Ever noticed...that, in many games, cheating seems to be involved only when you lose?
...otherwise, everything is good — it's fair-and-square.
Ever noticed...that, in many games, cheating seems to be involved only when you lose?
...otherwise, everything is good — it's fair-and-square.
Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. He said to the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
-- Mark 4:39–40
Episcopal bishop Rev. Barbara Harris (1930–2020) invites us to rely on Christ’s peace:
In the midst of uncertainty and swift transition, in the midst of personal and institutional upheaval, and amid the “fightings within and fears without” that separate peoples, races, and nations, we desperately need to hear a little good news. And this passage from the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which relates how Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, is exactly that: good news.
Who among us … having lived through a tornado, hurricane, or even a violent thunderstorm, can fail to be moved by this account of the terror-stricken disciples, convinced that at any moment their boat would capsize and they would be swept away into the sea. And who could fail to be moved by the image of Jesus standing up in that frail vessel and speaking to the storm: “‘Peace! Be still.’”…
What they did not understand, and what many today do not understand is that although we may panic in times of stress and distress, God does not share our panic.
That sense of panic that gripped the disciples out there on the Sea of Galilee is pervasive in our church and in our society today. When people panic, they tend to act desperately and unreasonably. Nations panic and go to war. Then they try to get God to sanction their actions as “holy.” In panic, people choose up sides in controversies and take irrational stands…. Few, if any, say, “Come, let us reason together.”
Harris relies on Christ’s presence and wisdom:
If Christ is at the center of our lives, we don’t have to rush into irrational action that often leads to impractical solutions. “Peace! Be still!” These can be our watchwords as we wait for the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
Often as we sail over the tempestuous sea of life, our world is in storm on a personal, national, and global level. But not only is Christ on the ship, Christ is in command—even when he seems to be asleep. “He who keeps watch over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:3, Book of Common Prayer). And what a comfort lies in the simple thought: “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me” [see Matthew 10:29].
Jesus hears us when we call, but he refuses to jump when we push the panic button. We are afraid to rely on that presence and the saving power. In our haste and our anxiety, we tend to rely on what we can see, count, touch, and feel. We forget that such things will pass away. We need, in the words of the old hymn, to “build our hopes on things eternal and hold to God’s unchanging hand.”
I’m wondering…how many people care about wondering?
Isn’t wondering a fundamentally different disposition than what we feel mostly surrounding us right now…especially regarding the election tomorrow? Not so much about the outcome (though, who can avoid wondering about that, too?), as about the things that have gotten us to this state.
What dynamics are truly in play (within our hearts, within our society)? Could we truly contemplate that; take the time to listen to ourselves, to each other? To wonder if we have been co-opted by those appealing to our most basic instincts? To wonder how the system is offering us both benefits (money, tangible comforts, etc.) and serious liabilities (stress, conspiracy-based self-preservation strategies, societal-wide anxieties)? To stop long enough to consider how it will 'roll' us, unless we come to sensibilities that address our true needs as human-beings sharing this planet?
You have to wonder....
If you want peace, work for justice.
Fearlessness is necessary for the development of other noble qualities.
-- Gandhi
Another lingering reflection, on a recent observation:
It is strangely observable that there is nearly always an appeal to look at things through a lens of victimhood.
Perhaps, this is because there is an element of truth about it that is nearly universal. But, when it becomes the constant state of the lens of our perception, something is wrong about it.
The question, at the end of the day, really isn’t as much about whether or not I’ve been victimized, as it is about why, if I remain in a victimized state. There is a magnetic quality about it to be sure. But, to remain in it, and to nurture it (even unwittingly), is problematic.
No one is saying being a victim is easy, especially when it has actually happened. But, it's how we respond that is important. Lots of bad (even terrible) things happen (because of our choices, other people's choices, happenstance, etc.). What is notable is what seems to be involved by those who have found ways to rise above those things.
As enticing as it may seem, boot-strapping is not the real answer. It seems to be closer to something in the realm of mindset. And, there are multiple things that seem to contribute to the kind of mindset that allows for the possibility of overcoming things that have happened to us.
