Evil Incarnate

My niece's social worker called me today. I was not available to answer her call, but I assume it was made because me niece has, once again, checked herself into a mental institution to escape the consequences of her abhorrent actions. My deceased little sister, who fought me and our mother for matriarchal influence over our family, did much the same thing whenever she was in trouble with her support sources.

I have cut off all ties with most of my siblings, as I did with my mother when I was fourteen years old. I struggle daily to retain my sanity in a world where we are asked to believe in opposing truths simultaneously. My family seems to like to live in the abyss that our pseudo-spiritual, religious society creates, pretending that they don't experience the cognitive dissonance.

Our culture is afraid of evil intent, so we have now labeled all evil as mental illness. The question we're not asking ourselves is, "Which came first, the evil intent or the illness of the mind?" I, my siblings, and their children were brought up by a woman who believed that even thoughts had to be purified by punishment. When the judge, jury, and executioner, all in one mother figure, sought to become more humane, she decided that all evil in her charges was the work of demons that could be exorcised by her holiness and that of her priests.

In attempting to explain the explainable, we have created even greater evil than that which already existed in humanity. We often speak of Adolph Hitler as the greatest example of human evil in our time. The social work system would have us believe that Hitler only acted evil because of his low self esteem. Where did we lose the idea and acceptance that the greatest evil is too much esteem of oneself?

There is certainly more evil done in our society by those who set up themselves, or are set up by others as gods, than there has ever been done by those who feel inferior.

Pentecost Prayer Day 43

Often the choice is between peace and our perceptions, what we like to see as universal truth.
The scriptures are read with different translations and eyes that see through varying lenses.
Does one's child see the world through the parents' eyes, or through eyes that are unique?
We must accept the same of people seeking The Divine, and gifted with many manifestations.

Where one may find a path to inner peace in one passage of one "prophet's" perception,
Another may find nothing but fear in the way life's lessons are described by their priests.
Seeking The Sacred Spirit's truth of existence has reigned as long as has humankind;
We must not discount anyone's vision of the path to earthly peace and harmony.

Because you may not experience broccoli as a delicious addition to your dinner,
Doesn't make one who experiences it as nectar of the gods an infidel.
It is true that all nature is stressed by change introduced too quickly,
But we've had thousands of years of killing only leading to more of the same.

Our children in public United States education are being exposed to multi-cultures,
The foods, the friends, the families, and the faiths of their many co-classmates.
I'm sad for those who are sequestered from what public education has to offer;
They receive no inoculations to be strengthened in their families' faiths.

Unless a child is given a strong refresher in example at home and community,
In every encounter with one's family of responsible compassionate authority,
There is little chance that the child will grow true to his or her family's core values,
No matter what fear of reprisal may be threatened by family and tenants of their faiths.

What are the core shared values of those seeking The Sacred Spirit?
How do we educate ourselves and others without resorting to a focus on fear?
My prayer for Pentecost is that we open our eyes and ears to the small children,
Who will suckle from anyone who nourishes their  innocently sacred bodies and souls.

Pentecost Prayer Day 42

At the end of life we get greedy to create better memories of each other,
But in the process we are often robbing our sisters and brothers.
Unless we are using the extra time to bond our spiritual selves,
We are only killing The Sacred Spirit that continues to indwell.

Why preserve a body that has long ago ceased to give
The positive energy on which our universe continues to live?
Why can we not accept that all energy has a cycle of life?
Knowing that all energy is eternal should, for us, suffice.

The day that I am sure that I'm no longer able to give,
This is the day I want my body to cease to live.
Energy that could be put to keeping me breathing
May be the energy that keeps another from conceiving.

My life has many times felt it's run its assigned course;
I have only come to new life after years of remorse.
Whenever it is time for me to breath my body's last,
I hope the positive is that to which my family holds fast.

My prayer for Pentecost is that we begin to accept physical birth and death as simply transformations of life and The Sacred Spirit.

Pentecost Prayer Day 41

Pain as punishment has made us afraid to hold each other as we suffer and die, as if the bad karma is contagious. This idea that we, or someone we were born through, acted in ways that deserved the purging that only pain can produce has made us turn away from each other in an attempt to bar the evil humors from our own physical forms and Sacred Spirits.

