Christ would love the woman

The Christ I have come to know through the Catholic church would not love the unborn child and forsake the woman, but love the woman that she may love her child into the world.  There is much evidence, to me, that in a predominantly Christian society, women remain “less than loved” –  disrespected and distrusted.

In my mind, trust is the closest thing to love.  And there is evidence that when women are trusted to make life decisions, there are fewer pregnancy terminations.  Since Roe v. Wade through the Clinton era, the percentage had dropped exponentially.  Then came Bush and the abstinence movement, and they again went on the rise.

Has the church stepped beyond its role as teacher to dictator?  In my work in organization development, which draws from psychology, sociology and anthropology, the evidence is overwhelming that trusting each other to make choices is fundamental to us making good decisions.  We all, each of  us, want to do the right thing, and we learn from experience, our own and witnessing other’s, the what and the how of doing so.

I have come to realize in recent years that sin is simply the mistakes we make as humans when we are so much in human reaction that we lose sight of our divinity.  Reaction comes most often when we feel judged, persecuted and without a choice.  Seems to me that were we, as a society, Christian and otherwise, to create a context of love and trust, any of us could be trusted to make loving choices.

In the words of the Christian “Our Father” – “…Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”

So mote it be,

~ Jacqueline

Innately Good; Innately God

We are innately good because we are innately God(‘s). No one of us is fully God. Together, the whole lot of us human race, represent the knowing of God. Yet, as humans, we donned a very thick filter. In the terms of Christian belief, Adam and Eve chose our human existence, our humanity. Our humanity allows us the opportunity to know God. As humans, to know anything, we must first separate from it, in order to observe it. And so it went. We were made human, separate from God, in order to observe and get to know God.

Our humanity is what we’ve chosen to term bad, evil; our human temptations and mistakes, we call sin. Yes, quite simply. And for children and dependent souls, sin and evil may be necessary definitions, for it may be too easy to dismiss our transgressions otherwise. However, I also witness that such an interpretation can inhibit us from our innate Divinity. We become judgmental both of others and especially ourselves, when it serves our spiritual growth more to learn to live with integrity and authenticity, foibles and all, and to appreciate the reality of others. And this is not to say that we condone or support the full humanity of one another. It is a matter of supporting the Divinity we can know each other to be, to seek to witness and love our humanity through which we can discover the love of God.

Appreciate the human; serve the Divine.

Namaste,

Jacqueline

Take Your Chances!

Do.  Take your chances.  I’m not talking about putting yourself in harm’s way physically.  It’s just there is so much we avoid due to illusory fear or discomfort.  In fact, that’s it, get uncomfortable.  Do what you’ve been avoiding.

And whatever you do, do it as genuinely and with as much kindness as you can muster.  Because if it isn’t done respectfully, it isn’t worth doing.  Yelling and punching are out; speaking to your anger is definitely in.  And while you’re at it, speak to your frustration, your sadness, your joy, your gratitude, all of it.  Especially share those parts of you with those closest to you.  Any reaction they may have is theirs.  You don’t own it; they do.  Let them.  Lead by example by speaking of your deeply profound emotion.

Oh, and share your thoughts, also as kindly and gently as possible.  And, recognize that they aren’t really yours.  They come and go as they please.  You choose to bring them into the light of day, to add them to creation, or not.  So those nasty thoughts of killing and hate, let those go.  Let them just float away into the ether.

In a post I read back in December – http://exposingthetruth.info/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying/?fb_ref=facebook&fb_source=profile_oneline - Top Five Regrets of The Dying, the first is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”  To which I say this, if we aren’t sharing thoughts and emotions in a respectful, effective way, we are not living true.  So, live true.  Express yourself.  I love this quote from Dr. Seuss and will close with it:

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Blessed Be,

~ Jacqueline

Peace on Earth

I am a woman of great faith in the divinity of the human race.  It is simply our humanity and the struggles inherent therein that keep us from maximizing our potential.  It is my fundamental belief that we are here to interact and dialogue and to realize our divine connection.  A core purpose of mine is to arrange opportunity for the exchange of insights and ideas.  It is in this that I find church.  It is in our discovery, acceptance and appreciation of our common human foibles that we may make peace with our humanity and bring into this world our divine purpose as a combination of spirit as individuals.  As drops of water, we meld to create the waves of the ocean.  As drops of sunlight, we meld to bring pure light into the world.  This in itself is seen as a human struggle, though I believe that as we cross the fine line to  living in love and our divinity, the struggle dissipates, and we have come to a place of Peace on Earth.

