Finding our way to The Way one situation at a time. I don't know how great it will be, but I expect it will be interesting, and I look forward to it going on past all reason because wonder is just that way. Are you coming or not?
Sunrise at Looking Glass Rock — Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
We cannot think our way out of where we are to some other, better, place instead.
All of our problems stem from the way we handle our other problems.
Growing up is the solution to all of our problems today, yet, all of our "solutions" are built around not having to grow-up ever.
We want things to change without being different. Or, to be different without changing. The status quo must remain untouched forever.
Slavery goes but inequality and injustice remain. Etc. throughout society and culture. There is no evidence of growth and maturity anywhere throughout the world.
Make it the universe.
Here is the situation that holds throughout the universe:
At birth everyone everywhere is born exactly at the mid-point between the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane. Everybody but Jesus, the Buddha, and indigenous peoples do it the way Adam and Eve did it, with what "I" want, how much can "I" get/have/amass/etc. before "I" die, what can "I" get away with, etc. driving our boat on its path through the sea, and "Thy will not mine be done" (With the "Thy" being our intrinsic intuition and our innate, newborn, drift toward liberty/justice/equality/truth) left to be lost on its own in the wars and wrath of eternal brutality characterizing all expressions of civilization over time.
Only indigenous peoples-- with Native Americans leading the list-- show a propensity for doing it the way it needs to be done, with those who have being considerate of those who have not and everybody working together for the true good of the whole.
That's the right way to do it, which stems from our intuition and our in-born sense of liberty/justice/equality/truth. Which is lost and gone forever in the quest for wealth and glory at the heart of civilization wherever it is found.
And what chance do we have of turning things around?
This is where Jesus and the Buddha come to the fore in not caring what their chances were, and living in the service of liberty/justice/equality/truth in each situation as it arose all their life long, no matter what.
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.
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4 thoughts on “September 02, 2024 – A”
Thank you for the stunning photo along the Blue Ridge Parkway! These views sustain me in the midst of recognizing the truth of your words as they apply to the here and now of what we see around us.
Indeed! So many of your photographs are quite stunning…I am happy for you to have come across such great beauty of Nature and the accompanying bliss in your life. Each of your images, holds a glimpse of the glorious beauty, that is still very real part of our existence in this world. Despite so many other ‘not so acceptable’ things around…This gives hope!
The natural world is an oasis, a retreat, a buffer, a “very present help in time of trouble”! Woe unto those who do not avail themselves of it, or have no access to it!
Thank you for the stunning photo along the Blue Ridge Parkway! These views sustain me in the midst of recognizing the truth of your words as they apply to the here and now of what we see around us.
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Reflection, realization, reorientation…the eternal path/way, which we share, reminding, encouraging, each other along the path/way!
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Indeed! So many of your photographs are quite stunning…I am happy for you to have come across such great beauty of Nature and the accompanying bliss in your life. Each of your images, holds a glimpse of the glorious beauty, that is still very real part of our existence in this world. Despite so many other ‘not so acceptable’ things around…This gives hope!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The natural world is an oasis, a retreat, a buffer, a “very present help in time of trouble”! Woe unto those who do not avail themselves of it, or have no access to it!
LikeLiked by 1 person