The Naked Now

 In pondering the state of my life now, I had some insights this morning I want to share with you.

Spiritual advice has long been to live in the now, the only moment we actually have, the only moment we can breathe, the only moment we have to live. 

Gilbert has inadvertently given me that gift. He has stripped away from me my past and all of the mementos of it. He has caused me to change my views of the past, redefining and releasing. He has stripped me of my dreams for the future. None of the ones we dreamed together are possible now. It is all drifting away from me. Vivid memories and dreams are fading.

So I now stand in the naked now. I stand with no past and no future so to speak. Here in this unique moment in time, stripped of what was and what could have been, I am just here.

So now I come to God unencumbered, as I say, Take my hand Precious Lord, lead me on as You would. Thy will be done. Amen, Amen and Amen!

What Have We Created?

 The "modern" age has done a number of things, especially to the mindset of people and to our ways of living.

We moved off farms and ranches in large numbers to live in asphalt and concrete jungles. Many people have never wandered among the trees, or dangled their feet in a creek, or had any meaningful experience of nature.

We moved from being artisans and conservers of lovely things to being consumers.

We moved into the fallacy of science that says we are in control and can do and be whatever we want. Many no longer believed in God or in the power of nature, but in our own powers, at least the powers of the technology people. We moved into hubris. We can change the climate. We can move off the planet. We can change our sexes, We can do whatever we want. The only limits are ones we put on ourselves.

Without religion, philosophy, and wisdom, we created a dystopia. We have a large number of people on drugs to change their mental state, to numb themselves or kill themselves. We have a frenzy to shop and shop, to get and get. We have disconnected from the wisdom of the ages, and are in many ways adrift in less than meaningful lives.

It seems to me we need to think through what we have done. Is it a good thing for us, for others? What can we do about it? As humans, we have the potential in every moment to think again, start again, begin again, change direction, be more.

I believe firmly that the spark of the Divine resides in each person. Let us water it. Walk in nature. Read wise ones. Think, consider, debate with yourself. Think some more. This day has not been liv ed before, make it a great one.

Resonate With What?

 It seems to me that what we are called to be in resonance with is the Higher Power/God/Divine Presence. It rings throughout the universe with the Call.

How do we move in relationship to The More so that we resonate in harmony with It?

The secret word is "Love." The great traditions all speak of "Love." We wash away all darkness, reentments, ill will, angers, attacks, dividing into "in" or "out" groups, etc. We become walking, talking, beingness of LOVE. We Love because that is who we are. Our Love is not contingent on anything outside. That is, it is not dependent on how others act or speak. It as much a part of us as breathing itself. It is who we are, what we do.

The closer we get to this aspirational goal, the more we resonate with The One. The farther we are away, the less we resonate. We can get so far away, there is only tiny resonance and a flatness, a life only drearily lived, not even approaching the Divine Purpose for coming here.

If our goal is actually spiritual awakening, I suggest we clean off the darkness and move more and more each day into  love, then Love, and then  LOVE!

New Reality

 Over the course of our earthly lives, we shift realities numerous times.  We were once inhabitants of a liquid world in a womb with sounds muffled and limited light. We were once totally dependent little beings, needing the giants around us to do everything for us. We once had no language but crying and waving our limbs. We gained language little by little, and mobility, and our world became bigger. We went to school, and its new batches of reality opened to us. On and on we went, moving from a more limited reality to a bigger one, repeatedly. 

Mostly our reality shifts were somewhat gradual. We had choices. We could embrace them, resist them, run from them, try to change them. We could be adventurous, angry, happy, sad about it all.

I stand at a new place for me. I have an abrupt reality shift of unusual proportions. 

Reality 1: Up until April 9. 2025, 9 a.m., Married to my soulmate who loved me, facing challenges together, trusting our oneness, both filled with Christian faith, who sadly became terminally ill and died of it, organ failure, and a massive heart attack. 

Reality 2: Beginning April 9, 2025, 9:30 a.m., Married to a psychopathic con man who had no feelings or remorse, who stole all of my treasures, money, inheritance, never loved me or anyone, was not spiritual, and died a horrible death.

I seem to have psychological whiplash. 

I have been informed by a retired police officer friend that this is not all that uncommon. So I share so that you know you are not alone. Others have the same climb back to wholeness as I do. Others have been bamboozled by a slick pro. Others have had their hearts, their dreams, their lives trampled. 

