Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

Article         4080
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Meditation #45
Date: 6 Nov 90 21:49:03 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
Happy Hollerdays -
 
Here's the first of an infinite (immeasurably finite, actually) series
of postings of the weekly meditations from one of those neat little
books Hazelton publishes.  I found someone who had already typed them
all in and took it on to share them with our little trna community.
I do apologize about the re-posting [wasted bandwidth] but the donor
wanted to remain anonymous, and the postings are so small... seemed
reasonable.
 
I love them because they feel so "centered," kind of sobering yet
uplifting.  And of course... they're heart centered so perhaps it will
help balance our often heady discussions.
 
Enjoy!
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FORTY-FIVE <=====
 
	It is impossible to overemphasize the immense need humans have
	to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood.
						- Dr. Paul Tournier, M.D.
 
We need assurance that our presence has value to the lives of those around
us at home, work, and play.  Our self-worth should not be solely tied to
someone else's attention to us or love for us; however, our personal being
is validated and thus enhanced each time we have evidence of being fully 
listened to.
 
Just as we hunger for attention and validation, so do the many people
sharing our travels at this time.  And sadly, we're rushing through our
experiences not very attentive to either the events or the persons who
have engaged our involvement.
 
The choice to slow down, to honor the flowers, the children, the loud and
silent moments of the day, is ours.  It's an expression of love for life,
for ourselves and everyone we encounter if we take a moment to look and
listen with our full being.
 
Each aspect of life is enriched when honored by a listening heart.  Let's
cherish the golden rule.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Thanks for entering that Mike V.  I know Steve from the REFLECTIONS network 
(synchronistically in fact I just heard from him today after an absence of
quite awhile).  A very interesting and loving individual.

Namasthe,

Ro

    			FAITH IS . . . GOD
    
    To be aware of God is to possess faith.
    
    Faith is beyond all factual knowledge.  Faith is . . . God; a
    closeness to God, an indestructible awareness of God, a voice in
    the heart which whispers, "I am here, my child; I am by your side;
    I supply every need.  My ways are wisdom and love."
    
    This great love is enfolding you, and so long as you are willing to
    be enfolded in this heart of love, it will hold you and give you 
    sweetness and comfort and strength; it will give you inspiration to
    walk bravely on your allotted path; it will give you companionship,
    it will give you love and joy indescribable; and will in time reveal
    to you the glory of God's life.
    
    				* * *
    *Lift you heart now in worship and adoration twoards the glorious
    Sun/Son, giver of life.  In the heart of the Sun/Son, see and feel
    the beautiful form of the Great Healer, the master craftsman, 
    pouring his love and blessing upon you and upon all humanity.*
    
    					W.E.
    
    
    

Article         4198
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Thoughts on Love: Week 46
Date: 14 Nov 90 16:19:11 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FORTY-SIX <=====
 
	Love immediately challenges me to break the fixation I have 
	with myself.
						- John Powell, S.J.
 
Self-absorption can become habitual, and it's a seductive pastime.  "How
do I look?"  "Was my response articulate?"  "Is my wit impressive?"  It's
all too easy to block out the presence of others except for the purpose
of comparison to ourselves.  And blocking out their presence robs us of 
the many lessons they've come to teach us.
 
The ego is fragile only in proportion to the amount of undue attention we 
give it.  And assuredly we cripple it by the focus we mistakenly believe
nurtures its growth.  Far better for the health of our ego to love and
encourage the well-being of a friend's ego.
 
The more we move beyond ourselves, the greater will be our personal peace
and security.  Happiness is the natural byproduct of favoring another
with loving attention.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4302
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: m47
Date: 19 Nov 90 15:13:48 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FORTY-SEVEN <=====
 
	Love cures.  It cures those who give it, and it cures those
	who receive it.
						- Dr. Karl Menninger
 
Love is no mystery, but its results are magical in many ways.  It's
generally accepted that many illnesses are psychosomatic.  Because we
often feel anxiously alone, lonely, fearful, and unloved, we express
our need through our bodies.  How sad so many of us are so hindered.
But we can each be willing participants in a solution.  The action
called for is simple.  All it requires is the decision to act with favor
toward one another.
 
