For someone who has researched long and hard about finding a healthy work-life balance, I am amazed at how darn ****** difficult it can be! Now what I find hard is this: not actually doing things, because all that I have to do is actually easy and straight forward (well sort of), but it is the anxiety and adrenaline that wells up within me that creates the probems. On the one hand I am anxious because I am frustrated at not being able to do all I want to do as I am so inspired by the world around me. On the other I feel that I can't let all the adrenaline loose that builds up daily because I feel anxious. I find it amusing that even trying to be relaxed can be stressful! Somehow I think that computers create within me a sort of build up of energy that has nowhere to go. I love them and have to sit at one all day for my job, but I do try and get away form the screen when I can.
I have now decided to keep my bike at work and go out for a quick spin in my meagre half hour lunch break to try and dissipate this energy and loose a bit of weight!
Leading a SLOW lifestyle is not easy as a wage earner, commuter, husband, dad and creative thinker. In theory it should be so easy - I could write a whole book on how to. In reality I feel a hypocrite at not being able to be the green, slow, eco-spiritual being I feel is true to me.
Life gets in the way, and I have to deal with the demands of work, dripping taps, shopping, tax returns, watering the garden, darwing, sleep, and everything else. I love it all, but I just wish I could do it SLOWLY without getting anxious about it all.
Hmm, must dig out the books on creative visualisation, do my daily journal, pray, relax, ... etc etc etc...
Looking forwad to the day in London next week celebrating the work of Thomas Berry Earth is Community
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Saturday, 18 August 2007
Praise
Reflections on Psalm 118:6, 28-29 for a prayer meeting in 2006.
‘The Lord is for me, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever!’
Praise acknowledges the other (who or whatever you are praising) for its beauty, presence, trustworthiness, love, self-sacrifice and faithfulness.
Praise has to come from the soul. Without your soul behind it, it is empty of meaning. You don’t usually give praise without something deep within you being touched and wanting to express something that has an emotional attachment.
Praise is an acknowledgement, thanksgiving and positive affirmation of someone’s actions or qualities.
You need to have a motivation to praise - to give praise demands sacrifice of self and raises the value of the other.
You impart some of your energy to build up the other, so you must be willing to do it. It takes you to another place, you have to be willing to move and lay open your ‘self’ and be vulnerable.
We can praise other, we can accept praise, though we may find that hard to do. We sometimes want it, but when it does come our way we don’t always know how to accept it.
Praising the Divine can take many forms. For some it may take the form of exuberant worship as this passage suggests, singing worship songs with others at church or some other positive uplifting personal sacrament. For others it may be more subtle - a quiet personal prayer with a candle, playing music, planting a seed or touching a tree.
Give praise where due and your act of self-sacrifice will be honoured.
‘The Lord is for me, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever!’
Praise acknowledges the other (who or whatever you are praising) for its beauty, presence, trustworthiness, love, self-sacrifice and faithfulness.
Praise has to come from the soul. Without your soul behind it, it is empty of meaning. You don’t usually give praise without something deep within you being touched and wanting to express something that has an emotional attachment.
Praise is an acknowledgement, thanksgiving and positive affirmation of someone’s actions or qualities.
You need to have a motivation to praise - to give praise demands sacrifice of self and raises the value of the other.
You impart some of your energy to build up the other, so you must be willing to do it. It takes you to another place, you have to be willing to move and lay open your ‘self’ and be vulnerable.
We can praise other, we can accept praise, though we may find that hard to do. We sometimes want it, but when it does come our way we don’t always know how to accept it.
Praising the Divine can take many forms. For some it may take the form of exuberant worship as this passage suggests, singing worship songs with others at church or some other positive uplifting personal sacrament. For others it may be more subtle - a quiet personal prayer with a candle, playing music, planting a seed or touching a tree.
Give praise where due and your act of self-sacrifice will be honoured.
Wisdom and Understanding
Notes for a prayer meeting in 2006
Wisdom: experience and knowledge, insight and practical judgement.
