musings

The most elusive person in the world – the person you were meant to be……

 

“If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.”  Rollo May

 

At our conception, it is a reasonable assumption to conclude that within our DNA, there was created the seed of a unique person – the person you are meant to be. 

If this is correct, it begs the question – why is it so difficult for many of us to be this person? It gets even more confusing when you presume that being this person would allow us the most opportunity for a successful and fulfilling life.

Of course, we do not know this in the beginning, but as we develop the ability to be more introspective with age, this should be obvious to us and certainly to those with the responsibility of helping us grow to adulthood.

I have always been curious how some of us know who we are meant to be from the beginning of our self-awareness, and for others it requires the journey of a lifetime.

I have no answer as to why this is. However, for the sake of this discussion, I am more interested in those people who have to discover their distinctiveness by experiencing life.

I believe it was Rollo May, the psychiatrist and author, who coined the phrase, “life is more about willingness than will.” When we follow the path of our true person hood life is more about steering our way in a down steam current, as compared to rowing all of our lives against the current. The question for each of us should be “are we in a downstream or upstream current?” 

One caveat needs to be considered. Your being authentic to your personal reality does not mean it will always be easier. On the contrary, it may often be just the opposite.

What is important for each of us to understand is our lives should not be about how hard our journey is, but that we are always making progress and traveling in the right direction. 

I am sure this is at the heart of the issue.  The difficulty in living an authentic life is that it makes demands on us- demands that subconsciously we already know will be asked of us.

For many, this means sacrifice, and changes in the way we think and in our lifestyle. Not all of these changes come easy, and many require enduring turmoil and hardship as we progress to our “authentic life.”     

Is this why so many of us hide in the shadows and refuse to act?  Do we not act for the reasons stated?  If so, it  begs the next question - can this decision to be or not to be authentic be reduced to a matter of personal courage? Is it that simple?   

Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make for our fellow human beings” ― Rollo May

John Frank Giovanni, commenting for "Musings"

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On getting it done - Starting over, new and fresh - Conjectures of a recovering dilettante while traveling the road to Utopia

 

Getting things done in a steady and correct matter is no easy task.  If it were, we would all easily reach our life's goals.  Planning is easy; execution is hard.  That is why we have so many discarded plans that never amounted to anything.  

 

There is hope in the planning process. As you write or think the plan it implies a new beginning.  While the plan may be new - the person thinking the plan isn’t. And that is why new plans seldom work. To have a new beginning, the person planning must first make themselves new.  And that is no easy task.

 

To begin new and fresh is to allow the process of change to take place.  Change means giving up many things that are near and dear to us. To change is to seriously disrupt your comfort zone.  

 

When I first engaged this process several years ago, I presumed that serious introspection needed to take place. To discover the motivation for behavior seemed important to me. 

 

It was almost too easy when I began to understand how wedded we are to our comfort zones, no matter how insignificant or destructive they may be. But like all revelations, they are easy in the thinking part and difficult in the doing part. 

 

Revelations often reveal serious character flaws. These flaws are embedded deep in our consciousness, and these flaws often mask themselves as virtues.  And virtue, no matter how misdirected, gives one the excuse that is needed to keep the status quo alive.  All of this is a significant barrier to break down. 

 

Break troughs do not come easy, but they do come.  At the point when you realize that only change will keep you alive mentally and physically - you have a choice to make. 

 

You are faced with the choice of new life or a permanent type of stagnation.  And if that does not get your attention nothing will.

 

Brother Franco

 

We also recommend: 'The Pizzaonian"

 

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Why do we believe with such conviction? 100 word reflections

 100 word reflections

Conjectures of a  recovering dillettante while traveling the road to Utopia..

Why do we believe what we do with such conviction?

When I ask people what proof they can offer to substantiate their strong feelings about a given subject, you would think they would offer, easily and quickly, substantial historical facts to prove their point.  Strangely enough, few can.  

I am not suggesting you should not believe what you do, but go easy. It is possible that the best you can offer for the validity of your position is an assumption.

That’s okay, but stop selling it to the world with such vigor.

Here is an idea, Why talk about it at all?  Why not make your actions speak for your beliefs?   Let what you believe be who you are.  Now that’s a thought for the ages.

P.S. Yes, I do include myself.

Brother Franco

We also recommend: "The Pizzaonian"

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Within the heart of every person is the yearning to create -

 

Where do you go from here? 