We need to know what those things are. We need to immerse ourselves in them. We have to want to grow, to recover, to avoid slipping into the easy and widely available morass of "I can't...because of what someone else did...".
We have to take ownership of our lives, make good choices, including submitting to things that can help us. We can stay victims and simply validate that state by finding other people who reinforce our victimhood with their own. But, that really doesn't serve much for us (or them).
I'm facing some things that are hard for me right now. I feel the temptation to blame, to claim unfairness.
Or...
...I can be humble, open, honest, seek advice, ask hard questions, learn, take steps, grow, walk towards the difficulty, believe that there is more than what I might lose...that I could gain.
I may have been a victim in one way or another, but I don't need to stay one.
Ever noticed...that at the beginning of most days, there’s not much more than facing the juncture of willingness.
In other words, am I willing to move forward into the day, regardless of how I feel about doing so?
I can do this with the benefits of having done it before and knowing that simple willingness more often than not is all it takes.
Events this week have over-taken parts of me. My sense of who I am has been rocked.
Tami has been a great source of stability...and love, including the sending of these powerful reminders from a book she was reading to her students:
It is strangely observable that there is nearly always an appeal to look at things through a lens of victimhood.
At one point or another, your life gets focused on what you can give back to the world — the sooner the better, of course (but, hey, such things can take time, for all kinds of reasons).
Among other things, learning is a key ingredient to our mental health — perhaps because of what it requires of us…like willingness, curiosity, adaptability, humility.
What If…we are so preoccupied with managing the tweaks and adjustments we think we can make in our lives, that we never really avail ourselves to the adjusting nature of the Spirit of God within us?
At some point, we discover that the purpose of lifting weights is not really for how it makes us look, as much as it is for the strength it develops and maintains within us.
And what, then, is the purpose of strength if it is not capacity? It is our strength that enables us to do things physically, be true to ourselves, and to make a contribution to the quality of life in our world.
And, of course, strength is not limited to the domain of the physical. Certainly it is needed in psychological, emotional, mental, spiritual dimensions of our lives as well. Again, for what purpose? Ultimately, for the purpose of love — or our ability to love — ourselves and those around us in the world. And, as anyone knows who has either given or received love, love often embodies a tremendous amount of strength.
A question then emerges, in addition to what is needed to develop true strength, that acknowledges what inhibits it. Besides the discipline and effort involved in the activity itself, there is the context that contributes to the likelihood (or not) of doing so. Do I feel like it? Why not? What conditions are involved in my life that impact my context? What am I consuming (literally, emotionally, cognitively, spiritually, etc.)? How is that impacting my sleep?
Ultimately, we have to be honest about what true health is versus just what looks like it.
As with many things, appearance and reality are not always the same thing.
What are you really lifting these days?
I’ve noticed…that I am rarely in a context that generates psychological energy.
More often than not, it feels like I am in a context that requires or consumes my psychological energy. I think this is among the greater misfortunes of this dynamic for me — that too often, I dismiss the notion that I should (or could) be in contexts that are more energizing.
A simple prayer of recognition:
I am forgetful.
Because I lose track of who you are, God,
I lose track of who I am.
Two things help me remember who I am (and to pray); action and the outdoors (it is amazing how my sense of self changes when both are in play).
Action (movement) is often what helps me remember, especially when compared to inactivity. Moving gets me going. Going helps me remember what I need to keep in mind.
The outdoors has unique qualities that seem to speak to my being. They remind of an order to things that helps me see my rightful size and place more accurately.
If looking down is primarily an attempt to understand how I’m doing, looking outward helps me understand where I am. Looking up seems to lead to an understanding of who I am.
We could all probably benefit from spending more time looking up and out than looking down (especially since our version of looking down is primarily more about comparison, in the context of social media, than it is about true self understanding).
