My Spirit wakes up like the sunrise on a cold winter morning. My Spirit brings light and the hope of warmth and peace. My Mind senses the light and the warmth and rises triumphantly as it starts a new day. My Mind slowly clears, and the day begins. And just so, my Mind engages my Body and I rise, ready to face the challenges and the lessons of the day awaiting me. My intent is to seek some noble purpose and bring positive hope as I labor for the renewal of the common good.
This is how Spirit, Mind, and Body all coordinate and cooperate to bring fresh energy to my thoughts, words, and deeds. This Triune connection brings me to a place of service, a place of helping those in need.
I am reminded of the lesson taught me when I lived in New Orleans. I remember a comment made to a group of the city’s newest leaders. They instructed us to end each day asking ourselves this question– “what have you done today to make New Orleans a better place to live in?”
So, I ask myself, and by extension, I ask you, what are you planning today that will result in a better place in which we can live? I think we have our work cut out for us.
Those of you who have read my blog (foundationalhope.com) know two things: 1) I haven’t posted any new material in some time and 2) I am always looking for inspiration to illustrate the theme of my blogsite, “The Power and Promise of Hope.” As the New Year begins, I have decided to get back to writing on a more regular basis and hopefully to find new resources that help heal the wounds that we read about so often in the news.
I offer this excerpt from C.G. Jung. In Volume 10, paragraph 295 of his Collected Works. Jung writes, “Whenever a civilization reaches its highest point, sooner or later a period of decay sets in. But the apparently meaningless and hopeless collapse into a disorder without aim or purpose, which fills the onlooker with disgust and despair, nevertheless contains within its darkness the germ of a new light.”
Ever since the winter solstice, the days are getting longer, more light is dissipating the darkness, and the new year offers each of us the opportunity to look with hope for better times ahead. Jung offered that a “germ of new light” is coming. What we do with that speck of light can make all the difference.
Our country has always come through the darkness of hard times, regrouped, and moved forward to even greater achievement. As a people, we can do that because we have found unity in common goals, values, aspirations, and needs. The question now is, as a country, do we still have a common set of goals, values, and the willingness to sacrifice for the common good? Can we unite before we divide and fall?
I hope we will decide, as we have in the past, to uncover the common good and to endure any sacrifice we must, to bring about another time of peace, of justice, and of bringing “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to new use and new meaning.
“Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
From My Childhood
One of the stories I remember from my childhood is The Boy Who Cried Wolf. I am sure you remember the story. A young boy bored perhaps because of having too much idle time, cried out in false alarm, ” a wolf, a wolf is coming.” The townspeople all came to protect him. They discovered there was no wolf just a young boy laughing at all the silly people who heard his cry for help. They acted out of compassion and concern for this one life.
Later that day, the boy still bored and slightly amused at the effect his words had cried out again, “a wolf, a wolf is coming.” Once again the townspeople came to rescue the young boy. Still no wolf. The boy just laughed. To the young boy, this was fun, this was a game. As you might expect, later that day the boy cried out once again, “a wolf, the wolf is coming.” This time no one responded. The young boy was eaten by a voracious wolf.
The Lesson
My parents would make certain I understood the story. If one tells too many lies, no one believes the lies anymore. They stop caring what words you might be screaming. “Don’t tell lies,” my mother admonished me, “people will stop listening to you if they think you are lying to them.” She continued, “you won’t be trusted if you lie to people. If people can’t trust your word, they will cease to respond to anything you say.”
I have sadly stopped listening to the cries I hear. COVID, election fraud, justice for all, global warming, on and on. I have heard so many cries with so little evidence of a real presence, that I have chosen to stop trusting, I have chosen to stop responding. I simply do not trust them anymore.
I suppose there are cries I have heard that might be authenticated and “proved.” But I just don’t feel like spending the energy to pursue the veracity of the cries I keep hearing. If I tried to uncover the truth of all the cries I hear, I would never have time to live and enjoy those things that still have proven to be true.
Are there things you know to be true, that are not affected by others shouting random words all the while trying to convince you of some horrible hurt about to befall them and by extension to hurt you? Do you trust? Why?
