Also, my comments are only my opinions, and I'm aware that your beliefs may differ. But try to have an open mind, as I keep mine open.
"The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it." ~ C. P. Snow
It's not what you got, it's what you give. It ain't the life you choose, it's the life you live. It's only what you give, only what you give, only what you give, It's not what you got, but the life you live. It's the life you live.-Tesla
Taking photography as seriously as I do (which usurps as much of my thought as I can divest) I have been spending all of my time searching for revelation in my work—for the formula that would convey intangible Spiritual ideas and truths through a medium rooted in aesthetics/tangibility/matter (using the limited to express the unlimited, which should and may, by nature, negate one another).
In my rational way of thinking, I went about looking for this ‘formula’ by building a platform from what works and what doesn’t (narrowing down the field to what I am looking for) raising me to a point where I am searching madly for the crux; the pinnacle; the answer to all questions, or perhaps the question to all answers: that which captures Truth and the intangible qualities I seek to embody in my work.
What I have perhaps known/finally realized is that while striving is important, trying to hard can cloud what is being sought. “Give us this day, our daily bread—give us grace for today.” A humble and open/receptive approach, I believe, must be taken each day, and in every endeavor, that we may be receptive to His guidance (no higher nor better way exists, since God is all). If you are trying too hard, ‘let go and let God’, and know that your direction will be supplied as you need it, and in His perfect timing.
[8-12-02]
Our environment is at a crucial point, which can be clearly seen in changing weather patterns (Colorado had the driest winter in 100 years, and has been consistently on the decline over the past several years in terms of annual precipitation), growing ozone deficiency and global warming. We are leaving a terrible mess for our children and their children.
The technology exists to create far more efficient vehicles, which are the prime contributor to global pollution.
We need to implement this technology now--not in 10 or 20 years, when it has to be federally mandated due to a deteriorated environment. The people who have a large stake in oil (many politicians) need to take a moral stand, even if it means that they will loose money. And the politicians who accept money from lobbying companies that do not actively strive to improve their vehicles to largely fuel-efficient models, should take a moral stand against those companies, even though they may loose potential money as well.
If this fails to happen, the cost to the environment will be, as it is becoming: irreversibly harmful to future generations, as well as the current generations.
With love, I implore those who are in a position to make the right choice.
Let us not judge one another--for who among us is a righteous judge save God? To those who judge us, let us return love, and "bless them that curse us." Let us not nit-pick among the trivialities between religions, because each man and woman is working out their own salvation, and he/she alone has to answer to the Creator, and will be judged by their works. Let us rather put our efforts to use where they are needed--let us help with prayer and love those who need it.
"Whatever we can read in all the world is contained in that sentence of boundless meaning, "God is Love." This is the sum and substance of all that the sunshine utters, and all that is spoken by the calms and storms of the mountains, and by what we call terrible earthquakes and furious torrents, and wild beating tone of the ocean."
-John Muir
Let me tell you a true 'parable'. Are you familiar of the parable of the 'Good Samaritan'? It is where the 'good' Christian and Pharisee walk past a man who was robbed and beaten, and they would not lend a hand. Then a Samaritan came by, helped the man to an inn, fed him, and paid the innkeeper for as long as the man needed to stay there. The Samaritan was the true "Christian", where as the other's that thought they were--did not act as true Christians.
There are many people out in the world today that title themselves "Christians", of denominations across the board, but do not act accordingly to call to duty, as we are held accountable by our actions--not our professions; not in faith alone--but by demonstration. "let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18) One unfortunate manifestation of this is when self-righteousness takes precedent over humility, selflessness and love--true religion. Such self-justification, which can be seen in the mideast, where people justify killing in the name of religion--which completely defeats the whole idea of true religion--is of no better thought than of the Pharisees' that persecuted Jesus. They thought they were upholding the "church" in doing the very things that opposed it.
Take also, for example, Christians that will preach to everyone and tell them that they will go to hell if they don't convert and confess Christ. That is not Christianity. In fact, that does more to scare people away, than it will ever help them. And who are we to ignorantly think that one can only find salvation through Christianity? There are many sects of religion that have just as much truth to it as Christianity does. What works for us may not work for everyone... and there are many paths that go to the same place, though they be straight and narrow.
So that brings me to my own 'parable'; a true one that parallels the one of the 'Good Samaritan', and reinforces what I am talking about.
