Earth today, gone tomorrow.
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Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
repost of Thanksgiving 2006
Happy Thanksgiving; give a dog a bone (but not a turkey bone)
Someone shook my hand yesterday. Simple gesture, but it hurt like hell, because the day before I got GNAWED on the same hand by a stupid dog that doesn't like me, ya it's the stupid neighbors again. GRRRRRR The dog was on a leash, that makes it even worse, I checked with animal control.
This stupid dog is "unpredictable," says his owner, a guy who doesn't have any self discipline and doesn't know the first thing about treating himself well, so where is he going to learn how to treat an animal? He lives in a house that's a revolving door of tenants, Please socialize your animals and your children, if not for your sake, then for their sake. All it takes is a loving heart. And if you don't have a loving heart toward others, then please don't let your dog loose like nobody's hand matters except your own.
I'm just a casualty of the day. Not the most serious one, but it's a matter of perspective. I never thought a handshake could be so painful.
Someone shook my hand yesterday. Simple gesture, but it hurt like hell, because the day before I got GNAWED on the same hand by a stupid dog that doesn't like me, ya it's the stupid neighbors again. GRRRRRR The dog was on a leash, that makes it even worse, I checked with animal control.
This stupid dog is "unpredictable," says his owner, a guy who doesn't have any self discipline and doesn't know the first thing about treating himself well, so where is he going to learn how to treat an animal? He lives in a house that's a revolving door of tenants, Please socialize your animals and your children, if not for your sake, then for their sake. All it takes is a loving heart. And if you don't have a loving heart toward others, then please don't let your dog loose like nobody's hand matters except your own.
I'm just a casualty of the day. Not the most serious one, but it's a matter of perspective. I never thought a handshake could be so painful.
repost of October 2006
October surprise
Talk is cheap. There's nothing quite so wonderful as being in the company of people you like, talking about things, whether personal or of general interest, that make people feel engaged in each other and in the world or with other people. Being isolated is a terrible experience after a while, it truly robs from the soul and engenders distorted feelings of sociopathic or narcissitic nature, for example, or just loneliness.
Seeing homeless people on our streets used to be a shock; remember in the early 80s when homelessness was a relatively shocking phenomenon? But some of the same people are still out there, and for others (including younger generations) it is a lifestyle that is one of the "norms" in the millennial paradigm.
When I am confronted in my car or bike with a homeless person holding a begging sign, or approached on a downtown street by a healthy or unhealthy person soliciting money for (a) a cheeseburger or (b) $25 for a room for the night, my automatic response is not to reward the behavior.
But I don't want to be unable to generate a human connection, so there's the rub.
If the only people you encounter are strangers on the street, you are not alone.
If you stay in your home you don't even encounter strangers.
And if you stay on the internet, your encounters, being generated in your own mind, are devoid of any flesh or blood other than your own. Even though they are real. Yes, the sweat, blood, tears of another exist in you, as Jesus could tell you if you could hear Him speak. But that's really not necessary.
If you want to meet You out there in the community, the best strategy is face to face. Not that I have anything against the internet. It's the one communication system that is shared by nearly everyone who has ever lived, isn't that fascinating?
Hope to see you in the City of Roses.
Talk is cheap. There's nothing quite so wonderful as being in the company of people you like, talking about things, whether personal or of general interest, that make people feel engaged in each other and in the world or with other people. Being isolated is a terrible experience after a while, it truly robs from the soul and engenders distorted feelings of sociopathic or narcissitic nature, for example, or just loneliness.
Seeing homeless people on our streets used to be a shock; remember in the early 80s when homelessness was a relatively shocking phenomenon? But some of the same people are still out there, and for others (including younger generations) it is a lifestyle that is one of the "norms" in the millennial paradigm.
When I am confronted in my car or bike with a homeless person holding a begging sign, or approached on a downtown street by a healthy or unhealthy person soliciting money for (a) a cheeseburger or (b) $25 for a room for the night, my automatic response is not to reward the behavior.
But I don't want to be unable to generate a human connection, so there's the rub.
If the only people you encounter are strangers on the street, you are not alone.
If you stay in your home you don't even encounter strangers.
And if you stay on the internet, your encounters, being generated in your own mind, are devoid of any flesh or blood other than your own. Even though they are real. Yes, the sweat, blood, tears of another exist in you, as Jesus could tell you if you could hear Him speak. But that's really not necessary.
If you want to meet You out there in the community, the best strategy is face to face. Not that I have anything against the internet. It's the one communication system that is shared by nearly everyone who has ever lived, isn't that fascinating?
Hope to see you in the City of Roses.
repost of 9/16/06
8 AM, Saturday, September 16, 2006.
Night after night the drunks across the street are out on the porch, all night long, talking endlessly in loud voices about the things that matter to 22 year olds - "he never calls, i know he loves me, i don't get what i want, me, me me me meeeeee i'm screw screw screw screw screwed yada ya da da.." it's 7 AM and they're still out there. i went over at 5 AM and the fruity chick with nonstop beer looked at me like i was mad. well i was mad.
i started out politely, sorta, marching across the street and getting in the drunk woman's face, "look" i said, "give me your phone number so i don't have to get out of bed and get dressed to come over here just to tell you to go inside and get off the front porch and shut the fuck up." She looked at me with a hurt look, "Darling," she says, "why don't you come over when it's daytime and talk to me gently about this." "No" i say, "give me your phone number so I don't have to come over here just to tell you to shut the fuck up. All night, every night, it's the middle of the night, summer is over, go inside, get off the porch, you're loud, you're waking the neighbors, your actions are affecting a lot of people!"
The guy with her starts .. "it's 558-..." and she stops him. "No, darling, let's talk about this sometime, just come over during the day.." I get directly in her face, "if you don't give me your phone number, i'll call the police. Night after night all night long you're out here talking in a loud voice, people can't sleep - at this point the bad-tempered dog shows at the door - and your dog is a problem, give me your phone number, so I don't have to call the police."
I've complained about this situation to friends for a long time; they tell me to call the police; I explain that isn't the proper etiquette where I live in SE Portland, but at this point I'm realizing I have no choice. I'll give her one more chance to understand my message, but obviously I'm committing myself to a position and i'll have to carry through. I know how this stuff turns out when you don't carry through on your promise.
"I am telling you, if you don't give me a phone number so i can call over here in the middle of the night next time this happens, I have no choice but to call the cops." The male is telling her to give me the number, but she can't think of one quick enough. "It's 232.. no wait, here just wait, let me write down the number for you...it's 503 -- "(long pause) And tell me, I think rhetorically, why do Portland people always pause so long after the area code, I mean it's not like anybody has to write it down or isn't going to remember it -- everyone knows the damn area code unless you start out DIFFERENT like "971" poor thing -- she stops again. DAMNIT she's not going to give me the number.
"OK" i say as i turn around, step down the porch stairs and cross back to my house. I'm calling the police.
Which I did. The nice man at 9-1-1 said I have to call the non emergency number 823-3333, press 1, and you'll get right to us. So I did. That was great; usually if you call the non emergency you have to give a recorded report' apparently you get better service at 5 AM...thanks Portland.
So then I went back to bed and noticed it when the cops pulled up. Seems like a bunch of people came out to talk to the cops, I'm thinking great, the cops see, it's 5 AM, it's still dark, all these drunk 20 year somethings are outside trying to say they weren't doing anything wrong, and hopefully having the cops show up will be a bit of a deterrent??
So I tried to sleep, but the adrenalin made me get up and make coffee. So the paper came at 6:22, and damn if the drunk neighbors aren't out on the porch again talking. It's cold outside, this isn't 90 degrees like we had last week. CRAP. Don't they know they can't be outside keeping neighbors up till 7 AM? I'm going to have to work on this issue till something good happens. Hopefully the whole mess will clear up if I keep working on it.
Have a good day Portland!
Night after night the drunks across the street are out on the porch, all night long, talking endlessly in loud voices about the things that matter to 22 year olds - "he never calls, i know he loves me, i don't get what i want, me, me me me meeeeee i'm screw screw screw screw screwed yada ya da da.." it's 7 AM and they're still out there. i went over at 5 AM and the fruity chick with nonstop beer looked at me like i was mad. well i was mad.
i started out politely, sorta, marching across the street and getting in the drunk woman's face, "look" i said, "give me your phone number so i don't have to get out of bed and get dressed to come over here just to tell you to go inside and get off the front porch and shut the fuck up." She looked at me with a hurt look, "Darling," she says, "why don't you come over when it's daytime and talk to me gently about this." "No" i say, "give me your phone number so I don't have to come over here just to tell you to shut the fuck up. All night, every night, it's the middle of the night, summer is over, go inside, get off the porch, you're loud, you're waking the neighbors, your actions are affecting a lot of people!"
The guy with her starts .. "it's 558-..." and she stops him. "No, darling, let's talk about this sometime, just come over during the day.." I get directly in her face, "if you don't give me your phone number, i'll call the police. Night after night all night long you're out here talking in a loud voice, people can't sleep - at this point the bad-tempered dog shows at the door - and your dog is a problem, give me your phone number, so I don't have to call the police."
I've complained about this situation to friends for a long time; they tell me to call the police; I explain that isn't the proper etiquette where I live in SE Portland, but at this point I'm realizing I have no choice. I'll give her one more chance to understand my message, but obviously I'm committing myself to a position and i'll have to carry through. I know how this stuff turns out when you don't carry through on your promise.
"I am telling you, if you don't give me a phone number so i can call over here in the middle of the night next time this happens, I have no choice but to call the cops." The male is telling her to give me the number, but she can't think of one quick enough. "It's 232.. no wait, here just wait, let me write down the number for you...it's 503 -- "(long pause) And tell me, I think rhetorically, why do Portland people always pause so long after the area code, I mean it's not like anybody has to write it down or isn't going to remember it -- everyone knows the damn area code unless you start out DIFFERENT like "971" poor thing -- she stops again. DAMNIT she's not going to give me the number.
"OK" i say as i turn around, step down the porch stairs and cross back to my house. I'm calling the police.
Which I did. The nice man at 9-1-1 said I have to call the non emergency number 823-3333, press 1, and you'll get right to us. So I did. That was great; usually if you call the non emergency you have to give a recorded report' apparently you get better service at 5 AM...thanks Portland.
So then I went back to bed and noticed it when the cops pulled up. Seems like a bunch of people came out to talk to the cops, I'm thinking great, the cops see, it's 5 AM, it's still dark, all these drunk 20 year somethings are outside trying to say they weren't doing anything wrong, and hopefully having the cops show up will be a bit of a deterrent??
So I tried to sleep, but the adrenalin made me get up and make coffee. So the paper came at 6:22, and damn if the drunk neighbors aren't out on the porch again talking. It's cold outside, this isn't 90 degrees like we had last week. CRAP. Don't they know they can't be outside keeping neighbors up till 7 AM? I'm going to have to work on this issue till something good happens. Hopefully the whole mess will clear up if I keep working on it.
Have a good day Portland!
Monday, December 27, 2010
repost of 1/23/2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The tipping point.
A thousand years is just a moment of eternity ~
One thousand times that moment - just a day.
Our love is on the top ten list of time, dear
But this planet isn’t going far, today ~
For love is art, and art is for destruction?
And art makes angels drunk and fools gay.
Destruction is for fools, not for angels!
True love beats through it, more than I can say
More than a day, more than a time eternal
Our planet one of many built to last, dear
Destruction? Has it gone too far today, dear?
No darling, but it hasn’t far to go . . .
The polar ice is melting out of balance
The summer swelter winter chill of time
dramatic forces proving they’re still living
the throes of death or jolting our attention?
The choice is obvious, the choice is obvious
Get back into balance you extremist
Stop the drug and culture war, it’s all permissible
Eternity as humans on this Eden
Sure the hell beats atoms out in space.
Darling thou I know your heart is aching
Some things meant to happen never do
Caution plays a role in every risk-play
Feel all right, your role is famous too
Satisfy your hunger for salvation
You don’t need a Jesus coupon to believe that we are One
Get back into balance, you extremist
Eternity as humans on this Eden
Sure the hell beats atoms out in space
Darling though I know your heart is aching
Some things meant to happen never do
Caution plays a role in every risk-play
Feel all right, your role is famous too.
Get back into balance you extremist
Stop the oil and culture war, it’s all permissible
Eternity as humans on this Eden
Sure the hell beats probing outer space.
Go explore the planets all ye nations
Look around for they’re all looking too
All the planets that evolved got wasted
They’re out there looking for signs of intelligent life
Go explore the planets all ye mighty
Just allow the lowly to exist
Get back into balance you extremist
Get back into balance if you wish.
(c) 012107 forgiveness.com
The tipping point.
A thousand years is just a moment of eternity ~
One thousand times that moment - just a day.
Our love is on the top ten list of time, dear
But this planet isn’t going far, today ~
For love is art, and art is for destruction?
And art makes angels drunk and fools gay.
Destruction is for fools, not for angels!
True love beats through it, more than I can say
More than a day, more than a time eternal
Our planet one of many built to last, dear
Destruction? Has it gone too far today, dear?
No darling, but it hasn’t far to go . . .
The polar ice is melting out of balance
The summer swelter winter chill of time
dramatic forces proving they’re still living
the throes of death or jolting our attention?
The choice is obvious, the choice is obvious
Get back into balance you extremist
Stop the drug and culture war, it’s all permissible
Eternity as humans on this Eden
Sure the hell beats atoms out in space.
Darling thou I know your heart is aching
Some things meant to happen never do
Caution plays a role in every risk-play
Feel all right, your role is famous too
Satisfy your hunger for salvation
You don’t need a Jesus coupon to believe that we are One
Get back into balance, you extremist
Eternity as humans on this Eden
Sure the hell beats atoms out in space
Darling though I know your heart is aching
Some things meant to happen never do
Caution plays a role in every risk-play
Feel all right, your role is famous too.
Get back into balance you extremist
Stop the oil and culture war, it’s all permissible
Eternity as humans on this Eden
Sure the hell beats probing outer space.
Go explore the planets all ye nations
Look around for they’re all looking too
All the planets that evolved got wasted
They’re out there looking for signs of intelligent life
Go explore the planets all ye mighty
Just allow the lowly to exist
Get back into balance you extremist
Get back into balance if you wish.
(c) 012107 forgiveness.com
repost of 12/26/2006 - "Learning to Forgive Yourself"
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
learning to forgive yourself
Have you noticed how many people are affected by the desire to be happy and fulfilled at Christmas? Have you noticed that the number of people who truly are happy and fulfilled (any time of the year) is pretty sad? Yes, it's sad. You're sad; I'm sad; and it's not because we don't have everything we want in life, is it?