Stupid? Smarter?

My life as a military brat came up in conversation today as I shared how I would walk through snow on top of ice on top of snow to get to my highschool when I lived… in Germany.  As my friend and I parted ways, she said, “That’s why you’re so much smarter than me…”  I simply replied, “I’m happy to share…”.

This got me thinking once again, about how humans are not stupid, for the most part, merely ignorant and unexposed, and who on Earth is ever exposed to everything?  We simply cannot be.  If we could, we’d be, well, God, right?  Or whatever omnipotent being in which we have faith, or not…

I have always advocated folks getting out of the country to experience at least one other place.  It can only enhance our country’s relationship with the world to do so and toward being successful in a global economy.  We can no longer act as isolationists.  As far as I can tell, such myopic living and being has led us not to so much success as fear and aversion and distrust.  It warms my heart to hear of another band class going to France, church choir touring Italy, or the like.  It is simply a matter of exposure, and of sharing.  Sharing of our experiences, because they are unique and different from one another… even if we’ve seen the same movie, the same country, our perspective can shine light for others.  It is in our sharing and exposing others to our experience that we, together as the human race, come anywhere near “omnipotent”… through connection with each other.  And, not just with those like ourselves, but with those most unlike ourselves.

When we can come to that place where we become so comfortable with ourselves or others, that we feed the comfort we seek with others or ourselves, oh, how Divine.  To me, that is Divinity at work, through each of us, bringing “heaven to earth”.  Does anyone know how this concept lives in various religions and philosophies, whether it does?  I must look it up…

Make life marvelous!

Hugs,

~ Jacqueline

Is order human; chaos divine?

Listening to our local NPR station here in Chicagoland, WBEZ, I have enjoyed this really cool program this week called RadioLab out of WNYC.  The team presents scientific findings in a very entertaining way.  There is often music involved as analogy.  They banter with a question and answer, conversational format, in layman’s terms and story fashion.  Great fun and great learning!

So, on Monday morning, they were digging into the process of our smallest discovered human component - something like an atom or genome, but don’t quote me.  Scientists have developed a way to “see” these tiny life forms actually produce proteins.  They hypothesized that they would discover the order in which our most base form produces.  What they discovered was that there is no order to the protein production whatsoever.  Each single “genome” has no particular production schedule and each “genome’s” “schedule” varies from those of other “genomes”.  Apparent chaos!  There was further discussion about how/whether order ensues as we back out layer by layer to looking at how the body works.  It was brought up that maybe it is simply human to expect order?

This brings me to the concept that craving order is human; appreciating chaos, Divine.  Don’t get me wrong, I think some level of order is important to our human interaction, but what if our appreciation of our personal chaos, of the chaos evident in everyday life, is the path to our Divinity as individuals, families and communities?

Beyond this, subscribing to the idea that everything is Divine in its own right, what if science, including psychology, are all about providing our humanity clues to our Divinity.  I am not threatened by this as there is always room for faith in the unknown, because I don’t see how we can ever experience “all that is” as humans.  I do, however, identify this chaos as the Divine hum, into which we can plug when in touch with our Divine selves.

For me, the process is learning to bridge my human with my Divine existence.

Hmmmmm…..

~ Jacqueline

Live Aware, Not In Fear

Fear is a very poignant emotion.  It is fundamental to our safety as human beings.  It is the very visceral emotion that stirs our fight or flight response.  Trouble is, as humans, there is much more that can stir our fear and leave us maleable by others who know how to instigate that response.