A look through loving eyes on a struggling person offers her the strength
to try and try again and thus succees.  Lovingly moving the barriers to
another's achieving spirit will benefit all who share his journey.  
 
Love multiplies the great and simple acts of goodness in the world.  Each
of us, with no more effort than a genuinely warm glance, can change the
course of history today, tomorrow, always.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4456
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Worthy of Love - Weekly Meditation
Date: 27 Nov 90 14:09:22 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FORTY-EIGHT <=====
 
	The love, the acceptance of other persons makes me into the
	unique person I am meant to be.
						- Peter G. van Breemen, S.J.
 
Our destinies are fulfilled through our loving involvement with the men,
women, and children sharing our experiences.  It is not by accident but
by design that we've been drawn together to share goals, the workplace,
or a home.  We contribute to each other's search for understanding, and
the spiritual quest that's at our center finds its resting place in one
another's hearts.
 
The letter, the smile, or phone call we offer a fellow traveler today will
bless our own faltering steps throughout the long hours ahead.  Each time
we focus our attention on the struggle or joy of someone else, our personal
well-being is enhanced.  If we give away our love, we'll doubt less that 
we, too, are loved.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4595
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #50
Date: 14 Dec 90 15:32:52 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FIFTY <=====
 
	The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something
	to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
						- Joseph Addison
 
Having someone to bestow our love on - a child, friend, or lover, perhaps
a pet - will provide us with a time each day for intimacy, a time for
sharing affection, a time which assures us our presence is counted on.
 
But having someone to love is not all we need for happiness.  We must have
dreams for the future, reasons for getting out of bed in the present, and
the well-earned glow that accompanies past achievements.  Dreams lose their
glamour if that's all we have.  If the reasons for rising don't excite us
any longer, or the achievements ring hollow, we'll not come to know the
happiness for which we've been created.
 
Happiness is our birthright so long as we live fully and love truly.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4631
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #51
Date: 17 Dec 90 14:14:34 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FIFTY-ONE <=====
 
	The process rather than the product is primary in caring, for it
	is only in the present that I can attend to the other.
						- Milton Mayeroff
 
The moment that captures us now is all we have for certain.  We can dream
endlessly about next week and next year but there are no guarantees.  Thus,
it is important to care for ourselves and others in this moment.  Have we
expressed our love to any one of the many special people in our lives today?
The effort is small and yet paramount in its impact on how the day unfolds
for the givers and the receivers of caring words that inspire - words that
speak of love.
 
Someone close needs our attention today - our encouragement, our inspiration,
our recognition.  And we need the commitment to focus outside ourselves if
we are to discover the gifts promised us in each twenty-four-hour segment
of life.  It is not coincidence that we feel pulled toward particular people,
that we select certain groups to identify with.
 
Contemplative thoughtfulness about our presence in this time and place will
assure us we are needed for the loving growth of many.  The mystery unfolds
by design.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4663
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #52
Date: 24 Dec 90 05:09:41 GMT
Sender: news@abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov (USENET File Owner)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FIFTY-TWO <=====
 
	Our work brings people face to face with love.
						- Mother Teresa
 
Whether we are sowing a garden, tending the sick, role modeling for children,
or climbing the corporate ladder, many opportunities are present for acting
from a posture of love.  Love is an attitude, one born from gratitude for
all we have, all we are, and all we hope to be.  We cultivate a loving
outlook just as surely as we cultivate gardens and friendships.
 
The guilt or shame we sometimes feel prompts us to remember those moments
when we were faced with the choice to love but failed to love - those times
we barked answers, scowled at someone special, slammed drawers and doors.
Fortunately, we need not be perfect.  Each moment promises us a new
opportunity to choose love as our response to the many people and the
changing events in our lives.
 
Some decisions can be made once for all time.  Using seat belts is such a
decision.  So is offering love to the world that greets us.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4683
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #01
Date: 2 Jan 91 19:36:29 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK ONE <=====
 
	In real love you want the other person's good.  In romantic 
	love, you want the other person.
						- Margaret Anderson
 
 
The expression of real love is so easy between grandparents and children -
and between good friends it passes effortlessly.  But why is it so hard to
share real love with a spouse or lover?  Why, instead, do we want to
possess them?  And from them we dream of selfless devotion.  Yet neither
possession nor devotion guarantees the security we long for.
 
