I have come to the conclusion that joyful living is always when we are moving toward the light of God’s Love and our love of life. All is love and everything I understand is Love because it comes from God through the goodness of people. I always imagine the threshold of God’s heart shining through us, teaching us to love our enemies, again and again, and again. What a wonderful world it would be!
I am blessed to have taught for approximately 25 years. I guided my high school students for 15 years through European history and basic economics in New Jersey and for approximately 10 years teaching history and literature to freshmen and sophomores, Actually, first and 2nd year students in a Virginia community college. My only regret is that I did not start to do this as a younger man. Whereas, then at age 50, after a lifetime of studying and then teaching history and then evolving into a literature professor using the great literature of the world to help explain human history there were a few things that I learned.
Mankind was given an absolutely marvelous brain by God; but refuses to use it. Man seems to indeed live by impulse rather than wisdom. For example, and please don’t get me wrong for they do some great deeds, and I’m not condemning them, but many of the great religions of the world are built on select groups, led by consciousness, and resolutely, mythology. And these groups are destroying the beautiful creation that God made in which he put mankind in charge. I say this, for many, many people are left behind to suffer, needlessly. And the cause of this suffering is withholding the necessities of life, food, clothing, housing, and proper medical aid.
Although I now teach not in a classroom, but through my writing I try to awaken the hearts and minds of a greater audience, or let’s say a greater classroom. When I first entered the world of teaching, I tried not to go into it with clouds over my eyes. Realizing that we do not teach people, you open their minds to other new and different ideas. I look at mankind and its institutes of religion although I have condemned them earlier, I am optimistic. We aren’t always perfect. But eventually we do catch on to the realities of the world. We can’t really blame ourselves because we are inculcated by the great moneyed institutes, but if we open up our hearts and minds to see that poor person lying on the side of the road, beaten down by society, to the one that only the Samaritan stopped to assist. I read in the Old Testament, and maybe you can call me an Old Testament Christian, but there are 10 basic commandments that God asks us to follow. There is also an ancient Hebrew custom that says do not turn away the stranger. When he comes to your house for help, invite him in. It may be God calling.
On a local level, I see many churches, many different faiths getting together, helping those in the community who are in trouble. Which in the long run can possibly save us as a species. But this has to grow upwards, it has to grow up to the ultimate stage, into the country. We cannot allow the homeless to suffer. Our country is too wealthy. We must convince the politicians, the churches, the wealthy, and then we’ll see. To realize that the building that you dwell in is not the important thing. Outward appearance seems to rule all facets of government and church. . . and family. The simple Hut will do the same thing; has the $20 million building or home made a better family, or government, or church? No, it is the works done inside that matter.
I think upon my relationship with God. And realize that I am one very small peanut. Or better yet, I am one grain of sand. On the eastern beaches of Virginia. Insignificant. As an individual grain of sand. But I also know that when the when all of us grains of sand get together we can do great things. I look at the beautiful sand-filled beaches, of New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and the people who love. . . that’s Love! Turning their toes into the warm sand. The children who loved to build sandcastles. What a wonderful thing for all of us grains of sand to do. We protect the shores. From the violent oceans. So, it’s grains of sand joining together. We’re not only protected. Active. But we’re productive. As grains of sand, we also do something much more important.
Everywhere together we could feed and house the poor. As people living in the world. On Earth today. Economists say that there are between 6:00 and 7:00. Billion people. That’s a hell of a lot of grains of sand. Think of the good that we could do if we emulated the sand on the shores. I live for the day. We understand that one grain of sand is no different than another grain of sand. One person is no different than another person. One group of people is no different than another group of people. We share one common goal. And that is to survive. On this rock where we live, this rock called Earth, I pray that we all can in our individual faiths and beliefs recognize the divine mystery that man’s relation with God is for all of us. Not just the select few. Our intimate relationship with God calls all of us to love the outsider and care for those forgotten by society—the ones who are rejected and tossed away by our ignorance and selfishness. Can we truly live on an Earth that struggles to be alive? God willing, we can.
I watch the very morally weak leaders of our country parading in and out of the public’s view as if they have just celebrated the Eucharist at their church of choice. They want us to follow their lead and respond in like ways to their every move. But we know better; we have a much better way!
We know that God’s way silently flows through us and spreads to others, from heart to heart, group to group, and ultimately all around the globe. All people regardless of race, origin, sexual orientation, are worthy and deserve equal rights to have the chance to pursue their personal desires.
