  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Sophurky  
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Hi, I'm Sophurky ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. In honor of Daylight Savings Time starting in the US this past Sunday (and losing an hour that we won't get back until fall), this week the topic will be about how precious time is.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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The Passing of Time
Time is relative, and how we relate to time changes as we go through our lives, dependent upon our circumstances.
For the young, time either goes by too slowly or too quickly in relation to what's going on in their lives. Time literally seems to drag if one is waiting for the bell to ring on the last day of school for the summer break. And it flies by in an instant if one is finally spending a long-awaited day at Disneyland (for which the waiting FOR seemed incalculable before it arrived).
As we get older, time tends to spend itself too quickly most of the time. But as with the young, the speed by which our time seems to advance is also affected by circumstance. For instance, I can remember putting numbers on our calendar in February of 2006, counting the days until we would go to Maui for a long-saved-for twenty year anniversary trip. I began the numbering 323 days out, and it seemed as if the very act of writing those numbers on the calendar made time stand still, if not stop completely. But once we arrived in Maui, our time there went by in the blink of an eye.
Having said all of that, the reality of time is that it DOES pass, and whether or not it seems to be ticking by slowly or at the speed of light ~ the moment a second passes it's gone forever and cannot be returned to us which makes it a precious commodity. We measure our lives by time, by how many years have passed since this happened, and how many days are left until that happens. And many of us waste that time on regrets about the past and worries about the future, myself included, even though it's obviously foolish to be so consumed with either the past or that future that we miss out entirely on the present. If we waste precious time regretting past events or situations, in particular ones we cannot go back and change or make amends for, or if we spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about things in the future that may not even happen ~ then we miss out on a lot of living.
Having said that, it's equally foolish to pay no attention to lessons from the past, or be attentive to the requirements and realities of the future. If we don't learn from history, we are told that we are doomed to repeat it, as seems to be played out regularly in world events. And it's silly not to pay attention to or have some practical foresight about our future. We get vaccinations against the possibility of contracting a disease, and if we are able, we start retirement plans to help us be financially viable after we stop working ~ both help us anticipate the reality of future scenarios.
Speaking from my own experience, it seems to me that we can get so caught up in the regrets, guilt and missed opportunities of our past, and/or in the hopes, needs and fears of our future, we miss the wealth of our present. Thus we need to make a decision about our attitude regarding what time owes us or what we owe time, about how time enslaves us or how we can be free of time. Because ultimately, we have the choice between either making time our ally or our enemy, of whether or not to benefit from lessons learned, or to allow ourselves to be bound to mistakes that need no longer define us. In that place of balance, we can live in the present moment with a sense of appreciation and fullness, releasing the ghosts that haunt us in both our past and our future.
How can all of this relate to our writing? Well not only can this topic offer inspiriation for our writing (see the highlights below), but on a more personal level perhaps it can inspire us to finally take that writing class we've been thinking about, or write that story or novel we've been putting off, or submit that poem we've been tweaking and are too afraid to send it to the literary magazine for fear of rejection. Time is precious, and the more we wait, the more of it we lose.
Sophurky |
Below you'll find some offerings from other WDC members about the passing of time and not having regreats. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
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A poem about time passing, time wasted, time lost, & the insignificance of your existence
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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First -- from our last newsletter I promised to reveal the authors of three love poems I included:
The Hope of Loving
Meister Eckhart - Christian Mystic
The Meaning of Love
by Rumi - Sufi Mystic
What Kind of God?
Kabir -- Bhakti Mystic
Next, I want to share part of a wonderful dialogue I had about my "water" newsletter in January with Pen Name . Lotusneko first sent a comment about something I said:
Thus, when we bleed, our blood is as wet and salty as the sea, for our biochemistry is still based to a great extent on the salinity of the oceans from which we evolved. We land-dwellers rose up out of the oceans, and are filled with the substances which birthed us onto terra firma in the first place.
Part of her response, which I shared last month, included "I am upset that you included this 'theory' in your essay. As a subscriber to the Spiritual Newsletter, I believe God created humans for land and He created other life for the sea."
I replied by saying I was sorry Lotusneko was upset about what I shared about evolution, and in my response I implied (from an inference I made from her comment} that Lotusneko does not belive in evolution.
I then received another email from Pen Name that cleared things up:
"I have been subscribing to the Spiritual NL for as long as I have been a member, which is just over five years. I am aware that it incorporates multiple and diverse 'beliefs,' but that also translates to 'religions.' What I disagreed with was you stating your belief as if it were proven fact. You say land-dwellers came out of the ocean and that is why our blood is salty. Why do you believe this? Even though you assume I don't believe in evolution, that is not true, I do. I just think your statement was a stretch, and since I am checking for gills or scales (nope, don't see any) I am just curious how you arrive at this conclusion? Thank you in advance for discussing this with me."
My response, in part, was:
When I write I often speak metaphorically or poetically. That said, I am persuaded by those scientists who believe that all life on earth originated in water (starting with the smallest of microscopic creatures at the bottom of the sea) and over time changed and evolved to the life that now exists. In my article, when I said that land dwellers rose up out of the ocean, I was speaking metaphorically about a long-term evolutionary process which was based on my belief about life originating in water. So I didn't mean it literally, it was more a use of poetic license.
As for my beliefs about life originating in water, I understand that there are many arguments for and against this, and I don't presume that it is proven fact, it is just what I happen to believe. Currently our oceans make up over 70% of the earth's surface, and it was likely a higher percentage than that millions/billions of years ago. So it makes sense to me that water/oceans are the biological origin of life. Here is one article that talks about it very briefly:
http://www.pulseplanet.com/dailyprogram/dailies.php?POP=1688
I hope this makes sense. I am not trying to persuade you or anyone to my beliefs, just sharing them. And I'm happy when others share their beliefs with me, especially in the way that you have done. So thanks for the conversation!
  
Now for some comments about my February newsletter about love poems to the Divine:
From mohitmisra
Hi in response to your letter on poems of love for the divine. I am a poet with a book called Ponder Awhile. I got enlightned while sailing in the Merchant Navy and now write on God. A few poems can be read on amazon as the book is in the search inside program. If you like them lease use them.
Warm Regards,
Mohit.K.Misra
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Congrats on your book, and thanks for sharing it with us!
From Katya the Poet 
LOVED this! Great Idea to have us thinking about love in this way on Valentine's Day!!
Thanks for including my ghazal. That must me why I had a new reader out of the blue!
You are most welcome -- glad you loved the newsletter, and glad your poem got some new readers! 
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming, they are greatly appreciated! And on behalf of myself and the other wonderful Spiritual Newsletter Editors, Puditat larryp kittiara -- thanks for reading this newsletter!
Until next time! Sophurky
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Spiritual: March 12, 2008 Issue [#2269]
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