When I don't want to learn ...

When I don't want to think about or discover what I could learn from the present moment - that I can be kind or patient longer, find more goodness and depth in other people, find in myself new ways to contribute, find beauty in new places, or find renewed joy - is it because my self care demands rest?  Or is it because I'm feeling self-righteousness or lazy?

Spirit and sport

To me, sports have a spiritual dimension.  Living Life in the moment; forming and changing aspirations; finding the motivation to train, to do the hard work of growth; facing one's limits - and seeing them change; finding, cultivating, and learning to trust instincts; building connections with teammates, coaches, even adversaries; cultivating responsibility for one's choices and mistakes; discovering, if one is lucky, mystery; cultivating gratitude; accepting one's results, elating or disappointing - and doing it all again and again. I suspect these spiritual moments are common in all seriously pursued sports.

My favorite sport is sculling. Being present - including attention to balance, technique, steering, and care of self and boat - are key.  Technique is much aided by training, by muscle memory. You try to avoid mistakes - but you learn from those, too.  Rest is important: overdoing training is counter-productive.  And, no matter your pace, the boat's wake and the bubbles from the oars' puddles are soon gone.  But growth remains.  And joy and gratitude, if you pay attention to the blessings of health, the beauty of one’s surroundings - the sky, the water, the trees and and clouds – and the freedom to be part of it all.

November 20, 2022

Holy Spirit, please help me to cultivate awareness of your constant presence, lest I unconsciously cultivate anxiety.

Help me consciously cultivate patience, lest I unconsciously cultivate stress.

Help me consciously cultivate gratitude, lest I unconsciously cultivate entitlement.

Help me consciously cultivate love, lest I unconsciously cultivate judgment.

Am I disciplined enough to relax?

Self care includes rest and relaxation.

Living busy lives in a busy and complex world, it is easy to neglect self care in general, and rest in particular.  Just as an athlete can over-train, people who seek to learn and grow can over-train - can neglect the rest and relaxation needed for learning and growth, and for the health, joy and fulfillment that is the point of it all.

Am I disciplined enough to relax?  To give my mind and body enough rest?  To accept that there is a healthful limit to what I can do right now, or today?

Gratitude or entitlement?

If I fail to cultivate gratitude, am I not unconsciously cultivating its opposite: a sense of entitlement?

Reality check #18

How do I discern when life is good? 

How do I discern when my life is good?

Is my life only good when everything that matters to me is good?  

Would I want my performance as a parent, or at work, or in a relationship, or as a citizen to be judged by that standard?

October 23, 2022

A psalm says, "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him."*

Now, dear Lord, You must admit that an hour is a very long time to wait for guidance in most people’s day to day lives.

So I thank You for Your proxies which are available to me, to all of us, at any hour of the day: common sense, discipline, attention, conscience, and, most important, love.

*Psalm 37:7.

Perspectives and love

The more perspectives one understands, or even strives to understand, the bigger one's world.

The more people one loves, the bigger one's world and the greater one's joy.

Fear and the experience of a holy spirit

What would it be like to live without fear?  Or, having fears from time to time, as seems entirely human, what would it be like not to be overwhelmed or controlled by fear?

Were God, multiple gods, and divine laws imagined and created by humans to control ourselves and others - to protect our communities - by fear?  To control individuals' and mobs' power, especially power exercised upon whim or sheer physical power, by inculcating a cultural fear of divine consequences of exercising that power?

For me, the experience of the existence and constantly available guidance of a holy and loving Spirit - whether or not other people experience that Spirit at all, or in the same way - reduces my fears and gives me hope and confidence.

Moral corruption and the challenge it presents

Whatever a person's role in the public sphere is, be it elected, appointed, or entirely voluntary, when the confidence of a majority of one's constituents, the privilege of public service, one's public oath, if any - and one's claimed private oath - are not enough to preserve and, over time, strengthen one's courage in faithful, truthful service, an individual moral corruption is present.

When such corruption appears in multiple members of a body of public servants, governmental integrity and function begin to fail.

Identifying public leaders to whom the power of their roles and renown is more important than humility of service, respect for others (even if we disagree), and courage in truth telling is rarely easy - particularly when we contributed to their power, or acquiesced in its growth.  And removing such leaders from their roles is, because only citizens can do it, inherently more difficult than professional investigation and prosecution of corruption for breaking the law.

Every moment a gift!

Every moment of Life is new - for me and for every other person and creature!

Wow!

This could be my very last moment - someday that moment will come - but I get to be here to experience it!

Do I have the presence of mind, and the will, to experience this moment as fully as I am able?

What will I do with this moment?

To whom, other than myself, does it matter what I do in, and with, this moment?

Who, or What, do I strive to live up to, moment to moment?

Am I cultivating gratitude for each moment of the gift of Life?

July 24, 2022

One of my favorite quips is, “We raise our children to be independent – and they go and do it!”

Recently it hit me that, of course, that quip applies to me.  I am – and each of us is – a child not only of our human parents, but of God, however named; of the Holy Spirit; of Life with a capital L.

Each of us, having received the gift of life, may and must make our own creative and independent decisions as to what the gift of life means to us and what stewardship of that gift calls upon us to do.

