Tag Archives: Prayer

* Jeanette

November 8, 2014Homelessness, OUR BEST POSTSKarma, Prayer, Schizophrenia, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

Jeanette is a pleasant, demented homeless woman who frequents St. Paul Plaza and the library.

She’s always immaculately dressed. I don’t know how she manages that.

One day, I think in May, walking through St. Paul Plaza, on impulse I approached her and asked if she’d sell me a cigarette. (At that time, I was buying “loose ones.”) Instead, she gave me three Newports.

And she’s done the same thing again almost every day since.

She’ll cross the street in the rain to bring me three Newports.

On the one hand, I’ve pondered whether I’m taking advantage of her. It seems instead that it’s a blessing to her to be able to do this for me.

On the other hand, you don’t want to have a conversation with her. She has a long, long list of public figures whose scandals and deaths she says have been blamed on her.

I am tempted to wish I knew the karmic basis of schizophrenia, that I might pray for her more effectively. But I need to use the tools I have.

God bless Jeanette, and heal her; in this life, or the next.

(Reblogged 2020-04-30.)

* Grief and sublimation

September 13, 2014OUR BEST POSTSAlcoholism, Ambrose Worrall, Brian Williard, Grief, Karma, Prayer, Reincarnation, Sublimation, The Homeless BloggerWilliam Tell

R.I.P. Brian Williard, a.k.a. funnyphilosopher.

Homey died yesterday. Earlier in the week, he had consumed too much alcohol in too little time, and stopped breathing. Help did not arrive in time.

My grief surprised me, given that, when my mother died in 2011, I never grieved at all. However, that occurred in special circumstances. (Link)

Continue reading * Grief and sublimation →

* Exceptional horoscopes

September 3, 2014UncategorizedAstrology, PrayerWilliam Tell

I will collect here stories of times when my horoscopes have been exceptionally accurate. This post may be updated from time to time.

Related: Why I believe in astrology

———— ♦ ————

Saturday 2014-07-26. There is a woman who comes into McDonald’s sometimes, who has taken a liking to me, and sometimes gives me money. Not long after I first composed “Prayer primer,” I figured I could print out a color hard copy to give her as a present; and eventually I did so. But for weeks, I never saw her.

Continue reading * Exceptional horoscopes →

* Jimmy

August 30, 2014DependencyAddiction, Alcoholism, Bible, Matthew 21:22, PrayerWilliam Tell

16:01 Saturday 2014-06-28. [Written in the “smoke pit” at the shelter, waiting admission.]

They escorted Jimmy out of here about half an hour ago. He’s always been a milquetoast. Now he was shouting and cursing. “Yeah, I been drinking.” Whatever happened at the desk, he’s barred out now. I owe him $2.

He’s diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and ADHD. I’ve seen him reading books about both of those diseases, but never anything about alcoholism.

Continue reading * Jimmy →

* Out of reach

August 16, 2014Homelessness, Jacob's Ladder, Motivations, Poverty, SqualorDan Rodricks, Keep the focus on you, Manna House, McDonald's #2763, PrayerWilliam Tell

From my diary:

Thursday 2014-06-19. 13:30. In a recent column, Dan Rodricks mentioned Manna House, which I’d never heard of before. At McD this morning, Roy was talking to somebody and mentioned having been at Manna House last night — “with the critters and the crazies.” I was quite surprised to hear him talk like that, since in my book, he’s “a critter and a crazy.” The people who frequent that place must be really bad off. I would recall [a former therapist, whose principal practice was in addictions]‘s saying, when I asked many years ago about the mentally ill among the homeless, that “they’re so sick they can’t be treated.” Part of my heart reaches out to them; can it be that I might sink so low as to become able to see the world as they see it? What does the Gospel look like to a hopeless schizophrenic?

Continue reading * Out of reach →

x Prayer primer

July 26, 2014Bible, OUR BEST POSTS, Science1 Corinthians 12, Auras, Fluorescence, Jesus, Matthew 5:14-16, Prayer, Prophecy, Spiritual healing, Talent, WisdomWilliam Tell

All my life, I’ve been fascinated with things that glow in the dark. Where does the light come from? This is now fundamental to my understanding of prayer, and of my vocation.

The picture shows what I take for the latest advance in the world of fluorescent materials. Here are germanium nanoparticles in a colorless colloidal (gelatinous) suspension, being irradiated by ultraviolet light. By virtue merely of where they are and what they are, the invisible light that shines on these particles is changed into visible light.

The nanoparticles catalyze that process: they do no work of their own, expend no energies of their own, and take no active part in the process; but it won’t occur without them.
Continue reading x Prayer primer →

* Two Men Use Girl As Human Shield — Until Her Father Guns Them Down

July 21, 2014Clippings, National news, National politics, Poverty, SqualorCrime, Gun control, Handguns, Honeybees, Immigration, Manhood, McDonald's #2763, Prayer, Prisons, SexWilliam Tell

Bookmarks:
Two Men Use Girl As Human Shield — Until Her Father Guns Them Down •
Less incarceration could lead to less crime • Four Pinocchios for yet another Democrat ‘Mediscare’ ad • Why women love bad boys • Someone’s been sleeping in my bed. • Child immigration crisis • Pray for the honeybees

Continue reading * Two Men Use Girl As Human Shield — Until Her Father Guns Them Down →

* Un[b]locking the spirit

July 12, 2014Bible, Science, The Way of PeaceAuras, Chakras, Edgar Cayce, Jesus, Mark 5:30, Mark 9:2-3, Meditation, Prayer, Serotonin, Silence, The TransfigurationWilliam Tell

Pray for yourself first.

When you pray for someone, you become a channel through which the Holy Spirit (or “Life Force”) flows to address that person’s needs. (See Mark 5:30.) You may or may not perceive this flow as it happens.

The Spirit must first address any deficiencies in the channel itself, before it can optimally address the other person. In particular, the Spirit must address any emotional imbalances that may exist in the person who intends to pray. Without this adjustment, at best the Spirit’s flow will be constricted; at worst, the channel may project his or her own needs (e.g. anxieties, aches and pains) onto the patient.
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* Treatment resistant

July 5, 2014Clippings, Get on your feet, National news, OUR BEST POSTS, Poverty, SqualorFree will, Prayer, Rachel Jeantel, Spiritual healing, Tom Joyner, Trayvon Martin, Treatment-resistant, War on PovertyWilliam Tell

A ‘village’ of mentors keeps Trayvon Martin’s friend, Rachel Jeantel, on track

Tom Joyner: “Did it work? The short answer to that is no.”

At first glance, the story of Jeantel and her “village” seemed to me to epitomize the principle I set forth in “Don’t come uninvited.”

Continue reading * Treatment resistant →

* The New Life Clinic

June 30, 2014OUR BEST POSTS, The Way of PeaceAmbrose Worrall, New Life Clinic, Olga Worrall, Prayer, Spiritual healingWilliam Tell

I recently came across the web page for The New Life Clinic. This appears to be new. It’s modest, but says enough.

The New Life Clinic

The New Life Clinic happens at Mt. Washington United Methodist Church, 5800 Cottonworth Av., Baltimore, MD at noon every Thursday. The service lasts about an hour, and includes individual prayer with the laying on of hands.

I’d encourage anyone in Baltimore to go.

They’ve always kept a very low profile. In 2013, not sure whether the New Life Clinic was still in operation, I phoned the church office. The pre-recorded message didn’t mention it. Yet the services I’ve attended were all standing-room-only with people who’d come from all over the world; many of them also patients at one of Baltimore’s world-class hospitals.

I seek to model my practice on theirs.

(Reblogged 04/11/19.)