We actually do have exactly as much happiness as we are prepared to enjoy. Don't believe me? Ask yourself honestly, do you actually WANT to be one of those cheerful, gleeful, giving, sharing, always-ready-to-help-others type of person?
OK this is not what you wanted to hear, but if you really do want that lifestyle, it's right there for the taking.
Now then, let's go back to being miserable and stuck on our own deeds and the deeds of others. It's far simpler; it's reliable; we know where it leads; there's nothing unknown about it; it's safe; it's familiar; sure, it's no fun, but fun always ends too soon anyway; nobody stays in "fun" for long, right?
Just for today, I'm going to be as miserable to myself, and everyone around me (on the internet; at home; at work; on the street; at the grocery store) as I can possibly be, and I'll be afraid of myself (and everyone else) too, because Lord knows I don't control me, I can't possibly control me; it's not my fault; and none of my actions ever have consequences to anyone else, because they created their own reality. So whoever you are, People, just be on guard, everyone (including me) is probably out to make your life miserable.
Forgiveness isn't going to happen, is what I'm saying, until you actually can figure out how to have compassion and sensitivity for yourself.
And if you CAN do that, then it's not such a big step to comforting yourself.
And if you can do THAT, then it's only a matter of time that you will think long and hard about whether or not to forgive yourself. Or someone else. Or keep it in.
It's a choice, not an easy one. Make it tomorrow; today is still pretty rough.
I love you.
learning to forgive yourself
Have you noticed how many people are affected by the desire to be happy and fulfilled at Christmas? Have you noticed that the number of people who truly are happy and fulfilled (any time of the year) is pretty sad? Yes, it's sad. You're sad; I'm sad; and it's not because we don't have everything we want in life, is it?
We actually do have exactly as much happiness as we are prepared to enjoy. Don't believe me? Ask yourself honestly, do you actually WANT to be one of those cheerful, gleeful, giving, sharing, always-ready-to-help-others type of person?
OK this is not what you wanted to hear, but if you really do want that lifestyle, it's right there for the taking.
Now then, let's go back to being miserable and stuck on our own deeds and the deeds of others. It's far simpler; it's reliable; we know where it leads; there's nothing unknown about it; it's safe; it's familiar; sure, it's no fun, but fun always ends too soon anyway; nobody stays in "fun" for long, right?
Just for today, I'm going to be as miserable to myself, and everyone around me (on the internet; at home; at work; on the street; at the grocery store) as I can possibly be, and I'll be afraid of myself (and everyone else) too, because Lord knows I don't control me, I can't possibly control me; it's not my fault; and none of my actions ever have consequences to anyone else, because they created their own reality. So whoever you are, People, just be on guard, everyone (including me) is probably out to make your life miserable.
Forgiveness isn't going to happen, is what I'm saying, until you actually can figure out how to have compassion and sensitivity for yourself.
And if you CAN do that, then it's not such a big step to comforting yourself.
And if you can do THAT, then it's only a matter of time that you will think long and hard about whether or not to forgive yourself. Or someone else. Or keep it in.
It's a choice, not an easy one. Make it tomorrow; today is still pretty rough.
I love you.
Repost of 10/15/2006
If you choose to develop a practice of forgiveness, it can become completely unconscious or automatic for you. This is an element so needed in our world today. Like a precious element in nature, it is rare, but not uncommon! And the good news is that it is not a limited commodity; more of it can be created at the whim of a hat!
What will your life be like when you begin (or continue) the practice of forgiveness? The safest analogy is that it will be like being in love. There is great comfort and peace in being "in forgiveness mind."
When you can walk the steps of your life in the practice of forgiveness, toward yourself, toward God perhaps, toward your country, toward your neighbor, toward your enemy, toward your family, toward your friends, toward your community, toward the outside world, toward others, toward All, toward one individual whose despicable or dastardly nature hurt you, well, you will see....
When you practice forgiveness, others notice it, maybe unconsciously, but they know it.
Should you start close to home or far away? It's up to you.
FORGIVENESS EXERCISE #1:
First, imagine that it is You that you are imagining. You are both the one imagining you, and the one being imagined.
Comment: This is the essence of this practice. Can you see how it is possible to do this? Can you imagine anyone else doing it? How about your enemy? How about God? How about nobody at all? I can imagine nobody doing it!
You and I do not know a single newborn baby or ancient elder who is not fully experiencing the same forces of consciousness on earth as you are, i.e. they are changing. Things are accelerating. There is a shift of consciousness going on. Everyone can feel it.
FORGIVENESS EXERCISE #2:
Next, shift your perception so that this person you have imagined to be You is actually the other person, the one you wish to forgive.
FORGIVENESS EXERCISE #3:
Next, forgive that person. If this is too hard, start over at Exercise #1 and work on forgiveness of You. Once you have that part mastered, you can work on Exercise #2 again. It may take a while to master that, but I know you can do it. Then, go on to Exercise #3.
Posted
What will your life be like when you begin (or continue) the practice of forgiveness? The safest analogy is that it will be like being in love. There is great comfort and peace in being "in forgiveness mind."
When you can walk the steps of your life in the practice of forgiveness, toward yourself, toward God perhaps, toward your country, toward your neighbor, toward your enemy, toward your family, toward your friends, toward your community, toward the outside world, toward others, toward All, toward one individual whose despicable or dastardly nature hurt you, well, you will see....
When you practice forgiveness, others notice it, maybe unconsciously, but they know it.
Should you start close to home or far away? It's up to you.
FORGIVENESS EXERCISE #1:
First, imagine that it is You that you are imagining. You are both the one imagining you, and the one being imagined.
Comment: This is the essence of this practice. Can you see how it is possible to do this? Can you imagine anyone else doing it? How about your enemy? How about God? How about nobody at all? I can imagine nobody doing it!
You and I do not know a single newborn baby or ancient elder who is not fully experiencing the same forces of consciousness on earth as you are, i.e. they are changing. Things are accelerating. There is a shift of consciousness going on. Everyone can feel it.
FORGIVENESS EXERCISE #2:
Next, shift your perception so that this person you have imagined to be You is actually the other person, the one you wish to forgive.
FORGIVENESS EXERCISE #3:
Next, forgive that person. If this is too hard, start over at Exercise #1 and work on forgiveness of You. Once you have that part mastered, you can work on Exercise #2 again. It may take a while to master that, but I know you can do it. Then, go on to Exercise #3.
Posted
unforgiving weather
weather can be unforgiving
yet the design of the planet is always toward balance
when the northern hemisphere is moving toward spring,
the southern hemisphere is moving toward fall
balance is what we seek, in all our relationships with ourself
and with others
when we are out of balance, sometimes we spin like an unbalanced load.
at those times, stop the agitation, rearrange the load, try again
eventually
things will even out somehow
yet the design of the planet is always toward balance
when the northern hemisphere is moving toward spring,
the southern hemisphere is moving toward fall
balance is what we seek, in all our relationships with ourself
and with others
when we are out of balance, sometimes we spin like an unbalanced load.
at those times, stop the agitation, rearrange the load, try again
eventually
things will even out somehow
Monday, August 28, 2006
how Thought influences reality
The way we think -- and make no mistake, we are all constantly in communication with ourselves with our thoughts -- and the way we project those thoughts onto others, influences science, the arts, education, religion, television, entertainment, and reality overall.
That's why it's helpful to increasingly become conscious: "What am i thinking, what am i doing right now?" because that is raising our level of consciousness, i.e. awareness.
In less than a minute, a minute of thought can make "waves" of consciousness. So believe it. You as much as anyone can influence the misty, ephemeral clouds of consciousness which circulate. Some are of little effect; others are monumental, of course. The world is interrelated, and you are part of it - just as you are as much a part of the internet as anyone else. Your thinking creates your world.
Now that Pluto has left the solar system, is it time for Jupiter to step up and be a planet? It is truly something to ponder just how much gravity and influence Jupiter has on us, but I for one have not given Jupiter much thought, because there was always that erratic, playful Pluto keeping my thoughts further out than Mr. Big.
Something different.
Here's a thought. Wouldn't it be simple to push the concept of promoting a value system in favor of "causing pleasure in someone else's life" instead of causing pain. Is the WAR MENTALITY something that has a place in this day and age? Do you have the feeling that people choose war as a way of avoiding or keeping their distance from pleasure?
Pleasure comes in many stripes and flavas. Ice cream cones for all, or take two cones for yourself and smash the other one in pluto's face; which is it going to be.
People who value Peace always seem to have a short run on Earth, and the good days are as limited as the run of a long Broadway Show. Your turn to shine, Jupiter. Stop being a bully. Make peace for a change.
That is to say, it's all about whether you decide to inflict pain on other cultures or people, or pleasure. Hate if you must, but there's a choice how you express your own life. You have a choice. You can still want to exclude that other person or race or culture or whatever, but you don't have to act on it. That's forgiveness.
That's why it's helpful to increasingly become conscious: "What am i thinking, what am i doing right now?" because that is raising our level of consciousness, i.e. awareness.
In less than a minute, a minute of thought can make "waves" of consciousness. So believe it. You as much as anyone can influence the misty, ephemeral clouds of consciousness which circulate. Some are of little effect; others are monumental, of course. The world is interrelated, and you are part of it - just as you are as much a part of the internet as anyone else. Your thinking creates your world.
Now that Pluto has left the solar system, is it time for Jupiter to step up and be a planet? It is truly something to ponder just how much gravity and influence Jupiter has on us, but I for one have not given Jupiter much thought, because there was always that erratic, playful Pluto keeping my thoughts further out than Mr. Big.
Something different.
Here's a thought. Wouldn't it be simple to push the concept of promoting a value system in favor of "causing pleasure in someone else's life" instead of causing pain. Is the WAR MENTALITY something that has a place in this day and age? Do you have the feeling that people choose war as a way of avoiding or keeping their distance from pleasure?
Pleasure comes in many stripes and flavas. Ice cream cones for all, or take two cones for yourself and smash the other one in pluto's face; which is it going to be.
People who value Peace always seem to have a short run on Earth, and the good days are as limited as the run of a long Broadway Show. Your turn to shine, Jupiter. Stop being a bully. Make peace for a change.
That is to say, it's all about whether you decide to inflict pain on other cultures or people, or pleasure. Hate if you must, but there's a choice how you express your own life. You have a choice. You can still want to exclude that other person or race or culture or whatever, but you don't have to act on it. That's forgiveness.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
When People (or Others) Disappoint You
One of the techniques you can employ is to remember the times when the person actually accomplished the opposite of disappointing you.. they pleased you with the choices they made, or the results they achieved. But the simple fact is that when people disappoint you, that is something for THEM to experience, not something you absolutely experience..you have a choice.
It is sad, it is devastating, but ultimately the person who has to wade through their own terrible news is the one who created it, not the person who would "Deliver" terrible news to you. So unless you created it, no te preocupes, not for you to be worried (preoccupied) about.
And this is true even if you love and care for the person who is "owning" the terrible situation. Hey listen...you have to protect yourself. Whether it's a firearm, a movie ticket, a television program or a lottery ticket, it's up to you.
Maybe it's simpler than that..just reaching for some kind of acceptance. You will find that people can offer you more salve for your soul than a television program, for instance, but there is nothing more wrong with a television program than with a book. YOU need YOU and all these things you are paying attention to are very much a part of you. :)
It is sad, it is devastating, but ultimately the person who has to wade through their own terrible news is the one who created it, not the person who would "Deliver" terrible news to you. So unless you created it, no te preocupes, not for you to be worried (preoccupied) about.
And this is true even if you love and care for the person who is "owning" the terrible situation. Hey listen...you have to protect yourself. Whether it's a firearm, a movie ticket, a television program or a lottery ticket, it's up to you.
Maybe it's simpler than that..just reaching for some kind of acceptance. You will find that people can offer you more salve for your soul than a television program, for instance, but there is nothing more wrong with a television program than with a book. YOU need YOU and all these things you are paying attention to are very much a part of you. :)
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Living by the Slice
The atmosphere surrounding our Earth which sustains all of life is a "thin blue line" when viewed from outer space. How fantastic it is to be able to conceive of a perspective outside of ourselves, and thereby to understand how precious this margin of life is that we have.
This tiny slice of atmosphere is a miracle. God's love for us and for His creations (including us) is so miraculous to me. Whatever view of God you may have, across all the religious teachings, the constant is Love. It is as present as the wind; as the beams from the sun; as the desires of our heart; it is present.
Our experience of wind, and of the beams from the sun, is not the same from day to day or from moment to moment, so can we say that it is a constant? This will depend on your undertanding of language. Does constant mean "all the time, the same, forever more"; or does it mean it comes and goes. Or is there a hybrid meaning, so that we can know and trust that it is constant; the beams of the sun are available somewhere on the earth, even though temporarily not on our time zone or in our geographical location. The beams of the sun reach us in different intensity in different places, do they not? Spain is not Brazil, and winter is not summer, but we can know that the beams of the sun are a constant /in relation to Earth even if not in relation to our individual body or town at all times.
The winds across the desert may blow hot; the winds across the Antarctic may blow cold; and the wind may be still on some days and may be terrifying on others. But wind is a constant.
In this same way, the love of God is a constant. It is something we can know and trust, even when the circumstances that affect us on a particular day may not show a lot of evidence of the love.
If you are struggling with depression, despair, distress, distrust, disbelief, doubt, debt, danger or abomination, whether it is self-induced or at the hands of another, or perhaps at the hands of fate and/or God, then this is an awesome burden. All burdens end in death, make no mistake; but death is not the same as disease; death is not the same as depression; and death is not the same as bad luck. ALL burdens end in death, all lives end in death, not just the unhappy ones.
There are far far far more unhappy people and scared people than happy and brave in these times, but the choice is always there to move from one to the other, and the way to get there is not always by changing what you do, or what you think, but those practices can work. What I'm trying to say is that the way to get to the step that might make a difference for you is by changing your perspective; try to notice what you do; try to notice how you think; pay attention to the communications you make from yourself. Even if you cannot change your behavior before noon today, there will be a day when you can change your behavior by sunset, and that is your goal; one step, not completion or victory.
One step; today it is to pay attention to yourself, to what you do, not what you think about. Pay attention to what you do today and each day for awhile, and then see how what you actually do with your time...time is a resource we all have the same amount every day...will eventually determine what is going on in your life. Maybe today is Day 9,642 of your life; maybe you have 27,118 days left; maybe it is the reverse. But pay attention to what you do today, ok? And let me know when you see the thin blue line.
