#Another question then is can they discuss communion memories with others

[milfbrainrot]

I assumed all the sisters had done communion to become sisters or something but bbf seemed surprised at the memory of rain

[pxayopina-unilsiyu]

My thoughts and theories on Eywa

I have many a thought about Eywa, what exactly she is, and how she functions, so I decided to condense it all into one post.

1. What is Eywa?

There are, generally speaking, two answers to this question. The first is that Eywa is a physical force; “she” is a neural network created by the interconnectedness of Pandora. This connection can’t be understated: as Grace says in the first film, there are more connections between plant life on Pandora than there are connections in the human brain. These connections between the roots of the plants of Pandora can transmit electrical signals between one another like the synapses between neurons in your brain. Put simply: Eywa is everywhere on Pandora, Eywa is Pandora, and most importantly: Eywa can think. Pandora is a giant, completely organic brain. 

It doesn’t end with just the plant life, though, because the fauna of Na’vi also have a part to play here. Using the brain analogy, think of the plant life and their roots system like, again, the synapses and neurons of your brain. They are the physical structure of Eywa. But your brain is more than just its physical structure: you have memories, thoughts, emotions, and a sense of self. This is where the fauna come into play. The animals of Pandora, including (and especially) the Na’vi, can directly connect to Eywa and, in doing so, upload and download their own brain data. They can transmit their memories, thoughts, feelings, etc. into Eywa and essentially create a copy of their own consciousness which persists within Eywa after their death, stored within sites like the Tree of Voices and the consciousness at large. This is (what I believe to be) the reason Eywa can think, reason, and interact with Pandora. Without this, Eywa would be a rudimentary albeit still impressive nervous system of sorts. 

Now comes the other answer to the question: Eywa is also a mythological deity to the Na’vi. They understand the neural network to be Eywa and consider her the source of all energy that runs through all living things, which isn’t necessarily wrong. Which is what makes their belief system so interesting: they understand all of the facets of Eywa and to an extent, what makes it possible, but they also have a spiritual view of her. They don’t worship her as a god or creator of the world, but they honor her for giving them life. Eywa is made up of all living things, but the Na’vi seemingly also believe Eywa to be her own being. I wouldn’t say that’s wrong, either, for reasons I’ll now explain.

2. Who is Eywa?

So, about Eywa being an actual... being, I think that that is also correct, but not in the conventional sense. We must consider that Eywa can reason, think, and make decisions. She communicates those decisions to the Na’vi through communion with them (which is interpreted by the Tsahìk) and physical ‘omens’ like the woodsprites/atokirina’. But what exactly is it that’s sending those messages? This is my theory of how it works.

Eywa is not her own being separate from the neural network: rather, the neural network is Eywa. Seems obvious, I already explained it up there! But let me clarify. 

Eywa making a decision is, in my view, actually all of the consciousnesses within Eywa - the animals, the plants, the spirits of the Na’vi - coming together to make the decision. When Eywa must make a choice, all of the consciousnesses within the network ‘discuss’ it and give their opinion on what should be done. Through process of deliberation, all of the unpopular opinions and votes are rooted out until a clear consensus is reached. Remember, Eywa is like a computer or a brain, so all of this reasoning could be done in seconds. If you’ve ever played the Mass Effect games, I imagine Eywa working almost identically to the geth (just organically and without platforms to operate from), or, if you’ve read the books, like the Psy Network in Zodiac.

Once Eywa has decided on what should be done, she sends a message to the Na’vi - like when she saved Jake by sending the woodsprites to land on Neytiri’s bow and then totally cover him when she still didn’t get the memo. Eywa recognized that Jake was needed to help protect the Na’vi and herself from the RDA. This may also explain how Eywa could reason that the Na’vi industrializing would lead to their ultimate collapse - with so many consciousnesses stored within her, it would make her hyperintelligent. Think about how when you’re with a group of people and you pose a question to them, they might all have a slightly different answer or explanation; you can find the mean of those explanations and be left with the most accurate, objective conclusion. It’s called collective reasoning. Multiply that by 1 gazillion and you can see how it makes sense that Eywa is so intelligent she borders on omnipotent.

3. How is Eywa?

Now, quickly worth noting, is that Eywa also has a lot of strange properties and abilities that we don’t really understand yet. Such as the abovementioned ability to somehow sense that Jake had the hutzpah to help the Na’vi and that he would defect to them, despite not really knowing Jake at all (Although this may be partially explained by the collective reasoning as explained above). Also, her rallying the animals to protect her at the Tree of Souls - it’s not really clear if she took control of their minds and just piloted them - I do not believe this is the case myself, it seems incredibly unlikely and I think the animals chose to fought of their own volition because they recognized the threat, but then it leaves the door open to the possibility that Eywa can somehow communicate to Pandora’s inhabitants even when they aren’t directly connected to her, because I seriously doubt all those damn animals were connected to her all at once. Yet they somehow all received the same memo that Eywa was about to be blown up and they should go stop that from happening. There’s a sense of some mechanic there where Eywa’s thoughts can travel beyond the physical connections through Pandora’s electromagnetism, but it’s really not that clear.

4. Why is Eywa?

Okay, so how did Eywa develop? Why doesn’t Earth have its own Eywa? According to Visual Exploration, Pandora’s electromagnetism is mostly to blame for it. Earth simply doesn’t have the same strong electromagnetism that allows for conduction of information as fast as it happens on Pandora. It was very specific circumstances that led to her formation and subsequent development. Notice I say formation and development, because I do not believe Eywa spawned being as intelligent as she is. Which leads to the next point:

5. When is Eywa?

Okay, so admittedly, most of this theory formed as a way of explaining those silly Three Laws of Eywa in Visual Exploration, although I think the main premise makes total sense. The idea is that Eywa developed with Pandora in terms of intelligence - although she was always at least a few steps ahead of it simply due to sheer numbers. The big point here is that Eywa might not have been intelligent when Na’vi first emerged as a species. Instead, Eywa might’ve only started to develop true intelligence past an animalistic sense of self-preservation after Na’vi started connecting to her, uploading their memories and consciousnesses to her. They probably didn’t even realize that was what they were doing and at first thought of Eywa as just a quirk of nature that did funny things to your brain like acid shrooms or static electricity. But in reality, they were developing Eywa. Then, one day, Eywa “woke up” and started being able to reason and make decisions. That is when Eywa, bestowed with newfound intelligence and an ability to express the destruction the Na’vi had caused, spoke to them and gave them the three laws. This is also when I imagine the First Songs took place.

Again, the first half of this, about Eywa developing alongside Pandora, I genuinely believe to be the most plausible explanation for her intelligence. It can tie into the “post-advanced-society Na’vi” theory but eh I’m not gonna touch that one this time around.

-

Anyway, that’s about it for now. I might add onto this post in the future, but yeah, there are all of my Eywa thoughts in one place.

[the-rockstar-lestat]

Since you guys experience love differently, do you also experience gender differently? Or is it very similar to how you experienced it as a human, considering how everyone experiences it differently?

Another interesting question! I think this one has a simpler answer.

I don't think, for me, at least, any change occured in the way I experienced my own gender as a mortal and as a vampire. I've always been male, that hasn't changed much. And in my mind, I've always presented masculinly--however, what's been CONSIDERED a masculine presentation has changed around me--several times!! So at many points during my long life, despite presenting in what I felt was a fairly typical masculine way, I've been read as effeminate, androgynous, male-but-gay, and Whatever David Bowie Had Going On. (There's such an androgyny to rock stars. At least there used to be.)

So that's interesting.

I honestly don't mind. As long as you view me as masc-of-center I really don't care how close to the center you put me . And I admit I'm not as far out to the side as one thinks....

But the question you're asking is do vampires see gender differently? Maybe. As Fareed told me a few weeks ago, we are technically a single sex species, as we reproduce asexually, and any gender parent may reproduce, we are all one sex.

Did that blow your mind? It blew mine.

So I do wonder if that influences how we see gender. We don't have to guard the fertility of half the species because the other half is jealous of their offspring being theirs. And that alone I think does change how one views gender and gender roles. (of course, we were all human once, so we bring with us our own human views and baggage of gender--and trust me, that's complicated. Imagine an Ancient Egyptian, a Midwestern Victorian and a 21st century Indian doctor try to discuss Women's Rights--or anything for that matter!)

Honestly, check back with us in 30 or 40 years. We are only beginning to create our Vampire Society, our Blood Communion, and to ask ourselves these questions. How, as a species, do we see the world? How are we like human, how are we unlike humans? Does it change one irrevocably? What is merely the memory of being human, the phantom limb twinges, so to speak.

That's why I wanted to do this, by the way. Why I wanted to form the court. Why I agreed to be Prince. So we can find these things out for ourselves.

[asoundimagination]

Two Pieces (it’s a start).

They say you should “write what you know,” so I figure a short discussion of my own, recent work is as good a place as any to start. That said, in sticking with my own philosophy on the matter, I should point out that for me writing music is not so much a vehicle for delivering a message as it is for receiving a synthesis of knowledge and illumination from the creative process. I don’t ever really feel that my music means anything in particular, or has encoded in its structure some special meaning that will be apparent only to an initiated few (the classic “you have to know the following things in order to understand it” routine).

I think of composing as the creation of catalysts for potential meaning. This is achieved in response to our creative impulse by molding the ether of inspiration with craft and purpose through cognizant choices, and allowing our work to be infused with limitless variations of meaning by those who enter into communion with the results of those choices. This special communion could be the execution of a performance of the work, the experience of seeing and/or hearing the work performed, a study of the work on paper or through dialog or some combination of these manifest scenarios.

In other words, I am much more interested in what I stand to learn from my work (about myself, the world, creation), than in making some presumption that I have anything particularly profound to tell anyone. Even if there were a standard set of tools with which one could—with relative conformity—decode so abstract a medium as sound, we would be left then to decipher the inherent limits and inadequacies of descriptive language. (Thoughts on experiential versus intellectual understanding reserved for another time).

This viewpoint sometimes throws me into a dilemma that is agitated when someone asks the inevitable question, “Oh! What kind of music do you write?” I don’t think I’m qualified to know or answer in a meaningful way, and as soon as we think we are we have stopped allowing ourselves to think creatively.

Indeed, while inspiration informs the work, I don’t think we need to say that what inspired it is what the work is about. Inspiration is not a molecular structure that is meant to be transmitted and received from the material itself, nor can it objectively be heard there without copious explanation or justification by the composer. I think: being told what you’re supposed to hear in a piece of music (or, let’s say, see when you interact with a work of visual art) subsequently limits its real potential for meaning and possible depth of substance. It is an exclusionary and perhaps elitist practice, and in many cases serves more as a failsafe against a work’s lack of honesty and quality than a legend to inspire understanding.

To popularly quote Miles Davis, “If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.” It is easy to cite profound examples in creatively ascended individuals like Ornette Coleman, whose struggles with notation and language never allowed him to completely articulate what may have simply been inexpressible concepts in his work; gossamer bonds strung between points in the constellation of space, performers, instruments and other factors that enveloped the performance of each piece, whether in the recording studio or on the stage. Context defined the expression of the work. (See Coleman’s fluidic use of the word “unison” when imploring his collaborators to bring themselves to the music in ways the charts could not indicate).

For me, inspiration exists in parallel with the work it inspires. It compliments it, resonates with it, allows for its existence but it is not material or elemental in the new work’s particular, phenomenological dimension. It is there like the memory of a dream. While the dreamer may do their best to explain the setting, events and emotional atmosphere they experienced—distorted by the entropy of memory recall and the limit of their savvy for description—the dream falls away as a separate object and the description emerges as something new and unique.

Just as Coleman’s concept of unison served to ignite spontaneous collaborative energy that could be heard in the work if not pinpointed in theoretical terms, perhaps the source of a work’s creation need only be a footnote to inspire further reading, rather than a frontispiece that makes claims about what it is in advance. It should be information that beckons the listener to rise to a new level and expand their perspective, rather than an immutable, Platonic archetype that condescends to us uninvitingly.  

Imagine then if we could each experience the same dream, and then upon waking explore its substance through discourse and reflection. The basis or topic of the dream’s narrative would serve as a reference used to enhance the experience we take away, in combination with the experience we brought with us.

So, presented below and absent of any implied inherent meaning are my two most recent pieces, with brief descriptions of their various, inspirational references.

“Complete Silence: Dream Music - 完全な沈黙: 夢の音楽” is a twenty-five minute triptych of sonic meditations that mixes simple, lo-fi synthesizer sounds with spacious field recordings. The title is inspired by a mysterious Twitter post by @archillect-aesthetic made sometime in 2019 that showed the phrase "complete silence" in white Japanese lettering on a black background, likely a screen capture from an old Japanese film.

The titles 'Vedic Hymn' and 'Themes for an Aztec Moralist' (the inner and outer movements) are borrowed from the great Mexican poet and Nobel Prize laureate Octavio Paz (1914-1998), while 'Totemic Self-Portrait' (the central movement) is taken from a paper on Outsider Art by Roger Cardinal [“Toward an Outsider Aesthetic,” 33-34]. In this case, Cardinal's analysis was being referenced by Emily Olson (2008) in her own paper on the surreal paintings of Mexican outsider artist Enrique Chavarría (1927-1998), to whom the track owes its inspiration.

Gear: MicroKorg, DigDugDIY Waifu Reverb, Deadbeat Echolocation Station, DOD Gonkulator Ring Modulator, Novation Circuit
, Tibetan Bowls, Antique Clock Chime, Loose Change, Glass Jar.

'_planète sauvage' is a seven track, twenty-seven minute EP, the title of which is taken from the iconic, animated film of the same name by René Laloux (1973). This work is a collection of small and minimal pieces inspired by infinite solitude, primordial isolation, Cyclopean mental structures and the impossibility of imagining or comprehending alien concepts, even when confronted by them.

Tracks 3 and 6 sequentially use the title, "Hymns of the Bene Gesserit" and are made in homage to the fantastic world of Frank Herbert's DUNE.

Gear: MicroKorg, DigDugDIY Waifu Reverb, Deadbeat Echolocation Station, DOD Gonkulator Modulator, Korg Volca FM Synthesizer, Novation Circuit, Michael Rucci Maximal Drone

Cover Image Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

[mattdrapps]

Okay #StMichaelsGang, let's talk Miracles. TW. Ablism from some characters

Clip from chapter 10 - Lizzie and Harry chatting on the tram

“But we had real miracles.” I hissed.

A video reel of moments fluttered across my mind, projecting images against the inside of my head. A loaf of bread, torn before communion. Sweating palms lifted skyward. Lightning passing between Dylan and me as we prayed, a glow reverberating down the skin of our outstretched arms. My hands cupped either side of Christine’s face, looking deep into her eyes and speaking her future in words I believed at the time came directly from G to prophesy a partner at St Michaels was going to be in her life forever. She had glanced momentarily at Oscar. In another memory, Jeremy and I stood in the rain outside St Michaels first thing one Sunday morning calling for the clouds to move away, to leave, to shift across the sky. Our whole gang ate a picnic the same Sunday under a cloudless sky.

I remembered running, so fast, shifting effortlessly at great speed from street to street in Sheffield, one minute outside the City Hall and moments later skidding to a stop near the Cathedral.

“Did we?” Lizzie pressed the red button to stop the tram and we got up to wait near the door.

“Of course we did. You remember when our food increased to include everyone who arrived at Small Group no matter how much we cooked.”

“What if we just made enough for everyone we invited?”

We exited the tram, but didn’t move off the stop while we continued this discussion.

“How often did we pray for people to be healed?” Every service. Morgan finished each sermon with a call to action. He used to say G wanted to heal anyone who was here, to come forward with any ailments from a common cold to a broken leg. G’s presence had anointed us. Morgan would encourage us to gather around and pray for those who had come forward. Oscar, Sebastian and I would touch the hurting part of a person and pray aloud, “Headache be gone. Have faith in the power of Gabriel. May the light of the night brighten your body!”