Emerson wrote the quote above decades ago. The health of human society has been being attacked for countless years in countless ways. Every day, the truth falls victim to some little boy’s voice who, for his own pleasure or amusement, cries out to get a reaction. And then, he sits back at laughs at the commotion he has created. The liar cannot remain whole, he commits a sort of suicide every time he attempts to get a reaction from his victims. He has diminished himself and ultimately will suffer the consequences of his behavior.
The Same Lesson Learned
So I keep hearing the cries. The wolves have come but instead of the liar being devoured I have become the victim. I trusted for far too long. If the truth is lost it’s because, like me, we all get too tired to sort out the truth from the lies and the fiction.
You and I are victims of those false cries for help. We run to be of assistance and we are laughed at. When we stop listening to the cries, we are lost. But when we run towards the cries we find a silly little boy, bored and alone. When will he be devoured? When will the lies stop? Is it still our moral obligation to save him?
We are slowing dying as a society because we have stopped demanding the truth. To paraphrase the “motto” of a well know college in New England there is a voice crying in the wilderness. If only we valued the truth. If only we let those telling the lies to be devoured. But then we become as vicious as the little liar. We allow him to suffer a slow death. We allow ourselves to suffer the same little death.
As a person whose purpose is to ease the suffering of others, I am lost in my inability to demand the truth. The little boy sits and laughs at me and cries and cries. And suffering increases. I/we have been overtaken by falsehoods and misrepresentations.
Help me. Help all who mourn the loss we have allowed as truth dies in uncaring shrieks from a little boy. Save him. Save ourselves.
“Hope and fear cannot alter the seasons.” – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
I envy those folks who can remain present in the moment, not affected by the past or the future. In scripture, we read ( in Matthew 6:25-34) about worry and needless preoccupation with the future. Especially helpful to me is verse 34. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
None of us need to add to the unsettled times in which we are living. There are troubles enough for today without us adding anything else. Our happiness, our peace is a moment by moment response to learning from what falls to us.
To counteract minds that drift from the past to the future, a habit to cultivate is experiencing the present or to put it more simply – to fully embrace this moment whatever it brings. There are all sorts of books and authorities on how to experience being in the present moment, not connecting the past or future to just now. Mindfulness training and learning to be present are big business these days.
Common Sense Solutions
To jump start the process of experiencing the present, try these no-muss, no-fuss common sense solutions.
Sit somewhere that is comfortable. Devote at least 30 minutes to sitting, just sitting.
Give thanks for the peace and quiet of the moment
Stop worrying
Begin to notice and let go of sounds, sights, thoughts, anxiety, and any distraction that interrupts your silence.
If sitting doesn’t work, go for a walk regardless of the weather. Feel the weather. Let weather work its magic.
Sit, breathe deeply, in and out, relax your muscles.
If sitting and walking doesn’t work (by this I mean, if they are getting in the way of being still) lay down somewhere comfortable. I like lawns in the summer and spring, piles of leaves in the fall, and the coldness of lying in the snow in the winter. My new mattress is becoming my new “go-to” place to relax my muscles so the aches and pains of my body don’t disturb the present moment
If and when the silence becomes too much for you, consider this. Recall someone who taught you a lesson that has comforted you when hope and fear seemed too overwhelming to trust.
In your silence, let the divine connect with you. If you ask and remain open to “still, small voices” or “booming thunderous voices”, the quietness of the present moment will return.
Allow your self to be inspired by artwork or music or quotes or photos. There is always beauty, truth, and goodness. Do you believe this?
Finally, up to this point, you have lived and overcome, perhaps even thrived all that has been thrown at you, good, bad and indifferent. You have adapted, regrouped, or set off in new directions. You are a survivor. So far today, you are still surviving. Survive with grace, bring your noble purpose to others to respond to their suffering. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Just finish today. It’s always worked out before.
Of course, as always, I could be wrong. One last thought – “For the wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still, they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven.” (Phyllis McGinley -quoted in Paper Lanterns from The Sun)
Seasons come and go. Those days are gifts meant for you. One day at a time.
In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense: and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day. (excerpt from Common Sense by Thomas Paine, 1776).
Not another question…
I grew up across the street from one of the parks in our town. This park was immediately recognizable by a slightly worse for wear statue of Thomas Paine, front and center for all to see. As a young kid, I had no idea who Thomas Paine was or what his statue was doing in the park across the street from my house. Being curious, hence asking questions, was a character trait I exhibited from a very early age. I always had questions – I was surprised (and then disappointed) that many folks had no time to answer my inquiries.
