Often I hear people say, “How could God let this happen?” or “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” or “I could never believe in a God that would allow this travesty.” This line of thinking tends to lead people to resent, hate, or abandon God altogether. Combined with the belief that God demands perfection and anything less means you have failed and may be damned for all eternity, no wonder so many feel violated by religion and become atheists. Much of this comes from the distortion of religious ideas, through institutions and politics.

As Abraham Heschel said of the Holocaust, the question is not where was God, but where was man. Many horrors of the world are generated by human actions, choices, behavior. Most of us create our own problems, and/or are complacent and apathetic about the problems of others. Whose job is it to reduce human suffering? It’s our job.

While reading about Zen, I learned we are to accept the events of life as they present themselves – not to run from pain, but to face it head on, and embrace it as part of the experience of being alive in the world. Be here now. Be present, engage fully, without struggling against reality. I see this as also a Jewish idea – to relinquish the ego, to let go of self-seeking. To not, in other words, be a control freak, because that is a path doomed to failure: We are not in control of much of anything other than our own choices.

As for natural disasters and disease, sh*t happens. It is morally neutral. We might not like it (I know – I’ve lost four family members to cancer), but it is part of the nature of reality. Should we build strong houses that can withstand floods and earthquakes? Yes. Should we try to find cures for illness? Yes. But there is a difference between what we can control and what we cannot control, and this is where God comes in. Others might prefer terms like Inner Peace, Acceptance, Centering, Let Go and Let God, Higher Power, Mystery, Christ’s Love, or Illusion. God can’t make you rich, give you health or safety, or satisfy your personal desires. What God can do is give you the strength to deal with whatever happens, and to live a life you can be proud of.

I choose to conceive of God as Creator and Sovereign of the universe, recognizing that I am very small and limited, and have enough trouble managing myself without trying to also manage or change anyone else. I imagine the vast expanse of space, galaxies, stars – and think about electrons circling the nucleus of an atom, and the involuntary processes that occur inside my body.  I look out my window at the trees as they drop their yellow leaves like children tossing cupcake wrappers to the ground. I hear rain shush in the street. I know I have made none of these things. Compared to the forces that run the universe, I am nothing. I will only be here for a short while, and then I will be gone forever, just like the flowers that sprout by my front door, unfold to fullness, fade and crumple in on themselves, turn brown and rot. I choose to conceive of God as an inner compass. When I do what I know is right, I am happy. That’s what God does for me.

Joy for the Journey Comes Through Unchained Hope

At the Brandywine Valley Museum we visited over the weekend, I noticed a very large painting done by Andrew Wyeth, an accomplished painter in his own right and also the son of the painter, J.C. Wyeth, who became famous for his illustrations for Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

In this large painting, Andrew Wyeth portrays three dogs inside a stone mason room. All three of the animals were chained. The owner chained these dogs all day long and they were allowed to run free only when they were out hunting for raccoons. One of dogs was sleeping in the background. The second one extended far beyond the left side of the portrait so the chain was taut. The third one was sitting upright quietly but his eyes were very expressive. He looked as though he had a lot going on in his mind.

This very large painting, which measured about seven feet tall, moved me in such powerful ways I felt compelled to write about it.

The three dogs lost their freedom because the owner held them in captivity. They were not able to be the animals God had created them to be because they were chained – unable to run, play, catch mice, or protect small children. They had been so conditioned to being passive that they were quite habituated to “chained” living as their way of life.

This portrait is a portrait of my life and the life of so many. The difference between the dogs and us is this: we have chained ourselves to the posts so we are unable to become the persons we are created to be and to fulfill the purpose we have been given.

Each of the chains represents a long litany and a wide variety of habits, perspectives, and thought patterns that can incapacitate us and miniaturize our vision. Here I am just scratching the surface of this litany:
• Procrastinating because of fear of failure, success or mistakes;
• Journeying through life as if I am an island and I don’t need anyone in the world;
• Believing that if no one else joins me in a new idea, a new vision, or a new project, then I must not involve myself;
• Being arrogant about my own abilities and knowledge so I cannot accept suggestions and advice from my elders;
• Nursing my bitterness and resentment about past hurts so the hurdle becomes higher and higher;
• Giving up at the early encounters of barriers to success;
• Constantly being distracted by the small pleasures of life so I lose sight of the big and the important;
• Seeing obstacles instead of opportunities at every turn;
• Isolating myself from God and from community so I become my ultimate and only authority;
• Coping with life’s hard knocks through self-destructive or unproductive coping methods;
• Being blind to the consequences of my actions and decisions of the moment;
• Running away from a project, a responsibility, or a calling because it is perceived as “hard”;
• Refusing to listen to myself, to ask the hard and penetrating questions of my purpose, my gifts and abilities, my personality, and my resources;
• Being stuck in traditions: this is the way I’ve always been so this is the way I’ll always be;
• Failing to see my important role in and contribution to this world community: I am created for a purpose not just for my actualization, fulfillment and satisfaction but also for the betterment of the world community.

I cannot exhaust the list of chains we subject ourselves to as we journey through life, but I can confidently conclude this: I am the only one who can set me free from being chained. The way to set me free is through unchained hope: the hope that God has promised to continue to work in us and with us, to bring me, a work-in-progress, to perfection.

The image in this blogpost is attributed to DH Bass on www.Flickr.com.

Friends, I write almost at the end of a 20 concert tour in Germany.

I walked around Cologne all day today, in the lovely grey rainy weather. My heart was rather heavy today. Why? I got dumped. Yes, a wonderfully lovely lady decided that having a guy on the road was not right for her.