“Did you see anyone get healed though?” Lizzie’s eyes flashed. It was clear she was hurt by my questioning the way she understood and remembered what had happened at St Michaels.

Those who had limped to the front often limped away, it was true. But as Morgan explained, it took faith to be healed. If your faith wavered, your healing would not come. People claimed their headaches had left them! Someone had seen a broken leg literally grow out, I remembered them saying so. And there were extreme stories too.

One evening, the presence had been particularly heavy. You could feel the power in the very atmosphere of the church. Morgan had invited an elderly wheelchair user to the front of the church, assisted by her grown-up daughter. “Can these old bones rise?” Morgan had cried, quoting the Bible from a story of skeletons pulling on flesh and joining a war. “Can we have two strong lads down here. Oscar, you’re strong, come on down. Sebastian too.” I had been about to volunteer, but he waved me away. “Get an arm under her shoulders, each of you,” Morgan had instructed, kneeling before the small but faith-filled woman in her chair. Dipping a finger into a bag of grey powder, Morgan drew a line above each of her eyebrows, like wings painted across her forehead. “Feel his wings beneath you and RISE!” he cried. Sebastian and Oscar lent an arm and a shoulder to the women, helping her gently but firmly to her feet.

Her sandals touched the floor as she pressed her weight onto one foot and then the other. Her muscles were weakened from years of not walking far. As small as she looked, she weighed heavily against Sebastian, whose face gave the impression he was more responsible for holding her upright than the wings of Gabriel. Together, the three figures stepped out across the stage, one short step after the other, right to left in full view of the congregation.

A low cheer began at the front of the church and rumbled backwards through the rows, clapping and shouting, whooping, hoorays and hallelujahs, “Come on!”s and “He can do it!” (Not she can.) As we watched with our own eyes, this elderly woman literally stepped out in faith, rising from her chair to walk in front of us. “Can these old bones walk?” Morgan shouted, joining the din.

Later, we had seen her daughter, cheeks tear-stained with joy (or something else?), pushing her mother from the building in her wheelchair and using a motorised disabled ramp to lift her into the side entrance of a van specially designed to transport her mother more easily from the nursing home to visit the outside world.

As I shared this story, Lizzie stopped me. “Harry, will you shut up? Don’t you know it is actually gross to use disabled people as a sermon prop,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to explain to you, many people who use wheelchairs can walk short distances and move about. The chair is a tool, not a burden. Hefting an old woman out of the security of her chair to parade her in front of an audience is not evidence of a miracle. If churches want the deaf to hear, they are better off paying for an interpreter to sign the sermon, not a supernatural team to try and pray the deaf away.”

She was right.

“Everything we thought we saw, we didn’t see. Do you understand?”

I did understand her point of view. And yet, I had felt G’s supernatural power. Hadn’t I? The same power had thrown us to the floor at times, and at others, lifted us toward the sky. You cannot dismiss those experiences just because you have become the outsider, gone back to being a non-con. An uneasy silence settled between us. Was I an unbeliever too? The more I tried to find a specific event or example, the less I could locate one.

And yet, here we were, at the gates of the cemetery where Oscar lay buried. And the reality of G’s power, or our belief in it, was real enough to have killed him....

--

If you have been affected by any of the subject matter covered, you can find 24 hour helplines relating to mental health, https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/crisis-services/helplines-listening-services/

Shout. If you would prefer not to talk but want some mental health support, you could text SHOUT to 85258. Shout offers a confidential 24/7 text service providing support if you are in crisis and need immediate help.

[dailyaudiobible]

4/21/2022 DAB Transcript

Joshua 22:21-23:16, Luke 20:27-47, Psalm 89:14-37, Proverbs 13:17-19

Today is the 21st day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’ Brian, it is awesome, it is awesome to have a place to go and gather around the Global Campfire and just be here, together and let the Scriptures speak into our lives. So, what a joy to take the next step forward, which leads us back into the Book of Joshua, which I believe we will conclude tomorrow. But we were kind of left with a cliff hanger. The children of Israel have settled into the Promised Land. There is peace from their enemies. They have divided up the land and the two and a half tribes have been sent back across to the east side of the Jordan River, where their land had previously been given to them by Moses. And on their way back, when they neared the Jordan River, they erected an alter in the Promised Land before crossing over to the other side. Word got back, of course, that the people who met in Shiloh, their capital, and discussion of going to war with their brothers. Like, civil war is on the table and a delegation has been sent to confront this two and a half tribes. That’s where we pick up the story today, Joshua chapter 22 verse 21 through 23 verse 16.

Commentary:

Okay, so as we near the end of the Book of Joshua and start making preparations to move forward from there, we see how this talk of civil war is quelled. The reason that Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built that alter was not to dishonor God or to create another place of worship against what God had commanded. It wasn’t really there to be an alter or a functioning alter, in any way. It was there to be a memorial. It was there to be a reminder, a remembrance. It was there to stand as a witness between the people on the east side of the Jordan and on the western side of the Jordan so that, everyone would remember on both sides that they were brothers and sisters and that they each had claim to worship the God of Israel, their God. This is one of the many instances in the Bible that when we see something like this, some type of witness, some type of stones piled up so that, when people pass by those stones, they ask the question, “Why are those stones there?” And a story can be told, “This is what happened here, and these stones are here as a witness to what happened here and as a memorial so that, we will never forget.” It’s a common occurrence in the Bible and we do similar things today, things that we buy and put places or whatever to remember so, we won’t forget. Or something that we got from someone who is no longer with us, but we treasure that, cause it’s a little point of connection in our memory. We remember them. Even the institution of the Eucharist, right at the Last Supper. Communion is, do this in remembrance of me. And so, the idea that we should insert things into our lives that will assist us with actually being rooted in what God has done, instead of just hard charging forward as fast as we can in some sort of direction that we hope is good. When we could actually look back at our path and see that we have been rooted, we have witnesses, we have memorials, we have remembrances, then we can easily see the path that we have walked and God’s involvement in that path. And so, there are probably many ways to do that in your life in anyway that you want to do that in your life. But one way that’s certainly a common way to pile up some rocks, so that when you pass that way again you can look at them and there is a witness, there is a story there, is to journal. Journal your way through the bible, journal your way through well, life. But through a year in the Bible, and all that the Lord speaks to you and all that was going on in your life, then that little journal, perhaps written in your own hand, is a reminder for you but is a memorial and a witness for future generations of your people. Your people. There are people, when we think about things, we think yes, I will have, well, my children are the future, generation, their children, my grandchildren are the future of…of the human race. And all that has gone before but what we are mostly centered in what’s going on right now and we’re not often thinking about, what will the generation, what will my family line look like in 300 years. Who will they be? Because they will exist because I existed. And what my life represented how, will there be a witness if I don’t leave one. And so, we encourage, we participate, we do this. It’s not really a super big pitch for journaling, although journaling is a way of methodically piling up those rocks, that tell the story of our ups and downs and God’s faithfulness. And so, we have all the stuff for journaling in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, right down to the best pencils you can get in the world. I journal with a pencil myself, just fell in love with it when my mom got sick. So, it’s been like 5 years but since then, I like sharpening a pencil and writing with my own hand. It’s not typing or in some kind of digital journal that I really don’t go back to. To have some type of routine, understanding that we’re piling up the rocks. We’re creating a witness. It can be really, really helpful on our journey through the Scriptures.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word. And we thank You for all of the nuances and all of…all of the ways that it touches everything about us. We thank You that the good and the bad are in there, the struggle is in there, the hardship is in there. We’re not reading some kind of fantasy. We’re reading about people who put their trust in You and we’re also reading about people who did not. And we get to see where those pathway lead in great detail and we thank You for that because it informs our own path. And so, we thank You for these examples of witnesses or memorials being set up. Reminding us that some of these are very, very valuable because a lot happens in life and we forget most of it. And so, come, Holy Spirit, we pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that’s where you can find out what’s happening around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does the same thing as well, which you can download from your app store, so check that out. Check out the different sections, check out the Community Section, there are links there to get connected to social media, the Prayer Wall lives there in the Community Section and is a resource that is always available to us, whether we are offering prayers or whether we are in need of prayer. The Prayer Wall is always on, never off resource for us at this community, so check that out. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop, there are resources there for the journey through the Bible in a year so, check that out as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, humbly. If us, being around the Global Campfire each and every day is life giving to you, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link at the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is 1996 Springhill, Tennessee, 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, well you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top. Or there are a number of numbers that you can call if you wanna dial: in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call, if you are in the UK or Europe 44 2036 088078 is the number to dial, and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61 3 8820 5459 is the number to call.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I will be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayers and Encouragements:

Hey, Daily Audio Bible this is People on the Water from Indiana. And I just would like to reach out to Robby and anybody else. He said he is the possibly the worst Christian talking about how he’s just doing this or that and you know I kind of feel like I’m in that same boat. I used to have a strong stark in my faith, I used to desire God. But that has since falling apart, on my own accord. And it’s, yeah, it’s hard on me. So, that being said, I’m just praying for you brother. I love you and yeah.

Good morning, Daily Audio Bible family this is Jeff calling from Canada. I’m part of the DAB Audio Bible as well as the Daily Audio Bible Kids. It’s the 16th of April and just listening to the prayers, specifically to do with the child from the lady in New York that’s struggling and Ethen, A Work in Progress, your son. I just aw, touched my heart. Going to the Bible with my two sons, one of them is 7-years-old, and I just…I just couldn’t imagine. So, we want to lift them up in prayer. And we believe that God is a miracle working God and He’s gonna do something in each situation. So, Father, we thank You for the boy that’s struggling with anger and hurt. Lord, we ask You to heal his heart and change his situation, in the name of Jesus. Father, we lift up Ethen, oh God, we just thank You Lord, that You are a miracle working God. That Lord, we just speak to his body and we command healing to come, from the top of his head, to the souls of his feet, to the tips of his fingers, Father. Whatever’s causing the degeneration, we ask You for regeneration, in Jesus’ name. We speak to his body and we say be healed, in Jesus’ name. We bind any demonic __ or spirit or principality, anything that is not from You, God. We command it to leave his body, we command it to go. Lord, I thank You even right now for signs of regeneration, that as Work in Progress and her family, sees this young boy, that God, they would just see a change for the better, in Jesus’ name. So, we just ask for the grace to be poured on that family, the strength Father, everyone that is working with children. Whether they be sick, whether they be struggling, we just ask You for the grace to be upon them. So, we just bless them. May You keep them, let Your face and light shine upon them, in Jesus’ name. This is Jeff in Canada from the Daily Audio Bible, Daily Audio Bible Kids family. Be blessed.

Hello my DAB family this is Yours Truly, Debra from the East Coast. Today is Saturday, April 16th. Praying for my mother. I would like you to pray with me. Pray for her healing. She was admitted to the hospital this past Thursday with complications in her abdomen area. But we know God is a healer. Jehovah, our Raffa. Let us pray. Father God, in the name of Jesus, we come before You now Lord, to say thank You. Father God, You said ask in the Saviors name and we come asking in the name of Jesus for a healing for my dear mother on today. We pray that You would heal her body. Give her all that she stands in need of. And Father God, we pray and we believe and we trust You as the ultimate healer. In the name of Jesus. Thank you Brian and family for all that you do on the podcast. Love to each and everyone of you. Jesus loves you and so do I.

Candance from Oregon, it’s Easter morning. Can’t even tell you how grateful I am for all of you, listening to you, being with you this morning. In my 41 years with my husband Brad, we had our ups and downs but Easter morning, you know, sometimes he was out of town and that was just difficult. But I would sing over at the church I go to because of him, because of my husband that’s the church I go to and I still go there and they’re so precious to me. I’m singing with them again this morning. But you know, I was remembering so many Easters with Brad and we would celebrate with artists like Michael Card and John-Michael Talbot and 2nd Chapter of Acts. [Singing] Hear the Bells a ringing. [End Singing] I mean it was just glorious. We would wake up from our sleep and right from our beds start rejoicing in the Lord. And now, I got to do that with you and I’m so glad you were there. My Jewish son-in-law was not offended by my greetings. And I got good texts back even from him. And I’m hoping for text back from all my kids and grandkids, who will not probably be with me, any of them, at the church or at any church. But I pray that soon, one day, they will know the Lord. Thank you for all of your prayers, beloved family.

Good morning, this is Waterman Michael calling from Portugal, originally moved over from West Coast USA, Washington, Oregon and California. I’m asking for prayers, I’ve been in the wilderness for a very long time with my family, my toddler, my 15-year-old teenager. Prayer for, asking the whole DAB family, prayer warriors around the world, join me in prayer for family unity and consistency. We’re struggling financially, crammed into a small apartment, trying to find a bigger space. And just you know, in survival mode. I’ve been going through all kinds of interviews but not landing a new role. And my wife is just struggling to get enough sleep as she works a part-time job and also trying to run a hospitality business. And it just doesn’t seem like it's enough. I know the Lord’s enough but it’s been really hard. I’m feeling depressed at times, warn out, weary. And we need strength. We need financial stability. We need independence in having our own living space apart from the in-laws we’ve lived with ever since we’ve been married for seven years. And also living with a mentally ill, alcoholic in law, is very, very difficult. So, we just ask for prayers of protection, health, provision, stability; I can’t name them all, I’m sure some of you can. Really appreciate your prayers. Thank you, Daily Audio Bible. Absolutely amazing community. I just, I’m a new listener as of a few months ago. So, God Bless, everyone there. Hello from Portugal. And I really believe in that mighty unity of the power of prayer. God Bless, Brian and your family. Cheers.

[riverdamien]

Freedom Is My Goal!

Freedom is Our Goal!

St. Andrew Kim and the Korean Martyrs

"No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made known and come to light. . . Luke 8: 16-17".

"Though the forces of evil infecting whole nations and peoples are often hidden, complex, and elusive, we are called, as Christians, to unmask and expel them in the Name of the God of Love. . . .

As long as national security is our primary concern and national survival more important than preserving life on this planet, we continue to live in the house of fear. Ultimately, we must choose between security—individual, social, or national— and freedom.

Freedom is the true human goal. Life is only true if it is free. An obsessive concern for security freezes us; it leads us to rigidity, fixation, and eventually death. The more preoccupied we are with security the more visible the force of death becomes, whether in the form of a pistol beside our bed, a rifle in our house, or a Trident submarine in our port. . . .

We must find a way to go beyond our national security obsession and reach out and foster life for all people, whatever their nationality, race, or religion." Fr. Henri Nouwen

----------------

     Fr. Henri struggled for freedom throughout his life. He was a gay man, in the Roman Catholic Church, and called by God to the priesthood. So throughout his ministry, his call and his struggle with his sexuality were in conflict, and even though he chose his call he struggled for freedom. Towards the end of his life in service to the disabled, he found freedom.     

     Nouen's quote illustrates the struggles we all wrestle with throughout our lives.

    As a young minister, at a time when I believed my denomination was coming to openness around sexuality, I approached my District Superintendent with my own struggle, and all hell broke loose.

    I was sent to two psychologists, who after listening to me, gave me a horrible label from the DSM 3, (homosexuality or the questioning of one's sexuality was considered a dysfunctional diagnosis). I was sent to a "mental health facility" for those who needed to be "straightened" out. I stayed a week and ran as far as I could to Hollywood.

    From this experience, I never trusted psychology again, and with my street kids, not at all.

    I work with a psychiatrist who spent a number of years in Africa and "they" too learned not to trust labeling individuals with a diagnosis.

    When one labels another, they set in the back of their mind a view that determines they are treated.

    In our society, we do that. Due to all the literature, and social media influence we all tend to become armchair therapists,  who label others. It is fun and interesting to do. Professionals do the same, from their cultural point of view. We are simply human beings.

