Thoreau: Superficial Life

Thoreau: Superficial Life

“When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip. Sometimes, we meet a man who can only tell us the news he has read in a newspaper or been told by his neighbor. As our inward life fails, we may constantly and desperately go to the post office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters proud of his extensive correspondence has not heard from himself this long while.”—Henry David Thoreau.

with Bridget celebrating MLK Day at St. Mark Baptist Church

My spiritual friend, Bridget, sent this to me. Most of us do not go to the post office, and letter writing is becoming a lost art. But we are now judged by how many Facebook friends we have! I have a Facebook page to keep informed about family and friends, and one as an author. However, a Facebook message differs from a phone call, visit, or conversation over a meal. When we are face to face, we can share what is truly going on with us. Then, we may bare our souls and look for the Christ in our friend, hoping that the Christ within us will guide us. Meeting with spiritual friends is not optional for the inner life, the life of the soul. It is mandatory.

Even better is meeting over a meal. Replenishing our bodies mysteriously opens up our minds to nourish the soul. Here is where we see Christ in each other and maybe even get a brief glimpse of the Christ in ourselves. 

I have previously written about a pediatric radiology medical group I was a part of for over thirty years. We each had our own agenda and areas of expertise. We were having difficulty making decisions and seeing the importance of each other’s plans. We decided to meet for lunch once a week and simply talk about what was going on in our lives. It took a while, but miracles happened. We began to look at each other’s ideas in a better light. The mysterious result of meeting and talking together, and having a regularly shared meal was that the food and conversation nourished us into forming a genuine community.

Being unable to meet with friends, especially over a meal, during this pandemic took its toll on our spiritual life as we knew it in community. Zoom meetings, Facetime, Google Meet, Live streaming, and many other ways to see and talk minimally helped. We learned and accepted new technology. We also learned to stay connected more closely to a small core of people for strength and support.

People are also connecting more to nature, walking, gardening, and spending more time outside. I connect daily to the downy and red-bellied woodpeckers who come to the feeder near my window. I watch them feed each other while the trees outside, where they vertically climb and rapidly peck, remain steady as their green leaves daily photosynthesize my soul.

Downy Woodpeckers outside my window feeding each other

Joanna   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Winning and Losing

Winning and losing

“We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.”—TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS.

Mac Goal

My grandchildren have reintroduced us to the world of sports. Sporting events were the social life in the small town where I grew up, where everyone came out to support our high school of approximately 200 students. Now, we are glued to the television for their high school and college games, hoping to find children and grandchildren playing or in the crowd. Of course, there has been no escaping Razorback football as well. Otherwise, we would not know about the games to understand or share in conversations with many friends.

Mac kicking

We cannot escape it. Our schooling, sports events, and professional work are all about winning and losing. I root for all the schools where our grandchildren now reside: Arkansas, Georgia, Tulane, and now Kentucky. Sometimes, it is so intense that my husband and I must change to another channel and look for the replays.

When we win, we are excited, even if we miss it in person. But watching in person shows us something we may miss when we are not there in real-time. We see the agony of defeat. The next day, I think about kickers who missed that winning field goal or receivers who missed that last football thrown into their hands over the goal line.

Richard Rohr has pointed out another way of life, which he calls the prophetic path. We take two steps forward and one step back. In the suffering of our step back, we gain the wisdom and energy to go on to the next steps forward. The whole process continues, forward and back. 12-step literature might call it “a moment of clarity.” For Christians, the wisdom gained to go forward again after suffering the step backward might be called resurrection. Resurrection is a continuous cycle in our lives every day if we choose to accept it.

Gray the Kicker

Joanna    https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Gratitude

 Gratitude

“Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself.”—Ascribed to Chief Tecumseh.

gratitude

Gratitude is one of the secrets to a Spirit-filled life. Those in 12-step recovery groups believe we are less likely to return to our old addiction—what they call “a slip”—if we continue to be grateful each day. Therefore, whenever someone in recovery is not doing well, the most suggested remedy is to make a gratitude list to refer to daily, especially at night.

The insight from Trees for Life founder Balbir Mathur is that he “travels in a boat called Surrender. His two oars are Forgiveness and Gratitude,” which also serve as a guide for our life. We live a life of peace as long as we can surrender to a power greater than ourselves, and are willing to forgive and remain grateful for what we have. As a result, our blood pressure stays closer to normal.

We are less likely to become irritated at all of life’s hiccups: our computer is not responding, our phone is dying, but the Apple store is closed, someone has said something unkind, we have expectations of ourselves and others that are not being met, our body is not working the way it should, we are not getting our way or achieving our plan for the day, we miss our family and friends, we are losing our job, we are afraid of this virus.

Sonja Lyubormirisky, in her book The How of Happiness, writes, “No matter where you are, or who you are, or what faith you have, or your circumstances .... the number one indicator of happiness in your life is very closely tied to your level of gratitude!”1

Guided by forgiveness and gratitude, we can live assured that there is a grand plan beyond our own. Our job is to be grateful for this one more day to make a difference and to offer love to the lives around us.

My husband and I once made fun of an older man, a friend of his father’s, who often said, “You must have an attitude of gratitude.” We both know now that there is no greater wisdom for living than this simple formula.

1 Thank you, Don Follis, for sending this quote to me.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/