After months of saying “hang in there, I’ll be back soon”, she couldn’t stand the wait. I can’t say I blame her either. Heartbreak once again.

Tommy Emmanuel himself told me “the road is where it all breaks down”.

The temptation to suppress this pain today with either having a drink, a cigarette or to eat myself blind coarsed through my veins. Yet somehow, I just wanted to be as intelligent and semi-enlightened today as possible. I know from my Sedona Method / Release technique that a healthy thing to do is actually welcome the emotion – which allows a release to happen easily.

As I walked around the Cologne Dome I contemplated people who are REALLY suffering to start and get perspective. A good friend’s daughter was recently murdered and I cannot begin to imagine his pain. My own mom is aging and in physical discomfort. One of my best friends has no family left, and very much needs his friends. There are people suffering daily, feeling worse than me, maybe due to a political or economic situation….I think I will live through my small discomfort.

Upon arriving home, I googled the term “life is suffering” and stumbled upon on an about.com page on what the Buddha called “Dukkha”. It was interesting to see that it is not really “suffering” as much as it is a certain type of phenomena and idea about the scope of pleasure and suffering, without so much of a negative or positive label. That’s my dummy explanation. Read for yourself:

Article on Dukkha

One type of Dukkha is impermanence. I have seen it myself…how success wanes and fades, people pets and places come and go – anything we think is a “given” is sure to change. As it is not exactly suffering – and the writer of the article urges us to grasp “Dukkha” as a new word in our vocabulary.

With no claim to anything scholarly here (I am just a dummy looking for a little inner peace) I simply watch the fading in and out of events and people in my life. The newness of creative bursts come and go, gigs come and go, friends move out of town, parents age. Places I have called home change into other places. Cats who have been my loving companions age and die. Businesses that were my lifeblood seem less interesting. Love affairs change, grow and maybe dissolve. Whether they dissolve or not, they are in constant flux…

On the other side of the coin – there’s always more, there are new friends coming, tomorrow’s a new day, bodies heal and things change for the better too. New tunes appear, new business ideas and creativity simply “appears”. People appear in one’s life as if by magic. This is not meant as a positive pep talk – it is an observation of the principle of “it never stays the same”.

For now I’ll watch, listen breathe and try to find peace in this moment and contemplate what little I understand of Dukkha.

Think about the theology in this…

How can the cross shape:

          – your identity?

          – your motivations?

          – your goals and desires?

          – how you relate to other people, especially those who hurt you?

We need to think about the cross everyday of our life.  Everything Jesus endured in the hours leading to the cross, the time on the cross, and the days after the cross was all to “demonstrate his love for us.”  It really is unimaginable when you encounter the reality of the physical, mental, and spiritual trauma Christ suffered because of your sin and mine.  It gives meaning to the phrase, “amazing grace.”

Are you satisfied with the world the way it is? Do you think it is a world of peace, justice, harmony, and co-operation? If not, would you like to see a better world? Who do you think would make that happen?

Human nature is what it is. And what it is has created the world we live in today. To change it, we must rise above human nature and think and act from our spiritual nature. That is what the New Age movement is about.

If we all sit back and wait for someone else to do it for us, there will be no change. We are the world, and only we can change it. It is up to each one of us to do our part to raise our own consciousness, and to reach out and help raise the consciousness of the world.

What kind of world do you want to pass on to future generations – to your children, to your grandchildren? Would it be worth putting some time and attention to helping to change it?

Please consider joining in and helping create a better world for us all. Never underestimate the effect you can have – the part each one of us plays is important. And the more of us there are who join in, the faster we can make the vision of the New Age on Earth a reality

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keywords: new age revival, new age movement, new age network, spirituality, spiritual, conscious creation, metaphysics, metaphysical, law of attraction, rebirth of the new age, enlightenment, spiritual transformation, world peace, new age on earth, manifesting, spiritual path, spiritual journey, the secret, alternative spirituality, new paradigm, shift in consciousness, meditation, unity, new age community, new age music

In the 1980s, in the early days of the New Age movement, we did not have the Internet, yet we spread the vision of a New Age on Earth all over the world. Just think what we can achieve now!

Using the Internet, we can find other like-minded people in so many ways. Facebook, MySpace, blogs, forums, Yahoo, Google and MSN groups all offer a way to find other New Age people. Search engines allow us to find organizations and websites that are New Age related. Through services such as meetup.com we can find people and groups locally.

Through these avenues we can find other spiritual seekers. We can share information, inspiration and support. And it gives us an opportunity to educate others about the real meaning of the New Age movement, as a vision of both social and spiritual transformation to create a better world for all of us, and to invite them to join in.

Please consider using these tools to spread the message of the New Age revival. Each one of us has the ability to reach so many people so quickly. Working together, we can bring about the transformation of the world sooner than we might think!

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keywords: new age revival, new age movement, new age network, spirituality, spiritual, conscious creation, metaphysics, metaphysical, law of attraction, rebirth of the new age, enlightenment, spiritual transformation, world peace, new age on earth, manifesting, spiritual path, spiritual journey, the secret, alternative spirituality, new paradigm, shift in consciousness, meditation, unity, new age community, new age music

image location

It does not astonish or make us angry that it takes a
whole year to bring into the house three great white
peonies and two pale blue iris.  It seems altogether
right and appropriate that these glories are earned
with long patience and faith. . . . and also that it is
altogether right and appropriate that they cannot last.
Yet in our human relations we are outraged when
the supreme moments, the moments of flowering,
must be waited for. . . . and then cannot last.  We
reach a summit, and then have to go down again.

