Sunday 9 October 2011

The Key to Everything!

convento de las clarisas, Astudillo

This is going to sound "woo-woo," but what the hell.

I watch the news, and most of it is bad. Soon our money will be worthless, the plans we made to keep us in comfort for the next few years are not so stable and sensible after all. What can I do? How can I get ready? How can I change a system so evil and so entrenched?

I felt scared for a little while. I looked at the wall of negativity on the Web, and I sat down with it to think. I decided to look round the other side of it, at what else could happen. I looked for a glimmer of light.

On the other side of this mess is something simple and beautiful.
 
I pray for it. I think so much of the answer to the fear and suffering around us, the suffering that is and may be to come, is for everyone to calm down, shut up, and do something Good.

Doing Good doesn´t have to cost anything. It is therapeutic, calming and cleansing. It has tons of historic precedent. You don´t need lessons or workshops or seminars to learn to do it. You don´t even need to believe in anything or anybody. It is as natural as breathing. It is something humans just do, whether or not they call it "prayer" or "works of mercy" or "charity work" or "volunteering" or "standing up for what´s right." 

My friend Claire made me think a couple of days ago, when she quoted author Brian Taylor, an Episcopalian Rector:
"Do you feel God most directly when you sing the blues? Then sing the blues and call it prayer. Do you blurt out things that everyone seems to be thinking but no one is saying? Blurt one, and call it the prompting of the Spirit. Do you love to cook and eat? Hold parties and consider it Holy Communion."
So he expanded on the "prayer" thing a bit. My point is, many of the things we do naturally are, with a simple re-phrase, doing Right. Doing Good. People have stuck labels on all these things and assigned them to lists and Virtues and Gifts of the Spirit, Sacraments, etc. etc., as if they were church property.
Nope. If God is as big as the church people say (s)he is, no one can co-opt goodness. It is from God. It is natural and human and therapeutic. It is not Democrat or Republican, Labour or Tory, liberal or conservative. You know what it is, because you are good. 
Unless you are a sociopath, you know what is right, and you know what needs to be achieved in your house or yard or street or neighborhood. Shut off the goddam TV and/or computer and go do it. 

For all our sakes. For God´s sake. 
It will put your mind at ease. It will correct wrong, clean up the mess, solve a few problems. Just imagine if everybody stopped snarling, snarking, fighting, and worrying, and just did something good. Every day. Not waiting for the government to do something, not worrying about someone else taking advantage. Just doing it because it needs to be done, and our hands are free, and the needs are clear.     

Even if the über-rich win and we all must live under a bridge, if we all are in the habit of doing Good we will make the bridge into a community, where good people do good for one another, without having to make a buck out of it, without having to score points at someone else´s expense. Maybe when we are all collectively screwed out of all our "belongings" we can dump our over-hyped, alienating "Individualism" and learn to take care of each another.

Jesus talked about that. Jesus the homeless brown-skinned revolutionary, the woo-woo Jew. (If I am just a silly dreamer, I am in very good company.) 
We cannot stop a financial armageddon. But we can stop being afraid, and go out and be kind to our neighbors. This is the only answer I can find.   




9 comments:

Gerry Snape said...

Rebekah...amen, amen and once again amen!! thankyou so much for putting up this great post. I'm with you all the way. so I pray that God will bless you each day as you do something good. I have the same kind of thinking that if I can do anything to make the environment and the community that I've been put in any more pleasant...then that at least I can try to do!
the verification has in the word the two letters that mean God....crah...el! love it.

Debora said...

I've been lurking about your blog for awhile, I think now's a good time to comment...3 cheers for this simple idea! Maybe if folks turn of the tv and turn their thoughts toward doing something good, the healing will begin. It starts with us. And I so like your quote from Brian Taylor...I'm gonna have to look for his book(s). Blessings,
Debora

claire bangasser said...

What a great post, Rebekah. It gives me goose pimples... The perfect post for a rainy Monday morning :-)

ksam said...

Well said! You said something similar not that long ago ... I believe on the Camino Forum...when some of us were bemoaning Pilgrim blues...and you reminded those on the thread....to simply reach out and do something for someone else...a simple reminder to perhaps bloom where ever it is we are planted. We may not all be along the Camino but there are those around us we can help. Simple as that.. Thanks for just that reminder again. And thanks for the reminder that truthfully, my most joyful days ... I had nary a nickel to rub together...Poor as a church mouse...or poorer...happy as a clam! So now...off to do the thing I swore I'd never be...but it's where I'm planted for now...a grandmom babysitter!! :-) God has a wicked sense of humor!

Scaughdt said...

Wonder-full post, Rebekah ... simply Wonder-full!!!

More & more of us are waking up to this simple Truth ... It bodes very well for Humanity indeed (in-deed).

FrereRabit said...

Powerful stuff!

I agree totally. After a lifetime of trying to do what is best, I find myself approaching old age (sixty next month) and still wondering if I will end up living under that bridge you talk about, in poverty. I have a job, but I could be unemployed any time.

My lovely donkeys depend on me and they are my family now. They do not know what worries I have. They just stand in the sun and eat what I place before them. I would rather be one of them than have the worry of being me.

So many people seem to share these unsettling thoughts these days. What have the high-flying whizz kids in the banking world done to our whole way of life? And they still get their bonuses...

Maryla said...

I can't agree more, there are so many good things we can do, let's do it. Rebekah, you are a great inspiration.
Thank you

Rebrites@yahoo.com said...

Friends I moved this post from another forum. Al cannot post here for tech reasons, but he said I could share this here. Because it makes me feel so nice! -- Reb

I have been feeling very sorry for myself after being diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia some months ago...it took a looong time before finally finding a [very high!] level of medication that would control the pain...last Tuesday I had to visit a specialist in Sydney, which is 4 hours drive away and a place where I would get lost in an instant....in Cowra there is a community transport group that provides for people like me...I was driven to Sydney and back for a very reasonable fee...we live in a town where we are 100 km from a major regional health centre...there is a constant need for drivers to take people there for consultations, MRI's, dialysis etc etc....the specialist has given me the okay to start driving again, and tomorrow, with your blog as a prompt, I will go to the community transport office and volunteer to be a driver.

I had big plans for doing the camino from Arles next year but find my recent troubles have caused me to re-examine my goals in life,,,I may still do a camino but a shorter one...I have not done the Frances so maybe starting in Oloron Ste Marie and walking from there to St Jean...that would mean I could call in and thank you in person...I have previosly had no interest in being a hospitalero but now find myself drawn that way if I can find some training at an appropriate time.

Once again, thank you

Al

Anonymous said...

Hi Rebekah...I don't know if you remember me, but I am the women from New York...the tall skinny brown lady...You and your husband welcomed me into your home to have a tea and a nice chat. You sent me off on my way to Sahagun with a delicious tortilla espanola with ham. I was so grateful to have met you and your husband! I just read your post and am relating to what you wrote. I remember we discussed this subject when I met you. In my heart, I really believe that you two will be blessed with financial freedom. I'm going to send my email to your account shortly. When I'm praying for blessings for my family and friends, you and your husband will be included. Sending so much love and a reassuring hug. Jamie