I have a carpet cleaning business here in Colorado. My car and only transportation to move my carpet cleaning equipment from job to job--died. I had no transportation. It is my problem, but I know many "Christians" that are able to help my situation... so I asked them ("Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." Matt. 5:42)
The first person I went to was in my own family, one who happens to be a "Christian". "What if you crash... you are not covered under my insurance (although he has driven his girlfriends' car often while not on her policy--which leads to another tangent that Christians suffer from, and I myself am not exempt: hypocrisy)." So, no help from my "Christian" family person. Now keep in mind, I hold no hard feelings towards these people--I Love them dearly... I'm simply illustrating my point, which is not a personal attack, but a general point that we as Christians can learn from. [Also, one cannot 'go before the altar [pray to God] if he has aught against his brother'. And one's brother is your neighbor as well. Therefore we must 'find peace with our brother, and then we can go and pray'. Otherwise our prayers are in vain. So I am at peace with this person, and all really. It is so much easier to be at peace with people than to have a problem with them. One might think that is easier to find fault--but it is not if you count the great time you will have to eventually take to correct that thought and forgive them. [We are only 'forgiven, AS we forgive'.]
The next person I went to was a good friend of mine who is a devout "Christian". He did help me a few times--and I give him that, but he finally resorted to "only if it's an emergency". This is a man with three vehicles, which stay parked most of the time--not hard up for transportation. Did Jesus stop healing people after a while, because his patience wore thin? Did he ever say that "I will heal you only if it is an emergency?" I am not wrong to expect to hold Christians to their ideal, as I expect to be held by others... we are accountable.
Finally, a friend of mine who is NOT a self-proclaimed Christian, who had the nicest car of all of them--a 2000 Ford F250 (and therefore, theoretically, the most to lose) has, every single time I have been in need, handed me his keys with a smile, knowing that no harm can come from his true generosity. And I have seen him do the same for complete strangers in need. Who, I ask you, of these three is the true Christian?
My point is this: If you are a "Christian", don't think that you are automatically holy and saved: you are only as holy and saved as the life you live. If you are a true Christian, you will meet your call in every way--not just by going to Church on Sundays, or by wearing a cross around your neck--but in every way of life. We must be "doers of the word, and not hearers only".
And if you think you are qualified to fix everyone else’s life, and convert them, try walking on water. For it is written that "before you try to pull the splinter out of your brother's eye, pull the log out of your own eye first--that you may better know how to go about your brother's". Don't go preaching to other people until your life reflects God.
"By our works we shall be known". Therefore, worry about your own life, and not others. I think God is capable of handling all our lives, and directing them where they need to go. If you really want to make a difference to others--lead by example, not by preaching. Actions, speak much louder than words.
My point, is not to point fingers at anyone, but to raise awareness that there is a cross to be daily taken up and salvation to daily work out, and must be done through loving God and one's neighbor in daily service. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt 7:21)
"In heavenly Love abiding, no change my heart shall fear, And safe is such confiding, for nothing changes here, The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid, But God is 'round about me--and can I be dismayed? Wherever He may guide me, no want shall turn me back, My shepard is beside me, and nothing can I lack, His wisdom ever waketh, His sight is never dim, He knows the way He taketh, and I will walk with Him. Green Pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen, Bright skies are breaking o'er me, where darkest clouds have been My hope I cannot measure, my path in Life is free, My Father has my Treasure, and He will walk with me." ~Hymn #148 of the Christian Science Hymnal
I know that hormones rage at this age--I am 23 myself. But whether or not we give in to them is a question of moral courage. While sex is a valid thing between two people, it is only valid when those people are married; this being my theory why...
When two people engage in sex, they bond with each other. I might even go so far as to say it is a spiritual bond. You are now a part of their life, and they are a part of yours. But after the false glow of sex starts to disappear, and one looks for what exists between he/she and the other, one might find that they really do not have much of anything in common. It is bonding with someone--creating something that is of permanence, regardless of where you leave it--with someone that you may not even really like: that is why sex should only be between two people who are married.
This does not mean that married people have everything in common--but in theory, you engage in marriage with someone of "kindred tastes, motives" and with someone who you are lifelong committed to--and someone who is your friend.
That leads me to another point about how sex degrades any relationship outside of marriage. When we enter into a relationship with someone--perhaps with someone who could potentially be your husband/wife--how do we approach it? If it gradually leads into sex, it creates a bond based on what is trivial to a relationship, and what is meaningful is lost in the background, if it is there at all.
The most important way--the only way, I argue--to approach a relationship that will last and be truly fruitful, is to first and primarily become 'best friends' with the other. If you do not base your relationship on friendship, how can it last? Do you really want to be bonded to someone who is not really your friend? I base this on an elderly couple, who pointed out to me that friendship is where a relationship has to start--and they never divorced, staying married for 65 years! How long do marriages last today, with our present philosophy and sex driven motives?