    I can not tell you how many diagnoses have been thrown at me. People get angry and use a diagnosis or tell them they need to see a psychiatrist as revenge or a way of pushing people away.

    I have been asked to review the cases of adolescents over 18 on the street, and I strongly refuse to place any label on anyone and insist on the removal of negative diagnoses. The reality is street youth live in a different world, and many diagnoses do not fit. And when people are using the DSMV to diagnose others, I get nervous, very nervous, and sometimes respond in a negative manner, and hate myself afterward.

     Let's watch whatwe  say about one another, and be a lamp on the hill reflecting the light.

    Bishop John Shelby Spong has died, at 90. Reading his writings, and one other minister brought me back to the ministry. In particular, his writings saved my faith in Jesus.

    One particular quote that I memorized stays with me, and saved my ass:

"Whatever it was that people experience in Jesus has today come to be identified with medieval doctrines based on premodern assumptions that are no longer believable. That identification means that serious theological discussion seems to accomplish little more than to erect a division between the shouters and the disinterested.

Jesus becomes the captive of the hysterically religious, the chronically fearful, the insecure, and even the neurotic among us, or he becomes little more than a fading memory, the symbol of an age that is no more and a nostalgic reminder of our believing past. To me, neither option is worth pursuing.

Yet even understanding these things, I am still attracted to this Jesus and I will pursue him both relentlessly and passionately. I will not surrender the truth I believe I find in him either to those who seek to defend the indefensible or to those who want to be freed finally from premodern ideas that no longer make sense."

    I pursue Jesus "relentlessly and passionately, and freedom is my goal which will not be fulfilled until I enter Galilee following Jesus.

    And so in the invitation to Holy Communion all are invited to the Jesus of freedom, and the Jesus of love of all:

"Sisters and Brothers this is the joyful feast of the people of God! They will come from east and west, from north and south, from the highways and the byways, from wealth and from poverty, from the Tenderloin and Market Street, from the benches of Golden Gate Park and the Castro, and sit at Table in the grace-filled reign of God. We are told in the Scriptures that when the risen Lord was at table with the disciples, He took the bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eye were opened and they recognized him. This is the Lord's table, mysterious in its grace and transparent in its hospitality, caring not for gender, race, class, sexual orientation, faith tradition, or marital status, exclusive only in its fierce commitment to all people.  We are invited to share the feast prepared by the One who loves us without condition"

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

===========================

Fr. C. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www. temenos.org

415-305-2124

[berezina]

THE FOLLOWING DAY, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12th, I also didn't tweet, and my iCal reminds me why. I had an invite to a glammish Manhattan party. Cocktails at 7pm before guests moved on to dinner. That's the kind of true but implausible detail you cut from a novel.

Not that I'd been invited, exactly. I'd scored a plus-one from the college friend I've called 'Sarah.' For those new around here, Sarah is a type-A daylight creature of the tech-finance woods. Which isn't my main problem with her, though it makes small-talking around our periodic hostilities hard. She's short, blonde, and works out enough to be fit without becoming slender, a frustration she'll only reference in passing because direct conversation about it would make her feel like the wrong sort of woman. She lives on the Williamsburg waterfront in one of those glassy towers that are easy to despise until you're inside a high-floor apartment. The East River Ferry cuts its engine and glides into the dock below… a glass-muted helicopter beats by at eye-level between you and the Midtown skyline. In her apartment I question my life choices, decide it's too late, then think, Is it, though?

It was true that not having Sarah in my life was unthinkable, and also that we were overdue for a breakup. Our friendship endured because a break would be awkward for the mutual friends we both actually liked. She'd done the same math, I was sure. For girls we're both good at math.

The other thing keeping us together I doubt she noticed: her epic drive to avenge her sub-Alice status in college by proving that I was sub-Sarah, now. Which I was on her scale, and sometimes on mine. When I remember that I'm a vocational wreck I want to be Sarah and can imagine doing her job. At a party of strangers, never mind: no Sarah. The plus-one was another demonstration.

So I couldn't tweet that day, obviously. Too busy in the long mirror negging my mild Sarah-friendly dress and shoes and hair, working up the courage to piss Sarah off by putting on a slut show. I did this while preparing answers for Sarah's colleagues, who think it's only polite to ask someone like me, 'What do you do?'

'FBI.'

'FBI in training.'

'Influencer.'

'Like…nothing? I'm just rich.'

*Russian accent* 'I am model.'

(I did the Russian with Sarah in earshot once and she bombed in with 'Alice is an amazing writer,' which flattered me until I realized she just didn't want anyone to think she had a dunce loser friend.)

I remember thinking—maybe it was that day or the next, on the other side of the party—that the root trouble with us is we'd each scripted ourselves into a different buddy comedy. Mine was absurdist in not-good way: two women, neither of whom understand a word the other says, pretending they do so the other won't think she's off the up and up.

Sarah's, like most buddy comedies, had a moral. I'm the amusing flighty spontaneous looks-obsessed one, whose job is to teach my sober hard-working friend to take it easy, bae, have a drink, worry not about her boss's true opinion…because other minds or truth at all are never knowable. (In her movie I'm a philosopher, too.)

In return, Sarah schools me in the happiness that comes from hard work and adult restraint.

Of Sarah's four examples of my looks obsession, three were hookups, not boyfriends, but fine, there was truth to it. The untruthful part, which she must have recognized, was her pretense that our hook-up styles reflect deliberate choices only, not in any way different (however temporary) meat-market values. Sarah, as she'll tell you, is 'buttony' cute. But that's a risky play when you're five-foot-one with a firm thickness everywhere that, sorry, you do kind of deserve for listening to doctors and your Westchester mom, and exercising an hour each day like she does, while ignoring my advice to stop eating like her.

The party was not my worst. As a reward for dressing with cowardly 'taste,' I harvested a bushel of corporate male regard, including the older-male regard I sometimes crave because Daddy blah blah. Wise Sarah would have told me the good news: the harvest meant I could be choosy. I could go on a proper date with the most promising one. But I don't know: the dialectic of desire I inherited was busted, waiting for a spare part that never arrived. When most men at a party or on a scene don't pay court I become indignant and drive off the noble exceptions. Where I'm popular I become less choosy, likelier to run off somewhere to disinhibit with the room's most persistent Regarder. Sarah loves to replay the times my unchoosiness persisted even after the Regarder had showed his hand as a player, mild psycho, or (not defending it) married.

That night Sarah kept me under surveillance. If I wasn't willing to start with a proper date, I would need to submit any potential hookup to the Sarah Test: is this a dude I could remotely imagine dating sometime in the near future, when we were done with our sad business? The answers in this case were nooooooo. Also, the leading contestants were friends, which is gross, somehow. I was pretty sure I said no.

The next morning I woke hungover, confused by a strange bed, and thought, Uh oh. But it was too comfortable to be a man's. I found Sarah in her apartment's kitchen district, in sports spandex. She'd finished in her building's gym, or the micro gym she belonged to as well because it had the better whatever and her employer paid half. One of her little hands dawdled on the island's marble top, enjoying some downtime, while she thumb-scrolled her phone with the other. She made a gesture of 'finishing up' before the needling arrived.

'She wakes! She rises!'

Something like that. I'm not going to pretend I remember exact words in this scene. The point is that my habit of sleeping late fit with my caricature from her movie.

'I smell Venture Capital coffee,' I said.

She poured me a mug's worth, and it was fucken amazing until she ruined it with, 'Did we like the bed?'

'Your sheets are intense.'

'Pillow-wise?'

'I'm not just saying this. You run like the best boutique hotel.' Which was true.

'I'm putting the customer first,' she said.

'It's true.'

It was Sarah's turn to rejoin but she put on a transitional smile instead. 'Remember when you said that to me?'

Yeah, yeah. As I explained at the time, which was college, I was being self-deprecating, not condescending to her business aspirations. 'I could never be good at business' was set up. 'To me, the customer's always wrong.' Pow!

Her memory had done light renovations, updating the quip from a play on the classically servile 'customer's always right' to the equally servile but more Obama-era proactive, 'putting the customer first.' When I pointed out her mistake she said, 'I can't believe you remember that.'

Classic: suggesting I was obsessed with an ancient incident I never would have recalled if she hadn't two seconds ago brought it up.

A cease-fire held as we walked our coffees over to her living room district. We shared the instinct to grab winter sun from her wall of noise-cancelling glass. Even in communion, I thought, we were so different. Her she was caffeinated and high on exercise, her spandex with the sour damp smell of achievement. She took the sun, checking it off her daily list of things to do in January, for Vitamin D. I was dry-mouthed and skullachey in undies and a v-neck, scrounging sun for the same reason I overflirt. I need handfuls of anti-depressant.

We weren't done.

Sarah reminded me that (in college) I'd been defensive at first, accusing her of paranoia before retreating to like, 'I totally get how you'd hear it as condescending, but honestly…'

My college apology had expired. Was I aware that my old tone of condescension persisted? Toward her and, yes, others? She brought a lightly embellished example from the party I couldn't believe she'd overheard. It was with one of the Regarders and she was misunderstanding ironic banter. We'd had that conversation before, too. Anything I say in an old-movie-star voice, as a rule, I told her, is not serious. But no one hears anything. I re-apologized.

'I'm not saying be a different person inside,' Sarah said, in her wise-one conclusion-voice. 'It would be too weird if you weren't arrogant. Seriously, you'd be unrecognizable. [laugh laugh laugh] But you're getting too old to like, radiate arrogance.'

'While living in Queens, you mean.'

'I mean anywhere.'

'Arrogance is not a great look for a nobody is what you're saying.'

'No for anyone.'

Yeah, right.

Having lost my will to exist outside Sarah's judgments, I spent the rest of that Sunday with her and her parents. They showed up at her place exactly at noon, which led me to picture them inside their car in a parking garage, killing time listening to WNYC. Her mother, Jill, greeted me with began sincerely warm on its way to suspiciously long. Sniffing for alcohol? Infusing me with 'support.' Jill used to act testy and competitive toward me in sympathy with her daughter but since the post-college status-reversal I was a poor thing having a rough time and what a pity to throw such a promising life away, a fate pretty much sealed and we could stop discussing now that she's age almost-26. Sarah's kindly, invisible father came over with WNYC still in his ears like the perfume of another woman and told us to sit, sit, while his wife took over the kitchen, to poison us with bagels and cake.

'I will need an update,' Jill warned me, as if she had any intention of giving me time to prepare. 'What's the grad school story?'

'I'mmmm still deciding. Pretty sure I'll apply.'

'Great!' She pointed a cake knife at me. 'But do it this time. Really do it. Yeah?'

'That's always the idea, except—'

'Great.'

It was at a rent-the-back-room dinner she'd treated Sarah and ten of her friends to during our college-graduation week, that I'd told Jill my grad school plans. She'd said, 'Don't waste your time in the Ivory Tower. It's much ado about nothing.' Now I was a good fit.

When Jill wasn't looking, I yanked a strip of lox out from between the overfull bagel buttocks, and ate it like a piece of sashimi. I thought about stuffing the toxic bread product into my bag like after I stayed overnight at their Chappaqua place but decided it would be more fun to feed Jill's condescending concern by leaving them my carb refuse right there on the island. This way she could whisper to Sarah when I stepped into the bathroom, 'Is she eating? She doesn't look great,' and Sarah would tell me the next day, 'My mom asked if you were eating and I told her it was none of her business. But just between us, I hope you're eating.'

~Alice from Queens [source]

[theloobrush]

God’s mental content

In the TV series 'Closer to Truth', the 'public intellectual' Robert Lawrence Kuhn talks to various theologians and philosophers addressing'ultimate questions'. Many episodes concern the fundamental nature of the cosmos and consciousness, and religious truth claims. The series is also portrayed as Kuhn's personal quest to convince himself there is a God. Indeed, in his interviews he sometimes exudes a 'quiet desperation’.

https://youtu.be/I77Bc_bLFW0

Kuhn admits he is only interested in proving the existence of a ‘personal’ deity sympathetic to human kind. However, he asks, why should 'ultimate reality' be a person at all? Isn't this obvious human projection and wishful thinking?

What's missing is analysis of personhood in relation to more general conceptions of mind and consciousness as discussed in other episodes.

Has Kuhn forgotten previous enthusiastic presentations of 'panpsychist' theories? In the series some thinkers suggest consciousness may be universal and/or fundamental. Deepak Chopra is wheeled out insisting there is only one universal consciousness, and everything arises from it. Yet Chopra is also adamant God is not 'personal'.

But if consciousness is fundamental to ultimate reality, either because you are a neutral monist or an idealist then you are at least half way to believing 'ultimate reality' is personal, and arguably, all the way.  Almost by definition, consciousness involves at the very least subjectivity and this seems hardly different from non conceptual self awareness.

We are on the verge of being self aware if we think at least one self reflective thought: 'I think therefore I am' said Descartes. Thoughts are seemingly temporal  'events' arising and  dissipating within consciousness, like ripples on the surface of water. Consciousness can be a pure awareness without thoughts. In humans thoughts involve perceptual and sense data or memories of sense data. Thinking is not the same as reasoning. The latter is an evolution of thinking, involving categorisation, comparison and connection of thoughts.

Some would say 'personhood' requires more than mere self awareness, but also  agency and intentional states of mind. Agency collapses into intention as the desire for some outcome. So all agency begins with desire. What 'desires' could ultimate reality have?

Desire is for something, an object; its opposite is aversion. I believe desire does not indicate a deficiency in the desirer, only the maintenance or evolution of some state of affairs. Does ultimate reality love or hate ? Human love is a desire for communion with another being and also has an additional meaning of  a desire for their good and well being.   The desire for communion would seem to require a delight in the object of love. The desire for persistence of the object of delight is connected with a desire for its welfare.  Is this why ultimate reality is said to be benevolent? If there are no other external objects, we tend to love what we create whether it is our ideas, art or children. But why? Why the delight? Perhaps because our creations hold up a mirror to ourselves.

In summary the building blocks of personhood could subsist in ultimate reality in the form of consciousness, self awareness, and a most basic form of desire to know and be known even by oneself. 

Ultimate reality's subjective state would be contemplative, 'serene' and blissfully undisturbed. No bad memories; fears or anxiety. No physical urges or neurosis. It would not have an ego comparing itself to others. It would not have external perceptions before any creation.

Lacking empirical data, ultimate reality's reasoning must be the most 'pure' kind, involving logical operations and axiomatic necessary truths like mathematics. This picture of the divine mind is very different in nature from a human mind.

[timeforgodyagm]

URC Youth Assembly (24-26 Jan)

Members of the Yorkshire Synod of the URC Youth (missing: Saskia, Nico) (image source)

I’m going to apologize in advance for the length of this post, and feel free to skim it as needed. 

Last month, I attended the United Reformed Church’s Youth Assembly (URCYA) with the other members of Peter’s House, as a representative of the churches we’re working in. On January 24th we spent the afternoon traveling to Whitemoor Lakes Activity Centre via mini-bus, Going from Hull to Leeds (to pick up more people) to Lichfield took about 4 hours. Arriving at 7:30, we quickly ate dinner and then the weekend began! 

We started with some icebreakers to get to know our small “Buzz” group, who we would be discussing the panels with. The main purpose for this weekend, aside from gathering together, was to bring motions to the attention of the Youth, which, if passed, would then move on to change things for the future. The motion we started with was a mock motion, to help us understand how to vote properly and the setup of the different sections (like when to ask questions and when to discuss with your group). After the mock motion we then moved into a worship where we contemplated the things we left behind to attend (For example, I said work). The intentionality behind understanding that we had left some things behind to attend this gathering was very engaging for me, and set a good standard for how the weekend would go. Once worship was finished, we got to go to a campfire (where I broke out the graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate that I had brought and made a s’more for myself and Ryan (another American YAGM volunteer who was there!)). Bedtime was scheduled for 1am both nights, but I was asleep no later than 11:30pm that first night. 

