Did You Hear Me?

Remember when a parent said to you, "Did you hear me," or maybe now you say it to someone?  Did you hear me does not really ask the question of whether or not your ears heard.  The question translates into, "Are you going to do what I just asked?"  It is not a question of hearing, but rather a question for the will.  Is your will in tune with my will is what the parent or boss is asking.  So why do they ask a question that has to do with hearing?  I think it is because we may hear words, but we either don't connect (preoccupied or ignoring the questioner) or we hear but it does not effect our will to take action.  The kid who wants to avoid a hassle simply says, "Yes," and then does not do what the parent wants.  Parents are either too optimistic or too weary to press on, because they often seem to think that yes means yes, when in fact all it means is I heard you, but I will not obey.  When religious adepts ask the question, "Did you hear?" or "Let the one who has ears hear," what they really mean is, "Are you open to changing your life?"  I must have bad ears, because I keep hearing the same advice and keep drifting into doing the same old self-willed stuff.  Transformation is hard even if you truly want it.  But it certainly won't happen if you say "Yes," but mean "No."

Consequences

There are always bad consequences to getting drunk.  The Bible tells us so.  King Herod threw a birthday party for himself.  He got drunk, but not black out drunk.  He watched his Step-daughter do a dance that pleased him and his guests.  So he boosted, as drunks tend to do, that he would give her anything she wanted, even half his kingdom.  He was pretty drunk.  She asked for the head of someone her mother despised, a fellow named John the Baptist.  The woman was sober, but resentful.  She probably needed Al-Anon, at least.  Anyhow, Herod did not want to disappoint his guests, that is, he did not want to lose face.  He may have had an ego issue.  Why else throw your own party?  John the Baptist lost his head.  We are not sure where his grave is, maybe Samaria.  But we seem to know where several of his heads are!  Great fun to be a Catholic.  Not so great fun to get drunk.  I bet Herod had a doozy of a headache the next day.  But at least he still had his head.  He earned his suffering. John was a victim of consequences.  Alcohol can do that.

Book Of Mormon

I recently saw the play, "Book Of Mormon."  It is very irreverent and has lots of bad words, but I laughed a lot.  The main writer of this musical was a New York City Catholic when he was younger.  I thought that the whole play was going to make fun of religious belief in general, not just Mormonism.  But what struck me as the play came to an end with a rousing finale of group song, is that the people all believed in doing better in their life.  There is something at work that brings out a good in us.  The religious leaders of Mormonism in the play, wanted a certain kind of "orthodox" Mormonism, but the people end up with kind of a hybrid "The Book of Arnold," as they dub it.  But this belief makes them better people.  It is very difficult, in my experience, to become a better person without a belief in something more than our little personal world.  If I burn for laughing so much, I hope it is not like the bad Mormon dream of hell.

Lawn Sprinkler

The soul is like a lawn of grass.  Prayer is the water that sprinkles it.  We have a sprinkler system at our house in Boulder.  One of the sprinkler heads is out of commission.  The grass in that area has gone brown.  I reminds me of my need to pray on a daily basis.  My soul cannot survive without the watering of prayer.  I have to water my soul each day, early in the morning and again later in the day or in the evening.  Meditation is my sprinkler system and it is not on automatic.  No timer.  It is driven by willpower.  Sometimes my willpower is out of commission.  Then I dry up.  Then I pray out of desperation.  I try to keep my will power in good order, but I sometimes get "busy," or very important.  I have to do a lot of stuff.  I have my checkoff list.  Somehow prayer gets dropped from the list.  It is best not to have delusions of self-importance.  It makes for a better prayer life, and I am actually more functional for those around me when I water my soul.

Jeremiah

There was this Old Testament prophet who warned the people that it was not enough to have faith in the correct God.  They actually had to do something.  Jeremiah said that they had to show mercy and justice.  This reminds me of Pope Francis who is not very popular with a few of the Vatican Cardinals and bishops.  Seems in Jeremiah's time there was a yawning gap between the rich and the poor.  Sound like anything we hear today?  I find that a lot of us have orthodox belief and worship on the Sabbath, but are not much for the action that Francis and ole Jeremiah calls for.  Jeremiah did not have too many friends and even had to go underground for awhile.  Sure enough, Jeremiah lived to see the Temple destroyed and Jerusalem burned down.  Stuff happens when all you have is catechism faith and worship.

Primary Purpose

Jesus knew that money and buildings would divert his followers from the message about the kingdom and how to avail ourselves of this kingdom in transformation.  A fellow named Bill Wilson, the founder of AA, also got this wisdom.  Unfortunately, my church did not quite hang on to the Jesus wisdom.  We got big into money and buildings.  This is one of the reasons that a lot of hierarchs are focused on money, property and prestige.  Bill Wilson, a spiritual neophyte, got it right.  The Sixth Tradition of AA states: An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.  Such wisdom, and it came from a drunk.  Sometimes AA acts more like a spiritual program than does my church!  Ironically, AA rents space from church buildings.  I hope those recovering drunks remember that the next time someone dumps on Christianity.

Thoughts

Most bad behavior begins with a thought.  I may be going along just fine and serene and suddenly, something happens.  I have a thought about it.  I don't like what just happened for whatever reason or maybe no reason at all.  If I am going to continue with my good day, I note the thought but don't act on it.  Usually, I act on it.  I complain, whine, get angry and/or gossip.  Sometimes, nothing at all seems to be happening out there in my world, but I still have a thought, seemingly from nowhere.  It is probably from some childhood trauma or past event about which I have forgotten.  But something in me has not forgotten.  Anyway, the thought seems inviting.  To continue with my good day, I have to note the thought as a trick or temptation that looks good but is not.  Then do some things to get rid of it or at least its power to control my actions.  At times, being weak, I entertain the thought.  I got no chance to resist at this point.  I have learned to not be alone when dissembling thoughts come to mind.  Pray or call someone.  Anyway, it works for me.  My guess is that a lot of unhelpful thoughts come as a signal of feeling lonely.  Just a guess.