Life and its understandings are founded on the concerns in this table and the basic spirits by which we address them. The depicted array grew out of a startling experience All at Once the Web and the publication of the courtship letters of my parents. The array is brought to life an operatic-like finale, Joy in This Life and the Life Hereafter, that contrasts the desires and spirits of our egoistic, altruistic, and holistic self-orientations. Its nature, development, and implications amply serves as a basis for soul-searching discussions. Suggestions and supporting material will be presented below on a weekly basis and announced on my Facebook page. Send a note to mark@ourtruthgalaxies.com should you rather be notified by email.
The next stop on the tour is a personal take on staying fit physically and spiritually.
Should you be looking for something worth discussing.
The preface to Abiding in God was added at the suggestion of a Kirkus collaborative editor. It raises the issue of the songs we sing in our understandings and actions. It opens with our need to "start singing a new song if humanity is to survive on earth." What songs do you want the leaders you support to start singing. What songs do you like to sing and to hear others sing? What songs might you start singing to make our Earth a better place of live. What songs do you feel better off not singing?
The download describes a revelatory moment in which my competitive big-self orientation was subordinated to an inclusive little-self orientation. The experience raised many questions. As noted on page four, in one sense nothing changed and in another sense everything changed. A discussion of our self-orientations—and the means by which they change and why—is always enlightening.
The fiancé isn’t in the photo, but bits of his expressed spirit are. They reside in the mind of the woman to whom he gave the ring signifying his commitment and joy. She is telling her friends something of the nature of her new soulmate. The download “Watching the Embodied and Expressed Spirits at Play in These letters”illustrates the reality, complexity and influence of the spiritual seeds our attitudes unconsciously sow in others. How do you see the importance of these attitudes that we convey in our interactions and discussions?
The cremated remains of what had represented the embodied spirits of my parents didn’t elicit much comment at either of their funerals. Neither did their material achievements or their family photos. Yet their presence enlivened the program and the conversations that continued long after the service had ended. The
download “Celebrating the Birth of an Expressed Spirit” raises the question of nature of that presence. Its discussion can lead to a freeing and encouraging peace in life.
Unless recorded, our voices die out quicker than echoes, our actions even faster unless filmed. Yet we remember those who touch our lives. We can’t retain the endless details of their expressions. We can share aspects of their spirit that we’ve experienced. This is being done in the publication of the courtship letters of my parents, one being the little girl in the photo. Discussing the download “What Lives On” will bring out the reality of our expressed spirits and the nature of the “much” in the preceding image.
Our self-orientations govern the choices we make when addressing our personal concerns. The specifics reflect the circumstances of our lives. The temperaments surrounding our choices arise out of long standing and broad-based concerns and desires that are independent of culture, time, and locality.
A Look Into Our Guiding Spirits will open a revealing door into the origins of these temperaments and the significance of the basic concerns and desires in which they are sourced.
This image depicts the relative prevalence of the most basic concerns conveyed in the courtship letters of my parents. Worthiness (W) and death (Dth) were not frequent issues at this stage of life. Neither was brokenness (B)—except when questioning their marital commitment. Although joy and involvement in life (L) and relationships (R) were often on their minds, what they chose to disclose (D) most concerned them, especially in the questioning and planning phases of their courtship. The download documents and discusses the diverse ways these six basic concerns were expressed in this short but critical phase of their lives.
This painting by my thirteen year old son captures the radiating power of the cross that Paul proclaimed in I Corinthians 1:23. The verses convey aspects of the expressed spirit of Jesus. Counterclockwise from the top left there is the transformative awareness of God, the encompassing spirit of worthiness, the unifying desire for oneness, the healing spirit of service, the reality of our embodied and expressed spirits, and the birthing of what lives on. The download presents and discusses Gospel passages where Jesus contrasts our guiding spirits organized by the basic concerns that give rise to them.
The distinction in our egoistic, altruistic, and holistic self-orientations when addressing our concern for life is apparent in this photo. The importance of the self-aggrandizing spirit in a newborn is seen in its calling attention to its own concern and its lack of concern for even its mother. The promoting spirit of the altruistic self-orientation is seen in the mother’s helping someone other than herself. The mindful spirit of the holistic self-orientation is seen in the oneness being expressed by the mother toward someone other than herself. The
download will help in discussing the pros and cons of heeding our guiding spirits arising in our basic concern for life.
