A Powerful Child

TODAY I wanted to run at my “High Place”. Normally I visit my High Place to Meditate or ponder some deep Issue in my Life, but today I just wanted to run along some winding path where the trees serve as giant observers … and the grass is never as green as when following a recent rain. And I must say, today’s run was enjoyable as well a Blessing; a Blessing for what happened as I neared the end of my run.

As I neared the parking lot at the end of my run, I noticed a man walking with his daughter near the park entrance. “How sweet”, I thought to myself as I watched this father sharing his TIME with his very young daughter ~ teaching and EXPOSING her to the wonders of Nature. And as I got closer I looked down at the child: powerful Blue Eyes she had, with her Blond Hair stuffed beneath a wool cap. Just as cute as she could be. But what startled me was …. she smiled at ‘ME’ in a way I had not experienced in quite some time. Her smile and eyes full of happiness was so FULL OF LOVE & TRUST, that I really just wanted to pick her up and hug her! A connection ~yes,  a POWERFUL connection ~ was made between us as if somehow she and I had met before in another Period of TIME or in another Place. All I know is this:

in the brief encounter between us, I felt a sense of Hope, Peace, and Joy sweep across my Soul. Feelings I had not felt in quite some TIME.

Damn near a Religious experience!!

Perhaps this is why the Christian Bible states that Jesus had said (and I paraphrase), ” The Kingdom of God must be first entered as a Child.”

Today, I fully understood the meaning of this.

“Comments”

Here’s a recent COMMENT to mine re the Republican’ts & Right wingers being a ‘One Trick Pony Circus Act’

 

T. Ruth said

November 20, 2009 at 11:57 am e

Perhaps the author would be better served to look at the results of President Obama’s policies than merely defend them because they exist.

Appears this author believes President Obama can take a dump on American values and the author will call it nourishment

 

*****

 

Ruth, Ruth.   : )

 

 

Health Care … which the ‘No Nothing Party’ (Republicans) object to? Hell, I’m totally supportive of EVERY American having access to affordable Health Care. But ‘I know – I know’: Greedy Republicans just can’t ween themselves  off that Big Tit of INSURANCE COMPANY MONEY to simply do what’s right for ‘ALL’ Americans, huh Ruth.

Domestic Policy … I’ve kinda enjoyed watching the Dow Jones Index CLIMB during the past 12 months! George W. Bush dam near had me living under an ‘overpass’ with his and Republican Economic ‘Trickle Down’ and TAX CUTS for the Phat Kats strategy. See, Ruth, Obama is all about ACCOUNTABILITY, okay! This is why his Campaign Promise on Health Care ~ he’s doing it (and has done it for children); or take Rigorous Standards on Wall Street ~ he’s done it; or Transparency in Government ~ he’s doing it; Improving Trade ~ we’ve had a SURPLUS this year; etc., etc., etc.

Foreign Policy …. I’ve stopped work on my basement bomb bunker since we now have a president named Obama rather than Bush, okay! Too, since Obama became President, I now can visit a lot more countries without fear of being spit on!!

You know something,  my fine little ‘Wrong Thinking Friend’. My least favorite bird is the Parrot. So when I hear or see kats like YOU mimic the same old tired lines such as  ” ….President Obama can take a dump on American values and the author will call it nourishment” Ruth, Ruth.   : )

 

American VALUES????   : )

 

Like those expressed by Sarah Palin??    : )

 

Rush Limbaugh?    : )

 

 

Glenn Beck!!    : )

 

 

Bill O’Reilly??

 

Hell! I’m so sorry, Ruth, that people like Barack Obama aren’t working in Bill O’Reilly’s kitchen like back in ‘the good ol’ days’, okay!    : )

 

And I’m truly sorry that a Latina has the AUDACITY to sit her brown ass on the U.S. Supreme Court, or that YOU PEOPLE (Racists) have to endure having a Black Woman as First Lady. But excuse this being the  Twenty-first Century, okay!!

 

 

After 200 YEARS of ‘White Absolute Rule’: Things tend to CHANGE a bit!   : )

 

I kinda feel sorry for folks like you, Ruth. See, you folks allow the Rush Fatbaughs, the Hannitys, the Becks, the Savages, and lawd knows who else … to literally do your thinking for you! Now, I know that all this mindless gibberish in fact is designed to simply COVER your REAL objection to Obama ~ that being Obama is a Black Man: I KNOW this! That’s why each day while YOU PEOPLE (Right, Conservative, Republicans, Skin Heads and other assorted ‘knuckle draggers’) eat yourselves up in HATRED, IGNORANCE, PREJUDICE ….

 

I live each day with Joy & Pride as I observe this brilliant Brother ‘do his thing’!!

 

Now then. Go back and enjoy listening to Rush Fatbaugh!!

 

 

 

HATE it UP, baby!!

 

Bucks Beat Michigan!!

And …. Ohio State has “THE BEST DAMN BAND IN THE LAND!!!”

