Quarried from Hard Words
Apparently, it is time, once again, to pull The Way of the Empath by Elaine Clayton off the shelf. I could make a little note in my planner every couple of months: “Begin again with The Way of the Empath,”…
God, Love, Gratitude, and My Own Soul
My therapist told me that the reason I never stop trying to help people is that I keep hoping someone will help me. While she is absolutely right, there is more to the story, and it’s a funny thing, but…
Not Letting It Go
A couple of months ago, in a conversation with a friend, I related the story of a recent conflict with someone close to me, and I concluded with the statement, “He stole my soul and I want it back.” The…
Not Good Enough
I’m not here to explain. By rights, I should have hit the Publish button after I typed in the period following “explain.” Nothing more is needed. But I always believed I needed watertight answers and too many words. It was…
Fear Drives Out Love
Today, I was not surprised to learn that “the exact meaning of the term” religion “is subject to debate among some scholars.” Of course it is. After all, if you control the language, you control minds and hearts, and once…
Love is Not the Answer
Assuaging fear is, because we are all filled with it, even when—especially when—we tell ourselves that we’re afraid of nothing. In fact, the farther back in the closet we shove the fear, the more powerful it becomes, because it grows…
Longing to Be
I recently read an essay that laments the unrest in the world, concentrated, as usual, in the Middle East. Two specific statements (sentiments) shared by the author (editor of an art magazine) caught my attention, because each purports to be…
Thinking about Love
If you do not know or understand someone, can you truly love them? The desire to love needs to include the desire to understand. To know, one must believe that knowing is possible. Communion, which encompasses authentic sharing, cannot be…
Heliocentric
Laughing at Icarus as you watched him fall,you built your fortress: a heavy investment in happiness.Imagining a life of light suffusing the courtyard,you made the walls high and covered the ground with mirrors. But the sun will not be told…
Free Yourself
Early in life, we build cages to protect ourselves. From the inside they look the way Wonder Woman’s jet does from the outside: invisible. Sometimes other people see what we’ve built and furnished and comfortably live inside, but in order…
Autry’s Humility
It was love and it was desperation.It was need and pure charity. It wasn’t perfect. Only God is. But it was enough to save a life. Thank you, Reynolds Price, for writing “Endless Mountains.” Thank you, Mom, Dad, God? Whoever…
Three Reminders
Conformity to a religion and adherence to its dictates neither indicates nor proves an authentic, healthy, loving relationship with God or with other humans (sometimes referred to as “neighbors”). Fear is not love. Sometimes ugly art is absolutely necessary.
