The Sacred and Seafood

Wherever two people share a positive perspective seems sacred to me. Even going to the grocery store is a celebration of the sacred in the New Orleans area. Who knew that seafood could be sacred?

Nowhere else have I ever been asked what I'm making out of the jumbo shrimp that I'm purchasing at the seafood counter. "Are you making barbeque shrimp with those?" the very old gentleman with the small Band-aid on his face asked. "No, I'm trying to duplicate a dish I had at a restaurant a week ago. It was delicious; a jumbo shrimp with a piece of jalapeno, wrapped in bacon," I said."

"Look at these other shrimp. That's a good price. I might have to get a pound. Farm raised, hmmm..." he replied. "Yeah, in the United States," I observed. "How you make that again? Do you take out the shrimp vein and put in the jalapeno?" he asked. "Well you can do it that way," I agreed.

 "How do you get the bacon to cook without overcooking the shrimp," he asked."I guess you do it by broiling the shrimp or cooking them in a very hot oven. I've never done it, but I'm gonna give it a try," I said. "What restaurant was that?"  "A Mexican restaurant in Long Beach Mississippi," I answered."That sounds good," he said. Then we parted ways.

Where else would you get such spirited conversation over a pound of shrimp?

Slowly, Silently Spreading Seeds

While I do believe that all the mistakes and good things of previous generations continue to affect the succeeding  "five generations" (and more), I believe that Jesus was sent to show The Way of following The Word to those who did not know. I do NOT believe that babies are conceived with original sin. They are conceived with pure souls that can be nurtured or destroyed by conditions surrounding them, even while in the womb.

I believe that parents cannot pass the salvation of creation on to their children; they can only pass on their beliefs about the path to salvation. I believe that baptism, like circumcision, was meant as an outward sign of a person's commitment to The Way of The Word. The dedication of the parents and their community to bring the child up in The Way of The Word is a different issue. I believe that parents cannot dedicate their children to being people of The Way; they can only dedicate themselves to setting the example, and enter community that they know to be true to following The Way.

I believe that many religions have co-opted the pagan belief that there are "shamans" or "priests" who have the power (that, according to these religious beliefs, we each lack) to intercede for us between ourselves and The Divine. Rituals performed by priests and other church leaders are not the same as religion, even though they are a bonding experience for the faithful. I believe that parents are the bridge to The Divine and have a Divine responsibility to bring children up in The Way they should go. The child, upon reaching the age of reason (which is different for each person), can decide whether he or she is willing to commit to following The Way.

I know that Peter was an apostle chosen by Jesus to be a leader in The Way of The Word, but we have only the word of Paul and the Roman Church that what Paul said was from God. I know that Peter was a bit of a verbal bumbler, and that Paul was an eloquent marketer for whatever he was promoting. I know that the leadership of Christianity was argued over by Paul and Peter. I know that Peter's way was the following of the core of Jewish law, as well as Jesus' example, and that Paul promoted a path without the Jewish laws governing peace with our neighbors. Peter was appointed by Jesus to head the Christian church, but Paul was a better politician and poet, whose way prevailed.

I know that the Christian Church was not only spread in Rome, but in many sees. I know that, in the fourth century,  the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church "sold" the soul of Christianity to Constantine by agreeing to let Constantine "convert" "pagans" by threatening them with death if they did not swear allegiance to the church. I know that most western "Christian" churches are based on these corruptions of the Roman Catholic (Christian) Church.I believe it is time to take the church back to its beginnings before Paul proclaimed himself an apostle.

I believe that Jesus, by his example, showed us The True Light in The Holy Spirit, and that this Light, while hidden for many years under the terrible weight of the political system that is Christendom, has been once more found by those who spread The Light through their examples of love and compassion, as well as obedience to the laws that have been handed down from generation to generation on how to love The Almighty BY loving others (even when that means sacrificing of oneself in life and, if necessary, in death).

I do NOT believe that there was a God-given demand that anyone die for our sins. I believe that we are all asked to die to sin and the we have a messiah to show us how to live The Word, even unto death. I know that often death is demanded in order to punctuate how much a messiah cares. I believe that the emphasis on the suffering of Jesus' last days on earth instead of what it must have been like to the very human (while he walked the earth) Jesus to live without sin, on this same earth that so tempts us, is a bow to the pagan portrayal of gods having sacrificial blood-lust.

Political systems promote their beliefs with rhetoric and sensationalism that woos the masses; true Judeo-Christianity spreads The Way through slowly, silently sprouting seeds, one soul to another.

