Sunday, July 20, 2025

The Package

 Religion is not obsolete.  It still has a purpose.  But it is at a loss for relevance to a lot of people, especially the younger generations.  Remember the Black Berry electronic device?  Everyone seemed to have one.  Then something else came along and no one had a Black Berry. It worked just fine.  It was not obsolete.  It just lost its relevance to its market.  Another example is the vinyl record player.  The vinyl record spun around at 78 RPM or 33 RPM and you put the needle onto the record.  You heard your music.  Then something else came along.  The record player and vinyl record worked just fine.  They were not obsolete, just no longer relevant.  Now, young people are getting those record players and vinyl records out of grannie’s attic and buying vinyl records.  Taylor Swift is relevant on vinyl now.  Maybe religion will come back.  But I would not just wait and see if I was running a church.  Obsolete never comes back.  

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Next Day Delivery

 Why is Amazon so relevant and successful and popular today while religion is not?  Well, Amazon is quick.  We seem to like quick.  Any satisfaction with religion or other spiritual formation paths are often abstract and slow.  You have to work at it, and the “it” is not always obvious.  Try Recovery Programs or a Catholic mass.  Spirituality takes patience.  It gestates.  No patience needed for an Amazon delivery.  To enter a recovery program when you are jobless is not so bad.  You have time, which is just what you need.  But spirituality is meant to be for a lifetime.  Consumer products, not so much.  

Friday, July 18, 2025

Consent

 Why does the Caholic Church say that “consent” of both the bride and groom are necessary for marriage to be a sacrament?  Well, there was a time when marriage was all about the father of each person making a social contract with the families.  It was “deal” making.  What the bride wanted was of no concern.  She was property, and the father of the bride often had to come up with a dowery, cash if you will, for the groom’s family to take the bride who would now be an “expense” to the groom’s family.  Having children would help of course.  So the church actually stood up for women in this case and got involved in marriages.  The woman now had a say.  Marriage became a sacrament, one of only seven.  Of course if the woman refused, she could be locked up in a tower, like Ripunsel, who then grew her hair so long that her Prince Charming could climb up the braids.  Who remembers these old tales?  

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Off The Wall

 There are a lot of suggestions, instructions, rules that are written on walls, in books, on stones, and wherever they can be written out.  The problem is not the suggestions, which are often criticized and ignored by people who never try them.  The problem is that these instructions are never taken off the wall or out of the book and applied to one’s life.  They are never put into practice.  If your life is a mess, or people tell you your life is a mess, you might want to try some of these things written on the walls.  None of them will hurt you.  Well, they may hurt your ego.  

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Mix Up

 Some of us, when we hear a suggestion, we think it is a criticism.  So, we tend to ignore it or refuse to accept it.  Fear of change, or desire for ego control, can be the cause of this mistranslation.  Even worse, we may see a suggestion as criticism being used as a weapon against us.  This borders on insanity.  If insanity can leave us alone for a bit, we might get some clarity and see that the suggestion is a tool and not a weapon/criticism being used against us.  Even better, and more sane, is that we decide to get someone to help us if we have never used the tool before.  It will all lead to a better self, less fearful and  less lonely.  My blogs are suggestions.  

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

The Barriers

 What gets in the way of meditation?  Well, a couple of things to mention here.  You never sit still enough to allow yourself to internalize and absorb a still, quiet voice.  Some people, without ever trying to listen, say that there is no quiet voice.  They don’t hear anything.  Well, the voice is “quiet.”  Another preventive to meditation is that you only trust yourself, and thus refuse to give up control.  Control means you won’t turn over your thoughts and actions to something other than your own ego.  More control and fear here.  Sit still enough, wait a while, and trust to let go of focus on your thoughts and just maybe you will enter the world of meditation.  Oh, and maybe close your eyes nd turn off the TV, and other media.  

Monday, July 14, 2025

Brother Raymond

 Today is the birthday of my friend, Brother Raymond, a Trappist Monk, 87 years old and still with plenty of pep.  The monastery is being sold, but Brother Raymond does not want to leave and live somewhere else.  Many of us in this big country have this feeling.  Where we want to live, have been living, no longer will sustain us.  The job, career, necessity requires a move to another place.  We are leaving home and this is not easy.  Migrants want to come to the USA for work or safety, but still, they are leaving home, the familiar in language, geography, and relationships.  A new job or aging can require a move.  These moves are never easy.  I am still trying to feel “at home” in San Francisco.  I make new friends, I learn the geography’s landscape, interesting places and so on.  But it takes time.  And energy.  So I need a spiritual practice to keep me energized to keep outreaching.  Inside reach leads to a better outside reach.