I'm a loner, mostly,
not much of a joiner.
--Terry
____________________
Reinhold Niebuhr,
"Moral Man and Immoral Society"
____________________
____________________
 |
| Dr. John Score |
are unlikely to know where you're going,
and certainly are ill-equipped to advise you with directions for the unique journey you alone are on.
Why are you listening
to these other voices?
Listen to your voice within."
~
"The Kingdom of God is within you."
-- Jesus, 1st century A.D.
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Meditation for January 2024
____________________
"Do justice, love compassion, and walk humbly with your God."
-- Micah 6:8
____________________
"So much Wrong
is so often borne
with those so certain
they alone are so Right!"
____________________
“Our nation is in a climate filled with heavy torrents of false accusation, jostling winds of hatred, and raging storms of violence. It is a climate where men cannot disagree without being disagreeable, and where they express dissent through violence and murder… So in a sense we are all participants in these horrible acts…
By our silence,
by our willingness to compromise principle, by our readiness to allow guns to
be purchased at will and fired at whim, by allowing our movie and television
screens to teach our children that the hero is the one who masters the art of
shooting and the technique of killing, by allowing all these developments, we
have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular
pastimes.”
~
and eats at our own table.
~
 |
| Alfred North Whitehead's Process and Reality was the most challenging book I've ever read and caused the greatest transformation in my own views. |
Collective enthusiasms, revivals, institutions, churches, rituals, bibles, codes of behavior, are the trappings of religion, its passing forms.
They may be useful, or harmful; they may be authoritatively ordained, or merely temporary expedients.
But the end of religion is beyond all this.
Set all those distracting trappings aside and approach the encompassing Spirit of Life in your quiet solitude. Even Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew reminded us to commune with God in our solitary time."
 |
| Sigmund Freud's The Ego and the Id formed the lens through which I continue to view the personalities I encounter. |
about a man --
his beliefs, his motivations,
the way he interprets life's challenges --
than discovering the quotes of others
he's chosen to store in his head.
Know those voices,
and you'll more fully understand that man."
 |
No more sittin' on the fence! |
~
"Clearly I am in the school of Liberal Christianity and Liberal Protestantism.
What troubles me most about those over in the wing called the Christian Right is their seeming ignorance of what Jesus actually taught about important matters like prayer, their wealth, and living a life full of hate and fear.
I truly feel sad for the Evangelical Absolutists at times. I mean, it has to be a difficult life waking up each day in a world so at odds with the one you wished God had provided for you - one without all these other bothersome religions and one where, despite the diversity found in all the other species on the planet, humans were all alike.
Those over in the Christian Right brand of Christianity that I meet are always angry
-- angry that - in a nation that guarantees all people their freedom of conscience - they're not being allowed to force the rest of us to listen to their style of praying;
-- angry that - in a nation that provided their own parents and grandparents with social security in their old age - they're being asked to pay taxes to support such a socialist program;
-- angry that - in a nation whose Constitution's First Amendment states that our government can make no law respecting the establishment of a single religion, preventing it from establishing or favoring a particular religion over another - a foolish ACLU and ADL continue to fight against their attempts to "christianize" our public schools;
-- angry that - in a nation that has "e pluribus unum" printed on coins, currency, and official seals - they're being asked to respect snowflake concepts like diversity, inclusion, and tolerance when they believe instead everyone should look and think like they do.
Their favorite pundits are constantly talking about one fear after another - fear of people different from them, fear of ideas contrary to their own - and delight in giving this self-righteous audience their weekly dose of demonization. Here I'm talking about that word or phrase that they will then bandy around for a month or two with suitable expressions of disdain: Liberal, snowflake, DEI, woke, cancel. Suddenly, we're all supposed to nod in agreement because some loudmouth on talk radio has fed them the latest pill in their spoon-fed belief system: "Here it is, folks, this is what we all need to hate today!"
I want so badly to respond: MATTHEW 6, MATTHEW 6, MATTHEW 6.
If you call yourself a follower of Christ, could you please just find a quiet place to sit and read what Jesus -- not Peter, not Paul, not the Old Testament, and certainly not your preacher -- read what this author claims Jesus himself actually said to you in Matthew 6.
Please."
-- Terry; 2023.
~
 |
| Matthew 6 My favorite Bible passage one that has truly affected the way I view religious practice. |
Religious Arrogance
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in their houses of worship and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not go on and on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many repetitious words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins….
The Light of the Body
…The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes perceive what is healthy and positive, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are focused on unhealthy and negative matters, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
God and Money
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Fear and Anxiety
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear... Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ... So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, yet your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."
 |
| Plato's Gorgias |
-- from Callicles' big speech in Plato's Gorgias
~
MacLeish was the U. S. Director of Propaganda during WWII and relished the job to rid the world of Naziism and it’s racist agenda.
"Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed."
Twenty years later he became a war dissenter during the Vietnam era and became a vocal critic of the American government’s actions. As a poet and later Librarian of Congress, he knew that people’s liberties in a Democracy were most greatly threatened not from outside enemies, but rather by those from within who would be, unfortunately, given the reigns to lead in that Democracy. He wrote:
“…the survival of the American democracy depends less on the size of its military than on the capacity of its individual citizens to rely on the strength of their own thought rather than blind allegiance to the will of a single political party or, worse, a single charismatic figure. America is doomed if it’s people no longer question. We can’t know what we’re about, or whether we’re telling ourselves too many lies, unless we can hear one another think out loud.
Beware of those who would condemn other Americans who think out
loud. Be wary of those who try to
silence those who question autocratic or theocratic leanings in politicians.
Tyranny and dangerous religious zealotry never has had much trouble drumming up the smiles of prompt
agreement, but a democracy stands in need of as many
questions as its citizens can ask out of their own uncertainty and fear. Political dissent is what rescues a democracy
from a slow, painful death behind secret, closed doors.”
~
Enjoy looking through my Library
Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
you’ll be feeling better in no time!
Avoid the 3 F’s
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
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