tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post7824351560208891260..comments2023-08-23T08:27:08.039-04:00Comments on UU A Way Of Life: Learning what love isDavid G. Markhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08336565533124142690noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-70349362894313139712014-06-24T18:46:00.925-04:002014-06-24T18:46:00.925-04:00It is written in A Course In Miracles:
“Tolerance...It is written in A Course In Miracles:<br /><br />“Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit. Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however, dimly, that there must be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a turning point.” ACIM, T-2.III.3.:5-7<br /><br />The ego's tolerance for pain can be exceedingly high, but as they say in the substance abuse field sooner or later the addict will hit bottom and then the motivation for change will be life changing. It can be a divorce, fired from one's job, a DWI or other legal trouble, a health crisis, kids taken away, any number of things.<br /><br />Denial is not unique to substance abusers, we all practice it at some time for some period of time until we've had enough and finally as Helen Schucman, the author of the Course, said to Bill Thetford, the scribe, "There's got to be a better way." At this point, one may have an awakening. Or one can kill oneself. Depends on a lot of things, I suppose, which way it goes, <br /><br /> Linda Moore wrote in one of her short stories, The Next Life, "Despair is arrogant and pompous and God might well think it's rude." The Universe hits us long side the head with a 2 x 4 some times to get our attention not to kill us. Despair is the atomic bomb of wake-up calls indicating that our old way of life is dying, but like a Phoenix, life will raise us up again if are humble enough to wait for the resurrection of the spirit to be incarnated into something new.Susan Schmidtnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-19364640510245377922014-06-24T08:18:07.916-04:002014-06-24T08:18:07.916-04:00Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary pro...Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem and can be an act of aggression as in "you'll be sorry when I 'm gone", or despair as in "nobody loves me" or one of ultimate control as in "if I can't have life the way I want it, I don't want it at all." The awareness of inherent worth and dignity is absent as ego concerns have pre-occupied the mind and the temptations of evil overwhelm bringing a person to the point of extinction.<br /><br />Suicide has been condemned by most cultures as a loss of faith and the covenantal reciprocity with ones brothers and sisters has been broken by violence. The extinguishment of the imminent connection with the divine is impossible, and yet the throwing in of the towel, the final self destroying leap over the edge is an act that, if nothing else, should help us look at religion more seriously and ask with an attitude of reverence "what is life for?"Kevin Andersonnoreply@blogger.com