Posted by Pastor Steven on August 09, 2002 at 14:54:07:
In Reply to: Bob's Answers -- for whatever (2 cents) they are worth. posted by Bob - the Alien on August 08, 2002 at 21:09:09:
: "Someone tell me how to live in this moment and not in tomorrow or even five minutes from now."
: 2) Embrace life by contemplating death...
: 3) Reflect on everything...
: 4) Don't take anything too seriously...
THIS IS A WONDERFUL POST, DAVE! (With the exception of the wiggly thing--that's just weird.)
The three things you mentioned that I abbreviated above are exactly what I would have offered.
Contemplating death. This discipline has given me a peace and a power over the last decade I never knew before. Every true revelation of who I am in God came to me through this wisdom. Every thing I ever taught that people considered prophetic or mystical or profitable is somehow linked to this foundation. My absence of fear of death is certainly built upon this contemplation, and the beauty and purpose I see in death are the main source of the spiritual power God has given me.
"Happy is the man who has always the hour of his death before his eyes."
Thomas A Kempis
Reflect on everything. I too have caused much pain. I have reached a place where the pain caused me is more precious than offensive. It is the price of my love; of my humanity. But the pain I have caused others is what grieves me. Although I KNOW and am assured of forgiveness (nobody who knows me would question this), I choose to keep always before my eyes the memory of those I have hurt, because this radically reduces the chance of me causing such pain again. This is my gift of love for those brave enough to be around me. ;-) I cannot explain the paradox of how such retained grief causes so much joy, peace, and assurance of forgiveness. Those who have been there, know what I mean...
Taking things seriously. For me it is not so much not trying not to take things seriously, as it is taking the REAL and often elusive eternal things most seriously. To identify true priorities will by a necessary process of displacement loose our attachment to the urgencies of today, which really are unimportant in the light of eternity. But we tend to confuse urgencies with priorities, and to internalize the conflict around us. These are the things that kill us.
Thanks, Dave. We really have to get together...