This is exactly how I feel about my modest readership...
http://i.imgur.com/qnADUD2.jpg
Find something to laugh about today. It will do you good.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
People Don't Learn
I suppose that is why I have come across another "elder" that I hadn't heard of before. First Louie Zamperini and now Alice Herz Sommer. Both defined to a large extent by their World War II experiences. I wonder if her "everything is a present," (Gift) adds gravitas to the theme of this website? Or do we hear the words, think "how nice," and promptly forget them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5VTkQKgxkY
I am going to include another link below. It is a 21 Day Gratitude Challenge. It starts tomorrow. Might be time to stop reading and start doing. Of course, that implies you actually want to learn something. And we all know how Alice feels about that.
http://www.kindspring.org/21day/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5VTkQKgxkY
I am going to include another link below. It is a 21 Day Gratitude Challenge. It starts tomorrow. Might be time to stop reading and start doing. Of course, that implies you actually want to learn something. And we all know how Alice feels about that.
http://www.kindspring.org/21day/
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
ENLIGHTENMENT
A story told in pictures...
http://500px.com/photo/45553024
(may take a heartbeat or two for full image to load)
http://500px.com/photo/45553024
(may take a heartbeat or two for full image to load)
Monday, November 4, 2013
Epilogue
I feel like sharing some supplemental information with you. Here is an overview of Louie Zamperini and the book "Unbroken."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xax7l-bDJKg
To the larger point of today's post, I am going to provide context by sharing excerpts from page 166 of the book. This, so you have a better understanding of the paragraph from page 374.
_________________________________________________________________________________
One morning, (between day 35 and 40--the book is not specific) they woke to a strange stillness. The rise and fall of the raft had ceased, and it sat virtually motionless. There was no wind. The ocean stretched out in all directions in glossy smoothness, regarding the sky and reflecting its image in crystalline perfection. Like the ancient mariner, Louie and Phil had found the doldrums, the eerie pause of wind and water that lingers around the equator.
It was an experience of transcendence.
For a while they spoke, sharing their wonder. Then they fell into reverent silence. Their suffering was suspended. They weren't hungry or thirsty. They were unaware of the approach of death.
_________________________________________________________________________________
He remembered the day when he and Phil, slowly dying on the raft, had slid into the doldrums. Above the sky had been a swirl of light; below, the stilled ocean had mirrored the sky, its clarity broken only by a leaping fish. Awed to silence, forgetting his thirst and hunger, forgetting he was dying, Louie had known only GRATITUDE. That day, he had believed that what lay around them was the work of infinitely broad, benevolent hands, a GIFT of compassion. In the years since, that thought had been lost.
_________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xax7l-bDJKg
To the larger point of today's post, I am going to provide context by sharing excerpts from page 166 of the book. This, so you have a better understanding of the paragraph from page 374.
_________________________________________________________________________________
One morning, (between day 35 and 40--the book is not specific) they woke to a strange stillness. The rise and fall of the raft had ceased, and it sat virtually motionless. There was no wind. The ocean stretched out in all directions in glossy smoothness, regarding the sky and reflecting its image in crystalline perfection. Like the ancient mariner, Louie and Phil had found the doldrums, the eerie pause of wind and water that lingers around the equator.
It was an experience of transcendence.
For a while they spoke, sharing their wonder. Then they fell into reverent silence. Their suffering was suspended. They weren't hungry or thirsty. They were unaware of the approach of death.
_________________________________________________________________________________
He remembered the day when he and Phil, slowly dying on the raft, had slid into the doldrums. Above the sky had been a swirl of light; below, the stilled ocean had mirrored the sky, its clarity broken only by a leaping fish. Awed to silence, forgetting his thirst and hunger, forgetting he was dying, Louie had known only GRATITUDE. That day, he had believed that what lay around them was the work of infinitely broad, benevolent hands, a GIFT of compassion. In the years since, that thought had been lost.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Culmination
Since October 24th with the post "Handle With Care," an unmistakable influence has been at work on this blog. It culminated today when I happened across this link...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/olivet-middle-school-football-play_n_4182924.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
I know--the commercial is a pain. And, except for the age involved, (middle school kids) it isn't all that novel. I've seen similar celebrations of the spirit at the college and high school level. No, what makes this particular incident so remarkable is Justice Miller. Hang on to the end of the video and watch Justice.
The authenticity of his emotion is what is relevant. I said in Handle With Care that the "truly astounding occurrence is that you, like the wasteland, are redefined in the process." I don't want this lost on you. I am not suggesting Keith Orr was a "wasteland." Only that he could be PERCEIVED as such. (see; Alonzo and Shane) No, the metaphor is how quickly people dismiss certain segments of our society. Retard. Fatty. Loser. Fag. Slut. And by doing so, the Gift is missed. Justice Miller saw the gift and was transformed. His me became a we and an aspect of God was revealed. The kid that was never "cool" or "popular" taught Justice that. What has Justice taught you?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/olivet-middle-school-football-play_n_4182924.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
I know--the commercial is a pain. And, except for the age involved, (middle school kids) it isn't all that novel. I've seen similar celebrations of the spirit at the college and high school level. No, what makes this particular incident so remarkable is Justice Miller. Hang on to the end of the video and watch Justice.
The authenticity of his emotion is what is relevant. I said in Handle With Care that the "truly astounding occurrence is that you, like the wasteland, are redefined in the process." I don't want this lost on you. I am not suggesting Keith Orr was a "wasteland." Only that he could be PERCEIVED as such. (see; Alonzo and Shane) No, the metaphor is how quickly people dismiss certain segments of our society. Retard. Fatty. Loser. Fag. Slut. And by doing so, the Gift is missed. Justice Miller saw the gift and was transformed. His me became a we and an aspect of God was revealed. The kid that was never "cool" or "popular" taught Justice that. What has Justice taught you?
