Comments on: I AM There http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there Religion and spirituality from a Unitarian Universalist perspective Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:40:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Terri http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11692 Terri Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:23:02 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11692 Thank you for the writing compliment! I promise to share a poem soon :smile: Thank you for the writing compliment! I promise to share a poem soon :smile:

]]> By: Shelby Meyerhoff http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11479 Shelby Meyerhoff Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:42:01 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11479 Terri, Thanks for commenting. You're such a talented prose writer, I would love to see your poems! (Maybe you'll share one on UU Intersections? :wink:) What you said about living in the Northeast resonates with me too -- the seasons are acute, and it's hard NOT to notice when it's 25 degrees and 6 inches of snow in the winter, or when there's red, yellow and orange everywhere in the fall. Terri,

Thanks for commenting. You’re such a talented prose writer, I would love to see your poems! (Maybe you’ll share one on UU Intersections? :wink:)

What you said about living in the Northeast resonates with me too — the seasons are acute, and it’s hard NOT to notice when it’s 25 degrees and 6 inches of snow in the winter, or when there’s red, yellow and orange everywhere in the fall.

]]> By: Terri http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11415 Terri Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:22:32 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11415 I haven't been very "awake" lately either. February just puts me in a sort of stupor I guess. One of the reasons I love the northeast, though, is the change of seasons, because every change jolts me into a new awareness, a real feeling of aliveness and connection with the world. I think it is natural to feel these shifts, and nearly impossible to always be awake (unless you are Buddha-"the awakened one"!) I guess I do feel that we are called to lean towards enlightenment though, as real enlightenment is also full compassion. Incidentally, I have a whole collection of poems on this very topic, entitled "Wakening". I've been working on this for a few years now--and probably will be my entire life! Someone once said that for UU's it's about being born again and again and again...(I see birth as wakening). I think it's all a continuous process. Thanks for stirring the thoughts! Now I'm off for another cup of coffee to help the wake-up process along :) Prayer and meditation would probably help too, of course... I haven’t been very “awake” lately either. February just puts me in a sort of stupor I guess. One of the reasons I love the northeast, though, is the change of seasons, because every change jolts me into a new awareness, a real feeling of aliveness and connection with the world. I think it is natural to feel these shifts, and nearly impossible to always be awake (unless you are Buddha-”the awakened one”!) I guess I do feel that we are called to lean towards enlightenment though, as real enlightenment is also full compassion. Incidentally, I have a whole collection of poems on this very topic, entitled “Wakening”. I’ve been working on this for a few years now–and probably will be my entire life! Someone once said that for UU’s it’s about being born again and again and again…(I see birth as wakening). I think it’s all a continuous process.
Thanks for stirring the thoughts! Now I’m off for another cup of coffee to help the wake-up process along :) Prayer and meditation would probably help too, of course…

]]> By: Shelby Meyerhoff http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11386 Shelby Meyerhoff Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:56:21 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11386 Hi John, Thank you for writing! I too am inclined to think the "balance" leans "more towards the aware side than the unaware." But there's a lot that seems to get in the way! Hi John,

Thank you for writing! I too am inclined to think the “balance” leans “more towards the aware side than the unaware.” But there’s a lot that seems to get in the way!

]]> By: John Pageless http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11373 John Pageless Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:39:50 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/i-am-there#comment-11373 Hello Shelby, I have to admit that I'm more than a little guilty of "not being all there" myself. Your post made me ask myself whether I have been paying enough attention to my life and where I am going in my life, or have I just been covering my eyes and going forward blindly. Is there a balance between total awareness and complete absence? I hope so... and hope that it is more towards the aware side that the unaware. And the bit about a minister talking about hard drugs as knowing reality from a different angle? I can see that argument being made for ritual and religious use of certain mind altering substances, but most drugs are just a way to escape - and abuse of any drug is harmful. I have to wonder what that minister was thinking! Namaste, Friend. Hello Shelby,

I have to admit that I’m more than a little guilty of “not being all there” myself. Your post made me ask myself whether I have been paying enough attention to my life and where I am going in my life, or have I just been covering my eyes and going forward blindly. Is there a balance between total awareness and complete absence? I hope so… and hope that it is more towards the aware side that the unaware.

And the bit about a minister talking about hard drugs as knowing reality from a different angle? I can see that argument being made for ritual and religious use of certain mind altering substances, but most drugs are just a way to escape - and abuse of any drug is harmful. I have to wonder what that minister was thinking!

Namaste, Friend.

]]>