May Sarton

* * * * * *

There is so very much that we can learn from the natural world.  We are constantly surrounded by reminders of the cycles of life, the natural order of things, and if we can just recognize and appreciate the lessons of the natural world, our own lives could become so much easier and so much more comprehensible.  We live our lives in seasons much as the flowers and the trees and the animals do, and one of the reasons for which we tend to become unhappy or frustrated is because we sometimes expect to live in perpetual spring or summer, not allowing or wanting winters to be a normal, important part of our lives.

One of the reasons that spring is so beautiful in the colder areas of the world is because the flowers are coming after a long period without them–we’ve been deprived of their presence for a long time, so they mean much more to us.  We all know that for everything there is a season, but most of us would like to make those seasons longer, or to have some control over them.

But we have to let life be what it is.  Life is a beautiful experience, yet we tend to diminish its beauty by placing our false expectations on it.  One of my favorite art forms is that of ice sculpting, for the artists have a clear understanding of just how short-lived their works will be–yet they’re willing to put in hours of work to create beautiful works of art.  It’s possible that some of the most beautiful sculptures ever made have melted into puddles of water, only seen by a limited number of people for a very short time.

Enjoy the great parts of life, but enjoy them in the right here and right now, which is truly the only time that we can experience anything at all.  And when their time to leave comes, let them go with grace and dignity rather than trying to hold on to them in desperation or fear that you may never experience them again.  You will, if you simply let life be life, and accept the seasons of our lives with love and trust that they will return.

* * * * * *

For further thought:

A garden that never died eventually would weary.
Robbed of springtime, unacquainted with the
extraordinary perfume that rises from the soil after
it’s had its rest, the garden that winter doesn’t visit
is a dull place.  The return every spring of earth’s
first freshness would never be kept if not for the
frosts and rot and ripe deaths of fall.  So when I go
out from the garden for the last time in autumn,
I leave the gate open behind me.

Michael Pollan

Source: Living Life Fully

Since this is a hectic time of the year I will make this blog post really short.

It is a holiday tradition to thank God for the blessings we have received in life. But what is the greatest blessing of all? Health? Family? Employment? A 20-pound turkey on the table?

The most important thing to pray for during this time of reflection and giving thanks is goodness. Goodness is to enjoy the harvest of a loving heart.

God’s Holy Word is not naïve to the realities, challenges and conflicts that the terrestrial world brings our way. That is why Scripture states “be wise as a serpent but innocent as a dove.” In other words, we should be fully aware of the ways of the world and not be taken advantage of. Yet we must also be on guard not to harbor any ill will towards others.

Even during trying times, what can we possibly possess that would trump goodness?

Happy Holidays, everyone!

http://www.staircasepress.com

A day late!! As I was going to sleep last night I realized I never updated my blog yesterday. These things happen sometimes. My apologies if you were looking for it. Life has been full and busy lately.

Last Sunday, Krista Tippet interviewed Adele Diamond on Speaking of Faith (www.speakingoffaith.org). Dr. Diamond is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist and she made a comment that “joy nurtures the brain”.

This phrase caught my ear and I wondered how it might be helpful during this Thanksgiving week.

People have a variety of feelings about the holidays and about Thanksgiving in particular. While there may be some joyful anticipation and excitement about getting together with family and friends, there are also lots of demands, our expectations may be unreasonable, and we frequently experience at least some disappointment and irritation.

How would it help us to find joy amidst all of this?

Our thoughts and feelings initiate physiological reactions that bathe our bodies and brains in biochemicals that lead to stress (urge to act to get what we need or repel what we don’t) or well-being (awareness of safety, feeling secure, knowing we are loved, feeling loving).

Given life as it is with its many challenges and dilemmas, we’re often in a stress response. It takes concerted effort to train our brain to notice positive experiences and to give ourselves permission to linger on and rest in them.

How can you do that this week?

Perhaps, even if the “to do” list is long, you can risk taking a moment to notice what you enjoy, to savor what attracts you.

Or, maybe when you’re feeling irritated by someone or something, you can step back and think about positive experiences you may have had with them . . . or you can think about someone whom you know loves you and/or whom you love.

And, given that it is Thanksgiving”, you can open your heart and mind to being grateful and let yourself experience that grace of benefiting from something outside your control.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy finding things to enjoy.

Every few months I go through a slew of WordPress themes to see what’s out there and consider renewal of one or more of my websites. Often seems a waste of time, why not stick with the old and tried and true? But like my mother who had to rearrange the living room furniture every few months, I get the urge to swap posts and sidebars around and change the colors and try a new scheme.

Our faith should get unsettled, too, with staying the same. Improvement, growth, maturation, are all high concepts in Scripture. Sometimes it seems we might get bent out of shape for nothing, as we rework spots and corners, walls and floors, but for a soul with Christ in view, the furniture and rooms begin to get old at certain points.

Renewal of our faith, then, is a good thing.

Not the center of the universe? - Perhaps not for us, but for its Maker?