 

Republican ‘Death Eaters’: One Pony Circus Act

Obama could say that the sun rises in the East, and Republicans will say, “Hell NO! It rises in the West!”

Obama wins the Nobel Peace  Prize and according to Republicans, “It’s Obama’s fault that the committee selected him!”

Obama can say he’ll wait to make a deliberate DECISION regarding Troop Levels in Afghanistan, yet the Republicans will declare: “Obama can’t make a decision on Afghanistan because he’s too timid and indecisive!”

Obama can work tirelessly to STIMULATE the Economy, yet according to Republicans …. “Obama is a failure because he’s destroying America’s Capitalistic System!”

Obama, according to Republicans, can’t bow to International Royalty; Obama can’t make Health Care affordable and/or Accessable to Americans; Obama is a Manchurian Candidate; Obama is a closet Muslim; and on-and on- etc.

 

According to Republicans: Obama can do no right!

 

Now Obama wants to hold Terrorist Trials  on American Soil and under American Jurisprudence. Here’s your TYPICAL Republican rant”

 

 

 

 

Pathetic!

 

Sick.

 

Moronic.

To LIVE As If God Exists

Long ago I read a book by Hugh Prather entitled “there is a place where you are not alone”. Prather had worked as a counselor and teacher in the fields of alcoholism, divorce, suicide, rape, battered women, child abuse, and human relationships. In the book he refers to himself as a “co-helper” because he believed that within a helping relationship the exchange is always equal and so there is no cost to anyone. In the book Prather exposes this side of his life and of the spiritual experiences that led him to a new perception of how to be truly helpful to others.

How to be truly helpful to others.

My ‘Life Experiences’ have taught that … it’s far easier to be  helpful to others than to be first helpful to one’s self. After all, by nature I’m a generous person both with my TIME and Resources. Too, when asked, I’m very generous with whatever advise I can offer to help ‘others’ resolve whatever problem they happen to be dealing with. So for me, ‘helping others’ has never been an Issue in my Life. Ahh, but ‘helping myself’ remains an Issue that STILL confronts. For you see, deep down in my Soul I KNOW what God asks from me … and for all these many years I have refused to accept His Challenge. Why: because confronting (and accepting) what I KNOW deep inside my heart what must be done … is almost frightening to the point of paralysis! Yet it remains TRUE that only in each of our hearts do we KNOW what must be done to Answer the ‘Call’ of the Spirit ~ our TRUE Selves.

In most of the major religions this ‘Call’ is called Faith, isn’t it. Jews, Muslims, and Christians are asked to ‘Believe’ in God and Follow His Directions & Dictates. Now then, from a Group standpoint this is very easy to do. In most cases ‘just showing up’ on Sundays or Fridays to be ’seen by others’ expresses one’s outwardly Faith. What separates, however, the truly Faithful from the hypocrite is …. this solitary Answering of the ‘Call’ which God has inscribed on each individual heart. This ‘God Given Duty’, say, to fulfill his/her Mission in this Lifetime. Thus therein lies the True Struggle. Therein lies the Place where once we commit to ‘Answer the Call’ a deep LONELINESS can set in.

You see. This ‘Call’ I speak of for some can be seen as damn near impossible, yet for others as no big deal. For example, I’ve struggled with smoking most of my life; yet for many others this task is either a non-issue or one that they accomplished quite easily. Or, God my require a person to simply organize their cabinets or their home, which to some may be a Herculean task … while to others “no big deal”.  So you see, a ‘Religious Experience’ is a most Personal and Private aspect of our Lives. So Personal, in fact, that often we have to Struggle with the ‘Call’ all by ourselves.  Hence,  “There Is A Place Where We Are Not Alone”.

For example: attempt to tear from your LIFE a nagging habit ~ say cigarettes ~ and your heart will bleed! Same for alcohol, gambling, weed, negative relationship, dealing with an abusive Boss, whatever: attempt to tear those things from your heart … and your heart will BLEED.

Oh, yes it will!!

But BLEED it must if one is to obey this ‘Higher Calling’ ~ this Challenge ~  of fulfilling one’s existence on this earth. For you see:  if this ‘Higher Calling’ is not taken up and committed to, then we’re plagued with the never-ending question in our own Minds,  “Does God really exist?” And believe me, we can play this Game (?) throughout  our entire life!!

 

Hugh Prather writes:

 

“For this was not the first time in my life I had looked God in the face {his recognition of a particular Spiritual Experience}. But each time before I had walked away and said, ‘He is an illusion.’ Maybe He is, but I no longer care about that. There isn’t time for uncertainty. For me He exists. That is the only thing I know. And that is the reason I live.”

Why Humanity ALWAYS Moves Upward

I am ALWAYS hopeful whenever I see the strife and bitter divide between the Races of Mankind, because the arch of Humanity is ALWAYS upward!

Always.

During the bitter Period of South Africa’s Apartheid Rule, a Black Political Party called the African National Congress (the  ANC ) was brought into existence. This Party included many of the leading Black South African ‘Freedom Fighters’, Intellectuals, and Political Operatives. Steve Biko and Nelson Mandela to name just a few.