Above and beyond all this, sex is not true--because it is not lasting. It is a meaningful bond that two people share, and is the means for procreation, but it comes and goes. If sex was the most meaningful way that two people could know each other, it would invalidate relationships of the elderly, as well as child friendships. And if you think about it, child friendships are the most true and innocent of them all. Jesus said that "In order to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, we must all become as children".
Sex, while as aforementioned is meaningful in its proper place, it will one day leave the foreground of our lives, and then, and only then, will we start to see the things that are true and meaningful in life--yea, the things that are lasting; eternal.
From a friend: "[Not knowing what an internet acquaintance looks like] makes it hard. If i met a stranger out somewhere, i would know what they looked like as I was talking. This way, I only get half of the experience!"
My thoughts: "But that is the half that is of importance! People are often too distracted by appearance--or else it carries more significance in perceptions than it should. If you think about it, if you get to know someone intimately (in a platonic sense) without seeing what they look like--you get a pre-conceived notion of who they are--that is fairly accurate, as looks don't attribute to who they really are. But, as soon as a body or face is given to that individual--I propose--one's conception of who that person is changes, if even slightly, and I don't think it changes for any good in most cases. I think that while it is nice and practical to know what people look like, it changes the way in which they are perceived, most often in an unproductive way to finding their true self."
"God has not given us vast learning to solve all the problems, or unfailing wisdom to direct all the wanderings of our brothers' lives; but He has given to every one of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch."
Phillips Brooks
True Love. I think I would define true Love as not loving a person personally. Not making them the center of your life, but rather helping them to achieve their goals, supporting them as much as you can, and always being there for them. I think that when you love someone personally; when they become the completion of your life; when you can't imagine life without them… this is letting personal sense govern your relationship, and I think it is selfish; to want someone all for yourself.
I think the higher sense of Love that we can have for someone (Agape), is, as the word dictates, the Love that God has for each one of us. It is unselfish; impersonal; yet it is more full and complete than we will ever know in this lifetime.
I guess the point of this is that we should all love one another unselfishly. It seems like (from my own past experience) that we judge 'true Love' as being when we find someone with whom we can't live without. I ask then: What shall you do to overcome their passing from this material world, when it shall come? It will, at minimum, cause you a great sense of personal loss, unless you have the right understanding to begin with. This understanding; this basis, is God. God should be the center of your life; the One with which you cannot live with out. "Man cannot serve two masters". How then can we rationalize making someone the center; the focus of one's life? Rightly, God is the center. This does not imply that our Love for another should be in any way diminished: one the contrary, this will empower us to behold a greater Love than we ever could have imagined.
The essence of this is this: Have the right motives when starting a relationship. If you already have a relationship, examine the current and founding motives of that relationship. Don't let yourself get duped into basing your love for someone, which is the greatest capacity one can behold, on personal sense; on selfish Love.
Would you be able to let them go, and Love them no less, if they decided that they should be with someone else? Could you be selfless enough to cherish their pursuits and dreams above your own? Can you Love God supremely and make Him the center of your life? If you can answer these questions Rightly, then, Dear Friend, you will open your experience to behold a Love greater then you could have ever humanly imagined. You have brought Agape into your life; that is, the kind of Love that God has for us; impersonal; complete.
"Joel, Hey yeah, that shooting was pretty bad, but looking at it from the Christian point of view, everybody was a victim, because if the school counselors would have been more supportive and understanding, maybe the kids would have never picked on Dylan and that other guy, and then maybe those 15 kids would be alive today because then they wouldn't need revenge. Anyways, I can see it from both sides, but what they did was still wrong. Hopefully people will learn from this, and stop picking on others."
My response:
"I just wanted to reply to the letter which you sent me. I was wondering why, from a Christian point of view, you think everyone was a victim, etc. It seems that you are possibly looking to point the finger at the counselors, for not providing support. And also seems that you are questioning, as many have, why did these people have to die.
I understand where you are coming from. I have/had much compassion for what happened to those children. But, from what I have gathered from Jesus' teachings (which I guess is what comprises my view of Christianity), not only is death unreal and powerless (Jesus was raised from the dead, as well as raised many others from the dead, and claimed that "we can do all these things... and more!") but it is only our limited human conception of things, of how God really works, that prevents us from seeing those kids the way they really are: perfect; untouched; eternally living, as we all are. Jesus did not preach that the limitations of this material, mortal world, are the bottom line. He taught that there is a higher law that governs all, and that "if we had as much faith as even a mustard seed, we could move mountains", thus, if we would not limit our perceptions of how things work, but rather trust in the one, limitless, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present Lord, we could, in fact, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, heal the sick, and cast out demons.