This tiny slice of atmosphere is a miracle. God's love for us and for His creations (including us) is so miraculous to me. Whatever view of God you may have, across all the religious teachings, the constant is Love. It is as present as the wind; as the beams from the sun; as the desires of our heart; it is present.
Our experience of wind, and of the beams from the sun, is not the same from day to day or from moment to moment, so can we say that it is a constant? This will depend on your undertanding of language. Does constant mean "all the time, the same, forever more"; or does it mean it comes and goes. Or is there a hybrid meaning, so that we can know and trust that it is constant; the beams of the sun are available somewhere on the earth, even though temporarily not on our time zone or in our geographical location. The beams of the sun reach us in different intensity in different places, do they not? Spain is not Brazil, and winter is not summer, but we can know that the beams of the sun are a constant /in relation to Earth even if not in relation to our individual body or town at all times.
The winds across the desert may blow hot; the winds across the Antarctic may blow cold; and the wind may be still on some days and may be terrifying on others. But wind is a constant.
In this same way, the love of God is a constant. It is something we can know and trust, even when the circumstances that affect us on a particular day may not show a lot of evidence of the love.
If you are struggling with depression, despair, distress, distrust, disbelief, doubt, debt, danger or abomination, whether it is self-induced or at the hands of another, or perhaps at the hands of fate and/or God, then this is an awesome burden. All burdens end in death, make no mistake; but death is not the same as disease; death is not the same as depression; and death is not the same as bad luck. ALL burdens end in death, all lives end in death, not just the unhappy ones.
There are far far far more unhappy people and scared people than happy and brave in these times, but the choice is always there to move from one to the other, and the way to get there is not always by changing what you do, or what you think, but those practices can work. What I'm trying to say is that the way to get to the step that might make a difference for you is by changing your perspective; try to notice what you do; try to notice how you think; pay attention to the communications you make from yourself. Even if you cannot change your behavior before noon today, there will be a day when you can change your behavior by sunset, and that is your goal; one step, not completion or victory.
One step; today it is to pay attention to yourself, to what you do, not what you think about. Pay attention to what you do today and each day for awhile, and then see how what you actually do with your time...time is a resource we all have the same amount every day...will eventually determine what is going on in your life. Maybe today is Day 9,642 of your life; maybe you have 27,118 days left; maybe it is the reverse. But pay attention to what you do today, ok? And let me know when you see the thin blue line.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
How we create the things that happen to us
Sometimes people who owe you something change on you and try to distance themselves from you. The way to turn that into forgiveness is to have a value system that includes "dumping on others" as part of the range of acceptable human behaviors.
But seriously, there is too much of it going on, and the next wave (the wave action of our generation moving through the centuries) is to wake up a bit more, now that we have been able to see, through the internet, what reckless behavior humans engage in. It is an opportunity to make some decisions about what is valuable and what is not.
I was heartbroken to see the nice dad risk it all on "Deal or No Deal" and lose money that his children had told him to take. But life goes on. That $76,000 will have to be erased from their ledger of "things that are owed to me" in order to go on to be a productive citizen, which I'm sure those children are becoming.
Sometimes you are just about being a lesson to other people. And that is a good thing. So for Heaven's sake, let's start taking our lessons. It's fun to play games. And that's what games are. And if you take seriously that you are here for some purpose, then it is acceptable that some people are here to play games, and others are here to work; just don't forget that this is life, and One Size Fits All. Everyone wears many roles throughout their lifetime.
You can choose whether to don the role of loser or winner, it isn't about what life brings you, it's about how you transform it into what you have chosen for you.
But seriously, there is too much of it going on, and the next wave (the wave action of our generation moving through the centuries) is to wake up a bit more, now that we have been able to see, through the internet, what reckless behavior humans engage in. It is an opportunity to make some decisions about what is valuable and what is not.
I was heartbroken to see the nice dad risk it all on "Deal or No Deal" and lose money that his children had told him to take. But life goes on. That $76,000 will have to be erased from their ledger of "things that are owed to me" in order to go on to be a productive citizen, which I'm sure those children are becoming.
Sometimes you are just about being a lesson to other people. And that is a good thing. So for Heaven's sake, let's start taking our lessons. It's fun to play games. And that's what games are. And if you take seriously that you are here for some purpose, then it is acceptable that some people are here to play games, and others are here to work; just don't forget that this is life, and One Size Fits All. Everyone wears many roles throughout their lifetime.
You can choose whether to don the role of loser or winner, it isn't about what life brings you, it's about how you transform it into what you have chosen for you.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Forgivable errors
Simple mistakes are easy. Anyone can make them. Like typing "foregiveness.com" into the browser instead of "forgiveness.com" and seeing what it does to the browser.
If you live one day at a time, you already know that some days you get a lot done and some days you don't, but EVERY day what persists in your memory is your overall mood and it leads right into the mood of the next day.
The rhythm of life is the daily rhythm, the insects and birds, the elements, the mammals, the noise of the city, the activities of the people. Where you are is in your community, and people in your community are interacting with the world in their homes, and in their churches and buildings, and in commerce. Telephones and the internet have made face to face contact less prominent, but it is the human breath that communities need in order to face the stress of living. People interacting with each other, both healthy and unhealthy, is important to the strength and immune system we all need to support the progress of healthy practices.
Since spring is coming, it is time to play outside.
Dog people can take a dog out to play. People who like to walk can always find places to walk alone. We heard about one guy who rambled cross-country talking to himself for 3 weeks on a manic episode; others probably make a lifestyle of taking to the road. It is only dangerous as much as we permit or choose it to be; the danger inhibits rampant meanderings of young teens, etc.
When we choose not to travel, we owe it to ourselves to be interactive with people in our own community. If you do not live in a town with wonderful people, you owe it to your town to make it become a community of people in agreement with each other, largely, about human values.
If you live one day at a time, you already know that some days you get a lot done and some days you don't, but EVERY day what persists in your memory is your overall mood and it leads right into the mood of the next day.
The rhythm of life is the daily rhythm, the insects and birds, the elements, the mammals, the noise of the city, the activities of the people. Where you are is in your community, and people in your community are interacting with the world in their homes, and in their churches and buildings, and in commerce. Telephones and the internet have made face to face contact less prominent, but it is the human breath that communities need in order to face the stress of living. People interacting with each other, both healthy and unhealthy, is important to the strength and immune system we all need to support the progress of healthy practices.
Since spring is coming, it is time to play outside.
Dog people can take a dog out to play. People who like to walk can always find places to walk alone. We heard about one guy who rambled cross-country talking to himself for 3 weeks on a manic episode; others probably make a lifestyle of taking to the road. It is only dangerous as much as we permit or choose it to be; the danger inhibits rampant meanderings of young teens, etc.
When we choose not to travel, we owe it to ourselves to be interactive with people in our own community. If you do not live in a town with wonderful people, you owe it to your town to make it become a community of people in agreement with each other, largely, about human values.
Monday, February 13, 2006
strengthening resistance
What is resistance?
Resistance is instinctive.
Resistance is intuitive - pay attention to it.
Resistance is a skill which can be strengthened, just as any muscle. When we backslide against our goals, we and we alone decide how far to slide.
Will the path up the hill be just as easy the second or third time; perhaps even easier because we have accomplished part of it before? Yes, perhaps even easier. Do we still have sufficient motivation toward our goals? Perhaps the resistance muscle needs conditioning.
Resistance to what?
Resistance to temptation comes to mind. After all, this is forgiveness.com :)
Resistance to change comes to mind. Change is not easy. Sometimes we need change; sometimes we want change; but when we find ourselves resisting change then it's time to examine the change. What can we do about change? We can shape it; we can explore ways to accomodate it; we can do all of these things if we have developed and strengthened our resistance.
Strengthening resistance builds choices. And choice is a key component of having what you want. Wanting what you have, that's another thing entirely. If you are not ready to "settle" for what you have, and if you do not have what you want, then work on the things you CAN do something about -- building resitance is one of them.
Resistance is instinctive.
Resistance is intuitive - pay attention to it.
Resistance is a skill which can be strengthened, just as any muscle. When we backslide against our goals, we and we alone decide how far to slide.
Will the path up the hill be just as easy the second or third time; perhaps even easier because we have accomplished part of it before? Yes, perhaps even easier. Do we still have sufficient motivation toward our goals? Perhaps the resistance muscle needs conditioning.
Resistance to what?
Resistance to temptation comes to mind. After all, this is forgiveness.com :)
Resistance to change comes to mind. Change is not easy. Sometimes we need change; sometimes we want change; but when we find ourselves resisting change then it's time to examine the change. What can we do about change? We can shape it; we can explore ways to accomodate it; we can do all of these things if we have developed and strengthened our resistance.
Strengthening resistance builds choices. And choice is a key component of having what you want. Wanting what you have, that's another thing entirely. If you are not ready to "settle" for what you have, and if you do not have what you want, then work on the things you CAN do something about -- building resitance is one of them.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
A new Age of Discovery!
These timeless values - Discovery and Exploration - have been the hallmarks of all the Ages of Man, but the discovery of the Planet beyond Pluto and the discovery of new and old species in Papua, Indonesia is a reminder that we are part of an endless stream of time and physics, which is ever-evolving.
Humans are on earth as animals and as spiritual entities, just as the entire stream of the Universe is as much spiritual as empirical. Put into practice acceptance who you are; many things you cannot change, can never change. Put into practice acceptance what you did; people can stress out over anything. Can you manage? is the question. Have your actions prevented another human from navigating? THEN HELP OTHERS. People who are helping others are part of the solution to the misfortunes (as Shakespeare said, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune) we have inflicted upon ourselves and others.
People who manage to rise above the pain of old trauma and unresolved pain are lucky. So many hundreds of people in your town are out on the streets every day, worrying about the same things, family, job, poverty, frustration; you are not new here. But the pink-swarbled gyrometric bird of paradise just got here yesterday. Or did it?
Humans are on earth as animals and as spiritual entities, just as the entire stream of the Universe is as much spiritual as empirical. Put into practice acceptance who you are; many things you cannot change, can never change. Put into practice acceptance what you did; people can stress out over anything. Can you manage? is the question. Have your actions prevented another human from navigating? THEN HELP OTHERS. People who are helping others are part of the solution to the misfortunes (as Shakespeare said, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune) we have inflicted upon ourselves and others.
People who manage to rise above the pain of old trauma and unresolved pain are lucky. So many hundreds of people in your town are out on the streets every day, worrying about the same things, family, job, poverty, frustration; you are not new here. But the pink-swarbled gyrometric bird of paradise just got here yesterday. Or did it?
Monday, February 06, 2006
Noticing your choices
So much of the decision-making process is beyond our comprehension. Are we making day-to-day and moment-by-moment automatic responses without recognizing that "by doing this" you have etched a road toward "that," which you did not want. Self correction is part of being on the path of your own choosing. I confessed; my sin was forgiven and I was absolved of it, meaning I did not repeat the sin. Today's lesson is to look up the word "absolution" and find out if that's what it means or not. Praise be to All Deities, Messengers and Angels, in Jesus' name Amen.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Forgiveness
ggggggggggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggggggggggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
gggORGIVENESS COMES IN MANY STRIPES
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggggggggggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
gggORGIVENESS COMES IN MANY STRIPES
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Love is Hell
"LOVE IS HELL"
in familiar block letters
on a black and white sign
on a familiar block
letters "L O V E I S H E L L"
on a F OR S A L E sign
a familiar Block Letter
White Sign-In
Black Love is Hell
and Heaven
answers
Heaven is Death
Gratefully So
for Love
is Hell
in familiar block letters
on a black and white sign
on a familiar block
letters "L O V E I S H E L L"
on a F OR S A L E sign
a familiar Block Letter
White Sign-In
Black Love is Hell
and Heaven
answers
Heaven is Death
Gratefully So
for Love
is Hell
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Tookie Williams is executed
March 2006 update: Lawyers for another man on CALIF. death row were able to prove that the death penalty in California could not meet the constitutional standard of "no cruel or unusual punishments." So - no more death penalty in Cailfornia.
No one condones a killer.
But if one is a killer, one's life continues. Who among us is not responsible - speaking metaphorically of course - for the deaths caused by the actions of the disturbed, the angry, the hungry, the drunk, the poor, the corrupt? Who among us might not by "a simple twist of fate" be the one facing execution by the monstrous power of the never-infallible state?
A man who had dedicated his life to reducing the pull of egoism and domination on the undeveloped mind of youngsters who have no appropriate poles of guidance -- well that's a long way of saying something, but it has to be said -- Tookie Williams could have been an example of redemption who would have remained in prison the rest of his life, where he could have continued to be a role model and example to others who are sorely lacking in role models.
But Arnold Schwarzenegger decided that he had not shown redemption because he had not confessed to his crimes.
It's OK to disagree.
Thank you for reading the GOLDEN 50th post on this website. Happy holiday!
No one condones a killer.
But if one is a killer, one's life continues. Who among us is not responsible - speaking metaphorically of course - for the deaths caused by the actions of the disturbed, the angry, the hungry, the drunk, the poor, the corrupt? Who among us might not by "a simple twist of fate" be the one facing execution by the monstrous power of the never-infallible state?
A man who had dedicated his life to reducing the pull of egoism and domination on the undeveloped mind of youngsters who have no appropriate poles of guidance -- well that's a long way of saying something, but it has to be said -- Tookie Williams could have been an example of redemption who would have remained in prison the rest of his life, where he could have continued to be a role model and example to others who are sorely lacking in role models.
But Arnold Schwarzenegger decided that he had not shown redemption because he had not confessed to his crimes.
It's OK to disagree.
Thank you for reading the GOLDEN 50th post on this website. Happy holiday!
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Acceptance
"I can't seem to do anything for myself my life has been wasted and I just want it to be over. Everything is so messed up now and I can't fix it. I'm 35 and my life is basically over. "
Anyone can understand how things get to this point. Despair. Depression. Indecision.
The holidays often bring a sense of remorse and regret. As we get older, the opportunities which we sense have slipped away seem to be more obvious. Regret is a natural response.
Yet it is an opportunity to begin to see our lifespan for what it is - a span of time. In youth and immaturity, we believe that the only time that matters is the present. We can waste countless resources examining and studying the present. Living in the present is an illusion, for we live along a continuum.
It is only once we have gained some perspective (time and experience) that we can begin to put things into proper perspective, and begin the work of creating the present, not examining the present.