Within the heart of every person is the yearning to create.  It is not about education or learning.  No one gives it to you - it was placed there when you were born.  Your journey through life is to bring this creation into being by allowing it to exist.  This is truly more an act of willingness than will. 

What form shall this creation take?  That is between you and your creator.  Work with the divine force within you and it will come into being.  

Open your mind and heart to what form this creation will take.  Let your work talk to you.  Your life is the process of discovering your gift.  You will know the answer soon enough. 

Remember the answer might not be what you want to hear or sacrifice for, nevertheless, you will know the truth intrinsically by letting the process of your life speak to you.  The answer is always there.  Do you have the courage to head its call? 

The fulfillment of your life rests in your answer. 

Brother Franco

We also recommend: "The Pizzaonian"

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Conjectures of a recovering dilettante --- The shifting sands of Christianity -

 

A Catholic priest once said to me – “It’s too bad we stopped writing “gospels.” When I asked why, he said, “Because we need to update the message, not the content, but the places and references so young people can better relate to the Christian message.”

To prove his point that Sunday at Mass, he read the Gospel, replacing the biblical names and places with localized references in their place. The difference was amazing- how more relevant the words became because of the regional reference to familiar names and places.   

The issue is how to make the message of 2000 years ago as compelling and relevant today as it was in the time it took place.

Even the most ardent atheist agrees that Jesus preached an ethical and humanist philosophy. The concept of love and sacrifice that embraces a committed community is as relevant today as it was in the day it was first preached. How then do we continue to preach the Gospel so it can reach beyond the faithful?

Some would argue that we already do. And in many ways this is true. However, the message of Jesus, though preached regularly, is still not received by many people all over the world. One problem is the unbending and intolerant view that some Christians have and project to the world. It is hard to project love and tolerance, when tolerance is not there. 

For many fundamental Christians, the above statement amounts to heresy. This begs the question: “Is the non-fundamental Christian any less faithful? And of course, the next question as well: “What is a non-fundamental Christian?”    

First, we must establish what makes all Christians alike - we all except Jesus as friend and savior, as the Christ, the son of the living God. We would all agree that the Bible is the “word of God.” The problem has always been how we interpret the “word of God” – literally or metaphorically – allegory of actual fact?   

It also raises the additional question: Does a parable or allegory make the concept or subject being discussed less factual? Is a story that is considered a “myth” presumed to be not as truthful in its concept? Merriam Webster’s full definition of parable states: A parable is usually a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or religious principle.” 

We know Jesus often used parables to make his point. Most of the important messages of the New Testament come to us in stories or parables that Jesus used to make his point to the people he was addressing. Does this make His comments any less true? Most Christians would agree - they do not.

Why then is it necessary to believe that all the events in the Bible, while true, were not told as metaphors or allegories? When you consider the linear evolution of human consciousness, it seems that an all-knowing God would have spoken the truth in a form that would resonate through the ages for peoples of all time.   

Now those who don’t agree with me would say the words of the Bible do just that when they are accepted as literal truth. They would also tell us that being able to accept the word of God as literal – just as it is stated - is a matter of faith – and that faith is a gift they receive directly from a loving deity.   

This makes any discussion impossible. How can you argue with the direct word of God? For one, you can’t. However, you can challenge the fundamentalist's basic premise. This is important to do so, not to change the mind of the fundamentalist, but to create a more relevant dialogue with each new generation so that the word of God is also significant to them. And when we do this, I still believe the Gospel’s message reflects true word of God.   

And what moral justification do we have for this. Again, how about Jesus himself who used parables as his most important way of making his message relevant and clear to all who were willing to hear.

Why should we do any less?

We also recommend: "THE PIZZAONIAN"

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The evolution of human consciousness - - Shifting sands of Christianity -

Evolving Christianity - continued

 

As we said in our previous remarks, even the most ardent atheist agrees that Jesus preached an ethical and humanist philosophy. The concept of love and sacrifice that embraces a committed community is as relevant today as it was in the day it was first preached. How then do we continue to preach the Gospel so it can reach beyond the faithful?

It is important to separate my previous remarks from the philosophy of post modernism as preached by Brian McLaren. (A new kind of Christian) When it comes to the Bible, literal interpretation as the only way of accepting God's word and the complete rejection of the possibility of any objectivity when trying to understand the truth, are the two extremes.  