Real love is not selfish; it frees both the giver and the receiver.  Knowing
we're loved sustains our hearts and diminishes our difficulties.  It doesn't
bind us, yet paradoxically it bonds our hearts.  This encouragement to 
grow, to change, to dare to depart if it's for our own good, are expressions
of real love.  Real love is never ownership, only stewardship of this
moment's experiences.
 
Let's be gentle with one another, and love fully with trust, as a child
loves a grandmother.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4731
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #04
Date: 14 Jan 91 05:07:46 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FOUR <=====
 
	When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play
	with, but really loves you, then you become real.
						- Margery Wilson
 
Intimacy with another is a necessary risk if we're to know love.  This means
loving enough to let someone in on our most hidden parts, daring to share
the awful truths about ourselves.  When we hold a dreaded memory within, or
fail to disclose our darkest secret, we're haunted by the fear that another's
love is both conditional and long gone if the truth about us is revealed.
 
Though seldom remembered, one of the greatest tributes we can give one another
is full expression of who we were, who we are, and who we hope to become.
During any single moment, we are a composite of feelings, memories, and
projections.  Our reality is many-faceted, and being intimate requires that
we enrich each other's lives with the full expression of ourselves.
 
Being real is courageous; it takes a decision and practice, and it is
demanded if we're to know love.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4764
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #05
Date: 21 Jan 91 05:07:46 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK FIVE <=====
 
	It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what
	you are not.
						- Andre Gide
 
Undeserved love haunts and shames us.  And we know when we've enticed another
dishonestly, or insincerely influenced an outcome.  Yet we struggle letting
others know more than our surface reveals.
 
Will I be loved if I'm really known?  Our fear drives us to hide our inner,
awful, human core.  But then we doubt all love, all lovers, because they
don't perceive the real me, the shameful me.
 
The dilemma is letting ourselves be known and risking that others might go
away, or sharing just those parts that will endear others to us for the
moment, postponing the inevitable fear of abandonment.  
 
Serenity is the complement to a life lived with integrity - a life in which
we reveal who we are each moment, trusting that unconditional love will
deservedly bless us in return.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4820
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #06
Date: 28 Jan 91 05:06:28 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK SIX <=====
 
	The evolution of human growth is an evolution from an absolute
	need to be loved towards a full readiness to give love.
						- Dr. Karl Stern
 
As children we looked to our parents for love, for clothes and food, for
an indication of who we were.  If our needs were met, we felt secure.  As
developing adults, we still seek love.  We continue yearning for security
and all too often our self-definition comes through someone else.  But a 
healthy sign of our growth is revealed each time we extend love to another
with no thought that love is owed us in return.
 
We can show our love in myriad ways - a genuine smile, a note of appreciation,
an unexpected favor, perhaps flowers, or a phone call.  Warmly giving another
attention in any form is an act of love, one that will be repaid in full by
someone, at some time.
 
The ease with which we genuinely love others is directly proportional to our
commitment to loving as a priority in our lives.  To love is a decision
first, an action second, a value next.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         4997
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #08
Date: 11 Feb 91 05:03:47 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK EIGHT <=====
 
	The gift of love means this:  I want to share with you whatever
	I have that is good.
						- John Powell, S.J.
 
How loving are we, really?  Do we keep score when we do favors for a friend, 
keeping in mind that we're owed one?  Do we hoard rather than share a favorite
treat, hoping to prolong our own feast?  And the good mood, when it's ours -
do we use it to help another raise her spirits or do we secretly gloat because
we're "in a better place"?
 
The opportunity to respond with love visits us throughout each day.  A smile,
a kind gesture, including someone in a conversation, noticing a job well done,
are acts of love, acts that connect our hearts, at least for a moment.  When
someone has shared love with us in some form, we notice it and are moved.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         5037
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #09
Date: 18 Feb 91 05:02:29 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK NINE <=====
 
	Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates the self.
						- Sue Atchley Ebaugh
 
With a quickened step we hurry toward a challenge when empowered by love.
Conversely, even the simplest of experiences have the power to fill us
with dread when love is absent.
 