Thoughts do not create action. Action requires movement. Movement leads to change.
In your despair the future looks as hopeless as the present. The goal is not to have an instantly satisfying present; the goal is to see the present as part of a continuum. The only certainty in life is that things will change. They will not remain as they are. And although the curtain seems closed, what has happened is temporary; it is the end of one scene of your life. After a brief interval, the curtains will draw back again. What will you see on your life's stage next?
You, my friend, are the scene designer. No one else is doing the behind the scenes work in your life. It has always been this way, and for every soul ever inhabiting earth. Do your own behind the scenes work, if you want to like what you see next time you see yourself.
If you are waiting for someone or something else to shift your scene, why is that? Is that actually easier? Cheaper? Less scary? Whatever is keeping you from acting is also temporary, my friend, for you must act, and you do act.
Action, not thoughts, will create your day.
Anyone can understand how things get to this point. Despair. Depression. Indecision.
The holidays often bring a sense of remorse and regret. As we get older, the opportunities which we sense have slipped away seem to be more obvious. Regret is a natural response.
Yet it is an opportunity to begin to see our lifespan for what it is - a span of time. In youth and immaturity, we believe that the only time that matters is the present. We can waste countless resources examining and studying the present. Living in the present is an illusion, for we live along a continuum.
It is only once we have gained some perspective (time and experience) that we can begin to put things into proper perspective, and begin the work of creating the present, not examining the present.
Thoughts do not create action. Action requires movement. Movement leads to change.
In your despair the future looks as hopeless as the present. The goal is not to have an instantly satisfying present; the goal is to see the present as part of a continuum. The only certainty in life is that things will change. They will not remain as they are. And although the curtain seems closed, what has happened is temporary; it is the end of one scene of your life. After a brief interval, the curtains will draw back again. What will you see on your life's stage next?
You, my friend, are the scene designer. No one else is doing the behind the scenes work in your life. It has always been this way, and for every soul ever inhabiting earth. Do your own behind the scenes work, if you want to like what you see next time you see yourself.
If you are waiting for someone or something else to shift your scene, why is that? Is that actually easier? Cheaper? Less scary? Whatever is keeping you from acting is also temporary, my friend, for you must act, and you do act.
Action, not thoughts, will create your day.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Taking Thanks
This Thanksgiving, consider the other side of giving...receiving. Have you received any thanks? How did you receive the "thankyous" that were offered to you?
Consider how you would like your offers of thanks to be received. And may your heart be singing today, tomorrow, and in surprising ways, singing with your gratitude, in whatever form it may take.
Singing..."I just want to thank you... for letting me... be myself :) Again!"
Consider how you would like your offers of thanks to be received. And may your heart be singing today, tomorrow, and in surprising ways, singing with your gratitude, in whatever form it may take.
Singing..."I just want to thank you... for letting me... be myself :) Again!"
Saturday, October 22, 2005
luck and fortune
When a light shines on an individual, by fame or fortune, is there a rhyme and reason to it, or is it randomness?
Whatever life has in store for you, you can expect and prepare for only one certainty - your existence will change its course. Can you prepare for that?
Whatever life has in store for you, you can expect and prepare for only one certainty - your existence will change its course. Can you prepare for that?
Friday, October 14, 2005
Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self
What does it mean, the instruction among The Ten Commandments, to Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self? Does it mean to pick and choose from among your neighbors the ones you like the most, and to bestow upon them as much friendliness as you can muster? Does it mean to love thy neighbor, but this only applies if your neighbor is a trustworthy and likeable sort? Does it mean to love your neighbor only if you love yourself? Does it allow you to hate your neighbor if you hate yourself?
Do you get to skip this Commandment if you really don't want to love your neighbor?
Do you have to let your neighbor know that you love them?
As far as we can say, we believe (1) you don't have to let your neighbor know how you feel about them; and (2) you don't have to do anything to prove your love for your neighbor, but (3) you don't get to make exceptions for people you don't like. LOVE REQUIRES YOU TO ACCEPT THAT YOUR NEIGHBOR IS DESERVING OF LOVE, GOD'S LOVE, HIS FAMILY'S LOVE, HIS COMMUNITY'S LOVE, and HIS NEIGHBOR'S LOVE, JUST AS HE IS.
He doesn't have to be perfect; we know he is not perfect. You don't have to be perfect. Love thy neighbor; take care of yourself; love yourself; work on loving yourself more; hopefully this will show the way to love God, family, community, and that troublesome neighbor just a bit more. Try it, one day.
WE ARE ALL NEIGHBORS. It's a small world, isn't it.
Do you get to skip this Commandment if you really don't want to love your neighbor?
Do you have to let your neighbor know that you love them?
As far as we can say, we believe (1) you don't have to let your neighbor know how you feel about them; and (2) you don't have to do anything to prove your love for your neighbor, but (3) you don't get to make exceptions for people you don't like. LOVE REQUIRES YOU TO ACCEPT THAT YOUR NEIGHBOR IS DESERVING OF LOVE, GOD'S LOVE, HIS FAMILY'S LOVE, HIS COMMUNITY'S LOVE, and HIS NEIGHBOR'S LOVE, JUST AS HE IS.
He doesn't have to be perfect; we know he is not perfect. You don't have to be perfect. Love thy neighbor; take care of yourself; love yourself; work on loving yourself more; hopefully this will show the way to love God, family, community, and that troublesome neighbor just a bit more. Try it, one day.
WE ARE ALL NEIGHBORS. It's a small world, isn't it.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
forgiveness of debt
Money is not evil; the famous quote has it that the Love of Money is the root of all evil. But Money is a tool, just as God has given us resources of faith, beauty, filiation and marriage. Money is an invention of man; like all things which Man and Women create, the things we create parallel the creations of God.
The use of money as a tool is a favorite of our governments, and it is Our Money; the governments are not about making money.
Some governments are concerned with preserving wealth, but not many; most seem to be fully occupied in the business of dividing and spending it.
Money becomes so important; it is measurable, it results in debts and obligations in equal measure to its utility, unless it is Saved, not spent.
The practice of Saving money religiously makes sense. I wish I had a way to overcome my debts. How would the forgiveness of your debts solve your problems? If you are weighing bankruptcy in your own life, you need to know that it will be much more expensive and less beneficial (less removal of debts) under the change in the U.S. law coming soon, do not wait - October 14 is the last day to file under the current law; and it takes time to prepare, just as forgiveness takes time.
Sometimes the choices we make lead to no shortage of problems and a dearth of solutions, but we must persevere if we are able, and if we are not able, then we must strive to become fit. For the usefulness of a life is measured in its ability to solve problems rather than to create them for others. Are you in balance?
The use of money as a tool is a favorite of our governments, and it is Our Money; the governments are not about making money.
Some governments are concerned with preserving wealth, but not many; most seem to be fully occupied in the business of dividing and spending it.
Money becomes so important; it is measurable, it results in debts and obligations in equal measure to its utility, unless it is Saved, not spent.
The practice of Saving money religiously makes sense. I wish I had a way to overcome my debts. How would the forgiveness of your debts solve your problems? If you are weighing bankruptcy in your own life, you need to know that it will be much more expensive and less beneficial (less removal of debts) under the change in the U.S. law coming soon, do not wait - October 14 is the last day to file under the current law; and it takes time to prepare, just as forgiveness takes time.
Sometimes the choices we make lead to no shortage of problems and a dearth of solutions, but we must persevere if we are able, and if we are not able, then we must strive to become fit. For the usefulness of a life is measured in its ability to solve problems rather than to create them for others. Are you in balance?
Moving Toward Balance
forgiveness.com
weather can be unforgiving
yet the design of the planet is always toward balance
when the northern hemisphere is moving toward spring,
the southern hemisphere is moving toward fall
balance is what we seek, in all our relationships with ourself
and with others
when we are out of balance, sometimes we spin like an unbalanced load.
at those times, stop the agitation, rearrange the load, try again
eventually
eventually
eventually
things will even out somehow
weather can be unforgiving
yet the design of the planet is always toward balance
when the northern hemisphere is moving toward spring,
the southern hemisphere is moving toward fall
balance is what we seek, in all our relationships with ourself
and with others
when we are out of balance, sometimes we spin like an unbalanced load.
at those times, stop the agitation, rearrange the load, try again
eventually
eventually
eventually
things will even out somehow
Sunday, September 18, 2005
forgiveness of apathy
Education must be fostered, just as the arts must be fostered. It is incumbent on more humans to speak up about creating a better future for the world. Our students need the benefit of education in dispute resolution. It is time for a Department of Peace. "We the People" own the government, and the "voice" of the people is written in dollars. Is it part of the solution? Money is not limited, any more than creativity is limited. It is time for encouragement of creative processes in the arts and sciences, and in religion, politics, law and medicine. Creation of art is one of a human's tools. We all create (even when we destroy). Nothing is more important than the choices we make in our creations.
APATHY is the acceptance of a lack of effort to enable oneself to be fit and capable to change the things that need to be changed. Apathy is acceptance of being less that you can be.
Just as ACTIVISM has a role, so its opposite, APATHY. Apathy lessens conflict, but it also lessens healing.
APATHY is the acceptance of a lack of effort to enable oneself to be fit and capable to change the things that need to be changed. Apathy is acceptance of being less that you can be.
Just as ACTIVISM has a role, so its opposite, APATHY. Apathy lessens conflict, but it also lessens healing.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
When the levee breaks...New Orleans disaster
The images of utter collapse rent the soul. Our heart goes out to all who are affected by the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. It is impossible to measure the losses; what can be felt more than fully? We all share the burden of the acceleration of these changes. We sense that this is the greatest disaster, and that the waters now must recede, and we pray that calmness be restored. How we get from here to there is what matters. Patience, prayer and perseverance one day at a time. That is all.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
When Everything Seems Like a Lie
Deception is part of being in human relationships. Self deception; deception of othersis never justified however. Sometimes we deceive animals; with both good and bad intentions, but usually good, because human nature is to be helpful to others. The best way out of this hole is to understand how things are improved when people are honest, especially the need to see the honesty in the other party's perspective. For only when a matter is truthful from every perspective can it be said to be true. Psalm 37, The Lord cares for the lives of the godly. As for the wicked, they shall perish. This is an example of a written psalm which is imbued with half-truths. Look to Psalm 47, For the Lord Most High is to be feared. Psalm 23, Your rod and your staff they comfort me. Psalm 147, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Psalm 146 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
nor mal
What is normal? this is entirely subjective with each individual. A man who is insane views his world from behind his own prism, his peerglass on the world. Each individual sees everything through the filter of her own routines, her own thought patterns. Thus we see that first of all, normal is based in routines and thought patterns.
No one person has command of what is or could be (or should be) considered normal. However, the need for structure and routine does include not only the routines and structures of an individual's life, but also the structures and routines of the cultural "norms."
And these are vastly different in different places, but we create as we go.
A key to understanding is to accept that what is "normal" and "right" for yourself and your own family and community does not necessarily work a few miles away from home, even a few houses down the block.
Keep practicing - the opportunities are always presenting themselves - acceptance of other people, even the ones you still judge as unacceptable. Just practice that you don't have to touch them, you don't have to like them, you certainly aren't required to talk to anyone, but the silent art of accepting them - allowing their existence takes no effort on anyone's part and no money or anything else.
A practice soon becomes a habit!
No one person has command of what is or could be (or should be) considered normal. However, the need for structure and routine does include not only the routines and structures of an individual's life, but also the structures and routines of the cultural "norms."
And these are vastly different in different places, but we create as we go.
A key to understanding is to accept that what is "normal" and "right" for yourself and your own family and community does not necessarily work a few miles away from home, even a few houses down the block.
Keep practicing - the opportunities are always presenting themselves - acceptance of other people, even the ones you still judge as unacceptable. Just practice that you don't have to touch them, you don't have to like them, you certainly aren't required to talk to anyone, but the silent art of accepting them - allowing their existence takes no effort on anyone's part and no money or anything else.
A practice soon becomes a habit!
Thursday, August 04, 2005
abuse
Let's suppose that at least in some countries, every day, even in your school, even in your home, even in your place of worship, people do things to each other which are unspeakable and unforgiveable. Let's suppose none of us are well travelled enough to imagine a country where that is not true. Why do you suppose so much abuse happens? And what can you do about it. One thing is you can stop doing so much of it yourself. But even if you never raise your voice at someone or intentionally hurt someone's feelings...
Unfortunately, people mistreat each other much more routinely than people treat each other well. Strangers honk at each other from within the protection and anonymity of their coach. It's a wonder we keep from doing more harm; there must be an innate drive toward civilization.
The civilization as we know it is fairly recent in origin, the Greeks Demosthenes, Socrates, Aristotle, the city-states of Greece barely two millennia ago. Seems we have gone through a lot recently, but it takes hundreds of years and longer for the bridges we are building to be built; and rebuilt.
Lifetimes are brief, a handful of decades allotted to each man woman and child, perhaps two handsful, 100 years, perhaps 120, but there really isn't any probability of being able to interact on the planet longer than - say - Peter Jennings' 67 years, of which he was an anchorman, first in Canada, then in the United States, for 40-some years. See? If you're already 17, you've only been paying attention to the world for some maybe 5 years, and it's going faster than you think.
So treat people with the respect of knowing how short the time is here, it will pass, and make something of each day if you can, and if you can't, then accept that you needed to be down for a while, and forgive yourself and try again soon to be kind to others, to make their stay more interesting (if you are an artist) or more pleasant (if you are a nurterer) or more peaceful (if you are a warrior).
Unfortunately, people mistreat each other much more routinely than people treat each other well. Strangers honk at each other from within the protection and anonymity of their coach. It's a wonder we keep from doing more harm; there must be an innate drive toward civilization.
The civilization as we know it is fairly recent in origin, the Greeks Demosthenes, Socrates, Aristotle, the city-states of Greece barely two millennia ago. Seems we have gone through a lot recently, but it takes hundreds of years and longer for the bridges we are building to be built; and rebuilt.
Lifetimes are brief, a handful of decades allotted to each man woman and child, perhaps two handsful, 100 years, perhaps 120, but there really isn't any probability of being able to interact on the planet longer than - say - Peter Jennings' 67 years, of which he was an anchorman, first in Canada, then in the United States, for 40-some years. See? If you're already 17, you've only been paying attention to the world for some maybe 5 years, and it's going faster than you think.
