Blog 129 – 10.1.15

I have previously mentioned a song by The Indigo Girls that helped me much to deal with the death of my daughter. I quote the opening lines for you:

“Dust in our eyes out own boots kicked up
Heart sick we nurse along the way we picked up
You may not see it when it’s sticking to your skin
But we’re better off for all that we let it.

I know that each of us has different tastes and from time to time battle different phobias. But I am here to tell you that there is a Oneless big enough to include all our tastes and a Love big and bright enough to shine away all our fears. Fears are illusions and that is why perfect love casts out all fear. A beloved Bible verse says, “God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and love, and a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1.7

You might say, Dave, for a guy who says he is not a Christian and one who no longer believes that the Bible is the inerrant (without error) word of God, you sure quote the Bible a lot. I find what I believe to be truth everywhere even in the Bible, and other so called Sacred writings. All writings are sacred to me even if I disagree with them or they are not according to my taste. I quoted a Huey Lewis and the News song, Power of Love, recently and the words are just as true to me as the above quote. I once said, the truth is written in every leaf, every blade of grass or was that Walt Whitman or some other really smart person? Many have said and written as much in many different ways.

We are I think better off for all that we let in. Why don’t we take in more? In a word, fear. Franklin D. Roosevelt said at a very fearful time in this country, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” When I was a boy I was bitten by a dog and the experience caused me to be afraid of dogs for most of my life. For a long time I knew it was a silly fear but I persisted thinking that dogs were out to get me till I tried to think like a dog and realized that dogs were more afraid of me than I was of them. Fact is most dogs unless they have been trained to mistrust all strangers or mistreated to the point they feel threatened by strangers are seeking your approval and will happily roll over and present their bellies (a sign of submission and trust) for you to pet. Dogs naturally love to be petted as do all of us unless training or mistreatment causes us to fear.

Everyone you have let into your life has taught you something, given you a gift, made you a bigger better person. Think about it. Even the most unkind person you ever encountered showed you a side of yourself you otherwise might never have seen. We are mirrors to our brothers and sisters. We project on to others that we are unwilling to see in our own selves. We are the harshest critics of ourselves. Louise Hays, famous self help author, goes so far as to write that all our sicknesses and diseases stem from not loving ourselves as we ought. Even the words we most often use to describe these sorts of problems – illness and disease in slightly different forms give away their true root cause in our being unloving with ourself. For illness substitute ill-tempered and for disease substitute unease with yourself and the situation.

I believe that everyone and everything we allow into our lives makes us realize more and more that we are not just s small part of a big whole but rather that within us lies a heaven vast and that we are big enough to take it all in. A phrase from the First Intention for a Better World comes to my mind often, “I see life in all things and honor it as if it were my own.” And with that a Bible verse, “All things are yours to enjoy.” We are indeed better off for all that we let in.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White