Anyway, the Anthem of the ANC would later become part of the National Anthem of South Africa. Think about it: the Anthem of a Party (ANC) thought to be Terrorists, Trouble Makers, the Enemy of the State by White South Africans under Apartheid Rule …. would one day become a vital part of all the South African political power structure!!

And to think. That one day Whites would Sing with Pride the ANC Anthem as now part of their own!! Amazing.

 

Getting Back To ‘Roots’

When one visits other countries, you’re struck by just how the Culture and the National Identity blend to make the fabric of a People. This Identity is not manufactured, defined, debated etc. : it just IS.

We in the United States have Regional Identities, but there has always been this lacking for a TRUE  “National Identity”, instead always the search and ‘defining’ of what our TRUE IDENTITY is as a People. In fact, the only thing that binds us (United States) as a People is Language ~ and even that is under Debate with so many ‘new’ words and phrases added to the lexicon.

I say all this because I’ve noticed that whenever people sing their National Anthem at a sporting event or some such ceremony … it seems that “Other Nations Anthems” pull deep from the souls of their Peoples much more deeply than here in the United States. Oh, we here in the U.S. love and respect our National Anthem, but it doesn’t touch our Soul the way “other nations”  anthems touch their citizenry. Mind you, this is NOT a criticism of our National Anthem: just an Observation.

One of the most Beautiful and Emotional ‘National Anthems’ ~ TO ME ~ is the South African National Anthem. Born from much Suffering, Pride, Hope, and LOVE … the South African National Anthem IS the South African People and their History. I first heard it during a film about Nelson Mandela. Later I heard it again when I saw Nelson Mandela LIVE here in Oakland, California. And believe me, tears streamed down my eyes each-and-every time I heard it.

This clip was from a concert Paul Simon gave in South Africa. Look at the People’s eyes. See the High Reverence in their faces. See the almost RELIGIOUS DEMEANOR they have as they Sing their National Anthem.

 

21st Century ‘Death Eaters’

Godric Gryffindor. Helga Hufflepuff. Rowena Ravenclaw. Salazar Slytherin. Four of the greatest witches and wizards of the Age. All founders of Hogwarts.

Remember them!   : )

As I was driving home this evening, I turned to our local Right wing radio station that I have more or less refused to listen to. In fact, I quit listening to Right wing radio for damn near 6 or 7 months out of … let me see:

I quit listening to RING WING RADIO for the same reason I find it NOT entertaining, educational nor enlightening to routinely visit psychiatric wards of a hospital.  : )

And as I listened tonight to these kats, it was as if these Clowns were stuck back in the Fall of ‘08; that their passionate HATRED for Barack Obama is as virile as it ever was; and that they are just as ‘out of step’ with the Twenty-first Century as they ever were. And so having listened for maybe 10 minutes ~ that’s all ~ I thought back on Harry Potter’s World and just how closely these RIGHT WING “Death Eaters” are to those that belonged to the House of Slytherin and the Dark Lord.

You can recall ~ well, those familiar with the ‘World of Harry Potter” ~ how those belonging to the House of Slytherin had to be from a Class of “Pure Bloods” (in-other-words, your parents BOTH had to be Pure Blooded Witch and Wizard). ‘Half-Bloods’ were looked down upon as an inferior breed unworthy to be Classified as true Wizards or Witches (recall how Slytherin kids at Hogwarts treated Hermione Granger, okay). And something else characterized those from Slytherin House: these folk were generally HATEFUL, ENVIOUS, FOLLOWERS, VIOLENT and MURDERERS of the Highest Order. Hell, even Draco Malfoy was sent on a Murderous Mission to kill Dumbledore!

“Death Eaters” these Followers of Lord Voldemort were to be known as. Slaves to a twisted, maniacal philosophy based upon Prejudice, Hatred, Selfishness, Power, and Blind Obedience to a Lord & Master (a Lord Voldemort). So when I listen and study these Right-wing, Conservative Republicans today … I say to myself: “These people are just plain Slytherin Disciples! Death Eaters!”

Go listen to Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Lou Dobbs <g> or any number of RIGHT WING Kooks that litter the airwaves, and see if all they promote is nothin’ but HATE, NEGATIVITY, PREJUDICE (either against Blacks ~ Obama in particular ~ those of Mexican descent or Arab or any other NON-WHITE Group). Just like Slytherin, baby! And just like “Slytherin” too, the RIGHT WING doesn’t tolerate diversity in Thought or Philosophy!! They walk, talk and act in ‘lock step’!!

I couldn’t LIVE each day so full of HATE as these Right wingers! I couldn’t even call myself a Christian with so much vile and despicable THOUGHTS rolling around my head as theses people think and exhibit 24/7. But again, that’s what these people are, these RIGHT WINGERS/CONSERVATIVES/Republicans:

Twenty-first Century “Death Eaters”!

 

From The Campaign of ‘08

 

 

Brilliant!!

Salute To Veterans Day