So treat people with the respect of knowing how short the time is here, it will pass, and make something of each day if you can, and if you can't, then accept that you needed to be down for a while, and forgive yourself and try again soon to be kind to others, to make their stay more interesting (if you are an artist) or more pleasant (if you are a nurterer) or more peaceful (if you are a warrior).
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Dear Forgiveness.com...
I have been struggling for the past few months with keeping my eyes from stuff that isnt good. I am a teen and I love the Lord with everything and I don't want my eyes to be the downfall basically for my life. How can I get rid of this stuff and and continue staying close with God?
Sincerely, Hunter
Dear Hunter:
Thanks for writing. Staying close with God is a choice you make, a commitment you make, at every juncture along the path. You already know that God loves you no matter what situations you may have created for yourself. You can stop loving the Lord, that is a choice you have, and yet you know that the Lord loves you.
Most people in the world have core beliefs that are based on principles of doing good works toward others, or being someone who can help others along that path simply by being. (For instance, a helpless baby is someone who can help others along the path of being true to the core principle.)
If you are living in a world you feel out of control of, then probably (my guess) you need to either break down entirely, so you can allow others to help you, or you need to pay attention to yourself so you can get out of your unhappy circumstance, and engage the struggle to change your own behaviors. It isn't easy, is it!
God will recognize your intentions, so no need to worry about God. Falling is part of being human. It is the struggle to survive that separates us from God.
No need to worry about yourself either. Worrying is just a message; but you already have the message. The message is that you aren't happy about what you are DOING.
Pay attention to what you are choosing to DO, instead of what you are choosing to THINK about, and I know that you will start to feel better soon. It is what we DO that creates who we become.
Love,
Joy
Sincerely, Hunter
Dear Hunter:
Thanks for writing. Staying close with God is a choice you make, a commitment you make, at every juncture along the path. You already know that God loves you no matter what situations you may have created for yourself. You can stop loving the Lord, that is a choice you have, and yet you know that the Lord loves you.
Most people in the world have core beliefs that are based on principles of doing good works toward others, or being someone who can help others along that path simply by being. (For instance, a helpless baby is someone who can help others along the path of being true to the core principle.)
If you are living in a world you feel out of control of, then probably (my guess) you need to either break down entirely, so you can allow others to help you, or you need to pay attention to yourself so you can get out of your unhappy circumstance, and engage the struggle to change your own behaviors. It isn't easy, is it!
God will recognize your intentions, so no need to worry about God. Falling is part of being human. It is the struggle to survive that separates us from God.
No need to worry about yourself either. Worrying is just a message; but you already have the message. The message is that you aren't happy about what you are DOING.
Pay attention to what you are choosing to DO, instead of what you are choosing to THINK about, and I know that you will start to feel better soon. It is what we DO that creates who we become.
Love,
Joy
Sunday, June 05, 2005
question and answer time
Dear Forgiveness.com:
How do you know if love is real? How do you know if it will last?
Signed, Wondering
Dear Wondering:
Love is no different whether it is short-term or long-term.
If you have love, even just for a moment, it is real.
The harder question is to know whether or not to continue a relationship once the differences between the two individuals begin to wear thin or becomes overly abrasive.
We will talk about these things soon.
In the meantime, try to live fully, and in the present. Live in the present, and recognize that the past influences the present, but is not the present, and the future is merely a set of probabilities, but it is not yet definite. So the only thing you really must deal with is the present.
No, not "this evening," not even "the meeting that I'm scheduling." They don't exist yet. The only thing that exists is what you are paying attention to - which should be you.
How do you know if love is real? How do you know if it will last?
Signed, Wondering
Dear Wondering:
Love is no different whether it is short-term or long-term.
If you have love, even just for a moment, it is real.
The harder question is to know whether or not to continue a relationship once the differences between the two individuals begin to wear thin or becomes overly abrasive.
We will talk about these things soon.
In the meantime, try to live fully, and in the present. Live in the present, and recognize that the past influences the present, but is not the present, and the future is merely a set of probabilities, but it is not yet definite. So the only thing you really must deal with is the present.
No, not "this evening," not even "the meeting that I'm scheduling." They don't exist yet. The only thing that exists is what you are paying attention to - which should be you.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
celebration of transition
When a child is born into loving arms, we celebrate! Is it not also the day we celebrate the opportunity that awaits the child each day to know love and joy and all the blessings of a life on Earth?
And are we also not aware that this newborn child someday will pass from the Earth, and are we also not 100% certain that this child, just as each of us who can read this message, will one day be recognized for passing through this way, for her death will come. Recognition of her life is sufficient; we need not mourn her death on the day of her birth, but surely we can recognize death as part of life, each day of life.
When she dies, we may not know the day or be with her, but she will be received into loving arms.
Terry Schaivo's parents - do they recognize the irony that the child who suffered heart stoppage because she did not want to eat -- because of her eating disorder -- do they recognize the irony that her choice in her life (judge not another's weary choice, another's painful choice, because the path of each of us in life is choice) was not to eat, and when the role of choice in her life was taken from her -- by everyone one can possibly imagine in this case, it was a grave injustice.
The Pope, here meeting his God, now leaving us but joyfully following the Lord, an exemplary life, devoted to service to others, may his embrace of the final day of life be as joyful for Him and for all of us as his first day of life was for his loving parents. God bless each of us, always together. Love.
And are we also not aware that this newborn child someday will pass from the Earth, and are we also not 100% certain that this child, just as each of us who can read this message, will one day be recognized for passing through this way, for her death will come. Recognition of her life is sufficient; we need not mourn her death on the day of her birth, but surely we can recognize death as part of life, each day of life.
When she dies, we may not know the day or be with her, but she will be received into loving arms.
Terry Schaivo's parents - do they recognize the irony that the child who suffered heart stoppage because she did not want to eat -- because of her eating disorder -- do they recognize the irony that her choice in her life (judge not another's weary choice, another's painful choice, because the path of each of us in life is choice) was not to eat, and when the role of choice in her life was taken from her -- by everyone one can possibly imagine in this case, it was a grave injustice.
The Pope, here meeting his God, now leaving us but joyfully following the Lord, an exemplary life, devoted to service to others, may his embrace of the final day of life be as joyful for Him and for all of us as his first day of life was for his loving parents. God bless each of us, always together. Love.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
does God exist?
forgiveness.com
In these challenging times, it has become easier to see the connectedness of us all, both because of mass events like the tsunami and the internet, and also because the things that are manifesting in people's lives are not random; they are connected.
We are not "different" from the things that we manifest - our food supply, our air supply, our water supply, our fashions, our fads.
Beginning at least with the wardrobe malfunction incident, we also see retreat from the extreme edge of the pendulum also manifesting. While on the one hand the internet has allowed an expansion of the elastic edge of the boundary (viz: porn, spam), it is only when the edge is trespassed that the movement away from the edge occurs.
Another example is the movement away from hard-core drug use, for instance, manifesting both in the social world and in the medical field.
God operates in a communication field that is much grander than words, I expect, so His messages are seen widely. They have always been numerous, and constant, in wind, waterfalls and wisdom. God has always been here.
In these challenging times, it has become easier to see the connectedness of us all, both because of mass events like the tsunami and the internet, and also because the things that are manifesting in people's lives are not random; they are connected.
We are not "different" from the things that we manifest - our food supply, our air supply, our water supply, our fashions, our fads.
Beginning at least with the wardrobe malfunction incident, we also see retreat from the extreme edge of the pendulum also manifesting. While on the one hand the internet has allowed an expansion of the elastic edge of the boundary (viz: porn, spam), it is only when the edge is trespassed that the movement away from the edge occurs.
Another example is the movement away from hard-core drug use, for instance, manifesting both in the social world and in the medical field.
God operates in a communication field that is much grander than words, I expect, so His messages are seen widely. They have always been numerous, and constant, in wind, waterfalls and wisdom. God has always been here.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Food and Water
Food and Water
Light and Air
Green Plants and Deep Waters
People who Care
Heartstopping Thunder
Earthshaking Man
Much that I wonder
All that I plan
Light and Air
Green Plants and Deep Waters
People who Care
Heartstopping Thunder
Earthshaking Man
Much that I wonder
All that I plan
Monday, February 21, 2005
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Emotions
Emotions can hit like a tidal wave.
Emotions are an intrinsic part of being human.
The shadow of emotions gives our lives depth.
We are beings, human beings.
Forgiving Yourself is the first step in being able to forgive another.
The first step toward forgiving yourself is acceptance.
Acceptance does not mean you like it, or agree with what happened;
Acceptance means that you see that it did happen, that you do not deny that it did happen.
The tsunami was a worldwide "mass" event unprecedented in our times
which every human being in these times cannot deny that it happened.
We are faced with worldwide agreement on this one thing.
In this way the tsunami is "a unifying event" for our planet.
In this way, EMOTIONS are a strong signal that you are, indeed, fully alive.
Not just a human being, but a being.
One life matters. Each one life matters.
Here's some good advice for I have heard:
"Always treat other people's feelings as if they were your very own."
And always treat your own feelings with acceptance. They are your very own. Once you accept your feelings, you can begin the work of accepting others' feelings too.
Emotions are an intrinsic part of being human.
The shadow of emotions gives our lives depth.
We are beings, human beings.
Forgiving Yourself is the first step in being able to forgive another.
The first step toward forgiving yourself is acceptance.
Acceptance does not mean you like it, or agree with what happened;
Acceptance means that you see that it did happen, that you do not deny that it did happen.
The tsunami was a worldwide "mass" event unprecedented in our times
which every human being in these times cannot deny that it happened.
We are faced with worldwide agreement on this one thing.
In this way the tsunami is "a unifying event" for our planet.
In this way, EMOTIONS are a strong signal that you are, indeed, fully alive.
Not just a human being, but a being.
One life matters. Each one life matters.
Here's some good advice for I have heard:
"Always treat other people's feelings as if they were your very own."
And always treat your own feelings with acceptance. They are your very own. Once you accept your feelings, you can begin the work of accepting others' feelings too.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Catastrophic Event
The earthquake/tsunami occurrences of 12/26/04 may well be the largest mass event in the history of the world. By "mass event" what I mean is something which reaches nearly all of us, in some perception. September 11, 2001 was a mass event, and there are some comments on this blog about mass events in that context, so I will look for that post and put a link here.
What is the purpose of mass events?
Unlike 9/11, with this one we see the interconnectedness quite literally from continent to continent.
Instinctively, we see that hundreds of thousands of lives have been extinguished by forces which are terrifying, and which none but the luckiest can survive. We see that this force puts ordinary cataclysms, like the unusually strong hurricane season this year in Florida, in perspective. This was not an ordinary cataclysm.
We use this experience to contemplate our shared fate, that none will survive their time on Earth; every man, woman, child and beast will (NOT AT THE SAME TIME) die.
This is a valuable opportunity to contemplate the REALITY that is God-directed vs. the reality that "MAN" tries to impose. After all, reality is fluid, is ever-changing.
If I were a world leader who has the power to dictate the resources of my government, especially a world leader like Pres. Bush, who is never again going to ask for anyone's vote, then I like to think that this event would force me to pay attention to my perceptions, and perhaps to devote the physical and financial resources of the armies at my command to the service of a more pressing need - aid and comfort to the poor, the starving the homeless.
After all, we are they, and they are us.
It turns out I will return to this post, and not finish it today.
Peace on Earth, Love to All.
What is the purpose of mass events?
Unlike 9/11, with this one we see the interconnectedness quite literally from continent to continent.
Instinctively, we see that hundreds of thousands of lives have been extinguished by forces which are terrifying, and which none but the luckiest can survive. We see that this force puts ordinary cataclysms, like the unusually strong hurricane season this year in Florida, in perspective. This was not an ordinary cataclysm.
We use this experience to contemplate our shared fate, that none will survive their time on Earth; every man, woman, child and beast will (NOT AT THE SAME TIME) die.
This is a valuable opportunity to contemplate the REALITY that is God-directed vs. the reality that "MAN" tries to impose. After all, reality is fluid, is ever-changing.
If I were a world leader who has the power to dictate the resources of my government, especially a world leader like Pres. Bush, who is never again going to ask for anyone's vote, then I like to think that this event would force me to pay attention to my perceptions, and perhaps to devote the physical and financial resources of the armies at my command to the service of a more pressing need - aid and comfort to the poor, the starving the homeless.
After all, we are they, and they are us.
It turns out I will return to this post, and not finish it today.
Peace on Earth, Love to All.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Comfort
Welcome! No matter your religious or spiritual orientation, you are of God, and God is of you. Think about that. There is nothing that was created to exist on Earth or in the Heavens which is not of this Source, the creative source which has the name "God."
There are many many names in all the various languages and cultures we humans have, but there is only One God-by-Any-Name
(OK so maybe you're a worm, an infiltrator, and maybe God has worms too. That would explain a lot.)
YOU ARE OF GOD; GOD IS OF YOU.
Think about it. How can it not be true?
We do have limitations in ourselves, in our understanding. We do have difficulties controlling ourselves (not to mention controlling our children, much less the person next door! )
We have at best a human understanding, not Divine understanding, even of our own actions and our beliefs. But ... we are ALL of the same essence, how can we not be; the scientists have shown us that we are from a common source, a DNA code for instance, which inhabits all humans, and -.. whatever the number - only a few genes separate us from . . . worms, of all things!
All the numbered humans here on Earth share the root of our existence with each other. That is so amazing.
In these times, we have the ability to see what was unfathomable only a generation ago! We can see what only a few humans could see before, say, the internet, and the culture of mass media; before, say, uh, satellite radio. (really? Hey I don't know anyone with a satellite radio, do you?)
What we see is that we are numbered humans. There are a finite number of us. It's a number that is in constant flux, but all the same, the concept of a specific number of the billions of us now seems to be a number that we can comprehend.
It doesn't take WAR IN IRAQ to understand this, but the WAR IN IRAQ is part of the information that is getting to the world which allows us to SEE THE TRUTH of how limited our numbers are, and perhaps more important, how valuable each human life is.
There are a lot of ways one can move from the deep fear and emotional turmoil that affects our lives in many ways, sometimes more than we can bear, sometimes breaking us! But one can move ever onward during one's lifespan into a greater understanding that we are of God, and that God is of us.
Or maybe, just to play the devil's advocate for a moment, God is completely unlike us! Ha! Wouldn't that be a surprise.
Anyway, I want to welcome you to forgiveness.com. We all need forgiveness, each and every day. We can forgive others, although it can be difficult. And we can ask others to forgive us, which is something that may or may not happen, but the asking brings a certain grace....
The hardest thing is to forgive ourselves. And it is important to try, and it is something I know you can do. I know you can!