What are we called upon to do today, and this week?

What will the legacy of our choices be for future generations?

Individual uniqueness and public policy

Each and every human being is unique – unique physically, intellectually, emotionally, and of course in their own experience.  

Especially in a society which claims to honor individual liberty, the public policy effect of this basic truth should be to recognize it and, while protecting people from harmful acts of others, to honor and protect people’s uniqueness – people’s right to be themselves even when they are very different from most people.

The public policy effect of individual uniqueness should never be to condemn it, or its harmless expression, particularly when individual differences make us uncomfortable.  The emotional or intellectual comfort of individuals in a society, even of most people, is not a sound or just basis for condemning, let alone punishing, harmless expression of a person’s uniqueness.  Indeed, some discomfort, some grumbling, on the way to acceptance of basic social values is inevitable in a society where no one gets to have things exactly as they would like all the time.

Any public policy based not on risk, or acts, of harm to others, or to society as a whole, but on rejection of individual uniqueness – on conformity to perceived norms including physical or mental health, political or religious views, race, appearance, gender identity, or who one associates with – is fundamentally contrary to individual liberty, to the Golden Rule, and in some respects to the United States Constitution.

Imagining being condemned for something about us which is perceived by someone else as “different,” but which doesn’t harm anyone, can help us understand that to deny another person’s right to be as they are, and to believe as they do, is unjust and ultimately as futile as their denial of our uniqueness would be.

May 22, 2022

 According to The Bible, Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.”  [John 14:12]

Imagine being just as much a child of God as Jesus.

Imagine each of us being just as much a child of God as Jesus.

Imagine every one of the billions of people on this planet being just as much a child of God as Jesus, including those – some of them Christians - who disagree with us, who mock us, and who to all appearances hate us.

How shall we think about, and relate to, our holy siblings who disagree with us, mock us, hate us - and even wish us harm?

A good starting point is one of love, truth, and humility.

Uniqueness and growth

Each and every human being is unique.  

Consciousness of our own uniqueness is crucial to maturity.  While it is impossible, and would be imprudent, for anyone to bare every detail of their (not just his or her) uniqueness to others, exploration and acceptance of our own uniqueness is crucial to growth, peace of mind, and joy.

May 8, 2022

In Jesus and the Disinherited, the late theologian Howard Thurman wrote, “Uniqueness always escapes us as we undertake an analysis of character.”

Imagine.  All the people who have ever lived, who are living now, and who will live in centuries to come — each one was, is, or will be unique.

The commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself has no exception.  The commandment is not to love one’s neighbor as oneself so long as it is comfortable to do so.

Do I honor and love myself in my uniqueness, with all my quirks?

This is a spiritual question because, probably, only to the extent I honor and accept my uniqueness can I gain the capacity to love each neighbor in all his or her uniqueness.

March 6, 2022

What is the purpose and importance of the human body but to serve as the vehicle of individual consciousness, growth, expression, and work of the Spirit of Life?

Individual choice and its effects on society

Society is the sum of the results of people's choices and actions – yours and mine and everyone else's – whether they be altruistic or self-centered, engaged or withdrawn, wholesome or toxic, sensible or reckless, kind or cruel, loving or indifferent.

We must not wait for others to sustain and improve society.  We should now and always do in life at least the share that we believe a functioning society requires of us.  We should expect our perception of what is our share to evolve.  We should do that share without complaint or pridefulness because, after all, it is simply our share.  And we should avoid self-righteousness lest we inject that poison into our lives, the lives of those around us, and, particularly by the example we set, into society.

In this light, perhaps the most important discipline for ourselves and for society – for the peace, productivity, fairness and happiness of society – is not the discipline we may wish others had.  It is the discipline we, as individuals, create and live by. 

As if in reward, those who set and live by the discipline of going cheerfully beyond their minimum share quickly learn that doing so works as well in relationships as it does for society.

A Sufi story and some questions

A seeker contemplating countless ill, injured, struggling, fearful, angry and despairing people cried, "Dear God, how can You see such woe and do nothing about it?"

God replied: "I did do something. I made you."

How much - or little - will I give up to help others?

Am I willing to set aside my own issues and just listen, without judgment, to other people?

What does it cost me to extend myself to bring grace into another person's life?

How often am I willing to do so?

January 30, 2022

We have all been graced by specially kind, generous and compassionate acts of strangers; acts with an everyday holiness which delight, calm, move, and gratify us.  May those acts inspire us as we make our way in the world.

January 16, 2022

One thing that Quakers share is the belief that there is “that of God” in every person.  But every person of a certain age who is in good health has the capacity to perceive the world around them, to discern their options, to make decisions, and to act in gracious and loving ways.

What, really, is the difference?

Isn’t a holy spirit standard equipment, so to speak, within human beings?

Does one have to do anything to have holiness within?  I don’t think so.

What matters is belief and choice and, perhaps always, grace.  Once one is exposed to the idea that there is holiness within oneself and everyone else, one can only reject the idea, ignore it – or accept it and, moment to moment, forget it or embrace it and do one’s best to live accordingly.