Expressed to a friend, a lover, even a stanger, love promises us unanticipated
gifts.  We're openly appreciated, the glow of warmth enfolds us, and we find
even our courage is magically bolstered when we've shared ourselves in a loving
way with someone.
 
With ease we may express love to children, touched by their vulnerability,
certain we'll not be bruised by rejection.  If only we'd continue our free
expression of love to all the child-adults on our paths, we'd discover both
exhilaration and the courage to face any event life passes our way.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         5070
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #10
Date: 25 Feb 91 05:01:09 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK TEN <=====
 
	Real love pours itself out upon the object of its affection,
	without demanding any return.
						- Florence Scovel Shinn
 
Loving another wholly, purely, with no strings attached promises ecstacy,
and yet seldom do we dare chance it.  Often we want the promise of love in
return if we're to offer it.  Our fragile egos are held tentatively intact
by the slim gestures and fleeting words of love tossed our way.  But when
we bargain for love, we don't find it.
 
Real love will forever elude us unless we put our own selves aside and
unabashedly love the self of someone else.
 
Freely spreading the warm glow of love to others magically invites its 
return - another of life's mysteries.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

Article         5150
From: smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov (Steve Dahmen)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Weekly Love Meditation #11
Date: 4 Mar 91 04:59:55 GMT
Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton VA
 
 
From "Worthy of Love - Meditations on Loving Ourselves and Others",
	a weekly meditation book from "The Hazelden Meditation Series"
---
			=====> WEEK ELEVEN <=====
 
	To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another.
						- Leibnitz
 
To desire personal happiness is normal and healthy.  Most of our plans,
choices, and dreams about the present and future regarding jobs, relationships,
and hoped-for achievements are geared to make us happy.  It's never wrong to
want happiness; however, to receive it at someone else's expense or to
selfishly steal it from another will result in sorrow.  And our greatest
happiness will visit us when we least expect it - when we are attentively
seeing to another's happiness.
 
Doing for others - perhaps shopping for a friend who's ill or aged, maybe
offering child care to an overworked parent, or cooking a surprise meal for
a lonely neighbor - will never fail to heighten our own pleasure.
 
-- 
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Steve Dahmen, Systems Analyst                         (804) 864-4519 (W)
M/S 365,  NASA Langley Research Center                    
Hampton, Virginia  23665                        smd@rehder.larc.nasa.gov

    Healing is reconciliation.  To heal ourselves is to embrace the darkness
    as well as the light, and to accept the necessity of both in our lives.
    To ignore our brokenness is to deny the world, and it does not lead to
    healing.  The pathological responses to pain perpetuate the suffering
    and prevent the healing.

    The need for reconciliation within ourselves, if not addressed, can
    express itself outwardly in the form of sexism, racism, or other evils.
    We invent personal and social scapegoats because the darkness must
    manifest itself.  Ignoring the darkness doesn't make it go away.  So our
    broken selves and our broken worlds continue without healing.

    To reconcile the darkness with the light in ourselves, and to mend the
    broken relationships we face in the world around us, is an important
    aspect of religion.  Religion encompasses therapy, personal and social.
    But it also transcends it.  For religion not only reconciles us to
    ourselves and to others, but also the world and to God.

    To overcome resentment is not to ignore it.  The pain will only come out
    in other ways if we try to cork the bottle, and those other ways can be
    explosive and harmful.  Reconciliation and forgiveness require open
    acknowledgment of the truth, not its denial.

    Sometimes the wrongs we endure result from a cosmology of power.  The
    raw exercise of power, which our society has often considered a virtue,
    has brought on many pains which require reconciliation and healing.  But
    it is just another manifestation of the cosmology of power if we believe
    that reconciliation can be finagled or manipulated.  Sometimes our
    efforts at reconciliation will fail.  But the real sin is in not trying.

    The fact that the universe took 15 billion years to get to its present
    state tells us something about God.  God did not bring us into being
    instantaneously with a wave of his hand.  Rather, like a mother bird she
    nurtured us into being, through a continuous activity of unfolding.  God
    does not operate by the raw exercise of power, and neither should we.

