Blog 2310 – 02.19.2022
The Devil In The Details
I do not believe as many still do that the devil is a diabolical super power only slightly weaker than God who fights God for our eternal souls. Rather I believe that the only enemy of our souls is a small and puny creature of our own design that we fabricated out of our own imagination to have a plausible alternative to following the dictates of our higher best self. Satan whom I call ego like any good con man begins his spill by isolating us or at least trying to from all help or counsel. The Greek word translated Satan in the New Testament literally means, “Accuser of the brethren.” If ego cannot get you to reject your higher power out right he will try his best to get you to distrust your brothers.
Ladies, I apologize for the sexist male only terms. I do not believe he or his is exclusive or correct in our consideration of God or the devil. I heard a lady preacher once say, “In the beginning God made man and then said ‘I can do better than that’ and then made woman.” I whole-heartedly agree with that. Silly men have for millennia interpreted the Genesis creation story to say that woman caused man to fall and lose his relationship to God and his place in the garden of Eden. The failure was man’s for listening to his ego, that snake in the grass. Where did that snake come from? No perfect parent would ever put a snake (or serpent for you literal folks) in his baby’s crib. Mankind, men and women, are created beings with the power not just to create with our bodies, but also with our minds.
What we think is true for us no matter what anyone else says. We are always just a slight push away from insanity. My beloved “better half” experienced such a push barely a week ago and is currently in a behavioral care facility where I and her other family and friends are hoping the doctors, therapists, and nurses there will help her find he way back to her baseline behavior soon.
Our grown son and I were sharing on the phone last night. He is a very intelligent young man. He inherited more of than from his mom than me, but I am at least intelligent enough and sane enough to realize that. One thing he said was that there is personal shame with mental illness much more than physical illness. I had just told him that a therapist at my wife’s new hospital had called and that one of the questions that she had asked me was would my wife be coming home to me after they got her back to her baseline (I replied absolutely). She went on to ask if would I be able to make sure that she stayed on her meds. Even at her best my Linda, like most of us, is quite willful so I said I would do my very best. My son astutely said it is because mental illness is viewed as a personal failure with shame, unlike physical illness, that people do not want to take their meds.
A little over three years ago I still bragged that I took no daily prescriptions, but after several visits to an emergency room In Bemidji, Minnesota to be catheterized so I could empty my bladder, I eagerly consented to take two pills daily to keep me flowing freely despite an enlarged prostate. Since then, I have even agreed to an annually physical by a medical professional, mainly so I can get those scripts renewed for another year, but hey I am a believer that medicine can help us.
I hope the doctors find the right meds to help my Baby and that she agrees to take them and is back to her wonderful self soon. If they can convince her to take her meds and get better, I can convince her to keep taking them to stay well, even a sometimes silly and insane acting weaker sex person like me.
We all are as he (Jesus) was in this world, both divine and human, holy and whole, broken and flawed. But, if we take the medicine life provides we can not only continue to function, but even have a little fun at it. Refusing to is neither smart, nor sane.
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White
I Believe In You
theencouragingword 