Understanding: perceive the meaning of, nature of, cause of; know how to deal with, agreed upon.
In this passage there is a sense of creation, not in the physical sense, but I a more psychological one - a sense that seeks meaning behind the action of creation. It is not suggesting answers to the great questions of creation, but asks us to accept what we see and try and sense the spirit in which it happened.
The more knowledge and wisdom you have does not always imply you can solve problems. More may remain unanswered because you have to accept that ‘the more you know, the less you know’. It may take you to a place where you are more happy because you have to accept the many unanswered mysteries - the world will remain a place with the unknown.
Wisdom and understanding implies that a time has to be spent living through a period whereby these qualities are fed by experience and learning. You have to go through the past in order to be in the present. You just expect ‘to get it’ in a microsecond - we all have to live and learn. The greatest period where Divine Wisdom and Understanding was birthed is beyond our small comprehension of time and space.
Receiving wisdom and understanding:
We have all been inspired by someone, taught by a teacher, mentored by a friend, followed the example of Jesus etc. And so we become a reflection of that person in some small or greater way as we aspire to their path and vision. If the earth has received Divine Wisdom and Understanding then it, too, must reflect that back. In all that we see around us we must see or sense a reflection of the Creator. It should tell us something about the creation process - about the pain and struggle, the beauty and wonder.
It should draw us nearer the Creator.
But can you hug trees or carry a stone in your pocket?
I walk out into the coolness of the garden after a warm spring day and kneel down on the soft grass to take in the fragrance of the wallflowers that fills the darkening sky. How can something so simple create such a beautiful presence?
I look around. Wisdom and understanding is all around me - an ancient spirit that entwines all things, long before our greedy souls clung to this fragile earth and devoured it to feed our selfish lives.
Wisdom: experience and knowledge, insight and practical judgement.
Understanding: perceive the meaning of, nature of, cause of; know how to deal with, agreed upon.
In this passage there is a sense of creation, not in the physical sense, but I a more psychological one - a sense that seeks meaning behind the action of creation. It is not suggesting answers to the great questions of creation, but asks us to accept what we see and try and sense the spirit in which it happened.
The more knowledge and wisdom you have does not always imply you can solve problems. More may remain unanswered because you have to accept that ‘the more you know, the less you know’. It may take you to a place where you are more happy because you have to accept the many unanswered mysteries - the world will remain a place with the unknown.
Wisdom and understanding implies that a time has to be spent living through a period whereby these qualities are fed by experience and learning. You have to go through the past in order to be in the present. You just expect ‘to get it’ in a microsecond - we all have to live and learn. The greatest period where Divine Wisdom and Understanding was birthed is beyond our small comprehension of time and space.
Receiving wisdom and understanding:
We have all been inspired by someone, taught by a teacher, mentored by a friend, followed the example of Jesus etc. And so we become a reflection of that person in some small or greater way as we aspire to their path and vision. If the earth has received Divine Wisdom and Understanding then it, too, must reflect that back. In all that we see around us we must see or sense a reflection of the Creator. It should tell us something about the creation process - about the pain and struggle, the beauty and wonder.
It should draw us nearer the Creator.
But can you hug trees or carry a stone in your pocket?
I walk out into the coolness of the garden after a warm spring day and kneel down on the soft grass to take in the fragrance of the wallflowers that fills the darkening sky. How can something so simple create such a beautiful presence?
I look around. Wisdom and understanding is all around me - an ancient spirit that entwines all things, long before our greedy souls clung to this fragile earth and devoured it to feed our selfish lives.
The possibility of the 'Maybe"
Can't remember where this note came from I wrote several years ago, but ever since I have been struck by the power of 'Maybe....'
In the ancient Celtic law and faith everything happened in threes. Thus when the Christian religion came, with the trinity concept, it was an easy adaptation. Now we can appreciate that it allows for more freedom than the dualism of the East, the yin-yang of black and white. The Celts allow for gray also, for yes no AND maybe.