This observation helps me connect some of the dots about the source of my connection to the pieces I encounter in the universe God created (continues to create) and who I am in it:
Reverence does not happen once per week; it is practiced each day faithfully, moment by moment. It is acknowledging that we are dependent on the systems of life.
-- Sarah Augustine
I’m not sure how much people can really change — but, it can really look like they do when they become in harmony with who they really are.
Over time, we realize that it isn’t as much about what tastes good or feels good that matters — it is about what is good that we need.
Perhaps our greatest purpose is to become — not so much who we want to become, as much as who we already are.
Can consumption, in and of itself, be a form of exploitation — what examples come to mind?
Visual - “Color of Nature”
Don’t be so trashy.
What I mean is, we have to stop creating so much trash.
Single-use items, among other things, just have to go. We're drowning in all our containers (now from the inside out — see micro-plastics).
Of course, the real issue, is the degree of our consumption in the first place. I know that's getting into pretty sacred territory for many Americans — who might almost immediately react with something like, "What am I supposed to do...if I can't go shopping?".
Like with many other things, we just don't see things we don't want to see. It’s almost like if we won't look at a consequence, it is easier to avoid the cause.
But, recognize it or not, we have a trash problem that land-fills can't really keep covering up. And, that's largely because we have a consumption problem.
In the end, it's an identity issue — for too many of us, we just don't seem to know who we are if we can't constantly be buying stuff.
That's actually pretty trashy...on a number of levels.
I’m wondering…about distraction.
In a world of so much distraction, it’s very hard to get on track sometimes (not to mention stay on track).
Perhaps, we need to consider not only what we're looking at, but also the direction we're looking.
How much we miss when we’re always looking down (especially at our phones), rather than looking around (not to mention up) — how much is there already for us to observe and learn from in those directions?
When you are closer to a mode of inquiry (genuine curiosity), let me know — I’d enjoy talking more then.
Most of the time there’s a story involved.
There is almost nothing that is not in motion.
What do you feel when people throw trash out the window of their car onto your lawn? — How is that fundamentally different from what we do with our trash on planet earth?
Mankind seems to have an endless propensity to destroy things (even good things), not to mention each other.
We have so much power; we don’t even need to use it to protect ourselves.
But, for some reason, we are prone to misunderstanding what the nature of that power is. And, so, rather than use it for the benefit of others, we use it against people who are a little different (from us) by trying to gather people around us who just look a little more like us.
How much of our power do we forfeit because of how small our view of it is? Power is exponentially greater when it is used to include and expand (love) than when it is used to exclude and protect (fear).
Given our times, it might actually surprise us to know that being critical, for the sake of being critical, is not a virtue.
The steady diet of our endless critique of the world (or other people) ends up taking on addictive qualities, not to mention the unsightliness of looking like an overly developed bicep in just one arm. Should we really be this convinced that we hold the cards on everything that is wrong, especially when we simultaneously seem quite under-developed in seeing how we ourselves contribute to it?
We seem to think that calling out something that doesn't work well gets us off some kind of hook. And, the gap between seeing something and doing something about it seems to only be growing.
To be sure there, is a lot to be critical of. But, shouldn't we get better at what we're doing about it than simply perfecting our articulation of what they aren't doing about it?
One (perhaps) unintended consequence of this propensity seems to be our declining ability to admire, to appreciate, much of anything at all.
We must equally (if not more) be able to stop the inertia of these inclinations and observe the many wonderful and beautiful things about the world (and, yes, other albeit imperfect people).
Without that kind of balance, we simply end up so deformed in our thinking that we are unable to provide any kind of care at all for what is needed. As has been said before, we should be more defined by what we are for than simply by what we are against.
Besides, it really isn’t that hard. We just need to make ourselves more available to the timeless things that can teach us, like the simple instruction of a morning sunrise.
…willingness to be open and to learn might be closer to virtue.
The advice I like to give anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to do an awful lot of work.
All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.
-- Chuck Close
Ever noticed...how much we live out of the habits we form around our insecurities?
