful transformation. He was grateful to have his debt forgiven, but not graceful enough to forgive his friend.

John Newton’s classic hymn celebrates God’s amazing grace that saves wretches. Grace delivers us from the wretchedness of selfishness, egocentricity, exclusivity, and isolation. To the extent we grasp on to conceited narcissism we have not yet experienced the complete saving power of grace. Grace that does not call us out of ourselves is pseudo-grace; it promises freedom but brings only the bondage of self-absorption.

Grace becomes effective as our thinking changes from “I got mine” to “How can I pay it forward?” Grace becomes amazing as we transform from reservoirs of grace to living streams of grace. The greatest act of thanksgiving and the most profound worship occurs as we embrace and practice our divine likeness in becoming grace givers. What’s more, our infinite capacity for gracefulness enlarges and expands as we practice grace and perform generosity.

When we extend grace toward others, God’s thoughts and ways become ours. When we have mercy on all, we’ve fathomed the depths of God’s wisdom. When we live gracefully, we’ve searched out God’s ways and judgments. And this is what I believe God absolutely revels in.

~~~~~~~~~~
Originally published on April 28, 2008. (c) Presence International. Parousia is a free Transmillennial publication of Presence. To receive Parousia in your inbox each week click here.

Tags: Grace, Love, Transmillennial, Transmillennialism, Presence, Ego, Emotions, Wisdom, Thinking

Greatest Gift Remix

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:42:20 GMT

Last week I published a new article on the Presence site called 1Corinthians 13: The Greatest Gift Remix. It's a reworking of Paul's impassioned plea to his readers to renounce their pride and practice love. Understanding there is a unique context there, I take Paul's text and put it in a contemporary setting. It goes like this.

Y’all want to go viral with the next big thing. You’re uploading the monuments to yourself onto YouTube. You’re hoping that a publisher discovers the genius of your manuscript. You’ve been working on the best damn praise band in the land.

That’s all cool. You’re striving for great gifts. Yet I will show you a still more excellent way.

If my album goes platinum, but don’t have love, I’m an out of tune guitar or a clanging cymbal.

If I’m the smartest guy in the room, and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge, but don’t have love, I’m a big zero.

If I believe all of the ‘right doctrines’ and can recite entire books of the Bible; if I’m the only person in history who has figured out the difference between homousia and homoiousia, but don’t have love, what good is it?

Tags: Love, Presence, Gift, Theology, Agapeology, Agapetheism, Transmillennial

Kiwi Cam

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:28:31 GMT

Check this out. Here is a very cool link to the National Zoo and the Kiwi cam. According to the site, the cam looks into the nest box of a North Island brown kiwi, which hatched at the Zoo on March 7, 2008. This is just the third chick to hatch here since 1975—the first time a kiwi hatched outside of New Zealand. Since kiwis are nocturnal, the best time to view the chick exploring and foraging in its box will be in the evening.

kiwi20

Tags: Kiwi, Bird, Zoo, National Zoo, Cam, New Zealand

Ask and You Shall Receive

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:34:01 GMT

If someone hates you, they won't ask you for things.

~~Ashanti proverb, quoted by Kwame Anthony Appiah in "Cosmopolitanism."

Tags: Ask, Generosity, GIving, Hate

What is the best way to show someone you love them?

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:16:42 GMT

Be yourself. Don't expect them to be anything other than themselves.

Tags: QaR, love, caring, loving, expression, being, self

The Hope Of Baseball

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:34:03 GMT

I'm so thankful that baseball season has finally arrived. Even if it did snow here in Colorado Springs today, baseball is a sure sign of spring. The immortal cycle continues. Hope is born anew. Perhaps the Cleveland Indians will achieve hope fulfilled this year.

Go Tribe!

Tags: hope, baseball, cleveland, indians, spring, immortay, colorado, colorado springs

Parousia...Inspired by Awe

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:33:49 GMT

Inspired by Awe

"I will give thanks to You, for I am awe-inspiringly and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well."

--Psalm 139:14

Sigmund Freud may receive credit for introducing the principles of modern psychology, but people have been trying to figure out who and what we are from the very beginning. Since we first developed self-consciousness, we've been seeking to understand what it means to be human.

For instance, the Genesis creation narrative asks more questions about the mysterious enigma of humanity than it provides dogma about the formation of the material universe. God speaks humanity into the divine likeness. God breathes the spirit of life -- the divine wind -- into humanity's nostrils. In response, humanity rises from the ground, receives a holy wound, and obtains a commission to be fruitful and multiply.

Perplexing open-ended questions permeate the story. Is humanity a handful of dirt or a God-breathed creative partner? Are we in dialogue with spirit or slaves to unalterable universal laws? Is the essence of life found in naming and dominating others, or does intimacy require opening ourselves to the potential of sacred scars?

