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.  

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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. 

  

 

2024.09.29 FOUNDATIONS, Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post

“Foundations” refers to many things, one of which is a woman’s undergarments. Below is how I see the “foundations” of this United States of America—with a place for ALL of us AND those who desire to join us legally, respectfully, and with pride.  My piece below was recently  published in online journal, Persimmon Tree. It publishes works of women OVER 60 only.     Love that foundational requirement!   

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This is the first United States presidential election in which I, a Democrat, will be voting intentionally against the Republican candidate!  I will also be voting for Kamala Harris, not simply because I’m a Democrat, but because I think her plans are closer to my values about socio-economic justice for all people, and especially for the reproductive rights of women, including, and specifically, making decisions about their own bodies.

 

States are biased by the politics of their geography. Some decisions require broader consideration. We need federal legislation to ensure women’s legal rights, specifically a woman’s right to choose abortion with medical assistance as appropriate for her health and her circumstances.  I appreciate Kamala Harris’s openness and honesty about her views—not simply because she is a woman herself, but because she respects and honors the pain of exclusion any human being of any gender, political party, geography, religion, race or ethnicity feels when robbed of personal freedom for any reason. Any reason.

 

I know all the pain of such decisions. I once sat with a young woman who took seriously her own right to life and freedom. We wept together, because this is a matter of personal wellbeing of mind, body, and soul. Either way one decides there is profound grief, and need for kind and compassionate guidance from an unbiased guide.

 

It is neither sin nor crime to choose one’s own good—as an individual or as a nation. 

NEITHER WAR NOR VIOLENCE solveS or resolveS OR evolveS   ANYTHING OR ANYONE.  

2024.09.22 ADVICE FROM A HONEY BEE, Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post

 

CREATE A BUZZ

SIP LIFE’S MOMENTS

MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX

WOTK TOGETHER

ALWAYS FIND YOUR WAY HOME

STICK CLOSE TO YOUR HONEY

BEE YOURSELF

 

These are the things children or teens do best. Can we do these things as we age?

I bet I can create a buzz. It might shock innocent souls but hey! 

Ain’t that the point, honey? 

                Courtesy of Mercy Associates, Mercy Day, 2024

2015.09.15 FOLLOW? Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post

I love traveling along with Jesus in Mark’s gospel, the first one written. Mark gets excited easily as he sees and hears and learns new things. He moves along fast, hopping from place to place. His astonishment is catching. Jesus is going where? Saying what? OMG!  Why does Jesus tell them not to tell?  It’s almost as if Jesus himself hardly knows what he’s doing or exactly why? Some leaders love crowds. Not this one! He’s a follower himself. 

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Notice the comeuppance the Syrophoenician woman received when she begged him for healing. He has neither time nor inclination NOR divine commission to do this.Why? Because this woman is NOT one of his people, those with whom he is affiliated, those to whom he has been sent.  

He sends her away, saying, “Let the children of the household satisfy themselves at table first. It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 

She counters: “Yes, Rabbi, but even the the dogs under the table eat the family’s scraps.” 

Jesus replies: "For saying this, you may go home happy; the demon has left your daughter.” When she got home, she found the daughter in bed and the demon gone.” 

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Jesus moves along and is hard to follow. But you’re a reporter! He’s news! BUT there’s no travel plan, no AAA. Why here? Why now? Does he know what he’s doing?  It’s impossible NOT to follow and just as impossible to follow. What do you do?  I’d follow.

    Pretty soon some others brought a man deaf and with speech impediments to him for healing if possible. This time Jesus did much more than place his hands on the deaf man, though first he took the man aside and away from the crowd, placed his fingers into the deaf ears, spat and then touched the mute’s tongue with his saliva.  Then Jesus looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh, said Ephphatha!—that is, “Be opened.”  At once the deaf ears were opened and the impediment cured; the one who had been healed began to speak plainly. 

   

Why did Jesus move away from the crowds?  Did he know what he was doing? What if it didn’t work? His healing gesture was so radical, so intimate, even dangerous. He looks to heaven and “sighs” deeply. Is he looking to his Abba for an assist? Assurance? Help? Ephphatha!  Jesus “ordered” them to tell no one. They raced home to tell. Wouldn’t you?