It takes faith sometimes, not to give in to the overwhelming evidence of our insignificance when not only we are one single, imperfect person among billions of others, but we also know that we live on one tiny planet among hundreds of billions in one galaxy of yet billions…

It certainly defies the odds of a God who loves you, - yes you, the way that He only loves you, and so much so, that He would have given His Son for you even if you would have been the only one…

And not only that, but there are other odds that speak as blaring testimonies against God’s love, wisdom, if not His very existence, and act as the extended index finger of Satan, the accuser of God and saints alike, waving in His face:

“What about handicapped people? What about all the natural disasters that kill millions? You can blame wars and starvation, perhaps even some diseases, on humans, but what about that?“

Personally, I have stopped viewing handicapped people as necessarily inferior to myself ever since one stressful afternoon when I came upon a handicapped young person with an expression of heavenly peace and bliss on his face that I never possessed, after having been fuming and fretting my way through the traffic on a German highway in order to get to my destination – me, the “enlightened,” “spiritual” man…

If nothing else, handicapped people are a perfect illustration of the spiritual state of many of us supposedly so enlightened spiritual children of God.

They have often turned out to be more than a blessing and a life-changer (for the better) for those who have had to take care of them, and perhaps have led the one or the other of us to the point where we stopped arguing with God about our personal definitions of “good and evil.”

As far as the deaths caused by natural disasters, or even death itself in general, I’ve come to the point where I’m not so sure at all anymore whether God hadn’t spoken the truth, after all, when He warned Adam and Eve that on the day they would eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.

Perhaps they didn’t die physically. But could it be that the life they lived hence (and the life we have inherited from them since), in God’s eyes is actually more comparable to death, than what He calls life?

So, what if death, in that case, wouldn’t be the great, terrible evil we all dread so much, and thus, not a curse for those victims of natural disasters, at all, but rather a blessing? (- Tough on those left behind, for sure, but aren’t they going to join their loved ones sooner or later, too?)

I know, it sounds outrageous, but I am no more of a writer or theologian than Don Quixote was a knight.

I’m just saying “what if?”

What if God likes to play against the odds?

Some people hate the idea of God “using” anybody, but what if being used by God is actually the best thing that cold ever happen to you? And well, if God doesn’t have any scruples about using us, let’s have a look at the type of folks he chooses: Not the strong, not the wise, not the glamorous, but the foolish, despised, seemingly weak before the world.

Perhaps all our analyzing and calculating and the sum of all our supposed wisdom here at the peak of Evolution in the 21st century still amounts to nothing more than foolishness (= a joke) with God, and He can still do better with a handful of fools and handicapped than all our heroes and geniuses put together.

Not that He would need to show off His superiority. It’s just that we doubt His capabilities altogether.

When we had the choice of “Who would you like to run this place? – God, or yourselves with the assistance of your dear old friend, the Serpent,” we fell for the propaganda machine of the big empty promises of the Devil (obviously being the better politician) and went for the “Me!!! — Meeee!!!!! — Meeeeee!!!!!!” option without hesitation.

And if you’d cast votes again over that right now, which option do you think the majority of our 7 billion would cast in their vote for?

Contrary to the masters of the coming New World Order, which is ultimately going to usher in the “ultimate politician:” the Antichrist, who openly preach the eradication of two thirds of the planet’s population, God seems to value and treasure every life, however seemingly insignificant it may be to us.

The label “politician” applies to Him as much as it would apply to oxygen: invisible, but infinitely more useful and user-friendly.

So, needless to say, although vastly outnumbered, as ever, by a vast, perhaps democratic but thoroughly brainwashed majority, I’ll cast in my vote for the politics of “Universal Significance,” as opposed to the common mindset of “universal insignificance.”

What is there to enjoy, anyway, if one can no longer enjoy the little things?

quantum?

There’s nothing unusual here. Except, perhaps, and only perhaps, my perception.

 

epistemology:
ἐπιστήμη – episteme-, “knowledge, science” + λόγος “logos” – “theory of knowledge,” 1856; branch of philosophy that investigates the limits of human knowledge

ontology:
ὄν, genitive ὄντος: of being (neuter participle of εἶναι: to be) and -λογία, “metaphysical science or study of being,” 692; branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence.

If you want to think about the origins of the universe you can find enough resources to keep busy for the rest of a natural lifetime. Stephen Hawkings (Brief History of Time); Richard Dawkins (The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution and [absurdly] Everything You Know About God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion);  “The Universe,” and “How the Earth Was Made” on the Discovery Channel; the journal Astrobiology (“Why is the definition of life so elusive? epistemological considerations,” by Serhiy A. Tsokolov; “Signatures of a shadow biosphere,” by Paul C. W. Davies et al; and hundreds more); the evangelical Christian geneticist Francis Collins (The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief).

I read stuff—too much—what I  comprehend I can’t assimilate with what I “know. 

One can learn some sort of cosmic plan is behind the universe and the development of “life.” Or one can learn the universe—including homo sapiens—is a cosmic accident. One can discover the theory of evolution is incontrovertible. One can read Texas newspapers and find out why it’s not so. 

I’ve already written about all of this stuff here, and about my life-long, somewhat erratic and contradictory thinking about epistemology, ontology, evolution, and why I could never in a thousand years get the hang of using an I-Phone. But this stuff been on my mind again in the past few days. 

This morning  I realized I didn’t have studs my ear, unusual because I’ve had two in that ear virtually constantly since 1980 when I entered a relationship in which a public sign was required for people to understand its dynamics. I took them out last Friday to have an MRI on my poor brain. My neurologist wants to see it for himself rather than relying on 15-year-old scans He keeps mentioning surgery on the TLE spots. I tell him he can have the whole brain to play with when I die. That doesn’t end the discussion. I took the diamond and the sapphire out of my earlobe four days ago and forgot to put them back. I decided to find different sparkles to wear. Yes, I am too old. It’s probably all “arrested development” form being in love with Yul Brynner in The King and I when I was eleven.

