Tag Archives: Presence

* Conspiracy theorists: America’s lost sheep?

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Man who helped Sandy Hook kids is harassed by conspiracy theorists

Sooner or later, something like this will happen.

If someone were to call “The William Tell Show” proposing that the Sandy Hook shootings were a hoax perpetrated by the Obama administration as a pretext for seizing all Americans’ guns, and that Gene Rosen and the others were all “crisis actors;” I would be strongly tempted to dismiss the caller quickly and perhaps even hold up his or her beliefs to ridicule.

That would be exactly the wrong response.
Continue reading * Conspiracy theorists: America’s lost sheep? →

* Paying my dues, singing the blues?

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Courage and despair hang in the balance for a homeless radio talk jock wannabe.

“You’ve got to pay your dues
If you want to sing the blues,
And you know, it don’t come easy.”
— Ringo Starr, “It Don’t Come Easy”

Many years ago, when I first conceived the ambition to become a radio talk show host, I quickly selected that song as virtually a theme for my show. Life is difficult. My heart’s desire was to equip people to face life’s difficulties head-on.

My life circumstances were far more comfortable at that time than they have become since. Now I’m asking myself if I’m paying my dues; if I can sing the blues; and whether I myself will face life’s difficulties head-on.
Continue reading * Paying my dues, singing the blues? →

* This Ancient Philosophy Is What We Desperately Need In Our Modern Lives

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Another link from Brian Williard:

This Ancient Philosophy Is What We Desperately Need In Our Modern Lives

Growing up, all the word “Stoic” meant to me was keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity.

Not until 1989, when I was taking the Synoptics course at St. Mary’s Seminary, did I learn — from Sean Freyne’s The World of the New Testament, which I highly recommend for many reasons — that there is a great deal more to it, including much to like.

Stoicism is a life of ordered joy.

As you read this article, please note the many similarities between the approach to life described there, and the things I have said here about presence.

Carolyn Gregoire also wrote the first article I mentioned about emotional intelligence,  “How emotionally intelligent are you?”

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And yet another link from Brian Williard:

Google’s ‘Jolly Good Fellow’ On The Power Of Emotional Intelligence

Looks like links to Carolyn Gregoire are becoming pretty common on this blog.

Don’t scoff at the headline.  From the gentleman in question here, Chade-Meng Tan, comes another ringing endorsement of meditation and presence as I have discussed them.  I note that the first exercise described in the article is tantamount to what I call prayer, and practically the same as I proposed in “You don’t need an invitation to love people.“

(Reblogged 2019-03-14.)

o Here – Now – Can

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Here is the third chapter of The Way of Peace.  The first two chapters appeared Friday and yesterday.

APPLICATION

We are considering the human being as having, so to speak, three intimately interconnected “bodies:” (a) a material, physical body of flesh, that engages in behavior and acts on other material objects; (b) a body that thinks, is composed of and acts on ideas (ideation), which we may call the “mind;” and (c) a body of emotions, or feelings or “affects” (all the same thing), which we may call the “soul”.

Our thesis is that a single set of disciplines, involving all three “bodies,” can yield a state of being I have called “peace of mind,” which is tantamount to what Jesus called “the Kingdom;” and, in short, maximize one’s opportunities for tranquility and happiness in life.
Continue reading o Here – Now – Can →

o About silence

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Here is the second portion of the book The Way of Peace, the first portion of which appeared yesterday.

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MEDITATION

Meditation is not the whole of the Way, any more than flour is the whole of cookies. If you want cookies, you must also have butter, sugar, and perhaps eggs, in addition to flour. Flour is essential, however. Likewise as to the Way, meditation is so essential, as to move me to say this: if you have any interest in learning the Way, and do not now have a discipline of meditation, you should start one now — right now — before even reading the rest of this book.
Continue reading o About silence →

o The Way of Peace

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In 2010, I set out to write a little book that would set forth exactly what I believe Jesus really taught. I entitled it The Way of Peace.  Here is the first section of that text, entitled “ABOUT THIS BOOK.”

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Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus said,

Come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; …
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

All my life, I have been concerned for people who seemed to me to have a harder lot than they deserved — who were loaded down with heavy burdens.

In time, I came to see that I likewise carried needless heavy burdens.

Life is difficult enough even without them. Jesus speaks here of a way to live without them. Life’s inherent difficulties cannot be avoided. Needless difficulties can be avoided, and one’s life will be far more pleasant as a result. I humbly believe I have come to understand what Jesus meant, and that is what I seek to set forth here.
Continue reading o The Way of Peace →

* Free speech issues, etc.

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Bookmarks:
Some news sites cracking down on over-the-top comments • Obama suggests sense of powerlessness in confronting the world’s evils • Scary people downtown • An angry young man, and divine intervention •

Continue reading * Free speech issues, etc. →

* The path of presence

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Thursday, May 1, 2014.  For several days, I’ve sought a sign as to whether presence is, indeed, the way to go.  No answer could be clearer than my experience this afternoon.  I’ve gone through exactly the transition described in “Chaos overwhelms the poor.”  I have power and competence to deal with my current circumstances, with the resources at hand.  I perceive the universe as a well-ordered place.  This cosmic harmony provides the foundation for hope.  I may soon be able to face with confidence the unknown, uncertain future.

That I did all this on my own raises the question of whether there exists, in the end, the unseen world.  I have that answer already; I’ve been in this place before.

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From “Chaos overwhelms the poor:”

Jesus and others have taught an approach to life that enables one to learn to care for oneself and begin to establish harmony in one’s immediate situation.
Continue reading * The path of presence →

* Ask Amy: Inflating the drama won’t help fiance deal with mother

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Ask Amy: Inflating the drama won’t help fiance deal with mother

With Amy Dickinson’s permission, I am copying here below the whole of her column for today.  All three letters touch dramatically on principles I associate with presence, including “Keep the focus on you,” “Mind your own business,” and “Don’t come uninvited.”

DEAR AMY: My fiance’s mother is a monster. He gets upset any time they speak. The latest incident was because he had not been in touch with her since Christmas.
Continue reading * Ask Amy: Inflating the drama won’t help fiance deal with mother →

* The power of presence

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(Originally posted 08/15/13 at Trojan Horse Productions.  Reblogged 11/29/18.)

[Note, 08/15/13: Releasing this now as I will have another post on similar topics in the very near future.]

Wednesday afternoon 07/03/13 I stepped into the shower and said, “OK, what will I think about?” The answer came, “Think about nothing. Give yourself completely to this activity, this experience.”

And at once, for the first time in weeks, I felt the boost that comes from conserving one’s energies, when they are no longer being drained by attention to things distant from here and now and what I myself can do.

This is the power of presence.

[Notes to follow up on in the future:
– Scott Morrison
– Brother Lawrence: silence; feelings
– Forgive us our trespasses
– Take no thought
– The needle’s eye
– Just for today
– Serenity prayer
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– Be here now
– Wherever you go, there you are
– Conspiracy Theorists: America’s Lost Sheep?
– Was There a Jesus? If So, What Was He Like?]