The next morning after breakfast the first of three scheduled Panel discussions followed by a workshop started. This one focused on Politics, and a lot of the discussion circled around what is the role of religion in politics, especially given how intertwined the Church of England and the government are in the UK. Coming into this discussion as an American, I felt that I learned a lot in regards to that specific cultural difference, given that church and state are tried to keep as separate as possible (and, to be honest, my preferred method to run a country, but I’m biased). The discussion then moved over to whether we should be voting in the interest of Christian values, and how we classify what values are Christian. Following the panel discussion, the workshop I had the privilege to attend was titled “Where Would Jesus Sit Politically?” and centred around the types of policies Jesus would back or be involved in today. Some of the ideas that came up were protections for vulnerable people, advocacy for minorities, and better accessibility laws. 

After that came the first business session, where the motions started. The first motion presented was to help integrate the use of an app that students can use to help find a local church while away from home, which was passed. Another motion instructed the URC to create a designated “Green Apostle” position to help with the current climate emergency and reduce the overall amount of waste and environmental footprint the URC creates. This motion also passed. After these motions, we got to have lunch within our Synod groups (that meant sitting with the Yorkshire Synod, for me), and got to get to know some of the more local URC Youth a little better. 

After lunch and a brief break, we reconvened for the second panel discussion and workshop. This second discussion was on “Sex, Faith, and Relationships,” and to be honest, I was a little disappointed coming out of that panel. The main focus seemed to be on whether sex outside of marriage is fulfilling, and how everyone obviously desires to have a close, physical relationship with someone else. To me, that was exclusionary and at odds with the overall “Common Ground” theme of the assembly. There are people in the world who don’t want a physical relationship with someone else, and there’s others who won’t ever want to get married. I also think the mindset of “sex before marriage is necessarily worse than sex within marriage” is very old fashioned. The workshop I attended after that discussed Gaslighting (and if you’d like to learn more about that, please go here: https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/12/19/18140830/gaslighting-relationships-politics-explained). 

A short break later, and we reconvened to discuss more business. Some of these motions included the formation of a task group to look at celebrating the URC’s 50 anniversary (motion passed) and a letter written to the CTE in regards to their decision to sideline a chosen President Hannah Brock Womack due to her same-sex marriage (this motion also passed, and the letter can be found here: https://urc.org.uk/latest-news/3331-urc-youth-assembly-unanimously-condemns-cte-decision.html). After business was completed, we had dinner and then attended a sensory form of worship; we isolated our different senses to connect ourselves closer to our memories and discover different ways to engage our senses with our faith. 

Once this was completed, we came back together to conduct elections (the results of which can be found in the link above). We then got to participate in a Ceilidh, which, to directly quote Google, is “a social event with Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling”. It’s fairly similar to a barn dance, and it was lots of fun. It takes a lot of effort, and I was exhausted afterwards, but getting to participate in the part of the culture here was amazing. The energy in the room the whole time was buzzing, and we ended the Ceilidh by dancing to and singing Auld Lang Syne, which is a celebration of the times we’ve enjoyed together (loosely translated from Scottish, it means [for] the sake of old times). We then proceeded to a late night communion service, which was a deep reflection and very personal. After communion, I think I stayed up almost until 2 in the morning, and most of that time was spent talking to others. 

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we started in on our third (and final) panel discussion, on War and Peace. The discussion started off with a quote from a book called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse: “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things”. This is something that I think most of us take for granted. People stuck in situations like dictatorship often lose that freedom first. Another discussed topic included whether it is ever justifiable to go to war, and what the line there is. Is it ethical to keep out of war for the sake of peace, when staying out of the war could mean the deaths of millions? If you look at it from a purely utilitarian standpoint, war would only be justifiable if participating means the loss of fewer lives than not participating. Someone pointed out that God is always on the side of the oppressed, in which case people should get involved on behalf of the oppressed. One other point discussed was whether we believe world peace is achievable, and it was pointed out that world peace has to be achievable, or at least believed achievable, otherwise nobody would try to work towards it. The workshop I attended Sunday was on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The workshop was lead by someone who has attended a URC lead trip where the goal was to learn more about the Palestinian perspective in order to enable a better understanding of how to help. I have a lot of thoughts on this workshop (that could probably fill another blog post, so we’ll see), but I want to say just two things: 1) the tour company they used stated that less than 1% of tourists that had used them visited the Holy Land to learn more about the Palestinian perspective. Less than one percent! 2) The person leading the workshop comes from South Africa, and he was very vocal on how similar the situation looks compared to Apartheid in South Africa. 

The final part of the assembly was some final business which involved inducting the new URC Youth Executive! After this, the Assembly came to a close and everyone departed for home (although us PEter’s House members and the other TIme for God volunteers stayed at the activity centre because the Time for God BIG Conference started the next day at the same location. Finally, a big shoutout to Ryan (previously mentioned) and Aaron (one of the URCYA Yorkshire Synod attendees) for letting me bother them quite extensively so I could understand everything that was happening that weekend.

If you’ve stuck around this far, thanks for reading! That was quite a lot to write, and if you have any questions please shoot them my way.

[pope-francis-quotes]

31st May >> (@ZenitEnglish By Jim Fair) #Pope Francis #PopeFrancis to Romanian Orthodox: ‘The bonds of faith that unite us go back to the Apostles’ #PopeFrancis #PopeinRomania.

Pope Francis to Romanian Orthodox: ‘The bonds of faith that unite us go back to the Apostles’

‘I too have come here as a pilgrim desirous of seeing the Lord’s Face in the faces of my Brothers.’

MAY 31, 2019 16:44JIM FAIRPAPAL TRIPS

Pope Francis on May 31, 2019, stressed what unites the Roman Catholic Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church in a key segment of his Apostolic Journey to Romania, May 31,-June 2.

“The bonds of faith that unite us go back to the Apostles, the witnesses of the risen Jesus, and in particular to the bond between Peter and Andrew, who according to tradition brought the faith to these lands,” the Holy Father said. “I too have come here as a pilgrim desirous of seeing the Lord’s Face in the faces of my Brothers. As now I look at you, I offer you heartfelt thanks for your welcome.”

The Pope’s remarks came in a gathering of the members of the Permanent Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Vatican ecclesiastical delegation are present. The Holy Father was welcomed at the Palace of the Patriarchate by the Patriarch of Romania, His Beatitude Daniel. with whom he had a private meeting before talking with the larger group.

Pope Francis noted that the factors that unite the churches include shared memories, shared sacrifices — including martyrdom — and “journeying together in listening to the Lord…journeying together towards a new Pentecost.”

“We too need to listen together to the Lord, especially in these more recent years, when our world has experienced rapid social and cultural changes,” Francis said. “Technological development and economic prosperity may have benefitted many, yet even more have remained hopelessly excluded, while a globalization that tends to level differences has contributed to uprooting traditional values and weakening ethics and social life, which more recently has witnessed a growing sense of fear that, often skillfully stoked, leads to attitudes of rejection and hate.

“We need to help one another not to yield to the seductions of an individualistic ‘culture of hate’ that, perhaps no longer ideological as in the time of the atheist persecution, is nonetheless more persuasive and no less materialist. Often it takes on the appearance of a path to development that appears fast and easy, but in reality, is indifferent and superficial. The weakening of social bonds, which leads to isolation, has particular repercussions on the fundamental cell of society, the family. It requires us to make an effort to go out and engage with the difficulties faced by our brothers and sisters, especially the very young, not with discouragement and nostalgia, like that of the disciples of Emmaus, but with the desire to communicate the risen Jesus, the heart of hope.”

The Holy Father’s Full Remarks

Your Beatitude, Venerable Metropolitans and Bishops of the Holy Synod,

Cristos a înviat! [Christ is risen!] The Lord’s resurrection is the very heart of the apostolic preaching handed down and preserved by our Churches. On the day of Easter, the Apostles rejoiced to see the Risen Lord (cf. Jn 20:20). In this Easter season, I too rejoice to see a reflection of him, dear Brothers, in your own faces. Twenty years ago, before this Holy Synod, Pope John Paul II said, “I have come to contemplate the Face of Christ etched in your Church; I have come to venerate this suffering Face, the pledge to you of new hope” (Address to Patriarch Teoctist and the Holy Synod, 8 May 1999: Insegnamenti XXII.1 [1999], 938). I too have come here as a pilgrim desirous of seeing the Lord’s Face in the faces of my Brothers. As now I look at you, I offer you heartfelt thanks for your welcome.

The bonds of faith that unite us go back to the Apostles, the witnesses of the risen Jesus, and in particular to the bond between Peter and Andrew, who according to tradition brought the faith to these lands. Blood brothers (cf. Mk 1:16-18), they were also in an exceptional way brothers in shedding their blood for the Lord. They remind us that there exists a fraternity of blood that precedes us and that, as a silent and life-giving stream flowing down the centuries, has never ceased to nourish and sustain us on our journey.

Here, as in so many other places nowadays, you have experienced the passover of death and resurrection: how man sons and daughters of this country, from various Churches and Christian communities, knew the Friday of persecution, endured the Saturday of silence and experienced the Sunday of rebirth. How many were the martyrs and confessors of the faith! In recent times, how many, from different confessions, stood side by side in prisons to support one another in turn! Today their example stands before us and before the young, who did not experience those dramatic conditions. What they suffered for, even to the sacrifice of their lives, is too precious an inheritance to be disregarded or tarnished. It is a shared inheritance and it summons us to remain close to our brothers and sisters who share it. United to Christ in suffering and sorrows, and united to Christ in the resurrection, so that “we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4).

Your Beatitude, dear Brother, twenty-five years ago, the meeting between our Predecessors was an Easter gift, an event that contributed not only to renewed relations between Orthodox and Catholics in Romania but also to the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue in general. That visit, the first of a Bishop of Rome to a country of Orthodox majority, opened the way to other similar events. Here I remember with gratitude Patriarch Teoctist. How can we fail to recall the spontaneous cry “Unitate, unitate!” that was raised here in Bucharest in those days! It was a proclamation of hope rising up from the people of God, a prophecy that inaugurated a new time: the time of journeying together in the rediscovery and revival of the fraternity that even now unites us.

Journeying together with the strength of memory. Not the memory of wrongs endured and inflicted, of judgments and prejudices that enclose us in a vicious circle and bring only barrenness. Rather, the memory of roots: the first centuries when the Gospel, preached with boldness and prophetic spirit, encountered and enlightened new peoples and cultures; the first centuries of the martyrs, of the Fathers and the confessors of the faith, the holiness daily lived out and witnessed to by so many simple persons who share the same Heaven. Thank God, our roots are sound and sure,and, even if their growth has undergone the twists and turns of time, we are called, like the Psalmist, to remember with gratitude all that the Lord has done in our midst and to raise to him a song of praise for each other (cf. Ps 77:6.12-13). The remembrance of steps taken and completed together encourages us to advance to the future in the awareness – certainly – of our differences, but above all in thanksgiving for a family atmosphere to be rediscovered and a memory of communion to be revived, that, like a lamp, can light up the steps of our journey.

Journeying together in listening to the Lord. We have an example in the way our Lord acted on the evening of Easter as he walked alongside his disciples on the way to Emmaus. They were discussing all that had happened, their worries, hesitations, and questions. There the Lord listened patiently and entered into heartfelt dialogue with them, helping them to understand and to discern what had happened (cf. Lk 24:15-27).

We too need to listen together to the Lord, especially in these more recent years, when our world has experienced rapid social and cultural changes. Technological development and economic prosperity may have benefitted many, yet even more have remained hopelessly excluded, while a globalization that tends to level differences has contributed to uprooting traditional values and weakening ethics and social life, which more recently has witnessed a growing sense of fear that, often skillfully stoked, leads to attitudes of rejection and hate. We need to help one another not to yield to the seductions of an individualistic “culture of hate” that, perhaps no longer ideological as in the time of the atheist persecution, is nonetheless more persuasive and no less materialist. Often it takes on the appearance of a path to development that appears fast and easy, but in reality, is indifferent and superficial. The weakening of social bonds, which leads to isolation, has particular repercussions on the fundamental cell of society, the family. It requires us to make an effort to go out and engage with the difficulties faced by our brothers and sisters, especially the very young, not with discouragement and nostalgia, like that of the disciples of Emmaus, but with the desire to communicate the risen Jesus, the heart of hope. Together with our brothers and sisters, we need to listen once more to the Lord, so that our hearts can burn within us and our preaching not grow weak (ibid., vv. 32.35).

The journey comes to an end, as it did in Emmaus, with the insistent prayer that the Lord remain with us (cf. vv. 28-29). The Lord who is revealed in the breaking of the bread (cf. vv. 30- 31), calls us to charity, to mutual service, to “give God” before we “speak of God”, to a goodness that is not passive, but prepared to get up and set out, a service that is active and collaborative (cf. v. 33). We see an excellent example of this in the many Romanian Orthodox communities that cooperate fruitfully with the many Catholic dioceses in Western Europe where they are present. In many cases, a relationship of reciprocal trust and friendship has developed, nurtured by concrete gestures of acceptance, support, and solidarity. Through the growth of this reciprocal knowledge, many Catholics and Romanian Orthodox have discovered that they are not strangers, but brothers, sisters, and friends.

Journeying together towards a new Pentecost. The path before us leads from Easter to Pentecost: from that Paschal dawn of unity that emerged here twenty years ago, we have set out towards a new Pentecost. For the disciples, Easter marked the beginning of a new journey, even if their fears and uncertainties did not vanish. Thus it was, even until the day of Pentecost, when, gathered around the Holy Mother of God, the Apostles, in the one Spirit and a plurality and richness of languages, bore witness to the Risen Lord by their words and by their lives. Our own journey has begun anew with the certainty that we are brothers and sisters walking side by side, sharing the faith grounded in the resurrection of the one Lord. From Easter to Pentecost: a time of gathering and praying together under the protection of the Holy Mother of God, a time of invoking the Spirit for one another. May the Holy Spirit renew us, for he disdains uniformity and loves to shape unity from the most beautiful and harmonious diversity. May his fire consume our lack of confidence and his breath sweep away the hesitation that holds us back from bearing witness together to the new life he offers us. May he, the builder of fraternity, give us the grace to walk beside one another. May he, the creator of newness, make us courageous as we experience unprecedented ways of sharing and of mission. May he, the strength of the martyrs, keep us from making his self-gift fruitless.

Dear Brothers, journeying together, to the praise of the Most Holy Trinity and to our mutual benefit as we seek to help our brothers and sisters to see Jesus. I once more assure you of my gratitude and of my own affection, friendship and prayers, and that of the Catholic Church.

[00953-EN.01] [Original text: Italian]

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

31st MAY 2019 16:44PAPAL TRIPS

[bichngocluu]

Philosophical Film : “Waking Life” (2001)

(Source : rogerebert.com)

Best cartoon (or is it really a cartoon ?) I have seen lately. Philosophy and everything. 

“Waking Life” is an animated story about a nameless young man, played by Wiley Wiggins, who finds himself trapped in a continuous series of dreams. 

He walks or levitates from one scene to another, listening to a range of theories by philosophers, intellectuals and crackpots. The text commentary to the film states that “Waking life features a complex interweaving of conversations with professors, artists, writers and performers. The film is an exploration from many points of view of past and current trends in philosophy.”

During the first half of the film he listens to various peoples theories about human existence, saying very little himself. In the second half of the film Wiley realizes that he is stuck in a series of lucid dreams, and he attempts to wake up. As his efforts fail he considers that he may in fact be dead, and experiencing a dream-like condition in the afterlife.

