October 30, 2023 – A

Posted byjimwdollarPosted in06/25/2020
Hemlock Islands 02 o9/29/2010 — Penobscot Bay, Isle Au Haut, Maine , The View from the Mailbost
We are always looking,
pleading,
for divine assistance,
when all the help we need
is "right there,"
right here,
right now.

We are born with what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done
here/now.

And, we will not be abandoned
and left bereft. 

So, what's with all the empty eyes
and the woe-be-gone appearances?
They all belong to those who 
want more than they have any business having
and are eternally displeased
with things as they are.

All of the addictions
have their foundation
in attitudes that don't like
what they have to work with
and how things are.

In light of them,
I give you the fictional character Tevya
(from "The Fiddler on the Roof")
and the real life example of Helen Keller.
And I repeat:
We are born with what we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.

All we are lacking is Anne Sullivan.

In her place we get Jimmy Swaggart
and Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, etc.
And the world is as it is 
because of the guides we embrace
and the ones we ignore--
and the responses we make
to the world as it is.

And what I have to offer
in response to that
are the right kinds 
of emptiness, stillness and silence.

The turn-a-round starts with taking stock,
with seeing the truth of how things are,
and offering,
"Okay, now what?"
to the emptiness, stillness and silence,
and waiting for what stirs to life,
arises,
emerges,
appears,
occurs to us
from within.

Without the equivalent of Anne Sullivan,
we turn to ourselves
and say, "Okay, let's see what we can do
about this."

And see what we can find within
our own original nature
and the virtues/characteristics
that come with us from the womb
to do what needs to be done
with what we have to work with here/now.

Which may have nothing to do 
with what we want.

The ability to do what needs to be done
regardless of what we want
is all that separates Adam and Eve in Eden
from Jesus in Gethsemane.

–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, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

9 thoughts on “October 30, 2023 – A”

      1. So sorry! I will get the link again…but, first, I think I may have found a helpful resource at Amazon:
        https://a.co/d/2QhAtaB
        “Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands, Sacred Myths, Dreams, Visions, Speeches, Healing Formulas and Ceremonials (Classics of Western Spirituality) 1/1/1979
        Edited by Elisabeth Tooker, Preface by William C. Sturtevant

        “For sheer publishing courage and imagination, what can surpass…The Classics of Western Spirituality™.” Publishers Weekly “…of fundamental importance to any student or scholar interested in the development and dimensions of the religious ideas and experiences of man.” Mircea Eliade Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands: Sacred Myths, Dreams, Visions, Speeches, Healing Formulas, Rituals and Ceremonials edited by Elisabeth Tooker preface by William C. Sturtevant “The people moving about on the earth will have love; they will simply be thankful. The will carry it upward, ending where I dwell. I shall always be listening carefully to what they are saying, the people who move about. And indeed I shall always be watching carefully what they do, the people on earth.” Seneca Thanksgiving Address This work makes available for the first time in a single volume a representative collection of the major spiritual texts from the Native American Indian peoples of the East Coast. Elisabeth Tooker, professor of anthropology at Temple University and an editor of The Handbook of North American Indians, presents the sacred traditions of the Iroquois, Winnibego, Fox, Menominee, Delaware, Cherokee and others. What makes this volume so unique is that it gives the reader direct access to the original works (in the words of the Indians themselves) rather than having them filtered through some interpreter. Included here are cosmological myths, thanksgiving addresses, dreams and visions, speeches of the shamans, teachings of parents, puberty fasts, blessings, healing rites, stories, songs, ceremonials for fires, hunting, wars, feasts and the rituals of various spiritual societies. The Preface to this volume is by William C. Sturtevant of the Smithsonian Institution, who is General Editor of The Handbook of North American Indians. †”
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  2. Here is a copy of what I tried to return email to you:

    I hope this reaches you.

    I noticed something you might find interesting from the daily post from the Center for Action and Contemplation:

    Though I have no family links to Indigenous religions, I have great respect for their wisdom. My early experience at Acoma Pueblo has inspired me to continue to learn about the Pueblo, Diné (Navajo), and Apache peoples here in New Mexico. But I only know enough to know that I don’t know much at all. Indigenous spirituality is not intended for non-Native use. When we try to interpret or apply these teachings in our own context, we run the risk of “severe reinterpretation” [2] according to our own cultural lens and preferences, and without enough regard for their traditional origins.
    I also don’t want to romanticize Native spirituality. As in every religion, there are times, places, and people who “get it”—the mystery of divine/human union—more than others. There are different stages and states of consciousness, and all are part of the journey. Western models of development usually focus on the rational mind, which offers one way of knowing reality, but in fact, there are many other ways of perceiving and expressing human experience. [3]
    Choctaw elder and retired Episcopal bishop Steven Charleston offers a meditation honoring different ways of knowing that have fed his soul:
    For all the great thoughts I have read
    For all the deep books I have studied
    None has brought me nearer to Spirit
    Than a walk beneath shimmering leaves
    Golden red with the fire of autumn
    When the air is crisp
    And the sun a pale eye, watching.
    I am a scholar of the senses
    A theologian of the tangible.
    Spirit touches me and I touch Spirit
    Each time I lift a leaf from my path
    A thin flake of fire golden red
    Still warm from the breath that made it. [4]

    https://email.cac.org/t/d-e-vdjkljy-tlkrdrudud-yk/

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