I went looking for other ear studs. I live 24/7 in what most people would consider an intolerable mess. Stuff is here, there, and everywhere. I knew the box of sparkles (all genuine, some ridiculously expensive) was in the top drawer of my antique high-boy (burled walnut inlays on light wood, original brass pulls circa 1879). In the drawer were three socks I can’t find mates for, two empty underwear boxes, two hand towels, the plastic bag my C-Pap mask came in, other pieces of clothing, family pictures in frames, Mom’s old red-leather New Testament, two lacquered boxes with lots of interesting stuff in them, a box with a dozen or so rings I’d wear if I could stand to have anything on my hands, two original Colt Studios photographs given to me by a friend twenty years (worth something in some gay second-hand store), and two watches and a cameo pendant that belonged to my late ex-wife’s grandmother. The box with the diamonds, garnet, and the other sapphire was not in the drawer.

The stuff of my life.

My life? Exactly what is my life? That is not an idle question or an epistemological dilemma. Friends tell me to stop fretting: it is not a matter of angst that we may be living in parallel universes or that quantum mechanics has opened the possibility that we are flying off in all directions at all times and the fact is that nothing is real or solid, and we just think it is. The epistemology of ontology. The knowledge of being. I have no (certain) knowledge of my being.

When I was a kid having daily seizures (I wish TLE seizures were visible and obvious to everyone—I might have had care before I was 38 years old), I began to assume, since nothing “felt” real much of the time, that nothing IS real. Heisenberg’s principle in my brain? I knew the more I thought about what was whirling in my mind, the less certain I could be of my position in time and space. I knew the less I thought about the dissociation in my brain, the more certain I was of my place in time and space.

One day I discovered that I will die. That set off a chain reaction of trying to figure out whether or not I was really alive or ever had been, and if I were alive or ever had been, what that meant for the rest of my existence and why it had to end, but at the same time how bizarre all of those theories and beliefs about eternal life were that the hymns I played (and loved) were full of.

There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way,
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore:
In the sweet by and by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

The beautiful shore?

So now I am old; I must, by law, sign up for Medicare within six weeks. Got it? 65 approaches. My recurrent theme, the dreadful awareness that it’s all going to be over almost immediately for me. It could happen today.

And then what. Whom will I meet on the beautiful shore? No one. Because the beautiful shore isn’t. Or is it? And if the electrons whirling around at a speed that only a quantum physicist can think about that make up what is commonly held by other human beings to be my body suddenly stop whirling in exactly the same way they are right now, and the electrons that make up my breath stop moving in and out, and that causes the sub-atomic particles of the electrical synapses that make up my awareness to stop doing whatever it is they are doing right now (or do I—or some creature I can’t even comprehend—imagine they are doing what they are doing), and my “awareness” of myself ceases, then what happens to all of these sub-atomic particles whirling dizzyingly around the matrix that I experience as ME? Don’t they keep whirling dizzily around without me? And do I go on to the beautiful shore, or does the illusion that is “me” simply cease to exist and no one and no thing and no subatomic particle is any the wiser. Except I am not even aware that I am not aware any more.

And my brother and sister are left to sort out all that stuff in my high boy bureau and get rid of all this stuff floating around in my apartment and my nieces get my diamonds and then the universe (if there is a universe) waits for their subatomic particles to stop whirling so it can have back all of this stuff. People and diamonds.

We are all so busy with our own lives, with so many things to do and so much to occupy our time and attention; but should creating a better world have a low priority in our lives?

It doesn’t have to require a lot of time. If you are on a spiritual path, you are already participating at one level. When you do your spiritual practice, you can expand what you are doing to the world level. If your focus is on healing yourself, expand that out to heal the world. If your focus is on raising your own thought, expand that out to raising the consciousness of the whole world. If you are meditating for inner peace, expand that out to help create world peace. If you are working on healing relationships in your own life, expand that out to creating harmony and co-operation in the world.

Take a small step, and see where it leads. You might find a whole new path opening before you.

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keywords: new age revival, new age movement, new age network, spirituality, spiritual, conscious creation, metaphysics, metaphysical, law of attraction, rebirth of the new age, enlightenment, spiritual transformation, world peace, new age on earth, manifesting, spiritual path, spiritual journey, the secret, alternative spirituality, new paradigm, shift in consciousness, meditation, unity, new age community, new age music

Mon Voyage

(For Elvis, Edith Piaf, and All Whom Paris and New York Have Swallowed Whole)   

11-23-09                         by Mark Nielsen

Some days I feel about as important as a single telephone pole–

That one! There. See it?

Covered in kudzu vines,

Just one in a string of a thousand

across flat, hot, desolate Mississippi.

How important is it to fix a broken bicycle spoke?

Does a lynchpin ever know it is the lynchpin?

Who ever said that by doing something I love,

and doing it well,

The world would come running to hear it?

The world does not need me.

In fact, the world never knows what it needs.

Until it finds it.

At which point it immediately spoils it.

And the journey to glory

Est un voyage court à nulle part.

And as for talent:

Are you listening to these words,

Or just watching the way my hair falls across my forehead?

What profiteth it for a man

to talk real purty?

Or for a woman to belt out a sad song for her father?

Or for a child set adrift to paint a starry night?

The ruts in this road are deep, though.

It will take more strength than I have

On my own, in these arthritic hands,

To turn right up ahead when we see the road home.

(That is, if I’m not asleep at the wheel when it comes).

On the other hand,

at least I can’t turn around, either.

