Tag: work

LONELINESS IN A FRANTIC WORLD

All beings have a propensity to unite with other beings

without this internal propensity which some call “gravity”

from atoms to galaxies

love would not appear at higher levels –

this propensity to unite, this gravity, is “attraction”

the primordial beginning of love

 

“Love/conviction/service not theology

are the keys to the Great Awakening –

it is not ‘what’ we believe but ‘how’ we believe

what is ‘actionable’ that counts”

– Diana Butler Bass

 

if God made you with this internal propensity to love

and made you intrinsically important to God

why would God change her mind in the next life?

God’s Love is the one eternal thing that takes away

our foundational fear of death/annihilation

 

so we never need to feel alone

God is always with us

but loneliness is not the same as being alone or solitude 

loneliness is a feeling of not being a part of anything/

being cut off from others and life/

being intrinsically unworthy of love/

a feeling of guilt/a taste of death

but Love is stronger than death

 

we can be alone and be happy

if we feel we are still part of a loving family/community –

Church was originally meant to be the Beloved Community

 

but people try to fill the hole in their soul –

their loneliness – with work

but a distinction exists

between sound/healthy/meaningful/life-giving work

and frantic work

done out of loneliness/fear/greed/

our sins/society’s sins

 

Love and our recognition of that Love

are the only answers

to our frantic lives in a frantic society

in a frantic world.

 

THE ENERGY THAT UNITES ALL

Though humans are made of both body and soul

they are one

and through them the material world

reaches its crown

and raises its voice

to praise its Creator.

 

Therefore, the only gift God requires of us

is our being – with all its imperfections.

When we realize we are lovable

because God loves us

despite our weakness/sin/imperfection

it quickens our self-love.

 

For the great Anglican theologian John Macquarrie

even our limitations and death point to transcendence –

death gives structure and perspective to life

and raises the hope of immortal life.

 

Therefore, we should approach our earthly life

not as a problem to be solved

but as an adventure to be lived

with our mind and heart open to whatever arises

until Sister Death welcomes us into life forever

in the glorious presence of our Creator.

 

Spirituality is giving life one’s all.

Therefore, anyone who gives their all

to their family/work/country/justice/art

is a spiritual person – whether they acknowledge God or not.

 

For many men, all-out devotion to their work or their family

is their way of being good/spiritual/a saint –

maybe they are not workaholics

maybe they are addicted to love.

 

After all, deep erotic energy exists at the heart of the cosmos

and becomes manifest in human ministry/family life/marriage/sexuality –

the desire to love and be loved – the One Source of spirituality and sexuality –

this desire is the cosmic energy  

that unites God/humans/the universe.