The Secrets In Plain Sight!

I've sometimes said that I've found that people whose faith is really solid have no problem with people of other faiths. Why? Let me tell you of an old friend of mine. More years ago than I want to admit, he and I were the most misfit of misfits at that elementary school. We became friends partly because nobody else wanted to play with or be friends with either of us. Some years later, I find that his job makes some that didn't want him on their softball team want him to give them a job interview. The problem was that as children, they did not have access to the full set of facts of who he was and what he would be able to do!

Of course, eventually truth reveals itself. Sometimes it is revealed soon enough that we can put this knowledge to use. An example is when we discover that babies do not come from a stork or cabbage leaf. In other cases, such as questions about The Divine, including gods and pantheons, we spend our whole lives being told what someone else was told with little chance to actually experience The Divine. So, what to do?

Blessed Be!

The title addresses one group, but the message is actually for all groups of all faiths, and any groups of no faith.

Seekers Temple is a wonderful group of people, headed by a HP and HPS who are some of the most conventional, normal folks you'll find. As their temple grew, they felt the need to move their church to a location more central to the people who are attending, and Beebe, Arkansas seemed ideal. And, they were welcomed and helped in setting up, until it was discovered that the town's newest church was not a Christian church.

And so, a circus begins with town officials trying to pretend that they're working with Seekers Temple (shades of the VA Pentacle quest), but not really. A bunch of requirements to spend money to be eligible to apply for something that might not be approved, which might mean improvements for the next group of Pentecostals! 

Now, we all know that in the United States, there is the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights (First Amendment), and a number of civil rights laws that are supposed to apply in Arkansas the same way they apply in New York, Oregon, or anywhere else the US flag flies. But somehow, it isn't working that way right now.

But wait! There's more! The people of Beebe who are causing all of this problem claim to be Christians, but have they read what their Bible says about that? Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion (doubtless a Mithraist) and spent time among Samaritans. If he was willing to sleepover in Samaria, what would a few Pagans be to him? And what did Jesus say that might apply to people who stand in the way of other faiths?

Blessed Be!

It happened again, a school shooting. And for me, this was the second school shooting in which I found reason to take it personally. But a question nags at me, and it should be nagging at all of us: What can we do?

It's a simple enough question, and many would say they would like to if there were something that could be made to work. And for those of us who want to offer more than excuses, there is the question of where and how to target our efforts to be effective.

I see two ways to channel efforts, and neither is being used sufficiently right now.

Blessed Be!

This is a question which has pestered theologians, mystics and philosophers since the beginning of time. But then, why is it that it is so easy to find people who want to impart unto us their version of absolute truth? If one of them has a private mountaintop where they receive such wisdom, could one of them sub-let me their mountaintop while they are busy blessing the rest of us with their truth?

And what is this thing that we call "truth"? We certainly should have some idea of what it is so that we might recognize it when we see it, especially when we are confronted with so many versions of "truth"!

Blessed Be! 

There are times when forgiveness does not appear to be the answer. What to do then? There are folks who claim that it's unwise to discuss this, but the fact is that it happens to almost every one of us. Add some knowledge to the wisdom we need to already have, and it might work!

There are some things that can be done. There are cautions. More than anything else, there are reasons to be careful. None of these actions is to be taken lightly or acted upon in a hurry.

But this is something that most of us face, and many of us have to deal with it alone, because few others will really understand.

Blessed Be!

I have not spoken directly about forgiveness until now, because it is a very difficult subject. The Pollyanna-types and people who have never felt a major hurt can make it sound so simple, but the rest of us know otherwise. In fact, that is why one related ritual is such a subject of discussion and debate, even if the discussion is only allowed in terms of hypothetical situations.

But the subject is also unavoidable, and so here we venture into this subject. Even if we don't get very deep this time, you may see more depth than most folks allow themselves!

Blessed Be!

I said it last time, and I felt the need to devote this episode to the reality of your spirituality. It's a major part of what all of this is for and about, and it's what other people with over-done egos and agendas get upset about.

What's special about this is that you can build with this to the point that none of the negative folks might want to mess with you anymore!

Blessed Be!

If you need to see better from your two biological eyes, you can always get glasses. What about your third eye, the one that looks beyond the physical? 

Some people don't even know that they have a third eye, but for others, their third eye might be stronger than their biological eyes. And it's amazing what the third eye can see after some practice.

So, how to we get the third eye to see?

Blessed Be!

This time, I'm doing something different. I'm known for comparing Sabbats to Jewish rites of passage. I find that useful because the Jewish rites of passage parallel the Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year very nicely. Not only that, it's a system of rites that most of us know about, at least slightly. But this time, I've chosen to compare Beltane to the starting grid of a world-class auto race like Le Mans or the Indianapolis 500.

Preparation is done, and when the wedding takes place, like when the flag drops, the real journey begins. And there's something at the starting grid to be learned and applied at Mabon.

Blessed Be!

There's an old saying concerning whether a leopard can change its spots. Well, it can happen. Not only that, but it can be a great thing when it does! A true story which touches on my own family's history tells of one of America's most infamous bank robbers, and how he became a model citizen and an outspoken advocate of law and order (the real kind, not politicians' rhetoric).

And yet we can still see the behavior of some others, in some cases only updating the nouns in their rhetoric to fit the times. And here you and I are. What's there for us to do about this?

Blessed Be!