In the ancient Celtic law and faith everything happened in threes. Thus when the Christian religion came, with the trinity concept, it was an easy adaptation. Now we can appreciate that it allows for more freedom than the dualism of the East, the yin-yang of black and white. The Celts allow for gray also, for yes no AND maybe.
Your vision is your home
Notes written for a prayer meeting a year or more ago
One of the great tasks in life is to find a way of thinking which is honest, original and right for your style of individuality.
The shape of each soul is different.
Be aware of thinking/ideas/people etc that limit you - that deny you your life.
Prisons: we allow ourselves to build prisons around ourselves and then choose to live in them. They may be physical, psychological - guilt, shame, belief, self-critisism... Perhaps prisons and dark dungeons are closer to home than we think.
One of the great tasks in life is to find a way of thinking which is honest, original and right for your style of individuality.
The shape of each soul is different.
Be aware of thinking/ideas/people etc that limit you - that deny you your life.
Prisons: we allow ourselves to build prisons around ourselves and then choose to live in them. They may be physical, psychological - guilt, shame, belief, self-critisism... Perhaps prisons and dark dungeons are closer to home than we think.
Boundaries and Freedom
Some writing from June 2005
This is a passage about boundaries and freedom. God created the world and this gives impression of a set of constraints put upon it. A sense of a great eternal movement set in motion by God and which cannot be changed by anything we do.
And yet within that there is a sense of freedom that we are able to search for a sense of belonging. Who are we? What are we doing here? Is there a God? How do I make sense of the world around me? We try to find something that is greater than us - something that all cultures throughout the world have done and which seems to be an inherent part of our make up throughout history. We are all feeling our way towards him. But God is not far off, he is close, in fact we are within God, in all we do. All too often Christians seems to feel they can hop in and out of God’s presence. That seems an odd concept. It is our awareness of the Divine that we need to tune in to. That awareness must surely be without boundaries.
So do we have boundaries and freedom. What boundaries do we create and what freedoms do we have? How do they relate to your life? Are we free to search for God or are we limited by boundaries that we put up?
This is a passage about boundaries and freedom. God created the world and this gives impression of a set of constraints put upon it. A sense of a great eternal movement set in motion by God and which cannot be changed by anything we do.
And yet within that there is a sense of freedom that we are able to search for a sense of belonging. Who are we? What are we doing here? Is there a God? How do I make sense of the world around me? We try to find something that is greater than us - something that all cultures throughout the world have done and which seems to be an inherent part of our make up throughout history. We are all feeling our way towards him. But God is not far off, he is close, in fact we are within God, in all we do. All too often Christians seems to feel they can hop in and out of God’s presence. That seems an odd concept. It is our awareness of the Divine that we need to tune in to. That awareness must surely be without boundaries.
So do we have boundaries and freedom. What boundaries do we create and what freedoms do we have? How do they relate to your life? Are we free to search for God or are we limited by boundaries that we put up?
Monday, 13 August 2007
The Feminine Spirit
Anyone studying Judaism and the Hebrew religions, the Holy Scriptures such as the Kabbalah, Torah, and Talmud know the term ruach ha-kodesh as the Hebrew term for the Holy Spirit. "Ruach" means "breath" or "spirit," and "ha Kodesh" is a word akin to "holy". In Hebrew, ruach ha-kodesh is a feminine term, so that in the original language of the Bible, the Ruach ha-Kodesh is a "She." In the Old Testament, when the phrase "Spirit of God" is used, it is always the feminine Hebrew term. (www.christianwicca.org)
Things to do: find out more about whether the Holy Spirit is actually more female than I have always been lead to believe. Somehow, a more female Spirit makes more sense to me. Have I been given a distorted paternalistic view of the Trinity that actually now has a place for a female member? It certainly creates a more meaningful eco-theological/mother earth view of things.
Perhaps this is where Bible study could actually get interesting for once...
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