The only time to do it is "now" or another "now," or tomorrow's "now," or the future's "now," but eventually, the time it will occur to you to do it, is always "now."
Keep on believing that there is a way to work through the ordeal with which you are faced, because the day will come. Keep patient, wait for the day when your understanding is increasing. Remember that at the time of your death, you may have choices: to indulge in the overwhelming fear you feel, or to indulge in your love for God and for your loved ones, and to accept what is happening. The more you practice this in your daily life, the easier it will be to do the same thing when it comes.
There are many many names in all the various languages and cultures we humans have, but there is only One God-by-Any-Name
(OK so maybe you're a worm, an infiltrator, and maybe God has worms too. That would explain a lot.)
YOU ARE OF GOD; GOD IS OF YOU.
Think about it. How can it not be true?
We do have limitations in ourselves, in our understanding. We do have difficulties controlling ourselves (not to mention controlling our children, much less the person next door! )
We have at best a human understanding, not Divine understanding, even of our own actions and our beliefs. But ... we are ALL of the same essence, how can we not be; the scientists have shown us that we are from a common source, a DNA code for instance, which inhabits all humans, and -.. whatever the number - only a few genes separate us from . . . worms, of all things!
All the numbered humans here on Earth share the root of our existence with each other. That is so amazing.
In these times, we have the ability to see what was unfathomable only a generation ago! We can see what only a few humans could see before, say, the internet, and the culture of mass media; before, say, uh, satellite radio. (really? Hey I don't know anyone with a satellite radio, do you?)
What we see is that we are numbered humans. There are a finite number of us. It's a number that is in constant flux, but all the same, the concept of a specific number of the billions of us now seems to be a number that we can comprehend.
It doesn't take WAR IN IRAQ to understand this, but the WAR IN IRAQ is part of the information that is getting to the world which allows us to SEE THE TRUTH of how limited our numbers are, and perhaps more important, how valuable each human life is.
There are a lot of ways one can move from the deep fear and emotional turmoil that affects our lives in many ways, sometimes more than we can bear, sometimes breaking us! But one can move ever onward during one's lifespan into a greater understanding that we are of God, and that God is of us.
Or maybe, just to play the devil's advocate for a moment, God is completely unlike us! Ha! Wouldn't that be a surprise.
Anyway, I want to welcome you to forgiveness.com. We all need forgiveness, each and every day. We can forgive others, although it can be difficult. And we can ask others to forgive us, which is something that may or may not happen, but the asking brings a certain grace....
The hardest thing is to forgive ourselves. And it is important to try, and it is something I know you can do. I know you can!
The only time to do it is "now" or another "now," or tomorrow's "now," or the future's "now," but eventually, the time it will occur to you to do it, is always "now."
Keep on believing that there is a way to work through the ordeal with which you are faced, because the day will come. Keep patient, wait for the day when your understanding is increasing. Remember that at the time of your death, you may have choices: to indulge in the overwhelming fear you feel, or to indulge in your love for God and for your loved ones, and to accept what is happening. The more you practice this in your daily life, the easier it will be to do the same thing when it comes.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Victim and Rescuer
If we see ourselves as "Victim," the choices are few. We can adopt the posture of "Blame"; we can wait to be "Rescued"; or we can shrivel up and accept our fate, forever to be "Victim," a fate which, like all others, ends in death.
The mythology of Victim and Rescuer is very strong. It is compelling. Human drama is part of the dance of living. People play many roles in their lives, and the role of victim can be played by anyone, and in fact is played by Everyone at some time or another!
How do we escape being the Victim? Oh this is a good question! Can we escape at all? It does seem impossible at times, because the ways in which we perceive that we are "victimized" are seemingly endless! Even the Hero, the Rescuer, can fall into the perception that he (or she) is the victim!
The despair of these times also can seem overwhelming, if we choose to take into our own heart the problems of the world (and there may be good reason to take these problems to heart!) But, even though the problems, and the suffering, seem to be harsher than ever before, can it be that the suffering of the world has always been overwhelming? Probably so.
Then, it could be that the difference between our times "now" and the times of the past lies in two simple facts: (a) we "see" more of the world than was ever before possible; and (b) the destructive capability of mankind is greater than ever before was possible.
We can deal with (a) by realizing that we have the ability to choose what we expose ourselves to. Perhaps we do not have the control that we wish we had, i.e. we are not one of the dozen or so men who control a network, but even on an individual basis, we will find that we can choose what we expose ourselves to in the same way that we can choose what we eat.
We can deal with (b) too, by living in the present, for no other time exists. All other time, whether in the past, or in the future, is an illusion of the present. In the present, we "perceive" and remember the past, but since there is rarely complete agreement about what happened yesterday, much less 100 years ago, all of memory is a perception; it is not happening now. We can choose how much the past affects us. Sometimes this is hard work; sometimes this is simple.
Similarly, it is within our control when to stop the perception that we are the victim. This is a challenge.
The mythology of Victim and Rescuer is very strong. It is compelling. Human drama is part of the dance of living. People play many roles in their lives, and the role of victim can be played by anyone, and in fact is played by Everyone at some time or another!
How do we escape being the Victim? Oh this is a good question! Can we escape at all? It does seem impossible at times, because the ways in which we perceive that we are "victimized" are seemingly endless! Even the Hero, the Rescuer, can fall into the perception that he (or she) is the victim!
The despair of these times also can seem overwhelming, if we choose to take into our own heart the problems of the world (and there may be good reason to take these problems to heart!) But, even though the problems, and the suffering, seem to be harsher than ever before, can it be that the suffering of the world has always been overwhelming? Probably so.
Then, it could be that the difference between our times "now" and the times of the past lies in two simple facts: (a) we "see" more of the world than was ever before possible; and (b) the destructive capability of mankind is greater than ever before was possible.
We can deal with (a) by realizing that we have the ability to choose what we expose ourselves to. Perhaps we do not have the control that we wish we had, i.e. we are not one of the dozen or so men who control a network, but even on an individual basis, we will find that we can choose what we expose ourselves to in the same way that we can choose what we eat.
We can deal with (b) too, by living in the present, for no other time exists. All other time, whether in the past, or in the future, is an illusion of the present. In the present, we "perceive" and remember the past, but since there is rarely complete agreement about what happened yesterday, much less 100 years ago, all of memory is a perception; it is not happening now. We can choose how much the past affects us. Sometimes this is hard work; sometimes this is simple.
Similarly, it is within our control when to stop the perception that we are the victim. This is a challenge.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Light, Love and Other
This is the Season we celebrate Light and Love throughout the world. Yet many in the world subsist without hope, without strength. Blessed be the ones who share their strength with others, blessed be the ones who stand as beacons of light to those who are hungry for love.
Movement is a sign of life; may you stay open to change.
As we "grow older," we change more slowly, and we grow slower :) but we continue to grow, and our ship continues to tack in the direction we set. May you find the currents of hope and the promise of love.
If it is time to set tack on a new course, may you find the strength to boldly go forth in a new direction!
Movement is a sign of life; may you stay open to change.
As we "grow older," we change more slowly, and we grow slower :) but we continue to grow, and our ship continues to tack in the direction we set. May you find the currents of hope and the promise of love.
If it is time to set tack on a new course, may you find the strength to boldly go forth in a new direction!
Monday, November 22, 2004
Feelings, Emotions, and Balance
The intensity of feelings is a good subject to explore. When we keep ourselves firmly in the present, the feelings are never too much to bear. The load of any given moment is not that sharp... it is, after all, the present. (Of course sometimes the present is extreme, but those moments are rare..., for instance bungee jumping, a first kiss, a physical challenge.)
Problems occur when we do not live in the present, but carry the emotional weight of the past or the future into the present moment. It takes practice to learn how not to "worry" for instance, about the things that have not transpired. There is a saying.. "The coward dies 1000 deaths; the brave man only once." What this means is that if you carry the fear of death into every moment, you will suffer the same as you will that one time, but you don't really have to suffer in 999 of those moments.
Life is designed to give us a wide emotional breadth, and we usually take on as much of the range of emotions as we make available to ourselves. We can choose to see this as a positive, as something that is valuable in life. We can choose to value the great breadth and depth of feelings we experience, for they make us "human."
People need balance to feel secure.
The process of seeking balance often is a process of vacillating between extremes.
We have a choice - always - whether to stay in the moment, or to project ourselves into the future (whether by daydreaming (wishful thinking, fantasy) or the past (remembering, or revisting).
Forgiveness involves staying in the moment, not revisiting the past. Forgiveness is an action to take now, in the present. We learn how to forgive by practicing forgiveness as a state of mind, an allowance of the circumstances of our life, and by allowing emotions to exist in the present moment. They do not exist anywhere else :)
Choosing to stay angry and choosing to hate are practices some people make. It is a choice. By the same token, choosing a state of mind of forgiveness is also a choice.
Emotions play a huge role in everyone's life. Once we are dead, the range of emotions is pretty much over, and at that point it seems to be that the predominant emotion is to care about the world one way or another, but we are powerless to act. Act now, do things now. There is no other time.
Problems occur when we do not live in the present, but carry the emotional weight of the past or the future into the present moment. It takes practice to learn how not to "worry" for instance, about the things that have not transpired. There is a saying.. "The coward dies 1000 deaths; the brave man only once." What this means is that if you carry the fear of death into every moment, you will suffer the same as you will that one time, but you don't really have to suffer in 999 of those moments.
Life is designed to give us a wide emotional breadth, and we usually take on as much of the range of emotions as we make available to ourselves. We can choose to see this as a positive, as something that is valuable in life. We can choose to value the great breadth and depth of feelings we experience, for they make us "human."
People need balance to feel secure.
The process of seeking balance often is a process of vacillating between extremes.
We have a choice - always - whether to stay in the moment, or to project ourselves into the future (whether by daydreaming (wishful thinking, fantasy) or the past (remembering, or revisting).
Forgiveness involves staying in the moment, not revisiting the past. Forgiveness is an action to take now, in the present. We learn how to forgive by practicing forgiveness as a state of mind, an allowance of the circumstances of our life, and by allowing emotions to exist in the present moment. They do not exist anywhere else :)
Choosing to stay angry and choosing to hate are practices some people make. It is a choice. By the same token, choosing a state of mind of forgiveness is also a choice.
Emotions play a huge role in everyone's life. Once we are dead, the range of emotions is pretty much over, and at that point it seems to be that the predominant emotion is to care about the world one way or another, but we are powerless to act. Act now, do things now. There is no other time.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Practical Forgiveness
If you make it a practice to forgive yourself, it will become easier to forgive others. As an example, forgive yourself if you spill water when you water your plants. Forgive yourself if you forgot to write something down, send an email, make a phone call, acknowledge a special occasion, or remember a name.
This omission of yours is forgiveable. As you get into the practice of forgiving yourself, you will find yourself unconsciously beginning to forgive the slights and omissions of others.
This leads to happiness, and the ability to forgive more. Forgive yourself for being you, whether the task you failed is large or ordinary.
This omission of yours is forgiveable. As you get into the practice of forgiving yourself, you will find yourself unconsciously beginning to forgive the slights and omissions of others.
This leads to happiness, and the ability to forgive more. Forgive yourself for being you, whether the task you failed is large or ordinary.
Friday, November 19, 2004
is change an illusion?
In Chinese is a saying, "the only thing certain is change." So we know that change is not an illusion; it is the constant in life. The way we adapt to change matters.
Since adaptation rarely comes without turbulence, our life track can be pitted with veritable potholes or "bumps in the road." Some of the bumps are more like potholes, or caverns.
When we fall into a cavern, after the shock is the darkness.
Grieving is an ongoing thing, it is part of living. The grief flame burns hot and cooler, but it never goes out.
Change is hard. If we focus on the "change," we can prolong the intensity of the change. But if we choose to focus on the "adaptation" we can lessen the intensity of the change.
Since adaptation rarely comes without turbulence, our life track can be pitted with veritable potholes or "bumps in the road." Some of the bumps are more like potholes, or caverns.
When we fall into a cavern, after the shock is the darkness.
Grieving is an ongoing thing, it is part of living. The grief flame burns hot and cooler, but it never goes out.
Change is hard. If we focus on the "change," we can prolong the intensity of the change. But if we choose to focus on the "adaptation" we can lessen the intensity of the change.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Asking God for Forgiveness
God is not stupid. God knows we need forgiveness. And so God made it possible for people to communicate directly with Him, by asking for forgiveness. Some people don't use words; some don't use prayer. Some people believe in God; some do not. Asking God for forgiveness can be done symbolically, by believing in His Messengers, Jesus Christ among many. God is a unifying force in this polarized world.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Forgiving Every Day
Forgiveness is not something that occurs and then it is done. The old feelings resurface; there is no vacuum seal on feelings. Forgiveness is something that we put into practice whenever the old feelings surface. It's not a cover-up; it's a "practice" and a choice.
When we make the decision to forgive the people and things that have occurred in our life, the decision is renewed over and over until the "practice" becomes a habit or a fait accompli (done deal).
When we make the decision to forgive the people and things that have occurred in our life, the decision is renewed over and over until the "practice" becomes a habit or a fait accompli (done deal).
Forgiving ourselves is sometimes a matter of asking forgiveness from God. God knows our hearts and minds. But it can be much more difficult to forgive yourself. Depending what stage of your own evolution you may be in, you may or may not be ready to truly forgive yourself.
And if you are not ready, then your task is to start with the smaller goal of making yourself closer to being ready. Every day. Even if you backslide.
The more you accept yourself, the more readily you will accept others. The more readily you forgive yourself, the easier it is to forgive others.
If you do not find it easy to accept yourself as you are, then focus on the things about yourself that you already do accept as they are. You get what you focus on! For instance, you have warmth; you have movement; and you have a heart. You have a way to read or hear about this message; you have perception. If you focus on things that you already accept or appreciate about who you are, and not on the things you reject about yourself, this task will become easier.
Since life is a relatively brief journey (you know what I mean), it's realistic to expect to have to go through these feelings more than a few times before they begin to give you the results you deserve, and that result, that outcome, that goal, is what forgiveness is all about.
You can do this. You may not want to, but you have the ability to do it. And once you are strong enough to forgive (yourself or another), you will find it easier the next time. Even if you give up, you can always return to forgiveness.
Give yourself some credit; you are exploring forgiveness; and that is a step in the direction you are trying to steer yourself.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Accept what Happens
Sometimes things happen that we didn't want to happen, but then down the road we look back and we are glad they did. It is hard to imagine how we can ever look back on some tragedies with a new perspective, but it does happen. How will we get from here to there?
