dual personalities

Tag: spirituality

September 26, 2013

A musical note

by chuckofish

odetta-3

Today’s musical interlude is from Odetta, the legendary American folk, blues and jazz singer (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008). She influenced many folk singers of the fifties and sixties, including Bob Dylan, who said, “The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store. Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson. … [That album was] just something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record.”

I have always loved this gospel standard and her version is pretty great. Remember Tennessee Ernie Ford? He had a syndicated daytime talk/variety show, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, that I watched sometimes in the summer when I was home and bored. He was called “the Ol’ Pea-Picker” because of his catch-phrase, “Bless your pea-pickin’ heart!” I had forgotten that he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990.

Anyway, isn’t it great that Odetta and TEF sang this duet back in the day and now we can enjoy it like this? Those guys humming in the background are all right too.

2 Comments
September 4, 2013

Everything will be all right

by chuckofish

Pathways-221x300

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

― Søren Kierkegaard

Søren-Kierkegaard-Statue im Garten der Königlichen Bibliothek in Kopenhagen.

Søren-Kierkegaard-Statue im Garten der Königlichen Bibliothek in Kopenhagen.

I have been a big fan of Kierkegaard since I was in college and read:

“I have just now come from a party where I was its life and soul; witticisms streamed from my lips, everyone laughed and admired me, but I went away — yes, the dash should be as long as the radius of the earth’s orbit ——————————— and wanted to shoot myself.”

(Journal, 1836)

His writings about the authentic individual and his criticism of modern Christendom appealed to me.

calvin and hobbess-existentialism-resize

Yes, he was an existentialist and a Christian. I could relate.

“It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what those things are. Human understanding has vulgarly occupied itself with nothing but understanding, but if it would only take the trouble to understand itself at the same time it would simply have to posit the paradox.”

(Journal, 1847)

I think I’ll take a walk now. How about you?

2 Comments
August 7, 2013

The secret to life

by chuckofish

card

Or as Louis L’Amour said,

“The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast,
and you miss all you are traveling for.”

Monument_Valley_2560x1600

Enjoy the little things…

coffeenips

pillows

bluechina

And remember…

You are not too old
and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out
it’s own secret

–Rainer Maria Rilke

Have a nice Wednesday and repeat to yourself: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” (Emerson, of course)

10 Comments
July 31, 2013

No instructions

by chuckofish

This is how I felt yesterday trying to think of something to blog about.

Thomas Eakins' "The Artist's Wife and His Setter"

Thomas Eakins’ “The Artist’s Wife and His Setter”

I tried to get excited about Thomas Eakins, the artist who painted this picture,

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but I couldn’t.

portrait-of-amelia-van-buren

Even the babies in his paintings were thoughtful and looked depressed.

baby

So I will just offer you this thought for the day from Anne Lamott:

“You will go through your life thinking there was a day in second grade that you must have missed, when the grown-ups came in and explained everything important to other kids. They said, ‘Look, you’re human, you’re going to feel isolated and afraid a lot of the time, and have bad self-esteem, and feel uniquely ruined, but here is the magic phrase that will take this feeling away. It will be like a feather that will lift you out of that fear and self-consciousness every single time, all through your life.’ And then they told the children who were there that day the magic phrase that everyone else in the world knows about and uses when feeling blue, which only you don’t know, because you were home sick the day the grown-ups told the children the way the whole world works.

But there was not such a day in school. No one got the instructions. That is the secret of life. Everyone is flailing around, winging it most of the time, trying to find the way out, or through, or up, without a map. This lack of instruction manual is how most people develop compassion, and how they figure out to show up, care, help and serve, as the only way of filling up and being free. Otherwise you grow up to be someone who needs to dominate and shame others so no one will know that you weren’t there the day the instructions were passed out.”

4 Comments
July 12, 2013

T.G.I.F.

by chuckofish

This is my first full 5-day work week since I had a vacation week followed by a short holiday week.

I’m not complaining, but I am ready for the weekend, aren’t you?

I am having a few friends over tonight for “Episcopal Souffle”. One friend is bringing her “Holy Spirit Salad”; another will bring bread and another dessert. Add wine. Voila: dinner! Easy-peasy.

Here is the hymn “Come Labor On” (Ora Labora) at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue which includes an improvisation by Gerre Hancock (1934-2012), Organist & Master of Choirsters at St. Thomas Church, for all you organ fans. Perhaps you could argue that this hymn is more appropriate for Monday, but I think it works for the end of the work week. (Also note that yesterday was the feast day of St. Benedict who drew up the Rule of Life: Ora et Labora.)

4 Comments
July 8, 2013

The harvest is plentiful

by chuckofish

How was your weekend?

Mine was very quiet and I was able to catch up with all the loose ends in my household. Laundry, groceries, dusting, mulch-spreading, etc. I also read in church on Sunday–another good St. Paul finger-shaker: “God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7–16). Good stuff. We also got to sing 2 patriotic hymns:
“America” and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.