So take the wheel, St. Therese.

Where are we going?

Broken Man

Fresh out of the bottle, pickled, dismal,
the broken man sits in his life’s ashes;
dressed in sackcloth, he mumbles his prayers
to the quilted sky. What is it he wants?
Rather a poet or a prophet, but
truth asserts itself that he is but a
madman in a world peopled by madmen—
and he is forced to accept his humble
place within this fallen world. Broken, he
meditates on acceptance, willing now
to take another path, though hesitant
to leave the precious past behind, open
for change, but longing to go back . . . homeless,
he must find a home, begin life anew.

David M Pitchford
24 November 2009

I hate church signs. They almost always express some cheesy albeit esoteric sentiment understood only by those who speak in denominational clichés. My favorite is:  CH _ _ CH   What’s missing? UR! (lol) Yeah, and I’ll probably be missing for quite some time until you can stop embarrassing me in public with your tired wit.

Recently, however, I saw one with true merit. It contained real hope, real optimism. It read Today’s problems are tomorrow’s testimonies. OK, so it’s a little corny as well, but it is true nonetheless.

My past problems are the things which I have overcome and now make up my “victory file.” When I get self-critical, I can remember one of those events and think “I finished that!” or “I did that well!” or “I came through that in one piece!”

Oh yeah, there are failures as well, but I remember them as learning experiences, not as painful losses. I choose to see all of these things as lessons learned, positive outcomes, –victories.

I like victories.

A surgeon was speaking to a small group of university students about his work in the Gaza Strip. He was reminding the students that we North American “fat cats” knew nothing about gratitude.  Nothing!

On one occasion, he had stopped at a peasant hovel to see a woman on whom he had performed surgery.  She and her husband were dirt poor.  Their livestock supply consisted of one Angora rabbit and two chickens.  For income the woman combed the hair out of the rabbit, spun the hair into yarn and sold it.  For food she and her husband ate the eggs from the chickens.

The woman insisted that the missionary surgeon stay for lunch.  She insisted on showing her gratitude to him this way.  He accepted the invitation and said he would be back for lunch after he had gone down the road to see another postoperative patient.  An hour and a half later, he was back.  He peeked into the cooking pot to see what he was going to eat.  He saw one rabbit and two chickens.

The woman had given up her entire livestock supply–her income, her food, everything – to say “thank you.”  He concluded his story by reminding the students that, as Americans, we know nothing of gratitude.  He wept unashamedly.

Old Abandoned Truck ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg (2009)

There is another incident concerning gratitude that will never be forgotten.  It is about a woman who poured costly perfume over our Lord’s feet as she wiped them with her hair.  Make no mistake–the perfume was expensive, three hundred denarii, a year’s income for a laborer in Palestine.  Enough to keep a family alive for twelve months.  Also, in that culture, a woman’s hair was among her most precious personal possessions.

Some, who witnessed that event, including Jesus’ closest disciples, objected to such an extravagant display of affection in view of personal need – or even need of others.  Jesus asked a very pointed question, “Who loved more – the one forgiven much or the one forgiven little?”  Obviously, the answer was – and still is – the one who was forgiven much.

In view of what Christ did for us, how can we be stingy in our worship, our praise, our tithes and offerings, our time in his service or in fellowship with his body – the Church.  The vivid portrayal of Christ’s extravagant sufferings for our sins in Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” should move us to be just as extravagant in showing our gratitude and worship to our Heavenly Father and Savior, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  And yet, according to the surveys made by Barna Research, the average Evangelical Christian gives only about 3% or their income to the ministries of their local church.  Americans spend more on dog food annually than on giving to charities or mission work!

Perhaps it is time some of us got more extravagant in our worship.  It is about time we got radical in our display of gratitude for all that God has done for us and ‘sold the farm’ or ‘broke the bank.’  After all, how much do we really love Him?  How thankful are we?

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has just revealed that the crisis of suicide is now a….. “crisis”.  Why are college students seking easiest ways to kill yourself ?

Did not the media tell us that this is the time for parties ..getting drunk..and sleeping with strangers?…Cool dude! 

Well the fact is that many college students are young and disappointed. Many are sick and tired of the world that they have inherited. Some how the parties and wild sex are not filling the despair the way the media and hollywood said it would. Funny there is no depression in Amerfican Pie movies.

Here is the qoute from the Minneapolis Star Tribune: 

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students. About 1.1 percent of 8,000 Minnesota post-secondary students surveyed by the University of Minnesota’s Boynton Health Service in 2008 had attempted suicide within the past 12 months, up slightly from the year before.

At colleges around the nation, more students are seeking help. The percentage of students who reported a diagnosis of depression rose from 10.3 percent in 2000 to 14.9 percent in spring of 2008

 We will continue to sound the alarm that there is a problem and that one must take charge of their mental health or they can be at risk.  Seeking easiest ways to kill yourself is the strongest sign that there is a major internal problem but do not give up!

Thank God for the many who have order our reports and decide that they want to take control over their mental health. We have revealed that scienctifically you can take back the control over your mental health and win the battle over depression. Our reports are popular because they work! Heal alone..heal in private as many already have. Easiest ways to suicide..stop and take back the control of YOU below as others in 8 countries have

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Little Blue Heron

Joy! The weather is cooler, the hordes of mosquitoes are dissipating, and the birds are back in the Southern Everglades. Last week’s visit to the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park brought delightful discoveries all along the 0.8 mile paved trail and boardwalk. I have captured a few of them to share with you.

Great Blue Herons fished along the trail-side canal.