Thomas Paine Statue located in Burnham Park, Morristown, NJ
I spent lots of time at the local library. The librarians seemed to anticipate my questions. They were never too busy for my inquiries. Usually, those wonderful lady librarians pointed me in the general direction of resources leading to new information about the topic of my questioning. After I had been led to the general area that housed the information I was seeking, it was up to me to dive into the materials in front of me.
And so I became acquainted with Thomas Paine and then Patrick Henry leading to the discovery of the writings and speeches of this country’s founding elders. There was an urgency and need for precise meaning in the words those architects of our country’s values crafted. Those writers considered the effects of their words. After all, their very lives depended on the impact and the power of their words. They were willing to die to defend their words and their actions. There was noble purpose in their writing and speech-making.
The words those folks crafted had impact, had effect, had the power to convict and to call to arms. The messages those words offered had consequences. Meaningless phrases and empty sentiment were absent.
A Huge Hole in My Education
I do not have many regrets in my life but one oversight or one weakness in my education was learning to write well. No one suggested improving my style, my vocabulary, the possible effect on others as to the meaning of my words when they were heard or read. The writing lessons I had in school were all about assignments – a 500-word essay on sportsmanship or a six-page lab report from my science class describing and defending the reasons for the outcome of my classroom experiments. No one discussed the mechanics of writing.
Even when I got to seminary, writing (as in writing sermons) was left to the practical suggestions of my peers. colleagues, and mentors. Fortunately, in that group were some folks who believed it was their job to comment on my writing – choice of words, syntax, conciseness – on and on. I attended several conferences to learn how to create a meaningful sermon as well as how to deliver that message to an audience who actually intended to listen to my words.
Important Items to Consider…
The other day I read a post from social media. I can’t remember the exact words of that post but I do remember the impact the post had on me. Basically the question posed was: in speaking or writing consider this: 1) are your words the truth, 2) are they kind words, 3) is what you are writing necessary? I would add the following: 4) what is the purpose of what you are writing, (a bit different than point three), 5) have you anticipated and taken into account the response your words might have on diverse readers, and 6) what is the context/the circumstances that have inspired your words?
All this being said, eloquent speech speaks to the common good, to shared values and threats to those shared values. Eloquent speech incites us to stand up and respond with our lives and our scared liberty.
I would like to end this post with some eloquent speech written by Patrick Henry, one of the most outspoken voices of the American Revolution. Consider his choice of words and his message. This is eloquent speech, speech befitting the gravity of revolution.
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
“The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate, it is immutable.”
“For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it.”
“The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian but an American.”
“When the American Spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different; Liberty sir, was then the primary object.”
And so, may you write and speak eloquent, honest, and inspiring thoughts that create a climate of unity among the people and repair the things that have gone asunder.
“The key to wisdom is this- constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to questions, by questioning we arrive at the truth.” Peter Abelard
The power of WHY lies in where the WHY question leads. It may lead to truth as Abelard suggests, but there may be an even greater use for the question WHY.
Many of us remember in our youth pestering our parents for the answers to our endless questions. Questions ranged from the esoteric “why is the sky blue?” to the practical, “why do I have to go to bed now?” Most of the time, my parents assented to my questions and attempted to give me satisfactory, if not complete, answers to the question – WHY?
But the real power of WHY lies in what occurs when the final answer we receive starts with “because I said so.” I can remember coming home one day and asking my mom if I could try out for the Pop Warner footbal team in our town. My mom’s immediate answer was “NO!” Then it began. “I asked why not?” My mom answered, “I think you might do better in another sport.” I shot back, “But why?” To make a long story short (and because I am certain you have had similar question and answer exchanges with your parents or another figure of influence), the inevitable response from my mom was spoken – “because I said so.” That was the end of the conversation. I dared not venture into questioning my mom any further. She had spoken.
I could not exist as a middle school-aged kid without more satisfaction from the questions I put to my mother and others. So the next time my mom and I got to the “because I said so” statement, I pushed it just a bit farther. In response to “because I said so,” I added another question, “what about my opinion?” My mom stared at me in disbelief. I had gone beyond the protocols, the boundaries she had set for our conversations. At first, my mom said, “because I said so and I am your mother.” I added the now familiar but ineffective “but all of my friends are doing… you don’t trust me, you don’t love me, you don’t care what my friends say about me.” I tried all of those lines of questioning seeking a stable rhetorical foothold so I could go beyond “because I am your mother and I said so.”