These are certain things I think about daily. Our souls define us; they are our true essence. However, we shall not forget that these leaders are also children born in the image of God and cannot be all bad. We must afford to give them the respect we would show to any other human on this planet. The wounds caused by the greed of this government and the lasting scars can be and will be healed by our love toward each other. With hard and considerate work, the churches of all faiths will step up to supply what is needed to live for all those who have been stripped of the necessities of life.
This is God’s way and what Jesus and prophets of other faiths mean when they say to love thy neighbor or welcome the stranger into your home as a friend.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not what I’m thinking is rational. Christianity worships the Triune God. I find that to be repulsive at times. It’s more mythological than real. Do I believe in God? Absolutely! Yes! But there is only one God. God is the master of our creation, all creation. Why is it that we have to take something as important as God and bring Her (Him) down to our level of unimportance? If we believe what’s written in the Bible, and I understand that Bible was written by mankind for the purpose of mankind. It says in the Bible that God created man in his image. I am created in God’s image. Now if I think about that. I look in the mirror. Can I see an image of God? I don’t see God. I see an image of myself. A reflection. An imperfection. But not myself. Seeing myself is impossible. Because it’s not me. So, therefore. If I’m an image of God, I’m not seeing myself.
I have trained myself to see God in the faces of all whom I meet. This has changed my life. I am a happier and more sedate person, for I am not seeing evil; I am seeing contentment; I am seeing God’s perfection. Even when the person I meet is not a perfect human, I see God; I take her hand, or place my hand on his shoulder, while we are talking. We join together into each other’s sphere of friends or even families of love and understanding. We joke, se talk, we share! When we part, we part as friends; I always part with a simple blessing because we both have changed and become different people.
I grew up and matured in the life of the church. Two different denominations shaped my life, along with other factors that tried to influence how I should look at what life in the 20th century was supposed to mean; education, war, then the rush to earn money. And tucked in between all that, marriage, children, family, and the celebration of life in church. This was the life of the successful 20th century man. Life, family, and church, all incorporated by the struggles to earn money. Because . . . . . Church and money ruled our world!
My mid-life struggle began in violence after a near-fatal auto accident, a pool full of teenagers, and a love of reading history. God spoke to me and led me into the world of education, and I became a high school teacher, where I began to learn what was really important in life. Let me rephrase that; I learned really was not important I life; it has taken me many years of searching to approach the fact that I still do not truly know the answer. But I did learn during my first year of teaching that it is impossible to teach anything to young minds anxious and begging to learn. As a high school history teacher, I tried to open their minds to allow them to think for themselves and not be shy about sharing their thoughts. I was a guide, a mentor, never a teacher. And oh! How they succeeded!!!!
Over my twenty-five years of being a mentor to students of all ages, (I returned to college to get a doctorate in literate and taught in a local community college, where my oldest student was 72)and all backgrounds, and all religions, I opened my minded to all cultures and learned more from them than they could possible have learned from me. To this day, I believe that we all were blessed by being together.
I have been blessed with a variety of students who have made me a better person. From valedictorian to football star to a boy with severe cerebral palsy, or an Iran war veteran with PTSD, or an immigrant who has difficulty with the English language. All have blessed me by making me a better person and allowing me to be called aa mentor in their lives.
I am honored with the knowledge all of my students have shared with me, and at age 82, I do not know how much more time God will give me to learn more about life and what is important.
What I have learned is that we are all made in God’s image.
My first question is which Bible? Governing the Western world, there are three great books of learning. First, there was the Tanakh (what we Christians call The Old Testament) the struggles of the ancient Hebrews, the holy book of Judaism; then came the New Testament (written primarily by Hebrew scholars about a wandering Jewish prophet who many claimed to be the Messiah) this book became the basis for Christianity; the third great book is the Quran, dictated by God to Muhammed and adopted by the Muslims as the holy book for the third great religion, Islam.
The Middle Eastern and the Western worlds have been governed and remain governed by these three great faiths and their great books of history, tradition, and learning. Bless us all for the guidance we receive from our God above. God, called by three different names: Yahweh, God, and Allah. Regardless of what name we call our supreme being, regardless of whether we call God Father God or Mother God, it is the same God offering the same love, asking us to follow the same love: TO LOVE EACH OTHER, to offering a safe place to sleep for the stranger in our midst. Is it too difficult to offer love for our neighbor, to offer an open hand of aid, not close a closed fist of anger? Know the Bible and the Koran. None but the great books of love to our deities. Who is the echo Chamber of hatred? In a sense. His or Her books of worship reflect past wrongs that we have done to ourselves. But they also show us a way out of these wrongs. Showing us a way to joy and harmony, goodness, and love.
