Is the psyche the same as the soul, or is the soul something else all together? That little spark of "something special" that makes us human...where in us does it live? It cannot be in the heart, as my Richard's love for me changed not one whit when he had a heart transplant.
We used to believe that all sin was caused by wickedness passed down from parents to progeny, but we now look for causes that can be cured. The terrible temper that I feared in my father is part of my parenting pattern. I try mightily to overcome it, and often have to simply go to sleep or walk away. Now, I find that perhaps my moods are correctable parts of my consciousness. So, if this consciousness is in my brain, is my brain the seat of my soul?
There are events and people who infect the soul, leaving it with pits of pain. A core of calm is where Love lives, and the only thing that will protect us from plummeting into the pits of our pain. It is also the only place where we will be sure to have people patiently waiting to pull us out of the pit. With enough peace, will our psyches (souls?) eventually heal?
And how do we keep ourselves from being re-infected while we are loving our enemies?
LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
(Jill Jackson / Mark Miller) - circa 1955
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With Love as our Creator
Siblings all are we.
Let me walk with my all others
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.
(child)
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With Love as our Creator
Siblings all are we.
Let me walk with all others
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Jesus Was a Joyful Jew
Jesus followed the law, and was a joyful Jew.
He walked this walk because he knew
That these laws weren't meant for just the chosen few.
He was privy to the knowledge of the ages;
He had probably studied with many great sages,
And of the world's scriptures, he knew all the pages.
He knew that we were meant to live in peace,
Every part of creation, rock, man, and beast
And that the image of The Almighty is clearest in the least.
Every bit of creation holds a bit of The Light.
That fills all the universe with pure delight
Until others convince us that their might makes them right.
Instead of celebrating pure joy, we pursue pleasure and pain;
Fearfully, we wait for The Light to come again.
But our connection to The Almighty already is like the rain.
The Light permeates our souls, our bodies, and our minds.
Those who turn away, choose to be left behind
Because they prefer earthly pleasures to The Joy of The Divine.
The path of The Light is an unbroken loop.
By the blessings of Love we are given the fruit
Of Wisdom which makes names for The Almighty moot.
We are not The Light, but The Light is in us;
The Light does not suffer from jealousy and lust;
We reclaim The Joy as we reclaim our childlike trust.
He walked this walk because he knew
That these laws weren't meant for just the chosen few.
He was privy to the knowledge of the ages;
He had probably studied with many great sages,
And of the world's scriptures, he knew all the pages.
He knew that we were meant to live in peace,
Every part of creation, rock, man, and beast
And that the image of The Almighty is clearest in the least.
Every bit of creation holds a bit of The Light.
That fills all the universe with pure delight
Until others convince us that their might makes them right.
Instead of celebrating pure joy, we pursue pleasure and pain;
Fearfully, we wait for The Light to come again.
But our connection to The Almighty already is like the rain.
The Light permeates our souls, our bodies, and our minds.
Those who turn away, choose to be left behind
Because they prefer earthly pleasures to The Joy of The Divine.
The path of The Light is an unbroken loop.
By the blessings of Love we are given the fruit
Of Wisdom which makes names for The Almighty moot.
We are not The Light, but The Light is in us;
The Light does not suffer from jealousy and lust;
We reclaim The Joy as we reclaim our childlike trust.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Awakening to Awe
I wish that I could understand
Every language of every nation.
Maybe then I would have
The complete story of creation.
We have sought the sacred
Since creation had the gift of thought
We have always been in abject awe
Of all that has been wrought.
We tend to get confused by
Awe, and turn it to fear,
Fracturing the bonds that
We should hold most dear.
Awe opens our hearts and souls;
Fear shuts our spirits down.
Let us reawaken ourselves to
Embracing the profound.
Every language of every nation.
Maybe then I would have
The complete story of creation.
We have sought the sacred
Since creation had the gift of thought
We have always been in abject awe
Of all that has been wrought.
We tend to get confused by
Awe, and turn it to fear,
Fracturing the bonds that
We should hold most dear.
Awe opens our hearts and souls;
Fear shuts our spirits down.
Let us reawaken ourselves to
Embracing the profound.