Below are some of my favorite quotes with further explanations from site Philosophical Films (http://www.philfilms.utm.edu)

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On Dreaming :

Man on the Train: Hey, are you a dreamer? Wiley: Yeah. Man on the Train: I haven't seen too many around lately. Things have been tough lately for dreamers. They say dreaming is dead, no one does it anymore. It's not dead it's just that it's been forgotten, removed from our language. Nobody teaches it so nobody knows it exists. The dreamer is banished to obscurity. Well, I'm trying to change all that, and I hope you are too. By dreaming, every day. Dreaming with our hands and dreaming with our minds. Our planet is facing the greatest problems it's ever faced, ever. 

So whatever you do, don't be bored, this is absolutely the most exciting time we could have possibly hoped to be alive. And things are just starting

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ On Language :

“Creation seems to come out of imperfection. It seems to come out of a striving and a frustration and this is where I think language came from. I mean, it came from our desire to transcend our isolation and have some sort of connection with one another. And it had to be easy when it was just simple survival. 

But when it gets really interesting I think is when we use that same system of symbols to communicate all the abstract and intangible things that we're experiencing. What is like... frustration? Or what is anger or love? 

When I say love, the sound comes out of my mouth and it hits the other person's ear, travels through this byzantine conduit in their brain through their memories of love or lack of love, and they register what I'm saying and they say yes, they understand. But how do I know they understand? 

Because words are inert. They're just symbols. They're dead, you know? And so much of our experience is intangible. So much of what we perceive cannot be expressed. It's unspeakable.

And yet you know, when we communicate with one another and we feel that we have connected and we think that we're understood I think we have a feeling of almost spiritual communion. And that feeling might be transient, but I think it's what we live for.”

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On Human Interations :

(Source : Pinterest)

It's like we go through life with our antennas bouncing off one another, continously on ant autopilot, with nothing really human required of us. Stop. Go. Walk here. Drive there. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient, polite manner.

"Here's your change." "Paper or plastic?' "Credit or debit?" "You want ketchup with that?" I don't want a straw. 

I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be ant, you know?

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On Existentialism and Responsiblility :

(Source : GIPHY)

I'm afraid we're losing the real virtues of living life passionately in the sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feel good about life. 

Existentialism is often discussed as if it's, a philosophy of despair, but I think the truth is just the opposite. Sartre, once interviewed, said he never really felt a day of despair in his life. 

The more you talk about a person as a social construction or as a confluence of forces or as fragmented of marginalised, what you do is you open up a whole new world of excuses. And when Sartre talks about responsibility, he's not talking about something abstract. He's not talking about the kind of self or soul that theologians would argue about. It's something very concrete, it's you and me talking, making decisions, doing things, and taking the consequences. It might be true that there are six billion people in this world, and counting, but nevertheless -what you do makes a difference. It makes a difference, first of all, in material terms, it makes a difference to other people, and it sets an example. 

In short, I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off or see each other as a victim of various forces. It's always our decision who we are.

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On Choosing between Freedom and Security :

“We should not SUBMIT to dehumanization. I don't know about you, but I'm concerned with what's happening in this world. I'm concerned with the structure. I'm concerned with the systems of control. Those that control my life, and those that seek to control it EVEN MORE! I want FREEDOM! That's what I want, and that's what YOU should want! 

It's up to each and every one of us to turn loose of just some of the greed, the hatred, the envy, and yes, the insecurities, because that is the central mode of control, make us feel pathetic, small, so we'll willingly give up our sovereignty, our liberty, our destiny. 

We have GOT to realize we're being conditioned on a mass scale. 

Start challenging this corporate slave state! The 21st Century's gonna be a new century! Not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance, of classism and statism, and all the rest of the modes of control... it's gonna be the age of humankind, standing up for something PURE and something RIGHT! What a bunch of garbag liberal, Democratic, conservative, Republican, it's all there to control you, two sides of the same coin! Two management teams, bidding for control of the CEO job of Slavery Incorporated!” 

(He argues that we are being conditioned on a mass scale to give up our freedoms, which society does by making us feel pathetic and small. Instead, Jones argues, we should embrace the “creativity and the dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit.” Isn’t it worth giving up some of our creative freedom in exchange for security?")

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On Politcs and Media and our Role in it :

(Source : GIPHY)

“Man wants chaos. In fact, he's got to have it. 

Depression, strife, riots, murder. All this dread. We're irresistibly drawn to that almost orgiastic state created out of death and destruction. It's in all of us. We revel in it. Sure, the media tries to put a sad face on these things, painting them up as great human tragedies; but we all know the function of the media has never been to eliminate the evils of the world, no! Their job is to persuade us to accept those evils and get used to living with them. The powers that be want us to be passive observers. 

They haven't given us any other options outside the occasional, purely symbolic, participatory act of voting. "You want the puppet on the right, or the puppet on the left?" 

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On Pessimistic View about Human Beings :

(Source : Pinterest)

What are these barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential? The answer to that can be found in another question and that's this: Which is the most universal human characteristic: fear, or laziness?

(Wiley visits UT Austin philosophy professor Louis Mackey, who argues that the gap between the average person and Plato is greater than the gap between the average person and chimpanzees. True genius, he argues, is rarely achieved, largely because of human laziness.)

[nolimitsongrace]

December 20: Teach Your Children the Truth

Teach Your Children the TruthDecember 20, 2019

And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. — Deuteronomy 11:19

Decades have passed, but we Renners are still reading the Christmas story as a family tradition before we open gifts. Every Christmas, our immediate family members come to our home in Moscow, where all the grandchildren excitedly wait to open their presents. But just as our sons had to wait until the Christmas story was first read and discussed, we have continued this family tradition — only now the whole event takes place in the Russian language, since that has become the primary language of the Renner households in Russia!

We read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke — all in Russian — and then our ever-growing group of grandchildren interacts and joins the conversation about what we just read about the birth of Jesus. As questions are asked, the older ones eagerly lift their hands to be acknowledged, and they each participate in a wonderful discussion about Jesus and all the events that surrounded His miraculous birth. One hand shoots up into the air — then the next and the next as our grandchildren compete to give the right answers to questions, such as:

Where did the wise men come from?

Why was Herod so paranoid about Jesus being born?

How old was Mary when she became pregnant?

How did she become pregnant?

What was the job of a carpenter?

*[If you started reading this from your email, begin reading here.]

The list of questions goes on and on. And if any child dare approach the gifts before this conversation is concluded, they are quickly corrected by the other grandchildren, who have come to love this as their favorite part of Christmas Day!

In fact, this family tradition has become so interesting that no one gets in a hurry to move on to the time of opening gifts. The children realize that the gifts will still be there regardless of how much time our story takes. We have so much fun talking about the Gospel message that no one ever becomes anxious about opening the gifts. The big event of our Christmas morning is the story of Christmas and the fun challenge of trying to out-answer everyone else with the correct responses to the questions that are asked!

Deuteronomy 11:19 says, “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them [God’s words] when thou sitteth in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

In the Greek version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, the word “teach” is the Greek plural form of the word didasko. This word emphatically means that parents have the responsibility to teach their children how to live by God’s law and ordinances and to have a working knowledge of His Word. According to this verse, parents are to take every opportunity to teach their children. Deuteronomy 11:19 says we’re to speak God’s Word when they rise, when they walk by the way, when they lie down, and when they rise again. One of the foremost responsibilities of parents is to impart the teaching and traditions of the Word of God to their children.

People often ask what Denise and I did to raise such godly sons — and, now, godly grandchildren. The answer is that we took Deuteronomy 11:19 very seriously. Denise and I didn’t hold a daily Bible study with our sons — but in the process of living life, we pointed out creation and the Creator, the love of God, His plan of redemption, and so on. We constantly and habitually reminded our children of God Almighty and His goodness in our lives. And we applied this same principle on Christmas Day.

What a wonderful day to speak truth to your children or grandchildren — to make the Word of God the highest priority of the day on Christmas morning. The impact and the memories will last a lifetime as you make it a fun and meaningful time together — and then move on to open presents, partake of special foods, and enjoy precious time with family for the rest of the day.

I’ve taken three days to exhort you on this subject because I believe it is such a serious tradition for a Christian family to build into their lives. If you do not already have such a tradition, today I want to encourage you to think about what kind of Christmas customs you can establish for your family to practice on this important holiday!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I continue to be stirred by this exhortation on the importance of deliberate traditions and habits to place God’s Word first on a daily basis. Teach me how to make practical applications of Deuteronomy 11:19 every day in every area of my life beyond this holiday season. I ask You to show me how to start new traditions for our family that can be passed down to ensuing generations. I also ask You to help our family really think through what kind of Christian tradition we can start and continue year by year to keep You and Your Word the focal point of all that we do. Once we get started, give us the strength of will to keep it up perpetually and pass it on to other generations. Most of all, we want not only a Christian tradition but also a daily lifestyle that will honor Christ and bring Him glory!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I confess that I create deliberate habits to bring God’s Word into my daily life and the lives of those around me. This year I’m going to seriously consider what kind of Christian traditions I can begin in my family and will move forward to initiate a godly heritage in my home. There’s no better time to start than now, so I plan to get started this Christmas season!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

What other kind of Christian traditions have you heard of that people practice with their families?

Have you ever considered taking Communion as a part of your Christmas Day events? When would you do it, and how would you talk to your family about this sacrament of Communion?

Once you start a tradition, you want to make sure it is one that you can continue year by year, so really think this through before you get star Why not write it down and discuss it with your spouse — or, if you’re single, with another relative or close friend? It’s important not to make a big announcement to your children that you don’t follow through with each year.

[deliciouscollectorsandwich-stuff]

