It is moving and impressive the extent to which you hold so many tensions in your mind and heart. The last question you pose is resonant for me, that deep sense of identity and purpose. It rings more softly as I enter my 80's, but softer is also subtler, as if the tread that led me here leads me on but requires a greater discernment and letting go. It seems more and more a matter of being present to what comes to me and less and less focussed on my own agendas and conceptions. Our social education focuses so much on the generative---the "I" that does and makes and achieves---and far less on the reality of reciprocity and relatedness. It is in my response-ability to what comes present to me where I can see the chronic judgments, the reflexes of reaction, the narcissism of my need to control. It is also there in present time that I attune to the "between" where God-as-a- verb is to be found. Becoming.
Those seven gods seem very appealing! More tangible than a faceless God. I like your call to keep the focus on one’s true god-however the divine manifests for you.
I work in Bethlehem…(PA) After reading this post I reflected on artist Shimon Atte’s installation at the gallery where I work. He first visually presents the Moravian utopian Christian religious movement that founded Bethlehem (he forgets that there were indigenous people). Then Atte moves to the soaring steel stacks that made Bethlehem the capital of steel making. They look like idols. Finally, he spotlights the sparkling Wind Creek Casino that now dominates the economic landscape of this little town of Bethlehem! From a utopian vision to casino chips!!
It is moving and impressive the extent to which you hold so many tensions in your mind and heart. The last question you pose is resonant for me, that deep sense of identity and purpose. It rings more softly as I enter my 80's, but softer is also subtler, as if the tread that led me here leads me on but requires a greater discernment and letting go. It seems more and more a matter of being present to what comes to me and less and less focussed on my own agendas and conceptions. Our social education focuses so much on the generative---the "I" that does and makes and achieves---and far less on the reality of reciprocity and relatedness. It is in my response-ability to what comes present to me where I can see the chronic judgments, the reflexes of reaction, the narcissism of my need to control. It is also there in present time that I attune to the "between" where God-as-a- verb is to be found. Becoming.
Those seven gods seem very appealing! More tangible than a faceless God. I like your call to keep the focus on one’s true god-however the divine manifests for you.
I work in Bethlehem…(PA) After reading this post I reflected on artist Shimon Atte’s installation at the gallery where I work. He first visually presents the Moravian utopian Christian religious movement that founded Bethlehem (he forgets that there were indigenous people). Then Atte moves to the soaring steel stacks that made Bethlehem the capital of steel making. They look like idols. Finally, he spotlights the sparkling Wind Creek Casino that now dominates the economic landscape of this little town of Bethlehem! From a utopian vision to casino chips!!