A way to manage this is to practice an art of awareness.  Self-awareness is critical; noticing when this “fight or flight” aspect is in play for us is a great start, just observing, just being aware of it.  This practice alone can diminish its ability to overcome us and cause us “fight” and distress.  Being aware of that around us; that which is out of our control, is also valuable.  It is also an observation that we are aware of in others what is true of ourselves.  Perhaps next time you have a sense of admiration in another, consider whether it might be an attribute you hold as well.  Similarly, consider whether something less desireable in someone else might be something you’d desire less of in yourself. 

All our awareness is of either ourselves or a reflection of ourselves.  Those with whom we are in relationship are critical to our awareness, our growth as human beings, our self-awareness and in our discovery of our divinity.  When fear comes, let it go.  Let awareness come and move on with life.  Let it come; let it go; make it marvelous.

Thoughts for thought

When I think about how we let fear run rampant in our lives, I can only wonder at the audacity of it.  In our striving to be altruistic, putting others before ourselves, we unwittingly subscribe to the ruse that everyone else is, or should be, putting us before them.  Then, in our humaness, we each act in our own best interest, which sets us all up for disappointment.

 

I have been a big advice giver in life, which hasn’t gotten me far, honestly, in getting my care across.  The whole telling everyone else what to do and how to do it feels caring, and I am certainly caringly intended, but what it really comes down to for me is a sense of control.  Then, when that person, or those people don’t follow my advice, well!, disappointment yet again!

 

No matter the structure, I am free so long as I believe I am free.  I always have choice.  I feel freer when my choices are less limited, but I always have a choice.  I am always making a choice.

Conscious Divinity

Divine Truth is absolute.  We are each Divine creatures, each here to reveal a piece of heaven on earth.  As we discover our personal truth and divinity, we can then share it with others.  As we share it with others and others share theirs, each of our perspective of the Divine Truth is broadened, enhanced.

All creatures on earth are Divine.  However, as humans, we have the unique capacity and choice, the imagination to become conscious of our Divine Being.  The path to our divinity is through our humaness, though, not in fighting it.  To be holy, we must be whole.  We can only be whole by knowing and appreciating every aspect of our humaness.  When we appreciate our own humaness, we appreciate that of others, and our divine love, Jesus’ divine love, God’s divine love for humanity shines through us.

When we simply learn to act holy, we are merely exhibiting holy behavior.  This is ok in its own right, and it most often leads to contemplation of the behavior.  However, simply behaving holy can also serve as a hindrance.  For instance, judgement and selfishness are considered “bad” ways to behave, but I have argued, and would continue to do so, that when we are conditioned to believe they are bad, we hinder ourselves from discovering our humaness in order to appreciate it and move through it into our divinity.

I encourage us each to seek our truth, listen to our guts, get beyond emulating the behavior and become our wholly divine selves.  Then, the behaviors will emanate from our holiness, come from within, and the fight, the struggle to be anything but human, because we are, will no longer be, and our divinity will be set free.

Namaste (no mistakes)…

In a world that doesn’t care, be selfish…

When I feel like the world doesn’t care, I want to be selfish, but in the conditioning I’ve received to “not be selfish”, I have been cut off from my ability to acknowledge and alleviate my own suffering through divine self-love.  In any state other than self-love, I find it difficult to love and care for others.  I am realizing that when I feel selfish that I am desperately seeking to act in self-love but looking for it from others.  When I am in a state of self-love, I easily come to what it is I need in my life to keep moving toward the divine, and to seek it, even ask for support, so that, most importantly, I am in the best place possible to serve and love others.  

So, I am left to wonder… if we simply give ourselves and others permission to be selfish, as part of our human condition, might we not make the journey to self-love and through that process learn to truly love one another?

Self-love is not selfishness. What is occuring to me, though, is that selfishness may simply be an indication of a lack of self-love and rather than berate others for it, can we not simply just recognize the cry for help?  Give permission and support them in discovering self-love?  When I ask myself, what would Christ do?  This is what comes to me. To allow another their human journey to the Divine and support them in it, not by denying us our humaness, but by loving ourselves and each other through it.