Christians in the United States and around the world have seen their faith in Jesus Christ distorted and leveraged in defense of authoritarian leaders who seek to erode freedoms essential to a thriving democracy. Some Christians enthusiastically praise dictatorial leaders and regimes.
We will meet in a moment of crisis. Yet we do so as people of God animated by faith, hope, and love. It is in this spirit that we reaffirm Christian support for democracy and invite all Christians and people of moral conscience to do the same.
-- Test of Faith: A Summit to Defend Democracy, September 19-20, 2024
When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people becomes an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.
-- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death...four decades ago prophesied an apocalypse of moral idiocy in the age of mass media
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard.
We usually think of resilience as the ability to recover from an adverse experience and pick up our lives where we left off…. But there are times when adversity permanently changes our reality and we can’t go back to the way things were…. Resilience then becomes the work of coming through the adversity. -- Alice Updike Scannell
People are always looking for happiness at some future time and in some new thing, or some new set of circumstances, in possession of which they some day expect to find themselves. But the fact is, if happiness is not found now, where we are, and as we are, there is little chance of it ever being found. There is a great deal more happiness around us day by day than we have the sense or the power to seek and find.
-- Thomas Mitchell
Prior 4 Observations (from Others).
The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.
-- Joan Borysenko
We live for a little while and then we die.
...but, how we do the living part, can extend the frame of our existence in dramatic ways.
If we were to live in complete isolation, that might not be (though terribly reductionist) an inaccurate summary statement. But we don’t live in isolation. We live in utter inter-dependence with everything around us, and it’s in those dimensions that the possibilities of living beyond the short frame of our particular life become realizable. What other people do around me, like it or not, has so much impact on me. And the same is true for me to them.
This is rather obvious in the sphere of having children. But even having children is done in an inter-dependent context in the world. How they see me interacting with what is around me, with those who are around me, sets in motion, almost irrevocably, their capacity to do the same in their lives.
If that is done in increasing ways, then the range of this dynamic never ends. If that is done in diminishing and isolating ways, then that dynamic is thwarted.
This reality is not confined to parents and children. What I do in any given day is in the context of everything else and thereby has an impact on everything else. What I spend my time on, what I spend my money on, how I wrestle with challenging or painful things, what I allow myself to enjoy, what I point to in the world, physical and metaphysical, how I go about my daily existence in one way or another has an impact. I can either extend the reach and glory of the virtues of living or minimize them.
The problem with the summary statement — we live and then we die — misses so much of the power and joy of everything that goes on in between.
Leadership is not a rank or position to be attained. Leadership is a service to be given.
-- Simon Sinek
We don't demonize immigrants. We don't single them out for attacks. We don't believe they're poisoning the blood of the country. We're a nation of immigrants, and that's why we're so damn strong.
-- Joe Biden
Speaker Johnson continues to suggest that undocumented immigrants vote in elections, but it is illegal for even documented noncitizens to do so, and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the nonprofit American Immigration Council notes that even the right-wing Heritage Foundation has found only 12 cases of such illegal voting in the past 40 years.
Conservative columnist George Will, more than 230 former officials for presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and 17 former staff members for Ronald Reagan have all recently added their names to the list of those supporting Harris. Today more than 100 Republican former members of Congress and national security officials who served in Republican administrations endorsed Harris, saying they “firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump.” They cited his chaotic governance, his praising of enemies and undermining allies, his politicizing the military and disparaging veterans, his susceptibility to manipulation by Russian president Vladimir Putin, and his attempt to overthrow democracy. They praised Harris for her consistent championing of “the rule of law, democracy, and our constitutional principles.”
-- Heather Cox Richardson
AI can’t render the soul of something — at best, it can only simulate it, which is still quite detectable.
We all have strengths, either innately or from development — but, no one is strong in every way.
Though certainly more than just this, at one level, people are just creatures that are orienting to their environments.
"Nothing surprises me anymore" is both sad and cynical -- how much of surprise is willingness?
Prior 3 Observations & A Question….
