tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009563.post111049647547832561..comments2023-12-22T03:49:21.303-05:00Comments on Reflections of a Happy Old Man: Spirit Affects EverythingLarry Claytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11571190213288384302noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009563.post-1110884903093068942005-03-15T06:08:00.000-05:002005-03-15T06:08:00.000-05:00Is the 'world' here used as a metaphor for the rea...<I>Is the 'world' here used as a metaphor for the realm of matter?</I><BR/><BR/>I don't see "world" as a synonym for matter. It is a spiritual power and thus a fallen one -- it all that pressures us to conformity to the ways of culture against a higher calling to faith and gospel. It is not matter itslef but the belief that matter is what most matters. <BR/><BR/><I>Did God take flesh to show the preeminence of spirit over flesh?</I><BR/><BR/>Again -- if flesh is mere physicality -- I would hope not. If it is the inclination within us to discount the spiritual then yes. <BR/><BR/>I think your example of the smile -- for me -- indicates taht at least on thsi side of eternity -- matter and spirit are so comingled we cannot parse them out. The call to love is a call to act in the physical world.<BR/><BR/>I like Teilhard de Cahrdin on this one. Our physicality becomes divinized -- or something like that.nathan's shepherdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17333649679313721590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009563.post-1110869072432583352005-03-15T01:44:00.000-05:002005-03-15T01:44:00.000-05:00Larry,I know this experience of caring for the sic...Larry,<BR/>I know this experience of caring for the sick who bear a dispirited guise. There is that very real possibility of becoming similarly, albeit temporarily, dispirited. However, I have noticed that this moment presents an opportunity. When I am able to be fully present to the other’s suffering, I begin to feel compassion for this person welling from deep within me. I notice a shift. I am drawn to really open my heart and imagine God's love, light, and warmth flowing from my very center, bathing the other with these qualities. In this transformative moment, this love light softens and nurtures the dispirited one, bringing healing and comfort, refreshing both of us. This is difficult to describe, but I bet you know the gist of it. This experience of Spirit affects everything. <BR/><BR/>Blessings flow.Meredithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09432640322896933989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009563.post-1110824661148910772005-03-14T13:24:00.000-05:002005-03-14T13:24:00.000-05:00"just how enmeshed in the material is the spiritua..."just how enmeshed in the material is the spiritual..?"<BR/>"God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.."<BR/>Is the 'world' here used as a metaphor for the realm of matter? Did God take flesh to show the preeminence of spirit over flesh? <BR/><BR/>"And we are put on earth a little space,<BR/>That we may learn to bear the beams of love" (from The Little Black Boy)<BR/><BR/>I don't perceive the spiritual being enmeshed in the material, but the spiritual subsuming it. In the same way the ego is not annihilated, but becomes the servant of the self (or Christ within).<BR/><BR/>May we all experience that oneness.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, David.Larry Claytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11571190213288384302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009563.post-1110754015683499252005-03-13T17:46:00.000-05:002005-03-13T17:46:00.000-05:00I have noticed a difference in the texture of the ...I have noticed a difference in the texture of the silence in a Quaker meeting when I smile. Which raises certain questions about those pictures of Quakers sitting those dour visages from the old days.<BR/><BR/>And if a smile raises our spirits and those of others -- just how enmeshed in the material is the spiritual anyway?nathan's shepherdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17333649679313721590noreply@blogger.com