A BIT OF WISDOM, Spiritual Lemons, Lyn G. Brakeman, blog post, 10/27/24

“Moral imagination is the special gift of the prophet and the artist. The artist listens and looks and sees and hears the pain and suffering of the world, and it is from these experiences that the artist creates new images. Without moral imagination there is no compassion, for it is from the ability to picture the suffering of others, that we develop the skill to imagine other ways of living.  

Solutions to political problems depend on moral imagination. We find these solutions in the process of being and doing, listening and seeing, with deep sensitivity, to the insights of our imagination. But it is not just artists who exercise their imagination in this way: we are called to sensitize our perceptions so that we come to learn where real suffering and injustice lie.” 

 

-Sister Stan Gardening the Soul. Soothing Seasonal Thoughts for Jaded Modern Souls.  The author has an honorary Doctorate of Law from Trinity College, Dublin. She joined  the Irish Sisters of Charity in 1958 and develops programs of social service for people in need.  

*  *  *  *

This wisdom I believe is precisely geared to how to make choices, and how to vote using our moral imagination—not just according to the authority of a political party. It is also how anyone governs, with compassion and respect for the office AND for those you will govern.

 

Notice that the biblical gospel story for today is that of the blind beggar Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-52) who, after he received his sight, did not run off in joy to celebrate like most of the healed do, but stayed to follow Jesus.  

Oddly admirable, no? 

DESIGNER BLOG, Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, 10/19/2024

Now if only we had such a courteous and particular candidate for anything anywhere we’d be Drafty AND Daffy AND Properly Powered.      LOVE!

It's the birthday of the man who designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London, architect Christopher Wren, born in East Knoyle, England (1632). In addition to his accomplishments as an architect, he knew Latin, he could draw, he did work in medicine and mechanics, he was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer, and a philosopher, too.

And he had impeccable manners. He particularly disliked swearing. When he was overseeing the construction of St. Paul's, he issued this official order: "Whereas, among laborers, etc., that ungodly custom of swearing is too frequently heard, to the dishonor of God, and contempt of authority; and to the end, therefore, that such impiety may be utterly banished from these works, intended for the service of God, and the honor of religion. It is ordered, that customary swearing shall be a sufficient crime to dismiss any laborer that comes to the call; and the clerk of the works, upon sufficient proof, shall dismiss them accordingly. And if any master, working by task, shall not, upon admonition, reform this profanation among his apprentices, servants, and laborers, it shall be construed his fault; and he shall be liable to be censured by the commissioners.”

Not so the perfectly designed hot god on a bun. 

 

2024.10.13 MINE! Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post, 10/13/24

Great fear coupled with great longing work together to paralyze the very best in us all, I believe. Are we possessed by our possessions, governed by our privileges, and blinded by partisanship so that we forget the only one thing that will liberate us ALL?  Humility! Meaning: be right-sized! 

“So strong is our desire to  have things our own way, so entrenched is the need to control, so fearful are we of taking risks, that we need daily meditation to learn how to be gentle and sensitive, to wait and be still, to notice things and begin to believe not just that it is safe to trust but that our only hope is to allow Divinity to take control.

Some of us have a blind hardness that quickly surfaces when our patch is threatened. It is the gift of prayer that softens our hardened hearts.”   from Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, Gardening The Soul. 

Mine is ours. I is we. They are us.

2024.10.06 CONNECTEDNESS. Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post

“Everything that is in the heavens, on the earth and under the earth, is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness”  Meister Eckhart, German mystic (1260-1327) 

Everywhere we look we see images of violence, in our homes, on our streets, in our schools, and in our weather!!  We see it in advertising, in films, in the news. We see it in strife within companies, communities, and nations, and between them. We find it expressed physically, sexually, emotionally, and psychologically—and Now in the chaos of OUR WEATHER. It is everywhere and we feel powerless in the face of it.

Let’s just stop it. Let writers and actors and all those who portray violence. Let the media stop presenting stories about it. Let parents and teachers and brothers and sisters, men and women and children STOP. Let the political economic, judicial and religious institutions STOP.

Let us all spend time in silence, stillness, meditation and prayer each day, drawing on the spirit within us to lead us into kindness, openness of heart, goodness, well-being, generosity and good will.

AMEN SO BE IT.