monks write blogs so so can I

While I was working last week, in between my "working", I happened upon a blog by a Catholic Monk Priest guy and it occurred to me, "If this dude can write a blog, so can I." So in an attempt to get something down before the month of July is completely over I am here at my computer typing at 10 PM on Saturday night. Do I have life changing words to share? ... ... no...not really.... chirp of the cricket... but never the less my thoughts are no less worthy than the zillion of other bloggers in the blogosphere. (I am giving myself a little pep talk here. I have to do that. I live a lot in my head, too much actually and sometimes I get so caught up I don't let anyone in, even the idea of anyone. I can't keep waiting for an emotional cheerleader to appear every time I am down. I will have to cheer for myself instead. Take the bull by the horns, take matters into my own hands, grab life by the balls... ok maybe that was a bit much. But maybe we all need to do that, cheer for ourselves I mean. Every once in a while, take a timeout and say "Go for it!" Sometimes I think we need to parent ourselves once in while too but that is another issue.)

So lets recap where we are at since our last meeting:

Nationally we are on the brink of financial collapse and our legislative branch is being held hostage by a few people who apparently really like pretending to reenact events in the 1700's. Nice. We're all still struggling to eek out a life on this complex spinning marble called earth, our dwelling. We are confused as ever about why things are the way they are and how much longer they will be so. Simple answers no longer sooth as they once did - we want to see "The Wizard behind the curtain" - though we know we have no right. So we go on, breathing in and breathing out while we can, at time stopping to consciously take that deep breath but more often than not breathing without thinking. Some have stopped their breathing though their existing goes on in forms we no longer see.

Spiritually I am seeking the eternal fountain, longing to take a drink from the Well I once knew but somehow was lost to me in the desert wilderness that is dark. Many a savage beast, some in stealth disguises - wolves among the sheep - have taken chunks of my heart and wounded my mind. Many missing pieces I fear are lost forever and the scabs of the wounds are slow to come and when the wound looks it healed, it in time is found to once again be bleeding. The fountain I seek is not the mythical fountain of youth but eternal Fountain of Life. I knew it waters once. I sat by them, drank often from its continual spring. But now I am parched through and through. No fake kool-aid will sooth this thirst any longer. I need the waters that drive away thirst forever... 

Psalm 143
A psalm of David.
¹ LORD, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
² Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.
³ The enemy pursues me,
he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
like those long dead.
⁴ So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
⁵ I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
⁶ I spread out my hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.
⁷ Answer me quickly, LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.
⁹ Rescue me from my enemies, LORD,
for I hide myself in you.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
¹¹ For your name’s sake, LORD, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
¹² In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant.

log-ing is good for the soul

Dialog  and conversation are so important to the soul. It's important to be able to express yourself with another person and to be a sounding board for which another person can express themselves. Sometimes the opportunity for this isn't ideal, our friends live far away and can't talk in person or it's already ten minutes to midnight and the idea of writing an email seems so exhausting. True personal, intimate communication takes effort and intention; it take effort to overcome our unintentional, attention-less society. Making yourself available to another person, not allowing yourself to monopolize the conversation - these things are important. Hearing what you are saying and what is being said to you, changes how you perceive yourself and how you are perceived by others.

 

This came up because I have come to see how important journaling is. Writing down stuff that is going on in life and in your brain is important. It can help you organize your thoughts, recognize patterns, remember what happened; journaling is like taking a snapshot of yourself but with words instead of images. It doesn't have to be and maybe it shouldn't be something the whole world needs to see. Looking over my old journals, I see things about myself then and now that I wouldn't have been aware of if I didn't have the written recording.

It is said that a person always makes time for the things that are truly important to them. I challenge all of us to take the time to consider what is truly important to us and if it's good for the soul, go for it! xo

virtual rule #7

Virtual Rule #7: Stop and think (Part 1)

"Nearly all the faults or mistakes in conversation are caused by not thinking."

Emily Post

MARK
"I was drunk and angry and stupid."
MARYLIN
"And blogging."
MARK
"And blogging."

from The Social Network

When does a conversation end? Do we let the conversations we participate in end when we leave them or do we at times replay them over and over, keeping them alive and current? In the virtual word we live in, we can say things about people and even to people themselves in very indirect ways. Maybe we recall something we wish we had said during the conversation or maybe we were to chicken to say what we were really thinking so we "converse" virtually - indirectly - publicizing the private all behind the mask of the web. We get to say what we want to say but don't have to necessarily care about the response. This is dangerous. 

Does there need to be two participating parties for there to be a conversation? At one time, yes I think there did but no longer is that the case. I blog. I blog to the entire world, in a way conversing with the world. The world does not respond, the world does not take whole notice but yet here I am jabbering (typing) along. I am conversing and though I am not CNN, Oprah, or Katie Couric - the reach of my words is not on that scale - nonetheless my blog of words is out there to be heard, to be read, to be commented on. If I go postal and type a bunch of ranting, raving, thoughtless, nonsensical drivel - I am not only being a poor writer, I am being a poor conversationalist. Using the web as a tool to aim words at a target who has no ability to participate is cowardly. This blog is part of my dialogue not with one specific individual but all. If I take private dialogue and post it publicly, I degrade the value of that dialogue and dilute away an intimate relationship.

Stop and think Emily tells us and that is true in all facets of life. We communicate in ways unthought of 50 years ago, even as little as 10 years ago. When we leave another with whom we have been speaking we must not take that private conversation and publicize it. If there is more to say, we save it for whom it needs to be said or we let it go all together. Integrity once damaged is an impossibility to completely restore; stop and think before throwing yours away.

todays post yesterday

Pigeon with Green Peas - Pablo Picasso

You know what I have come to love about blogging? It's the edit button. I hate finding mistakes in my writing but I love that I can fix them. The whole world is a freaking mess-grammatically and otherwise-but I have it in my power to fix these errors right hear, I mean here. I suppose you could chalk it all up to my having a perfectionist streak; this streak is a double edged sword. There is nothing wrong with wanting to put out the best material you can but when perfectionism comes into play, the wellspring of creativity dries up pretty quickly. Another thing I love about blogging, is that it affords me control over time. I can create something today and give it a date of the past. This is a role we really get no where else for our real lives don't allow such time revisions. Where we were, we were, and what happened to us at a specific point in time happened at that specific point in time, but here on Blogger I can say I thought of all this and finished writing about it before the stroke of midnight. Time is mine to manipulate and falsify.

Composition IV - Wassily Kandinsky

I am intimidated by "The Greats"-the great writers, painters, composers, and sculptors-all the artists who have gone before and that exist around me. They have contributed so much to the story of humanity. What they chiseled in words and marble, what they painted in watercolor and the musical notes the record outlived them and will outlive all of us. I remember going to the art museum and after a couple hours of seeing great works of art, it all started blurring together. I became anesthetized to the beauty and skill of the works I was seeing. I feel kind of bad for art that is shown towards the exit; does it get the appreciation it deserves?

The Blue Window - Henri Matisse

To all out there: keep doing whatever you are doing. If its writing, keep writing. If its painting, keep painting. If its playing the accordion, keep playing the accordion. Don't worry that you aren't good enough. Don't worry that you aren't one of "The Greats." Don't worry when you type the wrong letter, use the wrong brushstroke or hit a flat note - keep going and keep looking at the art of others. Art isn't effortless but it can't be forced. Let your art appreciation be ever expanding. Art in its many mediums enhances all our lives. There is truth in this quote of G.K. Chesterton, "Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."

All the art on this posting is from 100 years ago, 1911.