From Shel Silverstein:
There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long.
"I feel that this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong."
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend,
Or wise man can decide
What's right for you -- just listen to
The Voice that speaks inside.
* * *
From Wolf Walker:
There is nobody external who can heal you,
change who you are or the things you've experienced.
It has to come from you..
You have to make that choice.
* * *
From Letty Cottin Pogrebin (in Getting Over Getting Older:)
We read books and consult experts, looking for answers 'out there,' …
before we discover … that meaning is made, not found,
in the CRUCIBLE OF ONE'S OWN WONDERING SOUL.
* * *
From JUNG:
You are your own best authority.
* * *
And a TOUCHSTONE developed from by Baptist heritage:
LEND A DEAF EAR
TO ANY PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS GURU
WHO TELLS YOU
WHAT YOU MUST BELIEVE.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Friday, March 15, 2019
WHAT HELPS YOU MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT?
What helps you make it through a very cold night?
Chances are, a very nice, warm comforter or QUILT!
But I am thinking about those times when we are caught up in the recognition that life is difficult and can be scary hard; what about those times when our demons are attacking us in the middle of the night with all those "what if" questions, trying to provoke an anxiety attack? Where do we turn for help?
For me, it is prayer … my spirituality, and that is why I refer to my spirituality as a "patchwork quilt."
My beliefs have changed over the years, and continue to do so; that is why the image of a patchwork quilt works for me. As parts of my spirituality become worn or no longer meaningful, I remove and add new patches as necessary according to what works for me.
A recent weekly e-mail from the Christian Century [3/07/19] contained a post from Barbara Brown Taylor taken from her new book, My Holy Envy of Other Faith Traditions. In teaching Religion 101 and researching world religions, she realized that the various teachings caught her attention (but) "finding these things attractive did not mean it was time...to start making a quilt of spiritual bits and pieces with no strong center."
Despite my high regard for Dr. Taylor, that is exactly what I have done, and will continue to do.
As she notes in this excerpt from her new book, "God created humans exactly the way we are, with freedom to choose good or evil." And then she adds, "No one can do our choosing for us."
No one can be responsible for my spirituality but me. I must decide what is true for me: what is BS and what resonates...what is true for me. That is the only reason that I remained associated with the Baptist tradition for so long, as the early Baptists insisted in the right of each individual to interpret their own conscience under God. Each of us has the RIGHT, and yes, the RESPONSIBILITY, to decide for ourselves in matters of faith and spirituality. Existentially, we actually have no other option for we must live our own life.
And for those religious professionals who insist that we cannot just pick and choose what we would believe, I would observe that in my experience with people, that is exactly what every one actually does.
Chances are, a very nice, warm comforter or QUILT!
But I am thinking about those times when we are caught up in the recognition that life is difficult and can be scary hard; what about those times when our demons are attacking us in the middle of the night with all those "what if" questions, trying to provoke an anxiety attack? Where do we turn for help?
For me, it is prayer … my spirituality, and that is why I refer to my spirituality as a "patchwork quilt."
My beliefs have changed over the years, and continue to do so; that is why the image of a patchwork quilt works for me. As parts of my spirituality become worn or no longer meaningful, I remove and add new patches as necessary according to what works for me.
A recent weekly e-mail from the Christian Century [3/07/19] contained a post from Barbara Brown Taylor taken from her new book, My Holy Envy of Other Faith Traditions. In teaching Religion 101 and researching world religions, she realized that the various teachings caught her attention (but) "finding these things attractive did not mean it was time...to start making a quilt of spiritual bits and pieces with no strong center."
Despite my high regard for Dr. Taylor, that is exactly what I have done, and will continue to do.
As she notes in this excerpt from her new book, "God created humans exactly the way we are, with freedom to choose good or evil." And then she adds, "No one can do our choosing for us."
No one can be responsible for my spirituality but me. I must decide what is true for me: what is BS and what resonates...what is true for me. That is the only reason that I remained associated with the Baptist tradition for so long, as the early Baptists insisted in the right of each individual to interpret their own conscience under God. Each of us has the RIGHT, and yes, the RESPONSIBILITY, to decide for ourselves in matters of faith and spirituality. Existentially, we actually have no other option for we must live our own life.
And for those religious professionals who insist that we cannot just pick and choose what we would believe, I would observe that in my experience with people, that is exactly what every one actually does.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
RECENT FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In doing research for a work in progress on aging, I discovered an interesting article on PBS.org entitled "Faith, Spirituality & Aging" - An Interview with Rev. Jennifer L. Brower. She is quoted as saying,
Some theological thinkers believe that God, called by so many different names, is found or created in the connection formed between two people who are engaged in the mutual enterprise of sharing from their deepest self and being open to the other person's deepest self -- what Martin Buber called an "I-Thou" relationship, or what is referred to in the term namaste, meaning "I bow to the divine within you." There, in that space, the holy is brought to life, and through that experience both people will be transformed.
In Unitarian Universalism, we believe that the holy is continually being revealed; that "revelation is not sealed." So until our very end, and maybe after, there is always the possibility of discerning something new about the transcendent and our connection to the Most High.
* * *
I found this to be a good reminder that when I am being congruent and conversing in an authentic manner with another, I am on "holy ground." And a good reason why my patchwork quilt spirituality will always be a work in progress.