Great Blue Heron

Often they would take to the skies with huge graceful wings pumping air as they flew.

Great Blue Heron in Flight

Anhingas perched along the shore before diving for their next aquatic meal.

Female Anhinga

This Tricolored Heron waded among colorful water plants in search of prey.

Tricolored Heron

Perky Green Herons fished from low-lying branches. This little guy raised his crest, Mohawk style, in response to a territorial intruder.

Green Heron

New treats for the eyes and soul appeared at every turn of the trail. This Everglades vista beckoned me from the boardwalk to pause and breathe deeply of the refreshing breeze, enjoy the warm sunlight, and listen to the gentle rustle of tall grasses.

Scene along the Anhinga Trail Boardwalk

I eagerly await opportunities to explore the never ending beauty of Everglades National Park during the winter and spring seasons. I find this untouched wildness restorative and exciting at the same time. It is a place of beauty that each person enjoys in response to their personal awareness and need–a unique place to connect with God’s creation.

Bees on Spatterdock

Sometimes a person struggling in the fight of being a furious voice for the truth against an army, nay a deluge, of lies and lie-blarers can wake up discouraged, wondering, “What the hell am I doing here anyway? What difference on earth am I going to make anyway?”

I call it the “mindset of insignificance” that probably overtakes all of us sometimes.
After all, it’s being scientifically drilled into us. They even have a scientific name for it and called in the “Copernican principle” or “principle of mediocrity,” a scientific “fact,” (as far as its religious devotees are concerned), closely related to the “fact” of Evolution, which is to remind us all daily, and many times throughout every day of our lives of our devastating insignificance in this universe:

After all, each of us represents nothing more than an insignificant conglomeration of chemicals and matter on an equally insignificant spec of dust among hundreds of billions of others in one galaxy among yet hundreds of billions… so they say.

Except that some scientists who refuse to adhere to the dictatorial brainwash of the mainstream scientific community are coming up with arguments that the odds of other “insignificant specs of dust” like our planet to exist in our galaxy aren’t as high as the prophets of the Copernican principle like Carl Sagan made them sound to be.

Turns out that our “insignificant spec of dust” holds a few privileges we shouldn’t take for granted.

And as far as the tiny, lonely voice for truth against vast majorities is concerned, it wouldn’t be the first time that God shows that one man with Him can suffice to defeat he entire opposing army: from Moses to Gideon and David, who hurled the decisive rock against the giant’s head that would bring his country’s intimidated army back to life, and further on down the line to Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah and Paul, St. Francis, Luther and Gandhi… little, seemingly insignificant people who won decisive battles against armies of empires that vastly outnumbered them; and it stands to reason that if God did it that way before, who’s to tell Him that He can’t do it again?

Of course, the ever growing vast majority of modern day Philistines will joke about our God even more profanely nowadays, since they cooked up a literal flood of “scientific” arguments to disprove His existence – a flood that would require an arc to stay afloat and rising above it – and to discourage any insane Don Quixote from any noble ambitions real fast, unless he remains steadfastly ignoring their ceaseless deafening rants….

If the Evolutionists seem to be right about one thing, it’s that we do appear to be herd animals, and not many of us are carved out to be sole fighters against an overwhelming majority.
We want our own army on our side and behind us. God alone, due to His unforgivable handicap of invisibility, doesn’t seem to be enough for any of us most of the time.

Even folks who have no problems admitting that there is a spirit world with wicked entities in it that manipulate our realm don’t have it in them to believe or even accept the idea that perhaps if those wicked and demonic entities exist, there might also be a “good Guy” in that realm somewhere, because that would be religious, and no, they’re not religiously inclined.

Demons? Yes. God? No.
No, they also want to see an army of “great awakers” rise behind them to save them and all of mankind out of their own mess. The only way, they seem to reason, we’re ever going to overcome the curse of our insignificance, is by amassing so many of us that we’re also going to be a flood of “good” people, rising up against the bad people…

Well, I wish to God they were right, and the “Great Awakening” should really happen.
But then what? “Meet the new boss – the same as the old boss?” I think we’ve heard that tune before…

I think the only “Boss” Who’s ever going to make a real and lasting difference is the One Who is trying to prove that a seemingly insignificant spec of dust doesn’t necessarily have to be all that insignificant by putting it in its unique position in the first place and by dying for each so seemingly insignificant soul on this planet as if to show that for Him there is no such thing as insignificant.

If you’re out for quantity and size, then maybe that’s your thing, but the invisible Maker behind the scenes of the universe seems to have a knack for little things and seemingly insignificant details.
We may be dust alright, but when blown and carried into the right position within the light, even a tiny spec of dust can sparkle and shine like a diamond.

Let’s see what insignificant piece of rock is going to land our present day Goliaths on their nose while the by-standing armies are going to wonder “Hey, why didn’t I sling that thing?…” – Or what unconventional methods God is going to use to prove to us one again that it’s “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord” (Zec.4:6)

one warm smile from you
sprinkles my bleeding meadows
wooden hues, playing
swirling through forgotten howls
hidden in unknown valleys

Despite my reluctance to post this…I’m going to go for it. I don’t know why this feels more personal than writing about the Diva Cup, but it does. Anyway, it may “disappear” within a month, but I just feel that it’s important to post at this time.

In brief, my regular readers know how much I have struggled with substitute teaching (or teaching, at all). It is quite contrary to my extremely introverted personality and takes so much out of me, that I am not able to function well after most days. There are many rewards to teaching that I find wonderfully fulfilling…but nothing has been able to “fill up my well” even halfway. It is just too hard for me to put so much energy outward, when I am a naturally inward-moving person.