'Poem for the week' -- "Creative Joy":
God of cuttlefish and crystal caverns,
who formed the farthest reaches of the cosmos
and the yet-unreached depths of the sea,
whose creative joy is manifest in our ongoing discovery
of creatures and places and workings
in our own bodies, in our world and beyond it—
Help me to believe that patience isn’t torturous
but to be inhabited with delight,
knowing that you love to surprise
and that my future is threaded with the same playful love
that gave birth to axolotls and the grand canyon and the DNA double-helix.
When you ask or otherwise expect me to wait,
may I do so like a child on the eve of Christmas:
expecting nothing other than joy
and your heart brimming with the sight of your own patience fulfilled.
-- Emily Cash, Driftwood Prayers
Even though there are many predictable patterns to a lot of life, you never fully know what all the unexpecteds of it will actually be.
Invariably, there are huge disappointments and all kinds of pain. (I don't really want to rush past this either, because we too often do...).
But, there are also amazing twists and turns of grace and wonder. And, one doesn't cancel the other.
One small (perhaps) example. I noticed the other day that it is something on the order of comforting for me to step out on my back deck for my daily pre-dawn walk and look up to see the Orion star constellation there waiting for me. I know the attribution of "waiting for me" sounds a little self-interested. But, whatever the more correct version may be, it does something for my relationship with the world over which it presides.
The irony here, for me, is that while it has been there the whole time, it took me doing something to notice it.
A lot of nature is like this, indifferent to any particular noticing I would do; just going on its merry way. Sometimes, it feels like it smiles when I join in (but I'm not always sure that isn't just something I'm hoping for).
Stay open to such possibilities so that you don’t miss them, for they surely will occur. Life (God) will provide you with some substantial gifts, like grace and wonder. So, keep yourself in a position to recognize them…if not receive them.
The truth may sting, but silence can leave a scar.
We see the barriers holding back the people we work with, just as they see ours. But telling them is hard.
Telling the truth might hurt them, but not telling harms them.
-- Shane Parrish
I’m wondering…about why there are SO many options that claim to make us feel better.
What does that indicate regarding all the things that make us feel bad in the first place?
Too often, the white evangelical narrative I encounter is driven more by fear and anxiety than by the hope and confidence of the gospel.
-- John Inazu
We bring so much of what happens to us upon ourselves.
How unaware we seem to be that our commitment to escape unhappiness is what perpetuates it the most.
So many things are about what we want to feel.
What does it mean when the best thing you did this week for someone else was to dress up for Sunday church?
I really believe that the rhetoric from the Democrats ... is making the bullets fly. And it's very dangerous. Dangerous for them. It's dangerous for both sides.
-- Donald Trump, the day after the second assassination attempt in 65 days
Trump is "both a seeming inspiration and an apparent target of the political violence that has increasingly come to shape American politics."
-- Peter Baker
Most indulgence is self-serving.
I come from a tradition, which would then also say, assuming that is true, that all indulgence is, therefore, wrong.
But, we do love our over-simplifications, don't we?
For one thing, not everything that is self-serving is automatically wrong (mental health, for example). And, some self-indulgence actually seems to be recommended ("eat, drink, and be merry..." — Ecc 9).
In broad terms, I do think that general conservatism is better — for both personal benefit and the good of all. After all, we are not here, primarily, to simply consume things. We are here to help and support those around us, even as has been said…for the 'glory of God'. Abundance exists. Even if it does not seem to be fairly distributed (perhaps that is our job), it is especially well-used when it helps those who don't have what they need (which, by the way, could be any one of us at any given moment).
The problem with the never-indulgent view, however, is that it, more often than not, reflects a kind of attempt at control — a type of control that heads one away from something important...trust. You have to trust something, to appropriately reflect not only on how you are able to enjoy things, but also that such will be provided again. Put another way, scarcity and trust are often at odds. And, for many (particularly religious people), it seems that disparaging indulgence is really more about control than the virtues of being conservative anyway.
So, to me, it seems wise to both save for a rainy-day (yours, or your neighbor's) and be indulgent
…from time to time.