The best tool to move through life's ups and downs and changes is acceptance. "Accept what happens."
Accepting it doesn't mean that you approve of it. Accepting doesn't mean that you shouldn't have an emotional reaction - anger, grief, protest, etc.
Acceptance means that you are not in denial that it happened.
Especially if you want to change what will happen next, the strongest place from which to take that next step is from a position of being willing to accept that the thing happened, and not being in denial about it. Otherwise, we run the risk of making the situation far worse than it ever would have been, if we rush forward from the confusion of our denial.
Acceptance can lead to clarity to take the next step. And acceptance can take a lifetime, or it can take a minute. It's up to you when and how to make this work for you.
The best tool to move through life's ups and downs and changes is acceptance. "Accept what happens."
Accepting it doesn't mean that you approve of it. Accepting doesn't mean that you shouldn't have an emotional reaction - anger, grief, protest, etc.
Acceptance means that you are not in denial that it happened.
Especially if you want to change what will happen next, the strongest place from which to take that next step is from a position of being willing to accept that the thing happened, and not being in denial about it. Otherwise, we run the risk of making the situation far worse than it ever would have been, if we rush forward from the confusion of our denial.
Acceptance can lead to clarity to take the next step. And acceptance can take a lifetime, or it can take a minute. It's up to you when and how to make this work for you.
Monday, November 15, 2004
A reminder
It's time for a reminder. What is a reminder? Re+minder, in other words, "minder" again. Hmm.."minder" comes from "mind," so re-minder must be something that brings attention to the mind again.
One of the freedoms we have is the freedom to use our minds. Can anyone take away that freedom from us? Hope not.
We use our minds when we think. What is thought? Thought is how we communicate with ourselves; it is not how we communicate with others. In order to communicate with others, typically we use language, although I am sure there are other ways.
If you seek forgiveness, who do you communicate with first? Yourself, that's who.
We have a choice how to use our mind. We can keep the focus on thought, or we can shift the focus to emotion, which is what leads to action. Or we can strive to quiet the thoughts entirely.
I believe that it is possible to be happy in the midst of all evidence to the contrary.
This does take patience.
One of the freedoms we have is the freedom to use our minds. Can anyone take away that freedom from us? Hope not.
We use our minds when we think. What is thought? Thought is how we communicate with ourselves; it is not how we communicate with others. In order to communicate with others, typically we use language, although I am sure there are other ways.
If you seek forgiveness, who do you communicate with first? Yourself, that's who.
We have a choice how to use our mind. We can keep the focus on thought, or we can shift the focus to emotion, which is what leads to action. Or we can strive to quiet the thoughts entirely.
I believe that it is possible to be happy in the midst of all evidence to the contrary.
This does take patience.
Time to decide
Ask forgiveness every day of yourself, for all the ways in which you hurried or ignored or were so focused on yourself that you didn't acknowledge the harm you were creating for another.
For we constantly are in each other's way, until we learn to live cooperatively. As on the intra-family level, so also on the world level.
Each day we as Americans can ask forgiveness of the rest of the world for the things we have done as Americans which have impacted others, in ways we cannot even imagine. And in return, each day, each of us, in every land, can ask forgiveness of the rest of the world.
These small acts will add up to a grand victory on earth, on earth Peace, as it is in Heaven.
For we constantly are in each other's way, until we learn to live cooperatively. As on the intra-family level, so also on the world level.
Each day we as Americans can ask forgiveness of the rest of the world for the things we have done as Americans which have impacted others, in ways we cannot even imagine. And in return, each day, each of us, in every land, can ask forgiveness of the rest of the world.
These small acts will add up to a grand victory on earth, on earth Peace, as it is in Heaven.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
More on Happiness
Lucky the adult who lives with a child who loves him or her. And so, we seek happiness in the refuge of our children.
How important is it to every family in the world that childhood be a time of playfulness and - if not happiness - then surely Love. It is Love that makes a Family.
Love and happiness, the formula for a peaceful world is so simple.
Yet we toil in the murky garden of our own digging. We are so more likely to be in the depths than in the joy of our creation. Ahhh, and the journey can be more difficult than our strengths.
And so, we search earnestly on the internet and all around us, and we create our blogs and we satisfy our yearnings for ourselves.
Oh the misery of man's inhumanity to man.
Yet the freedom of personal worth AMAZINGLY co-exists right in this moment.
The road to happiness is not only attainable within your lifetime, it is attainable in this moment.
Isn't that wonderful?
How important is it to every family in the world that childhood be a time of playfulness and - if not happiness - then surely Love. It is Love that makes a Family.
Love and happiness, the formula for a peaceful world is so simple.
Yet we toil in the murky garden of our own digging. We are so more likely to be in the depths than in the joy of our creation. Ahhh, and the journey can be more difficult than our strengths.
And so, we search earnestly on the internet and all around us, and we create our blogs and we satisfy our yearnings for ourselves.
Oh the misery of man's inhumanity to man.
Yet the freedom of personal worth AMAZINGLY co-exists right in this moment.
The road to happiness is not only attainable within your lifetime, it is attainable in this moment.
Isn't that wonderful?
happiness
forgiveness.com
When you live with someone who is happy, life is easier. At this point in human history, many of us are worried, with good reasons. The world is either at war or warring, inside and out. To escape the dimensions of what President Bush and his allies are doing in the Middle East is to live oblivious to what we have created.
How do we create the world we want? Apparently we have choices, and one of them is to fall in line behind our President, and support his "folly," on the hope that his road to peace bears fruit. And even if I take a posture against the war and his method, I am cognizant that not to accept where the reins of power have taken George W. Bush would be a folly of my own making.
So, living so far from the "danger zone," in such a seemingly safe haven, I pray for success and happiness for all.
Forgiveness is nothing if not a tool of finding happiness. More in a moment.
When you live with someone who is happy, life is easier. At this point in human history, many of us are worried, with good reasons. The world is either at war or warring, inside and out. To escape the dimensions of what President Bush and his allies are doing in the Middle East is to live oblivious to what we have created.
How do we create the world we want? Apparently we have choices, and one of them is to fall in line behind our President, and support his "folly," on the hope that his road to peace bears fruit. And even if I take a posture against the war and his method, I am cognizant that not to accept where the reins of power have taken George W. Bush would be a folly of my own making.
So, living so far from the "danger zone," in such a seemingly safe haven, I pray for success and happiness for all.
Forgiveness is nothing if not a tool of finding happiness. More in a moment.
Friday, November 12, 2004
pro democracy
I like what Pres. Bush said this morning in a press conference with Tony Blair about democracies. He said that people in a democracy don't go to war with other democracies, because we don't like war. Bush is smart about what he wants, but I am concerned about whether the road to peace is the road he's taking. I think you know what I mean.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Being Prepared
Sometimes you have to forgive someone for leaving you unprepared for what happens to you.
And then you have to decide to forgive them, because you don't have to.
Maybe she treated you badly, maybe she made you feel second best. Maybe she didn't think about what she was doing to you. Maybe you should forgive her for not treating you the way you deserve to be treated.
But if you can't, then you can recognize that it is a choice you make. And being free enough to make the choice, that is a good enough reason to be happy.
And then you have to decide to forgive them, because you don't have to.
Maybe she treated you badly, maybe she made you feel second best. Maybe she didn't think about what she was doing to you. Maybe you should forgive her for not treating you the way you deserve to be treated.
But if you can't, then you can recognize that it is a choice you make. And being free enough to make the choice, that is a good enough reason to be happy.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
bits or bites
"May your sadness lift your sights to the realization that the soul never dies, families are eternal, and friendship, love, and great memories are the greatest and only true treasures." E. E.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
What is Best for You
No one but you can say what's best for you. One key to understanding yourself is to lower your brain waves until you can understand what are the core values. Do you seek to understand yourself? Do you seek to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and might? Do you seek to love thy neighbor as thyself? Do you seek to feed your greed? All of those things are right there in the base of the brain.
If you know your core values, and can get to the bottom of what you want, then you can make decisions how to prepare yourself to have what you want, because you can have anything that you are prepared to have.
The Boy Scouts say, "Be Prepared."
Lately I've been hearing a lot about boy scouts and girl scouts. Those types of troops offer camaraderie and build learning skills. As adults, we have considerable gifts to share with children who crave to learn.
If you know your core values, and can get to the bottom of what you want, then you can make decisions how to prepare yourself to have what you want, because you can have anything that you are prepared to have.
The Boy Scouts say, "Be Prepared."
Lately I've been hearing a lot about boy scouts and girl scouts. Those types of troops offer camaraderie and build learning skills. As adults, we have considerable gifts to share with children who crave to learn.
The conservative predominance taking hold in America has its root in the fundamentalist preachings of a select group of fanatics. This is not a majority viewpoint, yet it has the reins of power.
Here's an article about the neo-conservatives who have a firm hand on the American government, which tries to explain how this came about in America:
"Given how fundamentalists see the modern world, they may as well be living in Iraq or Syria, with which they share approximately the same Bronze Age religious tenets. They believe in God, Rumsfeld's holy war, and their absolute duty as God's chosen nation to kick Muslim ass up one side and down the other.
In other words, just because millions of Christians appear to be dangerously nuts does not mean they are marginal. Having been born into a Southern Pentecostal/Baptist family of many generations and living in this fundamentalist social landscape means that I gaze into the maw of neo-con Christianity daily. Hell, sometimes hourly. My brother is a fundamentalist preacher, as are a couple of my nephews, as were many of my ancestors going back to God-knows-when. My entire family is born-again; their lives are completely focused inside their own religious community and on the time when Jesus returns to Earth-Armageddon and the Rapture.
Only another liberal born into a fundamentalist clan can understand what a strange, sometimes downright hellish family circumstance it is -- how such a family can love you deeply yet despise everything you believe in, see you as a humanist instrument of Satan and still be right there for you when your back goes out or a divorce shatters your life.
Between such times, I wait rather anxiously and strive for change, for relief from what feels like an increased stifling of personal liberty, beauty, art and self-realization in America. They wait in spooky calmness for Jesus. They believe that, until Jesus does arrive, our "satanic humanist state and federal legal systems" should be replaced with pure "Biblical law."
As much as liberals screech in protest, few understand the depth and breadth of the rightist Christian takeover that's underway. They catch the scent but never behold the beast itself. The other day, I heard a liberal Washington-based political pundit on National Public Radio say the radical Christian Right's local and regional political action peak was a past fixture of the Reagan era. I laughed out loud (it was a bitter laugh) and wondered if that pundit had ever driven 20 miles eastward on U.S. Route 50 or into the suburbs of Maryland, Virginia or West Virginia. The fellow on NPR was a perfect example of the need for liberal pundits to get their heads out of the sand, get outside the city, quit cruising the Internet and meet some Americans who do not mirror their own humanist educations and backgrounds. If they did, they would grasp the importance the Rapture has taken on in American national and international politics. Despite the media's shallow interpretation of the Rapture's significance, it is a hell of a lot more than just a couple hundred million Left Behind books sold. The most significant thing about the Left Behind books is that, although they are classified as "fiction," most fundamentalist readers I know accept the series as an absolute reality soon coming to a godless planet near you. It helps to understand that everything is literal in the fundamentalist-voter universe.
Personally, I've lived with the Rapture as the psychologically imprinted backdrop of my entire life. In fact, my own father believed in it until the day he died, and, the last time I saw him alive, we talked about the Rapture. And when he asked me, "Will you be saved? Will you be there with me on Canaan's shore after the Rapture?" I was forced to feign belief to give a dying man inner solace. But that was the spiritual stuff of families, and living and dying, religion in its rightful place, the way it is supposed to be, personal and intimate -- not political. Until recently, I'd never heard the Rapture spoken about in the context of a Texan being selected by God to prepare its way.
Now, however, this apocalyptic belief, yearning really, drives an American Christian polity in the service of a grave and unnerving agenda. The pseudo-scriptural has become an apocalyptic game plan for earthly political action: To wit, the Messiah can only return to Earth after an apocalypse in Israel called Armageddon, which the fundamentalists are promoting with all their power so that the Rapture can take place. The first requirement was the establishment of the state of Israel. Done. The next is Israel's occupation of the Middle East as a return of its "Biblical lands," which, in the reconstructionist scheme of things, means more wars. These Christian conservatives do not believe that peace can lead to the Rapture; indeed, they think it impedes the 1,000-year Reign of Christ. So anyone promoting peace is an enemy, a tool of Satan, hence the fundamentalist support for any and all wars Middle Eastern, in which their own children die in what is often viewed by Christian parents as a holy martyrdom of its own kind. "He (or she) died protecting this country's Christian values." One hears it over and over from parents of those killed.
If we are lucky as a nation, this period in American history will be remembered as just another very dark time we managed to get through. Otherwise, one shudders to think of the logical outcome. Tens of millions of hard-working, earnest American Christians see it as a war against all that is unbiblical, the goal of which is complete world conquest or, put in Christian terminology, "dominion." They will have no less than the "inevitable victory God has promised his new chosen people." Screw the Jews, they blew their chance. If perpetual war is what it will take, then let it be perpetual. After all, perpetual war is exactly what the Bible promised. Like it or not, this is the reality (or prevailing unreality) with which we are faced."
(The excerpt is from an essay entitled "On Earth As it Is in Texas," dated 10/19/2004, which was sent to me in email)
Here's an article about the neo-conservatives who have a firm hand on the American government, which tries to explain how this came about in America:
"Given how fundamentalists see the modern world, they may as well be living in Iraq or Syria, with which they share approximately the same Bronze Age religious tenets. They believe in God, Rumsfeld's holy war, and their absolute duty as God's chosen nation to kick Muslim ass up one side and down the other.
In other words, just because millions of Christians appear to be dangerously nuts does not mean they are marginal. Having been born into a Southern Pentecostal/Baptist family of many generations and living in this fundamentalist social landscape means that I gaze into the maw of neo-con Christianity daily. Hell, sometimes hourly. My brother is a fundamentalist preacher, as are a couple of my nephews, as were many of my ancestors going back to God-knows-when. My entire family is born-again; their lives are completely focused inside their own religious community and on the time when Jesus returns to Earth-Armageddon and the Rapture.
Only another liberal born into a fundamentalist clan can understand what a strange, sometimes downright hellish family circumstance it is -- how such a family can love you deeply yet despise everything you believe in, see you as a humanist instrument of Satan and still be right there for you when your back goes out or a divorce shatters your life.