The sermon was about the Gospel lesson (Luke 10:1-11, 16–20) and Jesus sending out the disciples in pairs to spread the good news. There were a couple of digs at the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses–of course we would look down on their success! We were encouraged to be friendly etc. Yeah, right.

churchmice

All in all, however, it was a very satisfying service. How often is it even possible for me to say that? So thank you, Lord, from the bottom of my heart.

The boy and his bride came over for dinner. POPS

They took our lawn mower back over to their new house. And some big clippers. Ah, I remember when we use to do that!

I watched Of Gods and Men, an excellent French film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale.

Hommes-dieux-poster

Based on the true story of seven French Trappist monks from the monastery of Tibhirine, Algeria, who were kidnapped in 1996 and found beheaded. The Armed Islamic Group of Algeria claimed full responsibility for the incident. It won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn’t even nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar that year. Amazing.

I also watched The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) with Steve McQueen.

Steve McQueen as a Dartmouth man

Steve McQueen as a Dartmouth man

Not really one of my favorites–it’s overly and self-consciously “stylish”–but it’s always worth a look at Steve in those famous Persol shades.

There are also some fine glimpses into familiar Boston locales, such as

800px-Copp's_Hill_Burying_Ground

Copps Hill Cemetery where Increase and Cotton Mather are buried along with other notable Puritans.

800px-2nd_Harrison_Gray_Otis_House

Thomas Crown lived in the 2nd Harrison Gray Otis House, built by Charles Bulfinch, located at 85 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill. Very nice.*

I seem to remember that my parents got a kick out of all the Boston locales back when they went to see it in 1968–their old stomping grounds.

*(Please note that the 1999 remake with Pierce Brosnan took place in New York City and Crown is no longer a Boston Brahmin and Dartmouth man, but a self-made rich guy. I wonder if this is because movie-makers assume the movie-going public no longer knows/cares what a Boston Brahmin is and what the heck Dartmouth is. Movie goers just wouldn’t “get” it? Phooey.)

3 Comments
June 20, 2013

Where are you now?

by chuckofish

Facebook, as you know, is a veritable font of new-agey platitudes and politically-correct advice. Once in a rare while, however, I find something that a friend has posted that makes me sit up and pay attention.

laotzu

Lao Tzu, or Laozi, is traditionally regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and as the founder of Taoism. I readily admit I know next to nothing about eastern religions. (If you are interested, you can read about it here.)

Whatever. I just think these particular words are eminently true. It is SO important to live in the day.

Here is what Frederick Buechner says about it:

“Much as we wish, not one of us can bring back yesterday or shape tomorrow. Only today is ours, and it will not be ours for long, and once it is gone it will never in all time be ours again. Thou only knowest what it holds in store for us, yet even we know something of what it will hold. The chance to speak the truth, to show mercy, to ease another’s burden. The chance to resist evil, to remember all the good times and good people of our past, to be brave, to be strong, to be glad.”

― Frederick Buechner, The Hungering Dark

So BE in the present. Or at least try hard. Look around you. Pay attention. Listen. Be brave, be strong, be glad.

Praise the Lord.

3 Comments
June 14, 2013

Happy Father’s Day

by chuckofish

ward cleaver

“Then came the reflection, how little at any time could a father do for the wellbeing of his children! The fact of their being children implied their need of an all-powerful father: must there not then be such a father? Therewith the truth dawned upon him, that first of truths, which all his church-going and Bible-reading had hitherto failed to disclose, that, for life to be a good thing and worth living, a man must be the child of a perfect father, and know him. In his terrible perturbation about his children, he lifted up his heart—not to the Governor of the world; not to the God of Abraham or Moses; not in the least to the God of the Kirk; least of all to the God of the Shorter Catechism; but to the faithful creator and Father of David Barclay. The aching soul which none but a perfect father could have created capable of deploring its own fatherly imperfection, cried out to the father of fathers on behalf of his children, and as he cried, a peace came stealing over him such as he had never before felt.”

― George MacDonald, Heather and Snow

Happy Fathers Day to all you good fathers out there and grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

6 Comments
June 12, 2013

Mid-week readjustment

by chuckofish

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.

What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish–His purpose is the process itself.

–Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

*The above illustration is from GodBricks, “Blogging at the intersection between LEGO and religion”.

5 Comments
June 6, 2013

I want to go to there

by chuckofish

Something new has opened in Nashville, Tennessee! A Johnny Cash Museum!

the-johnny-cash-museum

You can read about it here.

Well, until we can get back to Nashville, we’ll just have to listen to Johnny singing. Here’s a little something:

Hear the trumpets hear the pipers.
One hundred million angels singin’.

Testify. Can’t do better than that.

3 Comments