October 13-B, 2022

Sunrise at Schwabacher Landing 02 06/26/2021 Oil Paint Rendered — Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
When Jesus told his disciples,
"You must increase
and I must decrease,"
he was saying,
"It's all up to you, now.
You each have to be like 
the wind that blows where it will!"

There is no unified faith.
No corporate conception of 
how things ought to be.

We each have our own sense of
balance and harmony,
integrity,
sincerity,
spontaneity,
what is called for in each situation
as it arises
and what needs to be done about it.

We may agree generally that emptiness,
stillness and silence are core values,
but disagree in the specifics
regarding how to achieve them
and work out our relationship with them.

There is no ritual or practice to be imposed
upon each individual.
We are not making yogis out of each other.
We follow our own sense of what needs to be done
and how to do it.

"We are the sculptor,
the hammer,
the chisel
and the stone"
(Alexis Carrel, or words to that effect). 

We are out own guru,
our own teacher,
our own master,
our own coach,
our own spiritual director--
figuring out on our own
what we need to do
to be who we are.

There are no books of doctrine.
No systems of theology.
No dogma.
No orthodoxy.
Except to say "There is no orthodoxy!"
That is as orthodox as we 
can allow ourselves to be.

We are iconoclasts, every one.
True to our own sense of who we are
and who we are to be.

–0–

Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters and five granddaughters within about twenty minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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