    That doesn't just mean the exercise of power over others.  It also means
    nurturing (and reconciling) ourselves.  It means accepting our guilts,
    and assuming responsibility for our own wrongs, but also knowing that it
    is all right to make mistakes.  And by forgiving ourselves we can
    forgive others, and seek their forgiveness.

    re: .18 & .19,
    
    wow Mike.  you've so well articulated in words the inspiration at 
    the source of my p_n.  
    
    thank you.
      

The next time you're off to work, dreading the day ahead, stop 
yourself.  Decide, just for one day, to think in a whole new way.  
Try these affirmations--they just might change the way you feel 
about what it is that you do.

    *	Just for today, I will be as friendly as can be to the 
        people I work with.  I am going to treat them as if they 
        were responsible for keeping me in my job and be grateful 
        they are there.

    *	Just for today, I won't assume my job is to be chief 
        critic.  I will try to see the good in every situation 
        and will look for something to praise in every person who 
        works with me.

    *	Just for today, if I correct someone, I will do it with 
        as much good humor and self-restraint as if I were the 
        one being corrected.

    *	Just for today, I am not going to insist that everthing I 
        do be perfect.  I am not going to try to break any speed 
        records.  I will do what's in front of me with 
        competence, not painful compulsion.

    *	Just for today, I will assume that I have adequate 
        competence for my tasks.  I will not endlessly question 
        whether I really deserve my title and my pay.

    *	Just for today, I will be grateful I live in a society 
        and time in which I don't have to do backbreaking work in 
        horrible circumstances.  And I will be thankful I work in 
        a free country where no one is forcing me to work.

    *	Just for today, I will feel happy I am at work, alive and 
        well, and not in a combat trench or in a hospital 
        awaiting surgery.

    *	Just for today, I will not have any expectations about 
        how I should be treated.  I will not compare my pay or 
        status with anyone else.  I will just be glad that I am 
        who I am.

    *	Just for today, I will not worry about "what's in it for 
        me".  I will think only about what I can do to help out 
        in every situation.

    *	Just for today, when I leave work, I will not dwell on 
        how much I did or did not get done.  Instead, I will look 
        forward to the evening, and be thankful for whatever I 
        accomplished.

These thoughts are not complex, and did not come from Tokyo or 
Cambridge.  Their merit is that they can make your days more 
productive and happier.  Above all, they save wear and tear on 
your most valuable asset--your peace of mind.

re.21

Thank you Richard, I enjoyed reading that.


By showing kindness to our work colleages we in turn will receive kindess. In
other words we should actively put the interest of others before our own
interest, this will be recognised and will promote kindness.


Phil. 

	"The things you don't say are at least as
			important as the things you do say."

					- Richard Jones-Christie

	"It's sometimes easier to love
		your enemies than it is to love your relatives."

					- Richard Jones-Christie

"A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than
he could be elected Pope of Rome.  Both high posts are reserved for men
favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing the bitter
facts of life in bandages of self-illusion."

					-- H. L. Mencken

	A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was
eating his morning meal.  "I would like to give you this personality
test", said the outsider, "because I want you to be happy."
	Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into
the toaster -- "I wish the toaster to be happy too".

	"Any excuse will serve a tyrant."
					-- Aesop

    
"Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined."

					-- Samuel Goldwyn

    "Patriarchy is itself the prevailing religion of the entire planet."
    
					    - Mary Daly    

Once a mother overheard her son praying.  She noticed he was telling God
what he planned to do and directing God to help him.  She said to him,
"Son, don't bother giving God instructions; just report for duty."

Richard

	A halo has only to descend eleven inches to become a noose.

    "Conflict is inevitable.  Violence is not."
    
    					-- unknown
    

    
    	"Prejudices are what fools use for reasons."
    
    						-- Voltaire
    

    Isn't there something in the NT about calling people fools?
    
    John

>    Isn't there something in the NT about calling people fools?

    Yup.  But that's when the predicate adjective is used as an
    insult.  Voltaire isn't saying "you fool."  He's pointing out
    that a certain behavior is foolish.

    Tom