While the message of complete love and sacrifice that Christ taught during his time on earth was radical for His time, surely. He would have understood the need to have the meaning of his words to be understood within the context of each evolving generation, rather than unyielding, never changing dogma as it related to the historical times in which he lived.  If we accept this - faith becomes the relevant issue.

For me the question becomes: Can you still retain the objectivity of the truth of the bible and at the same time accept the veracity of God’s word to come to us in metaphors and parables? At what point does intent trump dogma? In fact, the legitimate question is – do they have to actually be different.  These two concepts should be able to coexist without changing the word of God in any way.  

It seems to me that our current Catholic Pope, Francis, is struggling with this issue and encountering the same difficulties that always arise when focusing on intent as your source for primary meaning. One could legitimately ask – is not the concept of interpreting the intent subjective in and of itself? If the answer is yes as fundamentalist proclaim - there is no room for further discussion.   

Again, I come back to the same position every time. Would an all-knowing and loving God not leave room for the evolution of human conscious so that each succeeding generation could understand the Gospels within the context of their time? Would that change the meaning of the intent of the word of God? I do not believe it does and here is why.  

The same faith that fundamentalists bring in proclaiming the unchanging word of God can also be used as the basis of reinterpreting the Gospels from an evolving and updated view of the Word. If an all-knowing God is aware of the inevitable evolution of human consciousness would not that God enable future generations to come to the identical conclusions that the people of Jesus’s time understood?  

Is this any less legitimate as a means for using faith as the criteria for your conclusion? Is it not as valid as the faith used by fundamentalist who insist on an unbending dogma created for people of a different time?    

How then does this separate me from the philosophy of the new evolving, purely subjective Christianity that is now being preached by modernist?

For one, I believe as an act of faith that a loving God would allow for the correct, objective interpreting of the Word by the people of each millennial as we continue to evolve into the future. It is also important to remember that the faithful who lived at the time the New Testament was being formulated believed in the imminent end of the world as they knew it. We still concede the world can end, but obviously in God’s good time, not ours.   

It should also occur to all of us, that the world ends for millions of people individually each day. Is that any less the end of the world for them? I think not. When this happens, as it will for each us, our personal faith will be all that we have left.

In the final analysis maybe *Kierkegaard's concept of Christian existentialism was right to begin with. 

Brother Franco

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 *http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/kierkegaard.html

Intent verses dogma – a continuation

WE ALSO RECOMMEND: "THE PIZZAONIAN"

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Political integrity, faith, morals and other stuff

Faith, morals and political integrity, three subjects that most Americans believe they have.  The question, however, always comes to mind, how much of these belief systems are real or just a matter of convenience?

As we listen to the caustic and angry rhetoric of our current election campaign, where does integrity begin? Again, I need to remind us that I am not talking about hypocrites.  I prefer to believe most people are sincere. What concerns me is how the belief systems that candidates espouse, or anyone of us, become compromised when it is no longer profitable, financially or emotionally, to continue to believe in them.

Let’s consider religious convictions or faith. We all deal with the two bookends of life: Birth and Death – the tension created by the frame they produce, fuels the positive impulse that drives life. 

Within each of us a need for certainty exists – a certainty that cannot exist in the world as we know it.  From this premise, we begin a journey to seek an uncertain truth that can only exist in faith.  Within the intuitive understanding of this concept, we begin our journey.

The frame of life created at birth and ending with death is a vertical boundary. To travel beyond the vertical boundary is a matter of transcendence, and if we go beyond the frame, we go from the uncertainty of reality to the certainty of uncertainty. We call that journey faith, and it cannot be resolved as long as we remain in the frame. 

It is easy to see how normal it would be to have these faith belief systems challenged by circumstances that could harm us. How would we hold up if challenged to this degree?

Here we have many examples of people who believed and acted according to their ideology.  This also includes those who gave their lives.  It seems a good idea to reflect on the lives on these heroic people, so we can see how we might compare to them.

I know the standard is high here, but so is the concept of personal integrity.  Self-examination should be an important part of our growth process. To wait for the trial to appear without serious introspection beforehand would be foolish.  There is a reason military training is so vigorous and often dangerous.  It prepares the soldier, as best as possible, to understand the dangers and tasks they will be facing.

Should we be any less vigorous with our faith?  If one needs an example of “the Christian life” there could be none better than Dietrich Bonhoeffer*.  Take some time to consider this man’s life and faith.  He set the standard.  How would each of us hold up?  That is a question only for you and your God.

