sudden spike in page views after midnight

I'm up late folding laundry and watching "Secrets of the Jesus Prayer" on WHUT (Howard University Television).  Earlier I checked in on my 'stats' and definitely saw zero views today.  Now however there have been 13.  Possibly because I have so many 'hits' from China and the Ukraine? ?  Interesting.

I have read the Philokalia *    and The Way of A Pilgrim (The Way of a Pilgrim several times).  It's a good read.  My favorite part of this program for television was the speech of a blind monastic guy named Theophile (lover of God).  I will paraphrase for now:  The Jesus prayer links the mind and the heart.  The linking of the mind and the heart is the work of God.  I like this particularly because, in my effort to understand the way my own mind works I have come to realize that for me the progress is always from affect to cognition.  I love/respond first and then I understand.  Sometimes much, much later.

* (I read something I thought was the Philokalia but when I just looked it up on Amazon to create the link it's like 1600 pages and that I did not read.)

A Homily from The Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal

A Homily from The Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal

I decided to copy and paste the whole thing even though the beauty of blogs is that you are directed by hyperlink to read elsewhere and then come back for thoughts on the subject.   The link goes to the original site.

Regarding St. Johnstide:

St. Johnstide John 1: 19-28, 29-34, 35-39 This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, "I am not the Christ [the Anointed]." Then they asked him, "Who are you then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "No, I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." Then they said, "Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self]." And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, "Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals." This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: 'After me comes one who was before me, for he is ahead of me [for he is greater than I].' [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being." And John testified: "I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].' And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God's Son." The next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him. And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, "Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through whom humanity's sense of self will be purified.]" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" They answered, "Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying [where do you live] [where do you take refuge]?" He said, "Come and you will see!" And they came and saw where he stayed [lived], and stayed [remained] with him all that day. It was about the tenth hour [four o'clock].

Homily: 2nd St. Johnstide July 7, 2013 John 1: 19 - 39 Each of us, at the core of our being, has an eternal self. This eternal Self clothes itself in different personalities, with its own particular time and destiny. Our self-awareness is usually limited to our current incarnation. The eternal core self is hard to find, hard to recognize. When John the Baptist is asked who he is, he answers from an awareness of his temporal self. 'I am not Elijah, not the Christ, not the prophet.' At the same time he is clear about his personal destiny - that he came to baptize. He is also clear about Jesus' identity. He sees past Jesus' earthly personality to His eternal core as the Lamb of God, upon whom the Spirit of God descended and remained. And he is aware that his own destiny is to serve Christ Jesus. Awareness of one's own eternal core Self is a gift of grace. Perhaps it is more important to develop an awareness of the eternal selves of others than it is to look for our own eternal core. Perhaps it is more important for us to stand as witnesses for each other - to recognize, as John did, the eternal self of the other, to accompany their destiny. Perhaps this is part of the change of heart and mind that John advocates: that we turn away from self-involvement, toward a humble support of others. As someone said: Attention is not concentration.  Attention is interest.  If you're interested in something, then you're attentive.  And if you're attentive, you discover many things.[1] [1] Anonymous. My Response: Steiner said somewhere that each human is his own species.  I associate that thought with the words spoken to Moses via burning bush ; I am the I am.  The I am is a font of consciousness, the source of all self awareness identified almost as if 'It' were an element with properties.  It constantly puzzles us to think about because it's two mutually exclusive ideas declaring their oneness... the principal of individuation with no parturition.  How does that work? coeur volant  - Duchamp Not too long ago I watched the Wishes Fulfilled program by Wayne Dyer on NPR.  I struggle with his suggestion that we go around saying 'I am God'. (He talks about Moses conversation with the Bush too.)  I feel that it's important to go through the realization that we are God together.  In the movie Before Sunrise the Julie Delpy character says that God is the space between us when we are in communication (not exact words at all). I feel very happy with that way of articulating how "human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being."   I love the story of John still in Elizabeth's womb leaping with joy in recognition of the presence of Christ, also yet to be delivered.

Thinking About Thinking

I Googled Synthetic Thinking and found this site.  (click on Title)  I love it.  It's intended for IT people, and I am not one.  The language sort of starts my engines though.  Thinking about Thinking is my favorite thing.  It almost always winds up with a wink and a nod from God but I don't necessarily start out to prove anything.  I just get overtaken with a question and follow it.

11,000 views all time. wow

If you've come to this site more than once please leave me a comment and tell me why.  It's gone a lot more slowly than I'd imagined when I started posting but I'm still enthused.  I wonder what it looks like to others.

11000 is a big number.  It would be lovely to find that I'd amused someone for a moment at some point.

Shalom

The Universe is Conspiring To Do Me Good

Pronoia

We must eradicate from the soul
All fear and terror of what comes towards Man
Out of the future
And we must acquire serenity
In all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward
With absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, 
Namely to live out of pure trust
Without any security in existence.
Trust in the ever present help of the spiritual world.
Truly, nothing else will do
If our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within Ourselves
Every morning and every evening 

~Rudolf Steiner

One of my hesitations about writing has been the acknowledgement of how 'new-age' ish my thinking can seem.  I come by it naturally and have definitely not worked to acquire the appearance.  I just love the positive, the healing and the hopeful.  I love to learn from the truths behind these things and I love to recognize them in the minds and work of other people.   As time goes on that focus only gets more pronounced although I'm not always happy and seeing happy things.  I'm drawn to the work of people who are better at accepting only the eternal.  This verse from Steiner used to make me laugh, though. because when you read it you think, 'Holy Cow!  what the heck is coming to us out of the future?  What will be so very difficult to face with calm?'  And where can I go to avoid it?  Now I emphasize the return to an acceptance of help from the spiritual rather than the implied variety of nightmarish scenarios that may confront a person on earth.  It's the uniform irrelevance of any earthly horror, whether prophesied by Nostrodamus or not, next to the Reality we've turned away from which interests me.

The first time I ever went to the Catholic parish I'm still associated with the deacon giving the homily was talking about how nobody strives to be a good sheep.  There are no seminars on how to be a good follower, he said.  This is partly because sheep are seen as passive and any sort of receiving, even from mighty spiritual beings or God Himself, is really not seen as a good thing at all.  I need to work on that myself.  I want to get back to the frame of mind I was in when I confessed happily to the pessimist who later became the father of my daughter, "The Universe is conspiring to do me good."