Some theological thinkers believe that God, called by so many different names, is found or created in the connection formed between two people who are engaged in the mutual enterprise of sharing from their deepest self and being open to the other person's deepest self -- what Martin Buber called an "I-Thou" relationship, or what is referred to in the term namaste, meaning "I bow to the divine within you." There, in that space, the holy is brought to life, and through that experience both people will be transformed.
In Unitarian Universalism, we believe that the holy is continually being revealed; that "revelation is not sealed." So until our very end, and maybe after, there is always the possibility of discerning something new about the transcendent and our connection to the Most High.
* * *
I found this to be a good reminder that when I am being congruent and conversing in an authentic manner with another, I am on "holy ground." And a good reason why my patchwork quilt spirituality will always be a work in progress.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
SERENDIPITY
I found an interesting quote while perusing the current edition of Entertainment magazine this morning (FEB. 15/22, 2019 - p.77.) The article stated that the director of the movie Serendipity, Peter Chelson, during deliberations about the movie, picked up Julia Cameron's book Blessings and randomly opened it to page 61:
"Rather than insist on being the sole author of my life," it read, "I invite the collaborative forces of the universe. Synchronicity, coincidence, reinforcement, and serendipity."
The article noted that the quote persuaded him to make the movie.
And the article makes me wonder if these collaborative forces of the universe are not another way of describing G-D or the Creative Life Force (the term I like to use.)
"Rather than insist on being the sole author of my life," it read, "I invite the collaborative forces of the universe. Synchronicity, coincidence, reinforcement, and serendipity."
The article noted that the quote persuaded him to make the movie.
And the article makes me wonder if these collaborative forces of the universe are not another way of describing G-D or the Creative Life Force (the term I like to use.)
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
JEWISH VOICES TO CONSIDER AMONG THE PATCHWORK
Elie Wiesel writes in NIGHT that he found Moishe the Beadle, a master to help him with his study of
Kabbalah:
"He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer...
Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say. Therein lies true dialogue. Man asks and God replies. But we don't understand His replies. We cannot understand them. Because they dwell in the depths of our souls and remain there until we die. The real answers, Eliezer, you will find only with in yourself.
One evening...After a long silence, he said, There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth. Every human being has his own gate. He must not err and wish to enter the orchard through a gate other than his own."
[ NIGHT - translated by Marion Wiesel (c) 2006,Hill and Wang, p. 5]
The great scholar, Harold Bloom, shared his thoughts on belief in God in an interview printed in the October 2018 edition (p. 85) of ESQUIRE:
"My wife, Jeanne, is an admirable and honest atheist. I'm not an atheist. My attitude toward Yahweh is that I don't like him and I don't trust him and I wish he would go away. But I know he won't, because he's built into the language, as Nietzsche said. He's part of the way we think. As soon as you use a verb involving being, you're in trouble. When he identifies himself to Moses, he says, 'ehyeh asher ehyeh,' punning on his own name of Yahweh. It means something close to 'I will be what I will be.' Which in effect means 'I will be present whenever and wherever I choose to be present,' which has the horrible corollary 'And I will be absent wherever and whenever I choose to be absent.' And he--or whatever it is, she--has certainly been absent for a long time."
Kabbalah:
"He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer...
Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say. Therein lies true dialogue. Man asks and God replies. But we don't understand His replies. We cannot understand them. Because they dwell in the depths of our souls and remain there until we die. The real answers, Eliezer, you will find only with in yourself.
One evening...After a long silence, he said, There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth. Every human being has his own gate. He must not err and wish to enter the orchard through a gate other than his own."
[ NIGHT - translated by Marion Wiesel (c) 2006,Hill and Wang, p. 5]
The great scholar, Harold Bloom, shared his thoughts on belief in God in an interview printed in the October 2018 edition (p. 85) of ESQUIRE:
"My wife, Jeanne, is an admirable and honest atheist. I'm not an atheist. My attitude toward Yahweh is that I don't like him and I don't trust him and I wish he would go away. But I know he won't, because he's built into the language, as Nietzsche said. He's part of the way we think. As soon as you use a verb involving being, you're in trouble. When he identifies himself to Moses, he says, 'ehyeh asher ehyeh,' punning on his own name of Yahweh. It means something close to 'I will be what I will be.' Which in effect means 'I will be present whenever and wherever I choose to be present,' which has the horrible corollary 'And I will be absent wherever and whenever I choose to be absent.' And he--or whatever it is, she--has certainly been absent for a long time."
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR
Back when I was pastor of First Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, I posted the following on the front page of our newsletter, ( THE LINK, (No. 49, #1, dated January 7, 1993) written by Adolfo Quesada. I came across it again yesterday in a file of favorites, and it struck me anew:
Seek the treasure of your heart.
Seek God.
Seek God's face in every person you encounter.
Seek to understand God's complexity in the simplicity of a leaf.
Seek to embrace God's immenseness in the smallness of a hummingbird.
Seek God's joy in the sparkling eyes and spontaneous smile of a child.
Seek God's immeasurable love in the gentle touch of a caring friend.
Seek the presence of the loving Spirit.
Seek this in prayer.
And may we all pray and work for peace.
SHALOM!
Seek the treasure of your heart.
Seek God.
Seek God's face in every person you encounter.
Seek to understand God's complexity in the simplicity of a leaf.
Seek to embrace God's immenseness in the smallness of a hummingbird.
Seek God's joy in the sparkling eyes and spontaneous smile of a child.
Seek God's immeasurable love in the gentle touch of a caring friend.
Seek the presence of the loving Spirit.
Seek this in prayer.
And may we all pray and work for peace.
SHALOM!
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