With a World

In The Silence of God, James Carse tackles the question of unanswered prayer, and his solution is very elegant. His idea is that God does respond, and always responds, in the only way that God can respond: with a world.

It's up to us to pay attention to the clues and make use of the information.

Mirror

Jamin is one generation younger than me, and he was bemoaning how much crap goes around on-line, as if the internet was to blame for that crap. But the internet isn't to blame; things were exactly like that before the internet existed. The difference is that we were just thinking it, not publicly posting it. Now we can read it and cringe.

The Akashic Records

When I first heard the concept of "The Akashic Records" - a mythical repository of all human history, lore, and knowledge - it sounded so esoteric and spiritual. Admission to the Akashic Records would require dedicated study and a proven, spotless character - or so I imagined.

But it turned out that you don't need monkish robes or a visible halo to gain access - just an internet connection.

Pleasure is the Cure

While pleasure is widely regarded as being the cause of disease, I believe it to be the cure of disease. I say this because once when I was feeling very ill I was given a box of chocolate-covered strawberries as a gift. I sampled one only to show appreciation and be polite, and it was so sensationally delicious that I became well and stayed that way. The pleasure was so consuming that there was simply no room for any other feeling.

Ineffectual Angel

Matthew Arnold called Percy Shelley "an ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain."

I want to make it abundantly clear that Percy Shelley was live-savingly, soul-quenchingly, tear-flowingly and then tear-dryingly effectual to me, and that by no means did he beat his luminous wings in vain.

Reptiles of the Mind

"A man who never alters his opinion is as standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind," according to William Blake. A mind must stay fluid and flowing in order to stay fresh, and keep doing that forever.

But some reptiles are extremely cute, and I especially enjoy the ones whose whole face is a permanent smile.

Superstition

I never believe the pronouncements of horoscopes, tarot cards, fortune-cookie messages, or psychic predictions of any sort - unless they say wonderful things about my excellent character and bright, sunny things about my future, in which case I believe them with a full-hearted fervor.

Pirate Skeleton

When "Pirates of the Caribbean" opened at Disneyland in 1967, guests floated past real human skeletons. Subsequent vast improvements in the field of skeleton-fakery make this no longer the case, but the original tableau did consist of dressed-and-posed former people.

I found this a little chilling, but my older son assured me that he would be honored to spend his afterlife as a permanent installation on "Pirates of the Caribbean." He even struck a pose of the dead pirate he would like to be, and you could just see his total enjoyment of the idea.

Only Human

I used the common cliche "we're only human" in the presence of my younger son, and he didn't appreciate it one bit. "I am so sick of hearing that 'we're only human'! We are NOT only human! We are..." (here he raised his arms above his head in a pose of triumph) "SUPER-MONKEYS!"

Crush

A friend once referred to David Bowie as "the most yearned-for man in the world." It sounded plausible at the time, but a day came when I knew it was true, even if I was the only person on earth doing the yearning.

Pleasant Path

When I was a girl I dreamed that I was walking along a pleasant path and saw an adorable teddy bear on the side of the road. I picked it up, delighted with it, and soon saw another one. Lucky day! As I walked along I found another, and another, until my arms were full of lovable, huggable teddies. Then it suddenly dawned on me: "Life isn't this good." With that thought, the dream ended.

I know better now than to break the spell by ever declaring anything too good to be true.

To Receive His Genius

When Charlie Chaplin was born in the spring of 1889 there was no film industry. He would have shone on any stage anyhow, but that wouldn't have been all of it. That wouldn't have been the important part of it.

The "Cinematographe" debuted in 1895, when he was six years old. There followed a rapid succession of improvements that kept pace with the growing boy, so that everything was in place, and ready when he was.

Make the Switch

One of the happiest and most peace-giving shifts you can make is to go from "I'm doing my best" to "I'm doing it right."

Playing For Creeps

I had just visited Gettysburg and was telling my in-law Dan about it. I described visiting the home of Jennie Wade, the battle's only civilian casualty, and he was curious to know the circumstances of her death. I explained the scenario - young woman, busy in the kitchen, stray bullet. "Oh, so she was a true victim." He had thought she might have been one of those crabby ladies who'd come storming out of her house to tell people to keep off her grass - but with fatal results.