This is my belief; I could be wrong.

Encountering the Almighty

This man of righteousness had so much to give;
Is there anything left to say about this life well-lived?
We will gather to pay homage  and comfort his wife
The mate of his soul, in which he took great delight.

His daughters, too, who carry him in their hearts;
May the pain of their loss not drive them apart.
The grandchildren live the values that he supported;
On their hearts and souls his way is recorded.

And all that he encountered, man, woman and child,
Is better for having known him for even a short while.
A man with such a steady, strong light
Surely has a place on The Almighty's right.

Looking for Light

I like to imagine that all of us are like the points of light
That we see in the sky in the dark of night.
And just like the stars when they seemingly go out,
Their light lasts a century, or there about.

Stars burn the brightest before they transform,
But living forever seems to be their norm.
Some become black holes of negative energy;
I hope that's not the fate waiting for me.

I believe that we can choose, and I hope it's true,
Which category of stars we will belong to.
If we keep looking to share Light wherever we're placed,
I think our negative energy will, at "death," be erased.

Wouldn't It Be Wonderful?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we wrote our best friends' eulogies
While they could still hear "what you meant to me"?
I don't want to wait until my friends are in the ground,
And our love for each other will make no joyful sound.

I am quite sure that I will die with a less heavy heart
If my gratitude for my friends is, their souls, a part.
I will also die with sadness for the loves I had and lost;
My need to save my earthly heart exacted a terrible cost.

But I hope that in Eternity we will see each other and smile
Because our love was something good, if only for a while.
I long for the day that I will, once more, feel as one
With all of Creation's daughters and sons.

When Johnny Went Marching Home

How did our "Judeo-Christian" American society get to the place where the widow of a World War II veteran who spent her life teaching young people not only how to read and write, but how to behave in a civil manner, is threatened with losing her home of over fifty years because she doesn't have the money for a new roof?

Her husband not only served his country in the US Navy, and met his future bride at a USO dance, he and she served as officers of the VFW for several decades, traveling all over the country to make sure that we never forget the men and women who sacrificed everything for our freedoms. Their only son spent his life as a military nurse, saving countless lives to continue in the service of OUR country. He died of cancer several years before his father, leaving a sister who is also a nurse the full responsibility of her aged parents' care. She cannot leave her work to care for her mother, and her mother only has the memories that surround her in the home she and her Johnny shared, now that her Johnny has gone marching HOME.

She continues to serve in the VFW and loves the city of New Orleans and Louisiana so much that she continues to travel to the French Quarter to tell everyone who stops into the Tourist and Commission office on Jackson Square about the many blessings of being a native New Orleanian. We should be naming her the patron saint of Yats, but instead, she is worrying about how she's going to keep a roof over her head. Really?! Is this the best we can do?

When Will We Take Responsibility?

We are created in the image of The Eternal Light;
This earth can either destroy it or give it flight
It is the responsibility of the parents of each child
To protect and nurture this light for a very long while.

Why else are our little offspring, for so long, so weak
That they still from their parents, shelter seek?
There is so much to be learned about nursing this fire
And protecting it from others' selfish desires.

Where did it really come from, this idea of original sin
That any babies born of the desires of the flesh would not be, to heaven, let in?
While it is true that the urge to procreate is the strongest in all creation,
Our Highest Power included in the act,  brings it to a sacred station.

When we don't honor the Eternal Good that lives inside us, as a soul,
We eventually destroy the Sacred Light, and we cannot be whole.
Those who are born to souls that are dead have much trouble finding the light,
Even though being a child of The Light should be each child's birthright.

We attempt incantations and rituals to wash away our responsibility
To behave in a way that will nurture the child to be all that it can be.
We pretend that our priests have power to wash our sins from our souls;
I believe it is in the parents' shared light that the child will reach its Eternal goal.

The Christ doesn't mean "Jesus," though for many this is the case;
The Word refers to the Infinite Power welcoming back the human race.
Until we are willing to live by, and raise our children, in The Word
All the public proclamations of salvation will not, by their souls, be heard.


When will we stop looking outward for the answers that dwell
Inside our innocent newborn selves?
When will we believe the The Power is within each of u?
It's for each of us to claim our own soul's inclusion in The Just.

This road is not easy, but if we hold tightly to our beliefs,
Our light will find others and The Grace will increase.
There will come a time when the whole world will shine so bright
That there will be only Holy Days and Holy Nights.

How many more Messiahs will it take
Before we, our arrogance, are willing to forsake?
When will we take personal responsibility
For bringing this world back to Unity?