Comforted into Wholeness
Hi All,
What a weather change here since yesterday! As I stepped outside to go to the dock, a strong northerly wind blasted me… but being dressed for the conditions, I continued on… after being on the dock about five minutes, noticing even the pelicans having sought retreat, I myself retreated to the porch, protected somewhat from the wind, and yet with a view of the water, where I began reflecting on two thoughts present when I awoke this morning… thought of friends who are mourning the loss of their loved ones… spouses, children, parents… and thought of reading the Gospel for some process guidance from the ways of Christ for comforting my friends. One thought of people seeking peace; the other thought of one who brings peace. The weather reminding me that peace is not necessarily tranquil… it may be acceptance that “Everything is in its place.”
I opened the book to the place I had left during my last reflective Gospel reading… which turned out to be the story of Christ healing a crippled man at the Sheep Gate. He said to the man, “Desire you to become whole?” My reflections took me to a belief at the time that being crippled or diseased is punishment by God for sinfulness. Recalling Christ saying “Love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength,” makes visible how Christ is seeing wholeness as being of the all, the all of the four – heart, mind, soul, strength – working as one whole, one living whole in harmony with God’s intent, God’s work. God’s intent is for our becoming whole… wholeness of self, wholeness of community, wholeness of the people of earth, wholeness of living earth; wholeness which we enter into by taking up our called work in harmony with the intent of the Father Creator for wholeness of all of life.
Returning to the story, the man answers in the affirmative, followed by Christ saying to him, “Rise up! Take up your mat and walk.” Considering the cultural taboos at that time, we wonder why he says anything about the mat; he knew full well the serious upholding of “No working on the Sabbath”; his saying was used as another justification for questioning him… this time for telling the man to work. Through reflection, we see he used the situation to make visible, the perspective you hold determines the path you take. The miracle of the man’s having been cured was overlooked (especially noteworthy since they thought God had made the man crippled in the first place, so only God could cure the illness), and focused on the punishable violation of the no work on Sunday law. “Are we currying favor with God… or with man?” comes to mind… this question being one Paul asked somewhere in his letters.
Where do we start our thinking from? Is it man’s power and money, man’s rules and judgmental perspective? Or the intent and intended ways of love and of life… ways intended by the Source, the Creator of all?
“Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted.” (one of the nine beatitudes). Blessed are they who mourn… we mourn losses in the world of existence; our mourning becoming particularly deep and debilitating/fragmenting when we lose the ongoing experience of oneness with a fellow human being who we dearly love. For they shall be comforted… they shall be given the eyes that can see, the ears that can hear… leading to the understanding of the intent and intended ways of life and of love. They shall be comforted… they shall experience love entering, all-inclusive love entering; experience the truth of intended human vesselness for all-inclusive love entering life… and by and through this experiencing, be drawn into community with others for vesselness… they shall be comforted by experiencing oneness with family, community, humankind, and oneness of all with the Creator of all… the love of the Creator entering, entering us as vessels, making possible love entering life.
Blessed are they who mourn…
Do you desire to become whole?
Follow me….
Reflecting on what is written here takes my thoughts to “The Why of Our Coming,” a letter written by Terry P. Anderson. For your further reflection, I have included the letter below.
“Coming out” of these images, I notice my hands are cold and the wind coming close to creating small white caps on the water. In spite of the rough weather pelicans are beginning to feed… and I too have been fed.
Humbly in service, Sandra Maslow Smith
Intentionally grandmothering a hopeful future for the children
The Why of our Coming
Towards the end of the twentieth century, I wrote the following letter to my mother, Helen Anderson… relating an experience significant to my path and work, and perhaps to others as we reflect on life, on the why and work of life, of the life of the whole of humanity…
Dear Mother,
I had a strange thing happen to me, yesterday when I was returning from Connecticut, that I feel compelled to share with you. I was on the train, coming back from working with Sandra when this happened. I was enjoying the ride, listening to the conversation of two elderly men in front of me, and looking forward to getting home when the train pulled into North Philadelphia. At the time, I was sipping on a can of beer that Sandra had given me for enjoyment on the ride back. I was sitting upright in my chair, while holding the can of beer in my right hand, when I went into a sleep like state. Upon entering this state, I met a man. I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he thought I should know him. For a second I thought maybe it was St. Peter and that I was passing on. Though he was clearly disturbed that I didn’t recognize him, he introduced himself as St. Paul. I suppose he was disturbed because of all the Gospel writers, St. Paul is the one I relate to best. I seem to be able to resonate with his deep thoughts and anguish. As if he was reading my mind, he assured me that he was not St. Peter, and that he (St. Paul) had a particular role to play – different than that we commonly give to St. Peter. So he said to me,
“I know you know about finding out who you are and doing your work in the world… that one needs to form a soul, so that the soul aspect of our self can go on to the higher, invisible, unconditioned world. And you know that one’s spirit, once manifested, is present and accessible forever. And that when someone dies, while it is natural to mourn, we shouldn’t mourn too long, because that keeps the soul from going on to do its higher work. Rather we should remember the spirit the person has manifested and bring that into our daily living. It is clear to me that you understand that, and I’m happy you do – because that is very important; it is the fundamental reason for our coming in the first place.”
Then he paused a moment, lifted his hand with his finger pointing upward, to be sure that I was listening closely, and once again he spoke. “There is another element, that too is very important, that you (and I sensed he means others as well) need to know – when the time of your passing comes, will you be able to say you experienced life?” (I sensed by the word, experienced, he meant more than just enjoy). As if to make sure I understood, he held up a thick book – like an encyclopedia – that contained all of life’s experiences. He opened the book and suddenly I could see all of the pages, each line of each page, all at once. One of them said, “Are we so intent upon making sure the child is properly dressed that we don’t notice the little hand that is clutching ours?” Another said, “Are we too tired from doing the unimportant that we can’t enjoy and refresh one another at the end of the day?” The third was an image of wiping a dish and not embracing a sunset going on just outside our window. There were others, but it became apparent that we are supposed to figure this out ourselves.
The next thing I knew, the train stopped in Philadelphia. I was suddenly “awake” still sitting upright, still holding the beer in my outstretched hand, feeling a little strange, but in a good sort of way. It was only this morning, when I was giving Carol a ride to work, that I could clearly recall that which I just described. It was then that this came to write to you – to share it with you… and perhaps others.
Love, Terry
Humbly in service, Terry P. Anderson
A developer of the living philosophy of potential