Light, Love, and Life
I see the soul as a glimmer of The Light that begins as soon as the new life is loved. I believe that all love is a part of The Almighty, and that we are all linked to The Light as long as we are loved. I believe that our challenge is to make sure that all humans receive love (which entails earthly responsibility) so that their Soul-Lights will grow and be able to multiply and connect with the other love energy in creation.
I believe that wherever there is love, there is The Light still connected to The Source of All Life and Love. Love connects us eternally to each other and to The Light. By giving of ourselves in love, we can create an aura of peace on earth as it was in the beginning, and it is in the hereafter.
Unless there is love-in-action, there is no life worth living. Many who conceive don't feel the presence of a love community in their lives. Many are conceived where there is no love even in the act of procreation. From where will the everyday acts of love come without a caring community?
I believe that wherever there is love, there is The Light still connected to The Source of All Life and Love. Love connects us eternally to each other and to The Light. By giving of ourselves in love, we can create an aura of peace on earth as it was in the beginning, and it is in the hereafter.
Unless there is love-in-action, there is no life worth living. Many who conceive don't feel the presence of a love community in their lives. Many are conceived where there is no love even in the act of procreation. From where will the everyday acts of love come without a caring community?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Pleasure, Pain, and Peace
How are we to know when we are saints and when we are sinners in the lives of others? Is there any way other than to take the "temperature" of our interactions and ascertain whether our presence brings pain or peace?
I used to think that I was put on earth to bring people pleasure. I worked very hard at this, even becoming a caterer; thereby turning my natural tendency into a way to support my family. Then I became a publicist, raising funds for non-profit organizations by combining glowing words with party planning to promote various charitable causes.
I used these same devices to develop relationships, always attempting to soothe savage souls by conquering them with kindness and catering to their desires. I have come to realize that sometimes pleasure is the antithesis of peace. I have been an enabler, and I now have to deal with the monsters of my own making.
When we take off our old skins, we must accept that many will attempt to lay them back on our shoulders. Because they had learned to live with us in our old selves, our new skins cause many to itch. The pain of purging our souls can be scary, so we need hands to hold and people to protect us while we grow out of our old skins and into the new. How tightly we have to hold onto the new skins, and to those who support our growth, until the new become permanent parts of us!
When we are so busy filling ourselves and each other with pleasure and avoidance of pain, there's no room for The Light to grow. I cling to the belief that even the darkest night of the soul contains at least a flicker of The Light. When we open enough space in our souls, this Light will grow to fill the empty spaces. But how do we deal with the demons that dive into the void? We can't help fight each others personal demons unless we are invited in.
Sometimes it seems that the only way to honor a person or a relationship is to walk away and wait. If my very presence is a cause of anger and agitation to someone's soul, is it not better that I take my leave rather than to continue bringing about discord? Or, is the discord necessary to get to a better place, a place that may have less pleasure, but more peace?
I used to think that I was put on earth to bring people pleasure. I worked very hard at this, even becoming a caterer; thereby turning my natural tendency into a way to support my family. Then I became a publicist, raising funds for non-profit organizations by combining glowing words with party planning to promote various charitable causes.
I used these same devices to develop relationships, always attempting to soothe savage souls by conquering them with kindness and catering to their desires. I have come to realize that sometimes pleasure is the antithesis of peace. I have been an enabler, and I now have to deal with the monsters of my own making.
When we take off our old skins, we must accept that many will attempt to lay them back on our shoulders. Because they had learned to live with us in our old selves, our new skins cause many to itch. The pain of purging our souls can be scary, so we need hands to hold and people to protect us while we grow out of our old skins and into the new. How tightly we have to hold onto the new skins, and to those who support our growth, until the new become permanent parts of us!
When we are so busy filling ourselves and each other with pleasure and avoidance of pain, there's no room for The Light to grow. I cling to the belief that even the darkest night of the soul contains at least a flicker of The Light. When we open enough space in our souls, this Light will grow to fill the empty spaces. But how do we deal with the demons that dive into the void? We can't help fight each others personal demons unless we are invited in.
Sometimes it seems that the only way to honor a person or a relationship is to walk away and wait. If my very presence is a cause of anger and agitation to someone's soul, is it not better that I take my leave rather than to continue bringing about discord? Or, is the discord necessary to get to a better place, a place that may have less pleasure, but more peace?