Between such times, I wait rather anxiously and strive for change, for relief from what feels like an increased stifling of personal liberty, beauty, art and self-realization in America. They wait in spooky calmness for Jesus. They believe that, until Jesus does arrive, our "satanic humanist state and federal legal systems" should be replaced with pure "Biblical law."
As much as liberals screech in protest, few understand the depth and breadth of the rightist Christian takeover that's underway. They catch the scent but never behold the beast itself. The other day, I heard a liberal Washington-based political pundit on National Public Radio say the radical Christian Right's local and regional political action peak was a past fixture of the Reagan era. I laughed out loud (it was a bitter laugh) and wondered if that pundit had ever driven 20 miles eastward on U.S. Route 50 or into the suburbs of Maryland, Virginia or West Virginia. The fellow on NPR was a perfect example of the need for liberal pundits to get their heads out of the sand, get outside the city, quit cruising the Internet and meet some Americans who do not mirror their own humanist educations and backgrounds. If they did, they would grasp the importance the Rapture has taken on in American national and international politics. Despite the media's shallow interpretation of the Rapture's significance, it is a hell of a lot more than just a couple hundred million Left Behind books sold. The most significant thing about the Left Behind books is that, although they are classified as "fiction," most fundamentalist readers I know accept the series as an absolute reality soon coming to a godless planet near you. It helps to understand that everything is literal in the fundamentalist-voter universe.
Personally, I've lived with the Rapture as the psychologically imprinted backdrop of my entire life. In fact, my own father believed in it until the day he died, and, the last time I saw him alive, we talked about the Rapture. And when he asked me, "Will you be saved? Will you be there with me on Canaan's shore after the Rapture?" I was forced to feign belief to give a dying man inner solace. But that was the spiritual stuff of families, and living and dying, religion in its rightful place, the way it is supposed to be, personal and intimate -- not political. Until recently, I'd never heard the Rapture spoken about in the context of a Texan being selected by God to prepare its way.
Now, however, this apocalyptic belief, yearning really, drives an American Christian polity in the service of a grave and unnerving agenda. The pseudo-scriptural has become an apocalyptic game plan for earthly political action: To wit, the Messiah can only return to Earth after an apocalypse in Israel called Armageddon, which the fundamentalists are promoting with all their power so that the Rapture can take place. The first requirement was the establishment of the state of Israel. Done. The next is Israel's occupation of the Middle East as a return of its "Biblical lands," which, in the reconstructionist scheme of things, means more wars. These Christian conservatives do not believe that peace can lead to the Rapture; indeed, they think it impedes the 1,000-year Reign of Christ. So anyone promoting peace is an enemy, a tool of Satan, hence the fundamentalist support for any and all wars Middle Eastern, in which their own children die in what is often viewed by Christian parents as a holy martyrdom of its own kind. "He (or she) died protecting this country's Christian values." One hears it over and over from parents of those killed.
If we are lucky as a nation, this period in American history will be remembered as just another very dark time we managed to get through. Otherwise, one shudders to think of the logical outcome. Tens of millions of hard-working, earnest American Christians see it as a war against all that is unbiblical, the goal of which is complete world conquest or, put in Christian terminology, "dominion." They will have no less than the "inevitable victory God has promised his new chosen people." Screw the Jews, they blew their chance. If perpetual war is what it will take, then let it be perpetual. After all, perpetual war is exactly what the Bible promised. Like it or not, this is the reality (or prevailing unreality) with which we are faced."
(The excerpt is from an essay entitled "On Earth As it Is in Texas," dated 10/19/2004, which was sent to me in email)
Monday, November 08, 2004
global warming
Here's a story in the news today about global warming. I sincerely expect that since the election of President Bush is over, the churches will need new and important world-saving changes to occur, and one of them surely can be to exert political pressure where it is needed:
WASHINGTON (Nov. 8) - North American wildlife species ranging from butterflies to red fox are scrambling to adapt to Earth's rising temperatures and may not survive, according to a study released on Monday.
Heat-trapping greenhouse gases emitted by vehicles, factories and other human activities have boosted Earth's temperatures by 1 degree F over the past century, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change said in a report.
To adapt, North American species like the Edith's Checkerspot butterfly, red fox and Mexican jay are moving to colder northern climates that suit their habits, the Pew Center said, citing 40 separate scientific studies.
With global temperatures expected to rise another 2.5 degrees to 10.4 degrees F by 2100, ''future global warming is likely to exceed the ability of many species to migrate or adjust,'' the Pew Center said.
The Edith's Checkerspot butterfly has disappeared from many southern, low-elevation areas like Mexico, fleeing to colder Canadian climes, according to the report.
The red fox has also moved northward to clash with Arctic fox populations, in a trend spotted in many other birds, mammals, invertebrates and plants, it said.
''These responses may alter competition and predator-prey relationships and have other unforeseen consequences,'' it said.
Longer growing seasons for plants will also impact the Earth's ability to clean carbon dioxide from the air, the report said.
Alaska's tundra now emits more carbon dioxide than it absorbs because temperatures have risen by 4 degrees to 7 degrees F over the last 50 years, the report said.
Wildlife officials need to expand nature reserves and improve habitat conservation efforts to give species more flexibility to adjust to changing conditions, the report said.
WASHINGTON (Nov. 8) - North American wildlife species ranging from butterflies to red fox are scrambling to adapt to Earth's rising temperatures and may not survive, according to a study released on Monday.
Heat-trapping greenhouse gases emitted by vehicles, factories and other human activities have boosted Earth's temperatures by 1 degree F over the past century, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change said in a report.
To adapt, North American species like the Edith's Checkerspot butterfly, red fox and Mexican jay are moving to colder northern climates that suit their habits, the Pew Center said, citing 40 separate scientific studies.
With global temperatures expected to rise another 2.5 degrees to 10.4 degrees F by 2100, ''future global warming is likely to exceed the ability of many species to migrate or adjust,'' the Pew Center said.
The Edith's Checkerspot butterfly has disappeared from many southern, low-elevation areas like Mexico, fleeing to colder Canadian climes, according to the report.
The red fox has also moved northward to clash with Arctic fox populations, in a trend spotted in many other birds, mammals, invertebrates and plants, it said.
''These responses may alter competition and predator-prey relationships and have other unforeseen consequences,'' it said.
Longer growing seasons for plants will also impact the Earth's ability to clean carbon dioxide from the air, the report said.
Alaska's tundra now emits more carbon dioxide than it absorbs because temperatures have risen by 4 degrees to 7 degrees F over the last 50 years, the report said.
Wildlife officials need to expand nature reserves and improve habitat conservation efforts to give species more flexibility to adjust to changing conditions, the report said.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Luck Plays a Role
The more we can accept ourselves, the more easily was can accept others.
Just checking in. These are clearly times of confusion. (There's an oxymoron for you, clear confusion.)
What are the keys to survival? Acceptance. Trust.
Just checking in. These are clearly times of confusion. (There's an oxymoron for you, clear confusion.)
Our democracy has coughed up another four years of the type of government that makes grown men cry. But I really never have figured out what Nader wants. Maybe he wants to be right. Maybe he wants the others to be wrong. Hmmm.. I think I'll guess and say he wants people to see "the big picture."
When one believes in God, even if disrespecting a man, e.g. Bush, still one can accept the results of a flawed election which is by a majority of the people. On the other hand, if one does not believe in God but believes in humanitarian principles, surely one is often disappointed by the flaws of man. Maybe that's where Nader is coming from. If so, that would explain why most people in America don't get Nader.What are the keys to survival? Acceptance. Trust.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
What Happiness is Made Of
At a time when the choices we face together, have never been more important...we'll be there. The promo for "By the People - Election 2004 coverage" by PBS. Something to remember about the election.
One is at one's best when exercising one's choice, and few things are as emblematic of that as exercising the right to vote. A number of people have told me in the last two days that they exercised that "franchise" for the first time this election.
We all feel the result of the positive turnout. Even though the "moral majority" of us who were voting for Kerry and opposed Bush's horrific policies do not think of it as a "positive result," we can make a choice how we feel about what did transpire and what will happen next.
None among us could, even if we wanted to, give up the good fight. And so, the debate (God save us from debate) always continues.
One is at one's best when exercising one's choice, and few things are as emblematic of that as exercising the right to vote. A number of people have told me in the last two days that they exercised that "franchise" for the first time this election.
We all feel the result of the positive turnout. Even though the "moral majority" of us who were voting for Kerry and opposed Bush's horrific policies do not think of it as a "positive result," we can make a choice how we feel about what did transpire and what will happen next.
None among us could, even if we wanted to, give up the good fight. And so, the debate (God save us from debate) always continues.
the cause of the rift
in high school we learned to factionalize, and that is primarily what is going on as people begin to move more fully into their individuation.
and if I may go out on a limb, I believe that the primary reason behind the "family values" rhetoric about the Bush re-election is the realization that the blue states have somewhat become accepting of gay people being visible, whereas the red states (Ohio being the fault line) just haven't crossed into that zone, of accepting gay people as people.
That's why I think this election came about as it did, not because people gave Bush any mandate.
But, I think that it is probable that he will be a more enlightened person in his second term, if only because that onus of the first (non)election is removed.
The great burden is now imposed on the liberal, or tolerant half of America, to continue to survive, despite the victory of the red people.
and if I may go out on a limb, I believe that the primary reason behind the "family values" rhetoric about the Bush re-election is the realization that the blue states have somewhat become accepting of gay people being visible, whereas the red states (Ohio being the fault line) just haven't crossed into that zone, of accepting gay people as people.
That's why I think this election came about as it did, not because people gave Bush any mandate.
But, I think that it is probable that he will be a more enlightened person in his second term, if only because that onus of the first (non)election is removed.
The great burden is now imposed on the liberal, or tolerant half of America, to continue to survive, despite the victory of the red people.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Victory for Yourself
It's an everyday thing in an everyday city. How often as you go about your city about your day do you notice yourself, doing what you are doing.
I believe that happens every day in every other city too. And so today in Ohio, in Nevada, in Indiana, in Florida, in New Mexico and California and in every other state, the election results have not affected much of anything, because after all nothing has changed.
Hopefully everything has changed and that people are celebrating the fact of having made a choice, if not a victory. We are all victorious in Christ, even if we are Democrats. Except that there also are Republicans who are not victorious in Christ. So ultimately the best we can do is to go about our day noticing ourselves, for that is a first step in forgiveness.
All thought exists across a continuum, so is it surprising or not surprising that populations are evenly split? Is the split a balance check?
I believe that happens every day in every other city too. And so today in Ohio, in Nevada, in Indiana, in Florida, in New Mexico and California and in every other state, the election results have not affected much of anything, because after all nothing has changed.
Hopefully everything has changed and that people are celebrating the fact of having made a choice, if not a victory. We are all victorious in Christ, even if we are Democrats. Except that there also are Republicans who are not victorious in Christ. So ultimately the best we can do is to go about our day noticing ourselves, for that is a first step in forgiveness.
All thought exists across a continuum, so is it surprising or not surprising that populations are evenly split? Is the split a balance check?
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Monday, November 01, 2004
11/1/2004 - Election Eve
America the Beautiful, Land of the Free Home of the Brave. How divided is the lay of the land of the free. Each of us in our own homes, almost in our own paradigm. And it's not good vs. evil, male vs. female, young vs. old, or blue vs. red. It's us in reflection of our own desires; us in reflection of our own choices. It's a new direction, a new age, and a new way of thinking about our relationship, man to man, woman to woman, and forward into the 21st century. For that's what this election is all about. PEACE ON EARTH
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Learning and Unlearning Emotional Pain
I don't think it's good parenting to ignore a little human when it is feeling the isolation and alienation that we humans feel when we are so young and helpless. I think it is probably a better practice to comfort the baby, especially by holding it close to our own body, as we continue to go about our work. The model I have in my mind as I write this is the peasant women of China working in the fields, giving birth, then taking the babe back out into the field while doing the work.
I believe that I was socialized as a baby to hold in my emotions. That's what my parents were trying to do, teach me that crying wouldn't get me any attention. What I wish is that instead of ignoring me, they had simply held me. I think it would have been a lot better for me to be ignored while being held.
I believe that I was socialized as a baby to hold in my emotions. That's what my parents were trying to do, teach me that crying wouldn't get me any attention. What I wish is that instead of ignoring me, they had simply held me. I think it would have been a lot better for me to be ignored while being held.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Murder is Serious Business
Some of us have a passing acquaintance with murder, and some of us have a direct experience with murder, for instance in relation to the victim, or as a witness, or the perpetrator, or maybe just someone who thinks about death as a way out of pain. One thing we know - the murder victim does not live to tell about the horror of the crime, and murder stories can evoke quite strong feelings and imagination.
In recent days we have seen televised reports of beheadings of innocent people who are not even of a culture where such a thing could be imagined to happen.
Causing the death of another can take many forms - negligence, accident, intentional, inadvertent, unintended, ignorance, involuntary participation, failure to assist, War or God.
Note the capitalization of the last two, no pun intended.
How does someone who has caused the death of another forgive themselves?
I personally knew two women who were murdered, both by serial murderers, one in Texas and one by Ted Bundy. And I know one man who was murdered, just a few days ago, and I don't know the circumstances. But there are plenty of people in America who know dozens of murder stories, including of their brother, their child, their grandfather.
It's worth a discussion.
Murder touches so many lives. Death touches every life.
In order to forgive self, we need to lay the groundwork to see who we are -- who each of us is.
See what I mean? It's not so simple, but we can still try to find answers.
One thing we can say for sure is that each of us is "one," of "us." Here's a good question: "who" is "us?"
In recent days we have seen televised reports of beheadings of innocent people who are not even of a culture where such a thing could be imagined to happen.
Causing the death of another can take many forms - negligence, accident, intentional, inadvertent, unintended, ignorance, involuntary participation, failure to assist, War or God.
Note the capitalization of the last two, no pun intended.
How does someone who has caused the death of another forgive themselves?
I personally knew two women who were murdered, both by serial murderers, one in Texas and one by Ted Bundy. And I know one man who was murdered, just a few days ago, and I don't know the circumstances. But there are plenty of people in America who know dozens of murder stories, including of their brother, their child, their grandfather.
It's worth a discussion.
Murder touches so many lives. Death touches every life.
In order to forgive self, we need to lay the groundwork to see who we are -- who each of us is.
See what I mean? It's not so simple, but we can still try to find answers.
One thing we can say for sure is that each of us is "one," of "us." Here's a good question: "who" is "us?"
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