Intuitively and empirically, we understand our extraordinary complexity -- individually and collectively. We experience life, self, and relationships on multiple levels: biologically, emotionally, interpersonally, culturally, psychologically, ecologically, and cosmically just to name a few.

Contemplating the spiraling tiers of our humanity is certain to make your head spin (not literally, of course). We possess an outer life and an inner one. Our make-up consists of the interplay between our sense of self, family, friendships, community, society, culture, and ubermind. The complete source, stuff, and goal of it all is God.

The perpetual divine-human emergence contains personal and transpersonal elements. Psalm 139 offers comfort in knowing that God understands you individually. God calls you by name, counts the hairs (or lack thereof) on your head, and knows your coming in and going out. At the same time, God transcends our egoic confinement and recognizes the comprehensive picture of all-inclusive interconnectedness. As Paul noted, all things are of, through, and to God.

Physicist, mathematician, and futurist Freeman Dyson describes the "unbounded potentialities of the universe as it becomes aware of itself through the action of life and intelligence" as the infinite in all directions. The prophet Daniel depicts this as the kingdom of God with an eternally expanding domain. Meister Eckhart calls God a sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere. Awakening to just an inkling of the infinite in all directions fills your cup to overflowing with awe and wonder at how marvelously made you truly are -- and continue to be. Your soul already knows it very well, and this blesses you to courageously go where no one has gone before-but where God already is. In Paradise Mislaid, Jeffrey Burton Russell muses, "Whatever we humans are, we are part of the cosmos, and we wonder about it, and that means that the cosmos wonders about itself ...That the cosmos wonders about itself is deeply moving."

We're creatures with strata of deep structures composing the essence of our personal and transpersonal identity, and the layers continue to form. What it meant to be human 10,000 years ago is not what it means today, and today's humanity is a launching pad for tomorrow's. Perhaps we'll never fully grasp what it is to be human, and maybe that's the paradoxical point. Humanity, like Christ showed about divinity, is not something to be grasped. Continually asking the questions plunges us into the illimitable mystery. More than surprising us with hope or joy, it inspires us with awe. With our immersed into the unfathomable, we discover the divine blessing of finding our humanity as something to be lived rather than a problem to be solved. Behold! The wonder!

Parousia is a free Transmillennial publication of Presence. To receive Parousia in your inbox each week click here.

Tags: Awe, Inspiration, Psalms, Freud, Self, Identity, Consciousness, Eckhart, ubermind, love, transmillennial

Prayer for Tibet

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:50:09 GMT

I gotta admit...I don't know much about Tibet. A little. Maybe about as much as your average American. There's the Dalai Lama and Buddhism. The Book of the Dead. AN apparently exotic, mountainous place. Remote for most of us.

Sorry for any false stereotypes. That's just where I am.

That being said, I hate the violence and oppression and crack down happeing there. I know there's violence, oppression, and violations of human rights all over the world.

The whole thing saddens me. It's almost if Tibet encapsulates and focuses it all in one place. So, I offer a prayer for Tibet in recognition that if we can find harmony there, we can find it everywhere.

Tags: Tibet, Prayer, Dalai Lama, Book of the Dead, Buddhism, Harmony, violence

New World Creation

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:12:38 GMT

Those who have been required to memorize the world as it is, will never create the world as it might be.

Tags: Creation, World, New, Memorization, Old, rote

The New Fundamentalism

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:40:45 GMT

I'm a fundamentalist.

I concede that fundamentalism takes a lot of heat these days. Many of the world's problems -- real or imagined -- are blamed on fundamentalism. Fundamentalists -- whether political, economic, or religious -- tend to be seen and portrayed as unthinking, calloused, bigoted, and angry oafs. They rarely receive a warm welcome outside of their own circles (which might partially explain their anger), and they leave the impression of being obsessed with their own correctness on every issue.

Stereotypically, fundamentalists have a penchant for pointing out the errors and flaws they observe in others. They measure themselves by strict standards, and expect all people to follow the same rule. This is because fundamentalists are principled people and believe they have mined their values from the deep contours of the universe. They -- by the grace of God -- have been smart enough, wise enough, or lucky enough to have fathomed these self-evident truths while those who disagree or disavow the fundamentals need to boost their work ethic and dig deeper until they discover the truth.

Fundamentalists receive criticism and derision from non-fundamentalists, who poke fun at fundamentalists for resembling dinosaurs from a bygone era. Unable or unwilling to change with the times, fundamentalists often appear as rigid, regressive, and reactionary. They seem to fight battles that were declared over a long time ago.

