THEOLOGICAL PURITY

I'm doing a kind of virtual Snoopy happy dance.
Here's why:
I love when someone reads my book and is struck by one of the reflections.
AND I love it when they let me know what the impact was AND then let me post it here AND the author happens to me my adult nephew. Good and good and good.



Here is the reflection and his comments:

243

Theological purity causes so many ills
Do you know

How many religious hairs can be split
In how many books

Over how many centuries?
Which came first?
Prayer or theology?

Experience or concept?

I honestly felt I could have no prayer life

Until I knew what was 'true'

Thought C.S. Lewis could tell me

Or Thomas Merton

Maybe ancient mystics had the key

No such luck

Sometimes you just have to dive in

Here is my nephew's response:
—Randomly flipping through your book today, the words "Theological Purity" jumped out at me. Yes, I am praying, yes I am back in church, yes, my spiritual hunger has been rekindled, but my theological views are certainly not what many would consider pure.

I believe in...Something. There is something greater than ourselves in the universe. Is that the Abrahamic God, or the Native American Great Spirit, or the Wiccan Earth Mother, or the God of Sikhism, or an even less definable energy as viewed by some mystic traditions? Why can't there be some degree of truth in various belief systems?

I fall back on Christianity because it is what I know and am most familiar with but...

I believe that theological purity is a byproduct of avoiding theological certainty—

Hey you readers!!!
Do the same.
I will soooo happy dance and post me doing it on Facebook.
Do I mean that?
Yep.

SPIRITUALLY CRANKY

It happens. 
I'm living up to the dedication in my book--"to those who can't grab on but won't let go".
And I'm irritated by it.
I wrote a book about my own spiritual ambivalence and confusion.
Who wants to read that?  As they say in marketing, "what is the reader's problem and what is your solution for it?"  
Duh.
I dunno.

Then again. Maybe I write for those of us who just can't say a full blown yes to a theology that no longer makes sense. I am so not talking only Christian. Maybe I write for those who have given up any spiritual aspect in their life and don't know they want it and need it. Maybe I write for those of us who are willing to talk about our confused time in history and have some fun talking God, faith, doubt, prayer, updating spiritual words, affirming mystery, and experimenting with something transcendent. Who knows.

By the way, while I'm cranky, I hate the word "spiritual". Give me some alternatives please!!

So here I am in an irritated moment. I do know this will pass because as I sit here I am still interested in the stack of books surrounding me. This topic of prayer and transcendent energy will not leave me alone. And I will take some time right now to do my kind of prayer and it will probably right my ship.

Hang in there with me.

TELL EVERYONE--"YOU ARE OFF THE HOOK"

I'll take wisdom wherever it comes from

—Tell everyone you know: "My happiness depends on me, so you're off the hook." And then demonstrate it. Be happy, no matter what they're doing. Practice feeling good, no matter what. And before you know it, you will not give anyone else responsibility for the way you feel -- and then, you'll love them all. Because the only reason you don't love them, is because you're using them as your excuse to not feel good—

Excerpted from Asheville, NC - Saturday, April 30th, 2005
Our Love,
Esther (and Abraham and Jerry) Hicks

This is what I call a spiritual practice, meaning it takes awareness and emotional discipline to get back to a place of love "NO MATTER WHAT".  Ugh. Just thinking about few of my own examples makes me want to rebel. (If you really knew how awful she is, you would be on my side. She makes me so mad, sad, disgusted, irritated, outraged, shocked, frustrated. See what I mean. Not an easy practice. Have to stop and adjust your feelings to a good place BEFORE anything can come right. Then go forth and love.  Sounds bass-ackwards, right?

Anyway, I think there is wisdom here.
This kind of love is hard work. Extreme love. Grand master love. Olympic quality love.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE SOUL

Am I wrong or is it relatively easy to talk about the soul. If I say, "oh, that hurts my soul", I think you get it. Or if I say, "Makes my soul dance", you would probably also get it.
Talking about soul doesn't seem to make as much of an immediate divide. 
Mmmmm, now I'm curious. Was going to write about beauty but soul caught me.

I want to hear from you about soul.
Do you think you have one?
What is it?
Do you think everyone has one so less to argue about even though it's a spiritual element?
Do our souls exist
Is it a lot easier to talk about soul than it is about the existence of God or life after death?
If so, is this a place to start looking for common ground?
Does soul play any part in good and bad?


Let's play (some quotes)
—the soul is the incorporeal essence of a living being.

—Other religions (most notably Hinduism and Jainism) hold that all biological organisms have souls, as did Aristotle, while some teach that even non-biological entities (such as rivers and mountains) possess souls. The latter belief is called animism.^[5]

—Physicist Sean M. Carroll has written that the idea of a soul is in opposition to quantum field theory (QFT). He writes that for a soul to exist: "Not only is new physics required, but dramatically new physics. Within QFT, there can’t be a new collection of 'spirit particles' and 'spirit forces' that interact with our regular atoms, because we would have detected them in existing experiments."^[98]

—In 1901 Duncan MacDougall made weight measurements of patients as they died. He claimed that there was weight loss of varying amounts at the time of death, he concluded the soul weighed 21 grams.^[105][106] The physicist Robert L. Parkhas written that MacDougall's experiments "are not regarded today as having any scientific merit" and the psychologist Bruce Hood wrote that "because the weight loss was not reliable or replicable, his findings were unscientific."^[107][108]

—Liah Greenfeld is the author of Mind, Modernity, Madness: The Impact of Culture on Human Experience
In this book she proves empirically the physical existence of the soul!!!