* http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/martyrs/bonhoeffer.html?start=1  

Brother Giovanni, commenting for “Musings”

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Conjectures of a recovering dilettante traveling the road to Utopia - Faith,Christianity and Existentialism

 

Faith,Christianity and Existentialism

While there are at least four definitions of faith in Merriam Webster, the one that sums up all of them is: “Faith: a firm belief in something for which there is no proof: complete trust   

If there is a profound effect modern science has on the thinking process of the average person; it is the notion that you must have proof to define reality. Since so much of what we believe that determines how we conduct our lives is based on assumptions, where does that leave us?   

For one, I hope less dogmatic in our opinions.

Perhaps, the most important act of faith many of us make is to believe in God. Then we take our belief in God one more step. We choose to believe in a specific religion. In my case, I chose Christianity. 

I am sure all of us have definitive ideas of how religious faith affects our individual lives. I would like my faith to be unconditional; however, I often do not live up to its ideals. To complicate the issue, I have always suffered doubts about my beliefs, but choose to continue to believe.  Why? 

For one, what Jesus was and preached makes sense to me. When I divorce religion and a belief in a loving God from his message, and keep only the moral, ethical message - it is difficult to reject the intrinsic goodness of his philosophy.

It also makes sense as a practical approach to life – in much the same way as our existential philosophers do. Existentialism can find no meaning or reality in existence other than the obvious suffering that all living things must endure. This is clear through our daily observation. We witness every day the obvious fact that we will die - and that all other living things share the same fate.   

Our only recourse is to find meaning in suffering. Is this not what Christianity does? For me, it reinforces what I learn from my experience. Every day I observe the process that all life travels – life, death and resurrection. 

And in the resurrection and newborn beginnings of life, we find hope and meaning that suffering created.  

Brother Franco

 

We also recommend: "GiovanniandFranco.com

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If you are struggling with (choices) alternatives, consider yourself fortunate. Your one of the lucky ones!

In life, we all travel different roads with various destinations. That is life, pure and simple. Why then are these choices so difficult? For one, to make the point, we have choices. And, if you have choices, you have to be able to afford them financially. This point seems lost on so many people.   

If you are struggling with alternatives, consider yourself fortunate. You are already better off than thousands of other people who are simple struggling to stay alive. How many souls on this mortal coil must do whatever is attainable just to survive? For them, there is no choice – do what is obtainable or die.  

So the next time you are unhappy with who and what you are – and you have real choices as to what you may become – count your blessings. You are truly one of the fortunate human beings.   

Brother Giovanni

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Conjectures of recovering dilettante - "True love of God or our need of a God?"

 

Conjectures of a recovering dilettante traveling the road to Utopia

How do we know our faith is based on the love of God, or the need for God in our lives?

I wonder how many of us actually ask this question? If we don’t, we should and often. It seems a realistic assumption that by nature most of us are selfish. I don’t mean in the obvious ways. That would be easy to figure out. This type of selfishness is more insidious - mainly because it disguises itself as altruistic even though it is very self-serving.   

What do we really mean when we say: "Keep us from temptation."

When we say the Lord’s Prayer we say, “And keep us from temptation. I have always felt we should add to that – particularly that temptation which disguises itself as virtuous. What makes this so difficult to clarify is that most of us reach the point where we lead reasonably decent lives. It would probably be considered by most standards as a “good Christian life.” 

There are the saints and the rest of us

Here is the point where we separate the saints from the rest of us. Clearly, the saints have managed through prayer and desire to place their egos on hold and put the Lord’s will in its place. When we say ‘Let your will be done” they in fact not only have the good intention of doing it, they actually do it. 

Do we really mean - "Your will be done" or has this become a "catch phrase" that we use often?

Consider how difficult this is. All we have to do is see how few of us achieve this, even though it is the goal we all aspire to reach.

So how do we reach the goal – to imitate and be like the saints - For one - not alone? Prayer and meditation are not only necessary but inseparable. Prayer builds our personal relationship with our God. If that does not make you whole, it certainly gets you thinking about it in a more realistic way.   

What is your answer going to be?

So where are you in this journey? What would be your answer be when the Lord asks you “to sell everything and follow me?" Our answer clarifies where we are on our spiritual journey.

As for me – I would rather not answer the question right now.   

Brother Franco

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