New Discussion Carnival: How Do We Care?

It's a new month, so time for a new "Discussion Carnival."  Last week, Eileen Flanagan asked the QuakerQuaker Forum, What does "under the care of the meeting" mean to you? It's a good question. I…

The names we give things – particularly living things – are too short to say what needs to be said.

In Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea, wizards are able to work magic if they know the true name of the thing they wish to enchant.  Everything has a name in the language of the Making as well as its common name.  The word for stone – “tolk” – is part of the name of every stone, but every stone – and every drop of water in the sea – has its own name…

I have learned to pay attention when multiple spiritual nudges arrive in short order.

The first concerned a patient at my clinic. Long before any of us ever met him, for reasons unknown, this man decided that he was an invalid. He pretty much refused to get out of bed. He became morbidly obese. Then came diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure and kidney failure.

Any suggestion that there might be a psychological issue was rejected. Referrals to counselors were…

A ruthless dictator is killed along with his son and grandchildren and the first thing I think of is the sadness of the loss of young lives, then I realize how many other young lives were snuffed out by the violence of this dictator and others like him and Jesus' words come to mind: They that live by the sword, shall die by the sword.  But I feel no sense of satisfaction or justice served, just sadness at the way of the world.

An infamous terrorist leader is killed along with…

http://kens-hot-dogs.blogspot.com



I have been recently reading or reading about the Christian spiritual masters from Cassian onwards and most seemed to be unattached (living in or moving between religious communities), or let those attachments go, e.g. Augustine. Similar comments apply to the Buddha (walked out on family) of the Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi.

Is there a lesson here, that spiritual enlightenment is not pursued 'en familie'?

In friendship

 Rupert