Nonetheless, at the risk of incarnating all of the negative perceptions, I'm here to affirm my fundamentalism.

I recognize that this may be shocking in some circles and welcomed in others. That being said, I'm not overly concerned with who approves of my fundamentalism and who rejects it (or me). I-like everyone-must hold to my integrity and maintain my beliefs regardless of other people's reactions. Subsequently, I'm an unabashed fundamentalist.

Before proceeding, I should clarify what I consider to be fundamental. The term "fundamentalism" originated from within early twentieth century American Protestantism to distinguish people holding a certain set of traditional beliefs from the emerging modernist cultural movement and new theological trends. For these early Fundamentalists the fundamentals included non-negotiable essentials like direct verbal inspiration of the Bible, the virgin birth of Christ, and creation of the space-time universe in seven twenty-four hour days.

As significant as those matters may be for some people, they're not the fundamentals I'm talking about here. Instead, I'm concerned with a fundamentalism that Jesus alludes to when he and his twelve companions visited the home of the sisters Martha and Mary. The presumably older sister, Martha, took meticulous care to show hospitality while Mary sat and listened to the men talk. Martha, distressed over Mary's intrusion on the conversation and lack of help in serving, asked Jesus to scold her sister so that she might aid as an assistant hostess.

Without denigrating her copious generosity, Jesus gently reminded Martha, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Only one thing is fundamental.

But what is that one fundamental thing? Ironically, Jesus' sufficient ambiguity allows us to ponder the fundamental issue and offer several possibilities. Is it sitting at the feet of Jesus? Is it setting aside the "things of this world?" Is it eschewing stereotypical gender roles in order to demonstrate that in Christ's presence there is neither male nor female?

I'm inclined to understand the needful thing in terms of "presence." Being present -- aware in and of the moment -- permits us to attend to all of life's seasons and situations; whereas, being absent leaves us with feelings of emptiness and distraction. Consider Martha. She understood who was sitting in her living room. In fact, her liberality stemmed from recognizing that Jesus had entered her home. Nevertheless she wasn't present. In frantically serving Jesus, Martha had neglected to appreciate that the Son of Man came to serve her -- not to be served.

Martha -- like all of us -- demonstrated great difficulty in being still in the moment. Preoccupied, she pressed forward without stopping long enough to inhabit the moment fully. Paradoxically, in trying to please Jesus through her serving, she couldn't simply be with Jesus.

How much do we drift mindlessly from one moment to the next -- one day, month, year to the next -- without immersing ourselves in this time? How much religious observance do we perform now so that we can get (or avoid going) somewhere else later on? We look forward to the next season, game, project, relationship, problem, solution, or dimension. We gaze ahead to lunch, vacation, and retirement. We feel something is missing in the now, and we hope that we'll find that something in the future. Meanwhile, perhaps we haven't considered that the one thing missing is "us."

In his classic masterpiece Walden, Henry David Thoreau poetically describes his ongoing desire "to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment."

He depicts his daily practice of waking early to behold the dawn. "To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself!" Reflecting on his experience, he observed, "It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it."

The sun needed no help appearing over the New England landscape, and like the Son of Man it did not come to be shone upon, but to shine. Thoreau participated in its shining simply by being present. Subsequently, his life was enriched not simply by the sun's warming rays, but by his attentive presence in witnessing the first light.

Thoreau and Jesus remind us that life cannot pass us by. Instead, we pass life by as we hurriedly rush from one moment to the next. Jesus invites Martha -- and us -- to pause in order to be present in her own life. Imagine Jesus not bidding Martha to suspend what she was doing. How do you suppose Martha might have felt after Jesus left her house? Frustrated? Disappointed? Angry? I see her slapping her forehead and complaining bitterly, "Jesus was right here, and I was so busy doing the dishes that I didn't even get to talk to him."

The one needful thing -- the one fundamental -- is to be present, immanent, awake. The original blessing of recognizing the time permits us to live in love, in knowledge of ourselves, in intimacy with God, and in relationship with others simultaneously. Consciously living in this moment allows you to be in attendance in your own life and in your world. It tunes you in to where the spirit is blowing right now -- not just where it stirred yesterday or where it might gust tomorrow. Awake sleeper. Arise from the dead, and Christ will bring you light -- just like Martha. When you're awake in the day, you can behold not only the works of God, but God himself. Engagement in the eternal now is fundamental because now is all there is, and this is nothing less than the actualization of eternal life.