"You have but two final destinies: Heaven and hell. Know that satan will try to remove the reality of the existence of his kingdom, hell, from you. He will deceive you so that you will sin and remove yourselves from the Spirit of light. And when you remove yourselves from the Spirit of light, you remove yourselves from eternal life in the Kingdom of your Father, the most high God in Heaven.  - Our Lady of the Roses The following explanation, of life in hell was found among the papers left by a nun who died in a convent in Germany. In my youth, I had a friend, Anne, who lived near my house. That is to say, we were mutually attached as companions and co-workers in the same office. After Anne married, I never saw her again. We never had what can be called a real friendship, but rather an amiable relationship. For this reason, when she married well and moved to a better neighborhood far from my home, I didn’t really miss her that much. In mid-September of 1937 I was vacationing at Lake Garda when my mother wrote me this bit of gossip: “Imagine, Anne N. died. She lost her life in an automobile accident. She was buried yesterday in M. cemetery.” I was shocked by the news. I knew that Anne had never been very religious. Was she prepared when God called her suddenly from this life? The next morning I assisted at Mass in the chapel of the convent boarding house where I was rooming. I prayed fervently for the eternal rest of her soul and offered my Holy Communion for that intention. Throughout the day I was unsettled, and that night I slept fitfully. Once, I awoke suddenly, hearing something that sounded like my door being opened. Startled, I turned on the light, noting that the time on the clock on my nightstand showed ten minutes after midnight. The house was quiet and I saw nothing unusual. The only sound was from the waves of Lake Garda breaking monotonously on the garden wall. There was no wind. Nonetheless, I thought I heard something else after the rattling of the door, a swooshing sound like something being dropped. It reminded me of when my former office manager was in a bad mood and dropped some problem papers on my desk for me to resolve. Should I get up and look around? I wondered. But since all remained quiet, it didn’t seem worthwhile. It was probably just my imagination, somewhat overwrought by the news of the death of my friend. I rolled over, prayed several Our Fathers for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, and returned to sleep. I then dreamed that I arose at six to go to morning Mass in the house chapel. Upon opening the door of my room, I stepped on a parcel containing the pages of a letter. I picked it up and recognized Anne’s handwriting. I cried out in fright. My fingers trembled, and my mind was so shaken I couldn’t even think to say an Our Father. I felt like I was suffocating, and needed open air to breathe. I hastily finished arranging myself, put the letter in my purse, and rushed from the house. Once outside, I followed a winding path up through the hills, past the olive and laurel trees and the neighboring farms, and then on beyond the famous Gardesana highway. The day was breaking with the brilliant light of the morning sun. On other days, I would stop every hundred steps or so to marvel at the magnificent view of the lake and beautiful Garda Island. The sparkling blue tones of the water delighted me, and like a child gazing with awe at her grandfather, I would gaze with admiration upon the ashen-colored Mount Baldo that rose some 7,200 feet above the opposite shore of the lake. On this morning, however, I was oblivious to everything around me. After walking a quarter of an hour, I sank mechanically to the ground on the riverbank between two cypress trees where only the day before I had been happily reading a novel, Lady Teresa. For the first time I looked at the cypress trees conscious of them as symbols of death, something I had taken no notice of before, since these trees are quite common here in the south. I took the letter from my purse. There was no signature, but it was, beyond any doubt, the handwriting of Anne. There was no mistaking the large, flowing S or the French T she made that used to irritate Mr. G. at the office. It was not, however, written in her usual style of speaking, which was so amiable and charming, like her, with those blue eyes and elegant nose. Only when we discussed religious topics did she become sarcastic and take on the rude tone and agitated cadence of the letter I now began to read. Here, word for word, is the Letter from Beyond of Anne V. as I read it in the dream. Letter from Beyond Claire! Do not pray for me. I am damned. Do not think that I am telling you this and certain circumstances and details about my condemnation as a sign of friendship. Here we no longer love anyone. I do it on the command of “that power that never desires Evil and always does Good.” In truth, I would like to see you here where I will remain forever. (1) (1) St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Suppl., Q. 98, art. 4:  "Therefore, they [the damned] will wish all the good were damned." Do not be surprised that I should say this. We all think the same way here. Our will is hardened in evil - in what you call “evil.” Even when we do something “good,” as I do now in opening your eyes about Hell, it is not with any good intention.(2) (2) In response to the Question whether every act of the will in the damned is evil, St. Thomas distinguishes the deliberate will and the natural will: “Their natural will is theirs not of themselves but of the Author of nature, Who gave nature this inclination which we call the natural will. Wherefore since nature remains in them, it follows that the natural will in them can be good. “But their deliberate will is theirs of themselves, inasmuch as it is in their power to be inclined by their affections to this or that. This will is in them always evil: and this because they are completely turned away from the last end of a right will, nor can a will be good except it be directed to that same end. Hence even though they will some good, they do not will it well so that one is not able to call their will good on that account.” Ibid., Q. 98, a. 1. Do you remember when we worked together for four years in M. You were 23 and had already worked in the office for a half year when I arrived. You helped me out many times, and frequently gave me good advice while you were training me. But what is meant by that term “good”? At the time I praised your “charity.” How ridiculous! You helped me to please your own vanity, as I suspected at the time. Here we don’t acknowledge good in anyone! You knew me in my youth, but I will fill in certain details. According to my parents’ plans, I never should have existed. The disgrace of my conception was due to their carelessness. When I was born, my two sisters were already 14 and 15 years of age. How I wish that I had never been born! I wish I could annihilate myself at this moment and escape these torments! There could be no pleasure greater than to be able to end my existence, to do away with myself like a piece of cloth reduced to ashes, leaving no remnant behind.(3) But I must exist. I must be as I have made myself, bearing the total blame for how I have ended. (3) Ibid., Q 98, a. 3, r. ib. Ad. 3:  "Although ‘not to be’ is very evil in so far as it removes being, it is very good in so far as it removes unhappiness, which is the greatest if evils, and thus it is preferred ‘not to be.’" Before my parents married, they had moved away from their country villages to the city and drifted away from the Church, making friends with others who had fallen away from the practice of the faith. They met at a dance, and six months later they were “obliged” to get married. During the wedding ceremony a few drops of holy water fell on them, just enough to draw my mother to Sunday Mass a few times a year. She never taught me to pray correctly. She wore herself out over material concerns, even when our situation was not difficult. It is only with deep repugnance and unspeakable disgust that I write words such as pray, Mass, holy water, and church. I profoundly detest those who go to church, along with everyone and everything in general. For us, everything is a torture. Everything we came to understand at death, every recollection of life and of what we knew, is like a burning flame that torments us. (4) (4) Ibid., Q 98, a. 7, r.: "Accordingly, in the damned there will be actual consideration of the things they knew heretofore as matters of sorrow, but not as a cause of pleasure. For they will consider both the evil they have done, and for which they were damned, and the delightful goods they have lost, and on both counts they will suffer torments." All of these memories only show us the horrible sight of the graces we rejected. How this tortures us now! We do not eat, we do not sleep, we do not walk with human legs as you know. Enchained in spirit, we reprobates stare with terror at our misspent lives, howling and gnashing our teeth, tormented and filled with hatred. Do you hear me? Here we drink hatred as if it were water. We all hate one another. (5) And more than anything else, we hate God. I will try to make you understand how this is. The blessed in Heaven must necessarily love Him, for they constantly behold Him in His awe-inspiring beauty. That makes them indescribably happy. We know this, and that knowledge fills us with fury. (6) (5) Ibid., Q. 98, a. 4, r.:  "Even as in the blessed in heaven there will be most perfect charity, so in the damned there will be the most perfect hate.” (6) Ibid., Q. 98, a. 9, r.:  “The damned, before the judgment day, will see the blessed in glory, in such a way as to know, not what that glory is like, but only that they are in a state of glory that surpasses all thought. This will trouble them, both because they will, through envy, grieve for their happiness, and because they have forfeited that glory." On earth, men know God through Creation and Revelation and are able to love Him, but they are not forced to do so. The believer – I say this seething with fury – who contemplates and meditates upon Christ extended on the Cross will love Him. But when God approaches as Avenger and Judge, the soul who rejected Him will hate Him, as we hate Him. (7) That soul hates Him with all the strength of its perverse will. It hates Him eternally, by virtue of its deliberate resolution to reject God with which it ended its earthly life. This perverse act of the will can never be revoked, nor would we ever want to do so. (7) Ibid., Q. 98, a. 8, sf 1, iba 5, r:  "The damned do not hate God except because He punishes and forbids what is agreeable to their evil will [the evil that they still desire to do]: and consequently they will think of Him only as punishing and forbidding." I am forced to add that even now God is still merciful to us. I say “forced” because even though I willingly write this letter, I cannot lie as I would like to. Much of what I put on this paper I write against my will. I also have to choke down the torrent of insults I would like to spew out against you and everything. God is merciful even to us here in that He did not allow us to do all the evil we wanted to do while on earth. Had He permitted us to do so, we would have added greatly to our guilt and chastisement. He allowed some of us to die early – as is my case – or permitted attenuating circumstances in others. Even now He shows us mercy, for He does not oblige us to draw near to Him. He placed us in this distant place of Hell, thus diminishing our torment.(8) Every step closer to God would increase my suffering more than every step you might take toward a fire. (8) Ibid., Part I, Q. 21, a. 4, ad. 1:  "Even in the damnation of the reprobate mercy is seen, which, though it does not totally remit, it somewhat alleviates, in punishing short of what is deserved." In another note, the holy Doctor of the Church says that this is the case above all with those who in this world were merciful to others (Q. 99, a. 5, ad. 1). You were astonished one day when I told you in passing what my father said to me some days prior to my First Communion. “Be sure you get a beautiful dress, little Anne,” he said. “The rest is all a sham.” I was almost ashamed then for having shocked you so much, but now I laugh about it. The best part of this sham was that Communion was only allowed at 12 years of age. By then, I had already tasted enough of the pleasures of the world, so I didn’t take Communion seriously. The new custom of allowing children to receive Holy Communion at seven years of age infuriates us. We strive in every possible way to frustrate this, to make people believe that a child is too young to properly comprehend what Communion is or to think that children must commit serious sins before they can receive. The “white” host [that is, the Sacred Host] will then be less damaging than if He were received with faith, hope, and love, the fruits of Baptism – I spit upon all this! – which are still alive in a heart of a child. Do you recall that I already had this same point of view on earth? I return now to my father. He fought a lot with my mother. I didn’t often speak of this to you because I was ashamed of it. But what is shame? Something ridiculous! It makes no difference to us here. After a while, my parents no longer slept in the same room. I slept with my mother, and my father slept in the adjoining room, which he would enter at all hours of the night. He drank heavily and spent everything we had. My sisters were employed but needed their money to live, or so they said. So my Mother went to work. In the last year of her bitter life, my father often beat her when she refused to give him money. With me, however, he was always very kind. I told you all about this one day and you were scandalized at my capricious attitude - but what was there about me that didn’t scandalize you? – such as when I returned new pairs of shoes twice in one day because the style of the heel wasn’t modern enough for me. On the night my father died from a stroke, something happened that I never told you because I didn’t want to hear your interpretation. Today, however, you ought to know it. The fact is memorable, for it is the first time that my true cruel spirit revealed itself. I was asleep in my mother’s bedroom. She was sleeping deeply, as I could tell from her regular breathing. Suddenly, I heard someone say my name. An unfamiliar voice murmured, “What would happen if your father were to die?” I no longer loved my father after he had begun to mistreat my mother. Properly speaking, I no longer loved anyone. I only had some attachments to certain persons who were kind to me. Love without a natural motive rarely exists except in souls that live in the state of grace, which I did not. “I’m sure he’s not dying,” I replied to the mysterious interlocutor. After a brief interval, I heard the same question. Without troubling myself as to its source, I sullenly replied, “It doesn’t matter. He’s not dying.” For the third time the question came: “What would happen were your father to die?” In a flash certain scenes passed quickly through my mind: my father coming home drunk, his scolding and fighting with my mother, how he often embarrassed us in front of our neighbors and acquaintances. I cried out obstinately: “All right, then, it’s what he deserves. Let him die!” Afterward, everything became still. The following morning, when my mother went upstairs to straighten father’s room, she found the door locked. Around noon they forced it open. Father was lying half-dressed on his bed – dead, a corpse. He probably took a chill while hunting for beer in the cellar. He had already been sick for a long time. [Could it be that God had depended upon the will of a child, to whom this man had shown some goodness, to grant him more time and an opportunity to convert?] Marta K. and you made me enroll in a sodality for young women. I never told you how absurd I found the instructions of the two directors, although the games were amusing enough. As you know, I quickly came to play a preponderant role in them, which flattered me. I also found the excursions pleasant. I even allowed myself at times to be taken to Confession and receive Holy Communion. I really had nothing to confess, for I never paid heed to answering for my thoughts and sentiments. And I was still not ready for worse things. One day you admonished me: “Anne, you will be lost if you don’t pray more.” In truth I prayed very little, and always reluctantly and with annoyance. You were indisputably right. All those who burn in Hell either did not pray or did not pray enough. Prayer is the first step toward God. It is always decisive, especially prayer to that one who is the Mother of God, whose name it is not licit to pronounce. Devotion to her draws innumerable souls away from the devil, souls who by their sins would otherwise have fallen into his hands. I continue, but with fury, being obliged to do so. Praying is the easiest thing one can do on earth. God rightly linked salvation to this simplest of actions. To those who persevere in prayer, God grants, little by little, so much light and strength that even a drowning sinner can be raised up and saved, even if he is immersed in mud up to his chest. In fact, in the last years of my life I no longer prayed at all, and thus deprived myself of the graces without which no one can be saved. Here we no longer receive any grace. Even if we were to receive it, we would reject it with disdain. All the vacillations of earthly life come to an end in the beyond. In earthly life, man can pass from a state of sin to the state of grace. From grace he can fall into sin. I often fell from weakness, rarely from malice. But with death, this fluctuating “yes” and “no,” this rising and falling, comes to an end. With death, every individual enters into his final state, fixed and unalterable. As one advances in age, the rises and falls become fewer. It is true that until death one can either convert or turn ones back upon God. In death, however, man makes his decision with the last tremors of his will, mechanically, the same way he did throughout his life. A good or bad habit becomes second nature, and this is what moves a person one way or another in his final moments. So it was with me. For years I had lived apart from God. Consequently, when I received that final call of grace, I decided against Him. It was fatal not because I had sinned so much, but rather because I had refused so often to amend my life. You repeatedly admonished me to listen to sermons and read pious books, but I always made excuses for myself, citing a lack of time. What more could I have done to increase my inner uncertainty? By the time I reached this critical point, which was shortly before I left the sodality for young women, it would have been difficult for me to follow any other path. I felt insecure and unhappy. I had erected a huge wall that stood in the way of my conversion, although you apparently didn’t realize it. You must have thought I could convert quite easily when you said to me once: “Anne, make a good confession and everything will be all right.” I suspected that what you said was true, but the world, the flesh, and the devil already had me securely in their clutches. I never believed in the action of the devil, but now I attest that the devil exercises a powerful influence over persons such as I was then.(9) Only many prayers on the part of others and myself, together with sacrifices and sufferings, would have managed to wrench me away from him. And then only slowly. (9) Devils and demons are the names given to the evil spirits that exercise this influence. For proof of their existence two texts from Holy Scriptures suffice: “Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). "Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places" (Ephes. 6:11-12). There are very few persons who are physically possessed by the devil, but many who are possessed interiorly. The devil cannot take the free will from those who give themselves over to his influence. Yet as a chastisement for one’s almost total apostasy from God, He permits that person to be dominated by “evil.” I hate the devil, and yet I like him because he and his helpers, the angels that fell with him at the beginning of time, strive to make you lose your souls. There are myriads of demons. Uncountable numbers of them wander through the world like swarms of flies, their presence not even suspected. Condemned souls like us are not the ones who tempt you; this is left to the fallen spirits. (10) Our torments increase every time they bring another soul to Hell, but we still want to see everyone condemned. Hatred is capable of anything! (11) (10) Summa Theologica, Suppl., Q. 98, a. 6, ad. 2:  "Men who are damned are not occupied in drawing others to damnation, as the demons are." (11) Ibid., Q. 98, a. 4, ad. 3:  “Although an increase in the number of the damned results in an increase of each one's punishment, so much the more will their hatred and envy increase that they will prefer to be more tormented with many, rather than less tormented alone." Even though I tried to avoid Him, God sought me out. I prepared the way for grace by the works of natural charity I often did, following the natural inclination of my nature. At times, too, God attracted me to a church. When I took care of my sick mother even after a hard day of work at the office, which was no small sacrifice for me, I strongly felt these attractions to the grace of God. Once, in the hospital chapel where you used to take me during our free time at mid-day, I was so moved that I found myself just one step away from conversion. I wept. The pleasures of the world, however, shortly swept me up in a torrent and drowned out this grace. The thorns choked out the wheat. Making the rationalization that religion is sentimentalism, the argument I heard at the office, I cast away this grace also, like so many others. Once you reprimanded me because instead of genuflecting in church, I made only a slight inclination of my head. You thought it was laziness, not suspecting that I already no longer believed in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. I believe it now, although only naturally, as one believes in a storm, by perceiving its signs and effects. In the meantime, I had found for myself a religion. The general opinion in the office, that after death a soul would return to this world as another being, with an endless succession of dying and returning again, pleased me. With this, I shut out the distressing problem of the hereafter to the point that I imagined it no longer troubled me. Why didn’t you remind me of the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, in which the narrator sent one to Hell and the other to Paradise after they died? But what good would this reminder have done? I would have just considered it just more of your pious advice. Little by little I arranged a god, one privileged enough to be called a god, and at the same time distant enough that I didn’t have to deal with him. I made him confusing enough to allow me to transform him, at will and without need to change religions, into a pantheistic god, or even to permit me to become a proud Deist. This “god” had neither a heaven to console me nor a hell to frighten me. I left him in peace. This is what my adoration of him consisted of. One easily believes in what one loves. With the passing of years, I became sufficiently convinced of my religion. I lived at ease with it, without its causing me any inconvenience. Only one thing would have been able to bring me to my senses: a profound and prolonged suffering. But this suffering never came. Do you now understand that saying, “Whom God loves, He chastises”? One summer day in July the sodality of young women organized an outing. Yes, I liked those outings, but not the pious beatas who went on them! I had recently placed an image very different from the one of Our Lady of Grace on the altar of my heart. It was that fine manly figure of Max N. from the nearby office. We had already conversed several times. On this occasion, he invited me out on the same Sunday that the sodality outing was planned. Another woman whom he had been dating was in the hospital. He had noticed, of course, that I had my eyes on him, but I had never thought of marrying him. He was wealthy, but too friendly with all the young ladies, in my opinion. Up until then I had wanted a man who would belong exclusively to me, and I would be his alone. Thus, I had always kept a certain distance between us. (This is true. There was something noble about Anne, notwithstanding her religious indifference. It astonishes me that “sincere” persons like her can also fall into Hell if they are insincere enough to flee from facing God.) Max began to shower me with attentions from the day of that outing. Our conversation, of course, was certainly different from that of your pious women. The next day in the office, you reprimanded me for not having gone with you. I then told you about my Sunday diversion. Your first question was: “Did you go to Mass?” How ridiculous! How could I have gone to Mass when we had agreed to leave at six in the morning? Do you remember that I heatedly added, “The good God is not so mean-spirited as your little priests!” Now I am forced to confess to you that, His infinite goodness notwithstanding, God takes everything much more seriously than any priest. After this first outing with Max, I only attended one more of your sodality meetings. I was attracted to some of the Christmas solemnities, but I had already dissociated myself from you interiorly. What interested me were movies, dances, and excursions. At times Max and I argued, but I knew how to keep him interested in me. After being released from the hospital, my rival was furious with me, and I found her quite disagreeable. Her anger worked in my favor, though, for my discreet calm impressed Max and ultimately led him to choose me over her. I knew just how to belittle her. I would speak calmly, seeming to be entirely objective, but spewing venom from within. Insinuations and actions like this can rapidly lead one to Hell. They are diabolical, in the true sense of the word. Why am I telling you this? To show you how I came to separate myself definitively from God. To remove myself so far, it was not even necessary to be entirely familiar with Max. I knew that if I lowered myself to that too soon, he would think less of me. So I restrained myself and refused. In truth, I was ready to do anything I thought useful to reach my aim. I would stop at nothing to win Max. Gradually we fell in love, for both of us possessed certain admirable qualities that we could mutually appreciate. I was talented and had become a good conversationalist, so I eventually had Max in my hands, secure that he belonged only to me, at least in those last months before our wedding. This is what constituted my apostasy from God: making a mere creature into my god. The way this can be more fully realized is between two persons of opposite sex, if they have only a material love. For this becomes the allure, the sting, and the venom. The “adoration” I rendered to Max became an ardent religion for me. At this stage of my life I would still at times hypocritically run off during the office lunch hour to go to church, to listen to the silly priests, to say the Rosary, and other such foolishness. You strove, with more or less intelligence, to encourage such practices, but apparently without suspecting that, in final analysis, I no longer believed in any of these things. I only sought to set my conscience at ease – I still needed that – in order to justify my apostasy. In the depth of my soul I lived in revolt against God. You did not perceive that. You always thought I was still Catholic. I wanted to be seen as such, and I even went so far as to make contributions to the church, thinking that a little “insurance” couldn’t hurt me. As sure as you were with your answers, they always bounced off me. I was sure that you could not be right. This strained our relationship, and when my marriage put some distance between us, the pain of our separation was slight. Before my wedding, I went to Confession and Holy Communion one more time, but it was a mere formality. My husband thought the same as I. We carried out that formality just like any other. You would call that “unworthy.” But after that “unworthy” Communion I had greater peace of mind. It was the last one of my life. Our married life was generally harmonious. We shared the same opinion on just about everything. That included our opinion regarding children: We didn’t want the burden. Deep down, my husband wanted one child, but naturally no more. I was able to remove even this notion from his head. I preferred fine clothing and furniture, tea with the ladies, automobile excursions, and other such amusements. And so a year of earthly pleasure passed from our wedding day until my sudden death. Every Sunday we went for a drive or visited my husband’s relatives - I was ashamed of my mother then. My husband’s relatives, like us, swam well on the surface of life. Inside, however, I never felt truly happy. Something always gnawed at my soul. I hoped that death, which was certainly far off in the future, would put an end to this. When I was a child, I once heard in a sermon that God rewards the good one does. If He does not reward one in the next life, He will do it on earth. Without my expecting it, I received an inheritance [from my Aunt L]. At the same time my husband received a considerable raise in his salary. With this, we were able to furnish our new house quite well. Any attachment to religion I might have had was almost gone, like the last glimmer of light on the far horizon. The bars and cafes of the city and the restaurants where we ate on our travels did not draw us any closer to God. Everyone who frequented them lived as we did, concerned about externals, and not matters of the soul. Once in our travels we visited a famous cathedral, but just to appreciate the artistic value of its masterpieces. I knew how to neutralize the religious air of the Middle Ages that it radiated, and I seized every opportunity for ridicule. I made fun of the lay brother who served as our guide; I criticized the pious monks for their business of making and selling liqueur; I disparaged the eternal pealing of the bells calling the people to the churches as solicitations only for money. Thus I rejected every grace that came knocking at my door. In particular, I let my sarcasm flow profusely at every depiction of Hell in the books, the cemeteries, and other places, where one could find devils roasting souls in red or yellow fires while their long-tailed associates kept arriving with more victims. Hell might be poorly drawn, Claire, but it can never be exaggerated. Above all, I always scoffed at the fire of Hell. Do you recall our conversation about the fire of Hell when I jokingly put a lit match under your nose and asked, “Does it smell like this?” You quickly blew out the match, but here no one extinguishes the fire. Let me tell you something else - the fire that the Bible speaks about is not just the torment of conscience. Fire means fire. That is just what He meant when he said, “Depart from Me, ye accursed, into the everlasting fire.” Quite literally. “How can the spirit be affected by material fire?” you ask. How, then, can your soul suffer on earth when you put your finger in the fire? Your soul itself does not burn, but what the man as a whole suffers! In like manner, here we are imprisoned in a fire in our being and our faculties. Our souls are deprived of their natural movements. We can neither think nor want what we used to desire.(12) Do not even try to comprehend a mystery that goes against the laws of material nature: the fire of Hell burns without consuming. Our greatest torment consists in knowing with certainty that we will never see God. How greatly we are tortured by that which we were indifferent to while on earth! When the knife lies on the table, it leaves you cold. You see its sharp edge, but you don’t feel it. But the moment it enters your flesh, you scream with pain. Before, we only saw the loss of God; now we feel it. (13) (12) Ibid., Suppl., Q. 70, a. 3, r.:  "Accordingly we must unite all the aforesaid modes together, in order to understand perfectly how the soul suffers from a corporeal fire: so as to say that the fire of its nature is able to have an incorporeal spirit united to it as a thing placed is united to a place; that as the instrument of Divine Justice it is enabled to detain it enchained as it were, and in this respect this fire is really hurtful to the spirit, and thus the soul seeing the fire as something hurtful to it is tormented by the fire." (13) St. Augustine said, “The separation from God is a torment as great as God." Cf. Houdry, Bibliotheca concionatorum (Venice, 1786), vol 2, “Infernus,” No. 4, p. 427. All the souls do not suffer equally. The more frivolous, malicious, and resolute one was in sin, the more the loss of God weighs upon the soul and the more tortured he feels for the abused creature. Catholics who are damned suffer more than those of other beliefs because, in general, they received more lights and graces without taking advantage of them. The ones who knew more suffer more than those who had less knowledge. Those who sinned out of malice suffer more than those who fell from weakness. No one, however, suffers more than he deserves. Would that this were not true, so that I might have more reason to hate! You once told me that no one goes to Hell without knowing it. This was revealed to some saint. I laughed at that, but the thought was entrenched in my mind. If this were the case, then there would be enough time for me to convert – that is how I thought in my heart. What you said was true. Before my sudden end, I had no idea of what Hell really is. No human being does. But I had no doubt about this: should I die, I would enter into eternity in a state of revolt against God, and I would suffer the consequences. As I already have told you, I did not change my course but continued along the same path, impelled by habit, just as people act with greater deliberation and regularity as they grow older. Now, I will tell you how my death occurred. One week ago – I speak to you in the terms by which you measure time, for judging by the pain I have endured, I could already have been burning in Hell for ten years. Therefore, on a Sunday one week ago, my husband and I went for a drive. It was the last one for me. The day was radiant and beautiful. I felt well and at ease, as I rarely did. An ominous presentiment, however, came over me as we drove. On the way home that evening my husband and I were unexpectedly blinded by the lights of a car rapidly approaching from the opposite direction. My husband lost control of our car. “Jesus!” I shouted, not as a prayer, but as a scream. I felt a crushing pain – a trifle in comparison with my present torment. Then I lost consciousness. How strange! On that very morning, the idea had come to me unexpectedly that I could, after all, go to Mass again. It entered my mind almost like a supplication. My “No!” – strong and determined – nipped the thought in the bud. I must finish with this once and for all, I thought, and I assumed all the consequences. And now I endure them. You know what happened after my death. The grief of my husband and my mother, my body laid out and the burial. You know all this down to the last detail, as do I through a natural intuition we have here. We have only a confused knowledge of what transpires in the world, but we know something of what concerned us. Thus I know also your whereabouts. (14) (14) S. Th. Suppl., Q. 98, a 7,:  “Accordingly, in the damned there will be actual consideration of the things they knew heretofore as matters of sorrow, but not as a cause of pleasure.” At the moment of my death I awoke from a darkness. I found myself suddenly enveloped by a blinding light. It was at the same place where my body lay. It seemed almost like a theater, when the lights suddenly go out, the curtain noisily opens, and a tragically illuminated scene appears: the scene of my life. I saw my soul as in a mirror. I saw the graces I had trampled underfoot from the time I was young until that final “No!” given to God. I felt like an assassin brought to trial before its inanimate victim. Repent? Never! (15) Did I feel shame for my actions? Not at all! (15) Ibid., Q. 98, a. 2, r.:  "Accordingly the wicked will not repent of their sins directly [that is, out of hatred of sin], because consent in the malice of sin will remain in them; but they will repent indirectly, inasmuch as they will suffer from the punishment inflicted on them for sin.” Notwithstanding, it was impossible for me to remain in the presence of the God I had denied and rejected. Only one thing remained for me: flight. Thus, just as Cain fled from the body of Abel, so my soul sought to flee far from this terrible sight. That was my private judgment. The invisible Judge spoke: “Depart from Me!” and my soul swiftly fell, like a sulfurous shadow, into the place of eternal torment! (16) (16) It is certain that Hell is a determined place. But where this place is situated, no one knows. That the punishment of Hell is eternal is a dogma, certainly the most terrible of all, rooted in Sacred Scripture: "Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels…And these shall go into everlasting punishment; but the just, into life everlasting" (Matt. 25:41, 46). See also II Thess. 1:9, Jude 1:13; Apoc. 14:11, 20:10. All are irrefutable texts, in which the word “everlasting” cannot be misunderstood or interpreted as “a long time.” If it were inappropriate to illustrate this dogma, then Our Lord Himself would not have done so in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. He described Hell in the same way that it was done here – he showed that it existed and what one must do not to fall into it. The purpose of the parable was not to excite the senses, but the same one that occasioned this publication. The aim of this booklet finds expression in these words, “Let us think of Hell while we are still living, so that we will not fall into it after we die.” This counsel is but the paraphrasing of Psalm 54: “ Descendat in infernum viventes, videlicet, ne descendant morientes,” which is found in a statement (erroneously) attributed to St. Bernard (Migne, Patr. Lat., vol. 184, Col. 314 b). Some closing words from Claire Thus ended the letter from Anne about Hell. The last letters were so twisted as to be almost illegible. When I finished reading the last word, the entire letter turned to ashes. What was I hearing? After those harsh notes of the lines I imagined I was reading, what came to my ears was the sweet reality of bells ringing. I awoke suddenly to find myself still in bed. The early morning light was entering the room. From the parish Church came the sound of the bells ringing the Angelus. Had it only been a dream? I never felt such consolation in praying the Angelic Salutation as I did after this dream. I said the three Hail Marys. And as I prayed them, this thought came to me very clearly: One must always stay close to Our Lord’s Blessed Mother and venerate her filially if one does not want to suffer the same fate related to me here - albeit in a dream - by a soul that will never see God. Still frightened and shaking from that night’s revelation, I got up, dressed myself hastily, and rushed to the convent chapel. My heart was beating violently and unevenly. The houseguests kneeling closest to me looked at me with concern. Perhaps they thought that I was breathless and flushed from running down the stairs. A kindly lady from Budapest, frail as a child and nearsighted, suffering greatly but lofty of spirit and fervent in the service of God, spoke to me that afternoon in the garden. “My dear child,” she said, “Our Lord does not want to be served in such haste.” But then she perceived that it was something else that had excited me and made me so overwrought. She added kindly: “Let nothing distress you. You know the advice of Saint Teresa - let nothing alarm you. All things pass. He who possesses God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.” While she humbly consoled me with these words, without any sermonizing tone, she seemed to be reading my soul. “God alone suffices.” Yes, God must suffice for me – in this life and in the next. I want to possess Him there one day for all eternity however numerous may be the sacrifices I have to make here in order to triumph. I do not want to fall into Hell. “There is blindness much worse than loss of physical sight, the blindness of heart.  So many are heading for the flames blindly.  Man seeks to destroy the evidence of Hell, but he will learn the truth soon enough.  Hell exists and Heaven exists.  The sins of the flesh send more souls to hell." - Jesus

