These words will scandalize some readers.
Sometime in the future, I will no doubt discuss the same ideas in a more well-ordered way. But I think I need to produce some expression now.
Jesus never called upon his followers to “change the world.” Jesus never confronted injustice, oppression, slavery or “the system.”
He had opportunities to do so.
I have suffered with obsessive-compulsive disorder and genetically-based clinical depression all my life. I first became medicated for these conditions, with SSRIs, in 1991, and the improvement was so drastic I never wanted to be without those medications again.
On or about December 6, 2015, however, it seemed as if they abruptly became ineffective. I was not in a position to find a medical doctor competent to change them. So, on the one hand, I’ve lived with clinical depression from then till now and continuing. On the other hand, a positive is that in this state I’ve obtained certain insights that I never could have “seen” any other way.
One insight in particular would have changed my entire course in life, had I only learned it as a child.
It occurred in four steps. The blue block quotes below are excerpts from my diary. However, I recall that C.S. Lewis referred to diary-keeping as a “time-wasting and foolish practice;” that a diary is, “even for autobiographical purposes,” far less useful than one might suppose. As to the first two steps below, I lost a good deal of time and effort searching for diary passages that didn’t exist.
In mid-December 2015 …
Some generations are just more religious than others, some less. The worldwide indifference of millennials towards faith may not spell the end of religion; it may just represent the influx of a large group of souls who happen, as a group, to be less religious than others.
This, along with the prospect of a forthcoming post about auras, recalled to me the supposed influx of another cohort of souls: the indigo children.
I have chosen to keep the alliterative title for this post, though it proves mistaken. Below appears an e-mail exchange of August 20, 2013 between Brian Williard, O.B.M., and myself. In his original message, Brian copied, as he often did, the program summary of a segment on Coast to Coast, a nighttime radio talk show that often deals with UFOs and other strange subjects. The “imminent blog post” referred to appears to be “The New Age is a lot of hooey.”
Related:
Leadership, Patton and Jesus
Through a glass, darkly
Brian wrote:
I don’t know if he promotes this idea, but some believe this guy is the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce:
In this poem, George S. Patton sets forth his impressions of his previous lives.
Related:
Leadership, Patton and Jesus
Hancock, Hannibal and Hitler
THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.
From a 03/31/08 e-mail to my supervisor at the dollar store. This was a young man who had never had a paying job before, and thus certainly no experience in supervision; and I had a mind to give him some pointers on the nature of leadership. Previous conversations had already established that he regarded himself as a devout Christian.
If you’ve never seen it before, I’d urge you to see the movie Patton (link to Wikipedia). Actually, I’d urge you to buy a copy (link to Amazon).
Luke 7:
2A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. Continue reading * Leadership, Patton and Jesus
We begin with Galaxian’s comment on “Jeanette:”
Schizophrenia is not a karmic matter. It is an organic disease just as much as cancer is. I don’t see how anything someone did in a previous life, or early in their current life, would bring this horrible thing on them. Anybody can develop this condition at any time, although it usually starts in young adulthood.
I gather we are both familiar with this disease.
It’s a mistake to condemn a person on the basis of his or her lot, and also can be highly misleading to say she or he “deserves” it.
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)
Today is my youngest brother’s 65th birthday, and a good occasion for me to pay tribute to him as an inspiration and role model.
He’s six years my senior. We have two other brothers, one 7½ and one 9 years my senior.
Let’s see if I can compose this before my Net access runs out for today, 45 minutes from now.
“How I became homeless” is a long post that may be difficult to read at one sitting. The links here below can help. Clicking on any link here will take you to that part of the post; you can ALT-LEFT and ALT-RIGHT to return here, or back.
———— ♦ ————
[Introduction]
THE MUNDANE STORY …
THE SPIRITUAL STORY …
Virtues
Vices
Astrological influences
Bad theology
(1) God’s plan
(2) God’s will
(3) Self-denial and self-sacrifice
[Conclusion]
The Homeless Blogger 