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Unbroken
The following is an excerpt from the book, "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.
The crash of the Green Hornet (B-24 Liberator) had left Louie (Zamperini) and Phil (Russell A. Phillips) in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water, or shelter. (they had endured 47 days on a raft after their plane crashed in the Pacific) But on Kwajalein, (nicknamed Execution Island) the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: DIGNITY. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subject to dehumanizing treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased.
...On Kwajalein, Louie and Phil learned a dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler's death camps, the slaves of the American South, and a hundred other generations of betrayed people. Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty.
I ask that you examine your behavior when it comes to the homeless, a man like Alonzo, or a teen like Shane. I believe this weeks message is abundantly clear; we do not honor our fellow man when we look past or through them. Ignoring them, or worse labeling them, leads to dehumanizing them. If labels like "loser" or "worthless" pop into your mind when seeing certain elements of society, know you have "missed the mark." You look with eyes that do not see.
I ask that you give them what we all have to give. A smile. A wink. A nod of acknowledgement. I ask you give them what they may have misplaced...their dignity.
The crash of the Green Hornet (B-24 Liberator) had left Louie (Zamperini) and Phil (Russell A. Phillips) in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water, or shelter. (they had endured 47 days on a raft after their plane crashed in the Pacific) But on Kwajalein, (nicknamed Execution Island) the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: DIGNITY. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subject to dehumanizing treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased.
...On Kwajalein, Louie and Phil learned a dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler's death camps, the slaves of the American South, and a hundred other generations of betrayed people. Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty.
I ask that you examine your behavior when it comes to the homeless, a man like Alonzo, or a teen like Shane. I believe this weeks message is abundantly clear; we do not honor our fellow man when we look past or through them. Ignoring them, or worse labeling them, leads to dehumanizing them. If labels like "loser" or "worthless" pop into your mind when seeing certain elements of society, know you have "missed the mark." You look with eyes that do not see.
I ask that you give them what we all have to give. A smile. A wink. A nod of acknowledgement. I ask you give them what they may have misplaced...their dignity.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Laus Deo
Latin for "praise God." Poses a dilemma for me. How do I praise what I am so uncertain about? Not that "It" doesn't exist in some form or other, just that "It" goes so far beyond my understanding. What do I make of this suggestion? How do I go about praising God?
Admitting to pure speculation, what other way than expressing my appreciation for the life I live and the world around me? I always fall back on experience to guide me. As such, what is it that I want, need or feel, when someone "praises" me? What I feel is: 1) support 2) validation 3) appreciation 4) concern 5) warmth 6) a "connection."
And it is # 6 that seems operative in this particular case. When I "laus Deo," I am establishing a connection with Life itself. And as I've expressed elsewhere, Life and God are synonymous for me. Where else and how else am I to experience God if not through living? Be-ing? If that is the case (which it most certainly is for me) then how I would "praise God" would be through my thought, word and deeds. Do they reflect what I aspire to? What I want "me" to be?
Example: Do you wish to be a friend, partner or spouse that is honest? Trusted? Reliable? I think all would say as much. If we step away from those qualities and act in a fashion that contradicts them, what do we feel? How do we act? If our self-image is at odds with our actions, discord follows. We wrestle with reality. (Life) We exert tremendous effort supporting a perception that is at odds with what we think, say and do. And down deep we know it.
So, in the end, my ability to praise God seems to be how well I am able to authentically express myself. A validation of sorts comes from the Greek definition for the word sin (hamartia) used in the New Testament: "to miss the mark." (target) In Hebrew sin (chatta'ah) is to "miss the way." (although there are other variations with different meanings; pesha, avon, etc.) When we are less than we can be, less than we had hoped for, we have missed the mark. Conversely, when we manifest who we truly are and what we long to be, we have "hit the bulls-eye." For some reason, that's all the praise I think the Creator needs.
Admitting to pure speculation, what other way than expressing my appreciation for the life I live and the world around me? I always fall back on experience to guide me. As such, what is it that I want, need or feel, when someone "praises" me? What I feel is: 1) support 2) validation 3) appreciation 4) concern 5) warmth 6) a "connection."
And it is # 6 that seems operative in this particular case. When I "laus Deo," I am establishing a connection with Life itself. And as I've expressed elsewhere, Life and God are synonymous for me. Where else and how else am I to experience God if not through living? Be-ing? If that is the case (which it most certainly is for me) then how I would "praise God" would be through my thought, word and deeds. Do they reflect what I aspire to? What I want "me" to be?
Example: Do you wish to be a friend, partner or spouse that is honest? Trusted? Reliable? I think all would say as much. If we step away from those qualities and act in a fashion that contradicts them, what do we feel? How do we act? If our self-image is at odds with our actions, discord follows. We wrestle with reality. (Life) We exert tremendous effort supporting a perception that is at odds with what we think, say and do. And down deep we know it.
So, in the end, my ability to praise God seems to be how well I am able to authentically express myself. A validation of sorts comes from the Greek definition for the word sin (hamartia) used in the New Testament: "to miss the mark." (target) In Hebrew sin (chatta'ah) is to "miss the way." (although there are other variations with different meanings; pesha, avon, etc.) When we are less than we can be, less than we had hoped for, we have missed the mark. Conversely, when we manifest who we truly are and what we long to be, we have "hit the bulls-eye." For some reason, that's all the praise I think the Creator needs.
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