That is kind of my view in relation to the human concept of death, that in the actuality of things, which we cannot yet comprehend (how can we think that we know what God's plans are?). It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have compassion for the families that suffered these material losses, but we should not limit those children to our human conceptions of things, for although their bodies may have been taken from this world; they live on, in what I can only imagine as an existence of pure love, joy, and happiness, in the kingdom of heaven.
As to the proverbial 'pointing of the finger', i.e., looking for somewhere to place the seeming blame, the only thing deserving of it is error/evil/satan... whatever you like to call the truly powerless idea that there is anything other than God; good. There definitely is always that 'little voice' in the back of our heads, telling us to do bad things... but what power does it have, other than what we give it in listening to it? Evil does not manifest itself. It only has power if we give it power. The two boys who committed the shooting did not have to do what they did, and certainly would not have, had they been listening to God... but they chose to listen to something else. If you want to point a finger, point it at 'evil', and stamp it out with the knowledge and conviction of what is real and eternal... Good. God. "For He [God] created all that is good. And nothing was made that He did not create." Thus: God made everything good, and God created all. Thus: everything is good. Evil, in actuality, does not exist. This is not to say that it doesn't try to convince us otherwise. It tempted Jesus, up on the mountain, and he rebuked it. So must we rebuke evil, every time it claims to have any power over us. God has the only real power.
Another thing in regards to 'pointing the finger', in relation to finding fault or blame, Jesus said "judge not, and be not ye judged." When confronted by the Pharisees of the adulteress woman, and asked "Master, the law of Moses says that we should stone this woman (condemn; blame; judge), what do you say?" He replied by not judging her, himself, despite the fact that he was the most worthy to place it. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." He once again proved that the law of God is not to condemn, but to show mercy and forgiveness, through redemption and salvation.
What I'm trying to say is, that not only are we not qualified to judge or point the finger (unless we deem ourselves 'without sin'), but that we should rather have understanding, compassion, love, and mercy in our own thought, towards those who seem to deserve 'blame'. It is not for us to judge. The highest thing we can do is see everyone as good an perfect, even when they don't seem to be. That is how Jesus saw everyone, and how, evidently God sees us. We should "Love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no greater commandment than this."
How can we claim to know? There is, as a fact, only one who knows. One might ask how I know this. Well, dear friend, by the profound realization that I know nothing. The realization that my conceptions of how things are, from the reason we are here, to the number of spots on a lady bug, to the actual size of an inch, is most likely wrong. That the things I am the closest to knowing in terms of actuality, are those which are intangible; Love; Compassion; Trust; Faith; Understanding; Forgiveness; Charity; Meekness; Humbleness; Sincerity. These are the things which are easiest to understand; which appear to us most like they actually are.
In the true reality of things, there is only one who knows... God. Why then do we waste our time; our lives; trying to figure out how things will be; where we need to go; who we need to love; what the purpose of anything is? The best thing we could possibly do is to trust; without thinking for ourselves. To admit our lack of true knowledge; to trust God with our lives completely.
Granted, to the literalist, this would in average terms lead to his or her demise. But having uncompromising trust in God will not lead you to a life of silly choices. Rather, it will lead you a life of fulfillment like you've never known before. It will open doors that you never knew existed. God will lead you in the 'paths of righteousness', if you are receptive and willing to live a life of goodness. Some might ask, during the times in life when the 'heat' gets turned up: "Where's the AC?" Where is God? Well, I know that I have had experiences in which things, from my human point of view, couldn't have been worse. But when I saw them from a different perspective down the road, I realized that nothing better could have happened at that point in time.
My point is this. We do not know what is truly best for us, nor what the right decision is in any given case. The best thing we can do, always, is to trust in God completely, and pray for the answer you seek; for "ye shall find". "Knock, and the door shall be opened. Ask, and it shall be given unto you." Keep in mind that things come in many different ways, and things we seek might not be things that we should have. We might be rewarded with things, but in a way that seems completely opposite of what we would expect. But they are always for our highest good, if we are receptive to that. If there is one thing I have learned, time and time again, it is this: that the good things that happen to me, come from a higher source. And that whenever the best things happen, it has been when I have submitted my thoughts, ideas, and worries to a trust placed in God. This, dear friend, is the one answer to all questions: "Trust in the Lord, with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding."
