I put my back out yet again the other day, lifting something heavy (see previous post), and am walking around like Quasimodo. This seems to happen way too frequently. I am a very delicate flower.The bells! The bells!
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
11 comments:
You must think i don'r read these huhu?
Yoga, yoga, yoga.
mate, look after yourself now and you will be able to enjoy your grandkids.
hate to preach, but.....People don't listen and then whinge.
Sorry.
i knew this was coming. If you hate to preach, then don't:)
Snap!
Cry more.
thanks for yr warm wishes, i hope my back feels better soon too.
Can i use this post to go off on a tangent? (As I always do!) I would like to pose a question about the level of spiritual nurturing.....
There's a bit of crying gooing on there for sure.
?????spiritual nurturing??? please explain?
you're on it!!
I would like to know why there is so much concentration and effort put into our spiritual maintenance? We pray, discuss, learn, discuss, deliberate and constatntly work on the 'nuturing' of our spiritual relationship with God. Correct? We read The Word, absorb his teachings and go forward in his name, all for the purpose of tuning and looking after the relationship we have with Him. This is all happening between our ears (for the most part) and is demonstrated in our interaction with others so that people can see our devotion to out creator.
why is it then that we neglect first, truest gift He has given us? Life. We have been given a complex organic machine, a miracle of nature no doubt, and we neglect, ignore and run down this machine. Almost with contempt.
We poison, mistreat and neglect our bodies as if they were an irrelevant part of the God - me equation.
okay, we all have vices and that, subjectively, cannot be judged. But
Why is there no balance? Why does man want to jump down peoples throats if they don't spiritually feed themselves and yet not give a crap if they ignore their physical obligation?
When someone is down and needs nurturing, we pray. We try and involve ourselves in them so they know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and through God's word, we can get them back to where they need to be.
Why is there is such a blatant disdain for the same physical nurturing.
Mind and body. Both need maintenance. But i guess thats when you can pick and choose what teachings you follow.
Catholics have been operating that way for centuries. Taking what is convenient to them and leaving the rest alone.
We have been friends for a long time and I think I know you pretty well. Some of the stuff you say I know what you are getting at because of past conversations we've had-- so I'll keep that in mind as I respond to your comment. And I am just going to be honest about how I see things.
Why so much effort put into spiritual maintenance? Because the bible says to do so-- read it and you'll see. I don't see this as something that happens 'mostly between the ears' as you say. It is more about the state of the heart than the state of the mind.
The body is a gift, you are right, but having your body right is, when it comes down to it, less important than having yr heart right. No, this doesn't mean neglecting the body, but it means knowing it isn't as significant as our spiritual health. You talk in such black and white generalising terms. If I am not doing yoga I am disdaining my body. If someone is overweight they must be holding their body in contempt. Pretty big calls to make. This seems a bit much to take.
And also, what may appear as neglecting life to you (not being in shape, not doing much outdoor stuff) may just not be what 'life' means for everyone else.
Your bug bear is about health, but what about other tuff like drugs? To me that is way more disdaining of our bodies and our loved ones. You can't just judge one little facet and ignore the rest.
When you say 'man', this is so broad. Who are you referring to? Who jumps down peoples throat about spiritually feeding yourself?? And are these the same people who 'don't give a crap' about their physical condition?? Who are these people?
It just seems to me that you are thinking in this everybody taking care of themselves sort of way. We all have a connection to 'the man upstairs' as you call him, and it's personal and private. Spiritual nurturing is about community, and church-- having brothers and sisters in Christ, and encouraging eachother horizontally as we relate to God vertically.
Well, that's my thoughts mate.
I'll start at the bottom, cause thats what i read last.
Good for you with the church and the community thing.Thats awesome. but as much as you don't want it to, it comes off as every other church goer does and that you've gotta be part of the club. Sorry mate, I love you and would give you the shirt of my back but the reason i don't go search for my 'brothers and sister in christ' is because I don't, absolutley don't need any endorsement or praise from anyone regarding my relationship with my God. full stop. i do not hold these people in disregard, different people need different levels of interaction and support to maintain their passion and direction. I don't. But i will leave that there.
I have to say, i don't know what you are referring to with the horizontally and vertically thing. Anyways.
I was not attempting to be generalising when I said 'man', that was purely speaking figuratively and was in no way accusing you of these actions. I admire your ability to respect people's different belief systems and work from there. I was referring primarily to the judgemental hordes that find themselves at the front of the christian pack..and ineviatvbly in most peoples line of sight...nonetheless..
I don't ahve a bug bear about health. My 'bug bear' is about the attitude towards, not health, but balance, balance of life, physically AND spiritually.
Without getting too indepth, the miracle that is the human body has so many complex chemicals put there just to help us through the day. natural endorphins that are produced when we do the simplest of upkeep. A little 'thank you' so to speak for maintaining the machine. Anyways, thats off point. its the balance that intrigues me, or more so the lack of balance.
don't arc up mate when i talk about a disdain of sorts. you jumped the gun and accused me of telling you that you are disdaining your body (whatever that means) but rather I was pointing out the apparent disdain for the 'nuturing' I was trying to do regards your physical condition at the mo.
Just to make it clear. It is relatively black and white mate. everything pretty much is. If someone is overweight because of their diet or apathy then yes, they are holding their body in contempt. i know where you are going with the drugs thing. I could say that its not an issue that needs to be discussed anymore but that is just lip service. Drugs, whether it be what you are referring to or alcohol or even tobacco are as I mentioned before, a vice and we all have them. Keeping the balance again, is what I see as an issue.
Anyways...words.
I won't ever go there again. just like a mormon who comes to your door and asks whether you know the way to eternal life? no more asking from me.
When I made reference to 'between the ears' you were right in assuming the mind. however i will agree with your comment on the heart being the defining place of origin. The heart however is purely another component in the machine we call our bodies and doesn't actually have any spiritual role at all. Whatever emotions flood your thoughtd and cause your heart to flutter come from your brain, no where else. thats what i was referring to.
anyways....words.
Finally. I have not picked up the bible in quite some time. No pretense there. I will say, at the risk of sounding a little uneducated, that along with the direction to maintain spiritually, I am sure there is reference to the 'vessel' or some such thing... probably not that much worth worrying about though.
We should probably agree to disagree regards a lot of these matters and life will go on as per usual.
I promise I won't go there again.
Sorry
Don't promise to never go there again. I think it is really good that we are finally getting to the heart of things. We have skirted around them a lot over the years. I think it is really healthy for us to see exactly where we disagree, and each consider it. Better than just pretending we believe the same.
No need to apologise either. But at the same time, you did raise the topic, so that is why I replied with what I did. It wasn't exactly arking up, I'm just trying to be truthful and deal with the things you raised.
You say that you are one person who does not need other people around you to maintain your faith. One thing to consider is that most people do, and that they could really benefit from your being there to interact with and have support from support. The bible says 'never stop meeting together' because community is so important to christianity. This is not something made up by the church, it is simply the way it's layed out in the bible. Nothing to do with being part of a club, everything to do with being human and knowing what we can and can't do on our own.
Anyway, as I say, don't feel like you can't bring stuff up with me. It's good to discuss this stuff.
See you mate
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