That’s when my mother stopped me in my tracks as she said, “because I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt.” Her answer to not letting me play Pop Earner Footfall was that she loved me and did not want me to get hurt. The hurt my mom was trying to keep me from was not only physical hurt but “psychic hurt” as the older kids would inevitably bully me because of my slight size and weight. She knew this, I didn’t yet.
What I eventually discovered in questioning adults, parents, teachers, coaches, ministers, and others who possessed some form of authority and power over me was their specific reason behind the “because I said so” response. My mother loved me, my teachers only wanted the best for and from me, my coaches wanted to challenge me, ministers wanted me to understand compassion, authority figures wanted to be certain I did not limit myself by breaking laws or local customs.
I learned the real power of WHY was in the conversations I had with folks who took the time and effort to help me understand growing up. When their concern was built upon love, or educating me, our helping me perform at a more skillful level, or making certain my choices in the future weren’t limited by serious past deeds, I realized these folks wished me no harm or to needlessly restrict or reign me in. Folks who go beyond “BECAUSE I SAID SO” and helped me see their honest concerns were the folks I would end up trusting and believing.
I came to understand that every decision my mother made concerning me was because of love. I did not always agree with her and it usually took some time before I saw the truth and the love behind her decisions and advice. Additionally, I ended up experiencing many of my teachers who attempted to challenge me to learn, to question, to think critically in whatever interests came along. Even on the rare occasion that I did something bone-headed and had the police bring me home to my parents, the police just wanted me to see the effects of my choices, within the confines, protections, and guarantees of the law.
The real power of why is that simple word WHY helps one discern who can be trusted and believed. It helps one discern the true motives and agendas of those whose jobs are to help us grow in mind, body, and spirit. To this day, when I meet someone who is willing to explain (and show) their concern for me, the genuineness of their concern becomes the foundation for new friendships and new insight.
The real power of WHY is teaching one how to trust so that in the end we can discern the truth just as Peter Abelard suggeted in the openiong quote.
Let someone know the truth behind your “because I said so” answers. Let them find in you a new and faithful friend who can be trusted and who can be believed.
POST SCRIPT – this post seems so naive and out of place in today’s world. Nowadays, when someone doesn’t like an aswer to their question, rather than seeking greater understanding between two points of view seeking to reconcile themselves, they go off without having experienced trust or new perspective, without perhaps finding a new trustworthy friend who seeks only the common good of all the folks involved. It seems easier these days to battle one another than to do the hard work of developing trust and understanding. I wish this were not so.
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” E.B. White
I prefer a third option – my desire is to experience the world. I am too old to think much about improving the world. I don ‘t have many years left. Improving the world is a young person’s activity. Young people (anyone under 40 years old) still believe in their ability to plan a world according to the basic tenets of humankind – good and evil. I remain hopeful that good will triumph, but looking at our planet’s history of attempts at goodness I am not encouraged. Good intentions and hope-filled actions are almost always interrupted by darker forces – war, poverty, injustice, greed, pettiness, etc. Can you think of any time when good triumphed? As a Christian, I was brought up to believe that when Jesus comes back, goodness will reign supreme for eternity. But that hasn’t happened yet. Jesus’ last foray into sharing goodness with folks didn’t end so well so I have some doubts that the next time might end differently.
And one has to be completely immune to the news to believe one can enjoy the world. We are constantly bombarded with endless news cycles laying out for us the pain and suffering, the nihilism, the selfishness, and misunderstanding among folks who don’t seem to be enjoying each other’s company. It’s not just rich v poor, republican v democrat, all the common binary choices we are given to consider. It is the fundamental theme, I believe that you and I cannot enjoy the world because no one seems to know how to enjoy anything these days. The pandemic of 2020 makes enjoyment that much tougher. And these days, if I am caught enjoying most anything I am called horrible names describing my lack of understanding of, and compassion for, the oppression and marginalization of so many categories of people and situations. I am asked how I can enjoy the world when so many are suffering, are kept down, are disregarded, not seen as mattering.
