Thursday, February 2, 2012

Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 3, 2012


For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves.
If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.


James Michener, author; he was born on this date, 1907.



Oh, I read them all, ravenously: The Source; Hawaii; Chesapeake; Texas; The Covenant; Caribbean; Tales of the South Pacific; Caravans. His evocation of the topic was spellbinding. As a youth I spent many nights reading until the book fell on my chest as I fell asleep.

I guess I am in synch with what Michener says, theologically and philosophically. And I believe that what he says is correct: unless we find ourselves, and until we find ourselves, everything that we attempt to add to the World will be skewed in some way. If we have not “found ourselves”, whatever flows from us will not be a sharing of our unique gifts or charism ….. just a rehash of stuff we have “learned”. But God wants us to “find ourselves”, and make our unique contribution ….. that’s ’s what it means to be a “child of God”.

Alas, we seem to live in a time when this Journey is laughed at. Everyone must conform. Everyone must meet others’ expectations. And even more Alas, children are encouraged in this, lest they be bullied and singled out, and, in American culture, hounded and driven often to suicide. I can only feel that we have sunk to the lowest level of what it means to be human.

Why is it that people feel so threatened by what/who is different? It has to be a fault in our upbringing on all levels.

Michener is on the money. First we must know/discover that we are an expression of “the Divine” ….. which simply means that we are the offspring of the great and mysterious power from which drives all Life.

We must find out Who We Are. It is at that moment that we can then add our gift to the Universe.

And of course: we need to have a World which acknowledges and affirms our calling as a messenger of Blessing.

I hope that this will evolve soon!

Brian+

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