Matthew Dowd - Revelations on the River: Healing a Nation, Healing Ourselves

Copyright 2021 by Matthew Dowd

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Kai Texel

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-6863-5

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-6864-2

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Introduction

revelation

/revlSH()n/

noun

a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way.
the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world.

As I sit in my home on a few secluded acres nestled on the Blanco River here in Central Texas, amidst the Cypress, Live Oak and Pecan trees, I contemplate the slogan of the small rural town where I livea little piece of heavenand what it means to hear the voice of the divine and the truths I have uncovered walking on the earth beneath the heavens above.

Revelation is a concept that has unfortunately become captive to certain followers of religious faiths. Far too many adherents of religion use their sacred words taken from texts written hundreds or thousands of years ago as the end all and be all of revelation and only accept their view of the divine word of God as truth. In truth it is a word that applies moment to moment as each of us journeys through life in this mystery of our universe. Revelation doesnt only have to be about the Apocalypse of John or the Book of Revelation, likely written in the first century AD. It is important that we consider both of the dictionary definitions of revelation listed above, and consequently a much more open concept of divine intervention or of any revelation than just what we presuppose from religion.

Further, we can accept the idea of an epiphany that doesnt solely have to do with the Epiphany in religious circles of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles through the three Wise Men. Our epiphanies can be religious in nature, but often they are much more secular. For those of you not religious you are already much more open to insights that arent convinced by the divine, and for those of us who practice a faith lets temporarily suspend the religious roots of epiphany and look at it through the broader definition of a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something, an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking, or an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure.

I am a person immersed in a faith tradition, whose faith has been dear and consequential to me throughout my life, with an additional link of having been an altar boy and altar server through my youth growing up in Michigan. I still attend weekly service on Sundays (with the divine exception granted during Covid), and I believe in the concept of divine revelation. However, logic and intuition inform me that if I believe in an omnipotent and omniscient force in the universe, I must not limit my conception of where insights can be garnered by my own structures or boxes.

Why would one accept only revelation or epiphany that came a few thousand years ago in the form of an inspired Bible (Old and New Testaments) to one tribe, at one time, and in one way? Wouldnt God (or whatever name you give the divine) want to reveal truths at many times in divergent ways and faith traditions? Isnt the act of creation revelation in itself, and the beauty of our world a constant form of epiphany?

My own faith opens me up to understanding that God is constantly attempting to communicate with us about the truth of the universe. God is doing this through all faiths as well as through the presence of compassionate and kind people in this world, and even through those who are not kind but are gifts nonetheless. Sometimes we pick up on the messages and let them settle into our hearts and souls. Some of us may even write them down so that generations that follow might benefit from our revelations.

I have tapped into much of the divine revelation as I have read and studied the Bible of my own faith of Catholicism and Christianity, but I have also seen revelation in the Gilluy Shekinah of Judaism, the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism, the teachings of the Buddha, the Koran of our Islamic sisters and brothers, the wisdom of the Native Americans, and in so many various faith traditions. For me, there are a thousand paths to get to the mountain top, and none is more right than another. Some paths may be smooth, but take you longer. Other paths may be shorter, but have steep inclines. Still others may take you into a grove of trees, while some may bring you by a stream or mountain lake. Each path has its own beauty, struggle and truth. All lead to the same destination at the summit of peace.

And there is also revelation of the truth of the universe from scientists, artists, writers or poets who may have no religion but reveal aspects of the universe we did not understand before. And revelation or epiphany can come to us in significant ways in our day to day walk through life as we encounter others on the trails and travails of our short human existence. Revelations can also be made known to us in a deep way even as we sit by the natural beauty of a lake, speaking to us in a sunrise or sunset in the words of the waves, or on a hillside or mountain top as we feel the earth beneath our feet.

Revelation to me isnt limited by the timing of the divine or by some other force in the universe we are presently unaware of; it is only limited if we lack openness to the world and within ourselves. It is limited by how closed off we are to listening to the voices sometimes very quietly trying to convey some aspect of life or a truth of the universe. When we only accept revelation in certain forms at certain times, and shut down our minds, hearts and souls because we think we have all the answers already, we will easily miss out on a better understanding of this world and of life in general.

I have often in life operated from a place of an over-reliance on certainty, whether that was in my personal life or in my political life, and in my speaking and writing. In politics, I have encountered many on both sides of the aisle who hold tightly to dogma or ideology. They allow these ideologies to get in the way of a more thorough understanding of the present moment and what might be needed to achieve progress. It is these dogmas or ideology that cause much of the division and bitterness that are far too widespread in our country today. Having all the answers based in a dogma not only prevents us from opening up to new answers or epiphanies that may better fit the world, it doesnt even let us ask the right questions or know that there are still questions to be asked.