So I am choosing all that’s left for me. I am choosing to experience the world. I choose to take in all that my senses can stand. I choose to engage fully with all points of view, reserving judgment, and condemnation as someone else’s right to decide. I choose to experience and observe everything around me. Some days there is horror, some days utter beauty and simplicity. Some days people are remarkably good, some days they turn on each other with venomous actions.
I am rejecting binary choices – good/bad, rich/poor, matters/doesn’t matter, useful/wasteful. No more drama, no more judgment, just jumping in to experience the world and wonder how it all fits together. You see when I am experiencing the world rather than improving or enjoying it, I get to choose the standards, the values, the definitions I use to describe what I experience in the world. I get to filter everything I experience through the lenses of the things I hold dear.
My filters are these: hope, noble purpose, compassion, easing suffering, giving, beauty, truth, justice, and several others close to my heart. So whatever the news I read or see or hear, I filter it through those virtues. Suddenly I find hope, I see folks doing kind, noble things for others, I see goodness in all that I experience. This is my choice – to experience the world through my values. That’s my plan.
A side benefit is that I find myself praying for the world to be touched by folks bent on improving it and I am encouraged by those who are finding they can enjoy the world. Me, I just experience the world according to what I hold dear. I try to live by three simple maxims paraphrased from John Wesley: do no harm, do all the good you can, find occasions to thank the world for not giving up on me, on us. That’s my plan for tomorrow. Have a great week, improving, enjoying, or experiencing the world. Find your own peace of mind.
Four years ago, I began writing a blog with the tag line, “The Power and Promise of Hope.” Things have changed radically since that first post. Today, as I return to blogging I am driven to redouble my faith in the power and promise of hope.
To have confidence in hope in 2020 is an act of faith to be sure. But what else have we? Alan Keightley quoted in Paper Lanterns – More Quotations from the Back Pages of The Sun wrote, “Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”
You see for several months I have been overwhelmed with the news surrounding “current events”. Covid-19, protests, and marches. violence, civil unrest, being held captive in my own home unable to travel freely, or to enjoy a quiet meal with friends in a favorite restaurant. This is the world I am being forced to experience. This is what is passing now for “normal.” This is the world I am told to experience day after day.
I have come to realize and believe there is another way to view the world, to interact with the world, through the power and promise of hope. I am re-discovering an all-encompassing sense of hope. From where does my hope originate? My hope comes from my childhood memories. I remember hard-working parents who instilled in me a desire to be independent while never overlooking the needs of others. I remember friendly competition with my siblings as we grew to understand and appreciate one another. I remember lessons learned in church as well as lessons learned in school. I was fortunate to hear similar messages no matter where I was – do your best, help those who are in need, contribute to the common good.
I understand I am indeed fortunate to be able to recall these memories and these lessons. Others have not been so blessed. I cannot, however, squander or dismiss what I have experienced. I can only live each day in hope.
I hope we get a chance to create and live in a world of our own choosing, a world we can share with others guided by common values and virtues. I hope we will find more moments that unite us rather than divide us. I hope we will have the courage to speak to those who expect us to experience the world they have created for us – a world that is not demanding the best of human nature.
My faith tells me to do three things: 1) do no harm, 2) do all the good that I can, and 3) to stay in awe of the life set out for us by our Creator. We were created to experience a new world based on nurturing and affirming the best attributes of our shared humanity.
In my head, I keep hearing a song sung by the Youngbloods so many years ago. Let me end with one of the stanzas from that song and the chorus well known to so many.
“If you hear the song I sing you will understand (Listen) . You hold the key to love and fear all in your trembling hand. Just one key unlocks them both, it’s there at your command.
Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another now.”
That’s my hope. That’s the world I am going to find.
Obfuscate – render obscure, unclear or unintelligible, bewilder. (The New Oxford American Dictionary).
Root Cause Analysis. Root cause analysis is a collective term that describes a wide range of approaches, tools, and techniques used to uncover causes of problems.
But that’s not all! We gladly suffer, because we know suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us… (Romans 5:3-4 CEV).
Hope never disappoints.
This is a very bold statement. I would guess many of you would question never having been disappointed by trusting in hope. And who gladly suffers? What’s the lesson to be learned from this piece of scripture?
But that’s not all! We gladly suffer, because we know suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us… (Romans 5:3-4 CEV).