GOD

[stilltrucking]

Too bad you missed Joel when he was posting here. I think you would have liked to jam with him. An excellent poet I think and a Lutheran pastor.

I think about the Christian Martyrs under Rome that died for their faith. So the church was founded and then they could burn their own heretics. I think about Wyclife (spelling?) or Tyndale(spellling?) who was boiled in oil for translating the Bible into English. I guess it is a good thing that people who have stood up for their faith and even to kill to defend it.

I am an old man never married no children and I got no complaints for what I missed in life. I feel sad about it but I figure it just my shitty karma. SooZen says children choose their parents nobody chose me. Probably because I am so sarcastic.

You keep refering to God as he. I reject that that anthromorphic god. Probably why I have never found a wife and children. I am not worthy. You know old people have a tendency to get religious in their final years with death approaching. I would like to maintain some integrity.

I am going with the Faith of A Heretic,




God is life and death to me and everything in between.

And that my young friend is "All I got to say about that"

[Barry]

Fuck, this has become ridiculous, has it not?
sooZen, do you really think I don't love Cecil?
If I didn't love him I wouldn't give a crap what he said or thought.

Truthfully, I'm sorry, Cecil, if my words hurt you, whether it was my intention to do so or not, which it was not. If you were hurt, I'm sorry that happened.
And equally Truthfully, sooZen, I'm sorry if my words about Cecil hurt you, also whether it was my intention to do so or not. If you were hurt, I'm also sorry that happened.

Doreen is right on. Love doesn't mean never having to say you're sorry. Love means wanting to say you're sorry. And having the strength to do it. That strength comes from love.

No matter who we think we are, no matter how enlightened we're thought of as being, ego is still there in us. Myself included. I'm not sorry I have an ego. I am sorry if my ego gets in my way enough to hurt someone.

I'm sorry.
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Peace,
Barry

[stilltrucking]

Joel wrote

Grace, mercy and peace to you from the one who spoke to Abram saying, “Do not be afraid. I am your shield.” Amen.

But, O Lord God, where is that shield when I need it now?
I have cried out to you believing that you are the sole strength of my salvation—
I have cried out to you trusting that you are have always covered my head in the day of battle—
but, O Lord God, where is that strength or that helmet when I need it now?


...Continues on this link.
http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtop ... th+heretic

[stilltrucking]

Nevermind

[sooZen]

No wounds here Barry...

Living into our 6 decade, we have experienced many deaths of loved ones personally and as caretakers, a child born with Downs and leukemia and a whole list of devastating illnesses that follow him. Both Cecil and I have had our own medical issues. So I figure, if it ain't fatal, no problem.

I was raised with humor (by clowns) and humor is how we cope. No conversation or disagreement bears even a microscopic weight or thought. We just move on for this will pass and quickly and not even worth remembering. Heck, my short term memory is about as long as a toothpick anyway.

Some things just cannot be discussed with people and I am still learning that. I try and stay away from discussing differences because I appreciate them in others. Personal beliefs are at the top of the list because then, strong emotions get involved as people are passionate about their beliefs.

Your words did not hurt us a bit Barry. No bandaids were needed, no trips to the emergency room or frantic calls in the night.

And being sorry is a sorry state and I would rather skip that anyway. Enough sorrow in the world already.

[Barry]

Oh, gee...I often say I'm sorry when there's no real hurt I have personally done or meant to do. And it's not a state of sorrow. It's just right action at cusp.
Still, sooZen and Cecil, I'm sorry.

Peace,
Barry

[mtmynd]

Truthfully, I'm sorry, Cecil, if my words hurt you...

No, Barry, your words didn't hurt me. I've been called and accused of much, much worse things than what you said.

Accusatory words arise in defense of our ideas, our beliefs.. our principles... which seem (at the time) to be under attack. It's a common method used by all of us when we feel on the defensive.

However I was disappointed... initially disappointed in you to take the defensive route when I felt there was no need. After deep contemplations I concluded that obviously there was a need and you expressed it and you expressed strongly and clearly. I accept your words as being honestly expressed and so it is me, Cecil, who apologize to you, Barry, for bringing you to the defensive by my words - I'm sorry and meant to bring you no harm for that was and is not my intent when I dialog with you (and others) on this board.