The woman looking past the others is wondering how she can refrain from disclosing anything that counters her interests. The man looking at what is going on is questioning how well justice will be served in her pledging to tell the truth. The lady looking into her eyes while holding the Bible and pointing upward to its source is conveying the importance of the truthful spirit in our understanding of affairs. The download will help in discussing the pros and cons of heeding our manipulating, consenting, and truthful guiding spirits arising when it comes to disclosure.
The positive expressions of the three spirits of worthiness are present this photo. The boy’s ranking spirit of worthiness is reflected in his respectful listening to the adult. The uniform and badges convey the worthiness we associate with participating in an appreciated group. The encompassing spirit comes through in the inherent worthiness they see in each other. In his Brief History of Humankind, Harari feels that “Sapiens rule the world” because they can “cooperate in extremely flexible ways.” There is downside when the rich rob the poor, the advantaged suppress the disadvantaged, and the powerful dominate the weak. The download will help in discussing the pros and cons of heeding our ranking, grouping, and encompassing spirits of worthiness.
The dominating, role-playing, and serving spirits by which we address our relational concerns are variously represented in this image. The pervading poverty conveys the lasting consequences of the egoistic dominating spirit that has governed too much of our political life. The altruistic role-playing spirit is seen in the natural relationships between the teacher and the children. This altruistic spirit of spectators so prevalent in competitive sports can quickly morph into a dominating spirit should a fight break out on the playing field. There is no competition here. Instead, the children are enthralled by an adult satisfying their need for entertainment. He enjoys their curiosities, his art, and his holistic serving spirit. A number of faces, contexts, and consequences of these three spirits are presented in the download.
Brokenness is an all too common fact of life. It can come in the tools we use, the places we live, and the climates we inhabit. Our bodies can hurt, those with whom we live and work can worry us, our leaders and institutions can let us down, even the world can go awry. Most brokenness, whether it be physical, mental, or relational, comes and goes but it can be experienced so deeply that we lose our joy in life. Regardless of its nature, there are basically three general attitudes by which we view the issue and that govern where we seek its resolution: faultfinding, help-seeking, and self-searching. The young man may be blaming others for his brokenness, contemplating to whom he might turn for help, or ascertaining his responsibility in the problem. Each of these attitudes is discussed and illustrated in the download.
Our embodied spirits come alive at birth and cease at death. While we live, their spirits radiate out into the world. Our expressed spirits are those aspects of our expressions that variously reside in the minds of others. A dated gravestone marks the moment that death finally cuts the umbilical cord by which our embodied spirits sow the seeds that sprout and give life to our expressed spirits. The questioned spirits we are likely to encounter when contemplating our death reflects the relative prevalence in our hearts of our egoistic desires for personal superiority, altruistic desires for social influence, and holistic desires for oneness with life. Reasons death is a depressing end for some and a joy in the future for others are developed in the download.
Although life on our Blue Planet is but a moment in the eternities of astrophysics, that moment encompasses our interest in life in the hereafter. We, as Homo sapiens, having been on earth for only two hundred thousand years or so, are newcomers to the plant and animal kingdoms on which our hereafter depends. We, as embodied spirits, which live only a few decades, have little interest in the hereafter. As expressed spirits, we live on in others and are inherently interested in the hereafter. The nature of that interest depends on the three governing desires that determine the guiding spirits by which we address our six general concerns: life, disclosure, worthiness, relationships, brokenness, and death. Some of the political and spiritual issues at play are developed in the download.
Throughout the ages we have tried to comprehend ourselves and the universe. The greater becomes our awareness of what we know, the greater grows our awareness of what lies beyond our grasp. All is coordinated from the many nuclear particles that make up our atoms—invisible because they are so small—to the galaxies in the heavens—invisible because they are so far. Somehow within this coordination we must live our lives. Some will see purpose or accident, free will or fate, and good luck or bad luck at work in their lives. When mindfully seeking oneness with life, we can expect to find ourselves in a creative and fortuitous coordination that can be difficult to explain. Here is one associated the publication of the courtship letters of my parents.