Since writing about this issue, I have chosen to continue subbing (out of financial necessity) while seriously pondering my next step. I could write an entire post about the goals I have for myself. And perhaps I will write about that in the future. But let’s just say that everything seems ever so slightly out of reach – financially and energetically. I sometimes feel like I’m in my early 20’s again, with ten million choices swirling around me and WHICH ONE SHOULD I CHOOSE????

While pondering this question, I realized that there is no step I can take in any direction without first fully clearing out the muck and creating a strong, organized foundation upon which to build. I have been inspired by my friends who are downsizing, and fellow bloggers who are de-cluttering, like Mon at Holistic Mama. And the most amazing thing happened. The more I de-cluttered, the more I felt pulled back to my old, forgotten creative expressions. Simultaneously, sub jobs dried up quickly and inexplicably. I haven’t worked in nearly a month, which is panic-inducing. However, I have been determined not to succumb to fear. Now is the time to direct my energies into something new. Or at least that’s what it appears the Universe is pushing me to do.

Image copyright: greenmamas.com

There are two venues that I am currently putting my energies into. First, I have always wanted to have an herbal business, in which I make lotions, lip balms, tinctures, etc. It has been a dream of mine for many years now, but I have never done it because there are millions of other women basically selling the same stuff. And even though I have had incredible emotional and financial support and encouragement about this from friends and family…still, I resisted.

Well, I’m resisting no more. I’m going to give it a try. I can only afford a small investment at this time, and will be limiting myself to lotions and lip balms and a few other items sold through Etsy. (I won’t be selling tinctures or other such things, as I have no herbal certification – but maybe someday…) I don’t expect to make a living off this, per se, certainly not right off. But it is a direction in which I desperately want to go. And sometimes you have to take a step forward without knowing what lies beyond in order to get to where you ultimately want to be.

The thing is: Thinking about this makes me HAPPY. Unlike teaching, which fills me with dread, misery, and fear. I want to pursue this path, and leave my student record sheets, assessments, disciplinary tactics, and pinstripe pants behind.

And in the long term: Writing has shouted out to me. There is so much I could say about this…but I will try to condense. I spent my twenties writing six novels – most of them awful. I was always mad at myself for taking ten years to earn my B.A. but deep down, I knew I was in my own kind of school – that I was learning and honing my craft by reading, by writing, by endlessly revising, and actually putting together those six novels.

When I finished the sixth one, in 2003, I was still deeply dissatisfied with it (my perfectionism kicked in). And after a mere three rejection letters from publishers, I put it away and vowed to “get serious” and get a “real” career. Hence, I finally finished college a few years later. During grad school (my ticket to a “real” career), I had an inspiration for another book I wanted to write. But imagine my surprise when I was hit with a three-year bout of writer’s block after writing only 15 pages. Again, writing was put away to pursue my degree and “get serious” about life.

A lot of things changed. My motivation as a writer altered completely, leaving me to try to find where to “tap in” for inspiration. And to be honest, I think much of the draw of writing in my late teens and early twenties was the desire to be famous. To be validated by popularity. Now that I’m in my thirties, that has changed, as well. Though I can’t deny that publishing, for whatever reason, is still deeply important to me. I think writers, on some level, write to be read. If we are not read, part of the cycle of creativity goes unfed, leaving us wanting.

Anyway…nothing could’ve surprised me more than the guidance I got after clearing out my space and my mind. I was compelled to go back to my sixth novel, finish editing it, and…try again to get it published. I resisted that for over a month, wanting to focus on the new book I started a few years ago. But no…I was drawn back to my sixth book again and again.

Image copyright: thefuturebuzz.com

After having many dreams about it, experiencing some synchronistic events, and even feeling the presence of my departed uncle (who was one of my biggest “fans” in his time on this earth), I finally opened my manuscript files and got to work. I also realized why I was drawn to do so. I believe that disapproving of this novel was just another way of shutting the door on myself. If we hold out for perfection in ourselves or in what we do, we will never truly be alive. And I have been guilty of giving myself “creative abortions” time and time again, for a multitude of self-destructive reasons.

I used my dissatisfaction with the book as another reason to prove my so-called unworthiness. And I used it to create more strife and drama and unhappiness in my life, which is what I believed I needed and deserved. I felt different my whole life because I never did anything the way my friends did – I didn’t finish school at 22, start a career, get married, or have a baby. When I felt I couldn’t stand being different anymore, I used my “failure” as a writer as an excuse to finally catch up to everyone else – to go back to school, get my B.A. and my M.A.T….and start leading a life that ultimately ended up being terribly unfulfilling.

I don’t have particular expectations about writing, anymore than I do about selling my own lotions. It is just what has always been one of the greatest passions of my life, and I have always wanted to pursue it. I feel that, in committing to the path of self-acceptance that I have started on, I have to embrace my writing, as well. I will pursue publishing, though not for validation, fame, or financial reasons – simply because I want to complete the circle of energy created when one puts pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

So, neither of these opportunities is necessarily going to put rent money in my pockets anytime soon…yet since I have cleared out the clutter, I feel it is imperative that I pursue them. One cannot keep putting energy into something that diminishes. Otherwise, there will be nothing left. I don’t know where subbing will go from here – again, I will take jobs if they are offered, as I am quite in need of the money – but if next month is anything like this month…things will get interesting around here.

Copyright: A Green Spell
http://greenspell.wordpress.com