I come away from this realizing the delivery of my thoughts, the use of my words to do so, require refinement if I am to be understood better than I have been. In cyber-space written words are all we have to communicate and if we want to be successful, i.e. understood, it is imperative we practice, practice, practice our delivery to say what we think and what we believe as clearly and honestly as we are able.

I wrote the poem in '05. It was a reminder to myself, the power of words. I feel it's important for all writers.

Careful! They are Words


pick your words
like colors from a pallet

pick your words
like you'd pick a flower

pick your words
like notes for a melody

pick your words
for they have such power

words can hurt
words can hate
words can corrupt
words can devastate

pick your words
with care and gentleness

words can smile
words can love
words can laugh
words can care

pick your words
from the garden of life

pick your words
and see their flex

how many words
make up the world?
how many words
create our life?
how many words
compete for attention?
how many words
have spilled from lips

without caring
without sharing
without daring
without snaring
the beast within..?

take your time
select with grace
the words that make
your thoughts come true

take your time
choose with love
the words that spell
how you want it to be

words in their strength
have caused wars
have caused death
have caused remorse
have caused loss

be careful how you use them
these things are not simply
words
but bullets that can penetrate
the thickest of skin

be careful in handling words
for their potency
can destroy or create
depending how you shoot them
out of the cannon of your mouth...

[Barry]

Not to further belabor this already belabored point, Cecil, but I feel the need to point out to both you and sooZen that I was neither mad nor on the defensive. I was misrepresented as to what I said, and I wished to make clear exactly what was being said and done. While I did say your words were condescending, as to me they seemed to be, perhaps lofty might have been a better term. Also, I feel it important to point out I did not call you arrogant. I said the "knowing" you referred to, in the context you spoke of it, was arrogance. I still stand by this assertion. I certainly accept your apology and am grateful for it. I think clarity is imperative in these matters, however.

Peace,
Barry

[mtmynd]

Not to further belabor this already belabored point...

Unfortunately, Barry, you have belabored this sufficiently enough for me to wish you well in your life. Have a good one. I no longer wish to play your game.

[sooZen]

Looks like Cec is fed up...with this silliness.

And Barry as my wise mother and originally "the bard" would say:

"Me thinks thou dost protest too much..."

[sweetwater]

wonderfully surreal

[Barry]

I don't consider life to be silly, or a game, not even when I falter.

Yeah, sweet, I'm hip.

Peace,
Barry

[sooZen]

Ah, but my friend, Life is a game. Kinda sad that you take it so seriously.

On this we can agree to disagree.

We started out as hunter/gatherers and that is still our game, just bigger pursuits but we are still playing, whether it is mating, or job hunting or you name it.

And being silly and having fun is serious business which I pursue mightily as do most mammalian species.

It's how you play it that counts. Taking Life too seriously is Trouble with a capital "T".

Humor and laughter even in the darkest of hours will shed some light. Sometimes it is hard to laugh at the moment but give it some space... Just the act of smiling counteracts the effects of stress, a fact. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 1&SRETRY=0

So I play the game, and try and play it well. Winning is not the point...it is a matter of living my life to the fullest because none of us are getting out of here alive. Even the wisest among us will die.

[Doreen Peri]

Preachers are why I don't got to church. I don't dig being preached at.

[Barry]

sooZen, I have a great sense of humor, to which anyone who knows me can attest. Perhaps I should use more emoticons. Parts of life are a game, I agree, but in this part, this thread, I was playing no game nor trying to win. I was serious. Nothing wrong with that at all. Some parts of life are serious, too. What I do find a silly game is the twisting of someones words to meet your own purpose, in gamelike fashion. I also find it silly to then make broad mental leaps as regards your judgement of their character, without even knowing them. That's a silly game I choose not to play. I prefer cooperation over competition. This was not a cooperative discussion of differences in thinking or belief. It became competitive innature when one respondent began to make, not statements of personal thought or belief, but lofty pronouncements of Truth. There was no, "That's interesting. This is what I believe..."There was only, "This is Truth." I bristle at such statements. I find in them arrogance. They bring on my caution.
I do not take life "too" seriously, but I do take it seriously. I do not make the leap to your not taking life seriously enough because we appear to disagree on this point. And I do not twist your words to make me appear to be "right" and you "wrong." That particular game of life I want no part of.

Preachers are why I don't got to church. I don't dig being preached at.

Me neither, Doreen. Not by Cecil, sooZen or anyone, no matter "wise" or revered of figures they may be.

Peace,
Barry