[blackchristiannation]

LISTEN: Whyte House Family Devotions: A Prayer for the Family, the Church, the Nation and the World #320 (Friday, April 6, 2018): “Know the Bible,” by Billy Graham

https://soundcloud.com/danielwhyteiii/whyte-house-family-devotions-prayer-for-the-family-church-nation-world-320-4618

[caption id="attachment_40916" align="alignleft" width="156"] Daniel Whyte III[/caption] My family and I have had morning devotions, or family altar as some people call it, every day ever since my wife, Meriqua, and I were married 30 years ago. We have prayed and read the Bible together as well as other devotional books as a family, and it is the only reason why this family has stayed together, and the only reason why God has blessed our family and used our family in ministry all of these years. We read Ephesians 5 and 6 every morning as it relates to the role of each member of the family and how that we need to put on the whole armor of God to fight against the devil who is seeking to destroy our family and all Christian families, churches, and Christians. So, now after 30 years of doing this in our home, we are opening this up to others who don't have a family to pray with, who don't have a spouse, or who are single by choice, and to encourage all families who are still intact to go back to the family altar and have devotions together every morning. In these devotions, you may hear me deal with a temptation I'm facing in my life, you may hear me rebuke my wife about not doing what she should be doing, or you may hear me get on one of my children's cases about something they're doing. Don't be shocked; this is real life. SING "DOXOLOGY" Praise God from Whom all blessings flow Praise Him, all creatures here below Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost Amen Billy Graham said, “We do not fail to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit because we live in a sea of corruption; we fail to do so because the sea of corruption is in us.” ------ RECITE: "THE NEW APOSTLES CREED FOR TODAY" I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead; He was seen alive by Mary Magdalene and the other women, the disciples and over 500 other brethren; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. ------ EPHESIANS 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So far, we have discussed how fathers may provoke their children to anger by capriciousness, unreasonableness, favoritism, and selfishness. Steven J. Cole writes in his commentary on this passage, “Fathers may provoke their children to anger by criticism without praise. Some fathers are just negative and critical, no matter how well a child does. The child cleans his room, but there are a few things not quite right. The dad climbs all over him for the few things that are wrong, rather than praising him for the overall good job and then gently coaching him on how to make it even better. I always liked what Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson wrote in The One Minute Manager, 'Catch them doing something right' and praise them for it. I have tried to apply that to our children. Rather than criticizing them for things that weren't perfect, catch them doing something right and let them know how much I appreciate it.” ------- PRAYER ------- DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE: Psalm 122:1-5 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: 4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. 5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Regarding this passage, Matthew Henry writes: “The pleasure and profit from means of grace, should make us disregard trouble and fatigue in going to them; and we should quicken one another to what is good. We should desire our Christian friends, when they have any good work in hand, to call for us, and take us with them. With what readiness should we think of the heavenly Jerusalem! How cheerfully should we bear the cross and welcome death, in hopes of a crown of glory! ” --------- PRAYER FOR THE ESTATES 1. Clergy (church) 2. Government 3. People (citizens) 4. The press (media) 5. New media/Online journalists PRAYER FOR CHURCH LEADERSHIP - For all pastors, church leaders, denominational leaders, Bible teachers, missionaries, and ministry workers. GOVERNMENT LEADERS 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." President Donald Trump and his administration Vice President Mike Pence First Lady Melania Trump Second Lady Karen Pence All White House staff including: Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Justin Clark All leaders of federal agencies including: Federal Reserve System Chairman Jerome Powell All state governors including: Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts All city mayors including: Bay Harbor Islands, FL, Mayor Robert H. Yaffe All members of Congress including: Florida Representative Carlos Curbelo All law enforcement officials including: Bay Harbor Islands, FL, Police Chief Sean Hemingway All military leaders including: Defense Secretary James Mattis / General Joseph Votel, Commander of U.S. Central Command Leaders of nations around the world including: Madagascar’s President Hery Rajaon and Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly For the peace of Jerusalem PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE / CITIZENS PRAYER FOR THE MEDIA PRAYER FOR CURRENT EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD - For protection, provision, and salvation for the hundreds of people fleeing violence and crime in Honduras who are making their way to Mexico and the U.S. - For the recovery of the 4 people wounded in a shooting at YouTube’s headquarters; for the comfort of the families affected - For the comfort of the families of 7 people who were killed in a bus and truck crash in Egypt; and for the recovery of the 11 people who were injured. PRAYER REQUESTS Gary please save his wife; please heal him of his disability, chronic pain and memory loss Martina please have Nick C. to come to know You as his Saviour, please improve his hopeless situation and touch his heart Bill please bless him with a pastoral opportunity if it be your will THOSE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED CHRIST AS SAVIOR Trusila Hynes Bitengo THOSE WHO HAVE RECOMMITTED THEIR LIVES TO CHRIST Pascal Lineo Dorcas DEVOTIONAL READING: “Know the Bible,” by Billy Graham Isaiah 34:16 says, “Search the Book of the Lord...” A knowledge of the Bible is essential to a rich and meaningful life. For the words of this Book have a way of filling in the missing pieces, of bridging the gaps, of turning the tarnished colors of our life to jewel-like brilliance. Learn to take your every problem to the Bible. Within its pages you will find the correct answer. But most of all, the Bible is a revelation of the nature of God. The philosophers of the centuries have struggled with the problem of a Supreme Being. Who is He? What is He? Where is He? If there is such a Person, is He interested in me? If so, how can I know Him? These and a thousand other questions about God are answered in this Holy Book we call the Bible. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Now, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, allow me to show you how you can place your faith and trust in Him for Salvation from sin and Hell. First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God's law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death…" Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Now that is bad news, but here's the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will. Romans 10:9 & 13 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and today I choose to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and I choose to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen. If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! I want to congratulate you on doing the most important thing in life and that is receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read "What To Do After You Enter Through the Door". Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Until next time, May the Lord Bless You!