The Jennie Wade House is now treated with historical dignity, but the first time I visited it as a child it was not. They were totally leaning into the creepy, chilling, skin-crawling, make-you-jump tone so prevalent at Gettysburg. The tour-guide didn't stay with you - just led you in and locked the door and left you there. The theme of the tour was "if walls could talk," and you listened to a recording of "the walls" recollecting the events of that tragic tragic day. It advertised itself as history, but it was run as a spook-house.

Wasted Potential

There is no shame in not fulfilling potential. Most acorns do not become oaks, and it's no poor reflection on the acorn. All life is continuously cycled through the system, and there is always more potential than activation. That's what makes life so robust.

Independent Life

There is hardly another figure I can think of more perfectly suited to his work than Mel Blanc. He voiced the Looney Tunes characters and gave them so much life and personality that they were able to "return the favor," as Mel Blanc described it: When a serious car accident put him in a coma, an ingenious doctor thought to address "Bugs Bunny" and "Porky Pig" - and they answered! The Looney Tunes characters had so much independent life that they pulled an unconscious Mel Blanc out of a coma.

You would think that a connection as powerful and inevitable-seeming as Mel Blanc and the Looney Tunes would have come about on an effortless, silver-platter basis, but that's not true. He had to show up at the Warner Brothers offices every Friday for eighteen months before he got in, and the only reason he got in was that the usual front-desk guy had dropped dead. It was the new, clueless guy that let him through.

Picture

Saint Theresa of Avila advised the nuns in her convent against praying or meditating upon Christ using a picture of Christ. She explained that for the thing to work, you needed to feel that Christ was actually present in the room with you. Meditating with a picture would be as absurd as sitting across the table from someone, yet conversing with their picture.

That's true, but I think a better way to go would be to acknowledge the living presence of Christ in the room, and then ask if he'd do you a favor and stand right behind this picture, because that would be very helpful.

My Love Loss

One of Matt Groening's "Love is Hell" cartoons asks "How will I get over my love loss?" and the answer is: "You'll get bored eventually."

Boredom might be the only real way to get over anything. Demonize it, battle it, conquer it - it's still there. Only when it's boring is it definitively done.

A Numbers Game

I've heard people say "If what I do helps to influence even one person, then it will all have been worth it."

That's your humble person saying that. Most would probably prefer to influence the millions, due to a prevailing belief that truth is a numbers game, and that the more people you've got believing something, the truer it is.

Oscar Wilde says "A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes it," and that's why I don't really mean to influence even one.

You Gotta Have Faith

The rational stance in life requires direct observation before belief is granted. It's "I'm from Missouri - show me." It's "Prove it, big fella."

Yet none of us is really able to do this, because there is just too much going on. We don't have the opportunity to investigate everything for ourselves, so we have no choice but to rely on "experts" as the source for many of our opinions and beliefs. There's just no escaping it.

For example, the champions of evolution never personally observed a fish crawl out of the water and start breathing the air, but experts assure us that this did actually happen. We have no direct experience to confirm the idea, and very few people have reviewed the scientific literature that supports it in order to make their own informed assessment - yet a rational, scientific person will tell you that it must be true. It's the faith of people who believe the guy in the white coat rather than the guy with the white collar.

Feel Free

I don't like to share the pain. I don't see the point of it. Anytime I try it I just end up regretting it, so why bother? I only want to share the joy, and keep the pain between me and God.

On the other hand, though, I don't mind if somebody wants to cry on my shoulder, or even retreat into some cave and weep and weep and weep their soul out to me. That's fine. That is not a problem.

It's a Plot

I suffer from the same psychological malady reported by J.D. Salinger - that strange reverse-paranoia that makes me feel people are always secretly plotting to make me happy.

Temptation

"I never resist temptation," says George Bernard Shaw, "because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me."

Amen to that. I find myself revulsed by the things that are bad for me. Temptation is just the things that are good for me, saying hello and welcome.

Pity at a Glance

All of my roads led to Rome, so I spent a month there, contemplating its wonders. The Pantheon is nearly 2,000 years old, and I spent time there every day, either within the temple itself or among the colossal pillars that constitute the courtyard.

There was a hunched-up old beggar woman who had made the courtyard of the Pantheon her "spot," and I saw her there all the time, silent, harmless, draped in black and holding out her begging basket.