~~~~~~~

Parousia is a free Transmillennial® publication of Presence. You can receive Parousia free in your inbox each week. Click here to subscribe. To dialogue about Transformational Living visit the Presence Forums. ©2008, Presence.

Tags: Jesus, Thoreau, Presence, Transmillennial, Fundamentalism, Religion

Conference Audios

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:19:22 GMT

Here is a link to some audio files from the Transmillennial regional conference held in January in the Houston area.
Click here

My two sessions were called "Loving Perfection." Personally, I think the 2nd one turned out better than the first.

The whole thig as a unit derives from Jesus' statement about being perfect as your Father is perfect. The context in Matthew 5 is talking about love, especially love fr your enemies. So in the sessions I describe what I see perfection to be and how it relates directly to love.

If you listen, I'd love to hear your impressions. There are several other speakers too. Doug King explores the "nowledge of Good and Evil." Excellent stuff.

Tags: Transmillennial, Love, Perfection, Presence, Houston, Good, Evil, Knowledge, Jesus

Being Kind

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:01:15 GMT

Be kind to yourself today. Show yourself a little compassion, generosity, and love. If you can't love yourself, how will you love others? Forgive yourself. Give yourself a hug. Pamper yourself for a change, and see how that wroks its way into the lives of others in your world

Tags: kindness, love, generosity, compassion, self, hug

What do you wish you'd learned earlier?

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:12:43 GMT

I wish that I had learned earlier that I couldn't learn anything any earlier than when I learned it.

Tags: QaR, hope, action, care

Upcoming Conference

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:44:10 GMT

Just to let you know, I'll be in Houston this upcoming Friday-Sunday to participate in a conference. The theme is "Created for Perfection." I have 2 sessions that's I'm calling "Loving Perfection." If you're in Houston and want to check it out, that would be awesome. If you'd like to listen in online, we can make that happen too. There will be a live webcast of the conference. There's no fee, but to listen on the internet, you need to RSVP by this Wednesday. You can do that by emailing me at kevin@presence.tv. To see the entire conference schedule, go to www.knowingtodaysgod.com. Thanks for your prayers and positive energy!

Much Love...

Tags: Presence, Transmillennial, Houston, God, Web cast

All things Bright and Beautiful

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:35:22 GMT

Everything is alive. To be pro-life is to be pro-everything. The living and breathing you is a conscious expression of the living and breathing universe. Be kind to yourself by being kind to others. It's kind of mind blowing to realize that the whole world is a projection f you and you are a projection of the world all at the same time.

Tags:

Back At It

http://transmillennial.gaia.com — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:09:32 GMT

I've been preoccupied with some other activities in the past month, so I've been a little slack posting here at ~~zaadz~~ gaia.

I apologize for not posting the responses to the "tag" I've been hit with. To make up, I'll so it now.

1. I worked for several years as a church minister. I preached countless sermons that now seem so outdated and thoughtless. I was very exclusivistic and filled with pride. (I still might be.) Yet I did it in good conscience. Subsequently, I've learned more and hope to continually grow.

2. In college, I worked in an archives. I have always enjoyed history and learning about other people and cultures. The archives was a great place to get a fist hand view of a lot of cool stuff.

3. I have a couple scars. One on the top of my head. A few years back, I had some lesions removed, and this one left a honking scar. It's lovely.

4. I believe ordinary people can change everything.

5. I love libraries. They are one of the greatest services humanity has rendered upon itself.

6. Classical music oves me. I love chants -- particularly medieval and European Renaissance. Sometimes, I listen to new age music to help relax.

7. Yoga is cool.

Ok. There's 7 things you may not have known about me -- and may or may not have cared to know! :) Thanks to everyone who stopped by to read this. And if you did...consider yourself tagged.

With much love,
Kevin

Tags: zaadz, gaia, libraries, religion, scars, tag, change, classical music, yoga