Here is where I start:
I feel like I have a soul. I don't know it, I sense it.
I trust my own experience.
I don't think my body lives after death.
My soul might. But what would it be like?
I used to laugh and say we will all be a bunch of soul blobs bouncing around in eternity like
unleashed helium balloons begging not to be put back in a body. 
(PS--never talk about God or soul or life after death of theology with anyone who does not have a sense of humor!!!!)

Send me thoughts, quotes, experience, you know--stuff

TALK ABOUT WRESTLING WITH THE DEVIL!!

I haven't done a formal launch of my book I PRAY ANYWAY!
There have been lots of reasons for delay:
Waiting to have am author's website
Waiting for new cover design
Waiting for review blurbs to put in the book
Waiting for reactions for formal readings
AND
Wondering about its worth. Everyone is writing books today and with lots of paid for advice and support to do it (and most of the consultation is very very good. I recommend it). 
I, on the other hand, just wrote a book because it seemed to appear.
I didn't think about sales or who my ideal reader was. 

Well now I am. And in a moment of thinking of moving on to a new book with strong purpose, clear market and clear need (CEO Note to self--What We Want You to Know) my husband 
stepped in and reminded me of the value of I PRAY ANYWAY!

Here is what he said:
—This is a reassuring book. It is a comfort to hear someone put into words and thoughts that are hard to catch, because we don't always know we are thinking them. It is a relief to read your book. 
—Your impulses are authentic and legitimate. Many people share them, but aren't bold enough to state them. We need the spiritual in our lives.
—There are many other people who have this kind of yearning to explore spiritual meaning in an overly secular, scientific model world with worn out religious approaches.
—Your readers are willing to explore and share as they strive to achieve new understandings and realizations beyond what exists now .
—It is this group of people (your market) that will create new forms in the future as we learn to respect again the role or mystery and transcendence in our lives. This is why we yearn.
—You have given voice to a new barely begun movement in a very personal accessible way.


Well there.
"He will not always say, what you would have him say. Then all at once he'll say something wonderful!" (From South Pacific, I think.)  Thank you Don David.

I had gotten so close to my work, I couldn't see it anymore. I had author's fatigue.
So, onward.

NEW REFLECTIONS THAT SURPRISE ME

I have enough reflections for a new book.
I was reading through some today.
Here are a few that surprised me.
I don't remember writing them.

               1
—I don't pray without God
I pray without shenanigans!

This one made me laugh because I mean it. Prayer is so simple. Blurt it.
Whisper it. Shout it. With music. Without music. In the car. On the toilet.

              2
—Peel away everything
That isn't God
Then peel some more

Hmmm. Not sure what I mean. I think I mean God is a mystery and the essence evades us.  I wrote these first two on the same day and guess I felt comfortable using the word 'God' which I often avoid.


               3
—What a ridiculous agony
To love everybody
Makes things so difficult

Laughing again. You know how it feels in a good moment to love everyone--as long as it stays theoretical. That's what I'm talking about

               4
—I've been trying to kick the goad
(a great phrase--look it up)
To avoid pain
And making everything worse

Wow. Where did I pull that phrase from. That's what's so fun about writing. You just never know what is stored in your brain. Anyway, in Biblical times, a goad was used to make your ox move--goad him.  It was side at one end and sharp point at the other. So if the ox kicked, it only pushed the sharp point into his tender spots.  Yep, makes sense

MULTI-CULTURAL EASTER

(I share this from my www.truthburps.blogspot.com  writing today)

There are times when I wish I had one perspective and one only. It must feel so simple to
see things through one lens. Sure of being right. Not bothered by a strong alternative point of view. No multi anything. Clear.   

What triggered this thought was Easter and its varied celebrations in different cultures. 
I was lucky enough to experience many in my global work. I would love to be able to follow the path that led to these traditions. Who started the idea and why it stuck. 

Here's one that I bumped into by mistake. Big mistake. I was in the Czech Republic working, running a leadership conference. I noticed there were big and small twisted sticks with varied color ribbons on the end. Festive. I grabbed a bunch to spiff up the boring sterile ballroom we were working in. Well I learned what they were and fast. The sticks are used for Easter Monday. Men go door to door to visit the moment. The women bend over and are 'spanked' with the switches. Sometimes the men splash the women with water too. How very jolly. AND then the women give the men a shot of whiskey and off the men go to the next house. Think what the last house they visit must be like. Well there. Anyway, the modern women leaders did not like that I had put the darn switches everywhere in the room. Out they went and a great cross-cultural discussion ensued. (Look it up, it's for real)

Then there is Mexico that doesn't involve eggs except at the start of Lent when eggs are hollowed and filled with glitter and white flour and the goal is to crack strangers over the head with them. By the end of the day, all brown faces are powdered white. The Friday of Palm Sunday all houses are decorated with purple and white and so are the churches. People go house to house to view them and to receive----a Popsicle. Used to be salt water representing Mary's tears, but the kids must have hated it and thus the Popsicle. Easter Sunday, effigies of Judas are exploded all over town like a pinata stuffed with firecrackers. Very satisfying

Belgium has flying church bells. The bells are quite from Good Friday until Easter Sunday.
They fly away and come back with chocolate and other candies for the children. I imagine a priest trying to tie the sweets to Holy week somehow. "Here's an idea. The bells are quiet anyway. Let's say they fly away and bring back candy. Show of hands??? Good. Flying bells it is.

I can't leave out Greece. Greece does Easter with great joy. Yep, eggs but only red--the best shade of red ever. Red is great for Easter--blood and fertility!! "Forget pink and yellow. We got it"  Everyone has them and use them up fast. Two people each hold and egg and hit it against one another's egg. Whichever egg doesn't crack wins. Sacrosanct.

I take it back. I don't want one point of view. I love the variety and the richness of so many differences. Fertility, pagan Spring, Christ's resurrection are all tied together. Christ would smile and understand it all and understand us as well.