Christ of St John of the Cross

I had a 'cosmic dream' in which I saw this image in colour and which in my dream represented the 'nucleus of the atom.' This nucleus later took on a metaphysical sense; I considered it 'the very unity of the universe,' the Christ. -Salvador Dali 1950. I was driving into work the other day (listening to Abbey Road on my car stereo) and at the stop light... just over the hill from the exit ramp... I pulled over next to a guy standing on the side of the road. He was a middle aged white man with a few days of razor-stubble.  He had short...matted.. hair.  (blonde).  And his clothes were dirty.. with a foul smell. He was reddened from the sun.... (and I'm pretty sure he was drunk). But as I pulled close... with that instant of inspiration that comes on artists just before genius... in the canvas of my mind... I turned him into Jesus.   I didn't turn him like a magician does a frog.  Instead.... I was seeing a homeless dude with a ridiculous foul smell.... But also... I was seeing Jesus. Not the long haired type in the classic paintings....           But for visuals sake... I kept the man as he was.  Matted hair.  A bottle in his hand.  A dazed look on his face.       The truth is... I tend to see Jesus in some weird places.  Sometimes (like a Buddhist might) I see him in the earth... the Rocks and the trees.  Blowing gently in the wind.  Laying low.... or at the center of it all.... holding it together... (Colossians 1:17).  But like the homeless man... it all remains as it is.  Rocks.  Dust.  Molecules.  Quantum Particles.  Jesus. Surreal is a good way to describe my Jesus experiences.  It's like my most recent purchased piece of art... a take off on a Dali painting... (by Erin Whitson).. It's a Classic Jesus with a twist... Surreal with an altered perspective between the top half and the bottom. The bottom piece?... a wooded scene... at dusk?  (Or Dawn).. under a blackened metallic-blue sky. And the top half?  A hovering ghostly white Christ..... Crucified and skewed in such a way that we see him from overhead...   A Crucified Jesus.... stretched out mystically over orange fields and darkened skies.  And our view is from above as if we were looking down from heaven. I like the classic Jesus.  But I don't need him to be of the traditional type.  In fact... I'm reminded that the classic Jesus is primarily an invention of white European culture.  In reality.. Jesus would have looked a lot more like Osama Bin Laden than he does in most Italian Renaissance paintings. But some of my favorite Jesus images don't come from artistic renderings.  Some of my favorite Jesus images come from looking at other people... All kinds of people. I see him in artists a lot.  I can see him in John Lennon as much as Christ of St John of the Cross. I see him in gay friends.... and strangers... and women I know... But I don't always see him in places you might expect like the religious minded.       (He said that that would be so. that many who thought they knew him would find that they didn't after all).       On the road.. as I pulled over the hill I saw the homeless dude and I knew what I would do.  And I got excited.  (one of the many reasons I can't do conservative politics is that Conservatives don't get excited when they see homeless people).  I got so excited that I swerved up onto the curb he was standing on... (in the distance) and corrected myself in order to keep from running down the King of Kings and Lord of Hosts.   And when I approached him I handed out 3 protein bars through my car door window.  (an idea from a preacher friend I know)....One for the Father.... and one for himself.... and perhaps a third for the Holy Ghost. And as I prepared to drive away Jesus gave me the double chest thump with the two finger salute like Sammy Sosa (minus the kiss). I can only assume he meant "thank you".... And I was overwhelmed by the gesture and his reception of my gifts.  And then with much praise and rejoicing like something from Handel... I joyfully drove away.