Monday, March 21, 2011
The All Enveloping Light
Throughout my life, I've been told that there are certain people who have been declared to be saints. We really can't know what secret sins were in the hearts and lives of even the seemingly most holy people. Nor can we know what small sparks of goodness may have been left smoldering in the souls of those touched by those we consider to be most wicked.
We tend to want to put people in one or the other category, saint or sinner. I believe that we can't know what way the scales of life balance after we have died. A person who may have been a drain on the spirit of one person may have brought light into the soul of another.
Even saints are not gods; they too brought both pain and peace to those they left behind, and these influences may go on for generations to come. I cannot judge the goodness or badness of a person by what they do to or around me, but I can decide whether their presence in my life is a source of light or a source of sin to me. I believe that we are absolved of the shame of wrongs we inflicted in our lack of The Light, but that we are also admonished to help make right what we have set wrong.
Did Paul fully make amends to the families that followed his days of persecuting the Christians, or did the seeds of his destruction carry on for many generations, even until today? Are we fully at peace with all of creation simply because we have turned our new lives over to The Light? I don't think we can know.
We are the hands, hearts, and voices of The Holy Spirit on this earth. We must live to spread light into even the darkest places. For this, we must seek to infuse our lives with The Light so that it envelops all we encounter.
Spirit of Light,
Spirit so bright,
Holy Spirit,
On me alight.
We tend to want to put people in one or the other category, saint or sinner. I believe that we can't know what way the scales of life balance after we have died. A person who may have been a drain on the spirit of one person may have brought light into the soul of another.
Even saints are not gods; they too brought both pain and peace to those they left behind, and these influences may go on for generations to come. I cannot judge the goodness or badness of a person by what they do to or around me, but I can decide whether their presence in my life is a source of light or a source of sin to me. I believe that we are absolved of the shame of wrongs we inflicted in our lack of The Light, but that we are also admonished to help make right what we have set wrong.
Did Paul fully make amends to the families that followed his days of persecuting the Christians, or did the seeds of his destruction carry on for many generations, even until today? Are we fully at peace with all of creation simply because we have turned our new lives over to The Light? I don't think we can know.
We are the hands, hearts, and voices of The Holy Spirit on this earth. We must live to spread light into even the darkest places. For this, we must seek to infuse our lives with The Light so that it envelops all we encounter.
Spirit of Light,
Spirit so bright,
Holy Spirit,
On me alight.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Faith in the Face of Pharisees
I knew a woman once who was considered immoral by many in our neighborhood. She seemed to fly high as the sky one day, and the next she'd take to her bed and refuse to even feed her children. She was magical to me. When she was flying high, she was more fun than any adult woman I'd ever known and more glamorous than any movie star, all on a thrift store budget.
Men were allowed to be, do, and say anything they wanted because, "That's how men are." They were almost never declared insane or defective. They were just men being men. A woman was always held to a higher standard, especially if she was a mom. Any weakness in women was a moral failing. Weakness in males was to be expected, and they were still allowed to have all the moral authority. No wonder women rebelled.
I heard men expound on the nature of God as they themselves abused their authority. But one of the greatest spiritual lessons that I ever learned was from this supposedly fallen woman when she brought over to our house one of her favorite records to share with our rule-bound mother.
"I Believe"
Words and music by Erwin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl, Al Stillman
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows
I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come
To show the way
I believe, I believe
I believe above a storm the smallest prayer
Can still be heard
I believe that someone in the great somewhere
Hears every word
Every time I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky
Then I know why, I believe
I still marvel at her faith in the face of so many Pharisees.
Men were allowed to be, do, and say anything they wanted because, "That's how men are." They were almost never declared insane or defective. They were just men being men. A woman was always held to a higher standard, especially if she was a mom. Any weakness in women was a moral failing. Weakness in males was to be expected, and they were still allowed to have all the moral authority. No wonder women rebelled.
I heard men expound on the nature of God as they themselves abused their authority. But one of the greatest spiritual lessons that I ever learned was from this supposedly fallen woman when she brought over to our house one of her favorite records to share with our rule-bound mother.
"I Believe"
Words and music by Erwin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl, Al Stillman
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows
I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come
To show the way
I believe, I believe
I believe above a storm the smallest prayer
Can still be heard
I believe that someone in the great somewhere
Hears every word
Every time I hear a new born baby cry,
Or touch a leaf or see the sky
Then I know why, I believe
I still marvel at her faith in the face of so many Pharisees.
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