Reality will right itself. There will be peace again. Healing will happen. And a door will open to a new chapter. We will walk through that door a lot wiser and stronger. We fell, and yet we rise.

Ahha the Rabbit Hole

I was deceived, so to speak, by my left brain. I ignored my right brain. I focused on the bits and not the whole, on the logic and not the feelings. Or was it the other way? I focused on the feelings of supposed love, and I let him explain away the details in an intricate web of lies. I seem too close to it all right now for clarity.

That is part of the picture that is emerging as I climb back up out of the rabbit hole or holes. Days of disorientation are not my normal place.  I have felt like Alice down the rabbit hole briefly a few times, when earth shattering events occurred, but I quickly got my bearings. In this Gilbert shaped hole, there are holes within holes, drop, then drop some more. I scarcely catch my breath, and another drop hits. I think there can't be more, but then there is more. I pray I've reached the bottom now, and get my bearings and guidance as to how to proceed.

I feel almost like he is being erased from my mind. He is fading. I am being set free.  Now I turn to The Presence of All for guidance. What am I being called towards? 

Help me recognize Your calling to me. Help me brush aside distractions and stay focused upon You. Show me my remaining purpose for coming to earth, so that I can fulfill it and one day return at peace. 

Consider Paul

 I am grateful to N. T. Wright and his book on Paul. He has given me many ideas to ponder.

As usual, my thoughts then lead to other thoughts, maybe to places triggered in my own mind, but not explicitly in the book (or lecture or article).  So one strain of my thoughts went something like this: 

What would the world be like without Paul, if he hadn't gotten on fire with his message and instead just stayed  at home? Would the Jesus message have spread far and wide without Paul? If spread, would it have been a different message without Paul? Would we even know about Jesus without Paul?  

 We of course can never actually know the answers to these questions, but we can see how Paul's understanding and robust, confrontational teaching style stood out in contrast to the time. And, if the status quo had not been interrupted by this fiery orator and deep thinker, we can guess it would have been the same old same old for much longer.

Into the pagan culture, the culture of extreme hierarchy, of promiscuity, of infanticide, of brutality against all who dared to challenge how it was, of low literacy, etc- came a new way championed by Paul.

His passion fired his message that the new Temple was Jesus, a new day had begun, and it was time to start living into the Kingdom of God on earth. The idea of the family of the Messiah people extended what family had meant. His exclamation of no Jew or Gentile, free or slave, male or female brought new hope. Caring for the poor and sick, even strangers, was a new idea, including them as children of God. Teaching  reading to everyone interested so they could read the Torah (including women, children and slaves) spread literacy. His emphasis on loyality and faithfulness taught honesty and fidelity. Retelling the story of Abraham and on to Jesus, grafted people onto the story of an ancient people. His ideas precipitated things like hospitals, orphanages, codexes leading to books, and so much more.

So eliminate all that Paul taught and started. The hordes still would invade and smash Rome. Now their ways would take over. Civilization would move backward for some length of time. It is likely that some humans would be curious and discover this and that, and a new civilization of some sort would emerge. But it most certainly would be different.

Maybe Paul and his 7 authentic letters are at the top of the list of importance to humanity.

Hell?

 N.T. Wright said that Paradise is the holding place before the new creation. Heaven and hell are from Plato, and elaborated on by medievcal Christians.

We are made in the image of God, and our job is to be image bearers. We are to be mirrors of God to the world, and of praise to God. If we refuse to be image bearers, we may have an end after several chances. There are words of destruction elimination, perishing.

The New Testament speaks of heaven and earth, of heaven coming to earth at some point. Heaven and hell are not equal and opposite.

Bart Erhman said that in the Old Testament, the point of view is God gifted us with life, and then after this life we cease to exist. God  breathed life into us, and when we stop breathing, we cease to exist. Later, there was some discussion of shoel, a shadowy place where one just exists. They didn't have the concept of a soul separate from tbe body, as that was an idea of the Greeks. about 200 years before Jesus. 

Jesus seemed to believe that the Kingdom of  God was soon to arrive on earth, at least in the earliest writings. He focused on prayers to God, good and pure behavior, and preparing ourselves for the influx of The Kingdom of God, in other words, to live here and now as a Kingdom person.

In fact, I think that is timeless advice. Otherwise  we create hell here on earth for ourselves.