How often we are given medicine in an attempt to release us from the pain that only the warmth of another's physical being can impart to us. It is my experience that the only way to save the souls of ourselves and of others is to bond with them in their joys and their sorrows, sharing on a level of The Sacred Spirit. How much more beautiful it may be for those dying on the battlefields to be asked whether they want to be put back together like broken dolls or whether they would prefer to be held as their bodies release The Sacred Spirit to simply float home to the hearts and souls of others.

The message often seems to be, "Hurry and heal because your pain makes me nervous," rather than, "Come, let me hold you and absorb your pain as long as you need me to be your balm." It is not only morphine that releases endorphins enough to take us away to a state of spiritual connection with "The Sacred Spirit" of the whole universe. The physical manifestations of love also have this ability.

My prayer for Pentecost is that we open ourselves to the celebration of sharing life up until the very end, when we may be fortunate enough to absorb some of The Sacred Spirit of those with whom we have shared the celebration.

Pentecost Prayer Day 40

Good big brothers and sisters don't ridicule, torture and reject siblings who are slower in ares than are they. Good older siblings are taught to admit their own strengths and weaknesses and share abilities with the whole family. It is true that there is often fear and resentment of the new addition, but when responsible compassion is the way of a family, this is soon overcome by the sense of belonging to a safe society. The ways of the newcomer don't threaten the ways that are firmly established in a fruitful family; they actually enhance it.

In many poorly functioning families, the adults regress to earlier states of childhood rather than stand firm in their own values. I suspect this is because the family hasn't set a clear mission or vision, much less a plan for the accomplishment of such. All are drowning together, but nobody has courage enough to step out and learn to lead.

This is how I feel about multiculturalism and the United States of America. We have a stated vision and mission, and we have a constitution that is supposed to keep us on the path to justice on earth for all. We continue to allow rules of religions to contaminate our constitutional rules. When we stand firm in our commitment to the constitution without fear of failure because of one segment of society or another, we will become a true constitutional democracy.

America has already suffered through the same infancy of self absorption that so many other countries are just experiencing. We must stand firm in our separation of church and state, which will ultimately strengthen both because we have intimately examined each of them. I see our country's challenge as being the good big brothers and sisters to the emerging adults, no matter how early on they are in their growth.

We do have to be careful not to backslide in our own progress toward our fully human, responsibly compassionate goal as we continue to walk the walk of our values. My prayer for Pentecost is that we stop being afraid, and beginning being in awe, of the challenges that accompany change.

Motivational Mothers

In honor of Mothers' Day, I'd like to thankfully
Acknowledge all the women of wit and wisdom
Who have helped me to form my impressions of me.

I had a sister, long deceased, who thought me magic,
And one who thought me to be a funny clown,
Also a younger sister whose wiles I could never lick.

My baby sister, who I thought was a bore,
And who later was called much like me,
As well as the aunts whose humor I adored.

I had teachers who honored my many gifts,
And accomplished women who craved my light,
Some with whom jealousy has since caused a rift.

It hasn't been easy for we women with new freedoms
To find a common set of values for our homes.
Faults seen by many were honored as courage by some.

Women must mother each other in our efforts to succeed;
This is the only way we can survive physical force.
We must fight the fear of comparisons that lead to greed.

As a mother who sees her deformed child's face
Through eyes that color all with her compassion,
We must see other's struggles as those of all the human race.

This is not to say that we should support those who use
Their weaknesses as ways to manipulate others.
These manipulators lead themselves and others to abuse.

A strong woman leads through compassionate example;
Motivation seeks good for all concerned in the effort.
Observation leads to discerning how gifts are channeled.

We must give up territorial marking in order to live
As a universal community of The Sacred Spirit.
Mothers have a history of balancing all a family has to give.

Pentecost Prayer Day 39

It is very difficult for me to actually accomplish the missions on which I set out. I use so much energy in the visualization of reaching the goal, and so much more energy explaining to others where I'm going in ways that may entice them to accompany me, that I'm often exhausted before we even set out on our adventures. The bad part for me is that I've gotten others so excited about getting where we're going that they then proceed without me, and I feel abandoned, as do they.

I am trying to tone down my enthusiasm, but I'm always afraid that we will stay stuck if I don't lead the charge to promised territory, or even worse, we'll backslide to the perceived safety of earlier influences. My experiment for Pentecost is to simply lay out my vision and see if anyone can see what I see so clearly. Surely others are leading the way in which I can simply proceed along with them on their path of delight and discovery.

My prayer for Pentecost is that my dream comes true.