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry. He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University's Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree. He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

[newcatwords]

book review: “Kanaka ʻōiwi methodologies : moʻolelo and metaphor” (part one)

Kanaka ʻōiwi methodologies, edited by Katrina-Ann R Kapāʻanaokalāokeola Nākoa Oliveira and Erin Kahunawaikaʻala Wright, is the fourth volume in the Hawaiʻinuiākea monograph series, a series produced by Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge:

The Hawaiʻinuiākea Monograph is the first publishing project under the new Hawaiʻinuiākea Publishing initiative. The peer-reviewed series, co-published with University of Hawaiʻi Press, is a venue for scholars, leaders–as well as practitioners–in the Hawaiian community.

rather than providing summaries and my opinions, i’ll instead be sharing some of the notes i made as i was reading each chapter.

Reproducing the Ropes of Resistance: Hawaiian Studies Methodologies by Noelani Goodyear-Ka’opua

this chapter begins with the following:

I am slyly

reproductive: ideas

books, history

politics, reproducing

the rope of resistance

for unborn generations.

by Haunani-Kay Trask, from her poem “Sons”

it also includes a quote from “the great physician, health researcher, and hawaiian independence advocate Lekuni Akana Blaisdell”: “Our ancestors are always with us as long as we think of them, talk to them, engage them in our thinking and planning and beliefs and actions.”

she writes a short history of the current resurgence of hawaiian studies - an important and valuable contribution.

the main section of this chapter sets out the “central commitments and lines of inquiry” of hawaiian studies:

lahui (collective identity and self-definition)

ea (sovereignty, leadership, breath, life, rising up, emergence)

kuleana (responsibility, privilege, obligations, positionality)

pono (balance, harmonious relationships, justice, and healing)

Goodyear-Ka’opua writes “Kanaka Maoli are defined by our ancestry. This is who we are. Hawaiian studies research fleshes out this assertion. At the same time, the confident articulation of who we are is held in productive tension with the question, Who are we?”

She argues that this dual approach is “a practice of ‘Oiwi survivance. As Anishinaabe author and cultural critic, Gerald Vizenor writes, ‘Survivance is the continuance of stories, not a mere reaction, however pertinent.’ Survivance is about our lahui’s ‘renewal and continuity into the future...through welcoming unpredictable cultural reorientations.’ i hadn’t heard of survivance before, so i’ll have to read gerald vizenor.

on ea: “ea is an active state of being. Like breathing, ea cannot be achieved or possessed; it requires constant action day after day, generation after generation.”

“the health/breath of the people is directly linked to the health/breath of the land.”

she quotes Kumu ‘Imaikalani Winchester, an educator who restores lo’i kalo (taro ponds):

“For a sixteen-year-old kid who knows nothing else other than living downtown some place, if they can get out and experience some different things, return to their past, they can actually breathe that life - that ea - into our culture and traditions again. ... Hawaiian education is carrying the heavy kuleana of introducing collectivist ideas into a very individualist world, where private property, capitalism, and the free market runs or guides most decision making and policies.”

a few scholar she quotes whose work i’ll have to investigate:

Robert Allen Warrior

Taiaiake Alfred

Leanne Simpson

Linda Tuhiwai Smith (author of Decolonizing Methodologies)

Jeff Corntassel

Lilikala Kame’eleihiwa (author of Native Lands and Foreign Desires: Pehea la e pono ai?)

Ua Noho Au A Kupa I Ke Alo by R. Keawe Lopes Jr.

Lopes uses the words of a mele (chant) to explore concepts that have been central to his research.

noho:

“In conducting research within our communities, building relationships with mentors is vital to acquiring information. The quality of knowledge shared and gained is dependent on the depth of the relationship. The first two lines of the mele state ‘ua noho au a kupa i ke alo, akama’aina la i ka leo,’ which means ‘I have sat, inhabited, and tarried here until I have become accustomed to you in your presence and familiar with your voice.’”

noho is ‘“to live, reside, inhabit, occupy (as land), dwell, stay, tarry, marry, sit” and has the connotation of establishing oneself in a certain place or with a particular person... Historically, to noho was to express humbleness and respect...” i think this reflects a culture of learning that’s based on a master/mentor-student relationship, or an apprentice relationship. something that in western culture one might associate with learning a skilled craft or art. i really like the idea of approaching people with noho. it puts the would-be student into the right frame of mind to learn.

kupa:

“to identify oneself as a kupa, one must be a longtime resident, possessing personal and lasting relationships with the people and the mo’olelo of that place, both ancient and modern.

The term ‘kupa’ further implies that the commitment to our mentors is a lifelong investment.”

in describing his studies of mele and hula with his mentor, Lopes writes:

“Often the real in-depth learning of contextual information related to mele and hula began after our regular class sessions were done. Sometimes it continued for hours in the parking lot. In such moments exciting mo’olelo of mele and hula exponents of the past were shared. This experience taught me that, to persevere in a lasting relationship with our mentors, we must be truly passionate and extremely patient. These qualities will enable us to endure both good times-days of great epiphany and hours of captivating conversations-and bad. True patience considers the cost and makes the necessary sacrifices to always be ready and available for learning, no matter the time or place.”

kama’aina:

“’kama’aina’ reinforces the importance of investment; moreover it implies the idea of being embraced geneologically... ‘kama’ means ‘descendant’ or ‘child.’ It also means to be bound or tied to something. The term ‘’aina’ means ‘land.’ ‘Kama’aina’ therefore are genealogical descendants of the land, bound and secured to it and who benefit from a reciprocal relationship with her. As a result, kama’aina care for the well-being of the land while maintaining a mutual relationship with her.

This type of reciprocation is seen in student-mentor relationships as well.”

alo:

“The ‘alo’ is the front, face, or presence of a Person (Pukui 1983, p.21). It tells us where our attention is directed and where our interests lie. It is my belief that if we turn our alo toward our mentors and keep our interest faced in their direction, they will know that we truly have a vested interest in gaining knowledge and value the relationship we have with them. When our mentors decide to turn their attention to us, it is then that we realize that we are just as important to them. It is when our alo and the alo of our mentors are attentive to each other that the most effective teaching and learning opportunities occur. This type of experience is known as ‘he alo a he alo’ or ‘face to face’ (Pukui 1983, p.21).

He alo a he alo is the way in which relationships are built and the way knowledge is transmitted, communicated, and received. There is no clearer way to be in a relationship or in communion with another person than he alo a he alo.”

Leo: engagement of the Voiced

“In an oral-based society, the leo (voice) is an important tool of expert orators who keep our people connected to the past by reciting our ancient mele and mo’olelo... They enlighten us with insight that becomes embedded in our memory. The leo is the eternal link between our people past and present. It transcends place and time and is audible even beyond the physical.” (i believe this is referring to the way that you can picture a family member telling you something they always told you even after they’ve passed away)

also, if you teach with all the love that you’ve been taught by a beloved elder, if you’ve done right by them, then you may find your students sounding just like the elder. this is another way that you can hear the ancestors’ voice after they’re gone.

---

here’s a great saying: “Hilihewa kahi mana’o ke ‘ole ke kukakuka” (”ideas run wild without discussion”) (Pukui 1983, p. 106) “As Pukui explains, to learn and be aware of the specifics of any knowledge, it is necessary to be personally involved (p.24).

This involvement is necessary for learning the mana’o (thoughts, intentions, beliefs) of our mentors (Pukui and Elbert 1986, p. 236). Pukui explains that the mana’o is not something that is readily seen: It is concealed in a number of layers of interpretations. As it is said, 'He ana ka mana’o o ke kanaka, ‘a’ole ‘oe e ‘ike ia loko,’ which means that ‘the thoughts of man are like caves whose interiors one cannot see’ (Pukui 1983, p. 64).”

---

“As explained, by being in constant contact with our mentors’ alo and leo we are able to experience their intentions, thoughts, and beliefs. This is when we are allowed access to the ‘waihona.’ A waihona, according to Pukui and Elbert, is a ‘depository, closet, cabinet, vault, file, receptacle, savings, or a place for laying up thing in safe-keeping’ (1986, p. 378). A waihona could also be a person, as expressed in the saying ‘Ka waihona o ka na’auao,’ which is a reference to a person who is a repository of knowledge and is considered to be learned (Pukui 1983, p. 178).

The location of this waihona to which Kalakaua’s mele refers is ‘i’ane’i’ (right here) within our reach. It is a waihona that contains aloha or that has been cared for by aloha or is in the possession of aloha.”

“I have heard kupuna share that the term ‘aloha’ is made up of two words - alo (presence) and ha (breath) - and its meaning is so much more than a kind disposition. Aloha is that which births in all of us the patience to endure, the courage to hold fast to our traditions, and the strength to face any adversity. Pilahi Paki, a renowned kupuna, explained that each of the letters that make up the word ‘aloha’ have meaning that comprises its overall significance:

Akahai, meaning kindness to be expressed with tenderness;

Lokahi, meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony;

‘Olu’olu, meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;

Ha’aha’a, meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty;

Ahonui, meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.”

“Paki encouraged us ‘to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.’ I find this very true for those of us who invest in relationships and experience the alo and leo of our mentors, who that even when things are not said there is something to listen for, when there is nothing to see there is something to notice, and when the unforeseen arises we rest assured of what we have already been taught.”

He Lei Aloha ‘Aina by Mehana Blaich Vaughan

This chapter is about lei, both actual lei and lei as a metaphor. It also includes bits from the author’s personal history and how this history has shaped her approach to research, and discussion of an education/research/conservation trip to Lumaha’i Valley on Kaua’i.

It begins with these two sayings:

“He lei pa’iniu no Kilauea. (A lei of pa’iniu, signifying that the wearer has visited Kilauea Crater.)

He lei pahapaha no Polihale. (A lei of pahapaha limu, signifying that the wearer has visited Polihale, Kaua’i.)

Throughout Hawai’i, lei symbolize certain places and show that the wearer has experienced them. Lei offer a way to see and know a landscape because each lei is unique to the place where it is made.”

“My Tutu, Amelia Ana Ka’opua Bailey, taught me to pay attention to ‘aina, with a focus on what type of lei could be made from each place. Riding with Tutu in the car was an adventure because she was always looking out the window, her eyes tracing the trees, the bank along the side of the road, even the median strip of the freeway. I remember waiting in the car as she darted across four lanes of H-1 to pick salmon-colored bougainvillea, a Times supermarket grocery bag trailing behind her. Whether driving the saddle road on Hawai’i Island or the streets of her own Manoa Valley, Tutu was watching for flowers. To her, every landscape offered a tantalizing vision of its own lei just waiting to be made.

I have a similar craving to weave stories of certain landscapes. Since I was a child, everywhere I went, I remember wondering, Who are the people of this place? What did it look like before? What parts of it (plants, views, fish, rock, walls) are still here? Will they be here in the future?”

In the discussion of the trip to Lumaha’i Valley:

“When the sound of the helicopter trailed off, our group offered oli komo, asking to enter. We also addressed Laka, all around us in the dwarf lehua, flowering ‘ie’ie, and three different vining maile sisters. As we gave our lei and ho’okupu, I was reminded of one community member’s question as we were getting input for the trip: ‘If you believe in Laka, why go? You don’t believe she can handle the forest on her own?’ To me, our offerings, our presence in that place were a means of ho’omana, giving strength to Laka, just as she gave strength to our efforts. Still, each step in the bog felt tender, and no matter how carefully we walked, we stomped on the moss, leaving indentations for mosquito puddles. Each sling load that brought tents, cereal boxes, coolers, the work, and our other gear further flattened uluhe under the weight, sound, and wind of the chopper.”

“This trip, unlike many conservation and environmental research efforts in Hawai’i, incorporated means of acknowledging the sacredness of our ‘work site’ and asking its guidance; of accessing people’s stories and connection to this place, however tentative and distant; and of reconnecting the place to community by training younger generations descended from the area to take care of it. These three threads gleaned from our trip continue to shape my attempts at ‘aina-based research: ‘aina as source, ‘aina as people, and ‘aina as ongoing connection and care.”

“We stand facing the lunging water, teeth chattering, and find our voices...This oli asks permission of this place, of the wai, the water itself, for our work. We explain the purpose of our study, why the water will be used, and how. May we take just a small sample from its home in the kahawai, the stream? Just as a pohaku, rock, needs to know the function for which it is being selected so that it may lend its mana to the effort, wai should be asked to come along too.”

“Once removed, these aspects of ‘aina must continue to be treated with respect.”

“...’Aina should be not only subject but also partner, source, inspiration, and guide.”

“...it is rarely easy to identiy the community of people with connections to a place; this community is often unseen. However, every place in Hawai’i has people attached to it who care about and hold deep wisdom of it. These people [are] worth seeking...”

There’s an excellent story about fisherpeople who were involved in community planning for their fishery: “The fishermen wanted to extend our study to understand where fish from the area ended up. We worked together to track what fish they caught, who they gave them to, and where. This work revealed a network of families connected to Ha’ena’s coast by receiving gifted mahele, or shares of fish, even though they lived on the other side of the island or even on the mainland. Most of these fish recipients had ancestral ties to the area...” This illustrates the point that “People’s connections to places are often built through use.”

"s much as possible, I attend regularly scheduled community meetings and workdays to get feedback on research progress and share preliminary findings. These sessions usually include food and informal discussion, often yielding valuable insight into whether our findings ring true, potential explanations for them, and future directions for research. I also hold formal community presentations to share research in forms that can be utilized to support community efforts. ...my research emphasizes helping people add to in-depth knowledge of places where they have kuleana, responsibility.”

“My research often comes together in mo’olelo, storytelling, and in poetry, avenues our kupuna used, like lei, to make beloved places seen and felt.”

“In my environmental research, I am guided by Tutu’s informal, mostly unspoken, instruction in gathering for lei. Oli first: Ask and explain the purpose for your gathering. Look. Listen. Take only what you need. Clean your materials before you depart, leaving as much as you can with the plants to rejuvenate and replenish. When the process is complete, and the lei dries, bring it back to this spot or return it to some other ‘aina to bring growth.”

The author concludes with a poem composed of “individual bits of material gathered from the area where I grew up.”

“Research, like lei, should bring growth along with beauty, should weave disparate elements together in a way that shows new perspective and creates new life.”

Here is the poem. I love it because it includes all kinds of good things to know about a place. This is my kind of knowledge.

Pu’unahele

WAO NAHELE - UPLAND FOREST, 140 ACRES, TMK #13-531 Name lost Bird catchers' camp Where orange lehua once bloomed Branch coral laid gently on an altar The place where hte hungting dogs froze Road launching power lines over the mountain Straightest guava branches for kala'au The spot the Pleiades first crest the ridge In October's crisping dusk.

KULA - FLATLANDS, 10.2 ACRES, TMK #13-45 Below Pu'u Maheu, hill-raking winds wet soil for growing 'uala Sunset view meditation spot Place to check surf at "Wires" Night path of the spirits returning from shore Where we kids used to ride our bikes The first gated driveway that we'd ever seen Former route of the sugar cane train Field #45, best yield per acre State land-use classification...Ag.

KAHAWAI - RIPARIAN ZONE, 1.4 ACRES, TMK #13-172 A taro patch called Nahiku 'Auwai with 'o'opu mouths big as a fist First place to flood, now so much less water Where the cousin on crystal meth hides Rocks the women scrubbed clothing clean on Roof dropped there by the tsunami Perch for the child scaring rice birds Stand up paddle right out to the beach Option to construct two ADU's (ed: additional dwelling unit) Vacation rentals with kitchenettes

KAHAKAI - COASTAL LANDS, 0.2 ACRES, TMK #13-890 Kamakau, the long curving hook Line of shells swept up by first swell The hill used to kilo (ed: spot fish), direct them to moi The space to spread nets out to dry Two turtle eggs hatching one March morning Outflow of bagasse from the mill Shearwater flyway that stopped power lines Where the sand departs from in the fall 'Aholehole caught for baby's lu'au Eel circling the spot Uncle cleaned them Those 'champagne pools' the guidebook named Six visitors swept away this last winter Private beach view, price $2.7 million dollars Right where the fishing trail used to descend

continue to part 2!