This post will also be Glittering Commentari 10, Waiter Rant. Speaking of ranting. I’ve decided most bloggers just don’t feel like sifting through their gold mine of comments to submit to the Commentari list, so I’ll do it.
From Waiter Rant, these comments appeared, among 200 some, after a post called Legion. It took me awhile to sift through them. There are dozens of quote worthy ones, but these had some reverberation on their own. Enjoy. (some were anonymous, with no link to a blog, or only an email address)
Faber
In the ecology of spirit, just as in the ecology of matter, one eventually discovers that one cannot simply throw something away. The corollary is that, with regard to both matter and spirit, there is no such thing as junk.
Bamecca
My favorite quote from God is from in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were hiding from Him and he say “Who told you, you were naked?†A lot of times we don’t realize how badly we are confining ourselves because of the demons (literal or figurative) that we listen to.
God’s sense of what is important and not is always amazing to me – because who told me that rich was better, who told me that I am more important than the bum on the street, who told me that I am not worth of love? It wasn’t God – because as you said God thinks that I am everything.
I used to think that religion was a load of bullocks. But sitting in a service today (friends of mine were singing) I realized that it was the opposite. It was a massive cry of hope from the human race! Religion is our way of saying “there’s no way life is just a sparkle in some organic cells which then shuts down into total darkness a couple of decades laterâ€. We do not want to believe that there’s no-one who can hear us when alone, or that there’s no fate and stuff will keep piling up. I’m not too good to express my opinion but I think that’s pretty much it! I thought it was so beautiful…
That the world is round, and therefore we are all going in circles, which makes everything “around the bend†and, the best way to find what you are looking for is to spiral out from a starting point and circle about in ever widening circles. traveling in circles does not mean you are staying in one place or chasing your own tail.
As someone who does have that unconditional love, I can tell you that those demons don’t disappear, they just morph into something else, namely, how am I going to screw it up and lose the thing that I love the most? Most days I’m happy and content with my lot. Others, I just know this is temporary. The adversary will always work to destroy love.
The real demon is that none of us can have perfect Christ-like compassion, so we are alone. We cut ourselves off from others because we know they’ll hurt us like we would hurt them if they opened themselves completely. You are right, Heavenly Father’s economic plan is nothing like our own. Money, wealth, are no objects to him. People are the real commodity. If we love ourselves unconditionally, then we develop that compassion and we can love others unconditionally as well.
Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. I know every single one of my unlovable qualities, even if I can hide them from others. I know better than anyone else why I shouldn’t be loved. The trick is learning that God loves me anyway. I have a long way to go before I can figure that out. I am Legion.
There’s been lots of talk of ghosts and demons going around the blogworld. Jessamyn at Theriomorph has posted a number of thoughts on ghosts, including one a few weeks ago, which inspired my post, Ghost in the Mirror.
Our demons are our doubts, our fears, our angers. When I lose my temper, I’m possessed by a demon. When I doubt myself, which I do much, much too often, I’m allowing the demon to have control. When I judge someone, that’s a demon.
Then there are voices in our heads which also tell us the truth. The voices of our conscience. Those voices are, sadly, often ignored along with the demons. Such as in Ned’s rant about two butt-holes who knocked a disabled woman down by going too fast through a revolving door, and didn’t stop to help. They even thought it was funny.
So, yet again, balance is the key. Last week I ruminated on the subject of things Better left Un-named. What I left un-named in that post was the little dramas we all feel when jilted, when ignored, when we don’t get the attention we think we deserve. Even if they are petty little sad vignettes, they happen, and they hurt. There are so many little voices, so many quiet joys, so many unhealed wounds, so much material lost in the great stream.
But as one of the commenters, Faber, above said, none is ever wasted. That’s comforting to ponder. That’s the meaning of a healthy spirit, when you know none of your pain or suffering is ever really wasted, it’s noticed by something, someone, somewhere.
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Balance, the balance of a healthy spirit, I wonder if that lies in our inner soul to mirror that inside our inner ear. That would mean that We would not get feeling vertigo or tremble at the though of heights of feeling.
A thought collection you have gathered Garnet. I appreciate the way your words have tied the comments together. I came looking and I found a Glittering Goldmine. I’ve begun to think that I always will.
smiles,
liz
Don Greene likes to wrap all the demons up into one, and assign it a name, like Bob. When Bob stops by, Greene says, the idea is to identify it, then tell it off. Or befriend it, but at the very least, recognise it. As often is the case regarding your blog, I’m going to re-read this post again later when I have more time to spend. Superficial you ain’t, Garnet.
Thanks you sweeties. Yeah, I really like these comments from Rants site. That post Legion just rattles around in your head, like Liz’s stuff.
Liz- that’s a good point. Those heights are where we lose it. Pema Chodron uses the word “staying”. Stay with it all the way. Be present, don’t lose yourself in the bumpy ride.
Whirlingbetty-you remind me of another favorite word- efficiency. Trap all those demons in a jar and throw it out to sea. Once, with some friends, I used a ritual clensing at New Years, where we wrote all our demons on paper and cast it into a fire.
LOVE Whirling Betty’s story of Bob. Who is Don Greene? That’s so great. If I had more time to write today, I’d post a story on my own site about that (maybe this weekend if I can slow things down). For now, though, what if we invited Bob to dinner? You know, the BAD guest who leaves you no alternative but to pull out all the hospitality stops and welcome them into satiation/submission?
Bob: I prefer ice cream to fancy pastries that take all day to cook.
Us: Oh, I have some right in the freezer, here, let me get you a bowl.
Bob: (knocks over the flowers)
Us: Please don’t worry, Bob. If you pick up water right away it doesn’t stain this table.
Bob: (insults us)
Us: You certainly are a Bob of strong opinions. I can appreciate that in a demon.
Then, Bob is our Tibetan Tea Boy! (The little boy who lives at the monastary whose job it is to harass and bug the monks constantly to help them develop patience.)
I just discovered your blog (via Dantallion). What a blessing it is to read your words; an enriching, nourishing, magical affirmation of life. Thank you.
What Faber said reminds me of the First Law of Thermodynamics: energy/matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Everything is simply converted into something else, thus everything is always in flux.
Joel-thanks for visiting. I hope you come back. Amy- I like that way to view spirit, as something always there, just in different forms.
We always choose what we give power to in our lives. Perhaps when we relinquish our control to those emotions and motives that can destroy (us or others) this is where we find the demons.
Wow. Thanks for this post. You got me thinking (way to early in the morning :)). I especially like the quote and all the it means, implies from the Garden of Eden: “Who told you, you were naked?â€
To me that quote is our society. We live by what others tell us is good, bad, fashionable, pretty, ugly. Why do we give society such a hold over us and our decision making?
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