"I am here, too."

"Whenever you hear, or see on a map or sign, 'You are here,' remember that I am there, too." - God (attrib.) 

Seeking the best in others

Seek the best, and quickly find the good, in everyone. The best is ever-changing and it does not matter if the best is objectively true. What matters is that we convey faith that the best in each person is spectacular and that we focus on the search for the best, not on judgments as to its absence.

March 18, 2018

My definition of heaven was, for years, that it is not a place, but an experience - the experience, however fleeting, that everything is all right just the way it is.

This morning I am reconsidering.

That definition of heaven still seems true to me. But it seems limited - incomplete – because it seems passive, as though one must be observing Life from a distance to experience heaven; and because there are so many events and conditions in Life which only someone observing it from a great distance could find to be all right.

So today I am expanding my definition of heaven.  I still define heaven as an experience, but it is this experience:

That my connection to the Holy Spirit is as strong, and the quality of my service of that Spirit is as good and faithful, as by conscious effort I am able to make them.

To me this means, for example, that if there is false witness, it will not come from me.

If there is dishonor of one’s father and mother, it will not knowingly be by me.

If there is theft of anyone’s lucre, property, innocence, or dignity, it will not be by me.

If there is violence, it will not be from me - or, if it is, it will be to deflect another’s violence where possible, or to reflect another’s violence, where necessary to protect an innocent person.

If I can live up to these values, I feel a peaceful confidence that the experience of heaven will still sometimes visit me while I am fully engaged in this life.

March 4, 2018

In every heart, there is a special door for grace.  When that door is kept open and attended, the light coming in reveals graces already received.

February 18, 2018

I attend and strive to nourish this Quaker Meeting for various reasons, but the most important one is to enlarge my capacity to share my limited perception, and my incomplete and tentative understanding, of the Holy Spirit with other people through love and compassion.

Pride and humility

One can learn very fast, accomplish very much, be very attractive, become very rich or famous and be proud.
But one must be humble to grow.

Sometimes hysteria is appropriate.

Sometimes, hysteria - an intense, loud, spontaneous, genuine, undeniable, unassuageable reaction of anger, pain, horror or grief - is a wholly reasonable and appropriate response to something horrible.

What if a victim of, for example, a sexual assault or harassment, or blatant racism, complains truthfully and in detail to the appropriate authorities, refuses to be quiet, to be anonymous, to be intimidated, to accept a money settlement?  The cost to the victim may be huge.  But the contribution to past and future victims of such behavior who may be empowered by the sustained courage of one "hysterical" victim, and to a society based on truth, responsibility and compassion, in calling out such behavior seems at least as great.  

At least, who can in good conscience discredit someone just because she or he is "hysterical?"

Who dares to say that someone showing an intense, loud, spontaneous, genuine reaction of anger, pain, horror or grief should not be taken seriously just because she or he will neither be denied nor quickly assuaged or comforted?