One day I came to the courtyard and took my seat, and I saw her with her back to me some few pillars distant. This made for an interesting "backstage" view, watching the parade of people pass and observing their varying reactions to her. Some dropped money into her basket (or sent their little children to do so), some kept walking, some didn't even notice her. As I pondered this spectacle, I began to feel a keen appreciation for the genius of her choices. The Pantheon is a hugely popular tourist destination, and streams of people from all over the world are continuously passing through it - but she only had a split second to arouse the compassion of each one of them. Black clothes are of course no cheaper than cheery clothes, but a lady in a bright yellow dress would send the wrong message. Similarly, her hunched-over stance signaled dejection, whereas if she'd been casually leaning back against one of the colossal pillars, she would have appeared content.

I was lost in these musings when the woman herself unexpectedly turned around and looked me full in the face. She nodded as though in agreement, shrugged as if to say "It's a life," and turned back to her work.

Karmic Agent

"What goes around comes around ... but it's gotta come from somewhere!"

I think the idea here is that, as long as you are a knowing agent of karmic justice, then you can do a crappy thing to someone without muddying up your own karma - you can even do it with vengeful glee.

But good things go around and need to come around, so if you really want to work for karma, you're much better off throwing money and gifts and goodwill at the good people. That way, if there are any karmic consequences to your act - well, lucky you.

Fire in the Birdbath

One night my neighbor Sandy came home from work late to find most of the neighborhood (including my sons) camped out in her front yard. They had constructed an elaborate system of tents and tarps, and they had a fire going in the birdbath.

She passed by this scene without comment and went to find and confront the designated authority figure, her husband. She said to him "Are you aware that they have a FIRE going in the front yard?"

He was outraged. "I told them to keep it in the birdbath!"

Mobsters

I was looking at a coffee table book about mobsters, and there they all are, wearing their instantly recognizable mobster suits and toting their standard-issue mobster guns. They live in mobster mansions, they sip cocktails at mobster vacation hot-spots. It's all so aesthetically integrated that it makes life look fictional.

At Least

Uncertain of my destiny, or if this raft will hold;
Unsure of if I will or even wanted to get old:
There's you. There's you.
Your love will guide me through.
The world and I go separate ways,
But where I go, there's you.

Storytelling

The only difference between tragedy and comedy is where you put the words The End.

Getting the Groove

My friend Tim persuaded me to take a beginner's tap class with him; I was a true beginner and he was not. Everybody in the class was going shuf-fle, shuf-fle while he was going clickety-clickety-clack-clack-clack.

One night he showed up for class extra-dapper in a jaunty hat and suspenders. The clothes made the man - made his tap very artistic and expressive, anyway, and he was full of encouragement, cheering me on to do likewise. As I hadn't even attained to the clickety-clack phase yet, I just shook my head. "You are on a groove tonight," I said dismissively.

"Yes I am! But it's THE groove - and you gotta get on it!"

I understood, and replied with an inspired burst of first-rate tapping.

There really is only one groove, and the challenge is all about finding it in the first place. After that, it's in constructing roads back to it for when you fall out.

Jaded Cynic

Too many bad things happened to me, too much grief and loss for me to continue to carry the ideal I intended to present. I'm just so grateful that there's always fresh enthusiasm bubbling up, and that even though I got shut out of participating in it, I can still sit on the sidelines and applaud it.

Beauty is Truth

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all
ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

These immortal John Keats lines may sound like a pipe dream to some, if not outright inaccurate gibberish. For me, it's a statement about the criteria you use for judging something "true" or not.

For most, the main criterion for whether or not something is true is whether or not it occurs in material reality. If it occurs in material reality, it's true; if not, not.

I believe that Keats is suggesting a shift in assessing truth, from "Did it happen in material reality?" to "Is it beautiful?" Only if it's beautiful is it true; and if not, not.

First Bloom

The Rio Grande runs through the desert and creates this ribbon of lush life which is very dreamy to haunt, and I made it my habit to visit on a weekly basis and stay for several hours. One morning in early spring I turned up at my usual perch and noticed at some small distance from me a yellow flower, the very first bloom of spring. It lifted my heart to see it there, and in my head I sort of spontaneously burst into a song of welcome and admiration which I directed at this flower. Just as I was wrapping up my song, this blossom lifted itself up from its plant, and flew away.

Yes, I know - it was a butterfly all along, or had to be, based on the well-known scientific principle that you can't sing a blossom into a butterfly.

Lay Down And Die

In Roughing It Mark Twain reports that the native Pacific Islanders, historically and in his day, had the ability to just lay down and die whenever they wanted to.

What a freedom! I thought death was supposed to be outside of your power, none of your business really, other than your obligation to try to avoid it for as long as possible.