Speaking as a Christian. And I can only speak as a Christian because that is how I was raised. I can never see God. Because God is the only Something that is within me. It is a feeling. That I share. I know that he is here when I see that person begging on the street. Knowing that I can help him. By giving him a few dollars. I am too poor to share something other than money. My quarters are too small to open my home to others. I AM Not physically capable. Spiritually, I can lift others up. Christian-wise this has asked me to love others. And treat them equally and I do that. God loves all of us. Christian, Jewish, Muslim. We are all brothers and sisters. I have read the Bible. I have read the Koran. All beautiful works of literature. All beautiful structures of faith! Can’t we live by what they mean? And not by what? Their history reflects mankind’s wrongs and God’s help in correcting those wrongs. Let us love each other. As Yahweh. Ask God. As Allah asks. Is that so impossible to do?
Over 2000 years ago a little-known Jewish profit travelled from small town to small town healing those that the Pharisees and other church leaders considered unworthy or unclean. These unfortunates were not allowed to pray in the synagogues or bathe in the public baths. They ate from the trash bins and slept in dark spots away from the places where those in charge might find them and punish them for being poor.
Meanwhile, those with money ate the best food, drank their precious wine, bathed in the public baths, attended synagogues daily and prayed, blessing themselves for doing good. They gave very small handouts to those closest to the doors of the synagogues. And when they returned home, they punished their servants for small misdeeds while they were away.
Overall, our society is the same today as it was 2000 years ago; the only difference is we celebrate that wandering Jew in our houses of worship and call Him Christ our Savior, yet we undo everything He stood for and everything He practiced in His time while He walked among us. We are the outcasts, and we are the sinners; we have yet learned to heal. What hypocrites we remain!
Or should this really be the turmoil of life and death; or, better yet, the stink of life and death~~~
A – We rise this morning to a day filled with promises of love and glory. The Sun is shining; the birds are singing their glorious songs; and the children are happily skipping their way to school down the street. We step out our front door, look at the beautiful day, and decide that it is the perfect day to walk to work, for the Lord is sending Her love and grace to fulfill our baskets of plenty today.
We stop at the local coffee shop, get our favorite cup of coffee and when we turn around, bump into a lady, being very upset, we apologize and go on the way to the office. When we get to the office, we notice our suit jacket, shirt, and tie are very stained by spilled coffee. . . the rest of our day goes downhill very quickly.
B – We rise this morning to a day filled with promises of love and glory. There is no Sun; a storm is blowing the leaves on the trees upside down. No birds are singing their glorious songs; and there are no children happily walking to school; their mothers are all backing their SUV’s out of the driveways to drive the children the three blocks down the street. We hop in our own cars, drive the few blocks to work, park, run into the coffee shop, grab a cup of coffee, turn quickly, exchange pleasantries with the same woman we bumped into yesterday behind to us, rush to our office, and go to our desk. . . and have the best day of the year.
Why does God play such foolish games on us?
Ah, yes, the fickleness and turmoil of modern-day life!
People ask me all the time how they can have a life of service when they have a job necessary to support their families. People tell me they work 45-50 hours a week and the commute time is 2-3 hours a day. Where is the time for service? Do they see the unhoused people on the streets? They haven’t chosen to be there. These are people that are also trying to find hope and purpose for their lives. When we forget them, we are forgetting God. Our hands are dirty! Our lives are dirty! Now is the right time to act. It doesn’t take a miracle to do something about our unhoused brothers and sisters. And it doesn’t take any extra time away from our jobs. A donation here, a phone call there. One of these would be the starting point to help our unhoused neighbors to finding their own way to fulfillment. We are not perfect. They are not perfect. We cannot solve the issue. But perhaps that one phone call can lift one person. To find the stairway out of nowhere. And lift him up to find his dream. Isn’t that all that God asks? And isn’t that one phone call a life of service?
I am lost. . . I have fallen! My sense of life is tragic; the prophets tell me to talk about it, show my astonishment, pay attention to God’s Salvation, get back up. . . pursue a life of character, work with God’s helping hand to gain inspiration and integrity. . . and be lost no more.
Meditating to Heal 
Leave a comment